The Joy of Running an Old Shed

[rich12]

grumpy52 said:

Right shredders it's advice time !
I need to change the shed , I need something with good seat height, room between the seat squab and the A pillar, big comfy leather seats , automatic and A/C .
My thoughts are Jap 4x4 or an MPV .
I have health issues and I am a very big old lump .
At the moment I run a Mk2 Focus Ghia that has cost peanuts to run and bits are as cheap as chips. As my back and knees are deteriorating it is getting painful to get in and out of and drive in traffic for more than 20 mins at a time .
I will steer clear of any of the super cheap Range Rovers ,Discovery or big BMW X5s that appear regularly as they all seem to be ticking time bombs .
The Focus has MOT extended until November and will be tested and sold if it passes or scrapped if the repairs cost more than £250 .
Budget to be £1250-1500 , what are the thoughts on a cheap Volvo XC90 ,XC70 or a V70 AWD otherwise it's a top of the range Galaxy type thing .
Over to you wise people .

Is a SUV a wise choice with your issues?
Surely getting into a high up vehicle is going to be a pain for you?
How about a subaru outback?

[Jimmy Recard]

rich12 said:

Is a SUV a wise choice with your issues?
Surely getting into a high up vehicle is going to be a pain for you?
How about a subaru outback?

I'd definitely want a higher seating position with those things going on!

Legs going straight down, being able to step out rather than clamber out

Also with my ML by the way grumpy, I get a lot of lower back pain and sciatica and I have found it one of the best car seats I've ever known for that. Obviously we're all different shapes and sizes, but it stands out as particularly good to me.

To be fair though, I'm the only person who has had a Volvo V70 and thought the seats were pretty average! I thought that my previous Astra had better seats

[grumpy52]

Jimmy Recard said:

rich12 said:

Is a SUV a wise choice with your issues?
Surely getting into a high up vehicle is going to be a pain for you?
How about a subaru outback?

I'd definitely want a higher seating position with those things going on!

Legs going straight down, being able to step out rather than clamber out

Also with my ML by the way grumpy, I get a lot of lower back pain and sciatica and I have found it one of the best car seats I've ever known for that. Obviously we're all different shapes and sizes, but it stands out as particularly good to me.

To be fair though, I'm the only person who has had a Volvo V70 and thought the seats were pretty average! I thought that my previous Astra had better seats [/quote
I'm 6ft 1 and unless it's transit size and above normal SUVs have never been a problem .
It's surprising how many vehicles have high sills and sporty bucket type seats that require you to lever over then up and out . Not ideal in most modern car parks . The gap between the front of the seat and the A post can be very restrictive especially with size 12 winter footwear and osteoarthritis.
I found my Volvo S70 T5 the most comfortable car that I ever owned , the most frustrating was my XJ6 sport , wonderful once in and settled but very awkward to get in and out of .
I found trucks to be the most comfortable thing to drive over long distances, except for bloody Isuzu 7.5t , they left me crippled for days and eventually I ,along with several others, refused to drive them .
The other problem as you get older is some fabrics act like velcro when it comes to trying to move about in a seat !

[gazapc]

Finally time to fix the knackers rear shocks on the audi A4. All bolts nice and free and my £20 amazon spring compressors worked a charm. A bit of surface corrosion starting to appear in the wheel arch so gave those areas a wire brush and treat with Zinc 182.

Surprising uneven wear on the rear pads (left much worse), so that's on the list.

Exhaust hanger I replaced 6 months ago has already failed. It can live with a cable tie.

Mileage update: 352,000.

[Thick_Troll]

My new discs with bearings and brake pads arrived 3 days after being ordered! Saturday morning was spent slinging them on. The previous bearings had thrown a fair bit of their grease, maybe that's why they started chopping out again. I only got 16 months out of them so maybe buying no-name bearings off eBay isn't such a good idea...

[A500leroy]

grumpy52 said:

Right shredders it's advice time !
I need to change the shed , I need something with good seat height, room between the seat squab and the A pillar, big comfy leather seats , automatic and A/C .
My thoughts are Jap 4x4 or an MPV .
I have health issues and I am a very big old lump .
At the moment I run a Mk2 Focus Ghia that has cost peanuts to run and bits are as cheap as chips. As my back and knees are deteriorating it is getting painful to get in and out of and drive in traffic for more than 20 mins at a time .
I will steer clear of any of the super cheap Range Rovers ,Discovery or big BMW X5s that appear regularly as they all seem to be ticking time bombs .
The Focus has MOT extended until November and will be tested and sold if it passes or scrapped if the repairs cost more than £250 .
Budget to be £1250-1500 , what are the thoughts on a cheap Volvo XC90 ,XC70 or a V70 AWD otherwise it's a top of the range Galaxy type thing .
Over to you wise people .

Seat wise you need a Peugeot as nobody makes better seats. Something like a partner outdoor?

[loskie]

if you had had my K reg Peugeot 309 Trio in the early 90's you would not have said this.

I was a 24 year old, fit young fella, it was crippling.

[swampy442]

How was your weekend? Mine? Oh spent 350 quid and spent some man hours changing the DPF on the Mazda. Not a terrible job, but it looked like that one had been on the car for 150k miles. Couldn't even blow down it!



Threw a bucket of water over it, 5 minutes and some Autosol on the headlights, need to sort the wheels out, not sure I can be arsed with the expense lol





And parts where the paint is still in good shape, polishes up OK! MOT in July, only thing I know of is a ball joint boot so hopefully another year of motoring for the stereo on wheels lol

[A500leroy]

So dpf are quite cheap to replace now?

[mercedeslimos]

gazapc said:

Finally time to fix the knackers rear shocks on the audi A4. All bolts nice and free and my £20 amazon spring compressors worked a charm. A bit of surface corrosion starting to appear in the wheel arch so gave those areas a wire brush and treat with Zinc 182.

Surprising uneven wear on the rear pads (left much worse), so that's on the list.

Exhaust hanger I replaced 6 months ago has already failed. It can live with a cable tie.

Mileage update: 352,000.

Sliders are starting to seize up. Need to pull them out of the rubbers, clean out all the old grease with brake cleaner, sand the slider lightly with emery paper, and re-grease the slider. Have to do this every 10k or thereabouts on our MK5 Golf with the same type brakes. A common issue with our climates.

[mercedeslimos]

swampy442 said:

How was your weekend? Mine? Oh spent 350 quid and spent some man hours changing the DPF on the Mazda. Not a terrible job, but it looked like that one had been on the car for 150k miles. Couldn't even blow down it!



Threw a bucket of water over it, 5 minutes and some Autosol on the headlights, need to sort the wheels out, not sure I can be arsed with the expense lol





And parts where the paint is still in good shape, polishes up OK! MOT in July, only thing I know of is a ball joint boot so hopefully another year of motoring for the stereo on wheels lol

I hope you reset the DPF ash loading % afterwards...

[swampy442]

mercedeslimos said:

I hope you reset the DPF ash loading % afterwards...

Of course

[swampy442]

A500leroy said:

So dpf are quite cheap to replace now?

Yes, for the Mazda was about 350 quid, not exactly shed money but I'm not interested in maps and the majority of miles are on the motorway

[mercedeslimos]

swampy442 said:

Of course

Good man. I wonder does it share the same DPF as the MK4 Mondeo, being the same car underneath (AFAIK). I'm on 193k and no sign of any issues, but it (pre-lockdown) gets 40 miles each way to work and back every day.

[STIfree]

As expected, the £1k Lexus didn't need a diff, it was only the rear wheel bearing. £58 and 6 hours (bloody nightmare to get off!) later it's sorted. Drives great now, a little too quiet and effortless, I noticed myself getting up to much higher speeds without realising due to the lack of noise inside or effort from the engine.

It's been thrown into daily duties and is coping well so far. 18mpg is a little tough to swallow but 59p a litre of LPG isn't bad.

Took some snaps too. It's not a pretty car when to compare it to the previous-gen LS but still, I don't mind it too much.


[




I also drove the Mondeo this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks. It felt 'sporty' compared the Lexus' super spongey ride.

[swampy442]

mercedeslimos said:

Good man. I wonder does it share the same DPF as the MK4 Mondeo, being the same car underneath (AFAIK). I'm on 193k and no sign of any issues, but it (pre-lockdown) gets 40 miles each way to work and back every day.

Mine did 150k, was strange because I drove home fine on the friday, come Sunday when I went to fuel up, no power. Also a previous owner has deleted the DPF warning light According to my scanner there had been 7 occurances of a DPF light but nothing on the dash.

[aaron_2000]

I've also been messing with the £850 S320. The paintwork is horrific, it's like someone gave it a 3 stage machine polish with the finest mix of gravel and acid, I'm gonna attempt to improve it a bit with some heavy cutting compound. Wheels are curbed up which is a good thing because for the first time in my life, I curbed a wheel yesterday. At least the interior came up decently again after the previous owner filthied it up and ruined my hard work the first time. I attacked the air compressor job only to have each bracket bolt break off as soon as a spanner touched them, so now I'm another £50 down on a bracket which is a fiddly job. At least it was cheap to insure and it's pretty cheap to run so far, low 30's in 30-40mph town driving and low 50's on the motorway. Aren't those exhaust tips tasteful? I'm gonna keep it a few months as my daily, don't think I'm brave enough to run a 211k S Class any longer than that. Saved from the breaker for the time being though

[Jimmy Recard]

I really do like the idea of an S320 CDI. From what I’ve read, they don’t seem as bad to run as you’d expect. I suppose structural rust is probably the most inevitable and worst thing they suffer?

[V6todayEVmanana]

Jimmy Recard said:

I really do like the idea of an S320 CDI. From what I’ve read, they don’t seem as bad to run as you’d expect. I suppose structural rust is probably the most inevitable and worst thing they suffer?

I think the running costs would depend on parts availability, I've got a 1998 car which has been fine for us (some preventive maintenance) but recently the manifold weld has started to leak. It cast so hard to weld back, the price of the part could be a few hundred, I wonder how much it would be on a S-Class?

Twenty year old parts ae surely due for replacement soon, I think even the Toyota Landcruisers were only built with parts with 20 years life expectancy.

If it's shed money then I'd probably have to wave goodbye and hope I got a few good miles out of it. The one above looks very smart.

[LukeyP_]

All these barges, I want one !

Truth be told, I'm getting a bit bored of shed life and ended up looking at hot hatches over the weekend. My street where I live has a couple of mechanics and they both have sporty hatches, with nice exhausts and lowered - it's making me venture into the classifieds a bit!!