Another one bites the dust!

[D Spares & Tyres]

So I was in Wales with my van and my sister in laws dog. It had been clattery for ages but still ran fine.( the van I mean )

 

Then it cut down on power and rattled a bit more then smoked a bit.

 

It still ran but not for much longer it seemed as it was knocking rather loudly and smoking heavily whilst pissing oil out from underneath the engine and out of the exhaust pipe.

 

Poor old van, it had served me well 

 

No phone signal and very low battery too.......

 

So I decided to carry on driving and see how far I got. About ten miles is the answer, as I saw a pub and decided to stop and have a pint. And call a taxi.... By now my phone battery was completely dead and with the modern world as it is I don`t know anybodies numbers off by heart so I got the landlord ( sound as a pound, he had an ols Scenic mk1 and a Saab convertable) to call a taxi which took me to Leominster car Auctions as it seemed the only sensible thing to do.

 

Bearing in mind I had my borrowed border collie dog with me with no lead as I wasn`t expecting to take her for a walk.... Also I was dress quite scruffily and carrying a plastic bag with various possesions out of the now dumped van so I must of looked like a tramp or a yokel at the auctions. So it went better than I thought anyway, despite some strange looks. I couldn`t risk having a good look around as the dog, although well behaved wasn`t used to auctions and I didn`t want her run over or be asked to leave the dog outside so I just sat on the stand, me with my chip and pooch with a sausage. 

 

Fifth car through was this Astra. 2004 turbo diesel. Bidding was low and I thought it was cheap. Hammer price, £275 and £320 with commission. Bargain!  Now lets see if it will break down 100 yards from the auction.....

 

Nope it drives fine and even came with half a tank of fuel. I`ve used it quite a bit and being the ecotec model it is doing 60 mpg and the tax is only £110 a year, so naturally Im bored of it and want to sell it.  The only issue with it was the crankshaft sensor starting to fail but I`ve put one on ( fiddly job that was ) Proper £50 Bosch one, not cheap intermotor part.

 

So £350 to you lot. The taxi cost me £40 so Im not even breaking even but thats life. Tidy car inside and out but needs a hoover as I`ve done several tip runs with it.

 

135,000 miles. TOWBAR. Some history. 

Based near Ludlow, Shropshire or Penkridge, Staffordshire

[Skizzer]

Brilliant. 'Some history'? That's all the history you could ever need, right there.

 

GLWTS and commiserations on the loss of the Escort van (though we have seen there are worse ways to lose an Escort van).

[AMC Rebel]

Is your essy van still in the pub car park?

[dollywobbler]

Superb. In the face of fail, simply buy another car to get home.

[For Fiats Sake]

What's become of the van?

[Lord Sterling]

Hey Tom! Nice purchase man. Would but I've too much to pay right now and struggle ahead of me because: Turkey trip.

 

I can certainly help you out next weekend with van recovery and/or delivering Astra to a new owner.

[surprisingskoda]

What's become of the van?

Indeed, the great unanswered question.

 

 

1.8td engine shouldnt be a hard thing to source?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

 

 

1.8td engine shouldnt be a hard thing to source?

 

Unlike the sills judging by the black underseal tide mark.

 

Top effort though. It reminds me of when I needed some new walking boots during last year's snow. I walked down to Go Outdoors in the old ones when halfway along, the sole broke away from one - they were shagged. Bought a new pair, fitted them there and then, putting the old ones in the bin. 

[beko1987]

Brilliant!

[Junkman]

 

ST220 engine and ECU shouldnt be a hard thing to source?

 

FTFY

[bub2006]

How the hell did you kill the van? Mine was driven like death but still only died when it suddenly accelerated faster than it ever did before when a BMW mated with it.

[twosmoke300]

That Astra isnt an ECo4 one is it ?

[egg]

Don't think so as they are £30 a year to tax?

[trigger]

What's become of the van?

 

Probably still sat there.

 

[loserone]

 Some history. 

 

All the history is probably in this thread.

 

Having said that, I can absolutely rate DT as a seller - triple A seller, 1.5v, as described etc.

 

Top bloke.

[Cavcraft]

The site of that exploded/exploding Escort van has made my day. Another one of the hateful things off the road.

[Bren]

A damning indictment of the astra is that a clapped out escort van that went tits up was more desirable.

[twosmoke300]

Not in my eyes . I'm with cav on this one . Those escort vans are the most cheap and nasty , rusty , underpowered slugs ever made .

The 1.8 seemed to be slower and worse on fuel than my mk4 1.6d .

[bub2006]

My na diesel wasn't bad on fuel at all. Yes it was slow but even loaded up with shit and a trailer it didn't go any slower

[twosmoke300]

That's because slower wasnt possible 😄

[Uncle Jimmy]

Still a race car compared to my 1.9 non turbanated VW T4.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Is your essy van still in the pub car park?

Ah well, I had some work to do so only wrote part one of the story......

 

I left the van in the pub car park for the night. As there was a car on my trailer and my Shogun has quite a high ride height compared to the van I decided that as the Astra drove so well and crucially has a towbar that I would A frame it back with the astra....

 

So I took Mrs Dodgy and we drove back to Wales in the Astra which drove perfectly. Hitched up and had a chat with the landlord. Then got back in the Astra which wouldn`t start... It did eventually though....

 

Stopped halfway back for some lunch. It took even longer to start than before.....  It conked out twice on the way home but started then on the third time it refused to start.

 

Luckily we were by another pub.

 

Decided the best line of action was to unhitch the Astra, push it into the pub car park and see just how far home the van would get us. Assumed it wouldn`t be far. Turns out it made it all the way back to my yard! We had to take all the back lanes as you literally couldn`t see behind due to the fog. People were overtaking beeping and flashing and giving rude hand gestures but we thought it was hilarious. Luckily as I carry all sorts of shite in my van there was a gallon of used engine oil in there. It used all that was in the engine plus the gallon can.  When we finally limped into the yard the back of the van was dripping with oil. I must take a pic...

 

Next day I went down the yard and got in the van. It started first time! Moved it into the corner where it wwas to become a storage shed, I`m not bothering fixing it but its a shame to throw it away. Parked it up and gave the throttle one last smokey humourous blip. Clunk clunk donk. Seized. It looked after me til the bitter end.

 

RIP old friend

 

Slow yes but dependable and economial old vans. Yes rusty but what van from 1998 wouldn`t be? I like being slow, it suppresses the hooligan in me 

[D Spares & Tyres]

How the hell did you kill the van? Mine was driven like death but still only died when it suddenly accelerated faster than it ever did before when a BMW mated with it.

One morning upon starting it faltered slightly then picked up again but rattled thereafter. Im guessing it picked up on a little end. Initially I thought it was the cam but with hindsight I think it was more serious. Not quite sure why though. It hasn`t had an oil change for years though, that can`t have helped

[Stixy]

As long as the dog was alright .

[D Spares & Tyres]

Sold at last on ebay! 

 

Can`t believe this was such a hard sale. Got £340 in the end. I  Initially put it up for £595 and thought it would fly away at that!  I`ve only been out of the motor trade a couple of years, it would seem times are changing fast.

 

Ah well its gone but I never did give you part three of the story... ( this shall be update four )  

[Split_Pin]

I found that if you moved a little bit of the rubber matting in these Escorts, you could get a valuable 2cm of extra throttle pedal travel.

 

You also never need to take your eyes off the road to see the speedometer on the motorway. Never mind the newfangled tosh heads up display, above 70, the sides would pop in and out.

[Cavcraft]

I AM A TIT

[Richard]

I think it was the stopgap Astra that sold, the Escort became a shed.

[For Fiats Sake]

I think it was the stopgap Astra that sold, the Escort became a shed.

 

Shirley a real shed is better than a van shed?

[D Spares & Tyres]

Shirley a real shed is better than a van shed?

Way better than a real shed...

 

With a real one I would have to drive somewhere, pay money then put the thing up. Van in yard was there already and paid for several years back.

 

Best place to store engines too, far easier to load into another vehicle then lifting off the ground