Last week we decided that we are fed up of making three trips in a Ford KA every time we take the family anywhere, and decided to re-insure and tax our minibus and get it back on the road and take the ford KA off the road.
While waiting for the quotes to come in, the kind local constabulary did a quick check on their database as I was passing and then stopped me to let me know that my MOT expired in July, when Iwas in the heat of my unemployment financial troubles with much bigger fish to fry than my MOT, which got forgotten.
The kind bobbies also gave me a £60 fine. (Funny how with British law you have to pay the fine even if it was a genuine oversight, wheras people expect God to let them off scott free with really pathetic excuses.) At least I can pay by installments.
Wouldn't it have been nice if the insurance quotes had come in earlier, then I would not have been in that car, which would have been off the road and not needing an MOT.
Now to get an MOT, I am fairly sure I would have to get that power steering leak fixed. So this compounds our decision to swap to the minibus.
Today, I have managed to get the minibus taxed and insured, and cancelled the insurance on the small car. Tomorrow, we're off!
The leak may not be your steering rack. If it is, reconditioned racks are available from £95 on ebay or about £125 to £150 from a local car spares place. NOT a Ford dealer!. They seem to average around £800 to supply and fit.
ReplyDeleteHowever, having just replace the rack on my daughters '02 Ka, there are two other, very cheap, possibilities.
1. The joints where the metal pipes screw into the rack tend to develop leaks. These pipes are free to move about even when the joints are tight, but they do begin to leak after a while. They are a pain to get to, but disconnect them, wrap ptfe tape around the threads and replace them.
2. One of these pipes has what looks like a pressure sensing device mounted on it with an electrical connection from it. The one on mine is leaking around where the electrical connectors connect into it. From underneath the car this is easy to get at and replace and will probably cost around £20.00 I am awaiting a quote.
It is worth checking these before spending on a rack.
Thanks for valuable comment, u_bug_me_32. I am a totally non-mechanical type, and have rely on the garage to do the work and so I have to take their word for it most of the time. I wasn't aware of the 'reconditioned' option. The guy did tell me 'it's the steering rack itself', and he knows I am unemployed so if he was just trying to create work he would have gone for a smaller job that I would say yes to rather than a big job I would say no to. So my gut feeling is that if it were the pipes he would have said so.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, hopefully I will soon get a job and will want to get it back on the road, and then the reconditioned option sounds like the way to go. After all the car is 7 years old and doesn't really merit NEW parts. Jesus said "no one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment" (or something like that).
God bless
Simon