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Norseman



Joined: 09 Jan 2019
Posts: 78
Location: Essex UK

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Both my other half & I have a soft spot for Rovers, the 75 in particular, in which case the diesel auto would be our weapon of choice. Although I'm a petrol-head the BMW lump is considered to be the best all round unit in more than just fuel economy, though still attracts £290 VED.
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1987 classic Range Rover Vouge
1998 E39 523i SE sedan

A great many models have served me well since the 'sixties, all of them old & some even older than me.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My housemate has a 75 tourer diesel and its given him very trouble free motoring and a comfortable car. Since it's the later facelift one with the less plush interior it does feel very BMW which is nice if you like that sort of thing, it just doesn't have the BMW price tag. It's also very good on fuel and has proven itself a reasonable tow vehicle. He only replaced it because he moved onto a Range Rover, which he's already upset about the fuel consumption on. He'd expected similar economy from the P38 as he got from the 75 since they're both diesels, so the reality came as a bit of a shock.
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badhuis



Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 1390
Location: Netherlands

PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are these VED prices quoted the costs per year?
If so then that is VERY cheap compared to tax costs in the Netherlands. Even petrol cars are much more expensive here. I pay around 800 euros per year for my Jaguar X-type (15 years old). My daughter pays 450 euros per year for her BMW Mini per year (1.3 petrol).

I stored my RR 2 door because due to a new rule (implemented 5 years ago), cars between 25-40 years had to pay tax like a modern. On LPG this meant going from 0 tax costs to over 2000 euros per year. Converting back to petrol would halve the tax costs but double the fuel costs! So I am waiting until it gets 40.
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Norseman



Joined: 09 Jan 2019
Posts: 78
Location: Essex UK

PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

badhuis wrote:
Are these VED prices quoted the costs per year?
If so then that is VERY cheap compared to tax costs in the Netherlands. Even petrol cars are much more expensive here. I pay around 800 euros per year for my Jaguar X-type (15 years old). My daughter pays 450 euros per year for her BMW Mini per year (1.3 petrol).
I stored my RR 2 door because due to a new rule (implemented 5 years ago), cars between 25-40 years had to pay tax like a modern. On LPG this meant going from 0 tax costs to over 2000 euros per year. Converting back to petrol would halve the tax costs but double the fuel costs! So I am waiting until it gets 40.


Yes, those are annual costs (sterling) & will rise by the rate of inflation on the 1st April. Vehicles under 40 years of age but manuf. before April 2001 currently pay VED at two rates, under 1550cc at £155 & over at £255.
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1987 classic Range Rover Vouge
1998 E39 523i SE sedan

A great many models have served me well since the 'sixties, all of them old & some even older than me.
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 10:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Norseman wrote:
badhuis wrote:
Are these VED prices quoted the costs per year?
.


Yes, those are annual costs (sterling) & will rise by the rate of inflation on the 1st April. Vehicles under 40 years of age but manuf. before April 2001 currently pay VED at two rates, under 1550cc at £155 & over at £255.


The above brings out an anomaly as far as I'm concerned....whereby a car registered just before the change in the way VED was calculated [from engine size, to emissions]...can pay less annual VED compared to the same [or similar?] one registered just after the changes.
For examples, look at Ford Fiestas? Or, something that really annoyed my ex wife was, why her Mazda Demio 1.3 petrol, registered just this century, paid a lot more VED than my Fiesta, registered in the last year of the last century, also a 1.3 [same engine, in fact]....?

Now, I've never been quite sure when the way VED was worked out actually changed...so I try to avoid buying any car made this century.....unfortunately I failed in regard to my Suzuki daily-driver [long-hand for Grand Vitara].....which cost me more to tax & insure, than my 25 year old Fourtrak....when it has a much smaller , less smelly engine? Plus, was made this century {2002} Although it 'does its job' well enough....every drive in it reminds me why I dislike [hate?] everything about driving modern motor vehicles....
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
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Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.
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Norseman



Joined: 09 Jan 2019
Posts: 78
Location: Essex UK

PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Alastairq [quote] The above brings out an anomaly as far as I'm concerned....whereby a car registered just before the change in the way VED was calculated [from engine size, to emissions]...can pay less annual VED compared to the same [or similar?] one registered just after the changes.
For examples, look at Ford Fiestas? Or, something that really annoyed my ex wife was, why her Mazda Demio 1.3 petrol, registered just this century, paid a lot more VED than my Fiesta, registered in the last year of the last century, also a 1.3 [same engine, in fact]....? [quote]

That's not the only anomaly, a car emitting less than 100 mg per km & registered before 1st April 2017 was exempt from VED … the exact same car reg'd after that date pays £125 as only totally emission- free vehicles (all electric) are exempt, (unless the manf. price is over £40k in which case have to pay £130) To think they used to hang highway robbers Rolling Eyes
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1987 classic Range Rover Vouge
1998 E39 523i SE sedan

A great many models have served me well since the 'sixties, all of them old & some even older than me.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 3:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

End of week 18.

Oof. This week. As I reported previously, the Princess was booked into an actual garage to have the repairs done and the MoT, since I couldn't do the former due to the hub nuts being way too tight, and could do the latter because I'm not an MoT tester.

The hub nuts I really genuinely wouldn't have stood a chance with. The passenger side one came off eventually so that the wheel bearing and CV boot that side could be done. The driver's side, however, put up much more of a fight and took some tools out along the way. Annoyingly, of the two wheel bearing kits I'd bought only one was correct, and since there's nothing wrong with the driver's side bearing, it made no sense to damage it if possible since it was only boot replacement on the driver's side that was required. Fortunately, the garage knew what they were about and drilled the castle nut off after acquiring a suitable direct replacement castle nut and then the job went okay. This side will need a lower ball joint replacing, there's enough play in it to warrant an advisory, not enough for a fail, and had the part been more readily available it would have been done along with the rest. Instead, I need to track one down, which I'll do in due course.




Tools broken, new parts fitted, car back together, all good. MoT passed with an advisory on the aforementioned ball joint and a little play in the steering column top bushing/bearing which again, is an advisory rather than a fail and unlikely to get worse. I'll replace the problem part when I can find out where to get one. All that done I could get a lift over and drive the car home. My next job would be brakes since I had a verbal advisory - wasn't serious enough to warrant an MoT advisory, but I do like to know about things that might be a problem soon so I can address them in plenty of time, keeps the car in the best health possible that way and focuses my attentions on what needs it - on one front disc which was a bit off, but not bad enough that it could be considered dangerous.

Set off home and all was well at first. Then the brakes started to feel very odd. When the work had been done, since the calipers had to come off to do the boot, the usual thing of resetting the pistons etc. was done before reassembly and it seems this highlighted a problem I didn't know about, or rather, did know about but couldn't pinpoint. I've never done any work on the front brakes other than bleeding them in all the years I've owned this car but recently I've been having a sort of thumping sensation through the pedal that we thought was the worn out wheel bearing, since the two things happened about the same time. Here's a video to explain in full:

https://youtu.be/YQ-DbWR688M

NOTE: Fixed the video with a re-upload.

Mostly it's a video of interest to me because I never see myself driving my car, for obvious reasons. Anyway, after a while the brakes felt very strange, the thumping had gone but they just didn't feel right. Sometimes they'd work really well, sometimes it felt like they weren't doing anything, after a few miles I pulled over, we called the garage and took it back to find out what was wrong. A quick look underneath showed a very hot disc which was also obviously warped.

Presumably, resetting the caliper meant it was working properly but the disc was already warped, unknown to me, so it just made matters worse very quickly after a few miles. Because the garage wasn't really open today, only for me to collect the car, it couldn't be fixed and since I had broken down, I called the AA. Rarely for me I lost my temper on the phone. AA wanted to send someone out to investigate the problem before recovering me, even though they wouldn't repair the car at the roadside and even though it was already diagnosed. That seemed a waste of time but fine, whatever. Then, because I was on the street outside the garage where we'd inspected the problem they determined I was 'at a place of repair' and wouldn't recover me home. The parts I needed to fix the car were at home, not on the street outside the garage. I had, or thought I had, suitable cover to choose to be taken to a place of repair or home. But because of some daftness with terms and conditions, they flat out refused to recover the car. Great. Suffice to say I've dropped them like a hot stone because over the years I've been with them I've called them out 3 times, of those only once was I recovered (head gasket failure) and they wouldn't dolly the car because they didn't believe it weighed as little as it did so they faffed around with relay instead, which took FOREVER. I'll just use whatever my insurance offers, because it can't be worse and it's way cheaper. So much for the fourth emergency service.

Anyway, the car was left at the garage, the parts will be collected/delivered to fix the brakes - fortunately I have spare discs so I don't need to fork out for new ones - and once fixed it'll come home. I'm surprisingly not angry about this, it's a thing that happened, fortunately I was with friends that could keep the car safe and get me home safe, and it'll sort.



On the plus side, since fitting the new carburettor the emissions look very good, and overall the car is behaving itself so apart from this minor annoyance, we're still good.
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47Jag



Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 1480
Location: Bothwell, Scotland

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 10:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vulgalour,

I’ve found Green Flag very good for recovery. I put petrol in my diesel Jaguar XF and they recovered it to my house from the filling station. Fortunately I had realised my mistake and hadn’t started the engine so it was just a matter of draining and refilling with diesel.

As an aside I put the petrol into the wife’s Mini thinking the small amount of diesel would harm it. The Mini didn’t like it at all but I just kept topping it up with fresh petrol. I mean how do you dispose of 10 or so gallons of petrol? I couldn’t take it to the local recycling centre because they would allow it.

Art
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Bitumen Boy



Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1733
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm pretty sure that Green Flag are one of the firms who won't cover cars over a certain age.
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 11:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Any old school petrol should cope with a bit of diesel in it...after all, that was one method of 'de-coking' used in the past? Loadsasmoke, though.

My last ex-wife once put nearly a tank full of diesel in our petrol Cavalier [car, not spaniel]....denied it, of course...as they do.....drained, re-filled with petrol, car ran properly....my mistake was rolling my eyes when she was watching!!

10 gallons of diesel/petrol to dispose of.....plenty of engine washing fluid, but a nearby old Landrover owner gave me some pocket money for the rest....

25 litres of petrol went into my old Daihatsu Fourtrak a few years ago [don't let Mr Angry at the next pump distract whilst filling]...As a check, I enquired of my breakdown cover the costs..they told me ''£250''...not impressed at all....topped off with some diesel, and a small bottle of Halfords lawnmower oil, and the ol' girl never missed a beat...

Really, old school eventually wins out every time!
I have gone back to using Autoaid.....good service [in the past], recovery every time....mind, I'm not the sort that worries about breaking a fingernail....
_________________
Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd heard the same about Green Flag's age restriction. I gather Autoaid is the preferred option for most with older cars. I'll be using the breakdown cover provided by my insurer, it's about the same cost as Autoaid and as long as the cover is "take me home" that's all I really need. Also, if the cover is offered through my insurer the age of the car shouldn't be an issue. I hope.

Most failures to proceed I've been able to fix at the roadside, the only times I haven't have been this brake issue, a head gasket failure on the same car early in my ownership, and the plastic part of the breaker points melting on my old mk2 VW Polo. Over seven years and a number of different vehicles of various ages and states of decay, I think that's fairly respectable.
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Norseman



Joined: 09 Jan 2019
Posts: 78
Location: Essex UK

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

47Jag wrote:
Vulgalour,
I mean how do you dispose of 10 or so gallons of petrol? I couldn’t take it to the local recycling centre because they would allow it. Art


Ex-military vehicle owners that run either multi-fuel or 'sixties era Soviet trucks.
No, I don't know of any such owner either Laughing
_________________
1987 classic Range Rover Vouge
1998 E39 523i SE sedan

A great many models have served me well since the 'sixties, all of them old & some even older than me.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Addendum to the Week 18 update.



Got the call from the garage to collect the car. A test run had been done to make sure the brakes were behaving properly and all systems seemed good. A good run back of about 40 miles or so. After a few miles it was very clear the brakes were indeed much improved so I decided to see just how much the Princess really would let me put the hammer down once we got onto faster roads. It was quite blowy on the A1M so it was a bit of a handful at 70mph, and clearly the car is happier in the 55-65mph bracket so I dropped down to that after a short time. It also became clear that the driver's side front wheel bearing will need replacing soon, at higher speeds it's just started to make the same sorts of noises the passenger side one had. It would have been done at the same time as the other one had the kit I bought not been incorrect, so I'll order a new kit and DIY now I stand a chance of getting the hub nut off. There's also a slight vibration at 70mph that feels like one wheel is slightly out of balance, which is either that or the wheel bearing that I'll need to replace.

Certainly, no real causes for concern on the way home and it was nice to be able to drive it again. One quirk I didn't realise the car even had was when it was mentioned to me that it was a bit awkward going from second to third gear, sometimes requiring a double de-clutch. I paid attention to my own gear changes on the way home and it turns out I automatically knock the car briefly into neutral when going from second to third, because if you try and force it straight from one to the other, it doesn't want to. I tended to have issues going from third to second, turns out I don't automatically drop into neutral between the two when I do that. I'm not really sure what could be causing this, perhaps something synchromesh related, but it's not a problem for me and certainly not something that makes the car dangerous in any way, so I'll leave it as is.

The used spare discs I had were perfectly servicable once skimmed. I would still like to overhaul all of the front brake components and get them in the best health all the same, I just have a bit more breathing space on that now since it's £150 minimum to get the parts needed to do it all. Once shown the disc that was causing the problem, it was very easy to see the issue and clear that it was indeed warped as well as having a small piece missing just at the point of the warp.




It's nice to have that sorted properly and it gives me a bit of education on what a warped disc feels like to drive with, and what it looks like, should it happen again.
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ukdave2002



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4100
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 9:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

47Jag wrote:
Vulgalour,

I’ve found Green Flag very good for recovery. I put petrol in my diesel Jaguar XF and they recovered it to my house from the filling station. Fortunately I had realised my mistake and hadn’t started the engine so it was just a matter of draining and refilling with diesel.

As an aside I put the petrol into the wife’s Mini thinking the small amount of diesel would harm it. The Mini didn’t like it at all but I just kept topping it up with fresh petrol. I mean how do you dispose of 10 or so gallons of petrol? I couldn’t take it to the local recycling centre because they would allow it.

Art

Mate of mine runs a local garage that now frequently has to drain petrol from diesel's , he thought he had a cheap supply of petrol, but even the smallest quantity of diesel apparently causes issues with modern cars, he keeps some for cleaning stuff, but pays for the bulk to be disposed of!
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emmerson



Joined: 30 Sep 2008
Posts: 1268
Location: South East Wales

PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 10:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

47Jag wrote:
Vulgalour,

I’ve found Green Flag very good for recovery. I put petrol in my diesel Jaguar XF and they recovered it to my house from the filling station. Fortunately I had realised my mistake and hadn’t started the engine so it was just a matter of draining and refilling with diesel.

As an aside I put the petrol into the wife’s Mini thinking the small amount of diesel would harm it. The Mini didn’t like it at all but I just kept topping it up with fresh petrol. I mean how do you dispose of 10 or so gallons of petrol? I couldn’t take it to the local recycling centre because they would allow it.

Art


That, sir, serves you right! Diesel in a JAGUAR! Disgusting! Harrumph!
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