my coog is a miracle car

shirtyzeus

shirtyzeus

Club Member
Aug 29, 2013
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eaton socon
well what im about to say you may think im weird but after what my car accomplished today i must say it made me cry and kiss it..

it's the wifes birthday today(sunday) so after the successful run to castle combe the other week i decided to drive the wife to her favorite place Brighton for some shopping and eating.
we set off in the coog at about 8.00am and i put £50 fuel in it..
the journey there was smooth and comfortable and went really well and was surprised to see the fuel computer say 34mpg average....was doin a steady 70mph.
journey time from stneots to brighton was 2hrs 20 mins and still had just over half tank of fuel on arrival.

we had a great day and set off back home at just gone 18.00..

just traveling back up m23 towards m25 and heathrow when disaster struck!
loud squeal ,smoke out the back then suddenly the alty light came on...ohS** i said..
limped 2 miles to some services squealing had stopped now and had a look at what had happened..
the idler above the alternator had completely seized and destroyed the belt that powers the steering ,charging ,aircon.

oh dear ....game over man game over!! were in some pritty s**t now man!
well it dont power the water pump so i though i'll see how far i can get b4 it gives up...
so we set off..the wife panicking now..we had an hour and 50 mins drive left over.
itll be alright i said nervously ,just turn everything off...even the sat nav.
well we got past heathrow and i stupidly put the wipers on to clear the light rain...they were very slow.
as we got to the m1 turning north suddenly the abs,traction control and red warning light came on..my heart pounding i thought this will be it...
stunned as we got to the milton keynes a421 to bedford turn and i noticed she wasn't so keen to idle so whilst the bl**dy lights changed to green i held the revs up...getting funny looks from other drivers..
well that amazing car got us all the way back home just on the battery and with no power steering(jeeesss their heavy to steer):eek:

1 hour and 50 mins driving with no drive belt and every warning light you can muster mister lit up!!
i pulled up outside my house where she just died and would only click on turn of the key and i must say she brought A TEAR TO MY EYE:giggle:
my wife said THIS CARS AMAZING and i think even she had feelings for the coog.
i hope the car shop is open tomorrow (mon) as coog's gona get much love and care...

even through the worst of times she'll always bring you home...
 
The cats look after us!

Shame to hear that things have gone so desperately wrong. The V6 has a belt to the left of the engine which is only an auxiliary drive belt which is probably why she managed to limp home. When I first viewed my Cougar, it didn't have a belt tensioner, so when it idled, it'd squeal. Perhaps yours caved in mid-journey?
 
elipton said:
The cats look after us!

Shame to hear that things have gone so desperately wrong. The V6 has a belt to the left of the engine which is only an auxiliary drive belt which is probably why she managed to limp home. When I first viewed my Cougar, it didn't have a belt tensioner, so when it idled, it'd squeal. Perhaps yours caved in mid-journey?
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Yes it went on the m23 ,what a good motor though to have got us home after an issue that would normally put most cars on an rac truck..all hail cougar!
Checked the battery this morning and its reading 7volts!! How the hell did this car run on that? Seems to be charging back up ok though.
Great thing is I looked on my spare engine in the garage and its got a good one on it so will be swapping it over today with a nice new belt.
Had a look at it when I got home and it looks like the bearing has completely collapsed... just hope there's no damage to the actual chain cover..
 
shirtyzeus said:
Yes it went on the m23 ,what a good motor though to have got us home after an issue that would normally put most cars on an rac truck..all hail cougar!
Checked the battery this morning and its reading 7volts!! How the hell did this car run on that? Seems to be charging back up ok though.
Great thing is I looked on my spare engine in the garage and its got a good one on it so will be swapping it over today with a nice new belt.
Had a look at it when I got home and it looks like the bearing has completely collapsed... just hope there's no damage to the actual chain cover..
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The ignition system pulls a "tiddly" amount of power, it's the associated engine management coupled with lighting that'll drain the battery faster in this instance. Despite what I have read on here, generating a spark uses negligible amounts of power from the battery. The ECU however is still drawing a "reasonable" current, the SRS system continues to draw power, as does the ABS system, fuel pump, idle motor, radiator fan (if you're unlucky), then of course the lamps, cabin fan, IMRC system, fuel injectors - the list goes on. Thankfully the ignition system and injector system are probably the two engine systems least sensitive to a voltage drop, as the injector is just a solenoid, and there is a bit of latitude on the coil voltages from my understanding.

If it's a black Cougar, I think I may have passed you yesterday on the A421?

It shows the benefit of having a larger battery (well one with a higher 'reserve capacity'), it did you proud to get you that far!
 
benham said:
The ignition system pulls a "tiddly" amount of power, it's the associated engine management coupled with lighting that'll drain the battery faster in this instance. Despite what I have read on here, generating a spark uses negligible amounts of power from the battery. The ECU however is still drawing a "reasonable" current, the SRS system continues to draw power, as does the ABS system, fuel pump, idle motor, radiator fan (if you're unlucky), then of course the lamps, cabin fan, IMRC system, fuel injectors - the list goes on. Thankfully the ignition system and injector system are probably the two engine systems least sensitive to a voltage drop, as the injector is just a solenoid, and there is a bit of latitude on the coil voltages from my understanding.

If it's a black Cougar, I think I may have passed you yesterday on the A421?

It shows the benefit of having a larger battery (well one with a higher 'reserve capacity'), it did you proud to get you that far!
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Thanks ,yes that's what I thought at the services reg power. Luckily all the lights interior and external are led's My biggest concern was the fuel pump as obviously that was probably the most power drain and yet critical component , the battery is a 4year old Halfords 540ah so nothing special..

Its the fact that the battery is showing 7volts static ,id imagine it was lower with load... when I got home my hid's would even light up.

Mines a Melina... so wonder who that was.
 
"Ripley, ease down! You're just grinding metal!"

I'm absolutely fascinated by your battery voltage. It shouldn't have been running at all, let alone able to start the car. To make matters worse, it's a 540 when - as I understand it - what it should have is a 640. You drove further than basic physics should have allowed you to.

That car must love you.

(Love is allowed to violate the laws of physics, since it apparently makes the world go round)
 
540/640 is the CCA (Cold-Cranking) rating, it's not strictly related to capacity, the same way a lesiure battery has a very low CCA but may provide 80A/h

7-8v would probably furnish the ECU with barely enough voltage so I see it's technically possible by my knowledge but bloody tight!
 
I love stories like this.

Puts me in mind of the stories I've heard about the "old days", where cars could be patched up and made to soldier on, or like in your case, last until reaching home. Nowadays it seems its all or nothing - one minute a modern car is working fine, the next it is completely and utterly disabled and useless (I accept that on removal of the rose tinted glasses that this also used to happen to old cars).
 
Jack said:
I love stories like this.

Puts me in mind of the stories I've heard about the "old days", where cars could be patched up and made to soldier on, or like in your case, last until reaching home. Nowadays it seems its all or nothing - one minute a modern car is working fine, the next it is completely and utterly disabled and useless (I accept that on removal of the rose tinted glasses that this also used to happen to old cars).
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exactly ,this is what i hate about modern technology.. if you so much as get a sensor or a bulb blow...thats it warnings everywhere and the car stops...dead..
coog's all up and running again now ,was fun trying to get a belt on the bank holiday.....did u know halfrauds no longer stock any belts:eek:
what's the world coming to when you cant even get an alty belt ,even the aa man i know said they dont hold em anymore..
couldnt get a pic of the old idler to upload but lets just say balls fell out of it:LOL:
 
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