Be Careful Folks!

[jasper5]

Just a warning to anyone doing any work under the bonnet, (especially on the cooling system) with a very hot engine....

I was at my mot garage this morning with a Primera for mot, whilst I was waiting for Steve to finish up the test I was watching my mate John, the other mechanic, suddenly there was a bang and a large cloud of steam flew up....John came running out from the steam with quite severe burns on his face and shoulders....I ran to him with cold water and kept drenching him with cold water until the reception guy ran him up to the hospital.

The water filler had blown off under pressure and blown the boiling water over John, skin was peeling from his face, it was horrible

I'll update you when I hear more of how he is.

Please be careful guys, it can happen to anyone.

[Bailes1992]

Definatley! That sounds serious, at least a nackered headgasket! Could even have a warped head... or even worse could be cracked!
Hope they get the car fixed!

Seriously though, hope the guy isn't too hurt and makes a good recovery!

[highlander]

Holy sh*t

Hope he makes a good recovery. You did the right thing with cold water; acting quickly will have helped a lot.

[teamster1975]

Jesus, I hope the poor bloke isn't too seriously hurt jasper

[sirwiggum]

Thats wild

Hope he is ok!

It's a whole plumbing system in cars so people don't realise.

Almost as scary as a safety valve steam pressure test on an industrial steam boiler

[jasper5]

I got an update just before they closed......

John has lost some skin on his face and has severe burns to his shoulders, face, neck, wrist and scalp.

He has been referred to a plastic surgeon at Preston hospital for tomorrow morning at 8am.

He is expected to make a full recovery, thankfully, but he won't be working this week.

[Doggy]

That's scary stuff - as you say it could happen to any of us... Please wish him a quick / full recovery.

[plod]

sh*t! That's bad
Wish him a speedy recovery

[jasper5]

Thanks guys I'll pass on your good wishes.

[highlander]

Certainly could have been worse - he could have been blinded!

[jasper5]

Certainly could have been worse - he could have been blinded!

Yes! The doctor at the hospital said that. He was told he was very lucky to have missed his eyes.

[STALLED]

Same happened to a mate of mine who was working on a Toyota Tarago (Previa) - cap blew off and he got a full face of boiling hot coolant. Luckily he was ok - but still, a timely warning to make sure that things are nice and cool - before proceeding to do such work. Given that the system is under pressure - it can make things a whole lot worse and harder to judge!

Glad to hear he is on the mend - scary moment!

[sirwiggum]

Might be safer leaving the coolant renewal to the professionals

Glad he's going to make a recovery

[Bailes1992]

There must have been an issue with the car for it to do that though. Something must have been pressurising the coolant?
I never have an issue with turning the engine off, and slowly releasing the headertank and then dropping the coolant?

[Welly]

This does make me wonder something in general .....

I work in the construction industry and you cannot step foot on a site or do a single thing without the biggest Health & Safety preparation in history and yet the motor trade appears to lack things like "what if this goes wrong". Clearly you can't anticipate a cooling system exploding, this appears to be accidental but I see lads like eggsauce fitters under cars with no glasses/gloves on and yet I'd imagine you'd get all sorts of stuff dropping in your eyes - even metallic bits.

I dunno it just seems you're at risk of lots of injuries working on cars and I wonder if safety could be improved upon? in this case maybe in future you'd be inclined to cover the header tank with thick covers or a shield so that if it does blow it won't come straight at you like this? or better still don't work on cars with a hot engine running?

It always makes me cringe a bit when looking at Aux belts rotating in case one flies off and slaps you one

I sincerely hope this guy makes a full recovery ok.