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Hey all, so bit of background.
I bought my wife a 2012 1.6 petrol DS3 as an incentive for her as she was doing so well with her driving lessons and had passed her theory, this was all pre-covid. She hasn't driven since the pandemic as she doesn't feel comfortable and her theory test will need to be taken again. Truth be told, she's lost all incentive now.
Fast forward and I've ditched my knacker and have been using her car since. Completely hassle free. Until I noticed a damp patch under the car. I checked the coolant reservoir, it was bone dry, so put a splash of water in it and popped to the local shops to pick some up, about 8 miles. No problems.
Went home next day topped up the coolant. A week later, no hot air and no coolant. Ok. So booked it in. Yup, we have a leak but they can't find it, everything seems as it should, but "keep an eye on it it's one of those things, we can't fix the problem until we see the problem." Right....
Hi ho. This goes on for a month or 2, we get sick of buying coolant with the weekly shop so start to stick water in. All seems well, no overheating problems just a top up every week.
Then it overheats and a warning light comes on. I pull over and shut it down until the temp. goes down. Drive it home gingerly 5miles. Book it in with a different garage.
"Nope can't find anything wrong with it."
Less than a week later the car starts to make a metallic "clunking / ticking" noise from under the bonnet at around 2.5 / 3k like a loose / cold manifold. So I crawl into town, stop at some lights near a forecourt and it cuts out. Temp fine.
I push it onto the forecourt and notice it's steaming.
Reservoir empty. Wait for it to cool. Take the cap off. Put some water in. It chugs all 5 litres, literally gulps and chugs out of the reservoir bottle at me. I think maybe it's still too hot. Undo the oil cap ( thinking it will help cool / release pressure ) lots of white / grey smoke more gulping noises. No water underneath or anywhere else.
Wait about 20 mins. Another 5 litres of water. Exactly the same thing.
Wait half an hour. Another 5 litres EXACTLY the same thing.
Now I'm thinking something is definitely not right.
Pull the dip stick and get covered in a mix of oil and water, so I now know where all the water went.
Locked the car. Got a lift home. Had the car recovered the next day and taken to a local mechanics.
Now I'm told the car won't turn over so they can't do a compression test and it really looks like the engine has had it.
So ...this is where I'm now stuck and am looking for advice opinions.
We've managed to grab another car, so we can get about and the mechanic has said he's happy to have one of his staff jump on it every now and again as they can't dedicate all the time needed to find out what's wrong with it in one sitting.
I'm thinking water pump, pulleys, gasket, bolts, cambelt, head skim, etc best case scenario...
Or Look for a similar engine to replace the old one
Or
Cut our losses, sell it as it is and move on.
IF you got this far kudos.
I bought my wife a 2012 1.6 petrol DS3 as an incentive for her as she was doing so well with her driving lessons and had passed her theory, this was all pre-covid. She hasn't driven since the pandemic as she doesn't feel comfortable and her theory test will need to be taken again. Truth be told, she's lost all incentive now.
Fast forward and I've ditched my knacker and have been using her car since. Completely hassle free. Until I noticed a damp patch under the car. I checked the coolant reservoir, it was bone dry, so put a splash of water in it and popped to the local shops to pick some up, about 8 miles. No problems.
Went home next day topped up the coolant. A week later, no hot air and no coolant. Ok. So booked it in. Yup, we have a leak but they can't find it, everything seems as it should, but "keep an eye on it it's one of those things, we can't fix the problem until we see the problem." Right....
Hi ho. This goes on for a month or 2, we get sick of buying coolant with the weekly shop so start to stick water in. All seems well, no overheating problems just a top up every week.
Then it overheats and a warning light comes on. I pull over and shut it down until the temp. goes down. Drive it home gingerly 5miles. Book it in with a different garage.
"Nope can't find anything wrong with it."
Less than a week later the car starts to make a metallic "clunking / ticking" noise from under the bonnet at around 2.5 / 3k like a loose / cold manifold. So I crawl into town, stop at some lights near a forecourt and it cuts out. Temp fine.
I push it onto the forecourt and notice it's steaming.
Reservoir empty. Wait for it to cool. Take the cap off. Put some water in. It chugs all 5 litres, literally gulps and chugs out of the reservoir bottle at me. I think maybe it's still too hot. Undo the oil cap ( thinking it will help cool / release pressure ) lots of white / grey smoke more gulping noises. No water underneath or anywhere else.
Wait about 20 mins. Another 5 litres of water. Exactly the same thing.
Wait half an hour. Another 5 litres EXACTLY the same thing.
Now I'm thinking something is definitely not right.
Pull the dip stick and get covered in a mix of oil and water, so I now know where all the water went.
Locked the car. Got a lift home. Had the car recovered the next day and taken to a local mechanics.
Now I'm told the car won't turn over so they can't do a compression test and it really looks like the engine has had it.
So ...this is where I'm now stuck and am looking for advice opinions.
We've managed to grab another car, so we can get about and the mechanic has said he's happy to have one of his staff jump on it every now and again as they can't dedicate all the time needed to find out what's wrong with it in one sitting.
I'm thinking water pump, pulleys, gasket, bolts, cambelt, head skim, etc best case scenario...
Or Look for a similar engine to replace the old one
Or
Cut our losses, sell it as it is and move on.
IF you got this far kudos.
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