Dodgy Fixes

[NISZILA]

Hey guys, I got home last night and heard something boiling from my engine bay. Scared the crap out of me. The engine temp guage was reading normal and everything.

I openned up my bonnet to find coolent spraying across the top of me engine. The one water hose (the metal T-piece right at the front on the plenum) had a little pin hole in it. It was spraying coolent everywhere. The boiling was coming from the overflow tank. It was boiling cause the coolent level was too low, due to it spraying out all over my engine.

Since I'm house sitting for a friend who has the bare minimum when it comes to tools, I've done a bit of a tempory fix. I removed the T-piece an wrapped it in electrical tape as tight as possible. I also refilled the radiator with water. This tape only lasted one half hour trip, but restricted the coolent from escaping. The radiator is still pretty full.

I don't want to do this sort of thing too long. I want to fix it properly, but being sunday, nothing is open to get a replacement part. The problme is I really rely on my car for transport. I just want to know. If I keep this up for a few days, which I might have to do (will only get a chance to fix it on tuesday) will it do any damage? I don't think it will. More of a pain in the ass when I have to clean up all the coolent

[heller44]

Find your way to an auto store, repco auto1 whatever.. get a stanley blade a screwdriver and a short length of heater hose the right size. Bang it on and hey.. my god you managed to fix your own car..

If you can afford to put fuel in, you can afford to fix it.

Electrical tape isn't made to hold pressure, a bit of warmth behind it makes it even worse.

james.

[NISZILA]

lol... mate, I know how to fix it. Its really simple. Want to do exactly what you have said, but I can't atm cause I'm stuck working. Tuesday will be the first chance I get. All I want to know is, will this tempory fix, (which I know is crap, but all I had available) going to have any impact and damage the car. I don't think it will, but like to be sure.

[infamous_t]

Unlikely it will hold it, but if you drive like a grandma and not drive even remotely hard you may get away with it.

Just buy extra coolant and refill after every trip(short trips, no cross country) once cooled down, and watch you temp meter like a hawk.

ASAP is the word... just don't let this turn into a 'I f*ked my engine' thread.

[NISZILA]

Thats just what I thought. Don't worry, I've only driven with it once, and will only drive a few more times. I was watching the temp guage more than the road lol ... and I have plenty of extra coolent

Oh... and I was driving like a grandma

Falcon pulled up next to me and took off at the lights with the kid in the back laughing at my slow pace Better than frying my engine tho

[turboedsloth]

i did this in my rally thrash car just before i threw it into a tree. doesnt work at all. some servos even carry a small arrangement of parts. if your in one before tuesday have a quick look round

[NISZILA]

Thats a good idea. I'll stop off at a servo on the way home

[teejay]

there is a special bonding tape you can buy that seals split hose or pipe, check the next servo your at.

electrical tape will melt under heat.

[heller44]

I have done the same thing before as an emergency patch to get home.

Parked in freo and when I went back to the car saw a puddle of coolant under the front. Turns out the small coolant line that runs around the front of the head to feed the turbos on my 26 sprang a pinhole leak and decided to start purging. Only about 15 mins to home and had to stop twice to top up.

Servo parts should get you by though, hidden away in the back corner they usually keep a stock of bits..

[NISZILA]

Just to let everyone know, I fixed this for a total of $4

Bought two hose clamps and small lenth of pipe and fixed it a couple of days ago. No leaks at all and radiator is still full, checked again this morning