turnipsock
Senior Member
I was in the retail park in Hamilton and came back to the car to see a pool of coolant under the car. I opened the bonnet to see the offending pipe, it was the one from the back of the block to the heater matrix. The dealers was only a swallows flight away so I would just nip up there and get a new hose.
The parts boy spent well over an hour looking for the part number, which included several trips out to the car to look at it in the hope of finding a part number. Eventually the parts boy gave up and his boss was summonded, he gave up after 10 minutes. However he did suggest going to Autoparts and getting a length of hose from there.
Autoparts: I arrived with my engine still running at normal temp but I was stewed because I had the heating on as hot as it would go. A similar parts boy was behind the counter, with masses of parts behind him in the warehouse, and I asked for some 1/2" pipe for the cooling system. "We won't have anything like that, have you tried the dealers?". I resisted the urge to say "how do you know, you haven't even looked?", but simply explained the situation and he typed something into the PC. He then produced a ruler from under the counter and stared at it for a while then said "about 12mm" then disappeared round the back and came back with a bit of hose packed with jubelee clips. The pack had 1/2" (12mm) clearly written on the front.
Is it me?
When I got the car home and had a good look it appears that the car has been a victim of a previous roadside repair and the AA man has found a bit of pipe that nearly fits, but was to short. He has chopped the original pipe in the middle of the part number and joined it with a bit of metal pipe and some jubelee clips.
With hindsight I should have just gone into Hellfords and bought the tools and bits I needed. I could always give the tools away as Christmas presents.
The parts boy spent well over an hour looking for the part number, which included several trips out to the car to look at it in the hope of finding a part number. Eventually the parts boy gave up and his boss was summonded, he gave up after 10 minutes. However he did suggest going to Autoparts and getting a length of hose from there.
Autoparts: I arrived with my engine still running at normal temp but I was stewed because I had the heating on as hot as it would go. A similar parts boy was behind the counter, with masses of parts behind him in the warehouse, and I asked for some 1/2" pipe for the cooling system. "We won't have anything like that, have you tried the dealers?". I resisted the urge to say "how do you know, you haven't even looked?", but simply explained the situation and he typed something into the PC. He then produced a ruler from under the counter and stared at it for a while then said "about 12mm" then disappeared round the back and came back with a bit of hose packed with jubelee clips. The pack had 1/2" (12mm) clearly written on the front.
Is it me?
When I got the car home and had a good look it appears that the car has been a victim of a previous roadside repair and the AA man has found a bit of pipe that nearly fits, but was to short. He has chopped the original pipe in the middle of the part number and joined it with a bit of metal pipe and some jubelee clips.
With hindsight I should have just gone into Hellfords and bought the tools and bits I needed. I could always give the tools away as Christmas presents.
