Have at last found a trustworthy mechanic who has today picked up Phoebe, given her a service and returned.
He struggled removing oil filter as was completely rusted ( not a good sign ) the fuel filter was completely blocked ! He was amazed she still ran.
All the engine mounts are totally shot ( no rubber left at all )
And as I mentioned he actually lost control driving her back and ran off the road because the front shocks are completely shot and have no resistance whatsoever !
Obviously very dangerous so he's pricing me to change all mounts, fit new front shocks and change discs and pads ( asap )
He says he'll order from uk so get them shipped over which he's done many times as he drives a range rover.
At least I wont pay vat on the parts, the service cost me about £90 so will soon find out the cost of the other items.
One last thing he's worked on Phoebe before and told me the previous owner overheated her so much it blew the core plugs out ! So thats why I'm still using water.
Can't wait for her to get sorted and as told it's dangerous probably won't drive till she's sorted.
All that wrong and just passed her annual inspection !

Blinkin Ek!

You won't recognise her when all that works done.

I'm surprised the oil filter rusted - mine's usually to caked in oil to rust. Surprised it was stuck to, the L Series does have a tendency to shake its filters loose! A leak back pipe burst on mine 1 day so I brought the car to a smokey fluid dripping stop. I was confused by the fluid though and looking around the engine I noticed the oil filter had undone itself and was literally throwing oil everywhere as well!

Full of "character" these old girls

GrumpyGel said:

Blinkin Ek!

You won't recognise her when all that works done.

I'm surprised the oil filter rusted - mine's usually to caked in oil to rust. Surprised it was stuck to, the L Series does have a tendency to shake its filters loose! A leak back pipe burst on mine 1 day so I brought the car to a smokey fluid dripping stop. I was confused by the fluid though and looking around the engine I noticed the oil filter had undone itself and was literally throwing oil everywhere as well!

Full of "character" these old girls

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That's if my wallet doesn't do a runner first !
You may remember my earlier post when I said it drove terribly ?
Now I know why lol

GrumpyGel said:

Blinkin Ek!

You won't recognise her when all that works done.

I'm surprised the oil filter rusted - mine's usually to caked in oil to rust. Surprised it was stuck to, the L Series does have a tendency to shake its filters loose! A leak back pipe burst on mine 1 day so I brought the car to a smokey fluid dripping stop. I was confused by the fluid though and looking around the engine I noticed the oil filter had undone itself and was literally throwing oil everywhere as well!

Full of "character" these old girls

Click to expand...

Good evening to you Grumpy, been speaking to my mechanic again he said the engine mounts are so bad when you select reverse and lift the clutch to the biting point the whole engine moves left to right 3 inches !
Don't know if I'm in danger of the engine actually falling out ?
It amazes me it could pass it's annual inspection in such a dangerous condition !

Stuart hall said:

Good evening to you Grumpy, been speaking to my mechanic again he said the engine mounts are so bad when you select reverse and lift the clutch to the biting point the whole engine moves left to right 3 inches !
Don't know if I'm in danger of the engine actually falling out ?
It amazes me it could pass it's annual inspection in such a dangerous condition !

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Good Moaning.

I think he's probably eggsagerating a bit there or else, as you say, the injun would probably fall out - but definitely sounds like the mounts is shot! Maybe the engine's just held in place by the exhaust and cooling hoses

Hope the ones he gets are better than the one I install last year. It was so bad I had to go back to the 18 year old ones

Well I'm hoping cheapos mountings are better than no mountings !
I've just finished filtering two litres of old cooking oil through a cloff ( drip drip ) it looks clear enuf with no bits lol so will try it tomorrow.
I'm limiting myself to shopping only as phoebes so poorly.
Mrs H went nuts when I used the taxi word so will have to chance it.
PS did I get your time zone wrong ?
Are you eleven in front ?

Not sure if we're 11 or 13 - can never work that out. I know when were 12 in front cos the times are "the same" - but at the moment, the UK is an hour in front (but 1/2 a day back).

You going to be putting the cooking fat in Phoebe's tank?

Using "cheap" alternate fuels is not so attractive over here as diesel isn't taxed at the pump - you buy Road User Charges based on the mileage you do - so the alternate fuel has to be cheaper than diesel without tax. Admittedly, you can't get much cheaper than your used cooking oil - but we'd have to cook a lot of chips to get me down to my favorite fishing grounds!

GrumpyGel said:

Not sure if we're 11 or 13 - can never work that out. I know when were 12 in front cos the times are "the same" - but at the moment, the UK is an hour in front (but 1/2 a day back).

You going to be putting the cooking fat in Phoebe's tank?

Using "cheap" alternate fuels is not so attractive over here as diesel isn't taxed at the pump - you buy Road User Charges based on the mileage you do - so the alternate fuel has to be cheaper than diesel without tax. Admittedly, you can't get much cheaper than your used cooking oil - but we'd have to cook a lot of chips to get me down to my favorite fishing grounds!

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I don t know why I bothered to be honest. Diesel is only $160 nzd a litre here. Clean new oil isn't much more, I guess just coz it's free !
At least it's a free ride to Lidl tomorrow