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Sudden death

Passion, instruction, buying, care, maintenance and more, any form of vehicle discussion is welcome here
bungeejumper
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Sudden death

#405843

Postby bungeejumper » April 21st, 2021, 2:18 pm

Okay, my trusty six year old Toyota beat its duck for problems this week. I can't grumble about that, especially since it was quickly repaired. But how unlucky was this?

Five miles from home, the power steering suddenly failed and the traction control warning light came on. There were no other dashboard warnings, and certainly nothing in red. So, since I was in heavy traffic, I decided to battle on for a bit. Then the engine went lumpy and after another quarter of the mile the car just went 100% electrically dead. A very kind stranger gave me a 30 yard push into a gateway. Couldn't even work the hazard flashers. Everything totally wiped out.

AA patrolman arrived. The short version of the story was that my alternator had gone short-circuit, to the point where it was pushing out wisps of smoke. The battery, only a year old, and fully charged, had been instantly killed. Oooh, said the patrolman, that doesn't often happen that badly with alternators. Perhaps I'd better disconnect it before something catches fire? :lol:

So he did, and he lent me a battery which got me back to my trusty garage. Who confirmed the cooked alternator, and who tried all night to charge my battery without success. So it was five hundred quid's worth of alt and battery that hit my Barclaycard.

It could have been worse, of course - If I'd been in France, where ordinary parts can take two weeks to arrive instead of overnight, as in Britain, I'd probably still have been waiting. But then, the holiday budget is now somewhat depleted in any case. I do try to see the bright side of life...... :|

BJ

redsturgeon
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Re: Sudden death

#405845

Postby redsturgeon » April 21st, 2021, 2:33 pm

How many miles has the Toyota done?

John

GrahamPlatt
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Re: Sudden death

#405857

Postby GrahamPlatt » April 21st, 2021, 3:32 pm

I was travelling on a sunny motorway through Serbia in my VW Transporter. I’m in the slow-lane approaching a lorry when a car boxes me in, driving alongside me. I had to slow down. So did the car, the driver motioning me to pull over onto the hard shoulder. Well, it was mid-afternoon and there was plenty of traffic, plus the other driver was alone, so I did. He pulled in front of me and got out, indicating to me that I should look at my front wheel. I looked, kicked it, couldn’t see anything wrong. He suggested (by gestures) that I should turn the steering wheel. I did; still nothing to see. He then got under the car on his back and came out with his hands full of grease... from the drive shaft. He then led me, limping along slowly after his car, to a turn-off, and into a town where he took me to a rather “back-street” garage where a couple of blokes were working on a small car. At which point, he left. Didn’t even wait for me to thank him. So the two mechanics have a gander, whip the small vehicle out from over the pit and get my van in. Hmm, wheel off, drive shaft out: Bearings at both ends rather chewed up. It’s now 3:30pm, and it’s Friday.. The younger of the two has some English - do I want new parts or will refurbs do? Errr, new please. So off he shoots in his car and is back with the gear within 30 mins. Job complete and ready to roll by 5:30pm. Phew!

bungeejumper
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Re: Sudden death

#405870

Postby bungeejumper » April 21st, 2021, 4:09 pm

redsturgeon wrote:How many miles has the Toyota done?

65K in total. But from what I'm gathering, it could happen on any car at any age. Some little sliver of swarf, some tiny bit of carbon tracking, and Bob's your patrolman.

AFAIK, the OEM electrics are made in Japan by Denso, and not in downtown Derby, where most UK Toyotas are assembled. :lol:

Just ordinary bad luck, I guess. If that's the only prob I've had in six years, I reckon I'm still ahead of the game. ;)

BJ

bungeejumper
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Re: Sudden death

#405876

Postby bungeejumper » April 21st, 2021, 4:27 pm

GrahamPlatt wrote:So the two mechanics have a gander, whip the small vehicle out from over the pit and get my van in. Hmm, wheel off, drive shaft out: Bearings at both ends rather chewed up. It’s now 3:30pm, and it’s Friday.. The younger of the two has some English - do I want new parts or will refurbs do? Errr, new please. So off he shoots in his car and is back with the gear within 30 mins. Job complete and ready to roll by 5:30pm. Phew!

I do like those sorts of stories. Elbow power to those young guys with their can-do approach. We could probably do with more of their sort over here.

I had a bolt shear off on my Citroen once, in deepest France. It happened to be one of the eight bolts that held the two rear brake assemblies in place. And it was clanking horribly, which was how I noticed it. :? No problem, said the small-town mechanic, I can get a part in two weeks, or alternatively I can sort this out now. So he set about chopping up two bolts and welding them together (it wasn't a highly stressed bolt), and at the end of the afternoon he charged me 15 euros for a couple of hours' work. I bought him a couple of bottles of vin rouge as a thank you. He seemed genuinely pleased, and surprised.

(Obvs, when I got home I ordered eight new bolts and had my usual garage fit them.)

BJ

didds
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Re: Sudden death

#405880

Postby didds » April 21st, 2021, 4:32 pm

bungeejumper wrote:
It could have been worse, of course - If I'd been in France, where ordinary parts can take two weeks to arrive instead of overnight, as in Britain,
BJ



i wonder if that is still true depending on where the parts are coming from....

didds
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Re: Sudden death

#405925

Postby didds » April 21st, 2021, 7:36 pm

BJs story reminded me of the one time I've needed a mechanic's help in France. it was a long time ago and memory is fading but it was a hired people carrier and "something" went wrong. Not stopping it from working but it wasnt demonstrable that it was the hire company's fault whatever it was (ccosmetic stuff? probably...) and I didnt fancy protracted at distance debates and loss of deposits etc over it. So off we went en famille (well it was France!) to the local town and its lake and stopped into the Renault (sure it was a renault garage) garage there. The receptionist spoke enough English with our holiday and get by French to indicate they'd get the part.

I was concerned that we only had a couple of days holidays left before we headed back to Toulouse or Bordeaux airport (which ever it was). She seemed surprised and said "oh, bno - it will be here at 3 PM." so we went to the lake, at 3pm i left the family there, drove back to the garage where it had indeed arraived and they fitted it - and charged me some pittance of a price. WAY cheaper than a loss of deposit and an argument. like BJ it was flowers and some beers as a thankyou as a result!

didds

MonsterMork
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Re: Sudden death

#406107

Postby MonsterMork » April 22nd, 2021, 11:55 am

bungeejumper wrote:The short version of the story was that my alternator had gone short-circuit, to the point where it was pushing out wisps of smoke.

BJ



Ah, yes, well they never work properly once you let the magic smoke out :lol:

MM

AsleepInYorkshire
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Re: Sudden death

#406118

Postby AsleepInYorkshire » April 22nd, 2021, 12:30 pm

bungeejumper wrote:Okay, my trusty six year old Toyota beat its duck for problems this week. I can't grumble about that, especially since it was quickly repaired. But how unlucky was this?

Five miles from home, the power steering suddenly failed and the traction control warning light came on. There were no other dashboard warnings, and certainly nothing in red. So, since I was in heavy traffic, I decided to battle on for a bit. Then the engine went lumpy and after another quarter of the mile the car just went 100% electrically dead. A very kind stranger gave me a 30 yard push into a gateway. Couldn't even work the hazard flashers. Everything totally wiped out.

AA patrolman arrived. The short version of the story was that my alternator had gone short-circuit, to the point where it was pushing out wisps of smoke. The battery, only a year old, and fully charged, had been instantly killed. Oooh, said the patrolman, that doesn't often happen that badly with alternators. Perhaps I'd better disconnect it before something catches fire? :lol:

So he did, and he lent me a battery which got me back to my trusty garage. Who confirmed the cooked alternator, and who tried all night to charge my battery without success. So it was five hundred quid's worth of alt and battery that hit my Barclaycard.

It could have been worse, of course - If I'd been in France, where ordinary parts can take two weeks to arrive instead of overnight, as in Britain, I'd probably still have been waiting. But then, the holiday budget is now somewhat depleted in any case. I do try to see the bright side of life...... :|

BJ

My thoughts are with you and your family at this time.

AiY

bungeejumper
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Re: Sudden death

#406120

Postby bungeejumper » April 22nd, 2021, 12:34 pm

AsleepInYorkshire wrote:
bungeejumper wrote:It could have been worse, of course - If I'd been in France, where ordinary parts can take two weeks to arrive instead of overnight, as in Britain, I'd probably still have been waiting. But then, the holiday budget is now somewhat depleted in any case. I do try to see the bright side of life...... :|

My thoughts are with you and your family at this time.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Breelander
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Re: Sudden death

#406174

Postby Breelander » April 22nd, 2021, 2:49 pm

MonsterMork wrote:Ah, yes, well they never work properly once you let the magic smoke out :lol:

MM

If you're very lucky, you may still be able to source one of these.....

Here is presented for your perusal one Lucas Replacement Wiring Harness Smoke kit, P/N 530433, along with the very rare Churchill Tool 18G548BS adapter tube and metering valve. These kits were supplied surreptitiously to Lucas factory technicians as a trouble-shooting and repair aid for the rectification of chronic electrical problems on a plethora of British cars.
http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm

bungeejumper
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Re: Sudden death

#406233

Postby bungeejumper » April 22nd, 2021, 5:04 pm

Breelander wrote:If you're very lucky, you may still be able to source one of these.....

Here is presented for your perusal one Lucas Replacement Wiring Harness Smoke kit, P/N 530433, along with the very rare Churchill Tool 18G548BS adapter tube and metering valve. These kits were supplied surreptitiously to Lucas factory technicians as a trouble-shooting and repair aid for the rectification of chronic electrical problems on a plethora of British cars.
http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm

Like it. :D

BJ


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