The cost of running old Transit vans..........

[Tracker]

May I remind those on whom the cap fits that the real point of this forum is the free exchange of views and information and it is not supposed to be an ego trip where the opportunity to chuck snide comments at others in order to score theoretical willy enlarging points is to be exploited at every opportunity - and if there is no opportunity create one of your own.

 

Frank recently posted the quote below which is so obvious that it should not need to be said, but on this forum it does need to be said, and whilst he and I have had some issues in the past at least we don't constantly provoke each other for no good reason.

 

People should only start threads here if they have a genuine reason, and not just to shove their views onto us all. There are enough people with genuine questions without any of us inventing threads for the sake of it or because our lives are so empty and boring that we have to constantly bore everyone else to death by giving our political or other opinions.

 

Many interesting and informative threads are ruined by needless egotistical unprovoked personal attacks followed by the inevitable responses and so it goes on and if the attackers could just confine their responses to the points made by saying something like 'I don't agree with you because........' instead of launching into a diatribe of name calling and insults the responses would in turn probably be more interesting and informative.

 

So why don't we call an amnesty, truce, time out or whatever and just all try to respond without personal attacks, side comments, name calling, deliberate mis pronunciations, corruptions of names or misguided insults hidden behind 'humour'?

 

Is that too much to ask for people?

[antony1969]

This is more like it ! A good old fight . We haven't had enough of late have we ?

Any chance we can start a Muslim thread ? And the best news is Postnote is back too , Bingo

[candapack]

Watching telly last night with laptop open.

OH asked if I was on that daft MH forum again.

I said, "it's not daft, just have a look at this very interesting thread about the cost of running old transit vans" - I suggested she read backwards from the latest post.

 

After a couple of minutes, she rolled her eyes, shook her head and walked away.

 

She clearly doesn't understand 8-)

[capcloser]

Have run and repaired bedford cf,transits and landrovers too,all cheap to source parts from scrapyards but now dont have the time or inclination to lay under a vehicle get covered in oil and tear all my knuckles off! Had two merc 308s,good motors to drive once you get used to the odd gearbox,but god are they expensive to repair! Once spent two weeks with front axle off bashing away at the king pins cos couldn't afford the £600+ that the local merc garage wanted! Still ended paying out over £200 for the new ones to be sized and pushed back in at £80 an hour.These days if i can afford it i would rather pay someone else that way we keep the money going round,on that note partner reckons I'm good for the economy cos i buy so much crap!(I'm a sucker for any gadget) >:-)

[CliveH]

Tracker - as always - what you say makes a lot of sense.

 

For my part - I understand where capcloser, Pelmetman, euroserv all are coming from. We all seem to want to use this Forum to inform/warn others of issues.

 

I see no problem with this.

 

If Dave wants to tell us about his vehicle and how he keeps it going then I for one am interested because I do the same for a couple of vehicles myself.

 

Threads on here are surely like TV channels. If you don't like one - then is it not best just to ignore it and move on?

 

I am sure most of us do.

 

But I for one - having been on the receiving end of an egotistical addled brained dement - am heartily sick of this individual hijacking posts with personal attacks because HE cannot stand the fact that others enjoy doing things HE is ignorant off.

 

Whatever the reason HE does it. HE comes across as an "old woman spreading gossip over the garden fence" - His silly accusations of "knowing" more about certain individuals on here than others do is borderline psychotic given the overall situation!

 

I would ask that Threads of whatever interest level to whoever should be allowed to stand by their own merit.

 

If they get no response - so what?

 

If someone has a bee in their bonnet about something - so what?

 

Who gave ANY individual ANY greater say on what is right or wrong?

 

 

 

[capcloser]

Well said clive i couldnt agree more,if my posts are boring or of no interest to anyone then they can just ignore them,if they disagree the they every right to say so,i love a good debate,dont even mind a light hearted insult if its meant in the right way but personal attacks are quite different.I like dave pelmetmans comments i think we have a smilar sense of humour(juvenile lol) Its nice to see that others have been prepared to repair vehicle and get their hands dirty from time to time,money for me beinv the main reason but I've learnt a lot of useful stuff along the way *-)

[Guest pelmetman]

candapack - 2014-04-12 1:36 PM

 

After a couple of minutes, she rolled her eyes, shook her head and walked away.

 

She clearly doesn't understand 8-)

 

Women eh? *-)..............no appreciation of the fun to be had from blood sports :D.............

 

But at least Frank baiting is a non contact sport................although ego's can be bruised 8-) ..........

[Guest pelmetman]

capcloser - 2014-04-12 2:54 PM

 

iIts nice to see that others have been prepared to repair vehicle and get their hands dirty

 

 

Eh? :-S..................I don't get my hands dirty ;-) .................my mechanical knowledge is limited to knowing how to use a dipstick ...........BTW that's not another dig at Frank :D......................

 

I have a chap that I've used for years, who knows Transits inside out, and is very reasonable B-).................

[nowtelse2do]

See you've been fishing again Dave, had any good bites :-D

 

Had a look on chatterbox, bit quiet. Didn't realise the action was over here.

 

Dave

 

PS. Have a 1973 TR6 and can get anything I need for it, plus free vehicle tax. (I call it Hysterical Tax)

Also a 1984 TWR XJ-S, some part's very hard to get but most parts are still available.

[Guest pelmetman]

nowtelse2do - 2014-04-12 9:10 PM

 

See you've been fishing again Dave, had any good bites :-D

 

Had a look on chatterbox, bit quiet. Didn't realise the action was over here.

 

Dave

 

PS. Have a 1973 TR6 and can get anything I need for it, plus free vehicle tax. (I call it Hysterical Tax)

Also a 1984 TWR XJ-S, some part's very hard to get but most parts are still available.

 

ME?......... fishing?.......... :D..............

 

BTW your collection of old bangers :-> neatly high lights what I've been banging on about ;-).................It's actually easier to get parts for the older less complicated vehicle, than the more complex Jag :-| ............Which is why those seeking to buy a vehicle that they intend to keep, and will be usable and economical to repair..............then older...... rather than the perceived wisdom of buying as new as possible.......might be something to consider :D

 

Dave J R Hartley (lol).................

[CliveH]

I am the first in line to congratulate Jaguar Land Rover for their recent success - well done Tata for developing the Brand. Neither BMW or Ford could do what Tata have succeeded in doing.

 

However - I keep looking at Discovery 3 - SWMBO wants me to have one and they are now at a reasonable price. But what the heck were Ford thinking when they designed it so that when you need to change the cambelt, the workshop manual says to take the body off the chassis? Same for the exhaust manifolds or Turbo.

 

Now the thing is so designed that with good workshop facilities the body is off in a couple of hours. But would I as a competent LR "nut" want to do that?

 

No - I do not think so.

 

So whilst the Disco keeps going and only requires routine maintenance - I think I will stick with what I know. I do hate the big rear door tho - letting the dogs out when towing is awkward as the jockey wheel on our Trailers fouls the door.

 

Never a problem on the Range Rover - and you had a nice seat with the rear down! :-D

 

Maybe I could swap the Disco body for a Range Rover? After all - they sit on the same chassis? 8-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest pelmetman]

CliveH - 2014-04-13 9:01 AM

 

 

Never a problem on the Range Rover - and you had a nice seat with the rear down! :-D

 

Maybe I could swap the Disco body for a Range Rover? After all - they sit on the same chassis? 8-)

 

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Range-Rover-Overfinch-/221414858194?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item338d5a9dd2

 

There you go Clive ;-)...............Its just run in with less than a 1/4 of a million miles on the clock :D.........

[CliveH]

I sold my old bog standard Range Rover with 202K miles on the clock and that still went fine - all 8 cylinders had factory standard compression. I do believe LPG is far kinder to engines than petrol.

 

I did upgrade the cam to a slightly hotter one - not much - just profiled to give a bit more low down grunt for towing. And I also fitted Rover SD1 Heads as they had larger ports and valves.

 

So maybe not quite so "bog standard" as some but certainly not an Overfinch.

 

I did drive a 5.7litre Overfinch once - they put larger American V8's in if you wanted. But overall the "package" did not seem to be as much of an improvement as I expected.

 

The one on sale looks very nice Dave - and proves the point that with regular servicing those big lazy old V8's can do Starship miles.

 

But the wheels are awful !!

 

I may be wrong but they look like really dreadful aftermarket bolt on Halfords - don't like the wheels at all.

 

£800 for an LPG conversion to make the running costs equivalent to circa 30 - 34 mpg and this will make someone a very nice vehicle that could tow anything anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bulletguy]

CliveH - 2014-04-13 4:43 PM

 

I sold my old bog standard Range Rover with 202K miles on the clock and that still went fine - all 8 cylinders had factory standard compression. I do believe LPG is far kinder to engines than petrol.

 

I did upgrade the cam to a slightly hotter one - not much - just profiled to give a bit more low down grunt for towing. And I also fitted Rover SD1 Heads as they had larger ports and valves.

 

So maybe not quite so "bog standard" as some but certainly not an Overfinch.

 

I did drive a 5.7litre Overfinch once - they put larger American V8's in if you wanted. But overall the "package" did not seem to be as much of an improvement as I expected.

 

 

A neighbour of mine used to own one of those until he wrote it off by turning it over. *-)

 

He wasn't bothered...........he also owned an Aston Martin DBS. :D

 

 

[Mike88]

I owned a newish Range Rover but got rid of it after a few months as the thing was besieged by recurring oil leaks in the front hubs, a gearbox that needed some serious work, an occasional misfire that no garage could rectify without me spending a fortune on a new electronic gubbins to see if that improved things and 10mpg when towing a caravan. Worst car I have ever owned by far.

 

My brother in law also maintained one as an off roader and when I went out with him one day on an off road trip with his club it was absolutely uselss as the darn thing kept grounding and had to be rescued on numerous occasions by a 4 wheel drive Moskovich, an SWB Land Rover and then a 1.0 Suzuki jeep. Range Rover's are absolute garbage for both on road and off road use in my experience.

[CliveH]

Well you do need to know what you are doing. I took a guy round the off road course at Billing some years back and I said to select Diff Lock and Low Range and he just looked at me blankly 8-)

 

Quite what he thought the second gear lever was for is anyones guess.

 

If any one had a RR as an off road tool and kept grounding out then there is a problem that I doubt belonged to the vehicle.

 

As for specific vehicle problems such as oil leaking from the front hubs - well LR went over to using grease many years ago.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Range+Rover+Hub+grease&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=919NU6PGLI_xhQeds4GwDg&ved=0CJYBELAE&biw=1249&bih=520

 

And as an off roader myself - I can honestly say that I have rescued a fair number of makes including Land Rovers, Lada Niva's and various Japanese 4x4's - all have their strong points - the Suzuki for example is so light it virtually flies over the terrain from hump to hump - whereas LR's and Land Cruisers tend to drive "through" things.

 

LR' s are like Marmite - I have long given up justifying what they are and what they can do - Public votes via programmes like ~Top Gear ~ give a better indication than any individual can.

 

http://www.carpages.co.uk/land_rover/land_rover_named_as_greatest_car_of_all_time_by_bbc_top_gear_poll_24_07_03.asp

 

 

[Mike88]

CliveH - 2014-04-15 5:46 PM

 

Well you do need to know what you are doing. I took a guy round the off road course at Billing some years back and I said to select Diff Lock and Low Range and he just looked at me blankly 8-)

 

Quite what he thought the second gear lever was for is anyones guess.

 

If any one had a RR as an off road tool and kept grounding out then there is a problem that I doubt belonged to the vehicle.

 

As for specific vehicle problems such as oil leaking from the front hubs - well LR went over to using grease many years ago.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Range+Rover+Hub+grease&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=919NU6PGLI_xhQeds4GwDg&ved=0CJYBELAE&biw=1249&bih=520

 

And as an off roader myself - I can honestly say that I have rescued a fair number of makes including Land Rovers, Lada Niva's and various Japanese 4x4's - all have their strong points - the Suzuki for example is so light it virtually flies over the terrain from hump to hump - whereas LR's and Land Cruisers tend to drive "through" things.

 

LR' s are like Marmite - I have long given up justifying what they are and what they can do - Public votes via programmes like ~Top Gear ~ give a better indication than any individual can.

 

http://www.carpages.co.uk/land_rover/land_rover_named_as_greatest_car_of_all_time_by_bbc_top_gear_poll_24_07_03.asp

 

 

He knew what he was doing. He was a regular at the Billing shows and also at Eastnor(????) and took people on training runs around there. He was secretary of his local off road club and regularly marshalled at off road events. And around Wales there are plenty of places to practice so he knew his way around. Grounding was due to the long wheel base on admitedly challenging ground.

 

I sold my RR in 1991. The model I owned was a Vogue of 1987/1988 vintage - the first of the versions with the new grill. I'm unsure when the front hubs changed from oil to grease but that does explain why I was having constant problems. I notice from the link that some of the parts were supplied by Bearmarch. They didn't tell me that I needed to use grease when I was in there every other week buying new gaskets. I was a regular in that place as there was a depot around a mile from my previous house. Another problem I failed to mention was rust at the bottom of the rear door - not great on a vehicle 3 - 4 years old.

[CliveH]

Hi Mike - well I was certainly using LR grease in the front hubs in the mid to late 1990's - so 1991 may have been a bit early.

 

I also used "rubber boots" with EP90 in the hubs as for some time I was sceptical that the grease would be as good. But in over two decades I am beginning to come round to the idea.

 

I am not blind to their faults - and have reservations about the BMW and Ford designed ones that move far away from the concept of being easily repairable (BMW - put front hubs on with integral bearing faces - so what do you do in the "outback" when you need to replace a bearing? Does anyone take both left and right hand steering hubs? - Ford - as said above - who fancies taking the body off if you have to replace an exhaust manifold gasket?)

 

Tata - is making things a lot better from this viewpoint - I think it is very much a good thing.

 

What I like about them - is their sheer ability - Even my old 1984 Range Rover could traverse an off road course - dealing with conditions impossible for most vehicles with ease and then whisk us back home in absolute luxury on the Motorway at well above the legal limit if we were silly enough to break the law.

 

 

[Muswell]

CliveH - 2014-04-15 7:51 PM

 

I am not blind to their faults - and have reservations about the BMW and Ford designed ones that move far away from the concept of being easily repairable (BMW - put front hubs on with integral bearing faces - so what do you do in the "outback" when you need to replace a bearing? Does anyone take both left and right hand steering hubs? - Ford - as said above - who fancies taking the body off if you have to replace an exhaust manifold gasket?)

 

 

 

I don't think that BMW, Porsche VW etc. have any interest in the 0.001% of their customers who might go to the "outback". In fact I think the majority wouldn't even put their wheels on the grass if passing you on a country lane.

[CliveH]

(lol) (lol) (lol)

 

True - every time I see a Cayenne I just ask "Why".

 

 

[Muswell]

CliveH - 2014-04-16 8:01 AM

 

(lol) (lol) (lol)

 

True - every time I see a Cayenne I just ask "Why".

 

 

The answer is easy B-)

[CliveH]

Not if you put one next to an L405 - or even a L322.

 

The Cayenne disappoints in looks and ability.

 

Yes it is a Porsche - but if I want an AWD I would get a real one - the Cayenne is too much of a hairdressers car for me.

 

A 911 and its derivatives tho is where Porsche excels.

 

 

[Muswell]

That's not the answer I was thinking of :D . Rather less polite...

[pepe63xnotuse]

Whilst on LRs...I caught a snippet about their "virtual bonnet" technology on the news last night...

It showed a Landie driving up a steep incline(and basicly "blind" due to the bonnet), they then switched on the head-up display and it showed the track "through" it...

 

Very cool..... ;-)

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2600491/Land-Rover-gives-drivers-X-ray-vision-Cameras-displays-help-drivers-dangers-lurking-BENEATH-vehicle.html

[Guest pelmetman]

Back on topic ;-).....................Transit clutch cable £31.65............fitting free........ by the very nice man from the AA.........care of ADAC :D...........

 

Only drawback 3 hours twiddling my thumbs on the A12 *-)..................

 

But have to say I was impressed by ADAC B-).........Phoned them up with more than a little trepidation :-S............They answer naturally enough in German............I replied "Do you speak English?" expecting to be passed to someone who did.............He replied yes B-)................and in better English than me he tracked down where I was, arranged for the AA, who sent me a text from their European office saying when their patrolman would arrive B-)....................and he arrived bang on time, he was going to fix a temporary clutch cable but when he found out I had to get back to Lincolnshire in Bank holiday traffic, he went to their depot in Colchester and got a proper Transit cable :-D............

 

The only thing to be aware of ;-)............If your on PayasUgo as I now am, make sure you've got at least £10 credit on your phone because your ringing Germany :D...............