Well it never rains but it pours. For the first time in four years I had 140 +Euros on my German account after all expenses. I felt sorry for my missus who sells creams around the villages for someone else, all she gets is 10%, she has a knack for selling and is very successful. She knows where she can get the women's creams herself but never had enough money left over to start up herself so I overdrew my German account by 1,000 Euros and gave her the money to buy the creams herself. On the way back from the bank I stopped near home to buy some ciggys, coming out of the shop someone shouted there's smoke coming from your engine. A fan belt had snapped, the air con and the water pump weren't working (I had left the engine running so it had happened just then). I decided to drive the short distance to my stepdaughter's husband's garage, 5 minutes away, the engine ran smoothly but the gauge showed overheating of course. He put his hands over his head and laughed when I said it's only a broken fan belt and started talking about removing the engine although he is plowed under with work. In the end he decided to let the engine cool down first and see what's what. My wife started to give me the money back saying this is going to be expensive but I was resigned to my fate, "No keep the money, there's plenty of debt left where that came from." There is a scene in the sitcom "Married with children" where Al Bundy looks up to the sky in defeated resignation and says, "You won't even give me that god huh"? that's how I felt for 5 minutes but then laughed at the preposterous idea that it should be any different and opened a beer, as an American comedian once said, "Never give a sucker an even break", the cosmos must have been listening, this avatar needs another kick in the arse.....bring it on!

Well, how did the engine diagnosis end up?

Just now, pgrahmm said:

Well, how did the engine diagnosis end up?

No idea, I will wait until morning, the poor bastard has his courtyard full of cars waiting to be repaired, he even has to park some at my place, cars already repaired but the owners can't yet pay so he hides them outside my house. I feel sorry for him, he works all hours god gives him but it's never enough and because we are family he gives us a big discount, his wife, my step daughter who I looked after since she was a child, is fiercely loyal to me and with a degree in business makes sure I get that discount as she does the books. I'm optimistic, the engine didn't seize and ran normally for the 5 minute slow drive, Honda makes brilliant engines so I am hopeful.

Soalbundy, allow me to introduce my good friend Mr Paragraph 🙂

Just now, simon43 said:

Soalbundy, allow me to introduce my good friend Mr Paragraph 🙂

????

3 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

????

It's a friendly way to suggest that you use paragraphs when you write a large amount of text.  It will make it much easier for posters to read, rather than just seeing a large 'block' of text 🙂

Wow! That´s sad. I really feel for you. But, as you say, when it rains it pours. Hope you get away with just the belt. Good Luck, man.

Just now, simon43 said:

It's a friendly way to suggest that you use paragraphs when you write a large amount of text.  It will make it much easier for posters to read, rather than just seeing a large 'block' of text 🙂

Yes you are quite right, in fact I do that with emails and when I read what I have sent it's all bunched up again, I've learned now to do a double return to get a paragraph but thanks anyway.

5 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Wow! That´s sad. I really feel for you. But, as you say, when it rains it pours. Hope you get away with just the belt. Good Luck, man.

Thanks for that but life is as it is, only a fool protests. It is said that nothing happens without a reason, I'm not sure about that but sometimes strange things happen.

 

My brother (70) an extreme keep fit fanatic broke his neck doing extreme mountain bike riding in Australia, he was air lifted to hospital and placed in a metal frame frame, neck and shoulders, for 6 months, being normally very active he had to be treated for depression but in the end all was well.

 

As a last check up he was given a whole body scan and two tumours were found in his intestines, partially cancerous. The doctors took biopsy samples and said if he had left it much later he would really be in trouble, some of his gut will be removed in a few days time, they are waiting for a special anesthetist, or as my brother put it, the one with the biggest hammer. He had had no symptoms so if he hadn't broken his neck these tumours would have developed into something life threatening.

Who knows perhaps my Honda will turn into a Rolls Royce. 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

Yes you are quite right, in fact I do that with emails and when I read what I have sent it's all bunched up again, I've learned now to do a double return to get a paragraph but thanks anyway.

No problem!  I know that sometimes if I write a long post using Notepad and then copy and paste it into a forum reply, all my paragraph spacings are deleted automatically!

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

Thanks for that but life is as it is, only a fool protests. It is said that nothing happens without a reason, I'm not sure about that but sometimes strange things happen.

 

My brother (70) an extreme keep fit fanatic broke his neck doing extreme mountain bike riding in Australia, he was air lifted to hospital and placed in a metal frame frame, neck and shoulders, for 6 months, being normally very active he had to be treated for depression but in the end all was well.

 

As a last check up he was given a whole body scan and two tumours were found in his intestines, partially cancerous. The doctors took biopsy samples and said if he had left it much later he would really be in trouble, some of his gut will be removed in a few days time, they are waiting for a special anesthetist, or as my brother put it, the one with the biggest hammer. He had had no symptoms so if he hadn't broken his neck these tumours would have developed into something life threatening.

Who knows perhaps my Honda will turn into a Rolls Royce. 

 

 

 

Amazing life spirit. You made my day. 🙂 

What happened to 1000 Euros?

Sliding doors.

9 hours ago, Celsius said:

What happened to 1000 Euros?

I gave it to the wife, that's why I did the transfer, I'm not going to let the slings and arrows of life change my decision, I am trusting the cosmos to smile on my endevours.

If the engine was still running when you got to the garage it doesn't sound like it's serious. Let us know how it turns out.

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If the engine was still running when you got to the garage it doesn't sound like it's serious. Let us know how it turns out.

Well the air con compressor seized which is why the belt snapped, the smoke came from the overheated belt as it rubbed over the air con pully before it snapped as it no longer turned, the fan is also damaged. My son-in-law has removed all the damaged parts and has set off to buy replacements, he reckons with new parts, refrigerant and work it will cost me 10K, the engine is OK, no damage. I can have the car back in 2 hours. I've got just enough money on my BBK account to cover it, I was going to use that money to celebrate my birthday with family and friends but my car is more important.

My wife drove our Toyota Soluna until it literally seized up and stalled on Sukhumvit road  due to the radiator bursting leaking all the coolant and engine overheated and seized,

lucky it was right near a petrol station so we pushed the car in there  got a lift home  and I came back the next day on motorbike  to investigate    found the busted radiator  took it off the car and to a repair shop who said it was too far gone  so bought a new one from them  and then went back fitted it at the petrol station.......

filled with finest "toilet water"  I nervously started the engine, to my big surprise it started and run perfectly and has done ever since

( I did flush the toilet water out and put proper coolant in when I got home) 

Thought for sure the head would have warped and would need a top end overhaul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A broken "fan belt" isn't such an issue these days with electric radiator fans and different drive belt for the water pump. You'll lose your alternator, air conditioning and power steering. Not like the good old days when the fan belt literally drove everything.

On 7/2/2024 at 11:09 PM, simon43 said:

No problem!  I know that sometimes if I write a long post using Notepad and then copy and paste it into a forum reply, all my paragraph spacings are deleted automatically!

It’s worth going back and re-reading your post after posting, while you can still edit it.

 

Do as I say, not as I do…

 

Edit: you can only edit for about 20 minutes after posting, so don’t take too long editing 

On 7/3/2024 at 5:45 PM, soalbundy said:

Well the air con compressor seized which is why the belt snapped, the smoke came from the overheated belt as it rubbed over the air con pully before it snapped as it no longer turned, the fan is also damaged. My son-in-law has removed all the damaged parts and has set off to buy replacements, he reckons with new parts, refrigerant and work it will cost me 10K, the engine is OK, no damage. I can have the car back in 2 hours. I've got just enough money on my BBK account to cover it, I was going to use that money to celebrate my birthday with family and friends but my car is more important.

An engine will thermo syphon even without a water pump, so running it for a short while is probably not going to damage the actual motor.

You could save money for your birthday by not replacing the AC compressor. You don't need AC- open windows did the trick before they invented car AC- like for most of my life.

A new fan pulley and fan belt don't cost much.

On 7/3/2024 at 6:37 PM, johng said:

My wife drove our Toyota Soluna until it literally seized up and stalled on Sukhumvit road  due to the radiator bursting leaking all the coolant and engine overheated and seized,

Does your wife not understand what a water temperature gauge is for?

 

I'm being pedantic, apologies, but if the engine worked again, it wasn't seized- it just stopped working for a bit. A seized motor would require a recondition or a replacement block, IMO.

54 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

An engine will thermo syphon even without a water pump, so running it for a short while is probably not going to damage the actual motor.

You could save money for your birthday by not replacing the AC compressor. You don't need AC- open windows did the trick before they invented car AC- like for most of my life.

A new fan pulley and fan belt don't cost much.

The car is back fully repaired. I don't know if you are old enough (or British) to remember the mods and rockers era. It was said that if the fox tail adornment on a mod's scooter was missing it was regarded as broken, it's the same here, if a car's air con isn't working it's kaput, scrap, broken, unuseable and with good reason.

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Does your wife not understand what a water temperature gauge is for?

Nope she doesn't have a clue about most mechanical,electrical,technical stuff..but in her defence it was dark

(the dash board lights are a bit dim very old car)  and I had the music playing loud so warning sounds easily missed...  the car literally shuddered to a stop  it was (for want of a better word) "seized" albeit temporarily  until it cooled down  I'm very impressed with the 23 year old Toyota 5A-FE  engines reliability and endurance.