DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Time_to_face_the_music

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Morning DMPers

I just wanted to share that I saved £200 on car repairs this month.
Now my car is nearly 13 years old and I'm worried something uneconomical will finally give up so I'm trying not so spend lots on repairs you may be in a different position but I thought this might be useful.

Part 1. My battery was failing at temps lower than -1. Although I could get a new battery for around £55 I decided to look at other options. one thing I remembered the OH used to say to me was to prime the engine in the cold by pumping the accelerator (diesel), and I read on Internet thingy to turn off everything uncecessary, I give it 3 turns on the glow plugs, 2 pumps on the pedal, clutch down turn the key and bingo we seem to get lift off every time, even in the minus temps. (Apologies to neighbours for plumes of smoke:o).
I realised there are indications the new battery will be needed, but when it's needed for the other 350 days a year and not just for the few very cold ones, I'll buy one!

Part2. My car key disintegrated, probably it was run over after I dropped it last year. Whilst I have a spare, the remote function stopped working long ago and I remember being shocked at the time about the cost of replacement. The remote bit is the problem, as there is no way of activating the alarm/immobiliser/deadlocks function without the remote. New key - £130-£150!
Back on the Internet, you can buy spare parts and fit your old remote bits to it...but hold on, I have a spare with in tact plastic bits....so I've stopped my bits over, just needed a screwdriver and 10 minutes, and hey presto,working key for £0. I m going to invest in a new battery and another set of plastic bits for about £5 so I can have a working spare key but it still feels like a win:D

So no mechanical knowledge needed just a bit of research and persistence.

Happy Saz

Very well done Sazzie :j

I remember being delighted at us managing to change the fan in our oven when it failed and then replacing a car part when the heater wouldn't work and it was -5°C. Mr TTFTM and I learned so many skills from googling and YouTube videos and now always check to see if we can do the job ourselves before calling out someone or taking the car to the garage.

TTFTM x

sourcrates

Sazzie,

You might find with the warmer weather just around the corner the battery will hold out a bit longer, it's usually foggy mornings that do for old batteries.
When they have trouble turning the engine over, it's a sure sign there not able to hold a charge, when it comes to getting a new one, buy one off the Internet as there usually a lot cheaper, and simple to swap over.

Scottishmummy

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Morning DMPers

I just wanted to share that I saved £200 on car repairs this month.
Now my car is nearly 13 years old and I'm worried something uneconomical will finally give up so I'm trying not so spend lots on repairs you may be in a different position but I thought this might be useful.

Part 1. My battery was failing at temps lower than -1. Although I could get a new battery for around £55 I decided to look at other options. one thing I remembered the OH used to say to me was to prime the engine in the cold by pumping the accelerator (diesel), and I read on Internet thingy to turn off everything uncecessary, I give it 3 turns on the glow plugs, 2 pumps on the pedal, clutch down turn the key and bingo we seem to get lift off every time, even in the minus temps. (Apologies to neighbours for plumes of smoke:o).
I realised there are indications the new battery will be needed, but when it's needed for the other 350 days a year and not just for the few very cold ones, I'll buy one!

Part2. My car key disintegrated, probably it was run over after I dropped it last year. Whilst I have a spare, the remote function stopped working long ago and I remember being shocked at the time about the cost of replacement. The remote bit is the problem, as there is no way of activating the alarm/immobiliser/deadlocks function without the remote. New key - £130-£150!
Back on the Internet, you can buy spare parts and fit your old remote bits to it...but hold on, I have a spare with in tact plastic bits....so I've stopped my bits over, just needed a screwdriver and 10 minutes, and hey presto,working key for £0. I m going to invest in a new battery and another set of plastic bits for about £5 so I can have a working spare key but it still feels like a win:D

So no mechanical knowledge needed just a bit of research and persistence.

Happy Saz

Well done you. I had to call out the AA once years ago when I couldn't get the car to start after finishing my shift at 1.00am. Turned out I needed a new battery. I had the choice of getting a charge which would get me home or buying a new battery from him. As I needed to be able to get to work the next morning which was a Sunday I decided to buy one. £79 :eek: it cost me. We are talking 20 years ago. Thankfully we now are friends with a mechanic so get a lot of stuff done cheaper. Other than car things I am quite happy to give it a go myself.

Bouncybubbles

Quick update have managed to contact my work and they have withdrawn the payment and although it may now be late going in it should hopefully go into my new account although knowing the NHS maybe not!

Ellieseleven

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Hi Ellie :hello:

How are BC currently marking your credit file? Not sure if you ever want credit again but a late default could be painful.

Love seeing you getting so close to being debt free :j

TTFTM x

They have been marking my file AP throughout. I don't want credit again but as I understand the AP markers will remain long after I have finished paying.


Ellie x

Ellieseleven

Sazzie23 wrote: »

They never give up do they,did your payments meet one of their 1% targets or something?

Nothing wrong with self managed but I think if it was me I'd start with a strongly worded 'what do you think you are doing' letter?

Out of interest - scuze the pun, is it defaulted?


Saz

No Sazzie, it doesn't meet their 1% target which is why I have never done anything about it. Our payments were around 5-6% of the balance.


It hasn't defaulted, it has been marked AP since July 2010


Ellie x

Sazzie23

Ellieseleven wrote: »

No Sazzie, it doesn't meet their 1% target which is why I have never done anything about it. Our payments were around 5-6% of the balance.


It hasn't defaulted, it has been marked AP since July 2010


Ellie x

You going to complain anyway? Nothing to lose?

Sazzie23

sourcrates wrote: »

Sazzie,

You might find with the warmer weather just around the corner the battery will hold out a bit longer, it's usually foggy mornings that do for old batteries.
When they have trouble turning the engine over, it's a sure sign there not able to hold a charge, when it comes to getting a new one, buy one off the Internet as there usually a lot cheaper, and simple to swap over.

Yeah it first failed more than a year ago in very, very cold spell,and it's defo worse if I leave it for more than 18-24 hours so it's not holding charge. I found this great site that explained about how much charge it holds and the voltage drop etc. I've got the 2 cheapest replacement battery sites on speed dial on the iPad and I know what I need, plus I have jump leads (usually find someone to jump start off but can't always find leads) so I should be able to keep going for a little while. By next month I'll have enough to stash the cash for the battery too so I'm feeling prepared and less anxious.

phoenixx

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

Very well done Sazzie :j

I remember being delighted at us managing to change the fan in our oven when it failed and then replacing a car part when the heater wouldn't work and it was -5°C. Mr TTFTM and I learned so many skills from googling and YouTube videos and now always check to see if we can do the job ourselves before calling out someone or taking the car to the garage.

TTFTM x

:T Always feel great when car fixes are managed on a shoestring. One of our bangers had a boot that would not open. £89 quoted to fix but we discovered if you pushed a stick in the key hole it opened without problem. Cost of stick - £0 so happy days. Recently fan belt was making hell of a noise. £65 fix or £3.80 for a can of WD40 which has properly shut it up!

phoenixx

Sazzie23 wrote: »

Morning DMPers

I just wanted to share that I saved £200 on car repairs this month.
Now my car is nearly 13 years old and I'm worried something uneconomical will finally give up so I'm trying not so spend lots on repairs you may be in a different position but I thought this might be useful.

Part 1. My battery was failing at temps lower than -1. Although I could get a new battery for around £55 I decided to look at other options. one thing I remembered the OH used to say to me was to prime the engine in the cold by pumping the accelerator (diesel), and I read on Internet thingy to turn off everything uncecessary, I give it 3 turns on the glow plugs, 2 pumps on the pedal, clutch down turn the key and bingo we seem to get lift off every time, even in the minus temps. (Apologies to neighbours for plumes of smoke:o).
I realised there are indications the new battery will be needed, but when it's needed for the other 350 days a year and not just for the few very cold ones, I'll buy one!

Part2. My car key disintegrated, probably it was run over after I dropped it last year. Whilst I have a spare, the remote function stopped working long ago and I remember being shocked at the time about the cost of replacement. The remote bit is the problem, as there is no way of activating the alarm/immobiliser/deadlocks function without the remote. New key - £130-£150!
Back on the Internet, you can buy spare parts and fit your old remote bits to it...but hold on, I have a spare with in tact plastic bits....so I've stopped my bits over, just needed a screwdriver and 10 minutes, and hey presto,working key for £0. I m going to invest in a new battery and another set of plastic bits for about £5 so I can have a working spare key but it still feels like a win:D

So no mechanical knowledge needed just a bit of research and persistence.

Happy Saz

Very well done, Sazzie! Impressive work on the bargain fixes!