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macca45's Blog
Topic: Carless ... and loving it
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fiogf49gjkf0d Well, not really.
It all began about 3 months ago when I noticed an oily puddle under the front of my vehicle, (Kia Carnival aka Ford Windstar), and the same substance pouring out of my drivers side headlight.
Initial investigation made me think that the coolant tank was blocked and the overflow was coming from the overflow tank, a quick trip to K-mart Auto to fix and back on the road, .... No Way!!!!
Cracked cylinder sleeves were allowing oil into the coolant and that was the puddle, solution, a new engine, and they are not cheap, Aus$12,000, and off the road for at least 3 weeks.
I went back to the mid 1960's when I did dirt track sedan races, a a problem like this was fixed in a weekend, with a rebore, throw in some new sleeves, and I was back on track for the next week's race.
Not now, all the specialized equipment just to take the engine out of the car, that alone runs into at least Aus$1,000.
To make a short story even longer, I bit the bullet and told them to go ahead with the engine swap, and it is well I did, Kia were aware of the cracked sleeve problem on this particular vintage Carnival, and replaced the engine free of charge, even though I was out of warranty by 4 years, all I had to pay for was labor, Aus$2,000.
For 4 weeks, I was driving an old clunker of a Nissan Patrol 4X4, lent to me by a friend, and that was an experience and a half, heavy on the steering, an eternity waiting for the pre ingnition to warm up to fire the engine, (diesel), handling like the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, and a turning circle to match.
Finally got the Kia back and was happy.
All was fine until 3 weeks ago, when the engine appeared to be miss firing, back to the Kia dealer, and easy fix, just needs new spark plug leads, (old ones had cracked, I would have thought that they would have put new ones on when they replaced the engine).
Got the car back same day, but still running rough, the leads were only part of the problem, fuel injection system needs replacing, 2 more days without my car, and an Aus$800 bill.
Riding on Public transport is not something I do on a regular basis, can't remember the last time I did, wasn't a bad experience, two 25 min train journeys, then a 5 km (approx 3 mile) walk home from the station, (I had thought of catching a bus, but I beat the bus to the town centre by a minute.).
Took longer than I expected to walk home, kept meeting people I have not seen in years, and stopping to talk, maybe this is the way to go, leave the car at home and walk everywhere, the fresh air, the excercise, meeting old friends, ahhh the life.
Nah, I miss my car.
Alex.
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Member Comments:
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fiogf49gjkf0d I had my run with used cars and although it seemed a cheap way to go, in the long term, it worked out costly, so I stayed with new vehicles.
Last problem with the fuel injection was dirty fuel, and only cost a couple of hundred to clean the system, not my expected $800 for a replacement.
All up it has only cost me $5000 plus $10 for public transport.
--- pdx-dj1
For that much money you might as well buy another car!
This is why I prefer old trucks. Parts are sometimes hard to find, but if something goes wrong I have some idea what the problem is and how to fix it.
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fiogf49gjkf0d For that much money you might as well buy another car!
This is why I prefer old trucks. Parts are sometimes hard to find, but if something goes wrong I have some idea what the problem is and how to fix it.
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