Ive got a beauty ,
So Bought my first own van about four months ago , sold my beloved b,w 328ci V6 for it
and some new tools to go inside, anyway I digress... So been commuting from edinburger to glasgow to do a fit out for a mate in a 4 metre by one metre bathroom grr, would not normally do that but hey the pay was good, so after three days my van it is a wee vauxhall astra combi 1.7cdti , 113k on the clock, brand new timing belt , part serv hist, great wee runner so far , or so I thought, so was pulling into my street with the tunes on on a friday , pushed the accelerator , nothing, mmm, turned music down, it had stalled , oh no i was thinking , anyway it restarted , I parked no bother ! Went out to goto the gym , on the way there , it done it again , but got home without doing it afterwards.
So saturday morning out to do some banking etc nice and early , great day , get in motor hundred yards, does it again, wont start , phone my mates garage , explain situation, right how quick do you need it fixed he askes lol, I am like now ! he was like right bring it along, Ill look at it today and call you back . So few hours go by , he calls me up , had the diag machine on it, looks like the fuel pump is gone, I was like right and ? He said well probably about 700 quid for a new one , plus labour, but you need to cut timing belt to get at it, so if you do that , new timing belt and kit required, another 100 or so , so basically about a grand , I was like, right , put some exact figures together for me , bear in mind though , the van only cost me 1200
So I go home, and I was like right investigate, as it occurred to me , by as gasman rightly states apply plumbing / gas engineer practical logic to it, and save a few quid , which I did by thinking , well if it is the pump, surely if it is starting and stopping the pump has not failed , it is what is controlling the pump, as the pump being mechanical will work or not , it is its control unit that I started to think was to blame, anyway long story short, researched online, came up with ecu for unit as being particularly bad at getting dry joint on the board, found a guy who fixes them and gives a lifetime warranty for £40, so I phoned my mate , told him to strip out as I was giving this a punt first, needless to say , I never got a bill from the garage, and my last few valets have been free! I also said to my mate who owns the garage , I would be available three days a week .
So aye get stuck in ! it saved me nearly a thousand pounds and 3 days earnings lost !
