Off to look at a car. A short 9 hour round trip.

Off to look at a car. A short 9 hour round trip.

Author
Discussion

rallycross

12,832 posts

238 months

Wednesday 31st October 2018
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Hope you get back in reasonable time those old Allroads are a Liability once they get to shed territory.

Chris Type R

8,047 posts

250 months

Wednesday 31st October 2018
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Thanks for the update OP - did you pack a coat/gloves/hat etc ?

MikeDrop

Original Poster:

1,646 posts

170 months

Wednesday 31st October 2018
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I'm glad I can provide some entertainment.

I very nearly resorted to drinking my own piss. But a shining, beacon of yellow flashing light approached like a guardian Angel in my final moments of life.

Currently on the M25 heading towards the M4.

Clutch slave decided it no longer wanted to be constrained to a life of slavery and made a bid for freedom. I managed 10 miles with no clutch, rev matching, stalling and pulling off on the starter before the traffic became too heavy. Found a Tesco. Grabbed a coffee and put out an SOS to the AA.

Hopefully a cheap and easy fix. Car really is pretty decent. I've taken the chance to read through the copious amounts of Audi receipts and the car has had North of £7k spent on it in the last 10 years! yikes

Chris Type R

8,047 posts

250 months

Wednesday 31st October 2018
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What's the plan in terms of a repair and making it back home ?

colin79666

1,829 posts

114 months

Wednesday 31st October 2018
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Safe home mate. Brilliant laugh

MikeDrop

Original Poster:

1,646 posts

170 months

Wednesday 31st October 2018
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colin79666 said:
Safe home mate. Brilliant laugh
Thanks mate thumbup

Chris Type R said:
What's the plan in terms of a repair and making it back home ?
AA are recovering me to my house as I have Relay cover through my bank. Luckily.

I'll source a part and get it fixed ASAP. This is my replacement daily. So I'm going to have to use my replaced daily as a daily until my new daily can actually become a daily.

This is karma for insisting on a manual Allroad. rolleyes

ninjag

1,834 posts

120 months

Wednesday 31st October 2018
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I had a look at its MOT history and to be fair it doesn't actually look all that bad considering the car and the mileage. I think you've just got unlucky on the way home but it may actually turn out to be a pretty solid car.

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

Chris Type R

8,047 posts

250 months

Thursday 1st November 2018
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MikeDrop said:
AA are recovering me to my house as I have Relay cover through my bank. Luckily.
It's lucky you had that to fall back on. I've only bought a car unseen from a distance once. Fortunately it was okay.

If it's a slave cylinder, then I except reasonably simple to replace/repair.

The Mad Monk

10,474 posts

118 months

Thursday 1st November 2018
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MikeDrop said:
Hopefully a cheap and easy fix. Car really is pretty decent.

Good luck.

What could possibly go wrong?

SCEtoAUX

4,119 posts

82 months

Thursday 1st November 2018
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More repair costs before getting the car home than my Aygo has had in 9 years and 70k miles.

Kudos to the Op.

Xaero

4,060 posts

216 months

Thursday 1st November 2018
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AA update made me laugh smile

I've not travelled that far for a car, but sold a similar car (192k miles BMW 530d touring) for shed money to someone who drove 6 hours to collect it. Fortunately he sent me a text 6 hours after saying the car got back with no problems smile

dave_s13

13,815 posts

270 months

Thursday 1st November 2018
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Top effort.

Furthest I've ever done is a couple of hours but that was to buy something a bit more expensive and I had a good feeling about the private seller.

I'm currently on the lookout for a sub 750 quid shed to replace my current shed (Clio) that is mechanically sound but just too small for anything approaching comfort.

At this price I'm limiting my search radius to >10miles and anything from Bradford can FRO. Not much luck so far sadly.

Anyone got a focus/Octavia sized cheapie they want to swap for a perfect serviceable Renault Clio?

MikeDrop

Original Poster:

1,646 posts

170 months

Thursday 1st November 2018
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ninjag said:
I had a look at its MOT history and to be fair it doesn't actually look all that bad considering the car and the mileage. I think you've just got unlucky on the way home but it may actually turn out to be a pretty solid car.

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/
Yeah it's one of the things that drew me to it. It was by far the cheapest Manual Allroad for sale at the time. So I have to expect some inherent issues. Which I'm not bothered with.

Chris Type R said:
It's lucky you had that to fall back on. I've only bought a car unseen from a distance once. Fortunately it was okay.

If it's a slave cylinder, then I except reasonably simple to replace/repair.
I've priced up on eBay and it's £25 for a Febi unit delivered. Before I order a replacement I'm going to remove the old one to make sure it is indeed the culprit.

The Mad Monk said:
MikeDrop said:
Hopefully a cheap and easy fix. Car really is pretty decent.

Good luck.

What could possibly go wrong?
I know right? getmecoat

SCEtoAUX said:
More repair costs before getting the car home than my Aygo has had in 9 years and 70k miles.

Kudos to the Op.
Worth it so I don't have to drive an Aygo rofl Jokes - but it's just my way of managing my cars. Very rarely will I own one for longer than ayear out of pure boredom. But mainly because they don't last that long hehe

MikeDrop

Original Poster:

1,646 posts

170 months

Thursday 1st November 2018
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Oh, forgot to update on my prestige transport home.

Was a very uneventful journey. The AA patrol turned up in a Transporter van. I told him what was wrong with it and he discussed loading me up on his dolley. That was, until, I pointed out the Allroad is 4WD and can't be towed on a dolley. rolleyes

So he organised a flatbed which turned up 40 minutes later at about 7pm. I was fully expecting to be relayed 4/5 times and arrive home at the early hours. But to my delight, I was offered a direct, one way ticket home!

Arrived home at 11pm, limped the car outside my house having been dropped off on the main road as the truck wouldn't have been able to navigate my estate. So all in all, it was about a 16 hour round trip! Excellent. hehe

Plan of action is to strip the suspected article from the car this evening and see where I need to go next!

I'll probably start a Readers Cars thread so will post a link if anyone's interested! thumbup

M1C

1,834 posts

112 months

Thursday 1st November 2018
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Fantastic thread OP.

Good on ya. Fingers crossed after this you get minimal hassle going forward. Or backwards! Ha!

My tale is perhaps not as entertaining. Times were tough...i needed a car very very cheaply...a mate offered me a car for free!

Trouble was....i live in Durham and he's in Inverness! And it was a Saxo!

I managed to get a train ticked for some obscure evening / night train for a bargain £38, 5 hours on the train, he picked me up and got the car, etc. It was now approx 1am. He kindly provided me with a complementary high vis jacket and some spare bulbs...top bloke...but i hoped neither would be needed.

In the dead of night...i set off. I was aware that the PAS was intermittent...and sure enough...it really was. It was more intermittent than mittent! So that was quite hard work, then the drone of a wheel bearing started...which became almost deafening after a couple of hours.

I was still deep in the heart of Scotland...when some kind of major freak storm started, i'd never driven through anything like it. I had to hold tight onto the steering wheel (and my arshe held tight onto the seat material) it was unreal. When i got to the Forth Road bridge, i had to literally drive in the centre of the road to give myself as much room as possible either side as each gust lifted the car several feet sideways. I really did feel in like....huge danger!
Anyway, i continued steadily on, in complete concentration and the storm died down. I arrived at home at 7.30am, absolutely physically and mentally shattered......and then went to work!

MikeDrop

Original Poster:

1,646 posts

170 months

Monday 5th November 2018
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M1C said:
Fantastic thread OP.

Good on ya. Fingers crossed after this you get minimal hassle going forward. Or backwards! Ha!

My tale is perhaps not as entertaining. Times were tough...i needed a car very very cheaply...a mate offered me a car for free!

Trouble was....i live in Durham and he's in Inverness! And it was a Saxo!

I managed to get a train ticked for some obscure evening / night train for a bargain £38, 5 hours on the train, he picked me up and got the car, etc. It was now approx 1am. He kindly provided me with a complementary high vis jacket and some spare bulbs...top bloke...but i hoped neither would be needed.

In the dead of night...i set off. I was aware that the PAS was intermittent...and sure enough...it really was. It was more intermittent than mittent! So that was quite hard work, then the drone of a wheel bearing started...which became almost deafening after a couple of hours.

I was still deep in the heart of Scotland...when some kind of major freak storm started, i'd never driven through anything like it. I had to hold tight onto the steering wheel (and my arshe held tight onto the seat material) it was unreal. When i got to the Forth Road bridge, i had to literally drive in the centre of the road to give myself as much room as possible either side as each gust lifted the car several feet sideways. I really did feel in like....huge danger!
Anyway, i continued steadily on, in complete concentration and the storm died down. I arrived at home at 7.30am, absolutely physically and mentally shattered......and then went to work!
Excellent effort!

Another tale of mine. I went to purchase a Mk1 MX5 advertised on Gumtree at well below shed money. I'd spoken to the seller on the phone, asked all the usual questions about rust, service history, clutch. Answers came back honest enough "There's some rust, no service history but the clutch is good". We agreed a price and a set about my journey from South Wales to Stalybridge in Manchester.

2 trains, a tram and another train later, I'm at my destination with the car and seller waiting for me in the car park. Along with his mate in his blacked out Range Rover, sporting multiple tatoos and waving a wad of cash about. Dodgy. But, I'm here now, so let's take a look.

Got in the car and my heart sunk. It was a fking Auto! rolleyes

Still bought it though.

MikeDrop

Original Poster:

1,646 posts

170 months

Monday 3rd December 2018
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Well, small update.

The Audi is finally fixed.

4 slave cylinders later, I gave up and put it into the Indie VW specialist I use. Box was removed, DMF was determined to be a loose as a wizard's sleeve. The release bearing had gone through the clutch pressure plate and all sorts of chaos!









So, a new DMF, Clutch and Release Bearing later, we're back in action! :drive: It's only taken a month and many, many pounds cry



I'll be starting a Reader's Cars thread shortly and will link for those who are mildly bored. thumbup

ninjag

1,834 posts

120 months

Monday 3rd December 2018
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Can't quite see the pictures, any chance you could make them a little bigger?

Chris Type R

8,047 posts

250 months

Monday 3rd December 2018
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MikeDrop said:
So, a new DMF, Clutch and Release Bearing later, we're back in action! :drive: It's only taken a month and many, many pounds cry
Too much, or still good value for money overall ?

MikeDrop

Original Poster:

1,646 posts

170 months

Monday 3rd December 2018
quotequote all
ninjag said:
Can't quite see the pictures, any chance you could make them a little bigger?
Ctrl + Scroll to zoom in? wink

No idea why they're that big! I'll try and resize them.