Can I drive my car with a broken thermostat?
Yes of course you can! And, you may be surprised by just how far you manage to go, before the engine overheats, seizes, and turns into an immovable, useless, expensive to replace, chunk of metal!It’s probably easier to remove the plates, pour gas all over the inside, and light a match—the effect is about the same. Thermostats invariably fail in the “closed” position so the “shelf life” of a car with a bad thermostat is measured in minutes.You need to borrow a car and go buy another thermostat and gasket—-or at least the gasket. Typically, the cover is held on with two bolts, so use a wrench (or pay a mechanic) to remove the bolts, and then the old thermostat. If you haven’t been able to afford a NEW thermostat, use the new gasket to re-install the cover, and don’t drive too far, especially in winter, til you actually get a new thermostat.
Holden / Opel / Vauxhall Astra Twintop Emissions Light?
Hello, I have recently bought a used 2007 Holden Astra AH Twintop 2.2 Automatic. It was an economical write off and only had 67000 kilometres on the clock. The guy I bought it from was a mechanic who fixed all the wiring problems (no wires to do with the engine, they were fine) and it was roadworthied and all. I have only been driving it for a week and today as I was trying to pick up speed to get onto the highway the engine started rattling/vibrating loudly and the 'emissions' light came on, so I pulled over immediately. I had only reached 80 k/hr when this happened. I had a feeling over the week something was up with the gearbox as it would feel...stuck? when I was taking off from lights and sluggish when I would try and accelerate up hills. Also, sometimes when slowing down from a high speed it would kick back like a rough gear change. I don't really know if these issues are connected, but any help or ideas would be appreciated. I have taken it to our family mechanic but he hasn't found anything as of yet and is recommending I possibly take it to Holden (which I'm not too keen about as I don't want to be potentially ripped off) He took it for a drive and did say that it was fine to drive at low speeds but experienced the same problem I had when he tried for a higher speed. And yes, we did test drive it before buying it and it was running perfectly fine then.