Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

It was never going to be just an oil change.

Still. £3k. Erk

[mik]

Well.... My estimate of a grand was much, much too low. a clutch has gone and it needs a rebuild. £3,090 and they can't guarantee that they'll get it done by Christmas.

I didn’t realise they had a clutch pack in there.

According to the internet your car should have a GA6HP-26Z box (?) Seem to be a few available from breakers if you are willing to risk it (some offer warranties)

Vid here explains why TADTS

[Sundayjumper]

All autos have clutch packs in them !

[mik]

All autos have clutch packs in them !

These days I guess you are right. I've never taken a massive interest in autos to be honest, so I just imagined a big torque convertor like in days gone by.

[Rich B]

That's crap news. The gearbox on my wife's 320d (6MT) was grinding on 2nd gear. I'd read that it was a common issue that was likely a new gearbox to sort. So I took out a warranty, waited 4-5 months and reported that it had just started doing it.

£4K claim later....


(Obviously this never happened....)

[Jimmy Choo]

It's very close to a write off. I only paid £4k for it last year but anything I would want to replace it with would be more than the gearbox refurb.

[mik]

A new (Varta Silver-series) battery I put in the Evora approx. 18months ago has been giving me some problems recently.

Long story short – I contacted Tayna Batteries (online seller) to advise. They asked me to disconnect it and check voltage loss over 24hrs. It dropped 0.25V (12.63V => 12.38V) over this period, which was enough for them to suggest I send it back so they could perform some proper testing.

Tayna sent a returns kit (plugs for the vents, plus a sturdy zip-seal bag to place it in before boxing it up) and organised collection. It was picked up by the courier the day after I advised Tayna it was ready – exactly as they advised.

After testing for a few days, they confirmed it wasn’t quite right. Warranty claim accepted. Hoorah.

Rather typically – they didn’t have any Varta silver (or Bosch silver for that matter) in stock in my size, so we agreed on a Yuasa Silver instead (which lists at a little £more than the other two, but they are shouldering the difference).

Delivered the next day. Or it would have been if DX hadn’t decided to slip me back a day ….. so it was delivered today.

In relation to online sales, this is the kind of situation that can be a massive PITA, but wasn’t. I think this is the first time in many years of motoring that I've had a battery replacement under warranty.

Top service again from Tayna.

[Matty]

The 535d engine has proved to be TOO EXTREME for its gearbox and has gone into limp home mode and will no longer clear the error with a restart.

There's an automatic gearbox specialist a mile and a half from my house so I'll get it booked in. Looking online it seems that a service /repair will be £350 and a reconditioned box is a grand fitted.

Of course, with a freshened box, (and subject to checking the torque limits on the box) a remap might be a fun way to celebrate...

Well.... My estimate of a grand was much, much too low. a clutch has gone and it needs a rebuild. £3,090 and they can't guarantee that they'll get it done by Christmas.

Oof. Similar to my old SLK55. "It'll just be the controller unit, about £500". Turns out the whole thing needed a rebuild, £2500 later...

Not sure I'd want to drop £3k on the car though....depends how much you enjoy it and how solid the rest?
What's it worth with a broken box?

[integrale_evo]

Probably about £500

[integrale_evo]

Had to go change the battery on the step daughters polo the other day.

Was a bosch s3 ( 3 year warranty ) and she’s had the car 6 years, and I very much doubt the battery was new when she bought it! Sitting for a week and sun zero temperatures finished it off.

Halfords only had their own brand 4 year one at £82 or yuasa with 5 years for £92. Seemed expensive for a small battery but were barely and cheaper online.

[Jimmy Choo]

Oof. Similar to my old SLK55. "It'll just be the controller unit, about £500". Turns out the whole thing needed a rebuild, £2500 later...

Not sure I'd want to drop £3k on the car though....depends how much you enjoy it and how solid the rest?
What's it worth with a broken box?

It's a non ULEZ, thirsty barge. It's worth about £250. The rest of it is solid, though. The interior is in good condition, it doesn't leak, the engine is strong and the suspension is surprisingly taut. Anything else I replaced it with would have it's own foibles and issues that I'd have to deal with.

It's a bugger but shit happens.

[Jimmy Choo]

Probably about £500

Ok, about £500.

[Simon]

Had a weird one with the Merc at the weekend.

I had to take the child seat out of it, so I opened the door fine, but when I went to close it it didn't 'catch' on the pin - it just bounced open again. Thinking that maybe the cold had made the mechanism 'stick' open I triggered the central locking a few times from the key. Then when I closed it it stayed closed, but wouldn't open again- the outside handle felt loose and it obviously wasn't pulling on the catch. So I couldn't open it from the outside, and as the child lock was on I couldn't open it from the inside either.

Threw it at my local dealer on Tuesday and it stumped them too. It's under (very) extended warranty, but they advised that if nothing's actually broken (like maybe the cable had just become disconnected) then there maybe something to pay. Also they couldn't work out how to get the door open, and said they may have to 'sacrifice' something to do so, like the inner panel (which also doesn't come off with the door closed).

I slept on it and was thinking I'd take the car back and try and get the child lock disabled myself by curating a piece of plastic and sliding it in the door gap to flip it (it's a flip switch on the face of the door jam). Then late on Tuesday I got a call from them to say that after 2 days of trying they'd finally managed to get it open and the lock had died, so they'd fitted a new one. All done under warranty, so nothing to pay luckily.

Oh, and they cleaned it real good too, so that's the annual wash done.

[Mito Man]

Had my Costco Arcan brand jack fail today as I was lifting the Defender. About halfway up I suddenly felt that I had to exert a much larger force on the next stroke, then bam, dropped the car. What a POS, about 6 years old but only used about 5 times a year so not exactly a tough life. Ancient £18 Lidl jack which has lived outside in the rain for all its life and is over 10 years old saved the day.

I see they sell rebuild kits for these for £30-40 - is it worth going down this route or will it try and kill me/the car at a future date again?

Then went to use the air compressor to inflate the tyres. That died too. I’m gonna stop touching things today

[Jobbo]

There’s no way I’d trust that jack again so worth replacing it I’d suggest.

[duncs500]

For the FTAO of @Sundayjumper, fancy a bit more of a challenge?

https://www.carandclassic.com/auctions/ ... Pc7exmSXCW

[Sundayjumper]

LOL. No

I'm enjoying the way the ad goes on about the Marek engine being a major feature of this model and then casually mentions that it's missing. I bet they're not easy to come by.

[DeskJockey]

LOL. No

I'm enjoying the way the ad goes on about the Marek engine being a major feature of this model and then casually mentions that it's missing. I bet they're not easy to come by.

I thought the same when I read it. Also, why quit now? If it is that close to being finished, surely it is worth more as a complete, working car.

[Sundayjumper]

I was going to post this in moaning but having considered it, I'm more bemused than annoyed.

I've listed the Galaxie for sale on ebay. It went live last night. The first question came in and with trepidation I opened the email:

Hi how many owners has it had ?

It's a harmless question but - the car is nearly sixty years old. Are they expecting a 1-owner time warp, despite the photos & the description ?

Listing here for anyone who's curious. 778 views & 51 watchers since 8pm yesterday. I know that doesn't translate to sales but a lot of people have seen it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296091429552

[Sundayjumper]

Also, why quit now? If it is that close to being finished, surely it is worth more as a complete, working car.

Every "unfinished project" ever has "all the hard work done"

Probably just needs a fuse & re-gas the AC.