An interesting lesson I learnt today

[BradEL]

Heres a bit of a story for anyone interested to read.
So my mate went down country this morning to have a look at a new car, and ended up buying it and driving it the 2 hour trip home. The car he got is a Argon Silver 1995 EF Fairmont Ghia 5 Liter, with 207,000 on the clock in pretty nice condition. Being a big EF/EL fan I was straight over to have a look after work.

He was keen to take me for a drive, so off we went, 10 mins to the local mall and then on our way back, we started to hear a strange noise, sounded a bit like there was something loose underneath rattling around, but we were 5 mins from his place so thought we would have a look when we got home. about 1-2 mins later we were at the only set of traffic lights when the car just stopped. And when we tried to start it again it started to turn over but wouldnt, sounded exactly like a flat battery.
My mate was ****ed as you would expect, after just buying a car the same day and having a problem with it, but he had the exact same symptoms with his AU, where it just died, and turned out the alternator wasnt charging the battery and the battery had gone completely flat.


So with not much we could do, we were thinking about how we could get back to his place, grab my XR6 and come and jump his Fairmont, but luckily a friendly guy in an old EF wagon came and offered to tow us from the intersection and even tried to jump the car with jump lead, but didnt work. At that stage we were thinking that the battery was just so flat that it wouldnt jump, as exactly the same thing happened with his AU, and on that occasion we put my ELs battery in it to get it home okay, so the kind stranger gave us a lift back to his place, where we came back in another car with the battery out of his AU. Put it in on the side of the road, and what do you know, it starts straight away. He drove it back to his place and we parked it up and began to investigate.

With the symptoms we were getting, we decided to check what it was charging at, at this stage the engine was running very smoothly and seemed perfectly normal, we checked the charging system with a multimeter, put a bit of load on it and it was at about 13.5 volts, which doesnt seem too bad, not enough to cause the car to just die under normal driving conditions. We were a bit stumped at this point, so we put the 'dead' battery into his AU, to see if it would start, and it did, so we were even more confused now. We decided to go for a drive (this time with a spare battery, multimeter and tools) to see if the problem would come back.

Just before we went, I decided for some reason to pop the cap of the overflow tank (too dirty to see thorugh as usual) to check coolant level. Turns out this may have been the best decision I have made in a while, the tank was completely empty. I mean bone dry, so we went and got a bottle of water and some coolant and put it in, it hissed and gurgled and steamed, but after putting in about 2 bottles we couldnt see anything in the tank yet. This was when we knew trouble had come our way. I had a look and we saw the radiator was ****ing out water from the side tank, I mean ****ing out. Like when you get a drink bottle and squeeze it, that is what it was like when we squeezed the top hose.

Me and my mate are both only 18, so not qualified mechanics or anything, but know a wee bit, enough to know that the car had stopped cause it had gotten so hot. After taking about 8-10 liters in the cooling system, it was up to the full line on the overflow tank again, but still coming out of radiator even when not running. We figured that the noise we heard in the minute before it died was probably pre-ignition from it getting so hot, or something like that.

If we hadnt have gotten a red light at the intersection, we wouldnt have slowed to idle and would have kept going towards his house before we got home, and would most likely killed the engine for good. Maybe we were lucky we stopped when we did, or maybe not.
After finding this problem, we later started the car again, and engine was running very smoothly and without fault, so a new radiator will be going in this week before the car goes anywhere.

This has taught myself and him also a few things, he should have checked the cooling system better, but really, for me I know what im going to be doing soon.
On my regency EL the coolant overflow tank is still original and is very clear and not dirty at all, no worries seeing coolant level, probably like this because the car has been very well maintained and has low kms. But on my other XR6 that I use daily, although the cooling system is okay, it has a very dirty overflow tank. I do service the cooling system, coolant is clean and level good, but still, I will be replacing the overflow tank soon. Although I do check it once a week, this problem wouldnt have happened have if his car had a clear tank and we could have seen there was no coolant.

So I will be finding a tank replacement for my XR6, and his car will get a new radiator and see how things go from there. Hopefully his 302 has many more years left in it yet after a close call today. Im not sure that will be the case to be honest, but I sure hope so, it seems to run just like it was before the incident at the moment, but only time will tell.

[AUwindsor]

yep always check the basics when you just bought a car. engine oil, coolant level, inspect all 4 tyres. check wheel nuts are tight. if those are good, good chance it'll get you home