SportKa MOT advisories question - oil leak

AliceBanned

I didn't know any company manufactured cars out of gold. :rotfl:

AliceBanned

I haven't had time to post again or contact the garage due to family bereavement but will do tomorrow - the car is making a 'whirring' sound which increases in pitch and noise level with greater acceleration - particularly over 50mph. It is running fine and I am hoping it is nothing major but it has been like that since the MOT and repairs to get it through. Any ideas? I have read on another forum that the StreetKa does that and mine is the same category of Ka but mine has never done it before. It is slightly less pleasant to drive obviously but I have had to carry on, going back to Oxford from Herts several times in the past two weeks to sort family stuff.

AliceBanned

I've phoned the garage and they want me to take it in when I get the chance - probably Fri or Sat so that we can go onto the motorway and they can listen to the noise. It gets much worse at 50mph upwards.

Joe_Horner

Pretty well impossible to suggest anything without hearing it but it's unlikely to be anything serious - with the use in between times if it was it would've exploded by now

AliceBanned

I took it up to the garage today. The mechanic could hear it straight away at 20mph as it has got worse - it was just a wheel bearing. It must have been just on the edge of wearing as the MOT was only 2 weeks ago and it would have failed on that as well.

Joe_Horner

Yep, when they go they often go quickly

Seems to me this little Ka is exceptional value - fairly reliable transport with reasonably low running costs (even including the repairs this year) plus a hobby (if scraping and painting sills counts as a hobby!) and a learning experience thrown in for free

AliceBanned

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Yep, when they go they often go quickly

Seems to me this little Ka is exceptional value - fairly reliable transport with reasonably low running costs (even including the repairs this year) plus a hobby (if scraping and painting sills counts as a hobby!) and a learning experience thrown in for free

He is only charging me £11 for the part - cost price then an hour's labour. I said to him I had re-checked the tyres as I thought it was tyre or wheel-related. I feel like they are coaching me in car mechanics after seeing my handiwork on the rust because he said 'not bad - the noise it makes is very similar' so he was impressed. :-D. Also he thinks it harder to tell where the sound is coming from as it is fairly noisy anyway. Just the way it is with the bigger engine on a small car. So yes Joe you are right..my apprenticeship starts here!

Richard53

Just posting to say that this thread has been a great read


Like Joe, I am very much in favour of keeping an old car going with a bit of care and attention, rather than scrapping something that could be saved. Well done for sticking at it!

AliceBanned

Richard53 wrote: »

Just posting to say that this thread has been a great read


Like Joe, I am very much in favour of keeping an old car going with a bit of care and attention, rather than scrapping something that could be saved. Well done for sticking at it!

Thanks Richard. It has been fun posting on this thread and learning about maintaining a car and all you guys have been so encouraging and helpful, I couldn't have done the rust repairs without it. I get a wobble every now and then and want to sell it and get a shiny newer car but there is no money anyway. I also get the sense that the mechanics appreciate me keeping it to. I know they make money out of it but the garage also sells a lot of cars and I'm sure a lot of people just scrap their old ones and don't take an interest in their old ones or appreciate them.

Joe_Horner

AliceBanned wrote: »

[...] I'm sure a lot of people just scrap their old ones and don't take an interest in their old ones or appreciate them.

We're conditioned as a society to see cars (and most consumer goods) as essentially disposable with an unwritten "use by" date. Manufacturing relies on that to keep selling.

But if it was true in a technical sense then there would be no cars over (say) 10 - 15 years old still running. Even the "real" classics from the early days would have worn out long ago.

They all went through a long period where (in today's terms) they were nothing but "old cars fit for the scrappy" - they just did it in an era when people were less willing to throw stuff away while it still had life in it.