HELP!! Head gasket gone??

General General Lotus Talk
1

Hello all,A very upset Elise owner here… I’m living in Switzerland, and have owned my '97 Elise for about 9 months now. I was driving it home the other night, and following a loud screeching noise that sounded a bit like the fanbelt going, clouds of steam poured out of th engine. I obviously stopped the car immediately, and the only thing the AA-equivalent mechanic could find out was that the cooling fluid was trickling out steadily when the engine was running. He suspected a burst hose, but the garage have now told me that it was the head gasket that went. I don’t want to be suspicious, but are those typical symptoms of a blown head gasket? It’s going to set me back enough… The engineer also happened to notice that my rear tyres are too bald to be legal, so it looks as though a set of new Yoko’s is on the books (currently got Pirelli’s) - from what I’ve heard they sound very good, has anyone else had experience (good or bad) with them?Many thanks!!

2

Sorry to hear about your car - I can sympathise somewhat as my Exige has developed a blown head gasket this last week. I can’t be sure from your description that this is definitely what has gone wrong with your car - in my case, the car simply started to overheat, and when I stopped there was no coolant in the resevoir. The AA mechanic used a chemical ‘sniffer’ and detected exhaust gases coming through at the coolant reservoir which indicates that the head gasket has gone.Where was the coolant leaking from on your car? Is the car covered by warranty still?Ian.

3

no…no warranty! I pushed for a full years’ warranty but the best they would offer was 3 months. Should’ve seen it coming really! However, something good has come out of this - as all the work they’re doing is virtually identical to the work needed to fit the Lotus 135 kit I’ve decided to go ahead with it, making the blown head gasket not actually cost me anything…and they’ve given me a price reduction of 1k on the kit! Fate has treated me well… [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image] [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]