Katiegan's Garage | Winter Plans

  • Thread starter Thread starter Katiegan
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:( Sounds like the end of the line, sorry to hear about it. It's too bad this had to happen, especially with your finacial situation. Hopefully it will work out somehow. :nervous:
 
I can only imagine the hell your going through, if we got rid of our truck I'd probably go insane. Some people don't realize there is a deep connection between man and machine, as weird as it sounds. I love it like a family member.

Luckily it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
 
Sorry to hear Katie: Remember there are other cars out there looking for love ;). You will find your Bruiser MK II
 
Thanks guys. Even though he's just a car, I really appreiate all your support. I'm staying positive and not giving in on Bruis!

We'll be taking him to a garage tomorrow to see what the real problem is. For now, we're letting him rest in his garage as much as we can. My dad took another look this morning and he can't understand what the problem is. We can still get gears, but the gearbox is just dumping oil out. It's not oil from the engine because that's still on maximum. It could be a gasket, which in that case would be a very good thing as that's not too expensive, but it's too early to say. The top of the gearbox is dry, it's just the bottom that's covered in oil, and it flicks off the driveshaft and makes an awful mess underneath the car.

I haven't been out to see for myself yet, which I really do need to do before he goes to the garage tomorrow.
 
Hmm, it's probably some sort of serious leak. The worst case scenario would probably be a broken transmission housoing, but it could simply be a blown gasket. Let's hope it's a gasket, I don't want to see Bruiser die.
 
So, Bruiser went to the garage today to find out what was really wrong with him. My mum dropped him off in the morning and then went back at lunchtime to check what it was as the garage was only down the road from her work. Turns out it's the differential bearing which has collapsed and caused the gearbox to 'explode' like it did. A cog in the gearbox has also collapsed so we need a new one, and for a new one to be bought and fit, the garage is charging us £350. I think that's a fair deal, a lot cheaper than I was expecting a new gearbox to be. Obviously the gearbox will be second hand, but better than nothing.
 
I would think that that's a fair deal. (Then again, I don't remember what the conversion rate between pounds and USD is, so I can't truly say.)

I also have no idea how difficult it is to replace a transmission in a Mondeo, but I could say that when compared to a '96 Town and Country... it should be easier.
 
Katiegan
So, Bruiser went to the garage today to find out what was really wrong with him. My mum dropped him off in the morning and then went back at lunchtime to check what it was as the garage was only down the road from her work. Turns out it's the differential bearing which has collapsed and caused the gearbox to 'explode' like it did. A cog in the gearbox has also collapsed so we need a new one, and for a new one to be bought and fit, the garage is charging us £350. I think that's a fair deal, a lot cheaper than I was expecting a new gearbox to be. Obviously the gearbox will be second hand, but better than nothing.
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Here's to wishing Bruiser a quick recovery
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May he see many days of Katiegan driving him in the future!
 
That's a good price. And a refurbished gear box is normally as good as a new one, probably even better as it was redone by hand and contolled over again.
 
FireEmblem10
I would think that that's a fair deal. (Then again, I don't remember what the conversion rate between pounds and USD is, so I can't truly say.)
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£350 is about $540, if that puts anything into perspective. Seems cheap here anyway! :lol:

opelgt1969
Here's to wishing Bruiser a quick recovery
May he see many days of Katiegan driving him in the future!
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Thanks! Although my dad says we'll still probably send him to auction in the late summer because of his engine problems... :indiff:

Ibonibo
That's a good price. And a refurbished gear box is normally as good as a new one, probably even better as it was redone by hand and contolled over again.
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Yeah, pretty happy with the deal to be honest! 👍
 
There are people here willing to help fund a new engine...
 
I'm thinking a new motor would be a very nice engagement gift along with a shinny clear ring, just ask tell T-12:idea:
 
Well, that was quick! Bruiser went to the garage today and they managed to fit the new gearbox in one day, and stuck to their price of £350. Now Bruiser can sweep through those gears again! :D

My mum took a photo of the old gearbox and the hole in it, so I'll try and get that up here later to show you all.
 
Here's the broken gearbox. You can see the crack/hole in it, and you can also see all the metal shavings in there.

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An update on Bruiser is long overdue, so here you go!

Bruiser's new gearbox works fine, it has a slight whine in 2nd but nothing to worry about. He's been getting by, burning oil along the way but we still love him. We bought some Lucas Oil.. well, oil that is supposed to help old engines last longer and stop them from smoking and such. We've yet to feed that to him though, so I can't tell you if it works or not. His exhaust was blowing again after we found a hole in his middle box again, so we took him back to Exhausts UK where it was fitted to get it fixed again - it has a 25 year or 1 million miles gurantee and we're making the most of it! This time instead of just welding it and letting it break again, they cut out the whole thing and replaced it with another, and polished it all up too. Now he sounds perfect again, has his power back and his exhaust looks like new.

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He started idling rough again and idling slower than normal, so we waited for the exhaust to be fixed to see if that was the problem, it wasn't, so we took a tip from a guy at my work - the throttle body. Today I took it off to find the throttle body was in desperate need of a clean.

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We cleaned it out with carb cleaner and now he runs like a dream, and purrs like a kitten again. His air filter probably needs a clean too as it's muttering to itself a lot, but K&N say that the dirtier they get, the more power they have somehow, so we're going to leave it for a bit.

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Also, I have some very good news...

...My dad has decided he wants to keep Bruiser! For now. He's been talking about it these past few weeks, usually after a drink, but lately he's started talking about it sober and appears to have talked himself into keeping the ol' Mondeo. He has been known to do this before and change his mind so I'm not getting my hopes up yet, but he seems to be enthusiastic when he talks about getting a new engine or having the current one re-conditioned. If it's just a piston ring, then it might be cheaper just to have it repaired. Tomorrow we set off on a 130 mile journey, so we'll see how Bruiser does with that.
 
Yay! Terrific news, Katie, I hope your dad realises that his decision is a wise one.
 
Been following this thread for awhile now. I always thought it was your car :lol: anyway great news its all fixed 👍
 
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The 130 mile journey is complete, and Bruiser made it! We checked his oil about 50 miles into the journey and he had burned none, that was after rather steady driving, then the rest of the way we couldn't help but terrorise a Passat and have fun with a ricer, who tried to corner as fast as we did and resulted in taking an excursion through the grass and nearly crashing. I checked the oil at the caravan site and Bruiser had barely used any oil, even after a few floorings of the pedal. As a reward for his good behaviour, we gave him a fancy sun shade to keep his insides cool.

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Maybe he's born with it... maybe it's Valvoline.
 
Nice to hear that shes is hanging fine now. And your dad made an excelent choice about not selling it. 👍
 
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Well what was the original oil used? It could have possibly been born with Valvoline. :D
 
He's not entirely fixed, and he will need a new engine, but it appears that the Lucas Oil is doing it's job and is letting his engine beat a little longer.

Thatman
Well what was the original oil used? It could have possibly been born with Valvoline. :D
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:lol:! Maybe he really was!
 
I bring good news!

I have confirmed with my dad that Bruiser will not be going to auction in a few weeks! My dad has come to his senses and has realised it's not worth selling him and trying to save up for a new car instead of just fixing him. Bruiser's sentimental value is far higher than the price he would fetch at auction. Instead, we're going to restore him to his former glory, if not a bit better.

The new engine will be bought in November, unless he goes kaboom before that, and then he'll go in for an early MOT to make sure everything is fine. After that it's mainly cosmetic things apart from a new clutch. He'll be stripped naked of his panels to sort out the various squeeks he has and the rust, he'll get a full re-spray, new lights, bumpers, wheels, and perhaps a few other things too. Hopefully he might return to his showing days too! :sly:
 
Katiegan
I bring good news!

I have confirmed with my dad that Bruiser will not be going to auction in a few weeks! My dad has come to his senses and has realised it's not worth selling him and trying to save up for a new car instead of just fixing him. Bruiser's sentimental value is far higher than the price he would fetch at auction. Instead, we're going to restore him to his former glory, if not a bit better.

The new engine will be bought in November, unless he goes kaboom before that, and then he'll go in for an early MOT to make sure everything is fine. After that it's mainly cosmetic things apart from a new clutch. He'll be stripped naked of his panels to sort out the various squeeks he has and the rust, he'll get a full re-spray, new lights, bumpers, wheels, and perhaps a few other things too. Hopefully he might return to his showing days too! :sly:
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Great news! You should celebrate by buying a beefier engine. :trouble:
 

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