Think the Zed might have to go

[Zedhead]

drove home about 2 miles from the gym lastnight, nice and steady 30mph, got outside my house and the temp gauge started to rise above its normal resting place, normally sits just under half way and it went up another quarter,
checked the heating STONE COLD!! got out and looked under the bonnet and you guessed it, NO COOLANT!!!

luckily I always have some in, the car did suffer HGF Feb 07 and I have always done my best to prevent it happening again, so I topped it up and went for a ride 4 or 5 miles, at that time it was becoming dark so I couldnt check the coolant properly again, took the missus to work and came back this morning another 2 miles checked again half the coolant gone,

oil is nice and clean no mixing going on, can't find a leak at all?

one thing I have noticed the last few weeks is my exhaust (standard) has started getting a fair bit more grunt to it, its popping and farting like a rally car, which I thought was pretty cool, checked today after taking the missus to work and noticed a LOT of water at the very end of the pipe, could the coolant be exiting at the pipe?

either way my missus will be giving birth to our second child in a few weeks and I cannot afford any 'serious' repairs right now

[shroonie29]

Check the inlet manifold gasket,a common failure.prices below not up to date lol



Shroon

[ZS]

Agree with Shroon, my 216 had exactly the same symptoms, replace inlet manifold gasket and hey presto no probs

No Idea where you're based, but if your down south I don't mind fitting it for you, 30 min job on the 216

[Zedhead]

im in Hull,

when the car had HGF (it defo had it because there was a serious amount of mayo in the oil) it was repaired and the coolant was still getting lower, so the thermostat was replaced because it WAS leaking, still coolant got low, inlet gasket was replaced problem stopped, so it was only replaced like a year ago, could the inlet gasket fail within a year?

by the way, tis only a 1.8 not a 2.5,

[ZS]

Originally Posted by Zedhead

im in Hull,

when the car had HGF (it defo had it because there was a serious amount of mayo in the oil) it was repaired and the coolant was still getting lower, so the thermostat was replaced because it WAS leaking, still coolant got low, inlet gasket was replaced problem stopped, so it was only replaced like a year ago, could the inlet gasket fail within a year?

by the way, tis only a 1.8 not a 2.5,

I gathered it was the 1.8 the V6's don't get HGF ;P

It is possible, but unlikely... Its worth starting the engine and doing a visual inspection of all the pipes etc, pay close attention to where the head meets the block and also to the inlet manifold, for me the water was leaking out in an obscure place that I couldn't see, but when I located it it was VERY obvious that was the problem

Oh and I had no water on the floor at all because the coolant was going direct into the exhaust pipes...

[RalphG]

We've found that the quality of the inlet manifold gasket supplied with the head gasket kits is not as good as the ones sold separately. We've had to replace a couple of them under our parts warranty.

BTW the price is now £5.55 plus VAT, part number LKJ101110SLP.

[dave87]

my last car was a megane coupe. Don't get me wrong i liked it at the time but its not the same. Handling is at best rubbish and at worst unreliable and easily smashed on speed bumps. Also, the engines aren't much more reliable than the K series at least in my experience.

[stamford]

If the Megane is going to cost you £900 plus your zed, why not just spend less and get the zed right. You could be buying a lemon by return and compounding the issue. Better the devil you know in some cases.

[XPCobra]

deffo get the ZS fixed, but shell out and get it done properly

[Zedhead]

Hi guys, thanks for the support,

I was a little wrong earlier, the guy will take my car and £700 for the megane, but thats old news now anyway, I have managed to talk the missus out of that one thank god, we went out earlier and have found a couple of very nice astra sri's and a vectra sri, I know there a step down from the look and handling of the zed, and I have to admit I don't want to get rid of the zed!!

Sadly I'm all out of faith with the car (and the bad bit, so is the missus!!!)
together were not prepared to take the risk, I was told the first time that it would not happen again, but it has...
(I'm not implying that EMS would not sort it for good)
I have always looked after the car and due to the first HGF within only a couple of weeks of owning the car I have driven the car with care very rarely taking it over 3000rpm!!!
from the amount of info I have gained since owning the car it would seem theres a very thin line with the 1.8's you either get one that runs perfect or you get one that just wants to give you a nervous breakdown...
which is a real shame because there such fun cars to drive,

you never know, I might regret it and get a 2.5 v6 for the weekend when the tax hits hard and the prices get even lower...????