Tightwad motoring mates
Discussion
Does anyone have any stories of mates who do crazy things with their cars to save money
I have a friend who
only half fills the oil
half fills the coolant
always on part warns
takes pads out of cars at the breakers yard if they have a decent amount left
The oil and coolant really bug me, he reckons its mechanically fine (which its is) but i always tell him if he gets a problem whilst driving along he has less room for error if he starts burning coolant / oil
I have a friend who
only half fills the oil
half fills the coolant
always on part warns
takes pads out of cars at the breakers yard if they have a decent amount left
The oil and coolant really bug me, he reckons its mechanically fine (which its is) but i always tell him if he gets a problem whilst driving along he has less room for error if he starts burning coolant / oil
If you have a coolant and oil system that's only half full, then you will have engine problems. Do you mean he's only putting oil halfway up the dipstick and half filling the coolant header tank?
Either way, he's clearly a bit dim, how does he expect that to save him money?!
And the brakes thing, let me know where and when he drives so I can be somewhere else, who knows what else he's cheaping out on if brake pads are over budget...
Either way, he's clearly a bit dim, how does he expect that to save him money?!
And the brakes thing, let me know where and when he drives so I can be somewhere else, who knows what else he's cheaping out on if brake pads are over budget...
Spare tyre said:
Does anyone have any stories of mates who do crazy things with their cars to save money
I have a friend who
only half fills the oil
half fills the coolant
always on part warns
takes pads out of cars at the breakers yard if they have a decent amount left
The oil and coolant really bug me, he reckons its mechanically fine (which its is) but i always tell him if he gets a problem whilst driving along he has less room for error if he starts burning coolant / oil
Just make sure to never buy a car off him! I have a friend who
only half fills the oil
half fills the coolant
always on part warns
takes pads out of cars at the breakers yard if they have a decent amount left
The oil and coolant really bug me, he reckons its mechanically fine (which its is) but i always tell him if he gets a problem whilst driving along he has less room for error if he starts burning coolant / oil
Toaster Pilot said:
Spare tyre said:
takes pads out of cars at the breakers yard if they have a decent amount left
Given the general hate for part worn tyres here (and rightly so in a lot of cases) I imagine part worn brakes will rile a few people!
The part-worn hate I cannot understand. Every car that is on the road right now has part worns.
Edited by mini1380cc on Monday 17th March 15:13
Edited by mini1380cc on Monday 17th March 15:29
abbotsmike said:
If you have a coolant and oil system that's only half full, then you will have engine problems. Do you mean he's only putting oil halfway up the dipstick and half filling the coolant header tank?
Either way, he's clearly a bit dim, how does he expect that to save him money?!
And the brakes thing, let me know where and when he drives so I can be somewhere else, who knows what else he's cheaping out on if brake pads are over budget...
yes, half up the dipstick and half up the expansion tankEither way, he's clearly a bit dim, how does he expect that to save him money?!
And the brakes thing, let me know where and when he drives so I can be somewhere else, who knows what else he's cheaping out on if brake pads are over budget...
i had a mate who welded his 70's vw camper up using the steel from road signs.
the bike rack was made from an old school chair.
he had a pug 205, its ignition switch was a white electrical household light switch
another mate used to re groove his motorcycle tyres by taking an angle grinder to the treads to increase them.
best statement I can make, is never buy a car from a mechanic, they're always "gonna" fix something, as oppose to the service/maintainance general folks do, thinking it will stop their car failing.
the bike rack was made from an old school chair.
he had a pug 205, its ignition switch was a white electrical household light switch
another mate used to re groove his motorcycle tyres by taking an angle grinder to the treads to increase them.
best statement I can make, is never buy a car from a mechanic, they're always "gonna" fix something, as oppose to the service/maintainance general folks do, thinking it will stop their car failing.
Spare tyre said:
abbotsmike said:
If you have a coolant and oil system that's only half full, then you will have engine problems. Do you mean he's only putting oil halfway up the dipstick and half filling the coolant header tank?
Either way, he's clearly a bit dim, how does he expect that to save him money?!
And the brakes thing, let me know where and when he drives so I can be somewhere else, who knows what else he's cheaping out on if brake pads are over budget...
yes, half up the dipstick and half up the expansion tankEither way, he's clearly a bit dim, how does he expect that to save him money?!
And the brakes thing, let me know where and when he drives so I can be somewhere else, who knows what else he's cheaping out on if brake pads are over budget...
I used to know a guy who used to drain the oil from his car, put it in milk bottles and leave it to stand for a few months, then pour off the clean stuff and leave the debris in the bottle. Then re-use it again and again with fresh oil only for top ups.
Very odd, as he wasn't a tightwad otherwise.
Very odd, as he wasn't a tightwad otherwise.
A mate of mine bought a 2 year old car that hadn't been serviced yet. I wasn't too concerned as the car had sat at the dealership for four months, had an 18-month service interval (IIRC it was an Audi A4) and had done 7000 miles. The dealer didn't have any service bays but I managed to argue £500 off the price for a service, and a few other things. All signed and sealed, happy days. Told my mate to keep the £500 I'd knocked off and get the car serviced first thing. This was about six months ago and, surprise surprise, the car still hasn't had a service. But he did enjoy a lovely weekend away with the servicing fund. 
I also have a friend who's a tightwad when it comes to fuel costs (he doesn't drive). He's occasionally asked me for a lift. I've obliged, but told him that my car's expensive to run so it's not going to be a fiver's worth to do the 30 mile round-trip of dropping him in town and coming back home; I don't mind but I'm perhaps not the most suitable driver; I had an Impreza at the time, fuel was about £1.10 a litre, I charged him a tenner. Surprise surprise, he moaned (not to me, I hasten to add, but to his friends - I wasn't supposed to know) that I was ripping him off. I like to think I was rightful in being a bit irritated, to the point where he'd asked for a pick up at one point (still thinking I didn't know), and was told by the guy at the door that his taxi was here. Apparently he wasn't best pleased when he was greeted with an actual taxi that I'd booked for him.
He doesn't ask me for lifts any more.
I also have a friend who's a tightwad when it comes to fuel costs (he doesn't drive). He's occasionally asked me for a lift. I've obliged, but told him that my car's expensive to run so it's not going to be a fiver's worth to do the 30 mile round-trip of dropping him in town and coming back home; I don't mind but I'm perhaps not the most suitable driver; I had an Impreza at the time, fuel was about £1.10 a litre, I charged him a tenner. Surprise surprise, he moaned (not to me, I hasten to add, but to his friends - I wasn't supposed to know) that I was ripping him off. I like to think I was rightful in being a bit irritated, to the point where he'd asked for a pick up at one point (still thinking I didn't know), and was told by the guy at the door that his taxi was here. Apparently he wasn't best pleased when he was greeted with an actual taxi that I'd booked for him.
He doesn't ask me for lifts any more.
I'd a mate who'd never put more than a tenner of fuel in his car, this was in the mid 90's, but if any of his mates were at the petrol station at the same time he'd always end up going over the tenner by a few pence then get the extra from us as he said he never had more than a tenner on him. It was his way of getting a wee bit more fuel for nothing.....
I had a mate who did his own servicing.
He'd hire a car from Hertz for a day. ( The same make/ model as his own )
And then proceed to swap over every conceivable part.
Spark plugs, wheels, tyres, brake pads, cigarette lighter ( if his got a scuff ), wipes, bulbs if needed.
Everything and anything were taken.
Also had another friend who used to fill up his car with coca-cola bottles with the petrol measured out exactly for the journey. Scary!
He'd hire a car from Hertz for a day. ( The same make/ model as his own )
And then proceed to swap over every conceivable part.
Spark plugs, wheels, tyres, brake pads, cigarette lighter ( if his got a scuff ), wipes, bulbs if needed.
Everything and anything were taken.
Also had another friend who used to fill up his car with coca-cola bottles with the petrol measured out exactly for the journey. Scary!
s
t tyres on their family car pisses me off no end. I've a mate who's mrs takes their kids to the fast food places a few times a week but puts "sumo" or something on his car.
It's not like I put £100+ tyres on ours but the £70-80 ones i do use must be hell of a lot safer than ones that cost £40.in my mind at least!
t tyres on their family car pisses me off no end. I've a mate who's mrs takes their kids to the fast food places a few times a week but puts "sumo" or something on his car. It's not like I put £100+ tyres on ours but the £70-80 ones i do use must be hell of a lot safer than ones that cost £40.in my mind at least!
EW109 said:
Surely the expansion tank is not supposed to anything like full when the engine is cold? If it is full, when the engine heats up and the coolant expands, it just spits coolant out the vent.
NO, but I was regarding 'full' as up to the max fill mark, and 'half full' as somewhere below the fill mark. Same for the oil. 'Full' doesn't mean that it should be coming out the dipstick pipe!Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff