Sensor failure. Forget whether it was on the cam or the crankshaft.
Everything stopped instantly. Glad I was coming up to a stop light and not in the fast lane of the M25.
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1. Points (repeatedly) Hunslett Scootacar.
1a. Small carburettor screw found it's way into engine. Smashed piston.
1b. Broken drive chain.
2. Points on electric fuel pump. Moggie Minor.
3. Broken planet wheel carrier. Triumph Vitesse.
4. Broken cam-belt, MK3 Cortina, Pinto engine. Got away with it!
5. Something between fan blades and radiator on Austin Maxi. Doing 50 down A5, goodness knows what it was or how it got in there (side facing rad). Ripped great long arc in matrix.
6. Injector pump Focus TDDI. £1300 !!!
Edited by Webmaster on 24/06/2008 at 02:39
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Rollpin securing distributor drive gear to shaft (SAAB with early Swedish engine). This was repaired on the hard shoulder of the M1 with an electrician's screwdriver bashed into the hole with a rock and the handle sawn off. The skew gear was liberally washed with WD40 and the engine re-timed with a Fluke multimeter as the police rolled up.
Ford CVH cambelt failure (belt had done 20k miles only). Towed home, engine repaired - 2 bent exhaust valves and one smashed hydraulic follower. My only and last Ford. A 19 tooth crankwheel cannot give satisfactory service in this application - cheapskate engineering.
659.
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Cambelt snapped on a D plate MK2 Astra D van 100Kmiles (company policy was not to change them.
My one and only failure to get to my destination once the vehicle was started in 24 years of driving. Non starts include a few deceased batteries and a choke pull down unit on a MK1 Astra van
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Stoppages/breakdowns
1976 Mini 850 (many times) - puddles/standing water!
1983 Sierra 1.6 (three times) - ignition coil failure, cambelt failure, ran out of fuel (with 1/4 tank still showing)
1986 Cavalier 1.8 SRi (once) - fuel pump relay failed
1999 Kawasaki ZX7R (twice) - carb icing
2000 Mondeo 1.8TD (once) - ran out of fuel (with 1/4 tank showing)
In the case of the Mini and the Kawasaki, both were able to be restarted eventually and complete the journeys asked of them. Ditto the fuel problems once a gallon was poured in the tanks.
Cheers
DP
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Dads 2007 BMW 318d- me stalling it. It will NOT pull away at all in second.
Edited by Cooper-driver on 21/06/2008 at 19:34
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Mini Van (60`s)
1)Points just changed, for ever after put a drop of petrol on a bit of cardboard and pulled through points after adjusting with oily feelers.
2) SU carb piston, stripped and cleaned on M74 near Glasgow.
3) Bad connection, engine earth at 9 yrs old. Fixed ..after a while.
Triumph Twin (60s) Leads vibrated off Zenner diode.
Honda Single (60s) Hole in piston. (Only time stuck and unable to fix myself, on the road to date)
Ancient Bond cycle car. Chain came off. About a hundred times, (worn sprockets & chain) Later bonnet came off and went over car roof and bouncing down the road.
Fiesta, often chugged to a halt with the clock spring auto-choke.
2CV, Fired a spark plug out taking threads with it in Fortwilliam. (Fiona, where are you?) Some threads left so got home. (overdid Copperslip)
Near Miss, Maestro Clubman D, spewing derv from lift pump onto manifold but made it home, from Sheffield amid clouds of white smoke . Later, clutch cable went, but was carrying spare.
WOW and that`s really it. Nothing since (94ish) but punctures, just shows how cars have improved.
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Oh, and the Maestro automatic fuel guzzler. Seemingly designed so that If the Auto choke put too much petrol in on a cold start, it actually pooled in the cleverly designed inlet manifold.
Only way out was to either fit brand new plugs, heat them on a stove for a 20% chance, or leave it all day with the plugs out to allow the puddles in the manifold to evaporate.
(You could jam the throttle down with a brick, but the pool of petrol in the manifold was still there ready to wet the plugs when turned over.)
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1600E
1. Main bearing cap snapped, piston damaged, sump contents in engine bay. New engine.
2. Tacho failed. Young and ignorant so removed tacho and rigged up an ignition circuit that put 12V on a 9v cold start coil. Cooked the coil. Doh!
3. Carb float sank.
4. Paid for petrol but got "some expensive added water". Tank rusted and rust blocked the fuel line.
5. Spigot bearing failed - clutch inoperative.
6. Plastic pipe to clutch slave cylinder touched the hot exhaust manifold.
Avenger ( hired) Throttle linkage came apart. Tied it up with string.
>>. Broken cam-belt, MK3 Cortina, Pinto engine. Got away with it!
Mk 5 Cortina Crusader - ditto
Yaris. Moved it a few feet. Modern equivalent of flooded it.
Mondeo. 50A fuse had blown and 99% of the time reconnected itself.
1% of the time only the internal light worked, with no dashboard power and no engine electrics.
( I suspect the previous owner had lost faith in it being reliable.)
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Oh!, I forgot:
Austin Ambassador. Battery clamp fell off battery at traffic lights, unfortunately it fell across coil contacts, burning out internal wire to points in distributor. It took over an hour at the roadside to diagnose and fix. The battery hadn't been touched in my five years of ownership.
Hangs head in shame, yes I owned an Ambassador that long, but it was great when the kids were young!
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I was once a passenger in one of those when the live wire of an aftermarket radio found an earth. No fuse, wired to battery, apparently. Impressive that, the smoke and glowing red wire as we tried to pull the radio out..
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My dad had a Princess 2 when we were kids. Still rates it as one of the best cars he's ever owned. Reliable, comfy, bags of space and that lovely Hydragas ride. Pig ugly though! :-)
Cheers
DP
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Volvo 122 amazon, first car..exhaust fell off, pulled it out and carried on.
Morris 1100 engine rattled (mains) itself to a standstill, must have rebuilt 4 times..heap.
Morris 1000 traveller (dads), i broke the crankshaft, but i did rebuild it.
Ford zodiac mk4, fuse holders corroded up, stripped out and cleaned up on roadside.
Ford zephyr mk4, head gaskets several times, torque down with scaffold pole cures.
Golf mk1, head on prang with pick up, those golfs were very tough.
Sierra, connection near battery loosened, always in the dark, with no torch.
Granada diesel, glow plugs, turned over for about 5 minutes and started, varta battery.
Renault 21 estate, exhaust fell off, carried on.
Merc E320, wiring loom, put it on truck and to my indy (good boss)
edit...volvo 244, cambelt snapped, easy job, sprockets and belt marked, and all valves miss.
I think the only time i've been transported home was the golf write off, ah hang on, i can't tell about another prang as it may have been swmbo.
I'm sure there were more..:)
The only time i've broken down with a truck that needed towing was with a computer shorting on foreign truck, no wrong, once before in '76 Brit truck, just remembered another Brit truck in '78. Both gardner engines that dropped valves, according to the experts of the time, an impossible thing to do.
Hope NC isn't reading this, he'll use it in evidence.:)
Edited by gordonbennet on 21/06/2008 at 22:14
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"Morris 1000 traveller (dads)"
Hey ! Snap! Ours was `Old English White` Well... white anyway.
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My dads was sort of a yukky light green, i'm quite ashamed of how i used to drive it, but hope i repaid in kind by maintaining his cars during the rest of his time, still miss him
I always thought white suited the traveller, as it showed the wood in all its beauty, wouldn't mind one as a useable classic again.
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A 122 Amazon GB ? I have always wanted one of those. My Dad's first Volvo was the slightly later 144 but it was the 122 which sold him / us on the idea. Previously he had had mainly British cars with the notable exception of a 4.0 Buick complete with freestanding headlamps and running boards. I really want a 122 estate. Dunno why and I'm sure the reality would be majorly disappointing.
What stopped my car ?
1988 3 series BMW - cam belt 5.00 PM Christmas Eve 500 miles from home ( serious internal carnage ) Try finding a hire car on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or Boxing Day !
1992 Rover 800 - back of a Ford Escort which stopped when I least expected it to. Still my fault though but to be fair when was the last time you felt the need to stop half way round an otherwise empty roundabout ? :-(
Haven't stopped unintentionally since.......touch wood.
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122 estate. Dunno why and I'm sure the reality would be majorly disappointing.
Twas a unusual car for a first, but handled very well, went like a scalded cat and had the most amazing syncromesh, so good that you could go through every gear with car doing 80mph. Obviously not letting up the clutch in the lower gears, remember this was a 57 or 59 car, and syncro first gears were still very uncommon, and the gearchange was better than almost anything i've driven since, despite the stick being about been 2 ft long.
Mine was unusual in that it was an import from South Africa, and had red rear indicators, it was also a 1600 instead of the more normal 1800, but the performance was astonishing, it had a plate rivetted on the engine saying 'engine conversions by university motors Salisbury', whether that was our Salisbury or SA's i know not, i never found out what had been done, it was twin carbed, but that may have been normal.
Disappointing, i don't think so, i always thought the estate looked a bit odd, but then one mans meat etc, they are not terribly expensive to buy, but not as good as the 144's at fighting the tin weevil.
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Stop it GB - You were supposed to say that "it was a miserable car and you would be a fool to even consider it." This could seriously affect my wealth y'know.........really really want one now......
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Actually, come to think of it there was one other occasion but it was nothing to do with mechanical failure or my parking in an already occupied stretch of road. No, in this instance ( circa 1986 ) it was a pair of uniformed gentlemen in a fetchingly decorated estate car ( white with orange coach line ) :-(
Edited by Shoespy on 22/06/2008 at 00:07
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My dad had a Princess 2 Pig ugly though! :-)
Naw, DP, they weren't pig ugly, they were lovely cars, only had one thing wrong (excepting build quality!) - they didn't have a 5th gear!
Back to OP
Mini850 used to go through coils and water pumps!
Mini 1000 - an engine mount broke on the M6 and snapped the fan belt!
Since then, nothing which actually stopped the car....
Touch wood!
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