Club 80-90 Forums

I'm now focusing on my T25 as my Florida's likely to be pastures new. I've had various work done to her over the years - new alternator, clutch, exhaust, belt etc and her bodywork is fab. The problem is there's usually still something that catches me off guard, the last time it was hoses splitting and causing chaos. She's booked into the garage tomorrow and alongside some repair work, I want to make sure that there's as much preventative work done as possible so we can enjoy a summer without flexing our RAC card.

What would you suggest for a 31 year old van? I've asked for all hoses to be replaced as a starter, what else should they look at ? I'd rather just blitz as much as possible so I've some peace of mind when driving her.

water pump
fuel pump
filters
brake and clutch fluid.
coolant

CV joints
wheel bearings
Brake Discs/calipers
clutch master cylinder / slave cylinder
Carb refurb

Battery.
Exhaust
Front to back water pipes
Springs and dampers

Alternator brushes
Gearbox oil

And there was I, expecting a short and easy answer.... Experience really should have told me better. I've already had some of the above replaced, do I get any warning if any of the others are about to go or do they like the element of surprise?

Silky wrote:. do they like the element of surprise?

The thing is..if you feel/hear something different then yes, if you ignore death rattles, see anything unusual then yes, if you fail to maintain/check stuff/act on warnings then yes.
diligence will produce a warning.

otherwise no

If you spend enough time under your van and fix anything that looks or sounds needy then you should be okay.

I'd like to think I know my van pretty well. I guess at some point we will all need recovering, but so far I've been able to fix/ bodge and limp home when necessary.

Carrying a few spares, a decent selection of tools and a bit of lateral thinking is essential if you don't want to end your trip early.

Question is, are you replacing top-quality original bits with plenty of life left in 'em with cheap rubbish that'll only last a year...?

AdrianC wrote:Question is, are you replacing top-quality original bits with plenty of life left in 'em with cheap rubbish that'll only last a year...?

Fortunately none of the bits replaced are falling off, but I've no doubt there's a list of non-replaced parts just waiting to catch me out.
Anyway, I've bitten the bullet and booked her into Brickwerks for a good going over, hopefully that'll keep the AA man at bay for a while....