My Little Car Has Just Lost One Of Its 9 Lives Options

[buellboy]

My car is quite lucky...I reckon it was given 9 lives, however ever since my ownership i think this has gone down quite considerably:

Life 9: First life was lost in the first week I had it when I crashed it at very very low speeds whilst parking in Tesco

Life 8: The lhs wheel came off as I was driving....interesting....had to buy new wing, hub etc etc

Life 7: Racing a honda civic, the clutch let go. I then proceeded to put brake fluid in the power steering (it was dark) as i thought the brake reservoir was a bit low

Life 6: Finding the balancer belt had snapped off, I had driven it over 1000 miles like this, without wrapping itself round the cambelt

Life 5: Sump-plug had been leaking oil and the car was driven with almost no oil for a while (by my brother not me!)....Still pulls well though!

Life 4: Cambelt changed at 80,000 and it is now on 120K +

Life 3: It was discovered that all the bolts of the gearbox were not tight. Intial blame from Hybrd was on my handywork, however it may have something to do with the fact that I have no "strengthening bar" between engine and gearbox

Life 2: Getting it to the nurburing with 3 fat feckers onboard + luggage and going 142mph probably didn't help!

Life 1: My brother called me up because, whilst on the m11, following a standstead express, he saw that from the bottom on the bus something big had dropped. Unable to switch lanes and going too fast to stop, he went over it. The impact cause the car to fly up in the air AND the sump to smash BADLY.
There is a massive gash down the whole side of the sump and possibly the engine block itself.....brother lost all oil and had to coast to the side of the motorway to await pick-up.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything that he will be able to do in the sense of claiming off the bus, despite having their reg plate and parts of the offending item (seems to be a metal suspension part) , I don't think he will have much success.

So car is on its last life. I may be fitting a new engine to it (hmmmmm I have a spare V6)..... will post pics soon as I just checked it out in the dark and there wasn't much to see tbh.

Anyone got a spare sump/engine for alloy top ?

This post has been edited by buellboy: 31st July 2012 23:56

[Cloverleaf76]

This is awful: I quite like that car!!! Seem to remember taking it to something approaching escape velocity on the autobahn

TBH I would try the insurance anyway but you'll need to be clearer about exactly which coach company it was: AFIK Stansted Express is a trademark of the rail version from Liverpool Street / Tottenham Hale. There's a list of the official bus operators here.

Can't help with engine / sump I'm afraid, have enough problems of my own

Surely the block will be okay though?! Above sump level it's quite well protected by the oil heat exchanger, exhaust manifold and timing gear?

Obviously check, and do the belts if it looks like the cover got hit, but sounds like you *might* get away with just a new sump.

One more thought though: if this lump of junk bounced all the way through the underside it might also be worth checking brake lines and fuel lines...

[buellboy]

Cheers for the link. I couldn't inspect the damage as the car was back at my house at midnight. I only had a quick cheeky look underneath....looks bad but couldn't tell just how bad.

The problem with insurance is that it is going to be difficult to prove that the bus lost the offending part and it is likely to be classed as a 50/50 fault which would mean that he would loose his NCB, instantly costing him several hundreds of pounds p/a...

[Cloverleaf76]

The problem with insurance is that it is going to be difficult to prove that the bus lost the offending part and it is likely to be classed as a 50/50 fault which would mean that he would loose his NCB, instantly costing him several hundreds of pounds p/a...

If you can ID the bus company it might be worth talking to the insurance and explaining that you don't want to risk your own no claims if the bus co won't admit liability. It's a v long shot but presented with the offending article they just might do...

This really sucks

[buellboy]

sucks big time....but at least it isn't a 20K car where I have a 5 year lease with monthly payments I can barely afford....which, guessing by the state of the economy, I reckon this is how most people afford a car!

The bright side of bangernomics ....even at worst, there is a guy selling a full ally top engine with proof of cambelt history for £75!

[Cloverleaf76]

The bright side of bangernomics ....even at worst, there is a guy selling a full ally top engine with proof of cambelt history for £75!

Which is what, a quarter the price of a new sump?

[NaanBread]

such a shame! hope you get her back on the road soon...cant let her go now youve done all that work

[buellboy]

Just took on the sump replacement. Not too bad, but the damage was mahossive! Best to use pictures to describe!


Engine mount was snapped in half and to make matters worse a shard from the sump got stuck in the rear right (brand new) toyo, puncturing it instantly.

Luckily the engine seems to be fine and the car is driveable (v.slowly though)

This post has been edited by buellboy: 5th August 2012 18:30

[Cloverleaf76]

Which engine mount do you need???

[buellboy]

the main bottom one and also the support bracket for the downpipes.

[Cloverleaf76]

the main bottom one and also the support bracket for the downpipes.

Got one, yours cos I feel vaguely responsible for life number 2. And you really dont need that bracket anyway :-)

[Macca]

Gio thats one hell of a whole, are you sure it was a bus the suspension fell off... maybe he ran over a small planet someone carelessly left in the road

[buellboy]

Gio thats one hell of a whole, are you sure it was a bus the suspension fell off... maybe he ran over a small planet someone carelessly left in the road

I have the piece of metal that smashed the sump, which is a piston from a heavy duty jack. I think the whole jack fell off, my brother drove over it and the piston got stuck in the sump somehow. In any case I changed the engine just to make sure. Unfortunately the new engine does not run!

[Smallville]

Is she dead yet? if not...take her outside with a shotgun and shoot the bitch