Da Booga

Not had a good evening today I'd been out shopping with the missus all day (torture in itself!) when on the way home (in the dark) I pulled out to overtake a cyclist and before I new what happened i'd hit a massive rock in the middle of the road!

I'd barely had chance to react to the the massive bangs as it bounced between the underside of the car and the road before the oil pressure warning light came on! Luckily there was a layby just ahead that I coasted into. After stopping a quick peek under the car revealed a nice oil slick and oil still pouring from somewhere. For those that don't know my car is a Rover Coupe Turbo.

It turns out that the rock had first hit the front crossmember, putting a massive dent in that before catching the corner of the sump, denting it slightly, and then had bounced into the oil filter with such force that it put a massive dent in the front facing part and bent the whole filter away from the engine, this was where the oil was pi$$ing from. I had imagined a nice hole in the sump and possibly internal damage but luckily it was just the filter (phew!)
There is oil everywhere on the drivers side of the engine bay and all underneath the car now too

I managed to find a few parts of the offending rock but speaking to the cyclist when he reached the layby he thought my engine had blown up as the bangs were that loud!

Here's the parts of the rock I could find after a quick search along the road.

The 2 smaller bits of rock have oil on them and the lighter face of the large piece is where it parts broke off upon hitting the sump/filter. The large piece is more than twice the height of the Fanta bottle laid on it's side!

Luckily I had a new oil filter at home so managed to retrieve that as well as buying some more oil from a garage. The damaged filter is here


And you can see the angle of the inside part of the filter here where it bent at the mating faces!!


If that wasn't bad enough the rock has also cracked my drivers side rear alloy and damaged the tyre (an almost new 215/35/18 Toyo)and also put several dents and deep gouges in the underside of the car as it's bounced around! I'll get some pictures of these in the morning when it's light but at the moment i'm really pi$$ed off but glad that it wasn't anywhere near as serious as it could have been! Luckily it was just after a sharp bend so I was only doing around 50mph, I dread to think what may have happened if it had been on a long straight stretch of road

Now for a question can anyone recommend the best place to buy 1 18" Fox 6 alloy in titanium finish with a Toyo proxes?

Sorry for whittering but i'm still a tad shaken and wanted to get it off my chest before I go to bed

Gareth

[Edited by Da Booga - 9/9/2003 1:26:50 AM]

corradoboy

Try Motorsport Wheels UK. If you're in Leeds it's :-
Motorsport Wheels
Unit 2 The Courtyards, Victoria Rd
Leeds West Yorkshire
LS14 2LB

Tel: 0113 218 8777
leeds@mswuk.com
Alan Jackson/Jason Micklethwaite

They have about 8 places around the UK and they supply most of the other retailers as they are the importers of most wheels. Fox are actually their own budget brand made by either OZ or Mille Miglia, can't remember which. They aren't really too bothered about the tyre market, wheels are their thing, so you normally get a good price on rubber.

Good luck.

jp1

Gutted Sorry to hear that mate

hope you get it soretd soon with out to much bother.

darlodge

Any chance you can sort this out with the local council/highway office?

A friend of a friend buckled an alloy when he hit a pot hole in the road and have successfully recovered the money for the new alloy/tyre from the local council as the road was in a bad state.

Not sure if things on the road and holes in teh road are the same though.


Darren

beemerboy

quickly, find a pothole......



all the best
Dazza

corradoboy

That won't be very difficult. LOL

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Unlucky old chap but Do Brit cars not have a massive undertray covering the bottom of the enginebay?

My car has a huge plastic tray that bolts on under the engine and another one under the gearbox so nothing can get up into the engine! there is a small hole in the bottom to get to the sump drain plug but that is it. This is not an extra it cam with the car and all the other cars here have them aswell.

edited coz i'm an idiot

Sorry just reread it and it is not a Subaru.

[Edited by Wurzel - 9/9/2003 8:50:24 AM]

Little Miss WRX

I narrowly avoided the same thing a couple of nights ago. It seems that someone was not so lucky as the rock was in half and some tell tale fluids were about.

I stopped the car and moved the rocks off the side of the road and was thankful that I avoided them!

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Incredible! How do the damn things GET onto the road?/ Surely, even a complete moron wouldn't deliberately put it there?
Had much the same thing happen after coming off the ferry at Calais, on that bit of dual before the motorway proper, with a concrete crash barrier in between. Rock bounced up, hit the crash barrier, and hammered two dints into the n/s sideskirt. No other damage, luckily!
It was dark, and I never saw it until it was too late.[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]
Alcazar

what would scooby do

I did something similar in my old astra GTE (yes I know it's a minging vauxhall) a few years back.. ripping along a nice A road car in front swerved suddenly - nearly hit a bus, thats when I saw something in the middle of our lane - I snap decided to go over the top of it - bang!

It was a propshaft that had fallen off a lorry and it split the sump in two. No engine damage + no sign of any lorry that it had come from

Da Booga

The road where it happened has plenty of farmers fields around and tractors are very common on the road.

There is also a huge bypass being built further up the road, the rock may possibly have fallen off one of the hundreds of lorrys that are carting rubble there to be used as foundation

For those that are local it was on the A19 between York and Selby just after Crockey Hill heading towards Selby.

Does anyone know what chance i'd have if I approached the construction firm with the rock and the evidence, would they even entertain me?

Cheers,

Gareth
now off to examine the car in the light

Da Booga

Here's the damage to the wheel Taken through the spokes


Looking at it I very much doubt it will be repairable but am willing to be proven wrong

Also a shot of the engine bay splattered with oil


And the bonnet


Better get cleaning


[Edited by Da Booga - 9/9/2003 1:22:21 PM]

MichelleWRX1994

The rock I picked up was on an estate, no sign of any construction work, so I reckon it was some idiot who put it there. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

David_Wallis

gareth..

sorry to hear it..

degreaser and a hose pipe..

its a shame as that was a tidy engine bay

David

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

That's a lucky escape there shame about the wheel but it's cheaper and easier to replace than an engine

Paul