Breaking down in an SD1...?!
| Date | Location | Details (Recorded Fault and comments) | Costs (Exc. VAT) |
| 25.04.96 | Car at home | Car will not start. Starter motor faulty. Member to replace. | Starter Motor £85.11. |
| 04.08.96 | Car at home | Steering lock mechanism collapsed. Key won't turn in the ignition barrel. | Ignition Lock and Key £45.11. |
| 20.11.96 | A338 (roadside) | Car cut out and will not restart. Made repairs to starter motor wiring. | Garage checked wiring repairs to starter motor £46.46. |
| 25.02.98 | Abingdon Business Park | Car will not start. Ignition lock wiring had worked loose at multiplug. Reconnected clips. | None. |
| 23.04.00 | M40 s'bound J10-9 | Fan belt loose. Replaced fan belt on hard shoulder (part supplied by member). | None. |
|
29.04.00
29.04.00 |
M4 e'bound J29-28
M4 e'bound J29-28 |
Fan belt came off. Replace
belt, top up water.
Fan belt came off again. Recover car to home address |
None.
Garage checked pulley alignment. £16.50. |
| 04.11.00 | Abingdon Business Park | Light switch broken. Lights cannot be turned on. Plug bypassed. | Light Switch £9.15. |
| 16.06.04 | B4494 (roadside) | Car cut out. Ignition fault. Car recovered to garage. | Ignition Module £120.00, coil £24.53 and labour charge £59.50. |
| 20.09.06 | B4494 (roadside) | Flat tyre. Fit (and inflate) spare | New tyre £47 |
To be fair to Bob, my SD1 has been more reliable than not. He takes a weekday commute of 35 miles in his stride (albeit only March - September at the moment). Last Friday, Bob turned 22 years of age. When you consider that and the type of breakdowns he's incurred, I'd say that he's done quite well.
1996: Just the usual troublesome problems that you'd expect from a 14 year old neglected car. The starter motor issue was later traced to a rotten engine-to-earth wire when the car was in the garage in December, having a replacement engine fitted.
2000: In early April, I purchased a reconditioned alternator as mine had rumbling bearings. Strangely, this came with a pulley too. However, this pulley had a gentle wobble to it that you'd not normally notice. At speed, this caused the pulley to throw the fan belt into the fan blades. By the end of the month and after assistance from mechanics on the hard shoulder of the motorway three times, I re-fitted the pulley from the original alternator and the problem disappeared.
2004: When you consider that this was the first "real" breakdown that left the car incapacitated (and me stranded) since 1996, I think that's quite some achievement. Mind you, he made up for it in costs....
2006: Dashing home from Newbury, Berkshire on the B4494 I hit a boulder kicked up by a farmer trimming hedges. It shredded my tyre. I had a flat spare in the boot, luckily the man from Green Flag had a compressor. Of course, it had to happen the day I had to dash home to drive 1500 miles to Naples....
This page was last updated 7 December 2006