exxos's automotive drama blog

[exxos]

Honestly I'd suggest getting the drums off, not just the wheels, and just doing a sanity check. An MOT will only say if the handbrake/brakes work satisfactorily, they won't say what condition the brake shoes are in.

already tried getting the drum off its just stuck solid. got that much to get done, it's my works van, it needs to get on the road ASAP. got all the racking and electrics to sort out yet

[rubber_jonnie]

Honestly I'd suggest getting the drums off, not just the wheels, and just doing a sanity check. An MOT will only say if the handbrake/brakes work satisfactorily, they won't say what condition the brake shoes are in.

already tried getting the drum off its just stuck solid. got that much to get done, its my works van, it needs to get on the road ASAP. got all the racking and electrics to sort out yet

Maybe have a look when you have time then, just concerned after the experience my ex had. Drums most likely won't come off because of wear and need the auto adjusters backed off to get the brake shoes out of the groove in the drum.

[exxos]

Look when you have time then, just concerned after the experience my ex had. Drums most likely won't come off because of wear and need the auto adjusters backed off to get the brake shoes out of the groove in the drum.

Yeah, but she probably kept giving it gas until it moved snapping stuff I tried going forward and reverse to unstick it, but not enough to cause damage. In the end lump hammer until it unstuck. I guess don't have the brakes on full if parked for long time

i'm getting it serviced when i get time, so will get them to look at the whole thing anyway.

[rubber_jonnie]

Look when you have time then, just concerned after the experience my ex had. Drums most likely won't come off because of wear and need the auto adjusters backed off to get the brake shoes out of the groove in the drum.

Yeah, but she probably kept giving it gas until it moved snapping stuff I tried going forward and reverse to unstick it, but not enough to cause damage. In the end lump hammer until it unstuck. I guess don't have the breaks on full if parked for long time

im getting it serviced when i get time, so will get them to look at the whole thing anyway.

She simply tried to reverse out of her parking bay after the car had been sitting 6 weeks or so, so not a lot of gas involved. What I didn't like was the overall construction of the brake shoes though. In a lot of cars I've owned that had brake shoes, the pads were both bonded and riveted to the shoe, on hers, they were just bonded, so I think poor design contributed.

[Tomswork]

The brake parts were i live have gone down hill in quality over the years I had to out a chain cracker on a drum last summer to get it off it had gone out of round with a deep lip on it what a pain. The new rotors all seem to be cheap to know matter what the price is they warp sometimes trying to wear them in oh well guess this is the future


Tom

[exxos]

I was replacing ball joints like crazy they never last very long. The drop link rods I replaced that many of them, it is unreal. I was lucky if they would last 2 to 3 weeks regardless of brand or where I purchased them from. In the end I just brought the genuine dealer part and did not have any troubles with those. Cost a lot, but it was just false economy buying the cheap ones all the time.

Don't get me started on brake pads.. Those things almost never fit properly and I always end up filing a bit of them as they would jam up in the thing otherwise.

[Tomswork]

I did learn something about links to I got the aftermarket ones and they broke turns out the factory parts are made with mild steel and soft rubber and the aftermarket are made with hard steel and neoprene much stronger you would think but the fail from being thats strong.

Tom

[exxos]

The rods never broke, It was the ball joint which always went faulty. It was like the cup they are in was too soft of metal and it would this deform and start rattling after a very short time.


Hard to find a image to illustrate.. That blue band is actually a clip which holds the rubber boots down.. Those clips will break extremely easily. One set was virtually to stay cable tie around it was that bad. One set I just caught the bolts taking it out of the bag and the clip broke off. Of course when the boot does not seal properly it lets water in and, goodbye joint. The actual lens where the ball sits always seem to be the part which would start going faulty very quickly is not like a even drive fast, or go over speed bumps or potholes at speed, I try and avoid as much as possible. It's life could not really be any easier.

Of course that led me to falling out with a few parts suppliers because I can prove right out of the shop that they was bad but as usual these dealers will not have it.

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Similar problem with the wishbones, I have changed no end of sets of these..

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Not realising until the last one I changed I could actually get the ball joint as a screw-on than have it riveted on Originally that silver piece take part at the bottom of the image, is rubber internally. You can actually get that part as a separate piece.. Which I did once, and he was totally impossible to get it to fit on the wishbone. It was a matter that the shaft was just too large to physically fit inside the rubber which if I remember rightly had a metal shroud anyway. Even with a hydraulic press trying to fit it would still be impossible.. Same old story when you take it back and try and convince them, it's always "nobody else has this problem".

Don't get me started on exhaust systems...Couple times I just brought them mail-order off evil bay.. Amazing how they just put a polythene bag around them and send them through the post. Needless to say my exhaust arrived dented. How these companies manage to keep on trading is really beyond me.

More recently because of time and again,RSI ( I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record now sorry) I have been taking my van to have work done in town at a local garage which I have now fallen out with. So much for being highly recommended by people I have spoken to. 12 months ago they did my MOT, and I had a service, so oil change. It was running very erratic for a couple of months which I put down to bad diesel or problem with injectors etc. Normally after some redex the problem goes away.. They noted when they did the MOT he was running a little bit erratic and they said it was the fuel as well.

After looking into this more deeply, I saw the air intake manifold dripping with oil. They had filled it right up to the maximum mark, which to be fair they should not really be a problem with that, only on my Berlingo it was spitting out oil down the breather pipe into the air intake which was basically sucking oil into the engine causing it to run erratic. There was so much oil it was literally dripping out the rubber seals of the air intake joins and pipes. I explained all this to the garage and they wasn't taking any notice which is of no surprise, but I asked them to drain some oil out of the engine which they did do. The guy came back looking rather pi**sed off as well.. Felt like saying " told you so". So after I clean the pipes out and had some oil taking out it ran perfectly fine after that. I guess I should have really taken that as a omen of things to come. Another garage added to my many list of garages which I will no longer go to.

[Icky]

I think I have found the perfect replacement van for you @exxos

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"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him....maybe you can hire The Exxos."

[exxos]

I think I have found the perfect replacement van for you @exxos
"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him....maybe you can hire The Exxos."

I sometimes see one of those vans driving around the area.. There is another one with Lord and legs sticking out of the bonnet, I will have to try and find that picture..