How Much More Will I Spend?

[tagnut]

Ok so after having had it for about a year I decided a little while ago that I'll be keeping my 2003 W211 E320 cdi for a while and that I should invest a little time and money in preventative maintenance, restoring some of it's good looks and doing a few little upgrades to keep me happy

In the meantime I have also had to deal with a front spring failure, new track rod ends, replacement alternator, replacement battery, replacement poly V drive belt.

The upshot is it is all starting to look a little expensive. The above repairs have cost in excess of £1,600 plus £700 for new winter tyres £200 for an Ipod kit which I have yet to fit and £100 for a Bluetooth module.

Still to come is:
Service and ATF - £400 ish
Radiator replacement - £350 ish (need to check first if I have a Valeo, not sure yet)
Front Bumper - TBC may get away with new grill and trim strip. Suicidal pheasant to blame
Rear Bumper - Paintwork and minor adjustment. Absconding car park moron to blame
Detachable Tow Bar - £400 ???. Selling my pickup through lack of use but still need to use trailer occassionally
Roof Bars for top box - £130
Alloy Wheel Refurbish - £300 ish
N/s door handle (Keyless Go) - £250 ish
New Wheel Bolts - £40
External detailing to restore finish - £300 ish

So by the time I'm finished I don't expect I'll have much change from £5K spent in a little over a year. That's fine and I'd be reasonably ok with that knowing that I've got the car to just how I want it but...are there any other nasty surprises lurking around the corner?

I expect a car like mine to be relatively expensive to run but would also hope that it is pretty reliable and isn't going to present me with large repair bills every year so..... what else should I be concerned about? Is there any other prevantative maintenance I should be thinking about to mitigate for expensive bills down the line?

I should add that the car has done £130K miles to date and I am only doing about 12 to 15K per annum at the moment.

Cheers,

 

[davidjpowell]

Just seen your location. I used wheel doctor in Scunthorpe who did our wheels for £50 each. Very happy with the finish. There is a supplier in the Midlands who is also recommended, but the various charges for stripping wheels and carriage put me off.

Our car was at about your mileage. Bills I saw were
Rear Shocks - £250ish
Ball Joints - I'm going to stop the costs, it will upset me.
Bearings (front) - not sure the car was completely cured
Injector
Slip ring (steering wheel)
Gearbox probarly needed an oil change.

Check you radiator - make sure it's not a Valeo.

£5k would most definately upset me!

 

[tagnut]

Just seen your location. I used wheel doctor in Scunthorpe who did our wheels for £50 each. Very happy with the finish.

Thanks I'll look into these guys. I have someone local as well that my local Indie has recommended.

Our car was at about your mileage. Bills I saw were
Rear Shocks - £250ish
Ball Joints - I'm going to stop the costs, it will upset me.
Bearings (front) - not sure the car was completely cured
Injector
Slip ring (steering wheel)
Gearbox probarly needed an oil change.

Check you radiator - make sure it's not a Valeo.

£5k would most definately upset me!

Yes but bear in mind that quite a bit of this spend is discretionary:
I don't need a new n/s door handle, only if I want the keyless go to work on it
Wheel refurbish and bolts not necessary just nice to do
Similar with external detailing
Tow bar and Roof bars covered by the sale of my pickup so that I can continue to pull trailer and load up as required once it's gone
Ipod kit just nice to have - better than the Itrip I'm currently using
Hopefully radiator will be ok and not Valeo. Car was bought Dec '03 and I think these stopped production in Sep 03. Could go either way I guess

I'll be doing the above over a period of time rather than all at once. When completed I should have a great car that I hopefully won't want to swap for a long time to come.

From your list:
Rear shocks done by previous owner a couple of years ago so will hopefully last for a while
Potential gearbox issues hopefully mitigated by ATF change and rad swap if it turns out to be a Valeo.
Did have an advisory on MOT last year for front wheel bearings though

 

[gatty]

Hi

I thought the radiator issue was only on 270cdi and not 320cdi might want to check with posts. Might save abit of money if no need to change.

 

[tagnut]

Hi

I thought the radiator issue was only on 270cdi and not 320cdi might want to check with posts. Might save abit of money if no need to change.

Thanks Gatty, would be good if that is the case but will double check anyway.