I've broken down, it was scary.
Discussion
Imagine driving home on a Tuesday afternoon, the roof is off, the sun is shining and you're looking forward to 2 mid week days off.
What's more, you're picking up your company car tomorrow, so you can start preparing your trusty old steed for a new home. The car that you've looked after and loved.
But the car, oh the car doesn't want to be replaced. The car wants you to remember what you've done.
The car waits for its appropriate moment, say driving down a hill in a country road at 40mph. Then it strikes.
Boom. The car decides that the lower nearside balljoint doesn't want to be attached to the lower wishbone anymore and pulls itself apart.
Cue much hilarity and waving of arms as the car dives towards a solid stone hedge, with the wheel rammed firmly up in the arch. Sliding down the road, screaming of skidding rubber.....
It won't be given the cold shoulder easily this one. Oh no.
(sat on the sunshine enjoying the fresh air whilst waiting the 90 minutes for the AA now. I'm looking forward to these days off even more.
)
Pics to follow.
What's more, you're picking up your company car tomorrow, so you can start preparing your trusty old steed for a new home. The car that you've looked after and loved.
But the car, oh the car doesn't want to be replaced. The car wants you to remember what you've done.
The car waits for its appropriate moment, say driving down a hill in a country road at 40mph. Then it strikes.
Boom. The car decides that the lower nearside balljoint doesn't want to be attached to the lower wishbone anymore and pulls itself apart.
Cue much hilarity and waving of arms as the car dives towards a solid stone hedge, with the wheel rammed firmly up in the arch. Sliding down the road, screaming of skidding rubber.....
It won't be given the cold shoulder easily this one. Oh no.
(sat on the sunshine enjoying the fresh air whilst waiting the 90 minutes for the AA now. I'm looking forward to these days off even more.
)Pics to follow.
Famous Graham said:
The day I was due to part ex my MGF in for my S2000, one of the linkages went when I selected reverse.
50 quid part. 8 hours labour to take the seats out, transmission tunnel etc etc. FFS. I had it low-loaded to the Honda dealership straight from the MG garage
Couldnt you get any gears? Something similar happened to my dad has he drove to trade it in. Got it there,parked it nose first in a space finished the deal and drove out in his new car. It was a couple of days before they tried to move it but if they dont check it while you are there its tough luck they have accepted it in that condition 50 quid part. 8 hours labour to take the seats out, transmission tunnel etc etc. FFS. I had it low-loaded to the Honda dealership straight from the MG garage
That old thing of caveat emptor works for dealers too gog440 said:
Famous Graham said:
The day I was due to part ex my MGF in for my S2000, one of the linkages went when I selected reverse.
50 quid part. 8 hours labour to take the seats out, transmission tunnel etc etc. FFS. I had it low-loaded to the Honda dealership straight from the MG garage
Couldnt you get any gears? Something similar happened to my dad has he drove to trade it in. Got it there,parked it nose first in a space finished the deal and drove out in his new car. It was a couple of days before they tried to move it but if they dont check it while you are there its tough luck they have accepted it in that condition 50 quid part. 8 hours labour to take the seats out, transmission tunnel etc etc. FFS. I had it low-loaded to the Honda dealership straight from the MG garage
That old thing of caveat emptor works for dealers too Too much of a slope around the corner to push it etc.gog440 said:
Couldnt you get any gears? Something similar happened to my dad has he drove to trade it in. Got it there,parked it nose first in a space finished the deal and drove out in his new car. It was a couple of days before they tried to move it but if they dont check it while you are there its tough luck they have accepted it in that condition That old thing of caveat emptor works for dealers too
Its not always the dealer that is the villian of the piece, happens all the time. That old thing of caveat emptor works for dealers too Many years ago I had to use a crap Volvo estate and go to Leicester, zooming up M1 it ceased power !!
God smiled, I crossed from outside to inside then the Service Station came into view, rolled in without drama and parked. Never been so relieved in life at that one, mechanic looked at it, famous works, "Crank it, look in oild filler cap, crank again, - Fibre timing wheel shed it teeth" he says and
walked off.
£300 repair plus taxi to from meeting, It was being sold immediately after trip.
Got home, abandoned it in field, 6 months later gave it away.
i had the opposite hapen to me, i was selling a clio i had as a kid and all went well, the car had been solid and reliable and i sold it as such, but after money had changed hands and they were leaving, i noticed some quite noticeable blue smoke start coming out of the exhaust, something quite expensive looking had obviously JUST broken.
Sold as seen brother....cue hasty retreat into house. Never heard anything back, oddly
Sold as seen brother....cue hasty retreat into house. Never heard anything back, oddly
gog440 said:
Couldnt you get any gears? Something similar happened to my dad has he drove to trade it in. Got it there,parked it nose first in a space finished the deal and drove out in his new car. It was a couple of days before they tried to move it but if they dont check it while you are there its tough luck they have accepted it in that condition That old thing of caveat emptor works for dealers too
I heard of someone who part exchanged an old Ford Orion at a Vauxhall dealership. When they'd collected their new car and gone the salesman tried to move the car and it had no engine in it. They'd taken it out and rolled the car onto the forecourt. That old thing of caveat emptor works for dealers too Haighermeister said:
..... What's more, you're picking up your company car tomorrow, so you can start preparing your trusty old steed for a new home. The car that you've looked after and loved.
Struck a chord with me that- I had similar luck with two successive trade ins. I traded a 205GTi for a 16v Clio (bought Sat to be exchanged the following Sat), only for a Range Rover to rear-end the 205 midweek 
- not an equal fight at all!! It was fixed to the Renault garage's satisfaction after a struggle. A year or so later we traded the Clio for a Scooby, only to hit a deer on the way home from doing the deal
. It's no fun having the hassle of getting a motor fixed for someone else to benefit. Needless to say, with our luck, when we trade anything in these days we absolutely minimise the delay in collecting!!
Do balljoints sometimes not give any warning before performing abrupt departures from operation?
A friend of mine had an unexplained loss of control and associated aerobatics / car dismantling on the m5. By the time it was over the car was a very obvious write off the cause was never investigated bar investigation into checking my friend hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel etc (he was able to prove he hadn't). One of the discussed possible explanations was a failed balljoint
A friend of mine had an unexplained loss of control and associated aerobatics / car dismantling on the m5. By the time it was over the car was a very obvious write off the cause was never investigated bar investigation into checking my friend hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel etc (he was able to prove he hadn't). One of the discussed possible explanations was a failed balljoint
I was lucky, my last car vaux omega 150k miles on it was leaking water from the waterpump for weeks, steadily getting worse. Advertised on ebay with this info and advised any buyer to trailer it away. Bloke collects it 'nah it'll be fine'.
He called me 10 minutes later, he'd got 5 miles then the engine seized ! As a private sale he took it on the chin, he just rang to let me know how lucky I'd been.
He called me 10 minutes later, he'd got 5 miles then the engine seized ! As a private sale he took it on the chin, he just rang to let me know how lucky I'd been.
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