Does anyone remember what I said about 're-learning things every 5 years
or so?' Well.....
Yesterday evening I took the MG Metro over the 16 mile
journey to visit 'Gestapo HQ', ( my mother-in-laws in Newport Pagnell.)
I drove and my wife looked at the scenery. The road is twisty but quite
a fast one, and needless to say I enjoyed the little cars excellent
handling, ( just like the Mini.) We shot through Woburn, Woburn Sands,
then hit some really thick traffic at junction 14 just before Newport
Pagnell. Here we just crawled the last mile or so, sharing the tarmac
with thousands of commuters from that awful hell-hole, the new city of
Milton Keynes. ( I bet even the USA has heard of that place!)
Obviously the engine was very hot after its fast run, and as the MG
Metro has a 15psi pressurised cooling system, it can run pretty hot. It
is one of these modern sealed cooling systems as well, with an expansion
tank.
Well, as we crept along with huge Mercs, BMWs, Rover 800's, ect.,
towering above us on all sides, ( rich b*****ds these Milton Keynes
lot,) suddenly we were engulfed in a cloud of steam. I glanced down at
the temperature guage, to see it was on normal, but our hot engines
water was making a violent break for freedom, ( plus all that expensive
anti-freeze.)
I managed to get to the edge of the steel & plastic river carrying angry
grey suited middle aged males, and opened the bonnet, ( hood.)
...........some time ago I had drained and flushed the cooling system,
and the hose to the expansion tank had caught my eye. It needs a new one
I had decided, but time and age had let me forget. Yep, the little car
had now decided to remind me, as the hose had split by the hose clip on
that tank!!
The windscreen washer water was emptied into the header tank, and we
crept the last mile to HQ.
Don't you feel a prat when such things happen, and WHY do they happen on
busy roads, not quiet ones; and WHY when visiting sceptical inlaws who
think all old cars should be scrapped? The only thing missing was it was
not p*****g down with rain.
Neil
( I cut 2" off the end of the old hose to good rubber, refitted it to
get home.)
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