the day had to come!!

[soramad]

Today the surf went to the garage to have a new head fitted, old head off, one big crack between No 3 cylinder and waterway few smaller cracks starting between the other cylinders but No 3 was the killer no liquid steel was going to fix that one! Am having the timing belt ,water pump, thermostat,rad cap and radiator replaced at the same time, the water ways look clean with no residue from the liquid steel (which kept it working for 4 months).
Will be getting it back early next week then the soarer goes in to have a new rear sub frame fitted,it has a broken stay rod bracket rusted through and nearly broken off allowing the rear wheel to move sideways at the front edge.

[Dobbslc]

Expensive month!

[soramad]

And to cap it all on the way home last night while driving the oldest one of our smart cars it over heated suddenly,( stuck thermostat, or failed water pump?) so had to leave it in a pub car park and it was picked up and taken to the same garage as the surf, so now I have three cars out of action out of the four we have, the newest smart car is still operationable, but looks like I will be taking a forced break till I get the surf back .

[soramad]

surf fixed new head, gaskets,glowplugs, bolts, waterpump, timing belt, thermostat, radiator and cap ,new engine oil and filter and new coolant fluid. runs as sweet as a rolls royce . The number 2 Smart was also fixed along side the Surf, that had a broken water pump hence the sudden rise in temp.

[robjames]

Soramad theres a name I've not heard in a while

[soramad]

Soramad theres a name I've not heard in a while

Hi Rob , don't tell me you got rid of the soarer and bought a surf, anyway I frequent forums (not SW) I presume you no longer visit. The soarer is having a new'ish rear sub frame fitted tomorrow, I have just spent money on the surf and one of our smart cars, my wallet will remember this October for a long time

[robjames]

Hi Rob , don't tell me you got rid of the soarer and bought a surf, anyway I frequent forums (not SW) I presume you no longer visit. The soarer is having a new'ish rear sub frame fitted tomorrow, I have just spent money on the surf and one of our smart cars, my wallet will remember this October for a long time

Glad you're keeping well! I still lurk on the forums im still a mod on the SW forum even though I'm rarely on there as I don't own one.

Which one are you referring to??

The green TT one went years and years ago!

The silver TT I fettled to 500bhp and then broke it for bits as no-one wanted to pay what it was worth (I only wanted £3k for it!) I made far more than that off the goodies alone to buy..........

The black V8 with a charger That went as they're big old buses and quite frankly rubbish on track! Plus to take it any further was intense work!!

I wanted something I could abuse on the track and fix on the drive with minimal hassle and a little civic fitted the bill well.

So the Charged V8 techincally was sold for a little civic

The surf was bought as the weathers getting crappy I need another release for my motor fun addiction.

Thus far like an unloved Soarer it's costing me a fortune but now (fingers crossed) it should all be good!

If the diff breaks again I'm going to SAS it and if the engine gives me anymore crap it's coming out and I'll drop a 1UZ out of LS or a 1J! If to far in now to give up so it'll either be a GOOD off roader now with the new diffs or a FANTASTIC off roader with the SAS

[soramad]

As you can see from my recent posts Surfs can become money pits as well as Soarers , I was torn between sorting the existing engine or dropping in a 1UZ and decided on the former as I had already bought a new rad and water pump ready for a timing belt change so when the head decided to die I thought it would be more prudent to get the head and get it fitted, the Surf has earned its right to remain original, it has served me well as a work horse from an immaculate specimen to a rather beat up vehicle having been run into three times , the last time was a Renault Clio which wrote itself off by nose diving under my rear bumper, bent the bumper somewhat but the Clios drivers side front suspension and nose were destroyed, anyway the soarer went in today to have an almost new rear sub frame fitted, out of 4 vehicles 3 have been in the garage for repairs this month, but am missing the Soarer the most.

[robjames]

I know the money pit feeling all to well!!

[soramad]

Have now got a small problem with starting now all the repairs have been done,after waiting for glow plugs to warm up, turn key to start, engine turns over but does not fire, try again some times it fires but might have to go to 3 tries before firing at which point clouds of white smoke comes from the exhaust,after which the surf will run perfectly all day and once again pulls like a train. Prior to this a new head,all new gaskets, head bolts, glow plugs, water pump,radiator,thermostat and radiator cap have all been renewed. Is there any adjustment that can be made to aleviate this smoking problem? Incidently there is power to the glow plugs but strangely when I checked the voltage read 18v? but gradually reduced to the standing battery voltage of 13.8v.

[soramad]

Bump
Can I take it that no one has come across this problem other than a leaking head or gasket? I know nothing about diesel engines other than the basics, thought I would ask here before shooting it back to the garage to check over.

[soramad]

An up date on this non starting problem (as no one here appears to have come across it). The problem was the immoberliser activator, having put the Surf key and Toad alarm/immoberliser lozenge on the same keyring as my Soarer key which has a Cobra alarm/immoberliser fob on,(didn't realise this at the time) the surf would not start, didn't realise this till having had the Surf shipped to the garage with just the key and lozenge they had no trouble in starting it ,burst into life no problem, put keys etc back on ring surf no start, went to soarer meet on sunday, story told of Lexus RX300 being driven into supermarket car park, parked, shopping finished, came out Lexus no start just chugged over, AA called, the AA man after trying to start the car with no luck, having come across this before put a call out for the owner of the bmw parked next to the Lexus, owner comes out moves the beemer and the Lexus starts? This story is what prompted me to try the surf with seperate keys and bingo started no trouble at all, the cobra signal was interfering/or cutting out the cobra signal which picks up on a coil behind the ignition lock. still have soarer keys in my pocket but not near the ig switch.

[Yorkshire Devil]

And to cap it all on the way home last night while driving the oldest one of our smart cars it over heated suddenly,( stuck thermostat, or failed water pump?) so had to leave it in a pub car park and it was picked up and taken to the same garage as the surf, so now I have three cars out of action out of the four we have, the newest smart car is still operationable, but looks like I will be taking a forced break till I get the surf back .

Is the Smart car a Mhd?

[woodwarm]

Ref alarm.


If I remember correctly, Toyota or Lexus parked with alarm set. Another vehicle parks nearby & his alarm is set.

Toyota/Lexus detects a signal not specific to alarm module,thinks it's being scanned/stolen. Alarm then rolls over the existing code necessitating you the owner to reset handset to alarm module.


Or something like that