probably not cordoba specific but help plz

[francey]

Ok so i currently drive an old 1.6 cordoba (AEE engine) as a runabout while my other car gets repaired now the cordoba only cost a few hundred so not expecting greatness but have had a couple of probalems and hopefully someone can offer some advice. I do not really have much experiance with mechanical issues so please be patient lol. ok so on wednesday my car overheated and i had to allow it to cool . since then i have been driving with the heaters on full and this is keeping the engine temp around where it should be. (i only mention overheating incase it is relevent)

anyway when driving tonight my car cut out i tried to restart it but engoine kept cutting out it appeared to be making the right noises (the battery had power and the starter appeared to be turning over) i tried bump starting to know avail. i again tried starting and this wouldnt work so i had a quick look under the bonnet and i found the the wire going between the Coil(i think) and the middle hole in the distributor cap had basically melted off at the cap end. the connector is still on the cap but the wire as come away from it and definatly appears to have melted. now i am not sure if this is linked to the overheating and i had no tools to get access to the distributor cap and have a look inside. i plan on finding out what i can tonight and seeing if there is anything i can do tomorrow, i dont have the money to go to a garage. My main question is if anyone has any idea what has caused this(could it be because it might not have had a recent service?) i also want to try to figure out potentially what further damage may have been caused i.e. do u think a new rotor arm etc will also be needed?

any help and advice however small is very much appreciated

thanks

 

[andyj]

Firstly, welcome to the forum

Overheating could be due to the thermostat sticking closed, and therefore not allowing the coolant to flow through the radiator etc.

However, it 'could' have caused the head to warp, which might in turn give you problems with your head-gasket.

I'd start off by replacing the thermostat, and the HT lead from the coil to the distributor, and then seeing if that cures that starting and over heating problems.

Once you've done that, you should then be able to see if you've got any further complications caused by the overheating.

Thermostat should be about £10, and the HT leads (only normally available in a set) are about £25 from GSF (www.gsfcarparts.com)
Hope that helps

 

[francey]

thanks for the advice mate thought(and hope) the overheating issue is just the thermostat. going to try the leads t2morro and will have a look inside dizzy cap to see if any signs of damage in there u think i can get leads from halfords or something
need them in a rush

 

[gifster]

When you do the thermostat check the cap and sometimes they can breaks when the thermostat goes, where the pin sits should be solid if it is a hole the you need a new cap as well. SEAT sell them for a few quid.

 

[francey]

probably just being stupid but what cap? oh and got new ignition leads and car starts again. woo hoo still o/h and plan on changing thermostat tomorrow.it looks relatively straightforward. just a quick question though when doing this can i let as much of the coolant come out the system as i want as because of o/h this has been seriously diluted with water and want to but the proper levels of coolant/water in.

 

[gifster]

When you take the cap off to get to the thermostat it will empty the system anyway so buy some more coolant. the cap is the bit attached to the pipe that you take off to get to the thermostat. inside there is a bar that runs across the cap and the thermostat pin sits in a dimple, sometimes when the stat goes it breaks through the dimple and if it does it needs replacing as well.... Hope this helps.

 

[andyj]

also worth noting that you need to use G12+ coolant when you refill

 

[francey]

ok thanks for all the help and advice will check the cap and will probably just get a new one anyway for when doing it,

oh and i will make sure to use the correct collant