Why I'm glad I know how to work on cars

Ohmess said:
I like the fact that there are four 10mm sockets.
Click to expand...
When our first child was born I was driving a Mercedes 230clk.
On the first day bringing her home from the hospital we realized that the baby seat would not fit into the clk. so I went to the uk and bought a 2 year old Bmw e39. ( she was built in the last 3 months of production, before being replaced by the e60 on the production line )
I had spent a bit of money buying it, so for its first service under my ownership, I sent it into the local BMW main dealers and asked them to do a full check over on the car as well as the service.
When I went to collect the car they had the report ready….
It was 2 A4 pages long and I think they wanted €1300 to “fix” ( the car itself cost €16000)
I did absolutely none of the work recommended, the car drove perfectly and it passed its annual inspection for five years with just getting oil and filters and tyres.
After 5 years I had to buy 2 rear drop links and fit them myself for €30.
I drove that car for 10 years, at about 8 to 9 years she got a new clutch and flywheel and new disks and pads all around.( again fitted by me )
I only ever stopped driving it as the government here had believed that diesel cars were greener, so the road tax was about 1/4 of the price on the diesel F11 I replaced her with.
Here’s a pic of the 2 of them together :)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_4771.jpeg
    IMG_4771.jpeg
    343.6 KB · Views: 19
Ok, I've got one. Not BMW, but falls in line with "Boy, am I ever lucky I know how to fix stuff on a car" theme. Few weeks ago, I was driving my Austin Healey BJ8 with the Old-Guys-Who-Drive-British-Cars-Club here in BC. Healey's, Triumph, Rover, Vauxhall, TVR, Morgan, Jaguar, well you get the picture. Club had invited Citroen Group for some variety. All was going quite well, and just after a long decent from quite the hill, I approached a stoplight at the freeway. Stopped, then felt brake pedal was kinda, well, not normal. Thought carpet had somehow gotten jammed up under pedal, but how? It is a very heavy Cocomat. Sun was in my eyes, but when I looked down I thought I saw something shiny on the carpet. What was that?
Light changed to green, off I went, to next stop light. Calmly geared down to very slow and thankfully dialled-in handbrake brought car to rest. Started off again, same sequence....all the way home, about 10 km, so not far. Once home I reinstalled clevis pin and new washer and cotter pin from master cylinder to pedal, and all is normal again.
Owned this Healey 50 years, not much we haven't been through! Happy I have experience to draw upon. ;) And happy none of this stuff scares me anymore, it is just old car bonding! Mike
IMG_1915.jpeg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top