Had a disaster - Not sure what next ?

[shaunwil]

Not had the best afternoon. Running up the motorway this afternoon fb was running a bit rough. Thought it was just the exhaust blowing or rattling and thought I\'d get it on the axle stands tomorrow and have a look. Went past motorway services and heard an almighty bang. At 60mph the car swapped ends (in the 1st lane) and ended up parked on the hard shoulder pointing back at the traffic.

Balls I thought (and thank god I was in one piece), my diff has seized and spun me round and I have a major issue. Walked to the nearest SOS phone box and it wasn\'t working. Walked in to the Services and phoned the AA. Waited an hour and they picked me up and brought me and the car home.

Jacked back of the car up and drained the oil. Little bit of metal but nothing major (no big chunks). Came to turn the engine over and it just clicked. Took spanner to front of engine and the engine is completely seized ! Won\'t budge at all.

Now I\'m not sure what I should do. Should I break the car or fix it. I\'m already getting warned by my insurance I may not get cover in December because of the miles I commute a year.

I could replace the engine, but the value of the car isn\'t silly. Already been offered a REW engine but I\'m not sure it will be worth fixing.

In a real Quandry.

Shaun

[David Nock (RIP)]

Hard one Shaun. If you\'ve the time and inclination you would possibly get more cash breaking it. But if the body is good (I think it is still in good nick?) then someone might trailer it away as it is to do an engine swap on it.

Either way only you can say how much driving an FB means to you. You might want something else as a daily driver? Why not?
I\'m guessing the FD is too thirsty for the task.

Another possibility is to buy another S3 FB and use the black one as a doner car. Then of course you need some storage room.

Dave

[C J R]

Shaun, Sorry for your bad news, but happy you survived what sounds like a harrowing experience anywhere, but it must have been hightened occurring on the motorway.
 
Whilst it would keep the marque going by repairing the car, personally after our chat at Cadwell, you may want to consider giving yourself a break and getting a regular daily to give you time to concentrate on other matters.
 
Stay lucky
Chris

[shaunwil]

Adrenalin has worn off and I\'m a bit shakey at the minute.

I\'d probably say give me £650 to come and pick it up in its current state. The body isn\'t brilliant but it more than easily fixable. Would mean if its not viable then all the broken bits are easily worth the money. I would prefer somebody to keep it going than me break it.

I\'m going to have to buy another daily driver anyway. I need something to get to work and I only have a 3k a year allowance on the FD. Plus its got a drinking problem !

I\'m going to think about it some more, I\'d like to stick a 13-rew in the car as N/A but getting my hands on a suitable intake will be not the easiest of tasks with the LPG.

Shaun

[shaunwil]

Just amazed at how quickly it happened really. Class myself as very lucky, that\'s for sure !

Shaun

[Casey]

Glad to hear you are OK Shaun. I can\'t imagine how must adrenaline you must have been produced as that happened, especially at that speed . An amazing escape from what could have been a disaster.

Keep us posted on what you decide to do.

[Brett]

Scary stuff

Be interesting to know what caused the seizure, tip wedge or oil starvation...?

[seanp]

Scary stuff indeed Shaun - glad you are OK. Hard to know what to do in the circumstances.

[shaunwil]

I have a feeling either the chains broken and oil stavation or I\'ve chipped a seal and the engine has lunched itself.

One thing is I\'ll be pulling the engine out later today and taking it to bits to find out. More out of interest.

Shaun

[shaunwil]

Off to look at a mondeo estate tomorrow !

Shaun

[grinder]

bloody hell mate

Really glad to hear that you came out of it unmarked

Its very lucky that it put you on the hard shoulder and not the 2nd lane

im not sure what i would do at this point , is it not worth just leaving the Fb for a a few months to see what you would like to do and just picked up a 2nd hand car at the side of the road for a couple of hundred quid and drive that around for a while ?

I have a EGI engine in the back garden that you could poss use for parts if you fancy trying to rebuild yours ?

[grinder]

how long will it take you to pull the engine ??

And i love how you say it as a sort of "off the cuff comment"

[shaunwil]

Lol, couple of hours work to pull the engine out on the FB. I do need something worth the swap and I\'m viewing a 2.0lt TDCI 130 Zetec Mondeo estate tomorrow. It gives me the option of trailering cars to anywhere really and I should be able to afford something that will happily get me through xmas.

The insurance have been warning me that the FB may not get insurance next year because of the mods it has and the milage I use, so I\'ve been looking at doing the swap anyway.

Cheers for the offer of the engine, Is it a 6 port or 4 port engine ? Would be fun to get the thing rebuilt and sold to a club member. Not sure its worth for me to do it.

May be the end of the road for the FB.

Shaun

[grinder]

to be honest mate i have NO idea what it is

i think its blown the rear tips , but not sure if any of it is usable to be honest

its been outside for prob 6 yrs , so has been full of water !! LOL

[clive]

Just seen this, never mind the car and I cant help with the decision.

To me the main thing is your up n walking around ok :Thumbs-up