DIY mechanics success stories
Discussion
Quite chuffed with this so I though I'd share it.
I've been driving around in an S-reg Pug 306 recently. It's been in the family for a good while and has had a headgasket failure for at least a year or so.
A very basic 1.4 model with wind up windows but I kinda like it.
MOT last week and it failed on emissions due to the HG, also needed 3 tyres.
So, Bought a HG set and cambelt for ~£50 and spent a couple of days on the drive, Haynes manual to hand.
And it now has a nice new MOT certificate for less than £200 including 4 tyres!
It was worth saving, and the feeling when it flew through the emissions test was very satisfying
I found the job quite therapeutic and relatively easy as long as you have a half decent set of tools and can read a manual.
Share your stories/cool starry bra as appropriate
I've been driving around in an S-reg Pug 306 recently. It's been in the family for a good while and has had a headgasket failure for at least a year or so.
A very basic 1.4 model with wind up windows but I kinda like it.
MOT last week and it failed on emissions due to the HG, also needed 3 tyres.
So, Bought a HG set and cambelt for ~£50 and spent a couple of days on the drive, Haynes manual to hand.
And it now has a nice new MOT certificate for less than £200 including 4 tyres!
It was worth saving, and the feeling when it flew through the emissions test was very satisfying
I found the job quite therapeutic and relatively easy as long as you have a half decent set of tools and can read a manual.
Share your stories/cool starry bra as appropriate
Slashmb said:
In about 2001 when I wasn't earning very much I had a 1.1 Punto. It had done 70,124 miles and the timing belt snapped. The book said to change it at 70,000.
Anyway, I bought a new belt for £17 from the main dealer and set about fitting it one Saturday afternoon. I think it took me about 4 hours but with the first turn of the key it burst in to life once more.
At the time it felt great to think I had got away with it but years later I found out it was a non-inteference engine so it's not like anything could have gone wrong anyway.
On the same car I was quoted £300 to do the brakes but did them myself for about £100. Not hard really I know, but still satisfying all the same.
Not sure if I'd be so keen to try much on something more modern.
Nice story and good to know re the Punto engine being non-interface Anyway, I bought a new belt for £17 from the main dealer and set about fitting it one Saturday afternoon. I think it took me about 4 hours but with the first turn of the key it burst in to life once more.
At the time it felt great to think I had got away with it but years later I found out it was a non-inteference engine so it's not like anything could have gone wrong anyway.
On the same car I was quoted £300 to do the brakes but did them myself for about £100. Not hard really I know, but still satisfying all the same.
Not sure if I'd be so keen to try much on something more modern.
There's a lot to be said for the older, simpler cars when it comes to cheap maintenance.
Motorrad said:
I like your 306 story-here's mine- the car had the expected central locking fault. This means you lock the car and because the wires in the door loom are shorting it immediately unlocks itself.
I resolved this by carefully following the walk-throughs on the internet. Locate C/L module and then short the two pins. Only problem was that my car seemed to have a different module than everyone else. So I worked out which one were the same and shorted them. Result- massive *pop* and a destroyed central locking system. Result- I can actually lock the door now................it's a pyrrhic victory.
Hmmm, I think my C/L is going that way. Doesn't unlock yet but makes funny noise like it's overstressed when locking.I resolved this by carefully following the walk-throughs on the internet. Locate C/L module and then short the two pins. Only problem was that my car seemed to have a different module than everyone else. So I worked out which one were the same and shorted them. Result- massive *pop* and a destroyed central locking system. Result- I can actually lock the door now................it's a pyrrhic victory.
Good little cars though for sure
hyperblue said:
I had a big end bearing go on mine recently, so I did this:
Then stripped the engine down to find the problem:
Putting the rebuilt engine back in next weekend, fingers crossed! I'd never done much more than change the brake pads before I did this, guess I got a bit carried away
Well done man, awesome stuff Then stripped the engine down to find the problem:
Putting the rebuilt engine back in next weekend, fingers crossed! I'd never done much more than change the brake pads before I did this, guess I got a bit carried away
LeeMad said:
i had a saxo vtr a few years ago and the gearbox went. with no previous experience with tools i started researching as much as possible and changed it myself. all went well so i thought id have a go at putting a vts engine in, more research and i managed that too.
being stuck in a dead end job in insurance i decided id like to move into mechanics, 2 years part time doing motor vehicle maintenance at college and i was qualified to go to uni to do mechanical engineering. and im now second year degree student.
so a broken gearbox on a crappy little saxo lead me onto a new career path with much better life prospects. success in my eyes
Great story being stuck in a dead end job in insurance i decided id like to move into mechanics, 2 years part time doing motor vehicle maintenance at college and i was qualified to go to uni to do mechanical engineering. and im now second year degree student.
so a broken gearbox on a crappy little saxo lead me onto a new career path with much better life prospects. success in my eyes
Someone mentioned earlier how awesome the Internet is for fixing stuff and I have to agree.
Being good at googling a problem is a real skill in itself I reckon
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