EA damaged, bad night :(

[Kawasakirider]

Had a bad night last night.... got a call from a friend... She said she wanted me to drive to pick her up, then drive to her cousins house and drop her back into town for a get together and that she'd pay me. I'm thinking sweet even if it's only $20 I need the money bad.

My gf wanted to come so we jump in the car and take off. I live half an hour out of town and her cousin does, also, so I'm driving to town, back to her cousins, back to town and then home. Round 200 k's.

We pick my friend up and then go to get her cousin and we get near her town and the temp starts going up and we are in the middle of NOWHERE. So I think .... I pull over and pull into this old farmhouse off to the side of the road. It has a big ditch going into the driveway that I should have seen but out of frustration didnt and it cracked my front bar really badly.

So I fill it up with water and manage to nurse it to my friends cousins house and we take off back into town. I keep nursing it and the temp is about half way, then we get near town and it starts surging and and the temp skyrockets so I pull into the 24/7 servo over the hill.

Water starts ****ing from the passanger side of the engine and I'm like, sweet, either a welsh plug or a heater hose....

We are all stranded there for hours and we eventually get the girls to where they are going because my grandfather came and picked us up. It was way to dark at that stage to see what was going on so I came back the next morning (today)....

One of the heater hoses had blown (in the worst position mind you lol, had to take the air filter assembly off the CFI to get to the hose clamp at one end) so I go into town and get a replacement and I replace that. Then I pull the front bar off and put it into my grandfathers car. I fill it up with water but in my haste I didn't know you had to pull off the hose at the thermostat and let it bleed out like that, I thought it was like my ute where I just kept it running and filling it up until there were no bubbles and it got an airlock pocket in it. So I go to drive home and it's running perfectly, nearly get there and my LPG starts acting up because the converter wasn't getting any hot water and it froze. Switch to fuel and limp the last km back to the local mechanic near my house. He reckons my head gasket could be done...

To top it all off, I have had a crack at repairing my front bar and it looks like a dog's ***. I couldn't get the blade putty to work too well and there's dents and in it everywhere. Sprayed it white with a can and I am very dissapointed in it. I'll have to fix it later on when I have some time/patience.... (I did fix the cracks with fiber glass btw)

So NOW my car is screwed and I have no cash. All because I tried to help someone for just a bit of extra fuel money to get to school.


The girls were very appologetic and nice about it, though. I felt pretty bad for them being stranded there for ages.

Ahh the joys of motoring _ _

[jaydee]

Bu gg er. tell the girls not to worry 'cause it was going to happen anyway, just a matter of time, not their fault, not your fault, nobodys fault, as you say, thats motoring..
There's never a good time to break down or get a flat or run out of petrol.
Good luck getting it squared away and back on the road.

[Kawasakirider]

Originally Posted by jaydee

Bu gg er. tell the girls not to worry 'cause it was going to happen anyway, just a matter of time, not their fault, not your fault, nobodys fault, as you say, thats motoring..
There's never a good time to break down or get a flat or run out of petrol.
Good luck getting it squared away and back on the road.

Yeah, I told them it wasn't there fault and it was gunna happen anyway. I am just ****ed that a $10 heater hose can cause so much trouble. Especially when it was a new hose and now my front bar looks horrid. I'll get some pics of it installed on the car once I get the car back. IDK how long that will be.....

If the headgasket is gone and it costs a few hundred to fix would it be more economical to drop a 4 liter from an EF/L and keep the CFI? My mechanic said that there are substantial power gains from just swapping engines and keeping the CFI and EF/L motors can be had for $350. Ofcourse I'd still convert to multipoint later on. Just to get me on the road again....

EDIT

Oh and thanks for the well wishes.

[Jack91]

I feel for you, sort of the same thing happened to me and when you have no money and its on its last legs its a real bad feeling. Going rate for head gaskets is anywhere from $800 and up depending how bad the head is if you get a mechanic to do it so an ef 4.0l looks the far better option especially if you can do it yourself. RE: The front bar, Ive done this too with a very deceiving driveway, if youve only cracked the bottom bar and the mounting tags on the front 1/4 panels which i assume you have, get some angle steel and pop rivet it behind the bottom bar so the crack stays away and fiberglass the tabs back on as you know. Also, take out the middle bar, looks heaps better. Mine:

[TURBOTAXI]

Mate, I am sorry to hear about your car, that must suck.
As an aside, getting paid $20 for 200k sucks just as much. Just keep in mind that the travelling rates in a private car for reimbursement purposes are around $0.60- $0.80 per kilometer - there is a reason for that.


Yes, newer is better best option is AU via a kit (like the ones by Aussie Car Recyclers) but EF, EL or AU will all be better

Hope you get the car back on track soon.

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by TURBOTAXI

As an aside, getting paid $20 for 200k sucks just as much. Just keep in mind that the travelling rates in a private car for reimbursement purposes are around $0.60- $0.80 per kilometer - there is a reason for that.

You are kidding right? Glad you aren't my mate.

[duaned]

Stranded with the company of 2 women? Mate I could think of a lot worse!

[FPV GT40]

Originally Posted by duaned

Stranded with the company of 2 women? Mate I could think of a lot worse!

yeah I guess three would be worse....one woman is bad enough, luckily god created alcohol, so men can dull his senses enough to put up with women

[alecrain]

Sorry to hear that mate.
As they say bad luck happens never happens in the moment of your choosing.

[AlbertM]

Fix up all the heater hoses/leaks and just use your car. If it uses water without leaking you will know if the head gasket is gone.

[The Yeti]

O boy I feel for you mate, the amount of times I have heard a hard luck story starting with

Originally Posted by Kawasakirider

Had a bad night last night.... got a call from a friend... She said

I feel for you buddy.

[XR6_661]

What a run of bad luck!

Hope you get it all sorted out buddy.

[escapin]

dont matter how they do it but chicks always cost money lol
temporary fix, save cash, new engine, fixed

[Kawasakirider]

The front of the bar from the bottom up cracked and put stress cracks through it all. I'll get pics up later. It's still shocking but it will look OK I suppose. I can't imagine the paint I've used will stand up to any abuse at all. It's just acrylic stuff from a can and I ran out of white so I did the middle bar silver out of a crappy can of spray paint. I know it won't last but until I get the cash to get some auto paint and spray it with my compressor I'll just have to keep touching it up.

The car is spewing smoke from it and has no power whatsoever. She is definitely a goner.

Mechanic quoted $1148 and with a 10% discount he said $1027 or so. Can someone link me to the aussie car recyclers? My dad is headstrong on getting this one fixed as it only had 115,000 on it and he won't trust one from the wreckers, but if I could get a more powerful engine for the same price that I knew was trustworthy I'd like that. The main thing is getting it on the road again, but I'd still like to look into the aussie car recyclers.

[fpvluver]

i had a head problem just used some bars leaks and it woked a treat just cant thrash it mate just use that and baby it tikk you can afford to fix it properly

sorry to hear mate