evlb1tch

I have a mini mechanic in henderson that is $70 per hour but they would be quicker since that is what they specialise in so I think I may send it to them to quote repair pricing...

But any other suggestions would be appreciated!

Oh the car is a manual....but the engine he got me was off an auto.

Yeah he was an absolute legend though hasn't worked on an Aseries engine so didn't want to do the repair...good honest man!

I have found what sounds like a good engine in chch that a friend is checking out for me next week as it is still in the car... so might go down that track...

It got very hot...so I think I may be better just swapping...quicker for labour too..

Yeah they can....they just need drilling...have done in the past

Unfortunately I just got this email

Hi, unfortunatley we have bad news, after replacing waterpump, thermostat, radiator cap & having the radiator cleaned out we have test driven approx 15 km & the headgasket has blown. I am not sure but suspect the head or gasket may be incorrect fit for car as things dont seem right. The next step is to remove the head but I think this may be better suited to your specialist in auckland as they will know what should be fitted. The total cost so far in $337 & this is at our cost. Depending where your mechanic is we may be able to assist in delivery to them. Just email or call 078434462. Richard Glenview Automotive.

Hey everyone quick update....thank you all for your help and advice too btw I really appreciate it!

Car didn't blow gasket and has been started wahoo! Turns out the water pump was malfunctioning so mechanic is currently replacing that and will go from there but he's driven it a bit and said it sounds ok...obviously I would have done some damage but not as bad as I thought! The guy I bought the car off has bought another second hand engine for me too which was really nice! Though its off an auto so will need some changes (from memory of elizabeths manual conversion!)

So I thought I would tell you a little story that I thought was quite nice...

I was under the bonnet trying to find what may have gone wrong with my shiny new tool set (My last lot got stolen) and this nice gentleman stopped and asked if I was ok...he said the first car he had ever rebuilt was a morris 1300 so he had a look. Then he went home to get some stuff. In the time that he was away a police officer and one other guy stopped to see if I was ok! How nice is that, 3 guys in the space of an hour! Good old kiwi attitude! So the first guy came back with his bits and when he couldn't figure out what was wrong, he called his friend who was a mechanic just up the road and he came and towed my vehicle to his shop that very day! I thought that was pretty special especially since it was labour day!

And so all is well that ends well and I will probably post some pictures up soon once I get her back home!

Del xx

oh and for the bets...fan belts fine..no broken pipes and oil is fine too...so a mystery really (for now) to what went wrong!

Yeah a guy who knew these engines stopped and had a look and tried a few things (I was under the bonnet so probably looked helpless haha) and tested everything...definitely a cooked engine...mechanics coming to get it soon will just have to get it rebuilt

Am in Hamz going to take a look tomorrow today's weather was so hideous! Will let you know what I find! Anyone in Hamz going to be around?

That's what I was thinking.... or a warped head? But my knowledge is very limited haha

Yeah but it came on before I had stopped... that's why I'm worried haha...here's hoping it's not as bad as I thought when I get to it Sunday!

Oh and the orange light is the Oil Pressure warning light :s

I'll be heading south past you on wednesday or thursday. My guess it the head gasket was not re torqued down. Or something is blocked. I'll check the father inlaws shed I think he had and old 1100 engine somewhere. If you want me to cast an eye over it send me a text 0211543092

Thanks! I textd you but I may be too late!

Hey by any chance is it Blue? if so i drove passed it twice this week already looked very tidy. if it is seized you'd be surprised how effective a few tablespoons of diesel and clean engine and oil down sparkplug holes can be in freeing things up. above all do not scrap it.

Nope she's white with red interior....hopefully not all damaged from being out in the open for a week!

Adele, get someone in the know to take a look at it, it might be something very simple. Let us know where it is and someone might be nearby and happy to take a look!

Great idea...anyone in the know in Hamilton? Haha

Great wee car and well worth keeping! Tough little engines- it'll be something simple and or cheap to fix I'm sure and your on the right forum to get help.justbe prepared to learn a lot as we all have had to do. Such fun.

Yeah I learnt alot from the last one...but I don't know too much about engines...just how they work! Hoping I haven't warped the head...

i'll put some $ on broken/thrown fan belt.

Note to self...in future check fan belt as well!!!

GOSH SORRY EVERYONE I JUST SAW ALL THESE RESPONSES!!!! I never got any notifications!

Here are all my answers below

It shouldnt be anywhere near $2k for another engine.

Definitely not worth scrapping

Need more info, when you try to start it what happens?

When I start it doesn't ignite....tried even jump starting it...It lost compression when I was driving but I had no reception where I was so (and it was pouring with rain) so I just had to keep driving till I found some (20mins later) when I drove it normally the engine sounded like it was going to cut out...lost power unless I was in too low gear and revving crap out of it...so I think I would have definitely done some damage. When I eventually stopped the engine cut out before I stopped.

Why don't you figure out whats wrong with it? it's probably just a blocked radiator and a head gasket.

I plan on taking a look this Sunday when I go back to hamilton...but mechanics aren't usually open on a Sunday to take it to...I'm working all day sat and have a 9-5 job during the week so can't just skip down for a day during the week!

Engine light on a '70? I will guess at 'charge' light

Check for obvious things like a missing fan belt. It is extreme speculation to think the engine is destroyed unless it stopped rotating after getting hot. If the car stopped again shortly after running out of fuel then you could well have picked up rust flakes from the bottom of the fuel tank.

Not sure if this answers the question but the fan still ticked over....but the radiator had no water....hoping to check it all out Sunday and try and find whats wrong...it's a fairly simple car so shouldn't be too hard to find out!

And if its the charge light and it isn't starting that is probably right as it should only go off once started

Charge light would come on every time I wouldn't be revving it to pieces when driving the last little bit finding reception.... but then also the engine got quite hot and melted a few wires...so may just be a electrical fault.

Sitting on the side of the road a bit south of Te Kuiti?

Haha I was for quite a while! But now it is in Hamilton.

yeah its not really broken unless its seized, cant be a very complicated engine. like someone said, probably just a blocked cooling system and the head gasket popped.

more info on what its doing would heap heaps

Ok cool hope its not too bad!

Also some of you may remember me looking for one of these cars a while ago...it's taken me two years to find this one so I'm gutted as

Hey everyone,

Yesterday I bought a 1970 Riley Kestrel 1100cc from a guy in Wanganui...being a previous owner of a Morris 1300 I understand that they aren't the most reliable of things....however with it just having had the following work done

"The car has a reconditioned engine

wich included 4new pistons rings bearings including mains recond oil

pump and a reconditioned head. The car is used every day "....."the engine has only done aprox 1000 miles and starts and drives well."

I would have thought that at going a maximum of 50mph and stopping every hour for 15 or so it would have taken me further than Arapai (the town before Te Kuiti) from Wanganui... (In the Middle of that I did have a longer break too as I ran out of gas...to say the least I had the day from hell yesterday haha)

Alas despite it having good oil and water levels when I checked at Raetihi and filled up with gas...it managed to end up overheating and now won't even start and has engine light on

I don't really know what I should do...should I contact the guy I bought it off or should I count my losses and get her scrapped? Seems to good a car to scrap though I could look into getting a new engine but after only paying $2500 for her it seems silly to then spend another 2k on the engine when I wanted to spend that on paint...

Any ideas or suggestions?

Adele