'puddle' 1, Micra 0

[ronin_kid]

so, heading home today along some backroads on the moors i hit a puddle - and unfortunatly for both me and my beloved car, it was a fair bit deeper then i expected...

so after i had pushed her to the side of the road and popped the bonnet my worst fears were conformed - the air-filter was soaking wet and there was water in the filter box... the nice man from the AA had a look down the plug-holes, then pulled out a handy gadget and proceded to pump what looked like buckets full of water from chambers 1,2 and 4... after this she still wouldnt turn over, so the assumption is she's bent a rod somewhere - great...
the really annoying bit is is i swapped the home-made induction kit i had on previously back to the stock box and intake system for my MOT a few months ago, and never got round to swapping it back - my home-made kit took its air from behind the one of the front 'nostrels', whereas the standard kit takes it from below the off-side light, meaning i'd have probably got through ok if only i'd put my noisy, bodge-job filter back on - oh well..

as i was towed home i had some time to think about it, an apart from wanting to dis-embowel everyone at south-west water and devon county council for not sorting the drainage out, i decided it would probably be easier, and probably cheeper, to just buy another micra and leave swapping the engines over till i have some free time in the summer - i'm half way through my last year at uni and need to travel the 20-odd miles into school daily to complete my dissertation project and attend lectures etc...

so i've checked autotrader and theres a '94 1.0 3dr reasonably close going for £595, which is probably twice as much as i'd pay a garage to swap my busted motor for the spare i have in teh garage, but at least i'll have something to get about in...

so tomorrow, as well as the usual uni hassle i now have to call up and find about about this car, then get a quote for swapping motors from the local garage, as well as calling my insurance to see if i can claim it as flood damage (the AA mans suggestion - i'm dubious, but its worth a shot..)

so, home and dry now, i've decided to call it a night and drown my sorrows...
ahh, the irony...

 

[frank]

bad luck there RK i hope you get it sorted

 

[micras69]

woooow £595 for the the rough time of 3 hrs changeing an engine...you mad lol

but sorry to hear this......quick question....what was the splash like he he he

 

[ronin_kid]

thanks Frank - looks like that engine of yours may be brought back to life a bit sooner then i'd planned!..

micra69 - i'd do it tomorrow except that i have zero experience, nowhere to work (my drives on about a 30deg slope), and only half the tools i'd like to do it with (no jack etc)....

i'll probably register this one SORN and use her as a test-bed for a few mods i'd rather not try on a daily driver, then either bring her back on the road when all the works done, or use the experience gained to sort out the new car and strip the old one for spares...

 

[ronin_kid]

thought i'd post a little update on my blog of misery....

good news is i called my insurance yesterday, and as it was floodwater and i'm fully comp, i'm covered.... they were pretty good about everything, and less then 5 minutes after i got off the phone with them i had a call from the nominated garage to arrange when they'd pick up my car... my suspiscion is they'll want to write it off, but i'm free to withdraw my claim at any time, there's a chance they'll offer me cash-in-lieu, plus whatever happens i should find out exactly whats wrong.... they collected today and i should hear back by the end of the week...

on the bad side i talked to my dad, and he's offered to lend me his Citroen Berlingo - its French, diesel and massive compared to the micra, but theres space for the kids and all their associated gubbins, and Mrs RK likes it, so i think i'll probably be running around in that till i get time to swap over the engines - better then the busses at least.....

 

[frank]

nice one RK (Y) negotiate a cheque and the car back (asap else the garage will charge the insurance for storage if they dont get the repair)

 

[capnmchl]

Sounds bad. A few roads nearly caught me out on saturday night. DCC really need to get on with repairing all the potholes and sorting out the drainage.

Where abouts did you do this just by interest.

 

[ronin_kid]

just north of Plymouth, Yelverton area, was on my way home from Tescos....

gettin used to the Bingo slowly, the gear-box is clunky, its slow to respond, and dont even think about trying any quick foot-work.. on the plus side tho it pulls pretty well from low rpms even in high gears, and the higher driving position is nice, although filling it up last night was a bit of a fright!.

 

[ronin_kid]

finally had some good news today - got a call from the claims adjustor earlier and talked through all the options

he's valued the car at £1100

minus my £150 excess and a £50 retention fee

so i should be getting a cheque for £900odd... :grinning::grinning::grinning:

it will be classed as a cat-C writeoff, plus i'll loose my no-claims, but its beeing recorded as an 'act-of-god' by my insurers, so shouldnt push up my premium too much... theres also a chance VOSA will want to inspect it to make sure everythings kosher, and if they do i'll be charged about £50-ish for the pleasure, but all in all i'm happy... car should be delivered back in 5 working days, then all i gotta do is swap out the old engine and drop the spare back in... it sound so simple lol

 

[frank]

finally had some good news today - got a call from the claims adjustor earlier and talked through all the options

he's valued the car at £1100

minus my £150 excess and a £50 retention fee

so i should be getting a cheque for £900odd... :grinning::grinning::grinning:

it will be classed as a cat-C writeoff, plus i'll loose my no-claims, but its beeing recorded as an 'act-of-god' by my insurers, so shouldnt push up my premium too much... theres also a chance VOSA will want to inspect it to make sure everythings kosher, and if they do i'll be charged about £50-ish for the pleasure, but all in all i'm happy... car should be delivered back in 5 working days, then all i gotta do is swap out the old engine and drop the spare back in... it sound so simple lol

nice one RK (Y)

 

[ronin_kid]

cheers Frank - am doubbley glad i got my spare engine of you now, many thanks again for hauling it all the way down here!! (Y)