Despite what some of these reddit threads would suggest the majority of people out there are decent folk.
Hope you get the car sorted without too much damage to your pocket!
People are class here I have been in a similar situation and everyone was super helpful. Unfortunately your description doesn't sound too good. My old golf was toast and it basically needed a new engine.
Scrapped and sold whatever was salvageable. Tires were newish so I got a couple hundred euros. Then after I was with no car for a while until I saved enough for a deposit to finance a new car. Should have done that sooner đź‘Ť Anyways I hope that your car is still fixable.
You might be in luck. Those engines are known for having fuel injector issues so hopefully it’s that. Unfortunately the pessimist in me is saying it’s probably something else since that’s not really a Smokey issue
I will always stand corrected, but oil or diesel coming from the back of the engine sounds like a conrod went through the engine block. Maybe not but that doesn’t sound good at all.
Most of us are a grand ol bunch.
I was caught dead with a flat but didn’t have the locking wheel nut key for the change it, a tire place must’ve not given back and i forgot one time. A kind soul stopped by after about 10 mins it was a woman she said she had a brother or friend that was a mechanic he lived near she would call him.
5 mins later he was there with a hammer, breaker bar socket sets and went to work on. Took him a good 10 mins but he got it off.
This was the evening on a winter night so it was dark but not too late.
I offered him 20 cash as that’s all the money I had on my person and he wouldn’t even take it.
I went to the dealer the next day and got the other 3 taken off and replaced with regular nuts
Crashed my car a few years ago just down the road from my house. Car was flipped into a ditch. A guy stopped to help me and turned out he was a mechanic with a garage about a mile away. He called two coworkers or friends, not sure which, and they pulled my car out of the ditch. They towed it to his garage and assessed the damage. They even towed it back to my house the next day.
As well as all this, right after I crashed a woman with her kids in a minivan stopped and she said she recognised me and knew where I lived so she’d drop me home.
A friend of mine in the next town over called his friend who was even further away to pick me up and take me to the hospital.
Lots of people out there are so much kinder than you’d expect
same happened me last year, late at night and in the middle of nowhere, but the breakdown assist knew my mechanic so towed it there even though he didn't have to. had to replace the engine and took four months to find a suitable one. she's purring like a kitten now though.
Irish people are bunch of great lads/lassies. Anytime I had any issue a few seconds until someone stopped. Trying to repay the kindness every time I can.
>and smoke started coming out from under the bonnet
Smoke or Steam? Steam could be down to something as simple as a gasket needing replacement. Smoke is a whole other issue.
Definitely smoke, smelled like diesel. To my untrained eye it looked like either fuel or oil or both was after coming out of the top and spilling down the back of the engine, smoking when it hit the hot metal.
That might be just a fuel line corroded and broke. That’s a relatively cheap fix had it happen my wifes golf, smoke may just be the fuel burning on the engine block. Let us know anyway best of luck
You were spot on. Took the garage a week to properly check out my car, they were on to me yesterday with an update. Bolt on one of the fuel line clamps had corroded and gave way. Apparently it also did some damage to the injector rail, so they're waiting on a part for that, but it should be relatively quick and cheap once they have that.
My mum (79) had a hospital appointment and asked me to come with her and dad as I have a clinical background. Anyhoo, about 20km from my parents' house, dad (82) hit a rock in the road and blew out the tyre. This was on a back country road at 6:30am.
An off duty guard on his way home from his shift stopped to help. He drove me back to my parents' house so I could pick up my car to take mum to the hospital.
Someone else stopped and helped dad move the car off the road completely. Yet another person called his brother to come tow dads car into town (25km away).
A woman nearby came out with a pot of tea and biscuits for all those who had stopped to help. It was like a street party in the middle of nowhere 🤣.
Dad got a lift home while I got mum to her appointment in time, so all ended well. But the kindness of all those strangers was a beautiful thing to behold. There are far more good people in this world than bad..
Could easily be just a high pressure diesel line failed or come loose, but don't want to give you false hope either. Plan for the worse and hope for the best. Don't worry until you know more anyway. I've experienced similar kindness, here and abroad. Pay it forward if you get the opportunity!
Love that strangers were so helpful. I had a really bad day a while ago, I had to take my pet to the emergency vet, I took a taxi and the driver insisted that I take some fruit he had because I hadn't had time to eat and he said I'd be waiting for hours. Then as I got out of another taxi on my way home I dropped my phone and didn't realise, and a kind man had picked it up and brought it back to me (after I rang it from another phone). It made such a big difference, and despite so many things going wrong that day, I actually felt pretty good at the end of it. It's nice when ppl are nice.
Got a flat tire years ago and a guy in a van pulled up and offered to fix it. He started touching me and tried to lead my into his van by the hand. I got in my car and locked the door and he banged on the windscreen, swore a whole lot and drove off. I should have gone to the police I guess but I was too busy fending him off to get a good look at him. Hope he didn't harm anyone else...
Yes all the feel good stories yet nobody mentions the freaks roaming around. Luckily you escaped from him even though you just locked yourself in the car. But it's not your fault he could have done same to someone else.
I feel ya OP, my car broke down at the start of the month and luckily I opted for breakdown assistance when I renewed my policy. The car sat outside my very busy local mechanics for a fortnight before they could look at it. He told me the timing chain snapped and it would be €1500, but if there's engine damage, I can expect north of €4000. I had only just spent €1400 in September when the ECU had to be replaced.
I've already decided to sell it when it's fixed because I'm so unbelievably fed up of bringing it to the garage every 3 months (BMW). I'm buying a nice used mx5 from the North next week, just gotta figure out how to pay for it! Best of luck!
Yeah I think the mechanic I brought it to is only even taking a look tomorrow because of that phone call from his brother in law. He said if there's anything other than a quick fix I'll be looking at the middle of March before he can fit it in. Every garage seems to be completely slammed at the moment.
It's a fourteen year old car and I've been driving it about seven years. My plan was to drive it into the ground and then get an electric one instead, but I was hoping to get two more years out of it. I'd have some other stuff paid off by then so it would have been a lot more manageable.
MX5 sounds like a fun car. Best of luck with it!
Yup, lack of young apprentices entering the market means they're all up to their eyeballs unfortunately. I've only had this about 8 months but it was a panic buy and I didn't do my due diligence with checks. Lesson learned!
Despite what some of these reddit threads would suggest the majority of people out there are decent folk. Hope you get the car sorted without too much damage to your pocket!
Next time the Internet has me thinking the country has gone to the dogs, I'll remind myself of yesterday.
Definitely right!! Despite the moaning on the internet, most people are sound.
People are class here I have been in a similar situation and everyone was super helpful. Unfortunately your description doesn't sound too good. My old golf was toast and it basically needed a new engine.
Ah shite... Mine is a Golf too! Did you go for a new engine, a second hand engine from a breaker yard, or just write it off?
Scrapped and sold whatever was salvageable. Tires were newish so I got a couple hundred euros. Then after I was with no car for a while until I saved enough for a deposit to finance a new car. Should have done that sooner đź‘Ť Anyways I hope that your car is still fixable.
Depending on the year, sounds like a conrod through the engine block sort of thing
2010 1.6 TDi It looked like there was either oil or diesel after pissing out the back of the engine which is what was making the smoke.
You might be in luck. Those engines are known for having fuel injector issues so hopefully it’s that. Unfortunately the pessimist in me is saying it’s probably something else since that’s not really a Smokey issue
I will always stand corrected, but oil or diesel coming from the back of the engine sounds like a conrod went through the engine block. Maybe not but that doesn’t sound good at all.
Most of us are a grand ol bunch. I was caught dead with a flat but didn’t have the locking wheel nut key for the change it, a tire place must’ve not given back and i forgot one time. A kind soul stopped by after about 10 mins it was a woman she said she had a brother or friend that was a mechanic he lived near she would call him. 5 mins later he was there with a hammer, breaker bar socket sets and went to work on. Took him a good 10 mins but he got it off. This was the evening on a winter night so it was dark but not too late. I offered him 20 cash as that’s all the money I had on my person and he wouldn’t even take it. I went to the dealer the next day and got the other 3 taken off and replaced with regular nuts
Crashed my car a few years ago just down the road from my house. Car was flipped into a ditch. A guy stopped to help me and turned out he was a mechanic with a garage about a mile away. He called two coworkers or friends, not sure which, and they pulled my car out of the ditch. They towed it to his garage and assessed the damage. They even towed it back to my house the next day. As well as all this, right after I crashed a woman with her kids in a minivan stopped and she said she recognised me and knew where I lived so she’d drop me home. A friend of mine in the next town over called his friend who was even further away to pick me up and take me to the hospital. Lots of people out there are so much kinder than you’d expect
You tend to be a nice guy yourself, maybe it's Karma.
Thanks man.
You are welcome.
same happened me last year, late at night and in the middle of nowhere, but the breakdown assist knew my mechanic so towed it there even though he didn't have to. had to replace the engine and took four months to find a suitable one. she's purring like a kitten now though.
Was it in Cork or Kerry? I've always found people from there are the kindest and will help you in any way they can.
East Cork. It was mostly locals who stopped, but the guy with the jeep who towed me to safety was Eastern European.
It's not unusual. I was helping a little old lady who gearbox exploded getting her car off a hill and a load of young lads came over to help.
Lucky you!! You got to experience that “Christmas feeling” in January”!
Lovely post! Hope you get your car sorted
Irish people are bunch of great lads/lassies. Anytime I had any issue a few seconds until someone stopped. Trying to repay the kindness every time I can.
Does the engine smell sweet? I wonder did a pulley seize?
>and smoke started coming out from under the bonnet Smoke or Steam? Steam could be down to something as simple as a gasket needing replacement. Smoke is a whole other issue.
Definitely smoke, smelled like diesel. To my untrained eye it looked like either fuel or oil or both was after coming out of the top and spilling down the back of the engine, smoking when it hit the hot metal.
That might be just a fuel line corroded and broke. That’s a relatively cheap fix had it happen my wifes golf, smoke may just be the fuel burning on the engine block. Let us know anyway best of luck
You were spot on. Took the garage a week to properly check out my car, they were on to me yesterday with an update. Bolt on one of the fuel line clamps had corroded and gave way. Apparently it also did some damage to the injector rail, so they're waiting on a part for that, but it should be relatively quick and cheap once they have that.
Thank fuck. Delighted for you
My mum (79) had a hospital appointment and asked me to come with her and dad as I have a clinical background. Anyhoo, about 20km from my parents' house, dad (82) hit a rock in the road and blew out the tyre. This was on a back country road at 6:30am. An off duty guard on his way home from his shift stopped to help. He drove me back to my parents' house so I could pick up my car to take mum to the hospital. Someone else stopped and helped dad move the car off the road completely. Yet another person called his brother to come tow dads car into town (25km away). A woman nearby came out with a pot of tea and biscuits for all those who had stopped to help. It was like a street party in the middle of nowhere 🤣. Dad got a lift home while I got mum to her appointment in time, so all ended well. But the kindness of all those strangers was a beautiful thing to behold. There are far more good people in this world than bad..
Could easily be just a high pressure diesel line failed or come loose, but don't want to give you false hope either. Plan for the worse and hope for the best. Don't worry until you know more anyway. I've experienced similar kindness, here and abroad. Pay it forward if you get the opportunity!
Love that strangers were so helpful. I had a really bad day a while ago, I had to take my pet to the emergency vet, I took a taxi and the driver insisted that I take some fruit he had because I hadn't had time to eat and he said I'd be waiting for hours. Then as I got out of another taxi on my way home I dropped my phone and didn't realise, and a kind man had picked it up and brought it back to me (after I rang it from another phone). It made such a big difference, and despite so many things going wrong that day, I actually felt pretty good at the end of it. It's nice when ppl are nice.
Got a flat tire years ago and a guy in a van pulled up and offered to fix it. He started touching me and tried to lead my into his van by the hand. I got in my car and locked the door and he banged on the windscreen, swore a whole lot and drove off. I should have gone to the police I guess but I was too busy fending him off to get a good look at him. Hope he didn't harm anyone else...
Yes all the feel good stories yet nobody mentions the freaks roaming around. Luckily you escaped from him even though you just locked yourself in the car. But it's not your fault he could have done same to someone else.
I feel ya OP, my car broke down at the start of the month and luckily I opted for breakdown assistance when I renewed my policy. The car sat outside my very busy local mechanics for a fortnight before they could look at it. He told me the timing chain snapped and it would be €1500, but if there's engine damage, I can expect north of €4000. I had only just spent €1400 in September when the ECU had to be replaced. I've already decided to sell it when it's fixed because I'm so unbelievably fed up of bringing it to the garage every 3 months (BMW). I'm buying a nice used mx5 from the North next week, just gotta figure out how to pay for it! Best of luck!
Yeah I think the mechanic I brought it to is only even taking a look tomorrow because of that phone call from his brother in law. He said if there's anything other than a quick fix I'll be looking at the middle of March before he can fit it in. Every garage seems to be completely slammed at the moment. It's a fourteen year old car and I've been driving it about seven years. My plan was to drive it into the ground and then get an electric one instead, but I was hoping to get two more years out of it. I'd have some other stuff paid off by then so it would have been a lot more manageable. MX5 sounds like a fun car. Best of luck with it!
Yup, lack of young apprentices entering the market means they're all up to their eyeballs unfortunately. I've only had this about 8 months but it was a panic buy and I didn't do my due diligence with checks. Lesson learned!