Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Essex Pete]

Im really struggling to enjoy ownership of my current mig.  Everything seems to be going wrong with it, and has been nothing but a pain since i bought it.

Since i got the car the handbrake has not worked.  When i took the rear disk off, i found that the backplate has rusted away, so the handbrake shoes cannot be secured. i ignored this problem while i sourced a new backplate and various fixings and springs from vauxhall, only to find out that i need to seperate the hub from the bearing to change it.  After hearing the problems that people have had, i decided to leave it. 

Then the wishbone bushes started to perish, so i bought a pair of wishbones, only to find that i could not get the old ones off because everything is so rusty and seized.  So again, i put the job off.

On friday, returning from a week on holiday, the drivers side rear wheel decided to part company with the car, after snapping all 5 studs!  After a marathon 10 hour recover, i worked on the car the remainder of the weekend, to only have removed one of the studs. 

So i decided that the best way to sort it would be to contact Omega Spares in Heathrow and get a pair of complete trailing arms and sort the rear end in one hit.

This has now been ruined, because Omega Spares just so happen to be shut until the 24th of August.

Then thinking i will just pop a wanted ad on the forum, i find that i cant post until i have 250 posts.

I really just want to scream and pull some hair out right now.  Im wondering how so much can be going aganst me with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel.

Sorry for the rant, i just needed to get some of that out before i loose it completely

[Elite Pete]

Send a PM to an admin asking if they could put your ad in the wanted section

[Dishevelled Den]

Pete! - by all means scream but don't pull the hair out, you'll need it one day

In the vast majority of cases there's always light to be seen in that tunnel but it also helps to have a wee rant about things every now and again - clears the custard so to speak

At least you have a plan, so when you get the parts you need, you'll be back on the road in no time 8-)

Let us know how you get on

[Jimbob]

feel free to put a wanted ad in the test zone 

rarely a problem with wanted ad's, its selling thats the issue 

[Ghost]

I know the feeling mate :-/
my wifes car a vx corsa has had me going round the bend for about 8 weeks now but its now on the road and works fine. ( till mot ),
I've changed just about everthing there was under the bonnet and it still wouldnt run right. even posted a thred in the forum and got help but didnt help much.
took it to the garage and got it on the computor for diag. after three hours they said the timing chane was stretched, as the car needed a new clutch took the motor out and did that aswell, got everything back together and the waterpump decided to give in so changed it got it back in the car and now all is fine,
still have to do a couple of oil changes to clean the engine as it was totaly gunked up, done two already and the oil looks like its been in there for over a year,
( the fresh oil with only 3 miles done )
But the moral is if the car is badly or never serviced you will have more probs than you can think of.
it takes a bit of time but you get it back on the road with a lot of TLC and a bit cash.
dont give up do all the jobs when you can in the end you will have a well maintained car

[ffcgary1]

Mate i know how you feel as when i was much younger i had the same probs that you have, But i have to say that it is your fault that your problems have multiplied as you failed to sort the problems when they first became A PROBLEM, as indeed i did when younger. I will not have a pop without admitting i was a prat then but do the work needed and your mig will be all the better for it. Good luck Gary.

[Pete Elite]

Im really struggling to enjoy ownership of my current mig.  Everything seems to be going wrong with it, and has been nothing but a pain since i bought it.

Since i got the car the handbrake has not worked.  When i took the rear disk off, i found that the backplate has rusted away, so the handbrake shoes cannot be secured. i ignored this problem while i sourced a new backplate and various fixings and springs from vauxhall, only to find out that i need to seperate the hub from the bearing to change it.  After hearing the problems that people have had, i decided to leave it. 

Then the wishbone bushes started to perish, so i bought a pair of wishbones, only to find that i could not get the old ones off because everything is so rusty and seized.  So again, i put the job off.

On friday, returning from a week on holiday, the drivers side rear wheel decided to part company with the car, after snapping all 5 studs!  After a marathon 10 hour recover, i worked on the car the remainder of the weekend, to only have removed one of the studs. 

So i decided that the best way to sort it would be to contact Omega Spares in Heathrow and get a pair of complete trailing arms and sort the rear end in one hit.

This has now been ruined, because Omega Spares just so happen to be shut until the 24th of August.

Then thinking i will just pop a wanted ad on the forum, i find that i cant post until i have 250 posts.

I really just want to scream and pull some hair out right now.  Im wondering how so much can be going aganst me with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel.

Sorry for the rant, i just needed to get some of that out before i loose it completely

  Sorry to here about your problems but at least it sounds like no one was hurt after your wheel fell off .

 Sounds to me like your cars been sat in the sea at some time, has it got a tow bar fitted :-/.

 As for Heathrow spares they are on Holiday as i picked a new boot carpet up from them last week which he kindly left outside for me as they where leaving before i could get there .

  Hope you get the Miggy sorted Pete .

[Essex Pete]

Dont get me wrong, im not saying im not to blame, but as this has only occured over the last 2 - 3 weeks, its not like ive completely neglected the car for years.  I have tried to get stuff done on it and failed.  R.E wishbones, i managed to break 2 18mm sockets without budging the bolt.  So i had to call it a day on that one. 
The handbrake backplate has rusted through.  That certanly hasnt happened in the 3 months ive owned the car.

I have always taken great pride in fixing and maintaining my cars, and over the years have spend a lot of money and my time fixing up and rebuilding my cars,

It just so happens that back in march i was desperate for a car to get me to work so i bought this car.  I didnt check underneath throughly, and now im paying for it.

As for the wheel coming off the car, i cant explain that.  The AA man who came out said he hadn't seen anything like it in the 13 years he had been with the AA.  All 5 bolts sheared off within the thread of the hub.  This has damaged the hub therfore requiring replacement, not exactly a simple job. 

Im just fed up, because i had to borrow scrimp and save to pay for this car, and it has turned out to be nothing more than a complete dog and money pit, the reason i gave up on my last car - a cavalier Gsi that i had spent thousands on previously.

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Dont get me wrong, im not saying im not to blame, but as this has only occured over the last 2 - 3 weeks, its not like ive completely neglected the car for years.  I have tried to get stuff done on it and failed.  R.E wishbones, i managed to break 2 18mm sockets without budging the bolt.  So i had to call it a day on that one. 
The handbrake backplate has rusted through.  That certanly hasnt happened in the 3 months ive owned the car.

I have always taken great pride in fixing and maintaining my cars, and over the years have spend a lot of money and my time fixing up and rebuilding my cars,

It just so happens that back in march i was desperate for a car to get me to work so i bought this car.  I didnt check underneath throughly, and now im paying for it.

As for the wheel coming off the car, i cant explain that.  The AA man who came out said he hadn't seen anything like it in the 13 years he had been with the AA.  All 5 bolts sheared off within the thread of the hub.  This has damaged the hub therfore requiring replacement, not exactly a simple job. 

Im just fed up, because i had to borrow scrimp and save to pay for this car, and it has turned out to be nothing more than a complete dog and money pit, the reason i gave up on my last car - a cavalier Gsi that i had spent thousands on previously.

Maybe there is a lesson to be learn't there Pete

When you get your next car really consider what you are buying and if here is proof it has got a full service history or at least it has been well looked after.  We all know it is far too easy to jump at the first car that comes along that you like.  I did that with my first £15 (in 1970) car, full of holes is was, but luckily it did not really cost me, just taught me a very real lesson!

I apologize in advance if you do what I am suggesting already!!

PS  I am by profession a commercial manager who knows when to cut her losses.  You may be best to do that in this case Pete

All the best

[Andy H]

When i took the rear disk off, i found that the backplate has rusted away, so the handbrake shoes cannot be secured.

I have had a similar problem with one of the rear backplates on my 1994 Omega. My local motor factors pulled out a crate of assorted brake springs and retainers and we found that a Passat retainer could be inserted from behind the backplate and the dished keyhole washer fitted from the front. The original design worked really well until the poorly specified backplate lost its grip on the retainer. Using the dished washer on a retainer poked through from behind is like stepping back into the 1950's but it is safe, it works and it didn't require a 20 ton press to press out the wheelbearing.

[Andy H]

Dont get me wrong, im not saying im not to blame, but as this has only occured over the last 2 - 3 weeks, its not like ive completely neglected the car for years.  I have tried to get stuff done on it and failed.  R.E wishbones, i managed to break 2 18mm sockets without budging the bolt.  So i had to call it a day on that one. 
The handbrake backplate has rusted through.  That certanly hasnt happened in the 3 months ive owned the car.

I have always taken great pride in fixing and maintaining my cars, and over the years have spend a lot of money and my time fixing up and rebuilding my cars,

It just so happens that back in march i was desperate for a car to get me to work so i bought this car.  I didnt check underneath throughly, and now im paying for it.

As for the wheel coming off the car, i cant explain that.  The AA man who came out said he hadn't seen anything like it in the 13 years he had been with the AA.  All 5 bolts sheared off within the thread of the hub.  This has damaged the hub therfore requiring replacement, not exactly a simple job. 

Im just fed up, because i had to borrow scrimp and save to pay for this car, and it has turned out to be nothing more than a complete dog and money pit, the reason i gave up on my last car - a cavalier Gsi that i had spent thousands on previously.

It does appear that you car may have been driven onto a beach and soaked with salt water. It hurts to say it but Lizzie might be right

The sheared wheel bolts sounds like the work of an impact wrench. Maybe a tyrefitter overstressed the bolts getting them out (possibly after a soaking with salt water) & didn't replace them.

[Essex Pete]

I agree with lizzie completely, and i possibly would be best to cut my losses, but i cant see that as being an option.  Last month i spent out on new wishbones, new brakes all round, new backplate and various odds an ends from vauxhall, totalling over £250.  Initially i paid over the odds for the car, i know that now, but when you have a job thats 25 miles from your house, and you have no access to a car, i felt i had no choice but to buy the car.  I deeply regret that now, but i cant change it.

Unfortunately i have only just finished paying back the money i borrowed to buy the car, and i am in no finacial position to go out and replce it.  Although i am really struggling to get the parts that i require.  Its not just a case of i want a car, i need it, because i travel between 1500 and 2000 miles a month.

Regards to the wheel bolts, i was the last to put them on the car and they were tightened correctly with a torque wrench, something i dont normally do, but on this ocassion decided to. i dont see how they could have been loose, ans the car had done a 1000 miles since they were touched, and there was definately no vibrations as per a loose wheel before they snapped