The Doctor's travels through time - The End - of chapter 1

[DoctorRetro]

Guys, I did try to break from the usual routine, by getting a car I wanted to stick with. But didn't bank on it dying a month into ownership, and likely costing more than it is worth to fix. And I don't have 300 quid spare to get something else / fix the Rover. 

I do have a couple of different options:

1. I've been offered a Perodua Kelisa for £notalot with mot until November 30th. I could run that and it would give me a couple of months to get my shit together and sort the Rover. 

2.Win DialaTune's Merc (Or make a deal with the winner) and do the same as above, but with longer breathing space. 

Of course, either could break, and I'd have two broken cars, but that's the lottery we play I guess. 

Whatever the case, I'd rather keep the R8, but at the same time, wouldn't mind it going to someone else who would fix it. 

 

I realise everyone despairs of me / thinks I'm stupid, but in reality, I'm just doing what everyone else on here is, just with perhaps less money and more anxiety. 

 

I'll shut up now and wait for the usual barrage of criticism. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

There's definitely a difference between people trying to help, and a barrage of criticism. 

Best of luck with which ever option you go with man. 

 

[DoctorRetro]

5 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

There's definitely a difference between people trying to help, and a barrage of criticism. 

Best of luck with which ever option you go with man. 

 

I know, but my mind struggles to differentiate. 

[Tickman]

1 hour ago, TheDoctor said:

I'm just doing what everyone else on here is, just with perhaps less money and more anxiety. 

 

There are very few on here doing this. Many more just watch from the sidelines

[Scruffy Bodger]

Just bang some K seal in it before it gets any worse, the smaller the fault the better chance it has of working. I've used it numerous times over the years as I've always run bangers on a tight budget.

[DoctorRetro]

I'm going to side with Ghosty on this one, when it comes to K seal or whatever.

A sealing substance into the cooling system works when water is trying to get out, as it gets drawn towards the leak. 

Whereas in this case, the leak is backwards, and exhaust gases are coming into the water. So there's no way the k seal would be drawn to the gap/leak, as the gases are pushing inwards. Make sense? It does to me. 

Other than the burst pipes, there is no water escaping, and no steam in the exhaust, so it appears that the leak is one way. 

 

[sierraman]

If it’s a really tight budget you are on I’d suggest saving up some £ and buying something fairly conventional. Astra Mk4 or something like that. Deadly dull but it does the job. Get a 1.6 or a 1.4 petrol, look after it and you should be ok. £5-600 would net you a half decent one. Stick the Rover on Bumtree or EBay, with luck someone might give you a couple of hundred quid to put towards something that’s a going concern. As much as we’d all love to drive about in something really obscure and rare, if you are brassic it’s not a great idea. 

[sierraman]

Other bit of advice is... Don’t doubt your own abilities. I got into mending cars generationally through my dad, if the car went kaput we weren’t in a position to go and hand it over to a garage. Armed with a Haynes Manual we’d get through it. If you can find the parts and can spare the time to read the job through you CAN do it.  Take your time and work methodically to get it sorted. It’s a stress when you look at it as one big job, break it down to a minor job a night and you will see it done. 

[loserone]

What I think a lot of people are missing is that TheDoc changes his car frequently because they're not as enjoyable as he hoped, and that this car was on his list of cars he had had and had enjoyed and regretted moving on.

 

If it can be fixed for £300, that's the way forward here.  Otherwise another £600 will be wasted on the next three cars and this will in all likelihood be weighed in.

[sporty-shite]

Option 1. If you can afford to buy the Perodua outright,  it'll give you time to sort the Rover. Then, you can punt it on or whatever, for a little bonus, and go back to a car you like, the Rover. 

Then, just keep the Rover maintained, and put a few quid aside for some premium shite in the new year  

[loserone]

Can noone lend you a car for a couple of months? You can have my Subaru if you'll help me sell it, it's miles away and would cost £150 in fuel to get down but I bet there's loads of people who would buy it down south.

 

Buying a perodua seems like a good way of flushing money down the loo.  Are there any offers on hire cars? We got a "focus" for a week for £120 (sadly it turned out to be a 320d M-Sport but you can't win at everything).  Hiring a car for the weekend trips might save you money over buying something else and keep the pressure on to get the rover fixed.

[DoctorRetro]

I'm no genius at maths, but how is hiring a car for six weekends at £120x6=£720 better than buying a car for £200, running said car for 2 months and scrapping? £200-£120=£80? (I have my son 3 weekends out of 4)

??

[Zelandeth]

I assume the question has already been asked: is there anyone on here who is in the same neck of the woods to lend tools and assistance in changing the head gasket?

Doesn't look that bad a job if you've someone confident to keep you on the right track.  Sure folks around here could help out with parts too.

Just seems a shame to have to ditch the car as you seem to like it.

If I wasn't at the other end of the country and so tight for time these days I'd offer to lend a hand.

[dozeydustman]

I still think you should try and fix this Rover.

parky has offered to lend you some tools, hedgehog has a head set, and for the cam belt, I’m pretty sure if you look at some of those budget car parts websites where you get a known brand part delivered from Eastern Europe for pence you could minimise your monetary outlay; the shiters who have the parts may come to some arrangement re: payment. It’s probably the easiest of the major jobs to do on an engine over the course of a weekend.

Throwing yet more money at a temporary car that may shit itself when the MoT is up in 10 weeks is a bit like pissing into the wind and won’t do much for your state of mind.

+1 on a Yaris Starlet or Corolla if you must buy another vehicle.

[loserone]

7 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

I'm no genius at maths, but how is hiring a car for six weekends at £120x6=£720 better than buying a car for £200, running said car for 2 months and scrapping? £200-£120=£80? (I have my son 3 weekends out of 4)

??

That was for a week, you only need six days

[DoctorRetro]

53 minutes ago, loserone said:

That was for a week, you only need six days

Six weekends. That's 6 x 3 = 18.

 

[bangernomics]

I can loan you a ticketed e36 328 for a month or two if you cover the tax?

Near Manchester, has full mot and is insured so 3rd party extensions would apply.

[shedenvy]

I can probably lend some tools.  Engine support bar may come in handy (no it's not full of drinks).

[BorniteIdentity]

Ach, I'm not sure what you really want Doc.

Not everyone on Autoshite is playing Shite Roulette on a daily basis as you insist we are.  The very reason I have my Toyota isn't because I love it, it's because I know it will always take me where I want.  That enables me to be able to fuck about with old shit without the stress of getting to work the next day.  I've met countless other shiters who, behind the scenes, have something banal and inoffensive to reduce the exposure and risk.  From the wealthiest to the hard up - everyone's playing the same game here, but everyone I know takes a different approach to you.

I'm going to shut up because this all seems largely pointless.  Obviously, advice doesn't have to be taken and help doesn't have to be accepted.  But it strikes me that there are an awful lot of people here trying to help, and it's not exactly being welcomed.

Good luck.  I fear you'll need it.

[DoctorRetro]

It's not that the help/advice isn't welcome, on the contrary, it really helps to figure things out. 

However some of the suggestions don't quite take into account the real life circumstances. For instance - 'save up and spend 5-600 on a reliable car' sounds great until you factor in that means being without a car for the best part of 6 months. And 'hire a car', well that one I mentioned above. Borrow a car? Well, the offers are very generous, but by the time you factor in train fare and fuel are not quite the cheapest options. 

 

Ive not started on a solution yet, I'm gathering the facts and info before deciding how to proceed. Can't afford to do much yet anyway. 

 

To be honest, I'm not pleading for help or even asking for solutions, just documenting my despair. A bit like when a woman tells you a problem, she doesn't always want the cold, calculated solution, but perhaps a 'there, there, I understand what you are feeling'. ??

So to sum up, I appreciate the advice and suggestions, but don't be offended if I don't agree / follow it. ?

 

As a side point, I really struggle with people and relationships, and I hate being indebted to anyone. I have a sum total of zero friends, as every time I get close to someone, I think I'm being annoying and drift away.

 

Also, the last time I got AS people involved with my silliness was the stupid Mazda project, and I still haven't finished paying for that. ?

 

Apologies if I've offended anyone, it is difficult to put things across in text. 

[loserone]

7 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

Six weekends. That's 6 x 3 = 18.

 

Mainstream car hire will not be less than £80, but some offers *might* be less than the *more than*£80 any other car is likely to cost.  Just trying to suggest you not discount it, it's not always as expensive as you think.

[Jim Bell]

If you rent a car and drive it to an airport 200 miles away you can sometimes get a rental for as little as £1.00. 

You could probably get one coming back too if you book in advance. 

So in theory, as long as you don't mind travelling 4 or 5 hundred miles out of the way, and don't mind paying for fuel, you could be picking the nipper up in pretty much a brand new car for as little as two pounds. 

I'd shout you the 2 pound if you're short. 

 

https://www.driiveme.co.uk/?partnerId=97&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3O3QpszV5AIVArTtCh148AEYEAAYAiAAEgIHVPD_BwE

 

 

[Dannyk]

From someone thats been in the same situation, ive used this and it keeps the car going long enough to sell it for a decent price..

[loserone]

12 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

If you rent a car and drive it to an airport 200 miles away you can sometimes get a rental for as little as £1.00. 

You could probably get one coming back too if you book in advance. 

So in theory, as long as you don't mind travelling 4 or 5 hundred miles out of the way, and don't mind paying for fuel, you could be picking the nipper up in pretty much a brand new car for as little as two pounds. 

I'd shout you the 2 pound if you're short. 

 

https://www.driiveme.co.uk/?partnerId=97&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3O3QpszV5AIVArTtCh148AEYEAAYAiAAEgIHVPD_BwE

 

 

You can usually extend the hire to a week or more, too.

[High Jetter]

I used Steel Seal this afternoon - will let you know on progress.

[Shirley Knott]

5 hours ago, Dannyk said:

From someone thats been in the same situation, ive used this and it keeps the car going long enough to sell it for a decent price..

 

*makes mental note to never to buy a car from this gentleman*

[Dannyk]

It was only once and it was sold to a mike brewer wannabe facebook trader.

The other idea i had was a mate was skint and he needed a car, he got a car on finance only difference is it had an immobiliser kind of like a 90's peugeot, when you pay the monthly payment they give you a code to put in. It was no deposit and no credit check as if you don't pay the car don't start.

[sierraman]

Really bad idea that. Borrowing money in this situation sounds like the short cut to the workhouse. Sub prime 29.9% finance on a 5 year old car - recipe for disaster.

[Spurious]

I'd trouble with lending and credit when I moved to the UK. As I was here less than 3 years at the time the only people who would lend to me was the local credit union.

And I'd totally recommend them. Worth saving a couple of quid a week for a couple of months so you can take out a small emergency loan when and if you need it. And running an old car on a tight budget it's useful to have a buffer to take out for breakdowns etc

[BorniteIdentity]

1 hour ago, Spurious said:

I'd trouble with lending and credit when I moved to the UK. As I was here less than 3 years at the time the only people who would lend to me was the local credit union.

And I'd totally recommend them. Worth saving a couple of quid a week for a couple of months so you can take out a small emergency loan when and if you need it. And running an old car on a tight budget it's useful to have a buffer to take out for breakdowns etc
 

That’s a really good shout. For anyone. I’m not commenting on TheDoctor’s situation - but Credit Unions are fantastic. 

They’re very popular in Northern Ireland where I worked for a spell; coming home to England I was surprised there weren’t more of them. A few have cropped up in the last 15 years which is really good news as far as I’m concerned.