This became UNRELIABLE recently.
By which I mean I left basic maintenance tasks unchecked until the car was unusable. Namely the radiator. It'd been leaking forever and with replacements NLA I'd been half arsedly looking at replacing it with something from another car and some custom plumbing while motoring around with the heater on full blast all summer to stop it from overheating. My frequent need to top up the coolant meant it was about 99% water so I needed to swap it for proper coolant before winter, and I didn't want to waste it on a shit cooling system.
I eventually accepted I'd never be bothered properly fitting another car's rad, so found a place in Edinburgh that'd recore the original for £180.
Well, I got my money's worth out of that. Not a single fin wasn't rotten.
A week or so later it was ready for collection:
It had also started running quite rough and seeming down on power. Much like it had done before I changed the timing belt, when it was a tooth or two out on the belt...
Bastard! Those lines on the pulley are supposed to be parallel with the surface of the head. The belt was quite slack too. So either the tensioner has failed or the belt has stretched, no idea how old the stocks of these belts are... Either way, it's a tooth out on the timing again.
These are a non-interference engine so if it all goes tits up it's not a massive disaster. It's next in line for repairs after the Volvo so it's waiting it's turn as I'm trying to largely focus on one car at a time to actually get everything up to a higher standard.
It also has a dying battery, so I spend a lot of time parking on hills and push starting it these days...
