I just took it on quick drive to work and it was fine this morning. Hoever on the way home i had some white smoke out the back.

I got home, left it for an hour, took the cap of and the pinky coolant still wanted to escape out like it was still under fairly high pressure.

Just took the car on a run to town and back 10-15 mins each way with a 2 hour gap inbetween.

No white smoke, didnt misfire when starting at any point ever - a misfire is a bang right? the engine feels a little "shakey" if anything when starting.

Only the one fan came on - a right bugger as i just bought a used set off scambay grrrrr.

No white smoke at all today, but whe i lifted bonnet up can hear somethng near the rad cap - or the radiator cap itself hissing/gurgling like when you shake a bottle of coke and take of the lid slightly. no evidence of leakage though. the radiator cap was also cool to touch, but the big pipe that goes to the rad on the right hand side was hot.

I *really* appreciate your help here; thanks.

So the missfires got worse. had 1 other occasion of white smoke out the back.

Drove to work on saturday and missfire was pretty bad, was like running on 2 cylinders....

Went to start up the car to go home and the car wouldn't start - the starter had been getting weaker and weaker while i'd had the car and just seems to try to turn and stop dead, it doesn't turn over. It's kinda like it's "heaving" like when you go to be sick but nothing comes out after a long night.

I'm towing her home tomorrow and cancelling my insurance 1.5 weeks after getting my car back on the road having spent 600 quid on her...

Here are three questions.

1) what do you think is wrong, why isn't she starting is it related to HG failure? - My guess is HG, my old engine was getting coolant into one of the cylinders if i left it for a while, and as such it took bloody ages to turn over, probably because its effectively trying to push all the liquid out and thats not such an easy thing to do.

2) if it's starter motor, how much do these cost? Is it possible for an somebody who is clueless to change a starter motor? - Doubt its the starter, but second hand ones can be had for £10-£20 or so plus postage. Its not massively difficult to change the starter, 3 bolts secure it from memory and a couple of wires. Easy peasy if you remove the inlet manifold but not necessary.

3) What should i do? I've replaced breaks, springs (left and right) new tyres, new battery, new intake, wheel bearing and fans (which were second hand and seem to have broken). - It's your call at the end of the day, you could get the HG replaced with a new cambelt whilst your at it but it may be cheaper to source a known-good engine and stick that one in. That may not be viable if your not so experienced in working on cars though.

Im wondering if i should try to fix her myself, having no experience or knowledge myself, try to pay somebody or scrap her.

I've owned this car for 1 year 3 months and been able to drive her for 2 months last year, 1 week this year becuase i couldnt afford to fix her headgasket...

my wits have ended.

Cheers,

Pete t.