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        General >> Problems >> Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ...
        
(Message started by: DavidBE on Sep 9^th, 2026, 9:16pm)

Title: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ...
Post by DavidBE on Sep 9^th, 2026, 9:16pm

So I've been nearly three months without use of my car. First I sent it in to have one little bit of bodywork done, but also the leaking radiator, which was being teken out and sent to some specialists in Cornwall to rebuild it - needed a custom new core, apparently. Took longer and charged much mroe than original estimate. When my garage got the radiator back, refitted it and took it for a test-drive before bringing it back to me ... and the top hose split. Are there hoses avaiable? Are there heck. Ended up ordering a full set of all 11 hoses from Roosemotorsport, but they ahd a lead time of over a month. Hoses came yesterday. Bonnet release catch had failed in the meantime, coolant expansion tank almost empty and couldn't re-fill as couldn't open bonnet. Garage far enoguh away the thermostat would open before it got there, which would be bad, so had to get car recovery company to take my car to the garage this morning. They're to fix the bonnet release, replace the top hose, then MOT the car.

Email from the garage this evening. Bonnet reelease fixed, top hose replaced ...

... but now they've found the water pump is leaking! Fate is determined I'm never goling to get a working, useable car back.

I was given three boxes of spares with the car, the only one of which I've needed is one wishbone. Everything else I've needed, not in the boxes. But I knew there was a new First Line water pump in there. Dug it out. It's handwritten on the box as being for a 1995-98 Scorpioo V6 24V Cosworth. I Googled the First Line part number, and the Google AI said:

"No, the First Line FWP 1404 water pump will not fit your 1998 Ford Scorpio 2.9 24v Cosworth.While the FWP 1404 catalog listing states it fits standard Ford 2.4L and 2.9L Cologne V6 12v engines (and the earlier 1991–1994 "BOA" Cosworth engines), your 1998 Mk2 "Frogeye" Scorpio uses the late-generation 2.9 24v "BOB" Cosworth engine.
The late "BOB" Cosworth engine has a completely revised auxiliary drive belt setup, casting profile, and internal molding. Trying to install an FWP 1404 on a BOB engine is a known trap for classic Ford owners—the bolt patterns and internal physical depth will not align."

Great - not the right part.

And even the Google AI is insulting the car's looks and calling it a Frogeye! (The Frogeye Sprite was considered cute.) It's funny - Bangers & Cash keeps showing the front of DB5 and 6 Aston Martins, and I can't help thinking that when it comes to a car's face, they actually look very like the Scorpio but an even bigger, more gormless mouth.

I'm really feeling thaat I'm never going to get to drive again, just stay stuck in the one end of this village until I die.

Let's see - did the thermostat a few years agio, now the raiator, top hose, got all the rest of the hoses, now water pump - I'd better get a pair of cylinder head gaskets off eBay to prepare for the cooling system full house.

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by Torbayboy on Sep 10^th, 2026, 8:10pm

Possibly someone on here will find a pump for you, had this on 2 of my cosworths and used the ford granada pump, there is a complete section on here as how to do it.
In short I did not do the job but my local(retired" spanner did, you have to put a plate over the open side of the granny pump and you ca then re route for the bottom hose etc.
Wayne from devon oh here had my old cars perhaps he can get pictures from them to help.

Both pumps ran well no leaks or problems at all, right up till the electrics went down nd I sold them.
Hope this helps, cossies have always been trouble everything's a one off, last one i had on the road was a 2.9 estate that was wonder full and as it had the granny engine always could get the bits.
HTH

R :DY

stlli a child :) ;) :D ;D >:( :( :o :( >:( ;D :D ;) :)

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by Jackattack2002 on Sep 12^th, 2026, 7:37pm

I sent mine to S.P. Water Pumps Ltd in Warrington for a rebuild (seal & bearing). Not cheap but they did great job

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by DavidBE on Sep 14^th, 2026, 3:53am

on 09/12/26 at 19:37:03, Jackattack2002 wrote:

I sent mine to S.P. Water Pumps Ltd in Warrington for a rebuild (seal & bearing). Not cheap but they did great job

I emailed them a couple of days ago after reading threads on here. Waiting for a reply.

This is just ...

Between 1980 and 2007 I go through 12 cars and two motorbikes, most around 10 years old when I got them, and wasn't used to my cars lasting. When I became disabled in 2007 and couldn't sit in most cars due to rapidly mounting pain, I discovered the Scorpios (hadn't noticed them before) and the 2.3 16V Saloon I got to was the only car I'd tried I was comfortable in - eased the pain instead of increasing it. Bought it. Initial troubles, people on here diagnosed the engine bay wiring loom, someone on here then drove all the way to me from Devon, handed my a loom, didn't want anything for it and drove off again. Garage fitted it, and the car just became totally reliable. Had rust issues, four lots of welding, and two episodes of electrical problems in the 13 years eventually traced to under the fuse-box but didn't stop the car being useable. 13 years it was reliable, and I never had to wonder when I went out of the front door whether the car would go and get me where I needed it to get me. Eventually a final load of rust, inner sills, finished it off beyond reasonable repair.

I was very surprised to find a choice of two Cosworth Estates nearby (I'd thought it was goign to fail the MOT the year before, and no Scorpios within reach then), and bought this one, not because it was a Cosworth (I just pootle around 10mph under the speed limit these days - I've turned into one of the drivers I used to hate finding myself behind in my 20s) but because it was a Scorpio I sna sit in with no pain, low mileage (half the mileage in 2020 than my 2.3 saloon had been in 2007), bodywork great condition - and I'd always rather have had an estate. And for 6 years it's just started and driven. No worries about it going.

Now this, adn I feel it's self inflicted. The radiator leak was there when I got it, slow leak, very slowly worse, Latterly i was topping upm about i litre of coolant a month. That was manageable. JUst bought 5l ccontainers of coolant from Amazon every 5 or 6 months. But, broke on benefits as I usually am, for once I had some money after my mother died earlier this year. Decided to get the one bit of rust dealt with that's developed - a bit of the edge of the offside rear wheel-arch, and I've always been terrible at doing rust and bodywork. So then I thought I'd have the radiator done as that would put teh car in perfect condition. Didn't need to. Car was working fine and the topping up was no big deal. But I've wrecked the car, haven't had a workign car for 3 months now, leacing me just rotting away in the house. Busw seats are too painful, as most likely any random taxi i called would be. But the radiator took much longer to re-core (And cost 50% more) than I was quoted. Then teh hose, and another month to get them made. Now the water pump. Which leaves me expecting every other hose, seal andgasket in teh colling system to give way. I just feel isk. Sould have left the radiator alone, adn I'd have ahd a car all summer.

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by DavidBE on Sep 14^th, 2026, 1:46pm

on 09/10/26 at 20:10:45, Torbayboy wrote:

I presume that by the Granada pump you mean the one for the 24V BOA Cosworth Granada? I already hvae one - there's a boxed, never used one in the box of spares I got with the car, which somebody wrote on that it's for the Scorpio 24V Cosworth, but I've checked the part number and it's the one for the BOA Cosworth.

Where do I get the adapter plate from? if it has to eb home-made, how thick does it need to be?

I did read through teh pinned thread on the water pumps last week. Unfortunately on top of my normal brain fogand lack of functioning memory (like how a sentence started, nevr mind the sentence before, let alone paragraph before before) as isde effects of my meds, I'm now not sleeping - one hour last night, one hour the night before, just oen or two per night for days before. Can't focuss, can't read more than a couple of words before my brain just refuses to make sense of the squiggles. Just where the plate cna be bought, or how thick it needs to be, please?

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by Torbayboy on Sep 14^th, 2026, 8:49pm

Hi it was a custom made plate, as i mentioned my local (retired now) spanner did it twice for me
I said who had my cars he's still on here occasionally feel sure he'd probably help, aside from that you need a thin ally plate to seal the gap left by a cologne 2.9 v6 water pump about £50 on ebay, you just need to locate this properly so you have no leaks from around the pump itself then you can move the stat down as it's hard to access where it is and use new hose to the bottom of the rad.
I have used plymouth radiators (in plymouth devon) in the past Paul there is a good guy and may be able to source a BOB pump or get it rebuilt, also "jackattack2002 has a recommendation on this thread for some people up north that can do the job.
This was the main reason I gave up on scorps and cossies in particular, no bits and the 2.3 is the bangers favourite so al those bits gone also, but would have loved to have my 2.9 '95 estate still.

R:)Y ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by DavidBE on Sep 14^th, 2026, 9:42pm

I've got a water pump for a BOA 24V Cosworth (as in the Mk III Granada Cosworth).. Can't those be made to fit? I thought I read they could, not just the ones for the 12V Colognes.

It won't be me doing it. Was a time I did my own work, but not for a long time now...

Newquay radiators re-cored my radiator - after which the top hose split, and after getting new silicone high eprformance hoses made, then the water pump blew.

I emailed SP Pumps last Thursday - still no reply. Unfortunately I'm betetr emailing as the brain fig and trashed memory I have as side effects of painm mods mean I can juats have my mind go balnk on the phone, can't think what to say if I'm asked my name!

I don't have a choice but to try to keep the Scorpio going, or just give up on having a car completely. Ever since whatever went wrong with my back in 2007, causing all my back and leg pain, sitting in most seats - armchairs and sofas, not just car and bus seats - cause me rapidly mounting pain that only takes a few minutes to become unbearable. The Scorpio is the ONLY car I've tried to sit in since 2007 that I can sit in for extended periods - weirdly it's seat actually eases the pain I'm already in, whereas EVERY OTHER make and model of car I've tried I just have to get out of, bail out of, in a couple of minutes. That's why when my 2.3 died in 2020 I bought another Scorpio. I HAVE to get it fixed, or that's it for me and cars. And with thee disability, can't use buses and taxis because of the pain from their seats, so that leaves me stuck rotting up one end of the village. Basically the end of any kind of life.

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by DavidBE on Sep 15^th, 2026, 12:20pm

Oh FFS.

Finally an email reply from SP Watrpumps.

"Unfortunately we no longer re-manufacture the units".

So I've blown heading towards £3000 on bodywork, having the radiator refurbed/re-cored, and having a full set of silicone hoses made ... but I've not got and it's looking like I have no prospect of getting a working car just because of the blasted water pump.

I feel sick.

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by Torbayboy on Sep 15^th, 2026, 2:31pm

Still a few mark 3 granadas o ebay, mostly cossies for sure, I hd several of these prior to having scorps, like the scorpio found them very comfortable, just saying.
Perchance you may be able to find a banger racer with a cossie motor or try messaging the founders on here.
Sure someone can help, all my scorp bits gone now.

R ;DY

Title: Re: Aaaaargh. 3 months without the car, and now ..
Post by DavidBE on Sep 15^th, 2026, 4:07pm

Problem is so much of the money i could have spent on another car is now gone. I've been unable to work with benefits my only income since 2007. I had a one-off lump of money earlier this year when my mother died, most of which went on paying off the mortgage that actually expired three years ago and only the forebearance of the bank didn't put me out on the street. I really needed to spend what was left on the dreadful condition of the Victorian house, but decided to spend some on fully fixing up the Scorpio. More fool me - if I onyl ahdn't had the radiator done ti would still be working and useable.

I come back to the fact that of every kind of car i've tried sitting in since whataver went wrong with my back in 2007, ONLY the Scorpios are bearable - and that includes Mercs, BMWs, Audis, Volvos, Vauxhall Omegas etc, all just agony for me I can't take for more than 2 minutes. And Mondeos, so it's not just 'any Ford' that's OK for me. Plus without a car I can't get anywhere to try any other car.

Funnily enough, when the disability hit and I couldn't go on with the car i had then, back in 2007, I was trying all sorts of cars I could still just make it to in the car I had at the time, and not finding anything, I thought of what the most comfortable car I'd ever had was - which wasn't to say it would be OK on the back-and-leg-pain problem. And at that point it was the two Granada Mk IIIs I'd had (just 12V 2.9s, one Ghia, one Ghia-X). Wasn't one available anywhere within reach, but it was only then (2007) I first heard of the Scorpio - had never noticed they existed. And as it was the Mk II to the Granada Mk III's Mk I (as the Mark I Scorpio everywhere but Britain and Ireland) I thought the Scorpio was worth a try, found the one 2.3 Ultima Saloon I could just get to. To be honest, leaving aside my disability issue, I thought the Scorpio was comfy, but not quite as comfy as the Granada Mk III. BUT it, uniquely, of every car I've tried since 2007, doesn't make the pain in my back and legs go up but actually reduces it. The garage at there otehr end of the village I used to use would give me lifts home after dropping off the car for work - ONE mile, and I'd fall out of Mercs, BMWs, all sorts - the lif would be whatever the one guy was working on at the time - in agony, end leaning against a wall for minutes before I coudl crawl along to mmy front door. Every other car I've tried other than Scorpios have me in total aginy within a minute or two adn i really , really can't use them.

You know, I've had this daft idea ... When i turned 17 in December 1977, my father dragged me out to a disused airfield in the New Forest on my birthday and gave me my first driving lesson, in his car, ending with making me drive home at the end (which was terrifying). From then on until I bought my first car in 1980, I did all the driving if I was in his car - he even leant it to me from time to time. (In fact I still did the driving if we were in his car even after I got my first and later cars). So, to me, 'my first car' was actually his car, which I drove a lot for several years. And HIS car was a 1965 3.8 S-type Jaguar. And i've kept on getting this thought nagging at me these last few years that it would be kind of poetic if my driving life was book-ended by S-type Jags: my father's 1963-1968 version to start, then a 1999-2007 version to end. (And, after all it WAS Ford's replacement for the Scorpio.) However, I have never sat in one, so have no idea if I would find their seats bearable - probably not given the way my back reacts to all the Mercs, BMWs etc. And I've spent a lot of the money I couldhave spent on another car on the Scorpio over the last couple of months.

I've emailed Newquay Radiators, who rebuilt/re-cored my radiator the month before last, and they've said they think they can probably sort out my water pump if I send it to them, so I've told my garage to do that. They're goign to drop it off down there end of this week. So that's at least two more internet food orders and rotting away stuck here for a couple more weeks. Of course, even if they fix it I'm now expecting every other hose, seal and gasket in the colling system to blow. I did buy the full set of 11 hoses for the BOB Cosworth in high performance silicone. So that leaves ... head gaskets? Maybe I shoudl buy a couple ready. They've had them on eBay every time I've looked - what's the betting they've all gone now.