Automobilia etc....

#1,351
#1,351
vol_in_ar said:
i'll probably never be performing, I'm just going to take it too a better mechanic going forward

I had a guy I work with that needed to borrow a car, so I let him use it for a few weeks, then when he returned it to work, I had the shop pick it up to do the headlights and tail lights, so given the circumstances, it's hard to know who's at fault...

I didn't drive it between it being returned, and the other shop picking it up
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If they picked it up and drove it they should have seen it was running hot. And not sure how they determined it was air. You can tell air in the system through the expansion tank and it will run hot. Odd situation.
 
#1,353
#1,353
Looked thus up for you...air doesn't just happen unless you have a leak somewhere, like a hose. But even then a leak would be noticeable.

What I see most often when it comes to air in the cooling system is an overheat that occurs after the vehicle has had a bunch of work done that involved opening up the cooling system. Some common symptoms include:

You or a garage just finished replacing a head gasket, water pump, intake gasket, radiator, heater core, or coolant hose, and now that the work is done, you have an overheat condition.You have a condition where the vehicle starts to overheat, then suddenly drops to normal.You have issues getting consistent heat from the vents.Your idle fluctuates up and down and will not level out.

These are all classic symptoms of air in the cooling system. What happens is an air pocket gets trapped somewhere in the system, and does not allow the coolant to flow properly. When this happens, it creates a steam pocket that does not allow coolant flow; hence, the overheat. When the air pocket moves and things begin to cool down, things go back to normal for a while until the air accumulates again. The process continues until you purge the air from the system. *

Any time you open a cooling system for service, you must purge the air from the system. If you don’t, you get an air pocket and the symptoms described above.

Bleeding a cooling system is fairly simple. It's handled differently depending on whether you have a system with an overflow or expansion tank. I'll first cover a system that does not use an expansion tank and just has an overflow bottle.
 
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#1,354
#1,354
Nerd-Vol said:
My Miata is going to be for sale this spring. Anyone sold a car themselves? Any tips? My buddy encouraged eBay motors because it's more secure, it cuts out a lot of of the low balling bs.

It's a clean car, so I feel like I should have no trouble selling it. Issue is the book value isn't really useful for a car like this.
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I've sold a couple Corvettes on eBay. It's really easy, and actually kind of fun. My advice would be to take a LOT of pictures, and spend a good deal of time actually writing the ad. Any details you can give on the car helps a prospective buyer to know more about it, and, in my opinion, it also boosts your credibility as a seller. If you fixed it, describe what the problem was and how it was fixed...even if you just had to do something small like replacing an O2 sensor. If something is broken, be honest about it. People appreciate someone who doesn't look like they are trying to hide anything...it's a big step for a buyer to purchase a car sight unseen. Just keep that in mind when you write the ad and you'll be fine.

Good luck with it.
 
#1,356
#1,356
vol_in_ar said:
Question for anyone more knowledgable than me
It's on my Mini, had it in a shop getting new tail lights and headlights went with rhe blacked out frames instead of the chrome that was on there
When they were bringing it back they blew a head gasket
They are replacing it and I should get it back tomorrow or Sunday but they told me it blew because there was a bubble in the antifreeze radiator system
That it was a closed system and when it developed an air bubble it caused the head gasket to go

I've never heard of that and don't know if it BS or not, I'm not really pushing the issue with them since there correcting it
Just wondering if that air bubble explanation is legit
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That's BS

Air bubbles don't just develop and I have never had a head gasket blow from a air bubble
 
#1,357
#1,357
vol_in_ar said:
i'll probably never be performing, I'm just going to take it too a better mechanic going forward

I had a guy I work with that needed to borrow a car, so I let him use it for a few weeks, then when he returned it to work, I had the shop pick it up to do the headlights and tail lights, so given the circumstances, it's hard to know who's at fault...

I didn't drive it between it being returned, and the other shop picking it up
Click to expand...
I wish all my customers were as level headed as you.
 
#1,358
#1,358
Obsessed said:
That's BS

Air bubbles don't just develop and I have never had a head gasket blow from a air bubble
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I've seen hot spots develop rarely and 9 times out of 10 they are caused by a mechanic, pro and/or DIY. When it comes to cooling systems that require bleeding of air after draining and refilling, average folks performing such tasks would never know to bleed it.

Hot spots develop, and very rarely register on a guage. For the guage to register it, the Hotspot would have to develop right on the sensor. This is why pro mechs that deal with these type systems have one of these (below) close at hand.

As far as head gaskets, hot spots do not normally cause blown head gaskets. However, depending where the hot spot occurs, especialy on an aluminum engine, it is very possible for it to distort/warp a head and thus blow a head gasket.
 
#1,359
#1,359
malinoisvol said:
I've seen hot spots develop rarely and 9 times out of 10 they are caused by a mechanic, pro and/or DIY. When it comes to cooling systems that require bleeding of air after draining and refilling, average folks performing such tasks would never know to bleed it.

Hot spots develop, and very rarely register on a guage. For the guage to register it, the Hotspot would have to develop right on the sensor. This is why pro mechs that deal with these type systems have one of these (below) close at hand.

As far as head gaskets, hot spots do not normally cause blown head gaskets. However, depending where the hot spot occurs, especialy on an aluminum engine, it is very possible for it to distort/warp a head and thus blow a head gasket.
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I understand this. but no previous work was done to his car. I don't know much about the mini's. Are they turbo or supercharged? I've seen high excessive boosts lift heads of a block.


It just doesn't make sense to me for it to randomly blow a head gasket.
 
#1,360
#1,360
Obsessed said:
I understand this. but no previous work was done to his car. I don't know much about the mini's. Are they turbo or supercharged? I've seen high excessive boosts lift heads of a block.


It just doesn't make sense to me for it to randomly blow a head gasket.
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And the dealer says it was air. Kind of weird. Again, I don't think you can tell air was in the system if the gasket was already blown. If they knew it had air in the system they should have let ar know before it blew.
 
#1,361
#1,361
Yeah, head gasket blew while changing trim is a head scratcher for sure.

Go back and read all of VIR'S post on this matter.

Ob, I forgot to mention an over pressurized boost from a turbo or supercharger.

I know nothing of minis other than what they look like. Are they artificially aspirated?
 
#1,362
#1,362
malinoisvol said:
Yeah, head gasket blew while changing trim is a head scratcher for sure.

Go back and read all of VIR'S post on this matter.

Ob, I forgot to mention an over pressurized boost from a turbo or supercharger.

I know nothing of minis other than what they look like. Are they artificially aspirated?
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Some of the higher models ("S" and the JCWs i think) are supercharged, but generally they are NA.
 
#1,364
#1,364
vol_in_ar said:
it's the 2006 S R53 convertible with a supercharged engine
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This makes sense. Some one hot rodded the car and lifted the head causing the blown head gasket.
The car was over boosted more than likely.


Junk gas can cause detonation (which is more dangerous on a supercharged/turbocharged engine)
 
#1,365
#1,365
Obsessed said:
This makes sense. Some one hot rodded the car and lifted the head causing the blown head gasket.
The car was over boosted more than likely.


Junk gas can cause detonation (which is more dangerous on a supercharged/turbocharged engine)
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Very plausible.
 
#1,367
#1,367
Obsessed said:
This makes sense. Some one hot rodded the car and lifted the head causing the blown head gasket.
The car was over boosted more than likely.


Junk gas can cause detonation (which is more dangerous on a supercharged/turbocharged engine)
Click to expand...

I would say this. And since it wasn't mentioned by the shop at first they probably did it.
 
#1,368
#1,368
Nerd-Vol said:
My Miata is going to be for sale this spring. Anyone sold a car themselves? Any tips? My buddy encouraged eBay motors because it's more secure, it cuts out a lot of of the low balling bs.

It's a clean car, so I feel like I should have no trouble selling it. Issue is the book value isn't really useful for a car like this.
Click to expand...

I've sold a ton of them.

Autotrader works well for me. Just be prepared to get hounded by people that want to help you sell the car. Maybe that won't happen for your car since I'm guessing it's in the thousands.

If the buyer is local, see if you can get them to get a cashier's check while you accompany them to their bank.

I also use Autotrader (wide net) to get a feel for pricing given book value is not valid.

Might check Miata.net for pricing advice too.
 
#1,369
#1,369
volinbham said:
I've sold a ton of them.

Autotrader works well for me. Just be prepared to get hounded by people that want to help you sell the car. Maybe that won't happen for your car since I'm guessing it's in the thousands.

If the buyer is local, see if you can get them to get a cashier's check while you accompany them to their bank.

I also use Autotrader (wide net) to get a feel for pricing given book value is not valid.

Might check Miata.net for pricing advice too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.
 
#1,371
#1,371
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