Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Marks DTM Calib]

...my neighbour popped round and asked me to have a look at her car, there was a rubbing noise from the back under breaking apparantly.

The car is a 1995 1.1 fiesta with 40K on the clock, it has the usual Fiesta traites, LOUD tappets etc.

So, drove it and was slightly surprised at the lack of brakes, the rubbing was definately coming from the back.

Jacked the back up and got the drums off to find 50% of the friction material missing (broken away) and the slave cylinders lagging fluid out, the fluid wasnt going far because there was 40K miles of brake dust to soak it up!

So checked the front and couldnt get the wheels off....so drove up the road with 'lose wheel nuts' and slammed the (barely working) brakes on to free them off.

Got the wheels off and found the latest high tech metal to metal braking technology!

So, got to fit rear wheel cylinders, shoes, front discs and pads plus a fluid change.....and then I am going to adjust those bloody tappets!

The worrying thing is this car is road legal.....and I am not going to mention the tyres which have a legal tread depth but more crazing than a 70's patio.

[hotel21]

Know the feeling.....

Can be quite scary what the Aunt Mabels and Uncle Wullies of this world drive around in, quite oblivious to things mechanical until it goes pear shaped...

[Jay w]

one lady owner, never been raced or rallied..........

[Marks DTM Calib]

one lady owner, never been raced or rallied..........

Its a 1.1 Fiesta, its not possible to race anything!

Plus this think is hardly stealthy.....we all know how poor and noisey that old pushrod power plant is!

[JamesV6CDX]

one lady owner, never been raced or rallied..........

Its a 1.1 Fiesta, its not possible to race anything!

Plus this think is hardly stealthy.....we all know how poor and noisey that old pushrod power plant is!

I had a 957cc Fiesta Popular pushrob jobbie as my first car in 2001... I absolutely hammered the nuts off it... it took so much stick, but never let me down

[TheBoy]

LOL, but think of bargain you are goin gto get on the rum

[Kevin Wood]

Worth checking the breathers are clear while you're at it. Emma used to have one of those and (before I started maintaining it for her ) the oil got into such a state that it threw a con rod through the side of the block. It was blamed on contaminated oil, as there was plenty of it, and nothing to suggest a problem in supplying it to the bearings.

It certainly used to generate plenty of mayo. First time I serviced it I took off the rocker cover and there was an imprint in mayo of each rocker in the top of the cover This only a few K after a reconditioned engine was fitted (see above).

Oh, and the alternator is connected to the battery by 2 lengths of 17 amp cable in parallel. That burnt through on the A34 one night. Another callout for yours truly recovery service. Twas a fun drive back to Alton in the rain with no wipers and only sidelights

I'm glad she's got a Mazda now. One coil pack failure in 70k  

Kevin

[Jay w]

one lady owner, never been raced or rallied..........

Its a 1.1 Fiesta, its not possible to race anything!

Plus this think is hardly stealthy.....we all know how poor and noisey that old pushrod power plant is!

the beauty of those engine was the valve bounce was the rev limiter!!!

[ffcgary1]

 Mark, the push rods on those valencia engines were noisy to a degree even when new. Dont be supprised if when you have adjusted the tappits it still sounds like a bucket of bolts. As to the condition of older cars, i am coming to the opinion that they should be subject to more regular testing than the yearly MOT.But when you see what the mot allows and then what it does not allow makes me shudder sometimes.

 Glad you got it done though, one more safer car out there.

[Dazzler]

By the sounds of the state of the brakes, my money will be on removal of the rocker cover you will be starring at pure carbon build up everywhere.....

[phil her up]

Perhaps that's why old people drive so bloody slow...they all got crap brakes

[Paul M]

I'm glad she's got a Mazda now. One coil pack failure in 70k  

Aren't Mazda at least part owned by Ford? Certainly the old 121 was basically a re-badged Fiesta.

[Andy B]

 ...... As to the condition of older cars, i am coming to the opinion that they should be subject to more regular testing than the yearly MOT. ........

How would that work then? How are you going to distinguish between and old 'shed' that is patched up and coaxed into an MOT every year and an old classic that is wheeled out of its garage polished & put back each week, possibly driven to a show or 2 each year. Or a 25year old Granada like my Dad's that's used for work every day and although nothing like concours is in excellent condition, both body wise & mechanically. There was even some discussion recently that Britain could possibly adopt the Euopean frequency of 'MOT' testing ie at 4 years then every other year.

[IrmscherKris]

one lady owner, never been raced or rallied..........

Yeah, I can see your point there! How many times have you bought a car off wimmins and been less thorough than you would if it were a younger lad?
Wifey's dad has got a Merc E300 TD and had it for 3 years? I asked him, "when did you last change the oil?" "never" he replied   So that's on the cards today amongst other problems.

It just goes to show, doesn't matter who has owned it - people neglect there cars, come in all shapes and sizes!

[Auto Addict]

Bloke across the road from me has got a Vectra SRi. Has it serviced every 12 months (does about 12K between services).

Last time (12 months ago) he was 2K short of a cambelt change, so, as it was not quite due, said leave it till next time.

Guess what happened 3 months ago.