The complexity of modern cars making their becoming classics

[ricky8664]

In the time since March that I've been I've been resurrecting my P5b, my AWD X type estate has had a transmission whine, noticeable for a couple of years, finally identified.

Unfortunately it's coming from the transfer box. I don't want to scrap it as it's a 67,000 mile car with good bodywork, leather and everything working fine. However, the only bona fide recon TBs that I can find seem to start at £1100 plus VAT but excluding fitting, meaning you're looking at close to £2K all in. Most of the specialist 4x4 transmission firms don't do the X type TBs.

A second hand one (£250 -£350) is probably going to cost close to £800 incl fitting and VAT, but what are the chances of finding one from a scrapped car that has done less than 67000 miles or whose TB is not just about to fail?

Apparently the 2 Achilles heels of the X type are sills (hidden under the plastic cover sills) and TBs. Sills can be welded pretty cheaply but the high cost of sorting the TB has meant I'm not going to fix it.

Spending £2K on the Rover is money worth spending as even my saloon may be worth £15K plus when its finished. But the jag, even with an uplift in pricing due to ULEZ in the London area, is probably not worth more than £4k in good nick and on a good day. On top of that, in the 4 years I've owned it it has had several engine electronic sensor failures, which have all cost £400 plus each to fix as the induction manifold (at least) has to come off to get at the faulty sensors. And that is just on 8000 miles of usage.

After having the whining identified, I got the garage to refill the TB with new oil and it is a bit quieter but I'm just going to use it now until the TB fails as I don't have much confidence more electronic failures will not be far away. A great pity as it's a great driver. So the next few weeks will seeing me getting my dad's old Omega MOTd, so that can sit in the garage next to the P5 awaiting the jag's final demise to be put back in use.

For the past few weeks I had been contemplating rebuilding the TB myself. However, the only two places in the UK that supply bearing kits for the boxes no longer keep them as some of the bearings cannot currently be sourced. Looks like game over though my decision is made now anyway.

I suspect rust and failed TBs (in the AWD versions) will see the demise of most x types preventing them climbing to the level of classic, but I suspect many modern cars will follow them, for various reasons probably linked to complicated electronics or the ridiculous cost of parts or their simple unavailability.

In the light of all that, the Rover really is quite a joy to work on as you can fix everything!




    

[ricky8664]

Apologies for the incomplete title in this thread. I meant to say,

"The complexity of modern cars making their becoming classics unlikely"

[dmaxwell]

I ran into similar problems with a 2004 Ford Focus I had for almost 5 years. Bought it used and it was a pretty good little car that got 40 miles per gallon out on the highway. But, after about 3 years, it started having problems that even using the repair manual and looking up codes on the internet just seemed to take forever to fix. Finally it just died on the way home one day and I said to myself that I was done with it! Sold it to a wrecking yard (along with all the spare parts I had acquired over the years). I had already started getting the P5 running, which took another year. All my vehicles are from the 1960s, '62 E Type, '63 Dodge truck and the '65 P5. As was stated in the prior post, I can fix these cars! Plus since I'm retired, I'm not driving anywhere near as much as I used to so the wear and tear on the cars is MUCH less than it used to be (not to mention I buy gas about once a month instead of 3 times a week!).

David
California