Idiot buys car ( Octavia Mk1 Estate )
Discussion
I am not really sure I should bother writing this up but as I find the more mundane blatherings on here really great reads I will do a bit of a partially structured dump of thoughts to make a bit of a log of it.
Around a year ago my "project" freebie shed 307 was just about finshed when some muppet of a woman T boned me at a junction, writing it off. I was gutted, spent alot of time getting it more or less spot on. Think the weekend before it was written off it had just had two new lower arms and a gear box oil change.
Still a bit gutted about it a year on! Such is life.
So I was in the market for a new shed as I had a new job at a hospital site and staff parking is a whopping 700 quid a year now. So id rather find some street parking and run a shed....
I do have a Mk1 ignis but there is a fair run on the M6 and it really isnt that suited to that. And it needs a gearbox rebuild.
So shed shopping I went. Used car prices around me are still a bit spicy, especially old Mk7 fiestas which I kinda wanted as my Mrs could drive it then.
One Saturday I was dealing with someone in regards to a local Fez, text speak slow replies then radio silence. It was like pulling teeth. So I messaged a guy about a absolute shed of a Mk1 Octavia.
Now he did message back. He was keen as f
king mustard in fact at getting this heap of Czech made ste off his drive.
So X reg 2.0 8v Petrol Estate Octavia GLS with only 57K on it and one owner. Which would have been great if it was some old boys pride and joy I was about to buy. The bloke selling it gave me some story about it was a friends whos dad gave it him and he just " didn't care about cars".
I think that was a huge understatement! I had a quick look around the car and it was surprisingly solid for its age, sills are perfect and I cant see any rust anywhere.
Engine fires up, bit of a blow from somewhere but she runs. I ask to get in the car to give it a quick up and down of the road and immediately reach for the window switch as the car stinks of fags, its like sitting in a ashtray its grim, except none of the windows work and the drivers side has a bit of wood jammed in it. Car however drives very well, its tight as a drum infact.
Mrs is waiting in the car and she already knows im going to buy this heap so a bit of negotiation later I get it for £450, about 70 quid more than scrap. No risk in that is there!?
So I ferry the thing back and for about 15 minutes I am thinking ive got a great deal, needs a clean and some window regulators but it drives nicely.
Then I give it a bit of welly off a slip road near my house and theres a loud bong and the oil light comes on, then goes out. But then it does it again the next roundabout so I pulled over in a truckers layby about a mile from my home, popped the bonnet and there's nothing on the stick. Popped the oil cap and theres a shed ton of mayo and the mother of all blow by. What a penis
o I am now stranded with the choice to stand outside in the layby that aboutley stinks of stale trucker piss or sit in the car that smells of a thousand lambert and butlers. Awesome. HubNut has never documented this on a car collection caper has he?
Did I even check the oil? Who has the fking balls to sell a car with no oil? I cant even sell a car without a fresh magic tree.
Stones on that bloke. Fair play to him.
By now my Mrs has caught up with me and seen me parked up, I tell her to pop home and she brings me some oil to get me home.
It takes 2 litres to show on the stick.
Runs nice enough though!
Once parked up at home however I notice the large wet patch behind the car and the vapour coming out the exhuast....
So I am now at a bit of a dilema, realistically I could get 400 back by just scrapping it. Which is exactly what I should have done.
But I couldnt. A bit like a lame dog with a sob story I just felt a bit sorry for the fking thing (Incidently I already have a real stray dog with a sob story, I never learn). And it was a really nice shade of green. 57K in 23 years and it ended up in this state. And I really liked how it drove. I love the styling of it, the fact its a early car and it still has czech republic stamped on it in various places. The CD player worked ( most speakers don't). I can fix the dead dashboard, did I mention none of the guages worked? I have a soldering iron and youtube. Id just fixed the Dash in my late dads Mondeo. I'm pratically an auto electrician as long as I have internet access.
Anyways I presumed it had a head gasket failure as the only thing that looked like it had been changed recently was the gleeming fresh coolant in the header tank. I had a compression tester which came back as perfectly fine but thats not a great way to test for HG failure.
So I stripped it down (very basic engine as it happens the 2.0 8v and a huge engine bay in a 1U) got a gasket kit and some new head bolts and went about putting it all back together. No real evidence of a HG failure when apart and no "washed" cylinders either. Old oil didn't half smell burnt though, definately had had a "event" the owner had not let on about.
Started up first time but it did not fix the issue. Drat.
I presume there is a crack somewhere in the head though I couldnt see one when I cleaned it down and checked it over. Guess thats why there are people that know what they are doing in business for such things. Used a steel ruler that showed no bowing in the block or head? Meh.
Annoyed.
After a few beers I was sat browsing my phone and by luck a old boy was stripping down a rotted out old beetle of the same year as my Octavia, with the same boat anchor 2.0 with same engine code. For a whopping 80 quid. And he was local.
I took this as a sign from the gods and went for it, as a new head and a gasket kit would be more than that.
So I went to collect that in my trusty Ignis ( lovely wide hatch and flat boot with no lip ) and soon had it walked out into my garage via a wooden plank. A quick look about on FB and I found a guy local to hire a engine hoist from.
Never swapped a engine before and I would have no help.
Around a year ago my "project" freebie shed 307 was just about finshed when some muppet of a woman T boned me at a junction, writing it off. I was gutted, spent alot of time getting it more or less spot on. Think the weekend before it was written off it had just had two new lower arms and a gear box oil change.
Still a bit gutted about it a year on! Such is life.
So I was in the market for a new shed as I had a new job at a hospital site and staff parking is a whopping 700 quid a year now. So id rather find some street parking and run a shed....
I do have a Mk1 ignis but there is a fair run on the M6 and it really isnt that suited to that. And it needs a gearbox rebuild.
So shed shopping I went. Used car prices around me are still a bit spicy, especially old Mk7 fiestas which I kinda wanted as my Mrs could drive it then.
One Saturday I was dealing with someone in regards to a local Fez, text speak slow replies then radio silence. It was like pulling teeth. So I messaged a guy about a absolute shed of a Mk1 Octavia.
Now he did message back. He was keen as f
king mustard in fact at getting this heap of Czech made ste off his drive.So X reg 2.0 8v Petrol Estate Octavia GLS with only 57K on it and one owner. Which would have been great if it was some old boys pride and joy I was about to buy. The bloke selling it gave me some story about it was a friends whos dad gave it him and he just " didn't care about cars".
I think that was a huge understatement! I had a quick look around the car and it was surprisingly solid for its age, sills are perfect and I cant see any rust anywhere.
Engine fires up, bit of a blow from somewhere but she runs. I ask to get in the car to give it a quick up and down of the road and immediately reach for the window switch as the car stinks of fags, its like sitting in a ashtray its grim, except none of the windows work and the drivers side has a bit of wood jammed in it. Car however drives very well, its tight as a drum infact.
Mrs is waiting in the car and she already knows im going to buy this heap so a bit of negotiation later I get it for £450, about 70 quid more than scrap. No risk in that is there!?
So I ferry the thing back and for about 15 minutes I am thinking ive got a great deal, needs a clean and some window regulators but it drives nicely.
Then I give it a bit of welly off a slip road near my house and theres a loud bong and the oil light comes on, then goes out. But then it does it again the next roundabout so I pulled over in a truckers layby about a mile from my home, popped the bonnet and there's nothing on the stick. Popped the oil cap and theres a shed ton of mayo and the mother of all blow by. What a penis
o I am now stranded with the choice to stand outside in the layby that aboutley stinks of stale trucker piss or sit in the car that smells of a thousand lambert and butlers. Awesome. HubNut has never documented this on a car collection caper has he?
Did I even check the oil? Who has the f
king balls to sell a car with no oil? I cant even sell a car without a fresh magic tree.Stones on that bloke. Fair play to him.
By now my Mrs has caught up with me and seen me parked up, I tell her to pop home and she brings me some oil to get me home.
It takes 2 litres to show on the stick.
Runs nice enough though!
Once parked up at home however I notice the large wet patch behind the car and the vapour coming out the exhuast....
So I am now at a bit of a dilema, realistically I could get 400 back by just scrapping it. Which is exactly what I should have done.
But I couldnt. A bit like a lame dog with a sob story I just felt a bit sorry for the f
king thing (Incidently I already have a real stray dog with a sob story, I never learn). And it was a really nice shade of green. 57K in 23 years and it ended up in this state. And I really liked how it drove. I love the styling of it, the fact its a early car and it still has czech republic stamped on it in various places. The CD player worked ( most speakers don't). I can fix the dead dashboard, did I mention none of the guages worked? I have a soldering iron and youtube. Id just fixed the Dash in my late dads Mondeo. I'm pratically an auto electrician as long as I have internet access.Anyways I presumed it had a head gasket failure as the only thing that looked like it had been changed recently was the gleeming fresh coolant in the header tank. I had a compression tester which came back as perfectly fine but thats not a great way to test for HG failure.
So I stripped it down (very basic engine as it happens the 2.0 8v and a huge engine bay in a 1U) got a gasket kit and some new head bolts and went about putting it all back together. No real evidence of a HG failure when apart and no "washed" cylinders either. Old oil didn't half smell burnt though, definately had had a "event" the owner had not let on about.
Started up first time but it did not fix the issue. Drat.
I presume there is a crack somewhere in the head though I couldnt see one when I cleaned it down and checked it over. Guess thats why there are people that know what they are doing in business for such things. Used a steel ruler that showed no bowing in the block or head? Meh.
Annoyed.
After a few beers I was sat browsing my phone and by luck a old boy was stripping down a rotted out old beetle of the same year as my Octavia, with the same boat anchor 2.0 with same engine code. For a whopping 80 quid. And he was local.
I took this as a sign from the gods and went for it, as a new head and a gasket kit would be more than that.
So I went to collect that in my trusty Ignis ( lovely wide hatch and flat boot with no lip ) and soon had it walked out into my garage via a wooden plank. A quick look about on FB and I found a guy local to hire a engine hoist from.
Never swapped a engine before and I would have no help.
Edited by bungz on Wednesday 7th June 00:06
Bobupndown said:
Unusual alloys, what are they?
They were a set of Minilite EV2000 wheels which were made escpecially for this particular car. They were a new wheel that minilite had launched, designed for modern FWD cars, around the time I got the Octavia and in return for providing photos for their brochures I got the set at "cost" price. Looked great when being used as a tow car for my Escort which was also red with gold minilites !To the best of my knowledge that was the only set they ever made to fit the Skoda !
Bookmarked to keep up with the progress!
My grandad bought a blue diesel one back in 2000 (I think). He devised that he hated it because the seats were too hard so sold it another family member who ran it for donkeys years (they might even still have it). It was a pretty reliable thing from what I can tell.
My grandad bought a blue diesel one back in 2000 (I think). He devised that he hated it because the seats were too hard so sold it another family member who ran it for donkeys years (they might even still have it). It was a pretty reliable thing from what I can tell.
Good to know they are long lived after 30 years of MB I bought two year old Octavia estate, 2.0 litre 4x4
Well pleased with it so you are not an idiot buying a Skoda. All the toys I need on it.
Please keep us up to date, as above more interesting than new supercars out of the showroom, look at the interest on the Alvin stalwart and Facel Vega, ahem a reminder to both owners for an update if you read this.
Well pleased with it so you are not an idiot buying a Skoda. All the toys I need on it.
Please keep us up to date, as above more interesting than new supercars out of the showroom, look at the interest on the Alvin stalwart and Facel Vega, ahem a reminder to both owners for an update if you read this.
jon66 said:
Bobupndown said:
Unusual alloys, what are they?
They were a set of Minilite EV2000 wheels which were made escpecially for this particular car. They were a new wheel that minilite had launched, designed for modern FWD cars, around the time I got the Octavia and in return for providing photos for their brochures I got the set at "cost" price. Looked great when being used as a tow car for my Escort which was also red with gold minilites !To the best of my knowledge that was the only set they ever made to fit the Skoda !
Right no more talk of alloys, back to the Octavia.
Interesting and entertaining read, thanks for posting!
Regarding the possible cylinder head issue.... without wishing to state the obvious and I apologise for doing so...... a byproduct of burning hydrocarbons is water vapour so is it in any way possible that what you're seeing from the exhaust pipe is totally normal......? (On a cold day when the steam condenses,the water is pretty noticeable and totally norma!)
Did the coolant level actually drop?
And if an appreciable amount of coolant was getting into the combustion chamber I'd expect misfires and rough running?
Regarding the possible cylinder head issue.... without wishing to state the obvious and I apologise for doing so...... a byproduct of burning hydrocarbons is water vapour so is it in any way possible that what you're seeing from the exhaust pipe is totally normal......? (On a cold day when the steam condenses,the water is pretty noticeable and totally norma!)
Did the coolant level actually drop?
And if an appreciable amount of coolant was getting into the combustion chamber I'd expect misfires and rough running?
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