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[jjleonard]

Evening!

I've just spent another day under the car, replacing the rear discs and pads, and adjusting the handbrake.

Last weekend I did the front wishbones, steering idler, droplinks, front discs and pads, both rear coil springs.

I took the car for a test drive this evening - i know the brakes are now working fine after three emergency stops that had the ABS kicking in HARD and the front pads smoking!

but, i still have a whine from the rear and the next job is to do the diff oil (if i get a chance tomorrow, i'll put the car up on axle stands and make sure the whine is the diff and not the driveshafts...)

I'm getting a bit disillusioned with my bout of mig ownership. I've got the horrible feeling I bought a lemon. In my six months of ownership i've had to do:

Cambelt, aux belt and water pump
Cam cover gaskets and breather clean
Replace driver side dispack
Both rear coilsprings (both snapped)
Front wishbones
Steering idler
Droplinks
Front and rear discs and pads
Handbrake service and adjust (twice)
top up autobox fluid

I still have to do:
front n/s bearing (plus o/s, I have both parts)
cure the drivers door check strap 'cracking' issue
cure the whining from the rear (speed related and higher pitched at high speeds - i have a horrible feeling it's the diff)
front o/s tyre (being done monday)
both rear tyres plus geometry (WIM visit tuesday)
exhaust backbox

The MOT is due by 9th may, and i'm crapping myself that it's going to fail on something else that i haven't got round to fixing yet.

I paid 2 grand for a car with full service history that has obviously decided to fall apart as soon as I started driving it! I love the car, and the power, but I've spent a fortune in parts and I spend all my time worrying about what is going to fail next. My girlfriend is losing her patience as I spend all my spare time working on the car, and in the last three weeks I've spent 3 days behind the wheel, the rest of the time it's parked up waiting for parts.

Please, OOFers, give me some inspiration! I'm feeling a bit low!  :-/

[JamesV6CDX]

Cambelt, aux belt and water pump - service item

Cam cover gaskets and breather clean - v common, happens to em all

Replace driver side dispack - again not unheard of and no biggie

Both rear coilsprings (both snapped)
- no biggie really, happens to a few. is it ex plod?

Front wishbones - common, wear and tear

Steering idler - wear and tear

Droplinks - wear and tear

Front and rear discs and pads - consumable

Handbrake service and adjust (twice) - common. Ask TB

top up autobox fluid - Normal maintenance

I still have to do:
front n/s bearing (plus o/s, I have both parts) - easy job, good guide on here, no problemo.

cure the drivers door check strap 'cracking' issue - anyone got 20p spare?

cure the whining from the rear (speed related and higher pitched at high speeds - i have a horrible feeling it's the diff) - may be the only PITA, but may also only be tyre noise. Diff is not terminal anyway


front o/s tyre (being done monday) - consumable

both rear tyres plus geometry (WIM visit tuesday) - consumable

exhaust backbox - consumable


I do understand it all comes at once - but put in perspective, none of that is big stuff, if you like the car

[Richie London]

now i remember what i needed to get at vauxhalls this morning when i went past

cure the drivers door check strap 'cracking' issue - anyone got 20p spare?

[jjleonard]

Thanks James - that helps a bit.

I understand that the majority of it is either consumables or regular service items - it's just that it all happened 'at once'.

I'll live with the whining at the moment - it is a PITA, and will have to be done at some point - but i'll probably end up changing the whole thing.

As for the springs, it's not ex plod, but it was an ex govt car, so probably ran four up most of its life. Damn thing snapped one of the springs two weeks ago, and the snapped bit promptly gouged a chunk out of the rear tyre!

grrr. I do love it, and just want to spend a month or two not fixing things on it!

[tunnie]

i have done most of the things you list there to my facelift, apart from drop links and rear brakes, bearings, atf

But i have had mine almost 4.5 years and i have done all the above ONCE, so keep going and it will return the favour.

Sadly it looks like my coil pack is on the way out, but thats about the only thing bar the cam sensor that has failed on it in 4.5 years, rest are standard service items

[Vamps]

Migs d seem to be high maintenance, particularly the V6, from what I read on here.  However, once it is right you will have a great car and will soon forget the aggro in getting there.  Been there, to a lesser extent with an ebay purchase, but now a brilliant car, albeit a 2.0L

[unlucky alf]

i know how you feel, my auto box in & out /swapped 4 times & this is before i got it on the road , [not to mention g/box ecu]as somebody else said to me that once its done you can look back & laugh about afterwards

[jjleonard]

Thanks for all the support, lads. To be fair, I did only pay 2 grand for it, so the investment i'm making in it now will see it run for years more.

Plus the fact that before I bought this car I knew sod all about mechanical work on cars, now I can do most of the work on the car with confidence! That's a skill I'm glad I now have, thanks to this forum.

Once the car's back on the mend i'll spend some time 'paying it forward' by doing more work on other OOFers cars.

[Baron Von Spongebob]

Park it on your drive.
Wash it, Polish it, Take photos of it but dont drive it..

Save you a fortune..

Any time you want advice on money saving tips feel free to contact me..

[p j morgan]

hi ,i know what you mean i have had my elite six weeks had two tyres on the bak .it had the wrong cd changer .the rev counter was going up and ,went to see mark dtm he sorted rev counter and checked the car over with his tech 2 .now she runs and drives beautifull well she did untill an old lady of about ninety hit my offside back end on friday .she said she didnt see me comeing .but at least no one was hurt !still lots more to do on my motor .i have had lots of help off this great site  

[Vamps]

hi ,i know what you mean i have had my elite six weeks had two tyres on the bak .it had the wrong cd changer .the rev counter was going up and ,went to see mark dtm he sorted rev counter and checked the car over with his tech 2 .now she runs and drives beautifull well she did untill an old lady of about ninety hit my offside back end on friday .she said she didnt see me comeing .but at least no one was hurt !still lots more to do on my motor .i have had lots of help off this great site  

Glad you found the forum helpful.........

[Andy B]

......
Glad you found the forum helpful.........

We'll have to put a stop to that!  :-?    

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Quote:
"I took the car for a test drive this evening - i know the brakes are now working fine after three emergency stops that had the ABS kicking in HARD and the front pads smoking!"

Too late now Leonard but you should always allow new pads to 'bed' in before undertaking harsh braking, unless an emergency stop is unavoidable.

[jjleonard]

Quote:
"I took the car for a test drive this evening - i know the brakes are now working fine after three emergency stops that had the ABS kicking in HARD and the front pads smoking!"

Too late now Leonard but you should always allow new pads to 'bed' in before undertaking harsh braking, unless an emergency stop is unavoidable.

Ah. Bugger. Thanks for the advice - i'll remember that when I have to change my pads again (probably sooner than I expected now!)

[jjleonard]

Park it on your drive.
Wash it, Polish it, Take photos of it but dont drive it..

Save you a fortune..

Any time you want advice on money saving tips feel free to contact me..