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Whooaahh I looked like a Red Arrow tonight !!!!!

Jonesy

Leftie and Proud
Sep 27, 2004
420
0
Pig Hill
Well after 142000 miles she finally let go :cry:

On the M4 tonight got flashed from behind, WTF I thought, had a peek in the rear view mirror
and OMFG, I looked like a Red Arrow

Hasty exit to the hard shoulder, plumes billowing from the front, grabbed my bottle of Famous Grouse, box of Fosters and other crimbo pressies and retreated to the embankment :runaway:

Thought it was going to catch fire :blink:

Dialled 999 in a panic by which time the wafting had subsided a tadge (phew)

She was very helpful and I called a local 24 hour recovery who sent the WRONG truck as the Cupra was too low to go on :cry:

He looked inside and found that a hose had popped and that was the reason for billowing steam down the M4, two and a half litres of it!!!

Sods law he said he could fix it there but had no water on board and was ringing the office, they decided to send a another lorry, low loader beacuse my towing eye snapped in the holder, as she was still driveable I said drive it on.

Next the Motorway monkey's turn up, take my number and ask if I have overheated, have a wild guess :whistle: and say the control office would ring me soon to see if I was OK - STILL WAITING FOR THE CALL!! what do they actually do :ban:

Anyhow, picked up back to local depot where the mechanic has a looksie, puts back the hose and refills with coolant. She was running fine but no heating, top pipe hot bottom pipe cold, :( Je said could be an airblock or Thermostat gone. As I only live about half a mile away decided to limp home and take to Seat in the morning BUT on the journey the heating came on FULL wack. SO.......

Have I done any damage?

there was NO high temp warning
she's running fine
heating is working
no leaks

would VAGCOM have logged any errors

Not nice standing/dancing on the hard shoulder for nearly two hours :cry:
 
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Jonesy

Leftie and Proud
Sep 27, 2004
420
0
Pig Hill
bet that was a scare!...and i cant see the harm in checking it with vag-com :)

Just a bit, just want to know what sort of damage I may have done as I stopped VERY quickly :blink:

Things always tend to happen to me in a BIG way, Oh for the quiet life :cry:
 
Dec 6, 2008
612
0
Shropshire
If the coolants staying in then I would guess at a lucky escape, just monitor it if your losing coolant and oil getting high or oil in your water, water/oil leaking out from between head/block then you may have warped the head. Probs not though.

As for the heating not working then working all of a sudden, im not familiar with Seat cooling systems but sounds to me like you maybe did have an airlock which has bled from driving it.

A once over on a ramp wouldn't go a miss though.
 

traumapat

Leon Cupra IHI
Jul 24, 2005
5,925
4
sunny sussex
fingers crossed you got away with it. check your coolant and oil, no heater sounds like an air lock as it sorted itself. coolant might need a top up.

the gods were smiling at you:)
 

Adam R

Diesel ISN'T a Dirty word
Mar 5, 2007
2,851
1
lee in the solent
check under your engine oil cap for a 'mayo' type substance... your head 'could' be warped.

as said above though, keep a daily log of the fluids like coolant, engine oil etc. if you notice any big changes then somethings not right.. if the levels stay constant then your fine :)
 

Jonesy

Leftie and Proud
Sep 27, 2004
420
0
Pig Hill
It would be useful to know which hose popped, Jonesey. :)

Was the top pipe on the right as you look at the engine about inch and a half pointing backwards.

Coolant was lower this morning so topped it up, gingerly drove on the back roads from Swindon to Hungerford all fine,
so popped on the M4 to Newbury and took it into Seat.

They had a quick look and sais she seems fine, booked in on Monday for a sevice and good look over.

Seems the sun still shining from my posterior :D

Bit of advice, carry a bottle of water together a warm coat and gloves in your boot, make sure your
mobile is charged with a breakdown number in it!!!

...Oh, and have a poo beofre you leave work :whistle:

Thas not a very nice experience and wouldn't wish it on anyone, those lorry carry a wind chill factor of about -10 degrees.

Thanks for your pointers, I will keep an eye on everything mentioned.
 

traumapat

Leon Cupra IHI
Jul 24, 2005
5,925
4
sunny sussex
Bit of advice, carry a bottle of water together a warm coat and gloves in your boot, make sure your
mobile is charged with a breakdown number in it!!!

...Oh, and have a poo beofre you leave work :whistle:

.

add to that a reflective waistcoat and a couple of screwdrivers.

oh and some loo roll ;)
 

Jonesy

Leftie and Proud
Sep 27, 2004
420
0
Pig Hill
not my car but



was still smoking a bit this morning when I pulled up at work,
temp guage normal, could this be anti-freeze burning off the engine?
 

justsean

Active Member
Apr 4, 2008
202
0
Cumbria
this happened to my old ibiza, down the M6. scary aint the word. unfortunately it went worse for me the head gasket had blown, still on my drive waiting to be fixed :whistle: it had done 110k of me hammering the poor little 1.4 everywhere so it un-surprisingly gave up :p
 
Dec 31, 2007
1,479
0
Reading
lucky escape there mate!

I will make sure i have a few essentials in the boot, although I normally carry most things anyway.

good ol' scouts. :D
 

Jonesy

Leftie and Proud
Sep 27, 2004
420
0
Pig Hill
Seems like I got away with it and zero damage :D

Drove her home on the motorway (35 miles) with no problems.

Was very paranoid all the way - mirror, temp guage, mirror, temp guage,mirror, temp guage

Check all coolant and oil levels this morning and was the same and made it back to work this morning too :D

Phew!!!!!!!
 
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