Biggles Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 In the last fortnight my car has cost me a small fortune. First needed to have an engine rebuild - very expensive. Only had the car a year, very low mileage 40K (genuine as I have all the past MOT papers). Then the car fails its MOT last Friday but same day passes it another garage with an advisory note on the previous fail. More expensive on having two MOT's. Rant about this elsewhere. Now last night when my son was driving home from Uni it overheated and he had to wait 2 hours for the AA to come out only to be told the problem was caused by a clip not being attached properly and it had run out of coolant. Son stopped driving as soon as the warning light came on. Haven't seen the AA report yet as said son didn't get home until very late and wasn't in the mood for anything but food, shower and bed. Going back to the Garage this morning with AA report. To make it more insult to injury we drive under 10K a year in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tan J P Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 argh!! cars....... you wouldn't believe what we have spent on my hubbys car,it must have been totally rebuilt by now,that said it is a taxi and has done 180,000 miles! the trouble with 2nd hand cars is anything can go at any time,even with low mileage,its not always a good thing. did it have all service history too? whenever i have bought a new(to me) car,the 1st thing i do is get the cambelt changed,a lot of people dont change them because the car has low mileage but they should be changed by mileage or life whichever is 1st(ie....5yrs or 80,000 miles) hope this is the last of your expense for a while and you get sorted at the garage:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistyrayn Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 hmmm i know what you mean.. with me it started with my van ..bought it on private sale drove superb for first week then suddenly started cutting out.. so got the RAC out they said it was problem with the injectors.. so got daughters BF to help me as he is a mechanic .. £100 each and there is 4 of them.. stripped engine down and had a nightmare getting them out took 3 of us a whole day just wedging them out.. with a bit of brute force.. van all back together starts ok.. took out for drive ..yep all sorted... then a few days later the ECU went into limp mode 15mph up hills... not good me thinks .. so into garage for diagnostics.. needs new ECU ..had so many faults.. MWAH !! thats good by to just under £1000 with labour etc. so after owning van for nearly 3 weks now and only driving it for a week at the most. i get it back.. runs lovely but cant get it to pull away unless i rev over 1500 .. so back in garage.. diagnostics show a problem with the electronic foot pedal.. so i go to breakers yard and get one.. need to save some money... nope problem still there so garage have van for few more days.. eventually finding the fault ..the brand new MAT sensor they put on was faulty from manufactor.. ok so now van drives lovely..woo hoo im happy.. about a week later go to local garage to fueld up.. come out of garage go to turn corner...OMG.. no steering.. by this point im thinking 5 litres of petrol and a match.... job done.. its dark i can see so i about to phone for lift home.. and daughters and BF drive past... so glad she dates a mechanic.. soon as i told him what happened ..he said fan belt.. all working well now and has done for ages .. well except that every now and again it loses a couple of litres of water.. cant find where or how but i may have to top it up every other day and then some weeks it won't loose water.. now comes the car...had no problems till recently. notice the exhaust was blowing.. so upto my mates and new back bow...hmm nope all the flanges had rusted as it was original exhaust so needed complete new exhaust .. even at mates rates still just under £400 .. ok great job done.. but a few days later the emmisions warning light came on.. so back to exhaust place.. they had a guy put diagnostics on it and reckoned it was the new CAT not working properly.. so they put another on for me .. and reset the fault on ECU. ok so its good .. yeh but after about 10 mile up pops the light again.. so dacide to take it to garage that sorted my van.. had full diagnostics done. and turns out one of the emmision sensors is knackered.. well not surprised they are the original and have recently been disturbed when new exhaust on.. luckily wife works for motor parts company so even with 50% discount still ended up nearly £100 plus garage bill of £170. ( thats including the motor while it was there ). ok its great no light at all.. hmm yeh im glad i ran Elma home from pet show recently otherwise it would have been weeks possibly before i did a journey of any length .. had test driven it for more than 10 miles which is how long it take for the On Board Test to be done.. so from my house to Elmo's about 25 miles..yep no light but 5 mile back the light comes on. so now i have got the hump.. phone garage and he is as stumped as me.. so drop car round to him... now its showing another fault on the ECU different than the last one.. so we can only asssume its one that was because of the sensor fault showing this just sat in the background and now is showing in back of memory.. so he resets it ... i drive to Emma&cookies's house and back 497 miles... no bloody light...problem sorted... bring back motors without all the electonics... so i totaly understand what your feeling ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles Posted July 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 hmmm i know what you mean.. with me it started with my van ..bought it on private sale drove superb for first week then suddenly started cutting out.. so got the RAC out they said it was problem with the injectors.. so got daughters BF to help me as he is a mechanic .. £100 each and there is 4 of them.. stripped engine down and had a nightmare getting them out took 3 of us a whole day just wedging them out.. with a bit of brute force.. van all back together starts ok.. took out for drive ..yep all sorted... then a few days later the ECU went into limp mode 15mph up hills... not good me thinks .. so into garage for diagnostics.. needs new ECU ..had so many faults.. MWAH !! thats good by to just under £1000 with labour etc. so after owning van for nearly 3 weks now and only driving it for a week at the most. i get it back.. runs lovely but cant get it to pull away unless i rev over 1500 .. so back in garage.. diagnostics show a problem with the electronic foot pedal.. so i go to breakers yard and get one.. need to save some money... nope problem still there so garage have van for few more days.. eventually finding the fault ..the brand new MAT sensor they put on was faulty from manufactor.. ok so now van drives lovely..woo hoo im happy.. about a week later go to local garage to fueld up.. come out of garage go to turn corner...OMG.. no steering.. by this point im thinking 5 litres of petrol and a match.... job done.. its dark i can see so i about to phone for lift home.. and daughters and BF drive past... so glad she dates a mechanic.. soon as i told him what happened ..he said fan belt.. all working well now and has done for ages .. well except that every now and again it loses a couple of litres of water.. cant find where or how but i may have to top it up every other day and then some weeks it won't loose water.. now comes the car...had no problems till recently. notice the exhaust was blowing.. so upto my mates and new back bow...hmm nope all the flanges had rusted as it was original exhaust so needed complete new exhaust .. even at mates rates still just under £400 .. ok great job done.. but a few days later the emmisions warning light came on.. so back to exhaust place.. they had a guy put diagnostics on it and reckoned it was the new CAT not working properly.. so they put another on for me .. and reset the fault on ECU. ok so its good .. yeh but after about 10 mile up pops the light again.. so dacide to take it to garage that sorted my van.. had full diagnostics done. and turns out one of the emmision sensors is knackered.. well not surprised they are the original and have recently been disturbed when new exhaust on.. luckily wife works for motor parts company so even with 50% discount still ended up nearly £100 plus garage bill of £170. ( thats including the motor while it was there ). ok its great no light at all.. hmm yeh im glad i ran Elma home from pet show recently otherwise it would have been weeks possibly before i did a journey of any length .. had test driven it for more than 10 miles which is how long it take for the On Board Test to be done.. so from my house to Elmo's about 25 miles..yep no light but 5 mile back the light comes on. so now i have got the hump.. phone garage and he is as stumped as me.. so drop car round to him... now its showing another fault on the ECU different than the last one.. so we can only asssume its one that was because of the sensor fault showing this just sat in the background and now is showing in back of memory.. so he resets it ... i drive to Emma&cookies's house and back 497 miles... no bloody light...problem sorted... bring back motors without all the electonics... so i totaly understand what your feeling ... OMG, makes my recent probs with my car look like a gentle stroll in the park. You have my deepest sympathies. Maybe we need to rob a bank or become registered charities? I think my bank manager is going to be calling anytime soon to tell me that it's about time I started putting money into my account and not out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules dief taz tor Posted July 14, 2011 Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 and people keep telling me to learn to drive lmao, i couldnt afford to put a car on the road let alone run the thing lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistyrayn Posted July 14, 2011 Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 when you have a car , kids or huskies you are allways skint Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles Posted July 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 when you have a car , kids or huskies you are allways skint Never a truer word was spoken, even when your kids are taller than you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted July 14, 2011 Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 Once you have a car You can never do without it. Always someone needs ferrying somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elyse Posted July 14, 2011 Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 What kind of car was it? You should try a motorcycle. A lot better on gas. Although it is a lot more dangerous to drive and more tricky to drive if you're used to an automatic transmission. Honda, I've heard, is very reliable when it comes to engines. So a Honda car or Motorcycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistyrayn Posted July 15, 2011 Report Share Posted July 15, 2011 What kind of car was it? You should try a motorcycle. A lot better on gas. Although it is a lot more dangerous to drive and more tricky to drive if you're used to an automatic transmission. Honda, I've heard, is very reliable when it comes to engines. So a Honda car or Motorcycle. my car is a Subaru Forester and as for Motorbikes..erm nooooooo chance they frightnen the life outta me.. you well never catch me in 2places one is the top of the Eiffel tower or on a motorbike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charley Posted July 15, 2011 Report Share Posted July 15, 2011 As desperate I am to learn to drive, cars sound sooooo expensive! x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex T Posted July 15, 2011 Report Share Posted July 15, 2011 OMG tell me about them! Bought Lynn another car last month as she had written her old one off, all was fine for a week. Then "air bag fault" pops up on dash whenever a passenger is in car. Check all wiring, as I had the same fault (on numerous occasions in my car), nothing wrong with it. Fault clears on its own. Brake light goes the next day - replace it! Drive around the corner "indication fault" pops up. Check all indicators, everything working normal. Ignore the fault. Next day driving - "airbag fault" "indication fault" "engine fault" "battery fault". So took car to garage for a new battery, nothing wrong with it. They ran a diagnostic, came back to the original airbag fault - however it was the drivers belt buckle at fault. Fixed it and so far (touch wood) no faults! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles Posted July 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 I don't believe it (and no I am not doing a Victor Meldrew impersonation) the car has broken down yet again. Run out of coolant again. I took it into the garage and it checked out fine but arranged for them to change the pipe when the car goes into the garage on Thursday for its oil change (rebuilt car engine). Again, it's my son that is driving it and I not only have to deal with the car aggro but also his complaints as well. All I can say it thank goodness the car and not me is covered by the AA. I absolute, categorically, no doubt about it HATE my car!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistyrayn Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 OMG tell me about them! Bought Lynn another car last month as she had written her old one off, all was fine for a week. Then "air bag fault" pops up on dash whenever a passenger is in car. Check all wiring, as I had the same fault (on numerous occasions in my car), nothing wrong with it. Fault clears on its own. Brake light goes the next day - replace it! Drive around the corner "indication fault" pops up. Check all indicators, everything working normal. Ignore the fault. Next day driving - "airbag fault" "indication fault" "engine fault" "battery fault". So took car to garage for a new battery, nothing wrong with it. They ran a diagnostic, came back to the original airbag fault - however it was the drivers belt buckle at fault. Fixed it and so far (touch wood) no faults! the silliest of things can cause so much agro.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.