i have some trouble with the wifes car, im hoping some of the expertise on here can link the diverse symptoms into a few simple problems!

First things first, its a 1.0 3 cyl corsa on a W reg, 2000.

It started with a misfire under full throttle, sometimes with the engine management light - goes out a few seconds after coming off the throttle. Has the usual vauxhall smell of burning oil, i think this is a trickle down the outside onto the exhaust?

Tonight it decided to loose all its water, ie steam billowing everywhere, heater blowing cold, temp heading up to 110. Also distinct 'pinking' and hesitating under throttle. I was thinking plugs or coils with a touch of head gasket failure to boot. The pinking confuses me though. It starts ok, not great but consistant after a few seconds of struggling. Needs throttle to start.

Initially the temp gauge took ages to get to the middle, and it also took a good while to warm up. edit, just realised how dumb that reads i mean the heater takes a long time to come warm as well as the gauge

What can be recommended, besides the obvious can of petrol on the 5th?

[Edited on 30/10/07 by JoelP]

Don't know if this helps but it sounds F****D !!!!!

thats what i thought.

i'll log that as a 'can of petrol' answer

im thinking its gradually run out of water due to head gasket failure, will check further in the morning. Just cant link that to the ignition problems - oily plugs?

Itll more than likely be the heater matrix, quite common on them so my boss told me, we had one in work before with the same symtoms, was getting very hot, losing power + water..

Thought it was the headgasket at first, but we checked heat matrix and water came pissing out of the dash bit its in, they kinda give way aprently.. A pig of a job to do though, its a dash out job But itll more than likely be that so ive been told

Is that an early corsa c?? I would have thought if it wa the heater matrix then there would be a smell inside the car. When u lost all the water did it boil over or blow a hose?

If you can id fill it up with water and get hold of a cyclinder test kit. U take the cap off the water tank and sit it in there and itl tell u if the head gasket has gone. Is there any sludge on the oil filler cap?

quote:

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Originally posted by Danozeman
Is that an early corsa c?? I would have thought if it wa the heater matrix then there would be a smell inside the car. When u lost all the water did it boil over or blow a hose?

If you can id fill it up with water and get hold of a cyclinder test kit. U take the cap off the water tank and sit it in there and itl tell u if the head gasket has gone. Is there any sludge on the oil filler cap?

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in daylight i found it had blown the entire hose of the radiator! So reconnected and refilled. However, it doesnt explain how its got that much pressure in it - shouldnt the pressure cap let it out first? The hose looked very swollen.

Im not sure exactly what a cylinder test kit is - does it detect gasses in the coolant?

First step i think is check all fuses and leave it idling to see if fan comes on ok or if anything leaks. Maybe if it was low on water the fan switch might not have been covered - likely? Also check closer for smeg under the 710 cap and check/change plugs.

The car is still lelled!

What are the possible causes of hoses blowing off? I've put a proper clip on the one that came loose and its been ok, but tonight i started it from cold, reved it a few times, and when i took the cap off the header tank it had a large hiss of pressure escaping - whilst still cold and within 30 seconds of starting. I drove it this evening with the cap off so pressure cant build up.

Is it most likely the headgasket letting cylinder pressure into the water system? I appreciated ive totally ignored the advice to get a cylinder test kit on it, but i dont have one, and would rather work it out before i take it in to get it fixed.

bloody hell its been a month

[Edited on 28/11/07 by JoelP]

my old mans van just had the head gasket go. if we started the van up with the cap off the bottle the water went about 3ft in the air lol. i put the cap back on tryed again and it split the bottle,not good.
adam

it had blown the gasket between 3-4 it was only a hair line crack but it was enough to blow the water out the bottle.

[Edited on 29/11/07 by oadamo]