Oh no the cursed head gasket!

[David Lloyd]

So here I am on the m11 hard shoulder waiting for the RAC.
I just filled up and half a mile down the road the car sounded as though she was pinking. Bad fuel I thought. .1 mile down the motorway by South Cambridge turnoff and smoke pouring out and loss of power. Temperature gauge off the scale.
The top of the vee has oil in it. My nearest specialist is I guess Robsport. . Any thoughts anyone?

[Hettiherald]

My only thought would be unprintable!!
Sorry for your predicament, but think the worst and hope for the best( if there is a best)
Good luck
Dave

[mike@thenook]

So here I am on the m11 hard shoulder waiting for the RAC.
I just filled up and half a mile down the road the car sounded as though she was pinking. Bad fuel I thought. .1 mile down the motorway by South Cambridge turnoff and smoke pouring out and loss of power. Temperature gauge off the scale.
The top of the vee has oil in it. My nearest specialist is I guess Robsport. . Any thoughts anyone?

Really sorry to hear this Dave, does sound a little terminal and yes, Robsport (Dunsbridge Turnpike) SG8 6RA is the best bet if you don't want to do it yourself;

Hope its not too bad!

Mike

[David Lloyd]

Thanks for the sympathy guys...

Actually I see there's another thread on oil in the vee so may be similar issue. As you say think the worst and hope for the best!

Dave

[Stagdad]

Not being funny but you didn't put diesel in by mistake did you?

[Mark Shutt]

seems weird it happened 1/2 a mile after filling up! let us know the outcome..

Mark.

[David Lloyd]

Hi
I did wonder that at first but no!
Just got an update from rac and another 2 hour wait. Police have been very efficient however, pushing me further in and now as I type more police have arrived...very popular here.... they're now admiring the car..

[Westfaling]

David
Did you make it home okay? Any update on status or drowning your sorrows?
Nick

[V Mad]

Maybe you had a coolant leak that went unnoticed?

[David Lloyd]

I got the car back to Cambridge last night when the RAC turned up. I have spoken to Faversham's and given the linking noise and timing issue (from the power loss) he thinks it's the jack-shaft....all sounds expensive. Trouble is I've spent 3.5k on her already this year, so not sure what the next step is.

As I said last night I was impressed with the highway patrol, I got several calls from them plus 2 more visits, making sure I was alright and pushing the RAC to get something to me sooner.

Cheers all.

[mike@thenook]

Sounds strange, I'd have thought if the jack shaft had sheared the engine wouldn't run at all but you made it back to Cambridge. I do hope its not too bad for you Dave, let us know what transpires.


Cheers

[Motorsport Micky]

If it's the gear on the jackshaft that's shed it's teeth beware of just replacing with a new one. Some 14 years ago I had the same problem and replaced the jackshaft and water pump gears with the current new units only to suffer from the 3.0 Litre kettle failure again within about 1300 miles.
Reading through the Stag mags which were the only source of Stag owner information then, brought forth a considerable number of other user suffering the same fate. Poor quality jackshafts and water pump gears were the problem, I went to a scrap yard and robbed a TR7 of it's water pump gear in excellent worn condition which I reconditioned and bought a used Stag jackshaft from one of the breakers with slight wear marks to prove it was used and not about to turn to jello.
Both units have been in service for the last 20k plus miles and are fine.

Micky

[DJT]

Hi David,

At least the patrol boys looked after you.....

My previous Stag had the dreaded jack shaft/water pump fear failure on the way to Brooklands a few years ago. It didn't suffer loss of power or black smoke; it just overheated and blew the coolant out of the expansion bottle. I made it the last 20-odd miles to Brooklands by stopping every couple of miles and filling up again. Loaded up with plenty of water during the day and attempted to drive home (at the time I didn't know that the gears had worn away, I thought it was HGF), but gave up when I reached the M3 and got trailored home.

I look forward to hearing what FC discover. Hope it's not too expensive......

[flying farmer]

The fact it got so hot so quickly after stopping for fuel does rather sound like sudden water pump failure. The jackshaft can, and sometimes does, seize in this situation. In my case it snapped the timing chain resulting in a set of bent valves on the left hand cylinder bank. If you are lucky it might just have jumped a tooth and retarded the timing causing the lack of power, but I fear internal unpleasantness when the engine is opened up.

Neil

[David Lloyd]

Thanks for all the feedback, pm's and suggestions. I've got till the weekend before I can do anything so lots of things to work out about what to do...including how to pay for this!

Dave