I have been dumped on

[Ben]

Hi all

My brother and girlfriend gave me there Citroen Saxo VTS at 6:00 PM today. It is booked in for MOT at 10:30 Saturday (tomorrow). The power steering not working, rear hand brake sub-standard, some play in the front wheels not in + but x just on one plane of x I have never worked on a Citroen before. I did get the steering on line by jumping a fuse I think an ignition problem because the heater blower don't work speedo and fuel gage. I will fit new rear brake pads tomorrow morning wish me luck.


Ben

[Alzax3]

Good luck Ben!

Just so you know you're in good company, I noticed I'd got a noisy rear bearing on the Corsa yesterday, having bought a replacement I took the drum off to find that not only was the bearing on the way out but that the drum was cracked, (so shoes U/S as well) the other side bearing wasn't brilliant AND both the wheel cylinders wouldn't yeild their bleed nipples.......(sheared off ) Why do simple little jobs end up as major rebuilds?

[bobbybrown]

Your also in good company, I spent the weekend doing a clutch on a rover 220 diesel, and yesterday doing a head gasket on a peugeot 106.
Looks like I've got to d a clutch on a renault savanna next week some time too! Oh the joy

[ant]

Im rebuilding a nova and its hell on legs!!!!!

Ant

[Monkeyboy]

And I'm working on my boat, fibreglass this weekend, what fun.

[Alzax3]

Dear Vauxhall

What made you choose to produce wheel cylinders in aluminium? When the bleed nipple seizes, you can't heat it up as it melts the aluminium, and if you soak it in WD40 for ages and then lean on it with a suitable tool it breaks off just above the threads .....

Thankfully the aftermarket replacements are galvanised ferrous castings, so they should see the car out!

[Ben]

Hi all

It did fail on Handbrake inscure. It is bolted to the car?

and the N/S/F suspension bush. That was the play in x MOT man missed the O/S/F bush play all together. Hay ho

Dear GM

Why do you make parts for cars that are substandard. I know you own the after market suppyers you stiff us both ways

Ben

[jimcub]

Golf tyre and headlight for MOT, the things daughters leave us when they fly off on holiday. Oh and a hedge to cut and a patio to lay. Wife's off sick so I get no peace there as well, and I have shed coming on Tuesday so have to clear the old one and dismantle as it will be a play house for grand kids. also empty 3 years of smelly rubbish in 3 big drums we use at the horse show into bags in the back of my new car, they leaked smelly water as well, some one had c*****d in a bag and dumped it.
I found my fish I had not seen for 2 weeks trapped behind the filter ( that's what the smell was ), it has been out of the pond 4 times now but this is it's last as it was an empty shell of skin and bone. So now my 2 foot long 6 year old sturgeon is no more, so will have to modify pond and buy 2 more.
I do hope I can get to play on my new quad core computer some time as well.

[Spacenut]

It really just goes to show that modern cars of any description are of very poor quality - I mean the standard of engineering rather than the feel of the interior

Built down to a price, and assumed to be dealer serviced for life, there are many flaws that shouldn't be on cars for the price - removing parts of the cooling system to change a headlamp bulb for example (Audi).

I've always stuck with old cars. Rust you can deal with, but the basic robustness of the engineering is what I like - over-engineered bearings, suspension parts, gearboxes etc. With only a slide-rule instead of a computer, most older models have design margins which mean that they won't fall apart after 100k miles/12 months/whichever comes sooner

Alex is a recent convert with his Moggy van - you know it makes sense!

Doesn't stop other people giving you their cars to fix though

Sorry the car flunked this time Ben - still, you fixed most of the problems first time round, not bad considering its the first time you clapped eyes on the model!

Lauren