The Doblo lives for another year

With all the car threads just lately I thought I add that our 52 plate Fiat (Fix It Again Tony!) has just passed its MOT.

The one advisory was a tyre near the legal limit.

In the 4 years/ 100,000 miles we've had it it has broken down just twice, first time was the EGR valve and last week was the alternator pulley. Alternator was fine but the seized pulley wheel took out the belt and bent the shaft. New belt, 2nd hand alternator and some bits for the MOT and we're off for another year.

Noisy, ugly as fook and plastics made of icing sugar.

Stupidly economical, stupidly reliable and can take a huge load (just like the missus).

Maybe I should....?

Excellent! Just agreed to sell out S Max on to one of our cousins, so we will be car hunting ourselves soon for a long haul vehicle. Looking at Skoda Yetis now, very nice too!

On the subject of cars I had to replace the failing battery on my Fabia VRS last night (limped it on for year now but thought this winter would be too much for it). Normally a battery change would take about 10 minutes, this took me over an hour in the cold last night.
Had to remove battery cover top undo and remove the two main terminals and main power feed cable from from the battery cover top, then remove the airbox and air inlet piping to get to the battery housing. The plastic clips on the battery housing cannot be undone correctly through bad design and then break as you have to lever from a funny angle. Once that cover is off you have to remove the sleeping bag covering the battery and then you can finally remove the clamp that hold it to the car and replace for the new battery. You then have to reassemble.
It's just one of the fairly small jobs turned into a major operation by VW (all these jobs will be similar on Polo, Ibiza and Fabia) and their shit designs. The others are a 1/2 day to replace a radiator (the entire front of the car has to come apart to change a £50 part!) and removal of the headlamps to replace a bulb.
Of course the main dealer would no doubt be happy to carry out any of these jobs for you at £80+ per hour labour. Makes me wonder if they designed these in on purpose to make home replacement harder and encourage people back to dealers for replacement of these parts.
Last VAG car I will buy, next time back to Honda I think.

Carl.

simple tasks now seem to be very difficult these days (I'm sounding like an old fart!)

legrandefromage":27obt2rg said:

simple tasks now seem to be very difficult these days (I'm sounding like an old fart!)

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I know what you mean ;it takes me all night to do ,what I used to do all night

It might be a deliberate EU inspired policy. The EU wants to stop customisation of vehicles and ensure all maintenance work is done to set standards all in the name of safety. Plans have been made to have moped engines made as sealed units so that teenagers cant tune them. If it has a mechanical fault you must replace the whole engine which once out of warranty would have the manufacturers rubbing their hands with glee. Many car and motorbike parts need a specific tool created for that part and that part only to install/remove so many small garages wont buy them let alone you the car owner.
Get into classic cars if you want to maintain them yourself. Modern stuff is being designed to stop you !

yes, you cant even change a wheel nut to non standard (if you wanted to add locking nuts). Rumours at the moment but one day I fear it will be reality.

I think I will dowse the Doblo in used engine oil to preserve the non galvanized bits and drive it until it literally falls apart...

Get into classic cars if you want to maintain them yourself. Modern stuff is being designed to stop you !

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And when did they start putting plastic covers over engines? Plastic covers that sort of look like an engine; what's the bloody point of those? It's just something else you need to remove before you can get to the stuff you need to access. There's a bonnet to cover all the messy stuff and make it look smart; I don't get it. :?

Well apparently there is a three month+ wait for a Yeti!

Do you reckon you could fit a medium sized motorbike into the back of a Doblo LGF?

I read on a couple of sites that you can, and there are a couple locally going cheap.

Quite fancy one to use whilst waiting for the Skoda.

The van version without the (rivited but removable) bulkhead can fit a motorbike. 5/7 seat cars have raised ridges where the seats bolt to. Rear seat has two Allen bolts. Seat is fooking heavy! Some versions have individual rear seats so you can have a motorbike and a single rear seat.

Check for oil leaks.

Steering wheel wobble at 70mph is the long drive shaft.

Check EGR valve and blank the bugger off ( but not on later DPF cars!)

Lower suspension arms wear and cause odd tyre wear. Cheap to replace.

Interior plastics are icing sugar!

Avoid 1.3 diesel. Avoid 1.2 petrol!

Avoid DPF multijet unless you can get it removed. Software needs to be told if you do.

Door locking mechanisms can be flimsy but easy fixed. Grease gums them up. Dont expect the central locking to work either. Ignition barrel can fail too. Our older one is going.

Keyfob with remote can be up to £280 from Fiat - we told them to eff off...

Rear has leaf springs. Later model sits higher and is prone to bobbing about like a cork in gussetty winds. Both versions ride better with a bit of weight.

DPF model thirsty. 1.9 JTD best at 60+ mpg, easily obtainable.

Speedos are always 8% out! 70mph on the GPS is 75mph on the speedo!

Lots of easily sourced Punto spares fit.

cambelt needs to be replaced every 60k ( I doubt if you will have it that long) - cheap and easy to do due to ease of access.

'Broken' heater blower is often melted connections - easy fix

Massive windscreen washer bottle!

High driving position - same level as a Range Rover.

Speakers sound shite no matter what stereo you have. I use old hifi speakers in the back...

Noisy to drive. Later version much, MUCH quieter.

Window winder mechanism a bit of a git to replace. Sometimes window guides fail which means new door - the plastic guides are not replaceable which means the window just gets pushed out of the door.

Rear door mechanism easy to fix if some twat decides the lever goes up instead down (you'll know what I mean)

ELX model best value

Ugly.