Well, the inevitable happened today so at least now I can relax rather than all that anticipation over what, where and when it would happen...
It's been a good run of reliability for a P38 - perhaps even a record as I purchased in February? But en-route to dropping son at holiday club today it happened! Driving up a slight incline, pulling away from a roundabout, there was what can only be described as a 'thump' followed by a 'rattle' from behind the dash... Son & I exchanged glances - we had been playing with heater settings to try and persuade the n/s blend motor to nudge towards warm rather than the 'Arctic' setting it usually favours. No warnings and everything was still working, so I opted not to stop - we were perhaps 600 yards from the school. All still looked ok as we pulled up around the corner from the school where the holiday clubs runs. Hrmm - thin wafts of steam encircled the front of the car! Uh-oh! Quick peek under the hood revealed a damp, steaming scene... Ah well, lowered the bonnet and walked around to school whilst she cooled...
Upon my return, I topped up the water whilst peering in to see where it was escaping and it quickly became obvious. The bypass hose between pump and thermostat had ruptured explosively - such that there was a gaping hole!
5 minutes later, sporting red knuckles, I had the offending hose bandaged with gaffer tape, I topped up the water again and with expansion cap on the dash, plodded cautiously the 2 miles home - one eye transfixed to the temperature gauge and stopping twice to add more water. Interestingly the temperature climbed to and then stayed in the middle and apart from a continual clunking of the (very confused) heater, made it back with nothing more than a thin veil of steam behind me where hot water dribbled out onto an even hotter exhaust!
New pipes ordered for tomorrow (full set) and (provided she starts tomorrow), she's forgiven her uncharacteristic outburst.
Perhaps after the workout, the blend motor will work now too?
It's been a good run of reliability for a P38 - perhaps even a record as I purchased in February? But en-route to dropping son at holiday club today it happened! Driving up a slight incline, pulling away from a roundabout, there was what can only be described as a 'thump' followed by a 'rattle' from behind the dash... Son & I exchanged glances - we had been playing with heater settings to try and persuade the n/s blend motor to nudge towards warm rather than the 'Arctic' setting it usually favours. No warnings and everything was still working, so I opted not to stop - we were perhaps 600 yards from the school. All still looked ok as we pulled up around the corner from the school where the holiday clubs runs. Hrmm - thin wafts of steam encircled the front of the car! Uh-oh! Quick peek under the hood revealed a damp, steaming scene... Ah well, lowered the bonnet and walked around to school whilst she cooled...
Upon my return, I topped up the water whilst peering in to see where it was escaping and it quickly became obvious. The bypass hose between pump and thermostat had ruptured explosively - such that there was a gaping hole!
5 minutes later, sporting red knuckles, I had the offending hose bandaged with gaffer tape, I topped up the water again and with expansion cap on the dash, plodded cautiously the 2 miles home - one eye transfixed to the temperature gauge and stopping twice to add more water. Interestingly the temperature climbed to and then stayed in the middle and apart from a continual clunking of the (very confused) heater, made it back with nothing more than a thin veil of steam behind me where hot water dribbled out onto an even hotter exhaust!
New pipes ordered for tomorrow (full set) and (provided she starts tomorrow), she's forgiven her uncharacteristic outburst.
Perhaps after the workout, the blend motor will work now too?
