Sorry guys, this is probably just a bit of rant but if anyone has any good advice about any of this (other than 'scrap the car') then I'd like to hear it. In the space of a week my trusty old 305 (yes, with my fuel injection conversion) seems to be on the verge of dying in the most hideous way. It was suffering from an oil burning problem when it was left idling for a long time. However, it's never got bad enough to affect the car at any other time than if it's left idling excessively. A couple of weeks ago I changed a wheel bearing - it was the biggest problem I had with the car and it was good to finally get it out of the way, I thought the engine would at least last until next summer when I could make a decision on whether to refurbish the engine, replace it or replace the whole car. Never turns out that way, does it? About half way through last week I started noticing a rattling noise under acceleration when the engine is cold. It's got progressively louder since then, although it's not deafening (yet!). It seems to be coming from the top end. It sounds like I've got a sewing machine under the bonnet. Whilst listening to the noise, I noticed two other things:
- A crack has appeared on the cylinder head where part of the exhaust manifold is bolted to the head - but it doesn't seem to leaking any exhaust gases though.
- I'd lost some water - there wasn't much left in the header tank (it was below minimum) and there appeared to be water resting under the front part of the cylinder head - as if it was leaking from around there.
With all this going on, the engine was still running and there hasn't been any real noticable drop in power. However, the exhaust keeps coming apart in the centre and I think maybe it's caused by excessive engine shaking. I replaced the lower engine mount twice earlier in the year (the first new one cracked) and now I think the top one has gone.
Now, today, my brakes have randomly stopped working. They were fine until halfway through the day when the pedal started travelling further - it's now got to the point where sometimes they work fine and other times I can put my foot right down to the floor with hardly any braking. I think maybe I'm leaking fluid from the master cylinder? I don't seem to have lost much fluid yet though and I can't see a leak.
In other words (and to put it much more succinctly), my car is undrivable and the engine is about to do something nasty. Dammit. People tell me I should get a new car. They're probably right, but I am mad and I want to keep it. Anyone have anything helpful to say or does this look like an almost complete overhaul of the engine bay components? To be honest, I think I already know the answer to all this but there's no harm in asking and like I said at the start, I'm just ranting about it all ;)
I have one mental idea... upgrade all the running gear (brakes, suspension, etc) and drop in an Mi16 engine. Does anyone know if it's ever been done on a 305? (the current engine is an XU)
Chris.