The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
I would be wary of a diesel/ 6 pot BMW as a shed. I paid over £4k for my 545 and have spent over £1200 in repairs - valve stem oil seals being the biggie.
Our passat is getting a new exhaust this week - it has corroded from the outside inwards. I cant complain - its original and 16 years old. It's getting to the stage where it could break.
Our passat is getting a new exhaust this week - it has corroded from the outside inwards. I cant complain - its original and 16 years old. It's getting to the stage where it could break.
I finally got a chance to get a few jobs done on our two sheds this weekend.
Shed 1 (Mk1 Focus Estate) needed the wiper linkage sorted as one of the ball joints had worn and kept coming loose. One cheap 'repair plate' from ebay fitted and the issue is sorted.
Shed 2 (Mk2 Focus Hatch Auto) had been misfiring under load so I replaced the coil pack, leads and plugs with parts I'd picked up during one of the many ECP sales, now driving perfectly. Also had my friendly mechanic do a bit of welding on a part of the exhaust which had become loose.
Three issues sorted, total spend £76 - a fair bit less than the finance payments on two newer versions of these cars would be. Hopefully that'll be all the attention they need until MOT time in May.
Shed 1 (Mk1 Focus Estate) needed the wiper linkage sorted as one of the ball joints had worn and kept coming loose. One cheap 'repair plate' from ebay fitted and the issue is sorted.
Shed 2 (Mk2 Focus Hatch Auto) had been misfiring under load so I replaced the coil pack, leads and plugs with parts I'd picked up during one of the many ECP sales, now driving perfectly. Also had my friendly mechanic do a bit of welding on a part of the exhaust which had become loose.
Three issues sorted, total spend £76 - a fair bit less than the finance payments on two newer versions of these cars would be. Hopefully that'll be all the attention they need until MOT time in May.
Joey Deacon said:
I have this dream of repeating this and smugly driving around in what was once a £30k car for £2k.
One of my 1998 Volvo V70 T5s included an original receipt for 28k when new. I paid £750.It's still going as strong as ever, as expected.
EDIT also no rust, as expected. And I mean none.
Edited by Digby on Monday 20th January 16:40
I’m suffering from grumpy shed owner syndrome. I don’t know if that’s a thing but I’m definitely grumpy.
I’m pretty sure my car in previous ownership has spent half its life attacking kerbs, because once again it has an issue on the passenger side with a suspension/transmission part. This time it’s the CV joint, not massively expensive but at some point I’m going to have to replace all of the same s
t on the drivers side too.
Luckily I don’t have many miles to do for a fortnight so going to mull over whether to fix it and plod on, hunt for another shed, buy everything that hasn’t been replaced and hope £500 or so sees the car feeling like a newer one.
I’m pretty sure my car in previous ownership has spent half its life attacking kerbs, because once again it has an issue on the passenger side with a suspension/transmission part. This time it’s the CV joint, not massively expensive but at some point I’m going to have to replace all of the same s
t on the drivers side too. Luckily I don’t have many miles to do for a fortnight so going to mull over whether to fix it and plod on, hunt for another shed, buy everything that hasn’t been replaced and hope £500 or so sees the car feeling like a newer one.
STIfree said:
Lovely 240 that parked behind me on the ferry. Looked pretty immaculate, I don't even think I'd like to call it a shed. I'd love one but the collatable tax has kicked in and finding one for sub 1k is long gone.
They are now a retro classic and considered quite cool so yes long gone are the banger days for most of them. Although there are still a few about and some bargains for higher mileage, end of life, type cars can be had if you look hard enough.
StescoG66 said:
A big retrograde step, with all due respect.
V6todayEVmanana said:
Curious why you decided to replace the mk3 GS.
My weekend / special car is an LS1 swapped 240Z, the Lexus was bought to scratch the itch while I got it on the road, after which having 10litres worth of V8 felt a bit excessive. Plus I like having a shed that I don’t have to be too precious about to lug car parts about! 
don't even bother closing the door ...
A (likely terminal) update on the sheddy XC70.
During the repair of the rear main seal and core plug (which in itself was successful), the mechanic mate who was doing the job lost most of the gearbox oil from the gearbox (not sure of the mechanical ins and outs of this but that's by the by now) and had to subsequently refill the box with new.
This refilling of the box has had a pretty crap effect on the gearbox itself, in that now it just doesn't really know what it's doing or what gear it should be in and is thumping home rather than the lovely smooth action previously.
Not wanting to chuck more money at it having already (stupidly) put some nearly new tyres on it and spent out for the oil leak repair so i'll likely just try and flog it spares or repair or worst case just scrap it. Shame as it's a beauty really. So if anybody wants any spares from a 2004 XC70 D5 let me know!!
For it's replacement as i am currently without car, i'm going to look at a 1.9 tdi Audi A3 later, advertised for £750 with 140k odd miles and 12 months mot. As long as the clutch/DMF is ok it should be fine for some shedding for the timebeing.
Bloody cars!!
During the repair of the rear main seal and core plug (which in itself was successful), the mechanic mate who was doing the job lost most of the gearbox oil from the gearbox (not sure of the mechanical ins and outs of this but that's by the by now) and had to subsequently refill the box with new.
This refilling of the box has had a pretty crap effect on the gearbox itself, in that now it just doesn't really know what it's doing or what gear it should be in and is thumping home rather than the lovely smooth action previously.
Not wanting to chuck more money at it having already (stupidly) put some nearly new tyres on it and spent out for the oil leak repair so i'll likely just try and flog it spares or repair or worst case just scrap it. Shame as it's a beauty really. So if anybody wants any spares from a 2004 XC70 D5 let me know!!
For it's replacement as i am currently without car, i'm going to look at a 1.9 tdi Audi A3 later, advertised for £750 with 140k odd miles and 12 months mot. As long as the clutch/DMF is ok it should be fine for some shedding for the timebeing.
Bloody cars!!
tomble22 said:
A (likely terminal) update on the sheddy XC70.
During the repair of the rear main seal and core plug (which in itself was successful), the mechanic mate who was doing the job lost most of the gearbox oil from the gearbox (not sure of the mechanical ins and outs of this but that's by the by now) and had to subsequently refill the box with new.
This refilling of the box has had a pretty crap effect on the gearbox itself, in that now it just doesn't really know what it's doing or what gear it should be in and is thumping home rather than the lovely smooth action previously.
Not wanting to chuck more money at it having already (stupidly) put some nearly new tyres on it and spent out for the oil leak repair so i'll likely just try and flog it spares or repair or worst case just scrap it. Shame as it's a beauty really. So if anybody wants any spares from a 2004 XC70 D5 let me know!!
For it's replacement as i am currently without car, i'm going to look at a 1.9 tdi Audi A3 later, advertised for £750 with 140k odd miles and 12 months mot. As long as the clutch/DMF is ok it should be fine for some shedding for the timebeing.
Bloody cars!!
What about a replacement gearbox for the XC70? Surely they can't be too hard to comeby. If that's all that's the matter with the car and you know everything else is solid then why not speculate a gearbox?During the repair of the rear main seal and core plug (which in itself was successful), the mechanic mate who was doing the job lost most of the gearbox oil from the gearbox (not sure of the mechanical ins and outs of this but that's by the by now) and had to subsequently refill the box with new.
This refilling of the box has had a pretty crap effect on the gearbox itself, in that now it just doesn't really know what it's doing or what gear it should be in and is thumping home rather than the lovely smooth action previously.
Not wanting to chuck more money at it having already (stupidly) put some nearly new tyres on it and spent out for the oil leak repair so i'll likely just try and flog it spares or repair or worst case just scrap it. Shame as it's a beauty really. So if anybody wants any spares from a 2004 XC70 D5 let me know!!
For it's replacement as i am currently without car, i'm going to look at a 1.9 tdi Audi A3 later, advertised for £750 with 140k odd miles and 12 months mot. As long as the clutch/DMF is ok it should be fine for some shedding for the timebeing.
Bloody cars!!
Or even a replacement XC70/V70 and swap the good stuff (wheels) from yours across?
I gave in and washed the Mondildo.
First one since buying it in November. Plenty of salt on it was driving the parking sensors crazy (I guess thats the issue anyway).
It looks like a new car after a quick wash with an old sponge
It also unveiled some scratches I'd managed to put on the roof when loading crap into it the other week. Kinda felt bad now the car was clean, so went at it for a minute with a bottle of polish that's probably half my age.
First one since buying it in November. Plenty of salt on it was driving the parking sensors crazy (I guess thats the issue anyway).
It looks like a new car after a quick wash with an old sponge
It also unveiled some scratches I'd managed to put on the roof when loading crap into it the other week. Kinda felt bad now the car was clean, so went at it for a minute with a bottle of polish that's probably half my age.
STIfree said:
What about a replacement gearbox for the XC70? Surely they can't be too hard to comeby. If that's all that's the matter with the car and you know everything else is solid then why not speculate a gearbox?
Or even a replacement XC70/V70 and swap the good stuff (wheels) from yours across?
Three words - Fifteen month old Or even a replacement XC70/V70 and swap the good stuff (wheels) from yours across?
To be honest I've just had enough of it for a day or two and I really need a car for work so need to get a replacement/stand in sorted ASAP. I haven't necessarily given up on it completely yet, we'll see what happens and luckily it's stored safe at the moment so I won't rush into anything.
Quick check on ebay suggests a replacement gearbox would be £400-500. Only problem then is what if that's a bit crap anyway.
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