January 2004
Mate at work has just blown up his 325tds. It had just crossed the 200,000 mile mark, M-reg car - it was overdue an oil service by 12-15,000 miles (yes I know!) and the oil filter exploded! So no oil left and it grinds to a halt/seized on the motorway.
A new starter motor, some and a tow has got it going, but it's not happy, looks like 1 knackered cylinder.
Anyway, getting to the point, he's been quoted 4k for a new engine. £2800 for the engine, £500 recon deposit and £700 labour (a bit steep). So what are the options. I say sell it and buy another. But what is it worth with a blown engine? Other thought is put a 318 engine in it, must be a lot cheaper.
Any thoughts on the cheapest way out of this? It's a testament to the car that it survived to 200,000 with total neglect, but there you go. Read more
Involved in an accident last week, nobody hurt, "I was the nonfault party" other driver admitted liability straight away. Contacted Ins co, they said I had two choices, either claim on mine, pay my excess and my Ins co would claim it back from the other drivers Ins co, or as the other party had admitted liability let them "manage" it all.
My car is 3 month old Honda CRV, their approved repairer was 30 miles away, "no problem sir,as our client has admitted liability you can take it to the garage of your choice and we will also provide a loan car for the duration of the repairs, all you have to do is to obtain an estimate for the repaires and let us have it" Damage on first inspection seems light,scraped wheel, scuffed and gouged rear bumper.
With the car being so new I thought I'd take it to the Honda garage I bought it from. Obtained estimate, contacted Ins co with it. "book the car in sir and our engineer will come out and look at it and authorise repairs"
Problem 1. Did not tell me if I went to a garage of my choice you do not get the Ins warranty on the work, only what the garage will give.
Problem 2 Garage rang up today and said engineer will not approve new bumper (black plastic not painted) and were concerned at having to repair same. comments like "if I had a new car I would not want it repaired" were expressed. Whatever happened to being put back in the position you were in before the accident?? I rang my Ins co and they said "if the other Ins companies engineer would not approve a new bumper it's unlikely mine would, but yes sir you were entitled to be put back in the position you were before the accident"???
Problem 3 Loan car, bought CRV because I have difficulty getting in and out of lower cars due to a back problem and Ins co kindly agreed to "like for like" and provided an X Trail.Sting in the tail is £500.00 excess on accident or £11.00 per day CDW to take it down to zero with the comment from the sales guy "I used to work for an Ins co and you won't be able to get that back either"
Now am I being a bit unreasonable here, I was happy with my new car, I'm the "nonfault party" in an accident, I look like having to have a patched bumper and out of pocket of about £44.00 through no fault of my own or is it another one of these "write it down to experience"
Claybuster
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Absolutely, Adrian. But once a case is sucked into a process, it can take a long time to emerge at the other end. By then all parties are losing interest and just want it finished. The process-users know this and aggravate things by dragging feet. If a way to sort it offers itself fairly quickly, take it; if not I would be tempted to swallow pride and cut losses. After all, bumpers are intended to bump (at least they used to be) and if a decent repair is possible, that may be cost-effective.
I need a load-lugger that I can keep for several, hopefully-reliable years. It's got to go all round Britain,including unmade tracks in Scotland, packed to the rafters, possibly pulling a trailor. My preference is for the Kia Sorento or Hyundai Teracan. The X-trail looks a bit flimsy. Should I consider a second-hand Discovery or anything else? Thanks.
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Thanks.
I think my word flimsy was a bit harsh. I was actually referring to the interior, the driver's console especially and the amount of day-to-day bashing it could take. I remember seeing one in the Nissan showroom and being concerned.
The interior of the Terracon is admittedly hideous, although even the cheapest Sorrento is quite bearable inside. It doesn't put me off the Hundai though- it's what's most appropriate for the job I have in mind for them.
This morning I was peacefully driving along the M60 in pretty lousy conditions - but no worse than any other wet winter morning - when on comes the local Police Inspector saying :
"Do not travel unless absolutely necessary, it is really, really bad out there. Stay at home if possible, don't travel, you will get stuck. If you have to travel take extra precautions " ...... and so on ad nauseum.
I couldn't believe it. There was I doing a steady 65 in free flowing busy traffic listening to this tripe.
What is it with the powers-that-be that think a bit of bad weather is going to do us all in ??!
Pathetic.
Oh, and taking the kids to school today took no longer, everything was functioning as normal despite a few inches of snow, yet the authorities would have us believe we had just been nuked .....
Media overkill I think.
jd
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Local TV had a reporter with the gritting team in Norfolk. Apparently you need a qualification to operate a road gritter. Not just to operate the mechanical side of things, but the ideas and principles behind it. I wonder who runs these courses and will they operate them at night school!
For anybody in the market for a second hand diesel, it seems unfair that the buyer has no way of knowing that the vehicle has been running in a boosted or chipped state of tune.
This is not helped by the fact that tuning box units and their ilk are being removed prior to main dealer servicing, so even they have no knowledge that the vehicle has been running under more stressed conditions than the manufacturer intended and must have some bearing on the long term durability of the engine/transmission.
Is there no way the engine management software can be programmed to detect this sort of deception to the unwary buyer ??? Read more
I think I'd prefer to buy a car the owner has spent a bit on than a totally standard car.
If its your pride and joy you are surely bound to treat it better than if it was 'just a car'?
Hi
I need to find a cheap car quickly, and have spied the following on e-bay:
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2457...1
I have e-mailed the seller about the car as I am quite keen on it, and he sent the following reply:
When the car is cold is runs fine on the choke, when the choke initially switches off it runs lumpy for a bit. It cut out on me at junctions etc. This could be because the choke is switching off too early. After about 10 minutes it then runs fine again.
It starts almost first turn of the key when cold but will turn over for about 15 seconds when it is warm, I have said a service as it hasn't really been used since Nov but it probably needs the timing or something looked at. I've never had problems re-starting it, it's more irritating than anything else.
As far as I'm aware the suspension is OK, I'm not a mechanic though. It raises and drops etc. When the car is started it takes about 20 seconds to raise when it hasn't been started for a few days, and a matter of seconds if it has been used on the same day.
Would this problem be cheap and easy to fix? (I would be entrusting it to my local garage as I don't have the time or facilities to do it myself.) It seems to me that the seller is being as genuine and honest as he can, but I'd like some expert advice please.
Many thanks, as always, in anticipation.
Cheers
Rob
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As Autumnboy and PhilW may have seen from the Andyspares forum, I haven't bought this BX. Instead, thanks to a humblingly generous offer from DieselBoy (my brother for those who don't know!), I am now the proud owner of a 1993 Peugeot 1.6GL. And very nice it is too!
Thanks, all for your advice about the Citroen. I guess in the end I wasn't quite ready for too much of the old Gallic charm!
Cheers
Rob
Sorry to hear your transport collapsed. Perhaps you could go on the bus to work instead:-)). Seriously tho have you considered another box from scrappie . Is not too difficult to change on a Golf.
Best of luck Phil I . Read more
good luck not a bad motor as is goes.Should keep you going for a few years.
My steering wheel is turning side to side more than normal as I drive. At slow speeds it is more sudden and noticeable than at higher speeds where the turning from side to side is less. Is this due to tracking or just wheel balancing? Read more
Thanks to all. Problem now solved. The front passenger side tyre was out of shape. It was not easy to spot but I changed the tyre and the steering is now fine.
I am suprised at what a small defect in the tyre can do to steering.
Hi Gang, Mrs V's beloved P regn. Felicia has developed a small coolant leak. In fact, it looks as though it may have been there on/off for quite a while since there is some minor rusting where the fluid has collected over time and seeped down between the metalwork behind the front bumper.
Looking down on the radiator there are 2 entry points on the bottom left hand side, the lower for a 1.5" approx. rubber hose secured with a jubilee clip and the upper one for some form of sensor (thermostat??). The leak appears to be weeping out from the point where the sensor? screws into the radiator. Would it be safe/wise to just try to tighten it a little or is more drastic action required? Thanks all :-) Read more
Thanks very much P&M - I'll give it a try :-)
Hi all, long story...My Sapphire Cosworth is suffering from lack of power and is backfiring through the exhaust. I have only had the car for a few weeks, and it was running beautifully initially. It first developed the symptoms on the way into the main ford dealers for its 60,000 ml service, and by the time I had reached the garage, a journey of 35 miles the car was really struggling - not accelerating, loss of power,running roughly, etc. When I went to pick it up they told me that they hadn't time to fix the problem and I would have to book it in another day. They did, however, say that the turbo was alright. After the 35ml journey home again I was really toiling (the problem seems to get worse the as the journey goes on) and I was reluctant to risk running the car back to them again. I took the car to a local garage,who couldn't find anything much wrong, apart from a rusty fuel tank which was leaking and subsequently replaced. The symptoms I have now is that the car starts and ticks over ok, but won't accelerate above 3000 rpm and backfires through the exhaust if you do push the pedal down. The local garages aren't too keen to look at to the car - they seem to be very apprehensive of a cossie and I was wondering if any one has knowledge of a similar problem.
The car is unmodded and a red top, converted for unleaded. Thanks for any help.
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The turbocharged engine in the Cosworth likes the 'proper' spark plugs - were these changed?
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
Browse
Same here (almost). A friend bought a reconditioned engine for his Morris Minor and the first time he started it up the filter blew off its seat and sprayed everywhere (me too!) with oil.
This baffled us until we found the cause to be a sleeve that the reconditioner had fitted in the oil relief valve passage to bring it back to standard. The sleeve had slipped along the passage until it blocked the oil outlet hole. The oil pump was driven from the back of the camshaft and yet nothing broke despite the huge strain that there must have been on it.