Hi George,

Thanks for replying. At this stage, I think things have gone beyond the kind of shut down you describe. One side of the engine seems not to be firing at all.

Ah well. The problem I'm wrestling with is that the mechanic tells me that the cost of properly diagnosing and fixing the faults with the engine may match and indeed, exceed the cost of buying and fitting a reconditioned engine.

Would that make sense to you?

Cormac.

EDIT: There was no coolant leak visible on the driveway, no smell of anything out of the ordinary at all. The car responded perfectly as it always did at all times until it stopped - so nothing about performance indicated any problem either. (Although the last 20 km I drove, I drove very carefully).

 

Hard to believe you could drive for 20 km with the low coolant light on and the temp gauge still showing normal right up to the point of death. Incredible bad luck.

We hope to hear that the news is not too bad, and that you are once again able to traverse Moll's gap.

 

Yes. It was with a sickened heart and a good measure of fatalism that I lifted the bonnet. Ah well. Hard lessons are sometimes learned very well.

And Moll's Gap is well worth traversing...

 

"Ooooh errrr missus !!! - this is a family forum you know"

 

 

No the shut down is IF there WAS coolant, but the car got hot. Your car ran until it warped a head or dropped valve seats, nothing in the electronics prevented it from running until it died. A reman engine is prob cheaper than trying to rebuild yours, especially if the guy isn't a jag specialist. And even then, labor would prob kill you.

Take care,

George

 

Hi Cormac,

Used Google Maps to take a trip up into the mountains near County Kerry, just to re-enact your recent disastrous ride and have a look at Moll's Gap. Fascinating drive. No sign of any Jaguar dealers there!

Got to Moll's Gap and took a pic. To my surprise. it wasn't quite the same as yours. My pic (below) shows a Cafe and Shop, yours shows a Country Kitchen.

So, just for a traveller's record, is there currently a Cafe or a Country Kitchen at Moll's Gap?

 

Google map images are often out of date.

 

Hi Robinb.


:whisper:

I was at work when I posted that - so I'd to find a photo on the web. They're the same business - and it is still there. Your photo is the newer one - but it doesn't say "Moll's Gap" on it. So I did a little time-travelling to get the one I needed.

It is a really gorgeous place. I recommend it. But check to see how good your temperature gauge is before you do!


Edit - Moll's Gap is gorgeous. I've not been in that Avoca - but I've been in others. Standard fare Cafe stuff, but if you like fancy household goods and designer "country*" fashion, it is your kind of place.

*As in, the kind of fashion that country people don't really wear, but that fashion magazines keep putting on models who look and are completely out of place in a country setting, sitting beside a rugged topless male, inexplicably carrying a sheep or goat on his shoulders...

 

To wit, this...


From a recent Vogue magazine. An ordinary Irish couple...

 

What's he going to do with the sheep?

 

Not sure.

But those Scottish tourists...we don't ask too many questions of them...

 

 

I bet the sheep is wondering that too.

 

If you're not Welsh, you'll never understand. It's in their culture and history.

 

The Welsh...





...and the Scots...










...and the Kiwis.