Longbridge Apologist

I'd immediately put a to spec battery in it. The endless misery and issues that a not quite full health correct spec battery would cause in my E91 320i Touring was mad. Even if it didn't seem to be under volted in usual use!

Just now, Richard_FM said:

It's ironic because he seems to be the "worst of both worlds", making an unholy alliance of left & right wing policies with the expected Putin simping both sides just love to do!

If they are 2 cheeks of the same arse, then Galloway can only be what you find in between them...!

On 09/11/2023 at 17:23, Bfg said:

 

 

I particularly enjoyed the Anker Bluetooth speaker on its own wooden mounting?

11 hours ago, kevins said:

quite agree, until they come up with a plan as to how they are going to fund all these things they plan to do without raising taxes all I see is a even less competant lot than the Tories.

What we all have to face up to is we saddled ourselves with an enourmous debt during covid (which all parties agreed with) and over the next few years we have to pay this back while trying to grow the economy and while maintaining things like the NHS,  it seems almost inevitable that whoever is in power will continue to raise taxes to one degree or another, I'm old enough to have lived through the Brown Blair era, those guys took taxation and partcularly stealth taxes to a new level.

I do remember the country mostly working before 2010 though. I’d take them again in a shot after this bent shower.

First car was a 1.5 GLX Mk1 Ibiza. Bought it off the son of the deceased owner. They said made and offer and they took £80.

It had five gears and felt very exotic in a sea of Mk2 Fiesta's and Metro's.

Had to scrap it as it never made it through the next MOT. Pretty sure it was an F reg. Loved it.

Oh and it was a 'system Porsche'!

Deep down, everyone wants a new diesel Audi really.

On 22/03/2024 at 05:21, Cavcraft said:

Christ almighty, I know I'm the resident Vauxhall fan boi/Corsa licker,  but a Metro is absolutely leagues behind the Vauxhall. 

 

 

It's really not. For a start, there has never been a "Kensington" special edition Corsa...

One of my favourite ever cars was an end of line Mk1 Focus (Black, 3 Door) with the 1.8 TDCi in it.

My mate previously when we were younger had the Mk5 Escort with the TDDI(?) in it. What an utter dog of a car that was. Impossible to get smoothly moving, shook the car to bits.

It wasn't until later on that I read somewhere that the TDCi evolved from the aforementioned Escort diesel? If so it's frankly unbelievable they were even within the same millennium of each other, never alone anything else...!

Might try to pop in in a wasn't but slowly becoming shite modern Golf.

Curious tiny interval between last 2 MOT's:

47 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

try BO57DAN (LOL) 

Oh change of plate?

17 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

I had quite the laugh putting REV into the Historic Vehicle taxation class post office clerk" "its already free tax I am not sure what your trying to do" "yes I know just put it in the historic vehicle taxation class for me please!"

it was not too much of an issue, but he was clearly bemused by why someone wanted to move a vehicle from one £NIL rate tax class to another £NIL rate tax class LOL

Don't suppose you could look into a midlife crisis* car I had from new for a few years? It seems to have 'disappeared':

On 4/22/2023 at 7:15 PM, Six-cylinder said:

My favorite garage asked if I wanted to buy an old tatty trailer from another customer. 14 foot long deck enclosed with a low roof that had been used to store a MGB. I was told it worked ok but was a bit custy.  It did not excite me very much, but I made an offer anyway. A couple of weeks later I was told my offer was accepted and today I collected it.

It is spot on  Autoshite/Six-cylinder condition!

It's the interior that makes it.....

On 12/31/2022 at 1:18 PM, Six-cylinder said:

You are right.

Working

DS

GS

Xantia Activa

BX

XM

Non Working

CX 

Xantia V6

If one was to have a 'have a go dream list', the Xantia Activa and BX would be top spot.

Peachy, in fact...

On 12/17/2022 at 12:37 PM, Six-cylinder said:

 

 

 

My pick of your year, @Six-cylinder! 

After a pretty dismal last half of 2022 and not being on here much I'm hoping to finally get to a FOD in 2023, be even better to have a ride in something French and hydro  

On 9/25/2022 at 7:01 PM, Six-cylinder said:

Great day out today with the BL Gang @Slowsilver @quicksilver @Andyrew @Zelandeth @Prince_of_darkness91 @BeEP @Skizzer

at Milton Keynes Museum.

Phwoar 

On 9/10/2022 at 3:53 PM, RoverFolkUs said:

Eek, 14 years and it's never had one. Mileage is on its side though I suppose. And 3k over wouldn't hurt it. I'm not sure if the fluid deteriorates with age, it probably does. And you're right that VW have always given very little clarity on the matter!

I get the feeling that's going to get expensive quite quickly. You're balls deep into the labour for the clutch pack and then they tell you the mechatronic has something wrong with it, dual mass is knackered etc. 

My fear would be that you spend £1700 on that work and then you are left with a mechatronic and/or dual mass that is ready to nuke itself. Or spend more ££££ on getting them done at the same time. 

Having said that, an Auto MK5 golf with 43k miles ought to be worth a few grand. It's probably worth it, just tread carefully with who does the work. 

Personally I'd say get an indy to give you a price to replace the entire box with a recon unit, or get them to have your current one completely overhauled by a specialist. 

I'm not sure getting a specialist to do effectively half the job is the best course of action 

Also lol at the £3.98 worth of sundries charges. Really boils my piss when places do that, you're spending £1700 with them FFS!

Same garage rang again today keen to update me and said they now think its a sealed for life unit, as it's a 7 Speed and it was rare for this era and lower capacity engine model to be fitted with one and not a 6 Speed. Doesn't inspire faith, does it?

Although it has knocked the estimate down to £1460. (Unless of course they do discover fork selector or mechatronic issues, in which case the bill will likely double...)

1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Eek, 14 years and it's never had one. Mileage is on its side though I suppose. And 3k over wouldn't hurt it. I'm not sure if the fluid deteriorates with age, it probably does. And you're right that VW have always given very little clarity on the matter!

I get the feeling that's going to get expensive quite quickly. You're balls deep into the labour for the clutch pack and then they tell you the mechatronic has something wrong with it, dual mass is knackered etc. 

My fear would be that you spend £1700 on that work and then you are left with a mechatronic and/or dual mass that is ready to nuke itself. Or spend more ££££ on getting them done at the same time. 

Having said that, an Auto MK5 golf with 43k miles ought to be worth a few grand. It's probably worth it, just tread carefully with who does the work. 

Personally I'd say get an indy to give you a price to replace the entire box with a recon unit, or get them to have your current one completely overhauled by a specialist. 

I'm not sure getting a specialist to do effectively half the job is the best course of action 

Also lol at the £3.98 worth of sundries charges. Really boils my piss when places do that, you're spending £1700 with them FFS!

Thanks. Utterly torn, utterly fed up with not obvious decisions on car repairs this year after the lemon of a 3 Series.

That is a concern that as they take it apart they do find a mechatronic issue. It's a VAG independent specialist - Volks Autos, Sutton.

20 hours ago, chancer said:

Is the £1700 quid including the dual mass flywheel and selector fork?

It’s to take it out the car and change a clutch pack, replacement oil. They advised an extra hour of labour to inspect the rest of it.

16 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

How low is low mileage? How often has it had a DSG service and when was the last one? (time/miles) 

If the box hasn't been looked after I wouldn't bother repairing it as they're ticking time bombs if not looked after, in that instance I'd just get a trusted reconditioned one fitted. 

A £1700 repair is a lot for a 14 year old Golf. But you can't get a decent one for that to replace it 🤔 add in the sentimental factor (?) I'd say get it fixed, whether that's a replacement box or repairing your existing box

Just under 43,000.

2000 of which I’ve added the last 6 months. It’s overdue it’s 40,000 mile DSG Change, although this specialist had to confirm this as VW’s own handbook doesn’t…!

50 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Fix it! Are you sure it needs a clutch? Pretty sure my parents had a similar diagnosis, they took it to another specialist who apparently just did the gearbox oil and filters, reset something and all was well for the next 40,000 miles 

Yeah I'd hoped they'd just do the oil and filter change however they seem to be a knowledgeable place. Also the technician report was as thus:

"Standard Labour
Investigate gearbox fault.
Checked fault memory, 2 faults logged
" clutch 2 tolerance limit reached"
" clutch 2 mechanical malfunction"
Carried out test plan for faults, test plan
automatically checked pre selected
measured values and evaluated event
entries.
Concluded that the dual clutch requires
replacing.
The next step would be to remove the
gearbox and inspect clutch for damage
or wear.
It might be worth also removing the
mechatronic whilst gearbox removed to
check selector forks as these are known
to fail.
8 hours for clutch replacement
may require fly wheel
if we do remove the mech would require
new gasket and bolts plus 0.6 hours"

Well my run of luck* continues:

Unexpected bill on family owned from new Golf. DSG Clutch gone. Estimate from a specialist to replace: £1700.

It's low mileage, 2008, immaculate bar that. MOT on Tuesday passed and no advisories.

So do I just get it fixed?

£1700 gets you nothing even running second hand.

It was my Dad's last retirement car until he passed away last month. 2022 really can get in the bin...

29 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

My Stepson had a diesel Mk5, I drove it a couple of times and thought it felt a better than a Mk4. 

It's must closer (in a good way) to the MK1 Focus in being a bit more dynamic than the MK4 I think, but not as YESSPORTFIRM.

Now tooling around in my sadly departed Dad's Mk5 Golf:

1.4TSI with a 7 speed DSG. Sensible nice riding 15" alloys. Practical 5 door. 2008 but he and mum only ever done 42,000 miles in it.

I can't bring myself to move it on, so have decided it will be my reliable, comfy modern daily. It's a very relaxing thing to tool around in, even if it is of course not a sexy or desirable model.

One thing concerns me with it though and that's the DSG. At either 40mph or 70mph, gently applying revs gets it into a bit of a tizz. It'll pop down from 7th to 6th, but then almost labour like an old manual slipping the clutch under load?

Are these DSG's sealed units or need an oil change?

(Time to find a good VAG specialist somewhere nearby in SW London/N Surrey, if anyone could recommend one...)

13 hours ago, Skcat said:

Was a lot of fun! Some of my spots! 

Funny enough I test drove this w123 last year, Glad to see it got a loving owner! 

Crikey, that Talbot!