The new news 24 thread

[MK5 Escort]

The Escort is booked it in for it's MOT early next month, so I'll give it a few usual preliminary checks at new year.

 

Took the Escort for it's first run in a couple of weeks yesterday in preparation for it’s journey down to Chelmsford on Saturday. I only wanted to give it a run to Chester and back but I got a little carried away… As it was sunny and had nothing better to do, I took it for a trip down ‘Memory Lane’. A route (give or take a minor diversion) it used to commonly do in it's first few years as a company vehicle with my father when he was an area manager. Down the A55, A483 and A5 past Wrexham, Ruabon, Oswestry and round to Shrewsbury. Had a quick pit stop, then followed my nose to the Escort's 'birth place' (old Furrows site – not been there for several years), then up to the existing Furrows I know well, then up along the A49 and A41 back home. A round trip of around 110 miles.

 

This may sound very sickly or daft, but gives me warm satisfaction that almost 21 years on, it's still doing pretty much the same route it done when new – and it still 'visits' it's supplying dealer.

 

I'll be using it for work on Thursday (my last day before Christmas hols), give it a once-over on Friday and then down to Chelmsford in it on Saturday morning.

 

All's not well in the gearbox department though. I feel it’s very slowly 'dying'. All gears are there and work as they should. For a while now (the last few years actually), you can't 'rush' reverse. It has to be selected very slowly to slot in without crunching. Not really a problem, just a little annoying. Over the last six/seven months it's also started to develop a slight 'dry grating' sound when accelerating in third (fine when not being pushed). It’s not the thrust bearing as that was replaced a few years back. All other gears are fine and all gears select as freely as they should.

 

So it looks like I have three options open to me at the moment:

 

a) Replace it with a spare (and tested) gearbox from a previously scrapped Escort my mechanic friend has, a former Halewood worker, with a guaranteed 85k which we did buy two years ago in preparation for this when the first symptoms developed.

Refurbish the existing gearbox – which I'd much prefer if possible, or is 335k considered a 'good innings' for a Ford gearbox!?

c) Ignore it and just keep using the existing original gearbox until it really does ‘give up the ghost’ (which is what I'm doing at the moment).

 

Any suggestions welcome! Gearboxes are a bit of a 'no go' area with me…

[TagoraSX]

The Avant can haz MOT with no advisories

 

On the downside it has the infamous Audi/Bosch hot start gremilins which is a right ball ache.

[cort16]

It would seem the Laguna is dead. Well in the UK anyway.

http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/renault-laguna-wind-and-espace-dropped/260529

[Cavcraft]

Which Furrow's's's did you go to Escort, Shrewsbury or Oswestry?

The Shrewsbury one partially flooded one year (about 12 years back iIrc) and the old Oswestry one was ace, especially the bodyshop. They always seemed to have some great people working for them too.

[dollywobbler]

Has your Escort's gearbox actually got oil in it? Another trick to avoid a reverse gear crunch is to select fifth before reverse. This was always necessary in the BX (the old one, this Mk1 doesn't seem to have an issue but reverse is next to first. First gear synchromesh is entirely non-existent though!)

[Craig the Princess]

So it looks like I have three options open to me at the moment:

 

a) Replace it with a spare (and tested) gearbox from a previously scrapped Escort my mechanic friend has, a former Halewood worker, with a guaranteed 85k which we did buy two years ago in preparation for this when the first symptoms developed.

Refurbish the existing gearbox – which I'd much prefer if possible, or is 335k considered a 'good innings' for a Ford gearbox!?

c) Ignore it and just keep using the existing original gearbox until it really does ‘give up the ghost’ (which is what I'm doing at the moment).

 

Any suggestions welcome! Gearboxes are a bit of a 'no go' area with me…

 

I suggest c, then a while doing b. That is what I would do. That's not quite true, I'd do c then a while starting b and leaving a half dismatled gearbox on the floor for months on end.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Your Escort's done 335,000 miles?!

[MK5 Escort]

Which Furrow’s’s’s did you go to Escort, Shrewsbury or Oswestry?

The Shrewsbury one partially flooded one year (about 12 years back iIrc) and the old Oswestry one was ace, especially the bodyshop. They always seemed to have some great people working for them too.

 

'Tis a Shrewsbury one! I don't have much experience with the Oswestry depot to be honest but the 'old' Shrewsbury crew used to be superb also. My father never had an issue with them when he used to deal with them during the six years or so the firm he worked for had a big contract with them. All the cars and vans come from there, as did most of the servicing for that matter.

 

Has your Escort’s gearbox actually got oil in it? Another trick to avoid a reverse gear crunch is to select fifth before reverse. This was always necessary in the BX (the old one, this Mk1 doesn’t seem to have an issue but reverse is next to first. First gear synchromesh is entirely non-existent though!)

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll give that a go! Aye, everything is as it should be oil wise. There are no signs of any visable leaks either. That was the first thing I checked. Reverse has been like this for about three years now. It goes in absolutely fine if you inch it in slowly. Try and throw it in and it won’t have it at all - along with a chorus of embarrasing crunching! As long as you know what you’re doing, you’re fine with it. It’s not really a problem at all, more of a 'trait'. My main concern is that dry grating sound in third - only during acceleration. It sounds like a bearing to me but again, I’m the first to admit that gearboxes aren't my speciality. No, that’s being too fair. I’m clueless with them. Thrd gear works absolutely fine, as does all the gears and pulls how it should. It's just the noise it's started to develop over this year. You can hardly hear it when the radio's on. I’m just a fussy bugger...

 

As I said, my good Halewood friend already has a proven replacement on standby to go in which was bought a few years ago in preparation for the worst. Two (plus) years on, it's still fighting on...!

 

I suggest c, then a while doing b. That is what I would do. That’s not quite true, I’d do c then a while starting b and leaving a half dismatled gearbox on the floor for months on end.

 

That's put my mind at rest - this is pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Barring the noise there's bugger all wrong with it and given my faith in it, it'll be doing somewhere in the region of 500 miles over the Christmas perod. The Escort is a 'semi-retired' motor these days anyway so if it has to be laid up for a while in the name of originality then so be it.

 

Your Escort's done 335,000 miles?!

 

Indeed, that's why I've never mentioned it as I knew the reaction it would get! It'll cross over (just) to 336k on the way down on Saturday. I thought it maybe useful information for the little gearbox noise it's developing...! Age? Miles? Both...!? I doubt it's down to poor design/manufacturing with this knowledge. It's probably the biggest reason why I don't 'get' nor ever likely to understand the universal critism of the mk5. I accept mine is fairly unique and the fact that a former Halewood worker tinkers with it and it's serviced fully much sooner than the recommendations (change the oil every 4k for one example), something I suspect no other surviving Escorts of this vintage have the benefit of, is probably the main reason it's been as the number one reliable mainstay of the family 'fleet' for over two decades. However I will say I've come across several other examples of similar age crossing well in excess of 200k before croaking or being scrapped still (mechanically, at least) working fine... In the place I used to work we had several late mk6 Escort vans and near enough the lot had gone over 200k before being sold also.

 

I do accept it would have long gone to the car park in the sky if it missed the odd service, wasn't washed regularly e.t.c...

 

Average it out over (near) 21 years though and factor in it did spend the first four years of it’s life as a company car, that's not really an excessive amount... I can't remember off the top of my head what it had done by the end of it's life as a company car (I'll have to dig through the records) but it was on 140k-ish back then. More than a decade and a half have passed since then...!

[Cavcraft]

The only reaction you'd get should be one of admiration, that mileage is bloody good going and credit to you for keeping the car going.

[Lankytim]

335k in an escort is amazing! Just shows what these cars are capable of. Most fell down the owner food chain and were just abused to death and scrapped. Fair play to you! .

 

I'd stick the used gearbox in personally. You could wait for the existing one to go bang but its always better to fix stuff at your own leisure rather than having to do it in a rush because the car is off the road.

[ashmicro]

Credit to you for looking after the car. My Rover is on 35998 miles, in 10 years, so at that rate it'll take me 90 odd years to catch up!

 

Good work Sir.

[Craig the Princess]

Great work, 300k out of any car is fantastic. We need pictures!

[dollywobbler]

The only reaction you'd get should be one of admiration, that mileage is bloody good going and credit to you for keeping the car going.

 

Indeed. To show faith where even Autoshiters have doubt is a true mark of distinction! I always quite liked the Mk5, until the blobby facelift. Ugh!

 

Now, anyone out there done 335k miles in a City Rover?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Aye, that you're looking for ways to prolong the life of a 335k MK5 Escort could only be a positive thing on here!

 

Just last week I finally got round to throwing out my old one's history file. That only got to 80k but it had a replacement gearbox in that time.

[RoadworkUK]

335k in an Escort is literally phenomenal. I'd love to see the CAP average on that!

 

Absolutely no offence meant to anybody here, but who of this parish owns the most singularly valueless car?

[Craig the Princess]

335k in an Escort is literally phenomenal. I'd love to see the CAP average on that!

 

Absolutely no offence meant to anybody here, but who of this parish owns the most singularly valueless car?

 

CAP average?

[Lord Sterling]

My Escort.......

 

Have we had any pics of your Escort yet? I quite like these having driven a few.

 

the Escort's 'birth place' (old Furrows site – not been there for several years), then up to the existing Furrows I know well

 

Ma_Sterling bought her mk3 Fiesta from a Furrows site situated somewhere on the A5, Fatha_Sterling had to PX his then Mk2 Cavalier for it. At the A5 site they held an open day introducing the then then 'new' Mk3 Fiesta. Of course Ma_Sterling picked the one only 1-up from the lowest spec, much like her current Micra

 

Was the current Furrows site you visited the one near Wellington, Telford? I know that area very well as thats my old home stomping ground. I notice that the once mighty Furrows for Ford garage has recently been chopped up in to sections for Kia and Mazda, it used to be a huge Ford garage, 'Furrows for Ford' I seem to remember. When I was younger I once nicked a GALAXY plate from the then new Ford Galaxy's, still got it somewhere (hopefully)!

 

Seeing as your Escort was supplied in Shrewsbury new, does it carry an 'AW' plate, Ma_Sterlings was 'AW'.

 

is 335k considered a 'good innings' for a Ford gearbox!?

 

335k is absolutely EPIC, most Ford Escort dont seem to last beyond 95k or so, but then most of them were punted onto council-estate dole-queue botherering banned drivers, so had little chance of surviving.

 

I'd say go with what you are most happy to do regarding the gearbox, if a refurb is on the books, then do that, you'll be keeping your car mostly original then.

[RoadworkUK]

335k in an Escort is literally phenomenal. I'd love to see the CAP average on that!

 

Absolutely no offence meant to anybody here, but who of this parish owns the most singularly valueless car?

 

CAP average?

 

The meaningless number a "Sales Executive" tells you at trade-in.

[Cavcraft]

Cars (at) Auction Price I think. Basically it's what the trade can get for that heap of crap part-ex you take in that's too old for the forecourt.

 

Furrow at Wellington is the big one on the roundabout iirc? Massive place really with a decent sized workshop. Shrewsbury's was reasonably sized and they had a Fast Fit bit on the side and the bodyshop behind that. I wonder if Neil and Bryn are still at the bodyshop?

 

 

Right, back on track. My ace son has fitted the Zafira cam belt tonight (just back in from doing it), fired it up and it sounds GR111.976 recurring. Only fly in the ointment was a water pump pully that hadn't been off since God was a lad came off ok but sort of chewed it's own thread up as it was coming out. Hopefully a new one won't break the bank as buying a second hand one might cause the same problem if it's not been off in ages.

We examined the tensioners and the cam belt and concluded they've probably never been changed at all so it was lucky they started getting noisy at tick over when we hadn't used the car in a few days.

[ashmicro]

 

in ten years.

[dollywobbler]

The good news is that I managed to get the Peugeot started pretty quickly today, after conferring with Mark on the best method for cold starting. Turns out that it REALLY doesn't like choke. Needs just a bit. Still can't stop it pinking though. If it is pinking. The engine sounds slightly like a knight falling down a staircase. It's not really up there as one of the most mechanically refined. I've been annoying the locals by racing up a nearby hill with various twists of dizzy. If it's still pinking, it's pinking less. Not very happy at low revs though, so too far retarded I reckon.

 

I'm starting to remember why I like diesels.

[Craig the Princess]

I'm starting to remember why I like diesels.

 

At least you don't need to swap glow plugs.

[dollywobbler]

Bother. I do. Worst of both worlds!

[Craig the Princess]

Bother. I do. Worst of both worlds!

 

What you lose in timing and starting ability you more than make up in ride comfort and kudos.

[barefoot]

New tyre just before Christmas shocker.

 

A few years ago we had new soffits & facias fitted to the house & the bloke left a big, fuck off nail on the drive which punctured one of the back tyres on the Porsche. A bit of a pain in the arse, but it's had the advantage of meaning that while I continue to purchase the little front tyres in pairs, I enjoy the money saving benefit of just buying one big fat rear at a time.

Today was the day - Continental ContiSport 225/50 ZR 16 - from Black Circles™ just shy of £120 + £9.50 delivered here tomorrow, then down to the local tyre place & a tenner cash for valve balance & fitting.

So I thought I'd ask the woman for her best price - £133.80 fitted today!

A bit of a surprise - but a no-brainer.

[Cavcraft]

RESULT!

Cam belt kit now fitted to Zafira. Getting the fan belt back on was a bit of a bastard but we cracked it. It's purring along nicely and we'll whang it to work and back tomorrow to double check.

[trigger]

I've recently started to notice a knocking noise from the front of my Mondeo so Tuesday I whipped the front wheels off to see if it was a wishbone or what-not, all i found though was a pair of totally shagged inner treads on my front tires, which are 225/40/18. Bugger

 

I rang a local second hand tyre "specialists" who told me they had a pair of part worns which were £86 fitted, great i though so i went down there yesterday only to find that they were as bald as the one's I'm taking off, even the lad in the workshop laughed when i told him how much their were trying to sell them to me for.

 

So I've now bit the bullet and folked out for a pair of quality* Fullrun (?) tyres for £125 fitted. Oh and I've had to tax the Golf for 6 months and the mot is due in a few weeks, My Christmas bonus didn't last long.

 

I've just googled the tyres and the internet is full of horrior stories of how shit these Fullrun's are. Brilliant.

[Cavcraft]

Seems to me most part worn tyre places are a rip off these days. Demon Tweeks came up trumps for me when I had to get two new tyres for the Monedo I had, they were the cheapest by quite a bit and they'll post out too.

[cort16]

I bought a part worn recently and it looks like it came off some kind of small tractor. It's even got a picture of a digger on it.

It seems that the way to get part worns is to get them off ebay as there's seems to be loads of decent brands at half decent prices. The problem is you then have to find someone to fit them who won't trip of their health and safety booklet or invest in a set of bollox brand tyre irons.

[Cavcraft]

C U L8R POOJOE 206.

 

I am now the owner of a Honda CG125. Won't someone think of the power?