Not a great day !

[andyvan]

Hi All,
Good to see the photos from the meet, what a nice set of folk, glad you had a good time..... Im actually a bit gutted, was driving along today and temp gauge climbed high, according to the RAC man, the headgaskets gone..... apparently a big job on my van..... all in all it may not be economic to repair Will hear from the garage on monday but am fearful! Could be looking for a romahome next, but not before counting the pennies!

Heres my sad photo of today :...(
Andyvan

[Graham]

Oh no, sorry to hear about that, it doesn't sound good but fingers crossed it's not as bad as it sounds.

[Ian.C.S]

the same thing happend to me years ago,and it turned out to be a faulty thermostat,repairable cheaply.get to a good crash garage,the AA etc are not that brilliant,I wouldnt be without membership of AA but I know their limitations.

[andyvan]

Cheers Ian,
Will absolutely check that out with the garage, they can't look at it till Tuesday at the earliest...... Have put myself in the mindset that it will be bad news, so any good will be a bonus to be celebrated!!! Lets see...
All the best
Andyvan

[jayjay]

Cheers Ian,
Will absolutely check that out with the garage, they can't look at it till Tuesday at the earliest...... Have put myself in the mindset that it will be bad news, so any good will be a bonus to be celebrated!!! Lets see...
All the best
Andyvan

Fingers crossed here for you Andyvan!

[andyvan]

Hi All,
Well it seems the headgasket has gone The garage are going to spend 2/3 hours worth of time investigating and reporting, it will be a minimum of £600+ (I doubt) to repair up to a new engine, which is not financially feasible! Access is a big problem as the engine is under the seats, but I should have a clearer picture by the end of weekend!
Jayjay its very nice of you to take time and show interest in this, with all you've got on your plate at present, I hope things improve for your parents and you... and soon. These spring days are good news for us all I think!
All the best
Andyvan

[jayjay]

Oh no, ouch!

I was hoping it would just be the thermostat...

How come it happened? Any clues?

Andy, this is my only respite from it all at the moment! I like to check in here if I can and see what everyone is up to!

[andyvan]

Hi Jayjay,
No clue really, I think its 'one of those things' RAC bloke and garage guy concur, I hadn't seen any oil seepage around the engine, temp guage had never deviated at all before, no warning lights, nothing! It never got 'thrashed' at all. Am still waiting to hear the full verdict from the garage I think they're fitting the inspection around other jobs (don't mind too much as it may make the cost a bit gentler for me)
It looks a sunny and warm weekend and Brighton is an easy place to be car-less in, I'll find out the verdict on the van soon enough. Very much hope things are improving for you, enjoy the weekend!
Andyvan

[andyvan]

Mechanical decisions..... any advice welcome!

Doh!!!
Heard from the garage the head is warped, it can be fixed but is near to the tolerance that Nissan recomend it being reground (reprofiled?)...... So garage will not offer any guarantee that this course of action will be a complete success.... but likely to be fine! (I'm guessing that manufacturers might be a bit conservative, but it has done 123k miles!)
Choice isn't great really an £800 risk, or £140 for the work so far and then potential disposal!!!
Its been a long (and trying!!) day at work so will phone 'em Thursday afternoon with an instruction.... any observations on regrinding welcome!
Goodnight
Andyvan

(Will be googling meanwhile!)

[Derek]

I think the garage are being a bit cheeky, if it is within tolerances it should be OK to skim the head and they should guarantee their work. I had an R reg Astra with a leaking head gasket about 6 years ago and I had it done, headskim and work was £600. I was planning to trade the car in which I did a few months later and I only got £1000 for the car, I still think it was worth it. If your camper is in good order generally I would go for the repair, older vehicles tend to depreciate less but come up with expensive surprises now and then. I have just spent £750 on my 7 year old Berlingo.

[andyvan]

At last!

Well the garage are going to do it, and guarantee the work! After a longer chat with the proprieter he said it was entirely feasible to do the work, a much more reassuring chat than previously!
Thanks all and Ian and Derek in particular for some good advice that was helpful...
Looking forward to returning to the road.......... How much has petrol risen in the last 2 weeks?
All the best
Andyvan

[Tentpeg]

Oh am so glad Andyvan..... hopefully you will be back on the road soon.

[Pauline]

I'm so glad to read you might be back on the road soon Forget the rise in petrol costs, make the most of it