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[JamesV6CDX]

Tomorrow night I'm collecting a project Omega. I need to get it approximately 100 miles home, all motorway.

From what I can make out, known facts are:

A) The coolant is pressurising more than normal
B) The oil on the dipstick is just starting to show signs of mayo
C) It's losing about a litre of coolant per 10 miles.
D) Runs a bit rough and smokes when cold, but clears when warm.
(Didn't do this before failed HG)

Now, for the value of the car it's not worth transporting so I'm going to take a chance and drive it gently home with perhaps 25 mile stops at the services to let it cool and check water.

What do you think are my chances of getting home this way? Also, would you

1) Remove the header tank cap to stop it pressurising and drive with cap off?

2) Wire up the fan so that it is constantly on and keeps the engine cool?

Any other tips greatly received, until it gets on the driveway for a head rebuild

[bob.dent]

Are you a member of the AA/RAC James? If so, you could drive it a few miles up the road and then tell them you've broken down and they can recover it to your home.

[JamesV6CDX]

Are you a member of the AA/RAC James? If so, you could drive it a few miles up the road and then tell them you've broken down and they can recover it to your home.

I am going to insure the car for 24 hours to drive it home, with Dayinsure.com

For an extra £2, this includes breakdown cover for the 24h period.

So if I drive at night, so no garages are open - they would have to take me all the way home, if I started cooking

[Entwood]

That sounds far safer than attempting to drive a failed HG ...

cap off it will boil very fast, fan continuous will make little difference whilst on the move.....

either come under the heading "dodgy" IMHO ... AA/RAcC/whatever if you can get away with it ....

but check and double check the "small print" first  

[JamesV6CDX]

I'll give it a go - there's no danger as such if the motorway is dead and I'm tootling down lane one at 65mph...

You'll be surprised how far you can go with a blown HG, I drove a rover 214 all the way from bristol with NO water, and it did about 75 miles with the temp gauge on the red before it finally went BANG

If I had a trailer, I'd pull it with the landie

[MaxV6]

you'll love this....  

experience  with the old elite and it's buggered HG, tells me that at 80 , the airflow will be sufficient to keep it cool ......   and you'll probably be fine for coolant....  

at 70 the temp starts to rise...  at 65 you'll need to stop and top up several times....

but that's just my experience in the old elite....  

[rickyboy]

I drove my 2.0 litre omega about 10 miles with the head gasket gone until it started to knock and partially ceased the engine.    Broke down, got towed from the RAC and we got it going again by putting loads of old oil in.  

Fixed the head gasket and everything was great   until it warmed up and the oil light started to flicker - low oil pressure, then the engine ceased.   Lots and lots of metal in the sump, engine was toast - bad, bad idea!  

I guess it's possible as long as you can keep a very watchful eye on the temp but far from advisable!  Temp was in the red when I was driving mine.

Good luck...

[JamesV6CDX]

surely it'd only seize if it ran out of oil or cooked?

[sassanach]

the oil will act in the absence of water, as coolant(for a while)but once the oil overheats as well  

[Mr Skrunts]

I would wire the fan to keep it on permantly and try and take a biggish container full of water with me for the journey.  The obvious one as well is to have your mobile fully charged allthough it's ridiculous haw many people dont thinkig they hardly use it.  In fact I would actually take the car charger as well.

All the best with the journey, it's just going to be one of those that only time will tell.

Thinking about it, car trailer hire is reasoble arround here.  Wouldnt that be your better option. (Assuming you have towing gear on the back of your car) That would then save you on the daily car insurance and save any further risk of damage to the car.      Just a thought.

[Mr Skrunts]

Here you go.

Took the detail from your info.

http://www.thephonebook.bt.com/publisha.content/en/search/business_by_type/search.publisha?PreviousType=&PreviousLocation=&ClassCode=&AreaCode=&BusinessType=trailer+hire&TownOrPostcode=Cheltenham&x=41&y=11

[Mr Skrunts]

http://www.thephonebook.bt.com/publisha.content/en/search/business_by_type/search.publisha?PreviousType=trailer+hire&PreviousLocation=Cheltenham&ClassCode=&AreaCode=&BusinessType=car+trailer+hire&TownOrPostcode=Cheltenham&x=0&y=0

For got to search by car trailer.

[Lazydocker]

James, as previously said, look at hiring a trailer. I know that Indespension charge around £20 for 24 hours if there's one near you. I use them regularly here for box trailers etc as I couldn't get an estate at the right price so just weighed up the number of trailer hires for the difference... It was a lot!!  

Failing that... Is it worth punting about £8 at it and sticking in some K-Seal for the journey?? I don't know how effective it'll be if there is a gap in the firing ring but worth a shot?  :-/ :-/ :-/

[Markie]

surely it'd only seize if it ran out of oil or cooked?

Yup   I`d be taking it very relaxed and at a consistant speed ie..slow /moderate speed and constantly running, i.e no stop and start traffic.

Oh and stopping as much as you please to inspect or top up coolant

[JamesV6CDX]

James, as previously said, look at hiring a trailer. I know that Indespension charge around £20 for 24 hours if there's one near you. I use them regularly here for box trailers etc as I couldn't get an estate at the right price so just weighed up the number of trailer hires for the difference... It was a lot!!  

Failing that... Is it worth punting about £8 at it and sticking in some K-Seal for the journey?? I don't know how effective it'll be if there is a gap in the firing ring but worth a shot?  :-/ :-/ :-/

Thanks for the info, all

I've been tossing this up, but don't want to gum things up  :-/