I loved driving a month ago.........

[nilagin]

I never said nor implied that they could. I was pointing out that European cars are generally unreliable compared to Japanese makes, but there's always the exception as in my Discovery.

I've owned various Ford cars over a period of 29yrs. 3 have been bought brand new, the rest 2nd hand. None have proved to be unreliable. I currently have an 11 yr old Mondeo. It has covered 229,000 miles all on the original engine, gearbox and clutch. The only time it let me down was when the battery went flat, that was the original battery and it had lasted over 8yrs.
I work for Ford and 95% of my workmates drive Ford cars, that's over 300 people, none of them have had a car that proved to be unreliable.
Last year, the highest number of recalls and quality concerns on new cars in the USA were on Toyota cars and were increasing with each month.

 

[Flash In The Pan]

TBH I have gone past the point of caring with this peice of ****. people say your meant to lov your first car. I dread every journey in it wondering weather I will make it or not.

Yeah, I am not in a good mood.

Look on the bright side, when you come to sell it you can advertise it as "no expense spared"

 

[Flash In The Pan]

I work for Ford and 95% of my workmates drive Ford cars, that's over 300 people, none of them have had a car that proved to be unreliable.

What are you trying to say, that you lot keep all the good ones for yourselves?

The last Ford my folks owned only had 15,000 miles on it by the time it reached 10 years old (it was in the family from new). Not because they didn't use it much, but because it was so unreliable it spent most of it's life with the bonnet up

For some strange reason they liked it though. Fortunately someone stole it....

 

[nilagin]

What are you trying to say, that you lot keep all the good ones for yourselves?

The last Ford my folks owned only had 15,000 miles on it by the time it reached 10 years old (it was in the family from new). Not because they didn't use it much, but because it was so unreliable it spent most of it's life with the bonnet up

For some strange reason they liked it though. Fortunately someone stole it....

I had a Capri off my Dad, he had it 6 yrs from new and only did 16,000 miles in it, but that was because he had retired. I had it for 3 years and added another 30,000 miles to it. Great car even though it was only a 1.6 Laser. For reasons which escape me I traded it in on a new Fiesta 1.8 D Azura. Wish I'd kept it now.

 

[Flash In The Pan]

The Lazer was nice, one of the few cars that suited being white. The Escort Harrier just sprung to mind as another one , I must admit I did want one of those when I was young and daft

 

[Matt Sayle]

Tuens out that I have a leak somewhere (I think)

topped up my water last saturday

it was empty this morning.

hmmm.

damnit.

 

[jmoffroad33]

Matt it does get better, but try not to buy landrovers. We have 3, The Defender 90 Wheel bearings are lasting 1000 miles, Modified Disco 1 eats wheel bearings and propshafts,but at least the Disco 2 is OK we have only owned it a week!:bonk:

 

[flyingmonkeycorp]

Can you see a leak anywhere under the engine? If not I'd be very worried about head gasket failure

 

[candlestick]

Head gasket (check for creamy coloured goo), water pump, radiator, or fingers crossed, a damaged pipe!!

Get yer cheque book out again Matt....

 

[Ric Type R]

At least you've got a car, Mine is in for repair after ripping all the suspension out of it, £400 excess on my insurance, Serves me right for being a prat. :bonk:

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

Missus has a lease car, no repair bills. I own mine but do my own maintenance - no repair bills. (parts excluded)
If you have any mechanical aptitude at all Matt, buy yourself a Haynes manual for the car, and a cheap tool kit. You will break most of the cheap tools through time, but at least you can replace them one at a time as you go on. Buying tools is as bad as buying photography stuff. You can go mental buying loads of snap-on stuff. It's all just sooooooo shiny.

 

[candlestick]

I agree TD - I have a trolley jack, axel stands etc to prove it!!!

 

[kevshore]

matt, if you have any more probs mate, pm me before you hand over your money to anyone. I might be able to source parts through the trade for you at trade price and then you or a mate can fit them.
You can have them at whatever I buy them at.

For what its worth, I have seen more dead Landrovers through my workshops than any other make. Corsa's arent generally that bad. The main problem with them is that they have all had the b*&locks revved off them by previous young owners.
At some point a poor sod (Matt) comes along and inherits the problems. But at least the parts arent expensive for them.

If I can ever help mate, pm me.

Kev.

 

[Ric Type R]

Had a courtesy Car today believe it or not a corsa 1.2 won't pull your hat off.

 

[Arkady]

Sorry to hear that Matt - I had the same thing with one of my old Mondeos: within a week it was the idle control, then the clutch went (in Central London, and yes you can drive without a clutch if you're very careful with the revs...lol), then the brakes, then the tyres, then the water-pump (which should have warned me that...) finally the HG blew and I had to source another engine as a low-mileage short-block V6 Duratec was cheaper in the long run than getting the HG swapped by Ford...lol

Then, when it was all working perfectly, I sold it and bought a Cougar...we never learn...lol

 

[Blue Eagle]

Well that could be a stuck thermostat or your head gasket is screwed too... In which case, wanna buy a push bike?

lol, pull over and stop, hepburn is right, the headgasket is next if you let it overheat.

 

[specialman]

Matt, cars weren't only invented to get us from A to B - no sir; they were invented by fat cats at massive corporations to suck our wallets dry at every opportunity!!

I feel for you - it's rubbish when you're car breaks down. I thought I'd got round all that when I bought a two-year old Leon Cupra for an extortinate £12K. Turns out that even when you pay the earth you still end up shelling out - pads for my Brembos and new discs - £500; tyres for my 18"s - £1,000!!!

Cars are a rip off - wish I'd kept my old Primera GT, the world's most reliable car

 

[wack61]

We've all been through it - I learned how to use a socket set and a Haynes manual PDQ when I first started driving (ironically that was a Vauxhall too - a Chevette, followed by another Vauxhall - a Viva).

I bet Matts dad can only just remember the Chevette and Viva

 

[IanFlaherty]

Sounds like you're going through the same things I have with my car, Matt. If it does turn out to be the headgasket, try using K-seal. Mine is fine again now, and it gives me chance to offload it as a fully woking car if need be (although I've still managed to get attached to mine lol).

 

[knocker]

The Defender 90 Wheel bearings are lasting 1000 miles

get the swivel preloads adjusted and remove the oil in them and fill with swivel grease also check it has the correct radius arms and fit some polybushes, if you have stupid 31/33/35" tyres fitted, theres the reason for short life wheel bearings, get rid and run 235/85x16.....hey presto 25000 mile wheel bearings

my disco is old.....very old and it's been excellent, never cleaned, filled with dogs/ferrets/fishing gear/junk and wack61 with his 300mm vr on regular occasions, driven hard off road across fields and tixover quarry, never let me down, it even kept going for over 120 miles with no water in it when the water pump went.....160,000 genuine miles and testament to the 200tdi

 

[yoby]

get the swivel preloads adjusted and remove the oil in them and fill with swivel grease also check it has the correct radius arms and fit some polybushes, if you have stupid 31/33/35" tyres fitted, theres the reason for short life wheel bearings, get rid and run 235/85x16.....hey presto 25000 mile wheel bearings

my disco is old.....very old and it's been excellent, never cleaned, filled with dogs/ferrets/fishing gear/junk and wack61 with his 300mm vr on regular occasions, driven hard off road across fields and tixover quarry, never let me down, it even kept going for over 120 miles with no water in it when the water pump went.....160,000 genuine miles and testament to the 200tdi

At the risk of dragging this right off topic, my old 200tdi was fantastic and maintained in a similar fashion (I thought it was actually illegal to wash it, and the leaky sunroofs kept the interior well washed). Only problem I ever had with it was a snapped timing belt (my fault for driving like I was Jason Plato) which resulted in my having to strip it down and repair myself. After that it went for another 70,000 miles without a hiccough. Stupidly got rid of it when the daylight through the boot floor got too bright and the dog nearly fell through the holes. Replaced it with a P38 Range Rover, which I got shot of after a month, then had a DiscoII TD5 - It'd take me all day to list the things that went wrong with them.

Matt - Headgaskets are fairly straightforward to repair at home - you'll need to find a local workshop and get the head skimmed before you put it all back together but should be fine. Said it before - get yourself a Haynes manual. Think of the fun you can have photographing the step by step repair for a new blog........

 

[DeadlySmurf]

Any other problems mat send me a U2U, or email.
My mate has turned one of his barns into a garage and we are making 2 kit cars and we fix cars to fund it