Anyway, I got back to the stage where I felt fit to drive again, so I took her out onto the open road. To my disappointment, the power was gone completely, and it was drinking fuel like it had a leaking tank! Stupidly, I had not thought about the mechanic working on the car, he knew what he was doing as he was the mechanic, and I am just a chancer. So I started on a long journey of non discovery, none of the following made a single bit of difference.... changed the spark plugs, plug leads, coil packs, air filter, fuel filter, fuel pump, engine temp. sensors, lambda sensor etc etc. Had it plugged in on o.b.d and nothing was showing up, and after much enthusiasm and trying things that didn't work, I had to give up. I simply could not justify the fuel cost and dangerous lack of power, I could not even overtake as the car died out after half throttle. So low and behold, I had to park her up, and bought a newer Mk2 Laguna. The Mk2 was never going to replace my beloved Mk1, but I had no options left and was gutted.
2 years passed, and my old friend was lying lifeless, covered in green algae all over, a shadow of it's gleaming shine that was there before. I was constantly being harassed by my other half to scrap the car or sell it for parts, neither of which I wanted to do. Around this time, the Mrs. sister had her car in at a local garage getting the timing chain replaced, she got the car back and soon after was complaining that it was not right. I took the car out for a spin, and said to her the timing was out, it was over-fueling and very sluggish, and was normal before the chain was replaced. I got home, and the cogs in my head started to turn, and then the penny dropped! All the symptoms matched my cars symptoms, so I had a sense of excitement that my old friend could just maybe have a second chance. I got a new timing belt and set in about the engine to change it, got everything lined up, and low and behold....THE TIMING WAS OUT!!!! By now I was fairly confident I had found the problem, so I took the belt off, locked everything in 'the right' place, and put the new belt on. First turn of the key she fired up, and I knew, just by listening to the engine she was happy again. And boy was I happy, the Mrs soon after gave me an ultimatum, one of the cars has to go! So for me, it was simple, much to her disgust, the MK2 was up for sale and away in no time. I set about getting my old girl back to former glory. The 2 years off the road took a fairly high toll on the bodywork, and I am still driving it as a work in progress, but these are recent pictures of how she looks now 2 years on. I love the car more and more as time passes, and hope I can keep her on the road for years to come!
