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Good money after bad
Why do I love my Surf? Bought it from 80 miles away in Lincolnshire six years ago for £5500 (J reg) with a leaking radiator- supposedly freshly imported. Had that mended then converted (by top people, Jaymic in Cromer)to dual fuel with LPG. Big mistake/ best thing ever!? Start of confusing, conflicting information. Head blew (1) had it shaved professionally. Auto gearbox failed. Rebuilt by specialist- got it there with difficulty as all shuts down to emergency mode! Head blew(2) ditto (1). Ever since (off and on) have had overheating problems so drove only short distances for ages. Tried to sell honestly by saying what was needed. No go. Had to finally decide in May this year to have a reconditioned engine from Stevo up North. From forum heard he was the bloke (despite promises of quick-fix and cheaper from London- dubious!). VERY helpful and made hardened valve seats to combat problems with LPG burning at higher temp but there for a month and when it came back, found it STILL overheated (and didn't sound wonderful, although put this down to exhaust needed.) Another £1k locally to sort shock absorber and exhaust. Very distressing. Three weeks ago, sparkplug exploded from the engine. (So thats why it had sounded rough!!) Smashing and clever bloke came to weld in a helicore (never knew ya could!) and suggested checking out water pump and having radiator pressure tested for overheating. Surf sits in garage AGAIN waiting for us to get time to sort all this (but I'm convinced new radiator needed).
Its a beautiful vehicle and good specs for so much but heck what a nightmare. I'm now driving my daughters Fiesta while she's working in Africa until September. When you both have stressful and time-consuming jobs, you don't want all these problems to sort too. Everything takes twice as long because you have to fit it into a tight working schedule. WHY didn't we think of coolant problems before now? Cos nobody round here (North Norfolk) has a clue about Japanese imports- or else they -like us- are confused by/ biased against complexities like LPG effects, no tools for the job, complex systems, grey imports etc etc.
My advice to anyone thinking of doing the same- find out about the definite problems with Surfs and be confident you can tackle them before you buy. And yes, I STILL love my Surf...car fanatics over the years (Humber Imperial, Mark X Jag, MGA- plus the odd rough old thing when money was tight) but this one the best/ worst we EVER had.
Its a beautiful vehicle and good specs for so much but heck what a nightmare. I'm now driving my daughters Fiesta while she's working in Africa until September. When you both have stressful and time-consuming jobs, you don't want all these problems to sort too. Everything takes twice as long because you have to fit it into a tight working schedule. WHY didn't we think of coolant problems before now? Cos nobody round here (North Norfolk) has a clue about Japanese imports- or else they -like us- are confused by/ biased against complexities like LPG effects, no tools for the job, complex systems, grey imports etc etc.
My advice to anyone thinking of doing the same- find out about the definite problems with Surfs and be confident you can tackle them before you buy. And yes, I STILL love my Surf...car fanatics over the years (Humber Imperial, Mark X Jag, MGA- plus the odd rough old thing when money was tight) but this one the best/ worst we EVER had.
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