Lemon/dog/money pit

[shokenore]

Now I think that the majority of us can agree with the almost legendary reliability of our trucks, but some have clearly had a hard life and no doubt where servicing and repairs have been concerned a limited budget may have been a factor, but after shelling out again for my own personal albatross I was wondering what other experiences you would like to share.
I will get the ball rolling with my own worst nightmare.
Vauxhall Astra 1.7dti purchased September 2013 for £700.
Full dealer service with the last service being carried out by a local garage.
So far....
Oil pump and oil pump seal
Crank seal
Coolant sensor see below
Two new rear tyres
Central locking doesn't
New thermostat to replace the missing one...
The lack of thermostat is now the main concern, it has obviously been removed to hide some other horror.
New battery
New alternator

The Astra, now affectionately renamed Dis-Astra.

[slobodan]

The problem is, once you have started pouring in the money, you think that is it, nothing else will go wrong and end up keeping the thing.

I have a Multipla, it does all what I want it to do and is good on diesel.
Rear shocks
Front struts
Front wishbones
Front ARB
Turbo boost sensor
ABS sensor
Front discs and pads
Rear shoes
Rear wheel bearings
EGR valve
4 interior bulbs
2 headlight bulbs
Handbrake cable.
Windscreen replaced
4 winter tyres
2 new summer tyres

Awaiting new Turbo

This is in 12 Months add to the list a timing belt and water pump change and a couple of oil and filter changes.

Fiat, Fix. it. again. tomorrow.

My wife has an Isuzu pickup which in 6 years has had 2 wiper blades and a headlight bulb!

[gwh200]

A peugot 307 diesel thingy. Horrible car.
£30 a week in diesel
2 oil changes.
It cost £500 so despite it being bland and boringbut dead reliable.

[spanner_monkey]

Mk6 escort gti.

Cost £1000.
Ran perfectly, looked good. After a month I jacked it up using the propper jacking point and a large piece of rust fell out. Checked it all out and the rest appeared sound. Took it to a garage to get a quote for new sills. He had a good look and said he could do it.

A week later he started to do the work only to find......... The entire ###### floor was mostly filler. The garage said if I hadn't damaged the sill I may never have known. If they had spent as much time and effort doing the jon right as they had spent bodging it so it looked right things would have been fine.

[Overland Tonka]

A peugot 307 diesel thingy. Horrible car.
£30 a week in diesel
2 oil changes.
It cost £500 so despite it being bland and boringbut dead reliable.

I've got one of these as a company car and have to agree on all points.

The surf is the only car I have with sensors and ecu's etc. Any other car I buy is non ecu, cat, injection etc. Never been stuck on the side of the road and all servicing done is by me because it's simple.

My brother is fed up with spending big lumps of cash for his newish Saab turbo and is now going to go down my route. Plus it's quite fun driving a car you don't see alot of on the road.

[BUSHWHACKER]

2001 3rd gen 2.7.
Purchased early 2009 and not needed anything yet other than tyres and brake parts.

[Vultch]

Amateurs

Range Rover 1st gen classic.. Replaced just about everything

[slobodan]

Amateurs

Range Rover 1st gen classic.. Replaced just about everything

Stop being lazy

We want a list.

[J i m s t e r]

I had a couple of Saab 9-5s, the big costs were cambelts at 66K and a clutch at 140K. Engine out job for the latter at £60p/h labour. Oh yeah an ABS sensor £500. Ran good, strong turbos. Neighbours' dad has the car still. Shame to see the brand dead and buried now.

Before that it was Golf GTIs. Loads on "Upgrades" but nowt really went wrong. Idle stabilisation valve needed cleaning out now and then, no drama. Slightly whistly valve after a prolonged blast at the redline. Yes, it could hit the rev limiter in 5th after all.

Surf has had new tailgate struts and rear-heater pipes, and aircon re-gas. The rest is all good. Rev counter is sometimes dead. I sleep like a log.

[Dobbslc]

Vauxhall Zafira 1.9 cdti 150 bhp, wife's car.
59 plate, 45k FSH.
Loads of tyres 225/45/17 = £££££
Egr valve blockage with eml lights on all over the dash board.
Timing belt, tensioners, water pump at 41k due to paranoia (pumps regularly go at 40k) it throws the belt off and trashes the top end.
Alternator pulley went 2 weeks after the timing belt was done (half the front of the car back apart again
GEARBOX REBUILD at 45k..........another very common design fault :
Very hard to reach service items like fuel and oil filters.
Poxy!

Previous car a Honda CRV only had servicing, tyres and brake pads in 6 years of ownership, it was sold with 115000 miles on it.
Great car.

Alfa 155 Silverstone, great car that was reliable but was sold for the Surf as I needed to carry "stuff" around.
Edit: I forgot, I sold the Alfa for a Frontera, I must have blocked that from my memory

[Shadyadie]

Stop being lazy

We want a list.

This thread is not long enough for a list

[captain_chaos]

After my previous car caught fire; I was given an Austin Meastro, with a few issues:
burnt more oil than the Buncefield fire
the radiator held as much water as a sieve
brakes wouldn't stop you after 40mph
The clutch slipped and the car struggled to climb a hill
the lights turned off at random moments
the heater was stuck on full blast
the automatic choke came on when idling
the handbrake were two bricks under the wheels
the speedo varied between 5mph and 60mph, even when stationary
indicators had a 50/50 chance of working
the wheel bearings groaned
The bodywork was being eaten alive by rust
and the stereo didn't work

ran for 3 months before selling it on for £50

Many years later bought a renault laguna and within a month the water pump failed, stalled the cam belt and wrecked the engine.

[Vultch]

We dont have enough server space for a list, everything from a complete engine rebuild to the gearbox exploding and dumping itself over the road. Doors failing / jamming closed. Numerous electrical failures..comforting to know the Lucas ABS system was held together by rust.

Even dipping the engine oil the whole dipstick assembly came away in my hands the guy next to me in his Allegro gave me that knowing sympathetic look of being a fellow Rover driver.
Oh and yes the tin rot, its was a carefully timed race between the general rust and the many mechanical failures, Every trip out was an adventure i even started dating the AA guys sister for a while we became close friends.

edit.. oh and nearly forgot arriving for a MOT when the gearbox failed again..I had to push it in with help so that it could fail.

[Bogus]

1996 Surf bought in 2007. Apart from wiper blades ( 2 front one rear )Every penny spent on it has been because I wanted to, and on routine maintenance. Ive never even had to replace a blown bulb.

Oops, forgot, 1 front anti roll bar link broke so I replaced both.

[logey79]

Wife's Honda Civic 1.6vtec. 8 years, nothing except servicing, brake pads/discs, wiper blades and a new battery. Zero advisories on MOT's either on over 100,000 miles and this is not helping me to convince her that we should get rid and get that 1st gen - or anything else for that matter.