Had to happen....

[expatscot]

Well knew it had to happen.... was only a matter of time. I would just rather it hadn't happened when I was 50 miles from home.

Yes, it's the dreaded, but ever-present favourite... the friggin' HCV.

Knowing the engine can run hot and revvy anyway - am always keeping regular checks on oil/water. All fine this morning.

Drove up towards Birmingham, luckily got into suburbia, off motorways, before I got that smell of screwed, ancient, decayed rubber/plastic and coolant coming into the car, accompanied by the wafting tendrils of steam from under bonnet.

Feck! :crazy:

Dont know if the HCV unit still capable of doing it's thing.. that's irrelevant as the plastic hose connectors have decayed/perished - and snapped clean off...

:'(

Walked to store nearby for a mahoosive bottle of finest Welsh spring water to top things up if I managed a miraculous cure....

Cleared all the shitty, knackered remnants of connectors from inside the hoses...

And then, obviously channeling the spirits of MacGyver/A-Team (or maybe it was The Wombles!?)..... dug in my pockets and thought of a 'bodge' involving, the existing clips, some zip ties, lots of 'black nasty' and the covers from when I renewed my spark plugs.

:hmm:

But in the end.. chickened out and let the nice RAC man come and do me a slightly more professional bodge/temp job..... using a connector to by-pass the HVC/heater matrix.

Sorted! for now.... :drive: :yay:

So - sorted..... just hope we don't have a cold snap... or I'll freeze in that car!!

 

[crystalpuma]

yay for MacGyver

 

[Dal]

Great work!

The last time I saw that "mod" done was at the Nurburgring on a Fiesta Zetec S when exactly the same thing happened (apart from Ollie did a 360 in the Karousel after dumping slippery coolant all over it!)
He just used the bare shell of a maglite torch with some hose clips to do exactly the same thing.

 

[pumapilot]

As a temp fix it is fine until you can get HCV replaced

 

[expatscot]

Great work!

The last time I saw that "mod" done was at the Nurburgring on a Fiesta Zetec S when exactly the same thing happened (apart from Ollie did a 360 in the Karousel after dumping slippery coolant all over it!)
He just used the bare shell of a maglite torch with some hose clips to do exactly the same thing.

Well cant claim any huge credit for the actual fix used, it was care of RAC - I only had those limited options, but then never pushed on ahead.... Although the eventual 'bodge' bears a stunning resemblance to what I was visualising.



Figured I pay for RAC... may as well let a professional do it and all that. If not its a bit like having a dog and barking yourself.
It's the thought that counts though... :lol:

As a temp fix it is fine until you can get HCV replaced

Yep.... RAC bod said (in theory) the fix was fine and wouldn't cause any problems.... it only bypasses the heater matrix. But that's theory...

In real world, will get it replaced fairly soon... need to use it as is tomorrow (work) and then get me to airport on Sunday... but once am back I will look into it.

 

[Zenithus]

Well expat at least this is only the first time it's happened to you, I've owned the Puma for 1 1/2 years and I'm onto HCV #4...

Still, the temp job looks pretty good, and if you got the latest Ford HCV part (7N21...AB iirc) that it should be grand k:

 

[expatscot]

Still, the temp job looks pretty good, and if you got the latest Ford HCV part (7N21...AB iirc) that it should be grand k:

Cheers for the part number.....

I am still running on the bodge, and it's going fine (well car was actually unused for a week while I was in Ireland).

Driving back home after flight back - it was about 1am and was beginning to notice a chill in the air, so will be wanting to get my heater back in operation before the season turns.

Is the part/HCV easiest picked up from Ford... or other parts places likely to have it? Anyone seen them on ebay in the passed?

It seems a self-explanatory fix/replace job, so wont have to worry about it going to a mechanics.

 

[Dal]

They're all over the place to be honest. I'd go to Ford and buy the latest AB one to be on the safe side. Pattern ones have been known to last minutes rather than years.

 

[AndyW]

AC are the revised ones that don't cause the engine to overheat.

There are some AB ones that are part of Ford's faulty batch.

 

[expatscot]

Well I am in/out of my local Ford place quite a bit... getting service items, or oil, or misc' parts - so will pay them a visit again and see what the story is (will ask them about which is most recent and non-fault prone version).

 

[YOG]

The latest I bought was 7N21 18495 AB (the important part of the number for the change is the 7N21), in Dec 2008. If one exists with the same number, but with AC at the end, then there will have been a further revision. There are AC coded units out there with different first number codes (e.g. 98FU) which are older designs. The AB faulty batch began with 98FU.
The Finis number was 1451981.

[fullalbumimg]1443[/fullalbumimg]

 

[red]

I have a brand new one sat if 0201! But it's going to be fitted at some point