Had eventful drive collecting the Dolomite!

saitrix · 10 Feb 2007 at 20:39

Hi,

Well for a start it is a 360mile round trip so I knew it would be a long drive. But it got longer then expected.

First 110miles without a hitch, drove without missing a beat. Then it all of a sudden decides that the clutch doesn't want to work anymore. Luckily that happened whilst going into a service station. In there worked out it was because the clutch fluid level had dropped! Another strike of luck though, that moment an AA van turned into the service station car park. Gave him £2.50 and he let me top up my clutch fluid.

I knew just about all the journey was motorway so decided to set off home and try and get there.

Well it was worth a try, got about 1 mile from my house! Oh all places it was in the middle of the M1 roundabout for Loughborough. Couldn't select any gear. So between me and my Dad, when the lights went green we had to push the car as hard as we could. We got it off the roundabout onto a slight hill so I carried on pushing whislt my Dad got in to try starting it whilst moving. It would only engage in 3rd so it just spluttered away. I went back to my Focus whilst my Dad carried on trying to get it home without having to go out of 3rd.

The lights near mine went red so my Dad had to push it and start the car on his own to get it to engage a gear again. I got to my house to find my Dolomite all parked up outside the house with my, now tired looking, Dad.

Tomorrow I will have a proper look but first I need to get it across to the other side of Loughborough. Bought some clutch fluid and will bring people along to push. Lets hope I can get it across easy enough.

From a real quick look and a think about it, think it is the slave clutch cylinder rubber seal. If so off to the local Partco and hope they have a replacement. Tunnel out job to get to it, fit the seal/new cylinder, then bleed the system. That should fix it I hope.

See whoever said classic cars are boring?

Clarkey · 10 Feb 2007 at 21:10

this is what you get for buying an old british made car :/

saitrix · 10 Feb 2007 at 21:16

Clarkey said:
this is what you get for buying an old british made car :/

Or for buying a car that has been in a garage over winter so some older rubber did the natural thing and perished.

Enfield · 10 Feb 2007 at 22:00

Clarkey said:
this is what you get for buying an old british made car :/

Shall we get rid of all the British cars and replace them with German ones or something then?

No one expects a classic car to be completely flawless.

MrSix · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:14

This is why i'm skeptical about buying a classic.

I'd be so disheartened that I'd just spend ~£2k on something that doesn't even run properly and that I'd now have to spend time fixing the thing.

Capt Doufos · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:23

Funny enough the only thing that has gone on my MX5 was my clutch slave cylinder. It is a weak spot and a lot go apparently. The Japparts replacement is supposed to get better than the OEM Mazda part.

Clutch just got harder and harder to engage gear, until it finally run out of fluid. Luckily the point it ran out was right outside the shop I was buying some fluid from. Cheap part and easy to replace.

saitrix · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:59

MrSix said:
This is why i'm skeptical about buying a classic.

I'd be so disheartened that I'd just spend ~£2k on something that doesn't even run properly and that I'd now have to spend time fixing the thing.

You certainly do have to have the correct attitude to buy one. I'm not in the least bit disheartened, it's just one of those things that you have to expect will let go from time to time with a classic. Nothing major, to fix it I have priced it up at £13 for repair kit and fluid.

paradigm · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:01

I could post what you would expect me to say after our last MSN conversation, but instead I will just sit here smug and say, enjoy your future motoring

[TW]Fox · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:02

Enfield said:
Shall we get rid of all the British cars and replace them with German ones or something then?

Market forces are ensuring this is already happening. We sucked at making cars, we have a generally lazy workforce, and this is why our car industry now consists of just specialist sports car makers with small staff levels consisting entirely of people who actually give a damn.

Mass production in this country was a joke. We've got the engineering capability to do great things in this country, but the workforce in general are too lazy and workshy to do make the stuff

So sad

L0rdMike · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:03

paradigm said:
I could post what you would expect me to say after our last MSN conversation, but instead I will just sit here smug and say, enjoy your future motoring

Least my shed never broke down, had no exhaust but it still moved.

saitrix · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:12

paradigm said:
I could post what you would expect me to say after our last MSN conversation, but instead I will just sit here smug and say, enjoy your future motoring

And that's why I will also sit here smug and say, enjoy driving your modern car, I fully we realise you will never get why I like classics.

paradigm · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:14

saitrix said:
I fully we realise you will never get why I like classics.

Could you tell me why I'll never want to own a car that i'd be worried might not get me to work and thus LOSE me money? Or why I'd want to own a car that comes with a free entry pass to every hard shoulder in the country?

[TW]Fox · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:14

saitrix said:
And that's why I will also sit here smug and say, enjoy driving your modern car, I fully we realise you will never get why I like classics.

See the ironic thing is you sit here and deride the modern car but in 40 years time you'll be sat there on Retro Rides saying how the 45 year old Cupra R you've just bought is awesome...

The whole attitude of retro appears to assume cars are like a fine wine and mature with age...

L1J · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:24

[TW]Fox said:
See the ironic thing is you sit here and deride the modern car but in 40 years time you'll be sat there on Retro Rides saying how the 45 year old Cupra R you've just bought is awesome...

The whole attitude of retro appears to assume cars are like a fine wine and mature with age...

I've done the modern thing with an Impreza Turbo, Fabia VRS, Mondeo Zetec while they were all good cars which I enjoyed owning, I have much more fun driving my Mk2 Golf GTi, not as retro as some but older cars seem to give more satisfaction when driving them. It actually has steering feel and feedabck.

I find newer cars dont make you feel involved when driving them. But as you say Fox in 40 years time a 45 year old VAG product will have *some* steering feel compared to something new that is out at the time

saitrix · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:27

paradigm said:
Could you tell me why I'll never want to own a car that i'd be worried might not get me to work and thus LOSE me money? Or why I'd want to own a car that comes with a free entry pass to every hard shoulder in the country?

I'm sure you lose more money in your car depreciating in value then you would lose by it not working one morning. Plus you have a much better chance to get a classic going if it does go wrong. Where as with how Dolomite Sprints are going right now, they are either holding value or appreciating.

Wow one problem with a classic car and it instantly makes them ultra unreliable. I'm sure if you asked on classic forums you will find loads of people goto work with their classics which have never skipped a beat. There is nothing to say that the seals on your slave clutch cylinder could go at any moment.

[TW]Fox, You know my feelings on that as I have spoken to you on msn about it. You know that the era I like is 60's and 70's mainly and it has nothing to do with the amount of years back it is. There are still plenty of other age cars I like including some still being made.

PMKeates · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:28

For me, the reason I like "classics" is because they have character. Character is having big patches of the bodywork fall off, character is having the seatbelts come apart in your hands and character is having a throttle that can often get stuck open with nothing to limit engine speed other than valve bounce. Why don't I have one? Well, despite the immense hassle my car is, a classic will just be even worse

Dogbreath · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:37

MrSix said:
This is why i'm skeptical about buying a classic.

I'd be so disheartened that I'd just spend ~£2k on something that doesn't even run properly and that I'd now have to spend time fixing the thing.

Classic car ownership is not just about driving an old car, you have to supply the care an attention that an old car requires to keep it running. If you want something that you just get in and turn the key everyday without even bothering to open the bonnet between services, stick with modern cars.

£2k isn't exactly a lot of money anyway, and a leaking clutch slave is hardly the end of the world. A more modern car bought for the same money could quite easily suffer from the same fault.

Sagalout · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:44

More than likely just the slave cylinder. Mine went on my MG Midget about 20 miles from home but at midnight. No traffic about and managed to get the car home without changing out of 3rd gear. Had to run a few red lights though lol.

Pretty easy job to replace, and shouldnt cost much at all.

saitrix · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:53

Sagalout said:
More than likely just the slave cylinder. Mine went on my MG Midget about 20 miles from home but at midnight. No traffic about and managed to get the car home without changing out of 3rd gear. Had to run a few red lights though lol.

Pretty easy job to replace, and shouldnt cost much at all.

Hopefully sorted tomorrow depending when I leave to goto Uni.

Repair kit for slave = £8
Extra Dot4 fluid = £5

Nice easier first thing to do to it.

4T5 · 11 Feb 2007 at 01:00

You can actually drive most motors without a clutch and i know for a fact you can drive Dollys without one. Just switch it off at the lights & start it in gear with the key, a few hops and it'll start. Once going you can change gear by tweaking the throttle and timing your gear changes.