The benefits of a Moggy

[toomorecol]

Well my half shaft broke, could I pull it out, much swearing, but a message and some searching on the site gave me confidence, but it still would not move. Bloody moggies I thought, I have only had her 6 months, you can go, but I found the solution on the site, so a fantastic site if you have a problem odds are someone else has been there. Well parts ordered £37 half shaft, gaskets, and postage 24hr delivery. God it will cost you £37 to go onto the ramps of a BMW garage. And the buzz you get from solving a problem yourself (well a wee bit, maybe a lot, of help from this site) and fixing it is so good. You may swear at the moggie but hey ain't she lovely, or he for ladies.
Colin

[polo2k]

Feels good dont it

Welcome to the world of greasy stuff!

[Peetee]

It's great isn't it? I just wrote on the other site that I've completely re-assembled the car. Then I re-read it and thought "B**** H****" that's quite an achievement" given my circumstances!

Conversely, I've recently bought a Passat. A lot of car for the price, but it'll probably need a clutch or engine mounts soon cos it's juddering. I certainly can't afford to have it done professionally but where on earth do I start?

[d_harris]

Firstly, you look at the haynes book of lies, borrow an engine crane and take a trip to your local motor factors and make sure you have a supply of tea and cake to hand.

It ended up taking me nearly 2 days to do the clutch on the fiesta, but it saved me a hell of a lot of cash......

[paulhumphries]

Conversely, I've recently bought a Passat. A lot of car for the price, but it'll probably need a clutch or engine mounts soon cos it's juddering. I certainly can't afford to have it done professionally but where on earth do I start?

We have a R reg Mondeo at present. To change the clutch the subframe needs dropping. Most reviews say labour costs to do such are so high they often exceed value of car !
Rear caliper seized on our previous Chrysler Neon. To repair parts were going to cost almost as much as it was worth so despite having 8 months MOT I scrapped it and got what I was intending asking for selling whole just from weighting in as metal plus selling CAT seperate.
Modern cars are "throw away" and I'm glad I've got my Minor (and A35 / SIII Land Rover) that you can at least work on them yourselves.
Did you know some cars even changing a bulb is main dealer job as the bulb warning failure device needs resetting and not possible to do such at home

Paul Humphries

[Peetee]

The Passat is 15 years old so is pre-throw away as it's an electronically uprated version of old-style mechanical componants. When you lift the bonnet it's alternator/fuel system/cylinder head/battery etc all visible not acres of plastic. It is do-able but blimey is it a big job with big parts and I know it's going to be several days work and heartache and the sort of job I'm going to regret ever starting.

[rayofleamington]

We have a R reg Mondeo at present. To change the clutch the subframe needs dropping.

I had to drop the front subframe on my Vectra last year - I used a sturdy fence post across the inner wing tops, a 90 degree bracket and a length of threaded bar to make the engine support. Took me less time than it would have done to go to the hire shop and back to get an engine support beam.
As for a sense of acheivement - I only got that when I sold it!

When it comes to Minors, I get a big rush every time I get a 'basket case' repaired enough to get an MOT I tend not to swear at the cars - I tend to swear more at myself for buying an endless stream of basket cases

[paulhumphries]

The Passat is 15 years old so is pre-throw away as it's an electronically uprated version of old-style mechanical componants. When you lift the bonnet it's alternator/fuel system/cylinder head/battery etc all visible not acres of plastic. It is do-able but blimey is it a big job with big parts and I know it's going to be several days work and heartache and the sort of job I'm going to regret ever starting.

We used to have a 1991 / H reg Passat 2.0 GL auto when around 5 / 6 years old.
This model was the start of not being able to easilly repair yourself.
Front wheel bearings required use of 50 ton press, subframe needed dropping to change steering rack, main / Bosch agent diagnostic machine to work on injection system etc.
Parts were very expensive compared to the 1990 / G reg Golf 1.8 GL auto we had at same time. Virtually every item was unique ot the 2.0 GL auto model and therefore bits from more common 1.8 / 2.0 / manual models wouldn't fit.
Passat was nice car but horrendous cost of repair to the electronic autobox (£1500 for exchange unit) meant sold for peanuts as that was final straw of the "money pit" type maintenance.
The 2.0 GL auto was top of the range at the time and had a lot ot technology shoved into the car. Hopefully you have a lesser model that is more "user friendly".

Paul Humphries

[badfelafel]

God it will cost you £37 to go onto the ramps of a BMW garage.

And the rest!!!

[Peetee]

The 2.0 GL auto was top of the range at the time and had a lot ot technology shoved into the car. Hopefully you have a lesser model that is more "user friendly".

Apart from the auto it's the same

I'm getting just about as much enjoyment out of drving it as I do the Mog at the mo. Economy is simply stunning. I got nearly 46mpg out of it the other day - and it's a petrol! When i look at what tax band it's going to fall into soon it makes me sick though. It's so much more economical than the halfweight/half the tax Skoda it replaced.