# Car Woes



## Dave ME (May 7, 2005)

My faithful motor has just started playing up







I've done 56,000 miles in it in 3 years, and it had 98,000 when I got it (it's a '99 BMW 523) and it had been running like a dream througout. Then, while away camping, the water-pump went. When I got back, a week later a previous repair to the radiator reservoir (done before I bought the car) broke, so that had to be fixed. While fixing that, they found that the head gasket is on the way out, so I've dropped it at the garage for the week to get that fixed.

This has not been a cheap few weeks







Hopefully that's the end of it for now (although it'll need servicing in the next couple of months).


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## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

Sorry to hear of your car woes, hope it gets sorted with out too much more missery









Also hope it dosen't start to effect the watch budget


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

I've got a 1990 Audi coupe quattro & that's cost me a bucketload recently









First the rear brakes needed replacing (discs, calipers & pads). The suspension bushes have been clunking & knocking for a while now so I decided to get them done too. My friendly local garage (who is actually a friendly local garage!) diagnosed that all the bushes in both the front & rear wishbones were showing signs of wear so needed replacing







. I'd won some polybushes for my car on Ebay months ago, so I thought that it would be a good time to fit those. To complete the set I needed to get some anti roll bar bushes so I ordered a set of those from Powerflex (via Demon Tweeks). I was advised by the garage that it would be a much quicker & simpler job if I bought a new (or secondhand) set of wishbones & fitted the new poly bushes into those for them. Then it would be comparatively simple to swap the old knackered wishbones for the new & shiney ones. Well that's what happened with the rear ones but the fronts turned out to be a complete git to fit. Not helped by the fact that I'd been supplied with two sets of rear wishbones so that 1 set of wishboes didn't fit (1 pair looked different from the other pair so I didn't know that I'd been sent 4 rear wishbones)!! Also Demon Tweeks sent me the wrong anti roll bar bushes, so there was a delay while the wrong ones were sent back, the new ones made (they are made to order) & then sent on to me. I sweated blood getting the new anti roll bar bushes into the wishbone, finally got them both fitted, gave them & the car to the garage & left them to it. Only to be rung 2 hours later, whilst at work, that the wwrong wishbones had been supplied. Not wishing to arse about anymore I zoomed off to the garage in my lunchtime & ripped all the new polybushes out of the incorrect wishbones & asked the garage to install them in the old wishbones that were still on the car. Removing the old bushes was a complete w***er of a job which took the garage ages to accomplish (so it'll cost me loads in labour charges). Saving them time (& me money) was exactly the reason I supplied them with a set of new wishbones with new bushes installed







I now have to try & find out which Audi model the "wrong" wishbones fit & sell em on Ebay ....... at least the new owner won't have to fight getting the old bushes out









I still haven't got the final bill from the garage but it'll be a big one when it does finally hit my doormat. At least my car stops (though I'm not sure the ABS is working!) & handles well now. Old cars ...... I love 'em but they can cost a fortune


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Bugger guys







Ouch......


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## Dave ME (May 7, 2005)

PhilM said:


> Also hope it dosen't start to effect the watch budget


It's already effecting the watch budget







I've been on a sell to buy policy for a few months now, meaning that my collection is shrinking.

Although, to be fair, that's got a lot more to do with my employer screwing me on bonus payments than the car.


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## mattjg01 (Jul 3, 2006)

My car seems to be reaching a similar point. It's 6 years old and I've had it for a couple of years, it's now racked up 120,000 miles. Up until recently it was all going fine but in the last 6 months little things have started to go wrong, the indicator relay broke needing a new hazard switch, the battery died and had to be replaced (Â£100 for a battery







), cambelt is due for replacement shortly, new brake discs were needed at last service along with some internal thingy (wot a mechanic). Looking at the tyres there gonna need changing in the next month or two and I guess I'm now waiting for something else to go wrong.

Fortunately I've been able to do most of the basic replacement work myself, but when it comes to cambelts and more technical stuff you have to fork out a fortune on labour charges.

My pushbike is getting plenty of use at the moment, but even that got a puncture the other day and forced me to walk several miles home. Seems like the only transport that can be relied on at the moment is my legs


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## rhaythorne (Jan 12, 2004)

If funds clear in time I should be picking up my new "Love Chariot" on Thursday









But I've just found out that the last three letters of the Registration number are NBG which, knowing my luck, probably stands for No Bloody Good


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

mattjg01 said:


> (Â£100 for a battery
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Battery prices are roketing due to the rise in the price of lead combined with new legislation of the safe disposal of old batteries and the subsequent costs involved.

On the good side scrap metal prices are on the up so you can actually make money from a scrapper again rather than having to pay to have it taken away.

Went to a guy yesterday, P reg escort Z tec 100K+ on the clock. "It started off making a sort of ticking noise, then it turned into a loud clonking then the car just stopped!"

When I got there it started but smelt very hot. I asked what the temp gauge did, oh that hasn't been working for a few days was the reply!

Turns out the water pump is knackered and he has had no water (nil, none, not a drop, it was as dry as a bone) in it (hence the gauge not working) for a week, it finally decided it was just too hot to carry on I guess!


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## Dave ME (May 7, 2005)

pg tips said:


> mattjg01 said:
> 
> 
> > (Â£100 for a battery
> ...


That sounds familiar (apart from the bit where he drove around for a few days with a dead temperature gauge). Mine was fine, I stopped to look at a lake for 5 minutes, got back in and it was dead







I had to hitch to a phonebox as we were in Snowdonia on holiday and there was no mobile signal!

Just spoken to the place that's doing the head gasket, they're making encouraging noises about it being done tomorrow and costing a bit less than the quote (which in itself was Â£500 less than the BMW dealer's quote), so that's good. It's particularly good as the courtesy car I've been driving around in is a basic spec Citroen Saxo 1.1 from 1997, which is a bit of a shock to the system after my normal car!


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