Morris Minor Owners Club

Noticed a category on their shopping site:

'Old Car Maintenacerepair'


Tesco Air Compressor 12v
£12.00(£12.00/each)


Tesco Telescopiswheel Nut Wrench
SAVE £2.00 Was £6.00 Now £4.00SAVE £2.00 Was £6.00 Now £4.00 - valid from 05/06/2008 until 18/06/2008


And that was it! But interesting to have an 'old car section'? Wonder what constitutes 'old' to them.

I suppose anything that you can work on yourself
Some modern cars require even bulb change done by main agent as the failure warning light needs resetting.
I remember when electronic ignition because standard fitment I prefered points & condensor. Same with fuel injection where I prefered carb.
Now it's the managment systems of things like bulb failure, emmissions etc that cause me worries about if they go wrong.

Paul Humphries

One car maker (nameless) has a fuse for the passenger airbag. The fuse blows, you fit a new one, then take it to the main dealer to have the computer told that the fuse has been changed.

in reply to this I can only tell you one thing, yes it is a worry, I have a ford Fusion on an 03 plate, its two months out of warranty and the coil pack has managed to send a spike to the ECU, this means my ECU is dead and the coil needs replacing, which is £900 so far !!! then added to that the CAT may go in the future because of all the unburnt fuel that would have been sent down the exhaust when the coil was busy destroying my ECU. This car has only done 40,000 miles since new its always been service early and looked after mainly city driving.

Plus we haven't yet found out if this is all the damage, as there may be more of these electrical gizmo's playing up.

I nearly had the car dumped on my drive so I could strip it and sell the parts on E-bay, my plan was to buy a minor but the domestic planning department didn't agree (well it is her car) , at least my minor always starts in the mornings, shame it doesn't hold an MOT but it will do soon....

Just an FYI really,

nslocomotive2 wrote:in reply to this I can only tell you one thing, yes it is a worry, I have a ford Fusion on an 03 plate, its two months out of warranty and the coil pack has managed to send a spike to the ECU, this means my ECU is dead and the coil needs replacing, which is £900 so far !!! then added to that the CAT may go in the future because of all the unburnt fuel that would have been sent down the exhaust when the coil was busy destroying my ECU. This car has only done 40,000 miles since new its always been service early and looked after mainly city driving.

Plus we haven't yet found out if this is all the damage, as there may be more of these electrical gizmo's playing up.

I nearly had the car dumped on my drive so I could strip it and sell the parts on E-bay, my plan was to buy a minor but the domestic planning department didn't agree (well it is her car) , at least my minor always starts in the mornings, shame it doesn't hold an MOT but it will do soon....

Just an FYI really,

So, this rather sums up why some of us drive Minors every day. They are RELIABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

To those who own modern junk to please the wife/keep up with the joneses etc, More fool you!

nslocomotive2 wrote:in reply to this I can only tell you one thing, yes it is a worry, I have a ford Fusion on an 03 plate, its two months out of warranty and the coil pack has managed to send a spike to the ECU, this means my ECU is dead and the coil needs replacing, which is £900 so far !!! then added to that the CAT may go in the future because of all the unburnt fuel that would have been sent down the exhaust when the coil was busy destroying my ECU. This car has only done 40,000 miles since new its always been service early and looked after mainly city driving.

Plus we haven't yet found out if this is all the damage, as there may be more of these electrical gizmo's playing up.

This has upset me as I really wanted a Fusion (or a 4 door Fiesta) as the "familly" car to be used mainly by my wife.
I was assuming with them being a mass produced car by Ford that parts would be reasonable but looks like they are as bad as anything else.
Looking around scrap yards there are loads of cars with 100% rust and rot free bodies so wonder if the electronics are now the biggest killer ?
FWIW it was 20 mpg thirst and lack of spares that made me scrap our '96 / P reg Chrysler despite having 8 months MOT.

Paul Humphries

well the coil packs are notorious on these, a google search soon turns this up, I have to say if the electronics were more reliable this still wouldent make the car any more reliable this vehicle has had a new steering rack and new wheel bearings all round. For a car of its age and millage this is dreadfull, Im formulating a list of faults to go to ford warenty with a letter.

My advice is go VW, seat, Schoda, or toyota.

at least thease cars are built to last.

regards

Nigel

My advice is go VW, seat, Schoda, or toyota.

MY advice is to go Minor

agreed - at least you can work on it yourself.

Schoda

Read Audi with a different badge.

of course a minor would be the best option but i already have my work cut out with one. not ready to take on a second.

Hello Nigel,

"at least thease cars are built to last. "

I'm not so sure that they are, after all the manufacturers make their money with new cars. I also think that people are being conditioned to buy newer cars as they have less impact on the environment (This government with it's taxes seem to indicate so), but they all seem to overlook the impact of making thousands and thousands of less polluting cars?
Not to mention the unfortunate Mondeo driver and the like who will pay dearly for their cars with the retrospective tax and the rapid devaluation of their 'asset'.

Alec

Hey Alec,

Very true probably all as bad as each other when it comes to the life of a vehicle.

My introduction to cars was through my dads purchase of a Vaxhaul Chevette this 4 door beastie was a very reliable motor and it wasn't until the body went did he replace it with a lovely pale yellow two door one, of course the older one was used for spares to keep the new one on the road, we used to restore railway vehicles and throw buffers tools and allsorts in the back, and they never really let us down.

I did all the servicing from the age of ten and the car lasted until I was 18, when it was scraped not because it was a rubbish car but no-one could home it, I wanted to have it at mine but I was in a flat and couldn't afford to run it, I'm sure I would still have it running today if I had it.

I remember when I was a lad the cars would run and run and if they didn't a can of WD, a screwdriver and a bit of resourcefulness was all that was needed (sounds like years ago but i am only 27 now !!!!) makes me sound like me dad

I would not say that any manufacturer is doing anything wrong in this day and age the pressure of all this eco stuff is looming far too close, but the fact is....

My car doesn't have heated seats and ABS,
It has no stereo or GPS,
She has a character, on which you lend
It has a smile at the front and a modest rear end,
Once her body is fixed,
On her I will depend,
She will shine and her chrome will be bright,
I will drive her day and night,
My car has round wheels and an engine that goes,
Even at night after thirty five years she glows,
She may be old she may be rotten,
But her stories will never, be forgotten,
Even though I'm tired and round the bend,
The rust I find, there is no end,
She is my Minor she is my friend,
On her one day, I will depend,
I will keep welding, and grinding on,
Until her rust and holes are gone,
She is my car,
She is my light,
She is a morris,
She is worth the fight!!

Ok thats my poetic streak over.

This is not something that could be said for any 08 car.... now could it?

nslocomotive2 wrote:
I would not say that any manufacturer is doing anything wrong in this day and age the pressure of all this eco stuff is looming far too close, but the fact is....

My car doesn't have heated seats and ABS,
It has no stereo or GPS,
She has a character, on which you lend
It has a smile at the front and a modest rear end,
Once her body is fixed,
On her I will depend,
She will shine and her chrome will be bright,
I will drive her day and night,
My car has round wheels and an engine that goes,
Even at night after thirty five years she glows,
She may be old she may be rotten,
But her stories will never, be forgotten,
Even though I'm tired and round the bend,
The rust I find, there is no end,
She is my Minor she is my friend,
On her one day, I will depend,
I will keep welding, and grinding on,
Until her rust and holes are gone,
She is my car,
She is my light,
She is a morris,
She is worth the fight!!

Ok thats my poetic streak over.

Ah

that was very nice

Just MOT'd the 52 sidevalve and it passed. Also MOT'd the 3 yr old Mondeo for the first time. Failed the emissions!

MOT man said he couldn't remember the last time he saw a Moggie without any rust or welded repairs. Not bad, eh?

well done that the moggy passed,that says it all for so called green cars.

Does this board have some sort of award for literary achievement? I have a nomination...