Must have kitteh!
Posted on 11/26/2024 11:19:27 AM PST by Red Badger
No matter what students bring to future "show and tells" at Orchard Junior School in the Southampton area of England, they will never be able to top this year's spectacle that shut down and evacuated the school.
One bonkers little tyke brought in a bit of vintage "unexploded ordinance" to show his mates.
The school quickly evacuated all the students, called the police, and texted the parents:
Schools are being closed & evacuated - please collect your child from Noadswood field ASAP.
Imagine getting that little note in the middle of the school day.
Laura Holloway, a mother of one of the students was at work at the time. She said,
It was so worrying. Another parent had called saying there were police everywhere. I knew my youngest would have been so scared.
But, she added:
Both schools seemed to deal with it all very well and had the kids lined up and checked off - it must have been very upsetting for everyone involved.
Once the students were out, the police showed up and sent in the bomb squad.
The police's full statement said: ‘We were called at about 1.30pm to a report that a child had brought what may have been a potentially unexploded ordnance to Orchard Junior School.
‘The school was calmly evacuated and a disposal team attended to take the item away to be destroyed as a precaution.'
Not an easy task by any means.
The real question everyone wants to know is "What kind of ‘historic incendiary device' are we talking about here?"
This is England after all. They've been blowing stuff up and getting blown up for centuries.
It could've been anything from a 16th-century mortar to a WWII hand grenade to that morning's beans on toast.
See if there are any steps you can take to boost longevity, and any precursors you need to keep an eye on that might help keep an eventual failure from being a total disaster.
Some sorts of issues, if caught early on, can be cured by rebuilding rather than entirely replacing an engine.
The GM 3100/3400/3800 V-6 lineup featured in many Chevrolet and Buick front-drive offerings are all SOLID engines, but they all had one Achilles Heel from the factory: poor choice of gasket type for the interface between the aluminum Intake Manifold and the cast iron engine block.
Differential expansion rates over many thermal cycles would rupture the gasket and permit coolant into the lifter galley — directly from there into the oil pan. These failures could build over time, leading to thinning of engine oil permitting excessive crank and cam bearing wear, or they could be instantaneous which, if the engine weren’t shut off at once, would just grenade the entire thing.
That said, if the gasket issue were properly resolved, every one of these engines is good for WELL over 300,000 miles.
So, to your own situation, check into the common failure points on the engine you have, and see whether there might even be a preemptive step you could take to head off a more substantial failure later on.
Nicely played.
Auto mechanics weekend at my place. Bring beer and change for the “Curse Jar.”
On the upside, I’m renting a 2025 Nissan Altima to stay mobile while my main machine is down, and it’s quite nice.
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Yeah, it felt pretty good, too.
This is a language I don’t speak all that well, but the online types don’t indicate there’s much that can be done. Here’s AI’s summary. NOTE: My B-I-L and his daughter have both already succumbed to this issue.
The 2018 Ford Escape—especially models with the 1.5-liter EcoBoost engine—is widely known for a severe coolant intrusion defect where coolant leaks into the cylinders, leading to misfires, smoking, and total engine failure.
Coolant Intrusion and Engine FailureThe Defect: The open-deck design of the 1.5L engine block allows coolant to seep past the head gasket or through micro-cracks in the cylinder walls directly into the combustion chambers.
Symptoms: Drivers typically notice rough idling upon startup, white smoke from the exhaust, low coolant levels without an obvious external leak, and a flashing check engine light due to cylinder misfires.
The Fix: Replacing just the head gasket usually does not solve the problem; most cases require a full short-block or long-block engine replacement costing between $6,500 and $10,000.
Gory details AND pictures here of the 2.0L shipped in the Maverick pickup that had the same sort of problem:
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/2-0-ecoboost-motor-coolant-in-cylinder-issue.18364/
IF YOU KNOW A SAVVY MECHANIC, the engine block is available as a service part from Ford, and there’s a constellation of other parts and fluids needed to complete the job. If your Escape isn’t having any sweet smell in the exhaust, yet, you’re ahead of the failure, and a long weekend replacing the block on YOUR terms might be a viable route to save it failing... God knows when; probably in the middle of the blizzard of the century, or something like that.
OFFICIALLY your route to peace of mind...
1. The 1.5L Redesigned Service Block
If you take a 2018 Escape with a failing 1.5L engine to a shop, they will order an updated OEM short block under Technical Service Bulletin TSB 20-2100 (and its later revisions).
The original block had open-deck slits that allowed the cylinders to shift or warp, bleeding coolant across the gasket. Ford updated the block with a solid-deck design that eliminated the open slits on the mating surface, beefed up the metal between the cylinder walls, and used deep-drilled cross-passages to safely route coolant without risking structural cracks.
2. The “Short Block” Replacement
Under Ford’s service bulletin, technicians are instructed to replace only the Short Block (just the lower crankcase, pistons, and block casting). The mechanic must carefully clean and inspect your original cylinder head, machine it if necessary, and bolt it onto the brand-new, updated bottom-end block using a heavily revised head gasket.
3. Extended Warranty Coverage (CSP 21N12)
Because the 1.5L failure rate was catastrophic, Ford issued a targeted Customer Satisfaction Program (CSP 21N12).This program extended the factory warranty coverage specifically for the coolant intrusion issue on 2017–2019 Escapes. It allowed many original owners to get the redesigned block installed entirely for free.
The Catch: This specific extension had strict mileage limits and time caps, many of which have expired for secondary buyers or high-mileage vehicles.
HOWEVER, if your 2018 Escape has the 1.5L and is currently consuming coolant, you can still buy the permanently fixed engine block directly from a Ford parts department.
That was very kind of you to research. I’m not the original owner and I didn’t buy any extended warranty but I’ll check and see if that CSP might apply to me. I’m not a high-mileage driver.
Have a great weekend!
Hoping that you don’t bust up your knuckles too badly!
:groan:
You post Kitteh Pics?
Must have kitteh!
Good Monday Morning!
Hopefully we all survived the weekend intact and are ready for another week of fun!
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They wanted me to have this one quickly... I see that it is my 101st Wordle in Two... I must have missed the 100th...
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Good morning. Happy Monday!
We’ll be taking The Princess to the specialist today to have blood drawn. I don’t know why we have to make the 1 hour trip to another burg to have their lab draw the blood. Assuming no issues this will be the last time. They can monitor with results from a local lab.
It was a little warmer this morning, not quite 70 fs so it’s still nice in the mornings. We may get the much-needed rain tomorrow.
I never completed Saturday’s Wordle. Looking at the answer, I seem to remember that being the correct answer fairly recently.
Here’s today’s effort.
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Nice job on the Wordle.
Thanks! They spotted me almost all of the letters in row one...
Saturday’s... I thought that it was used and was surprised to not see it in the list... I can’t recall if it was recently or not...
Sorry about the delay: My gear and I were drenched after the night shift at camp. Didn't even rain: just dew and fog.
Sounds like the Garden of Eden, which was watered by the dew and the rivers, not by rain.
Evocative! There’s a bit of a stream, but that wasn’t what got us all soaked camping on the activity field.
Good showing, Z.
Both options seemed equally forceful, and I picked the other one first.
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