The Joy of Running an Old Shed (Vol 2)

[irish boy]

The d4d is collected and away to scrap. It was a fabulous shed. Purchased around 2017 for about 1k. I did almost 100k in it with basically no expense outside service work and zero breakdowns.

The day it went it drove just as tight and well as it did when it arrived. Still did 55mpg. A/c still ice cold. Took the family down to centerparcs loaded with kit and bikes more than once. Also round Scotland and to a wedding in Stornoway.

Unfortunately being the first year of d4d it was a one year only fuel pump. Tried every breakers I could think of. Toyota wanted £1k for the pump. So off it went for £350 collected. Depreciation works out at £7 per month…..not bad and the ultimate anti pcp machine.

It became one of the family and will be sorely missed.

[SD_1]

Coming up to 2 months with the Mondeo shed - so far so good. It's needed a service, a turbo hose, and a MAP sensor so including purchase price I'm £3k into it. Done about 4k in it, averaging 53 mpg. It's very comfy and very practical.

Downsides are the parking sensors don't work, and there are some marks on the body but besides that it's all good and the garage gave it a clean bill of health. Very pleased to have a shed again!

[Wheel Turned Out]

SD_1 said:

Coming up to 2 months with the Mondeo shed - so far so good. It's needed a service, a turbo hose, and a MAP sensor so including purchase price I'm £3k into it. Done about 4k in it, averaging 53 mpg. It's very comfy and very practical.

Downsides are the parking sensors don't work, and there are some marks on the body but besides that it's all good and the garage gave it a clean bill of health. Very pleased to have a shed again!

Love a Mk IV - miss mine enormously.

[mercedeslimos]

Hoofy said:

mercedeslimos said:

Hoofy said:

The coolant container loses about 1cm every 30 minute journey because the water pump is leaking (it only leaks when the engine is running). As a reminder, it's about £400 to change the pump and £400 to change the belt (and I don't have a record of it being changed).

Somebody's trying to pull your pants down there. Pump and belt are the same amount of work to change. Literally 5 mins more. And the pump comes with the belt kit.

It doesn't look like it's only 5 minutes' more work. Can you tell me more?

Edited by Hoofy on Sunday 30th June 10:25

The timing belt is removed, and the pump is fitted with 3x 10mm bolts. The timing belt drives it so the obvious solution is always to replace the pump when the belt needs to be replaced, despite the VAG recommendation. The hard part of that job is getting the timing right hence using the special tools, apart from that it's all OK stuff just a bit tight given where it is. The water pump is driven by the timing belt on most modern belt-driven engines - on chain stuff it's driven from the FEAD.

[mercedeslimos]

SD_1 said:

Coming up to 2 months with the Mondeo shed - so far so good. It's needed a service, a turbo hose, and a MAP sensor so including purchase price I'm £3k into it. Done about 4k in it, averaging 53 mpg. It's very comfy and very practical.

Downsides are the parking sensors don't work, and there are some marks on the body but besides that it's all good and the garage gave it a clean bill of health. Very pleased to have a shed again!

This is the car I've spent 5 years and 90k miles in so far - 271k and counting. A little tired now but I spend a few quid on it here and there and it keeps ticking along - Over here cars are mega money so a like-for-like replacement 3 years newer and 100k fewer miles would still set me back over 6k, so realistically 4-500 quid a year isn't going to kill me financially.

[CTO]

Proud to present, “the stbox”



2012 Vauxhall Corsa.
Bought from a family member for £1750 in 2017, she had owned it from new.

Used as a dog/pub/tip/pick up truck, and for putting in unusual holes that we have dug in our garden

See also here;



£26 odd quid a year to tax
£10 a year to wash
£200 or so quid to insure
Does mega MPG
And has today sailed through its latest MOT.

Incredible.

[SD_1]

mercedeslimos said:

This is the car I've spent 5 years and 90k miles in so far - 271k and counting. A little tired now but I spend a few quid on it here and there and it keeps ticking along - Over here cars are mega money so a like-for-like replacement 3 years newer and 100k fewer miles would still set me back over 6k, so realistically 4-500 quid a year isn't going to kill me financially.

That sounds very promising that yours has made it to nearly 300k, hopefully mine will do similar. Anything in particular you would watch out for? This one is only on 122k, already had a clutch and a timing belt.

[mercedeslimos]

SD_1 said:

mercedeslimos said:

This is the car I've spent 5 years and 90k miles in so far - 271k and counting. A little tired now but I spend a few quid on it here and there and it keeps ticking along - Over here cars are mega money so a like-for-like replacement 3 years newer and 100k fewer miles would still set me back over 6k, so realistically 4-500 quid a year isn't going to kill me financially.

That sounds very promising that yours has made it to nearly 300k, hopefully mine will do similar. Anything in particular you would watch out for? This one is only on 122k, already had a clutch and a timing belt.

Mine is the 2.0 TDCi (Peugeot HDi). Brakes and suspension I'd consider to be a normal wear item on any car, my parents' Rover 75 on the same mileage has needed similar work on these areas so it's no biggie. Last week I changed an injector washer as it was leaking, last year I got the EGR mapped out and blanked (DPF retained as it's fine) due to the EGR stepper motor spring breaking and a valve being 600 quid! Replaced the PAS pump recently but the issue is the same, it needs a rack I believe is a common issue. I do all my work so nothing costs mega money. Virtually all the suspension and brakes have been replaced in the 5 years but that's just the joy of actually using a car. I track every penny spent on that car concerning fuel, bills, and service and repair costs - not terrible for the mileage covered.

[Hoofy]

mercedeslimos said:

Hoofy said:

mercedeslimos said:

Hoofy said:

The coolant container loses about 1cm every 30 minute journey because the water pump is leaking (it only leaks when the engine is running). As a reminder, it's about £400 to change the pump and £400 to change the belt (and I don't have a record of it being changed).

Somebody's trying to pull your pants down there. Pump and belt are the same amount of work to change. Literally 5 mins more. And the pump comes with the belt kit.

It doesn't look like it's only 5 minutes' more work. Can you tell me more?

Edited by Hoofy on Sunday 30th June 10:25

The timing belt is removed, and the pump is fitted with 3x 10mm bolts. The timing belt drives it so the obvious solution is always to replace the pump when the belt needs to be replaced, despite the VAG recommendation. The hard part of that job is getting the timing right hence using the special tools, apart from that it's all OK stuff just a bit tight given where it is. The water pump is driven by the timing belt on most modern belt-driven engines - on chain stuff it's driven from the FEAD.

Thanks, how long would it take to do both?

[bearman68]

r3g said:

Interesting! All makes sense now thanks. #7 would be a non-starter for me personally. Too many people out there who would abuse the vehicles and/or simply not pay their installments with an endless string of excuses why they can't pay this month, but can definitely pay next month, rinse and repeat. You must have some stories to share.

Oh boy, I could write a book.
We fit the car with remote immobilisers and trackers. This means that once I activate the immobiliser, the car won't start next time it's tried, and I know where it is.
In a previous life, I was a quality / 6 sigma engineer working in a production environment - I crunched numbers for a living, and was very familiar with stats, probability, trends and the like. Once I had enough data, I crunched some numbers on my customers.
I found that if a customer misses a payment by more than 4 days, they are probably abusing the car, and have no intention of paying anyway. (probability of that was in excess of 82% or so). Since then, if a customer misses a payment by 4 or 5 days, they get a gentle reminder, an less gentle reminder, a blunt message, and then I recover the car.
When we first applied this rule, we recovered 8 cars one night, in the wee small hours. I got home about 3:30 am. A bit hyped and stressed. By 5am, my phone was ringing off the hook with people who were reporting their car stolen. Can't speak to me for months, and then want to chat at 5am. FFS.
Since then, we have become slicker and better, and it's rare we recover more than 1 a month, but it still does happen, and I'm sure it will continue.
We had 4 police cars on the workshop yard one morning to recover the 'stolen' car, and another time, one of my customers in group 7 had sold my car to group 3. After we recovered it, I had 5 burly eastern Europeans on my yard trying to understand why I wasn't going to give them the car back.
It's more a people business than it is a car business, and dealing with the people is what I really enjoy - though I like time on the spanners every now and again - it's relaxing and soothing.

[Hoofy]

There are easier ways of making money!

[bearman68]

Hoofy said:

There are easier ways of making money!

But it's hard to have as much fun and make money. As I say, I used to be a very well paid 6 sigma engineer. I liked it, and had some significant successes with the job, but it is nowhere near as much fun as this job. I have a whale of a time from breakfast to bed, and time passes in an instant. No clock watching here.
I don't know if there is a future in the business, but I can't help feeling it could actually change as a society, the way we run used cars. And even if has a small effect, cars will be more maintainable as a result.

The idea is a bit lofty maybe, but it's occasionally an interesting thought experiment to imagine what the used car market would look like if this was the normal way of running a used car. BMW, and JLR would be in trouble that's for sure.

[Mr Tidy]

bearman68 said:

But it's hard to have as much fun and make money. As I say, I used to be a very well paid 6 sigma engineer. I liked it, and had some significant successes with the job, but it is nowhere near as much fun as this job. I have a whale of a time from breakfast to bed, and time passes in an instant. No clock watching here.
I don't know if there is a future in the business, but I can't help feeling it could actually change as a society, the way we run used cars. And even if has a small effect, cars will be more maintainable as a result.

The idea is a bit lofty maybe, but it's occasionally an interesting thought experiment to imagine what the used car market would look like if this was the normal way of running a used car. BMW, and JLR would be in trouble that's for sure.

Well it's an interesting business plan for sure!

I've had my 2005 BMW 330i since 2019 and it became a Cat N last year, so now owes me Shed money and I've no plans to change it on just 125K miles - plus no need for cam-belt replacement. It's working well for me so far.

[Hoofy]

bearman68 said:

Hoofy said:

There are easier ways of making money!

But it's hard to have as much fun and make money. As I say, I used to be a very well paid 6 sigma engineer. I liked it, and had some significant successes with the job, but it is nowhere near as much fun as this job. I have a whale of a time from breakfast to bed, and time passes in an instant. No clock watching here.
I don't know if there is a future in the business, but I can't help feeling it could actually change as a society, the way we run used cars. And even if has a small effect, cars will be more maintainable as a result.

The idea is a bit lofty maybe, but it's occasionally an interesting thought experiment to imagine what the used car market would look like if this was the normal way of running a used car. BMW, and JLR would be in trouble that's for sure.

I agree on the principle of the idea but as a business owner, it doesn't sound like fun to me!

[ferrisbueller]

bearman68 said:

Hoofy said:

There are easier ways of making money!

But it's hard to have as much fun and make money. As I say, I used to be a very well paid 6 sigma engineer. I liked it, and had some significant successes with the job, but it is nowhere near as much fun as this job. I have a whale of a time from breakfast to bed, and time passes in an instant. No clock watching here.
I don't know if there is a future in the business, but I can't help feeling it could actually change as a society, the way we run used cars. And even if has a small effect, cars will be more maintainable as a result.

The idea is a bit lofty maybe, but it's occasionally an interesting thought experiment to imagine what the used car market would look like if this was the normal way of running a used car. BMW, and JLR would be in trouble that's for sure.

There is definitely space for a common sense approach like yours. There's a lot going for it, but I don't think it's going to be the solution on a wide scale.

[mercedeslimos]

Hoofy said:

mercedeslimos said:

Hoofy said:

mercedeslimos said:

Hoofy said:

The coolant container loses about 1cm every 30 minute journey because the water pump is leaking (it only leaks when the engine is running). As a reminder, it's about £400 to change the pump and £400 to change the belt (and I don't have a record of it being changed).

Somebody's trying to pull your pants down there. Pump and belt are the same amount of work to change. Literally 5 mins more. And the pump comes with the belt kit.

It doesn't look like it's only 5 minutes' more work. Can you tell me more?

Edited by Hoofy on Sunday 30th June 10:25

The timing belt is removed, and the pump is fitted with 3x 10mm bolts. The timing belt drives it so the obvious solution is always to replace the pump when the belt needs to be replaced, despite the VAG recommendation. The hard part of that job is getting the timing right hence using the special tools, apart from that it's all OK stuff just a bit tight given where it is. The water pump is driven by the timing belt on most modern belt-driven engines - on chain stuff it's driven from the FEAD.

Thanks, how long would it take to do both?

It's definitely a 3 hour job for a garage, but you'd definitely get them done for less than the 800!

[WPA]

It was the end for shed Civic on Saturday, just under 3 years but failed its mot in style, front shocks, front tyres cut on the inside, both front coil springs broken, lower ball joints failed and only available as part of the complete arm plus a few other faults.

The maths to repair it did not add up plus with 154k on it made the decision so move it on, so sold it for spares or repair on Facebook, paid £995 (2021) and sold it for £600 so not bad, spent around £500 on repairs and mot's so has been cheap motoring

Now to find something else

[7 5 7]

WPA said:

It was the end for shed Civic on Saturday, just under 3 years but failed its mot in style, front shocks, front tyres cut on the inside, both front coil springs broken, lower ball joints failed and only available as part of the complete arm plus a few other faults.

The maths to repair it did not add up plus with 154k on it made the decision so move it on, so sold it for spares or repair on Facebook, paid £995 (2021) and sold it for £600 so not bad, spent around £500 on repairs and mot's so has been cheap motoring

Now to find something else

Ah what a shame, well the best part is the search for the next shed, good luck and let us know what you find in shed budget

[santona1937]

SD_1 said:

mercedeslimos said:

This is the car I've spent 5 years and 90k miles in so far - 271k and counting. A little tired now but I spend a few quid on it here and there and it keeps ticking along - Over here cars are mega money so a like-for-like replacement 3 years newer and 100k fewer miles would still set me back over 6k, so realistically 4-500 quid a year isn't going to kill me financially.

That sounds very promising that yours has made it to nearly 300k, hopefully mine will do similar. Anything in particular you would watch out for? This one is only on 122k, already had a clutch and a timing belt.

Mine is on 190K and running tight and well. only had usual consumables Rear subframes tend to be a weakish spot, but they are not expensive

[Hoofy]

mercedeslimos said:

Hoofy said:

mercedeslimos said:

Hoofy said:

mercedeslimos said:

Hoofy said:

The coolant container loses about 1cm every 30 minute journey because the water pump is leaking (it only leaks when the engine is running). As a reminder, it's about £400 to change the pump and £400 to change the belt (and I don't have a record of it being changed).

Somebody's trying to pull your pants down there. Pump and belt are the same amount of work to change. Literally 5 mins more. And the pump comes with the belt kit.

It doesn't look like it's only 5 minutes' more work. Can you tell me more?

Edited by Hoofy on Sunday 30th June 10:25

The timing belt is removed, and the pump is fitted with 3x 10mm bolts. The timing belt drives it so the obvious solution is always to replace the pump when the belt needs to be replaced, despite the VAG recommendation. The hard part of that job is getting the timing right hence using the special tools, apart from that it's all OK stuff just a bit tight given where it is. The water pump is driven by the timing belt on most modern belt-driven engines - on chain stuff it's driven from the FEAD.

Thanks, how long would it take to do both?

It's definitely a 3 hour job for a garage, but you'd definitely get them done for less than the 800!

Thanks. I'll have to get other quotes. Even at £400 I still don't want to pay that out immediately. I'll wait to see what else fails in the next couple of months.