|1-My mini has |2-Overheated... $ffa By PeX le SeX/iNDi $fff Well the news of the week is as follows, it doesn't make for good reading. I was visiting some friends of mine in Scunthorpe (which is about 30 miles away), and the drive there went fine and so did the evening until I left at 1:30AM. I was travelling home from their house when I noticed that the car started smelling really sweet, almost sickly. The smell was definately anti-freeze. I pondered to what could be the problem, why the car was smelling sweeter than a tarts bedroom. I pulled into a layby, as I was in the busy A180 road, that is the main dual carrigeway between Scunthorpe and Cleethorpes. I opened the bonnet of my little orange mini, and I saw there was steam coming from the top of the radiator breather pipe. I thought to myself, something is not quite right here, so I let off the pressure and after a bellow of smoke poured out things died down. I let the engine cool off a little, and then cranked it over. It started without a problem, and I went off again, this time with a little less water. I got about another 5 miles or so before the next thing happened. It was almost like one of those scenes that you associate with James Bond in his car. It was almost as if I had pressed some sort of button, and the whole car filled with steam. It was so sudden. One minute I felt the heater go cold, and the next there is steam coming in through the air vents, and under the dashboard, and from behind the speedo. The car had filled with steam within seconds, and I was driving at 60mph down the road. I slammed on all the anchors, switched off the lights, and turned off the ignition. I was out of my bucket seats before the engine had stopped winding down. I have never moved so quickly in my life. I thought that the car was going to blow up, or catch on fire. After a few minutes I went back to the car, as I had gone to a safe distance of 50 yards or so. Again I eased off the pressure in the radiator, and there was alot more steam this time around. I got in after about 15 minutes of letting it cool down, only to find out that it won't fire up. It was cranking, but nothing sounding remotely like the proper sound of a healthy car when trying to fire-up. I decided to go looking for an emergency phone box, which isn't the easiest of things to do at 2:30AM, and with no lights of ANY description about I had a visibility of about 15-20 foot. I found a box on the other side of the carriageway, but it was easy to cross, as there were only passing lorries to worry about, passing me every minute or so. I opened the box, and picked up the receiver. I listened whilst it rang, and rang, AND RANG!!!!!!! I hung up after about 5 minutes, and at this point was nearly close to tears. I was so mad, and p*ssed off all at the same time, and bloody freezing to boot. I shouted and bellowed for a while before trying to knock 7 bells of crap out of the telephone. I am not a violent man, and deplore it, but it was really asking for it. So I wandered up the layby, and knocked on the door of a truck that was there also. I didn't really want to do this as the thought of waking up a trucker at 3AM isn't the most appetising at the best of times. Anyway I did it all the same. He was not well pleased, shall we say, and I thought that maybe he could help me. WRONG!!!!! He was pleasant enough in a "What the f*ck have you woken me up" type way, but I don't think he was too bothered, and wanted to go back to bed, and I can't really blame him. In desperation I tried the phone box again, and this time to my delight someone answered it. The woman I spoke to asked me to ring her again in 15 minutes as she needed to arrange a traffic car to come and sort me out, as I explained the situation to her. $ffa|1-PC's arrive, and jolly helpful they were. $fff The Policemen arrived, and we tried to push start it (after we had put some water in it). I felt a little sorry for the bobby who tried pushing the car with me in. With it being only a mini it is light, but with me sat in trying to pop start it it all of a sudden becomes a lot, lot heavier. No go though, so we ended up pushing it about 1/4 mile to the nearest layby, which happened to be over a flyover bridge thing, so the push up the bridge hammered, but the downside was alright. I then locked it up, and went in the police car as they offered me a lift home. They didn't have to do this, but they could see that I was a little mad and upset by my experiences that night. I finally got home at 3:45AM, over 2 hours later, and the journey is about 40 minutes normally. I got a lift all the way home, and as a token of my thanks I got a little card from the Post Office, to say thanks. So if you bobbies (PC's 1304 and 1439 of Hessle) are reading this then THANKS!!!!! As I usually go to bed at 5AM, and therefore get up at 1-2PM I was in a bit of a pickle. The policemen told me that I had to get it moved off the busy road AM, so with me not being tired, and my mind racing I decided to stay up all night, and sort things out at first light. I waited until 7:30AM and then rung one of my mates who knows about cars, and had a tow rope. He said that he had to get up to get the kids ready for school anyway, and after that was sorted we towed the car in. It is not the easiest of things trying to drive a towed car at 65mph, but I managed it. It was still bloody freezing, and without my engine working I couldn't put the heater on. I now know that it was the head gasket that had lost it's seal, and let water into the head, and we have fixed it, but I wouldn't like to go through that again I can tell you. Well that's my story, and I suppose that in times to come I will see the funny point, but I don't really at the moment. End