Went to a local Powerflow exhaust place to try out some tailpipes and see what I liked the look of.

On the way back, the EML came on, as did another light, car went into limp mode, then dog-rough mode, and coolant temp went into the red.

Stopped and checked the book, coolant system issue according to the other light. Appears to have gone into failsafe mode... alternately fuelling 2 cylinders at a time, and using the other two to cool the engine.

Check the coolant reservoir... empty. Undo cap, coolant level rises back to normal again.

Check the oil... barely on the bottom of the dipstick. Must have burnt it all to keep the engine cool.

Wait 10 mins for engine to cool enough. Start engine, 2nd light is out but EML stays on... coolant temp continues to fluctuate until I drive past a garage and get a diagnostic machine on.

"Cylinder head temp". They wipe the fault, and we get looking. No visible holes or leaks, no mayo-like stuff in the oil filler cap or dipstick, so highly unlikely to be head gasket. Finally find a small puddle under the pulleys... appears to be the water pump.


Proper pain, as the car is just over 9 years old, with 58k, so still within a year of its timing belt interval, and was hoping to drag that out until this time next year as I am going away for 9 months soon and won't be using the car.


Anyway, topped up the coolant, topped up the oil and came back. £35 worse off, but in the grand scheme of things, not too bad considering three guys were looking at it for nearly an hour... 3 man hours, diagnostic screening and couple litres of coolant and oil.



Just getting quotes now for the work... hoping it's not gonna be too much, have to wait and see cos it's a 4 hour job for both apparently.