I Feel Guilty...

March 26, 2010

Hi all,

Long time no see, etc.

Er, anyway, been driving around for the last six months and 3000 miles with things to do on the car and no time to do them. Radiator has needed flushing, the tracking needs adjusting, the bumper mount needs tweaking, car hasn't been washed in two years, etc. The net result of these things (and typical Carina oxidised red paint meaning the car's now pink) is that the car's not worth much more than the tax disc, even though it passed MOT without any real problems - just a number plate bulb and a dash bulb - and that the cooling system is now leaking badly from somewhere that I suspect is the hose join to the water-pump. It was leaking slightly from the radiator-to-engine hose until I jubilee-clipped it at the weekend, but (what a coincidence) a couple of days ago it started p*ssing water out of the bottom of the car.

As far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with the car that a flush of the cooling system and some new radiator hose clips wouldn't solve - as well as a good service, and maybe a few new bits of hose - but I don't have time to do it, and it would cost more than the car's worth to have someone else do it.

Question: is it worth dumping a bottle of radweld in the system just in case? At this stage, the fiver for the radweld is about as much as the car's worth.

Alternatively, does anyone on here (near North London) want a Carina E 1.8 leanburn that will probably do another 100,000 miles with a bit of TLC? It feels wrong to scrap it, and I don't really want to sell it to a sucker, even though I probably could do without too much effort. Seems to me that it's only worth running one of these if you do the work yourself, and I just don't have time now. Any offers?

Failing that, if I am going to scrap the car (poor thing... what a retirement) does anyone want any parts before I do?

March 28, 2010

Could be leaking from the weep hole underneath the water pump, it took me ages to discover it on my last carina. Try some rubbing compound on the bodywork, brings it up a treat. And if i was a bit closer i would definately take it off your hands because i've been after a red carina for ages. Good luck with it anyway. :thumbsup:

April 8, 2010

Could be leaking from the weep hole underneath the water pump, it took me ages to discover it on my last carina. Try some rubbing compound on the bodywork, brings it up a treat. And if i was a bit closer i would definately take it off your hands because i've been after a red carina for ages. Good luck with it anyway.

I think you're right about the water pump, because I had a look underneath and it had fronds of algae growing from it. Amazingly, the radweld worked wonders. Hasn't lost a drop of water since. Also using less oil, bizarrely.

April 8, 2010

Don't scrap it! I hate seeing old cars go to the scrappy...

Advertise it as a project car that needs roughly £300 of work to get it running perfectly. By the sounds of it she needs parts replacing and not just patched up now. A new pump, and radiator and hoses should have it working brilliantly for someone to have a reliable runaround. :yes: