How cautious are you?

[lard]

I ask as I think I err on the paranoid side :mrgreen:

Haven't had the bus long and it's been running rough (stutter) which no amount of tweaking will iron out - it's down to the throttle bushes on my bocar and it's leaking a small amount of fuel on and off (only when it's stopped from a run)

Was due to take my eldest two for theirs (and mine!) first overnight in the bus but cancelled at last minute after attempting to resolve the carb issues overnight - was torn because I'm sure it would have been fine, only 30 mins down the road from me, but because I knew it had issues that needed sorting I wasn't happy taking it out,

So - how cautious are others? Is it just me?

If it was my daily driver (and when I was younger I did!) I would drive it hoping it didn't break- perhaps age has made me a bit more cautious (and more of a perfectionist when it comes to my hobby car), especially with kids in the van, was a tough call as they had packed their little suitcases ready to go

I was thinking this morning that loads of people probably drive about without even worrying about what's going on in the engine bay and would have just crossed their fingers and gone for it - I personally want everything sorted when it starts playing up and quite enjoy the challenge of fixing it (that's the beauty of classic cars!) Or perhaps I'm just a killjoy :lol:

EDIT:

Or to rephrase the question - are the problem's above a "crap don't drive it" or "take it easy and fix as soon as poss" type of issue?

 

[61 stu]

Im in my late 30's with a missus, two kids and a dog and last year i decided to employ this as my daliy and stopped worrying about what could or might happen

Last week i did over 700miles in it with work etc and loved every one of them, best move i ever made

 

[lard]

Im in my late 30's with a missus, two kids and a dog and last year i decided to employ this as my daliy and stopped worrying about what could or might happen

Last week i did over 700miles in it with work etc and loved every one of them, best move i ever made

nice - though mines a standby daily - luckily I have a motorbike for my commute but when the weather turns I might wimp out and take the van on the odd day :msn4:

Though do you drive it if you know something needs doing and what would you draw the line at?

 

[BigG]

We use ours all the time all weathers, kids, pets and so on. Off to drop some doors off to a job then down to our shop to pick up all the rubbish then off to the suffolk buggers swapmeet ( hopefully)

But there is one thing you just cant take a risk with.

Petrol issues, any leak any time, dont risk it.

 

[Araon]

A very sensible choice fella it doesnt take an awful amount of fuel vapour and an eroneous spark to turn the bus into a flaming torch, better safe than sorry..... break the tents out they'll love it.....and get that carb seen to....

 

[uber cool]

I think we all get more cautious as we get older. It's not a bad thing especially where kids are concerned. But if you have a bike then at least you haven't completely lost it :mrgreen:

 

[type2tattoo]

I have a very usefull tool, I just Beleive! she's going to make it and she most often does

I have driven to Glastonbury and back with a leaking rear engine seal and resulting slipping clutch, with 5 kids, getting out everytime we stopped with an oil container to catch the oil that was pouring out and puting it back in. :shock:

Don't think I would do that now I'm a bit older :lol:

 

[noddy]

I always found the best policy was to fix what I knew was wrong, do the maintenance as per the bentley manual, and just use the bus to find out what else was wrong .

After about 18 months all the faults were sorted and she ran great and was very reliable.

If you are too cautious you will never use the thing, and that one long trip you take it on could be a pain, better to do lots of local stuff and then a couple of long shake down trips, to iron out any issues.

 

[Tofufi]

I drove mine 80 miles last year with a damaged valve causing no compression at all on #3...

I keep up to date on the servicing on mine, but if something doesn't feel right, I will try to fix it on the spot. If I can't do that, I'll limp it gently home and fix it there.

With the valve photographed above, it would do 60 with my foot flat to the floor... :shock:

 

[ghop99]

Depends on who is in the bus at the time.

My heart is in my mouth everytime I drive mine with the wife in. I would hate to have to sit at the side of the motoway with her eyeballing me with that frown she has.......

Does that mean I am under the thumb?! or just running scared......... :lol:

 

[K@rlos]

Being the daily driver i give mine a decent visual inspection about once a week and if i find something that ain't quite right i resolve it then and there before it has chance to develop into something more severe. But saying that, when i've fired it up and it don't seem 'happy' so to speak i won't drive it until i've either fixed it or worked out that it's nothing major.

That may seem very anal or paranoid but i figure it's cheaper to get the bus or a cab to work then fix it, rather than run it and have something really bad happen.

 

[crede999]

this is my daily driver ive actually just come back from taking 7 kids ten pin bowling , rained all the way there, .........best advice i could give is set her up right in the first place ie mixtures idles etc and then drive drive drive , its when you lay them up for weeks on a time that they start to go pete tong .........and keep on top of them, regular oil changes, if something is playing up fix it ,the more you drive them the more confidence youll have in them, before i did europe in the summer the furthist id done was 50 round trip but i knew she was set up right and ended up doing 3443 miles in two weeks ,
regards
chris

 

[K@rlos]

this is my daily driver ive actually just come back from taking 7 kids ten pin bowling , rained all the way there, .........best advice i could give is set her up right in the first place ie mixtures idles etc and then drive drive drive , its when you lay them up for weeks on a time that they start to go pete tong .........and keep on top of them, regular oil changes, if something is playing up fix it ,the more you drive them the more confidence youll have in them, before i did europe in the summer the furthist id done was 50 round trip but i knew she was set up right and ended up doing 3443 miles in two weeks ,
regards
chris

A man after my own heart :mrgreen:

 

[Tofufi]

Good stuff

Mine is my daily too... most I've done in a day is around 400 miles - took me 12 hours solid driving (with a wedding in the middle) on a mixture of A and B roads... got home at 2AM and still had a huge grin on my face...

Nothing better than using them as they were intended... Mine is an 8 seat microbus, too. Very useful for transporting large quantities of people or things

 

[61 stu]

Though do you drive it if you know something needs doing and what would you draw the line at?

Its my only driver (the others are in varying states of repair :roll: ) so it gets used for everything, shopping, tip run, work, anything and everything.

If it were anything serious then no i wouldnt drive it but i would have to fix it asap

 

[mattd]

anything with fuel then I would never chance it, I replaced all my fuel lines, clips and filter twice in a week because I got a little paranoid, and for a fortnight was checking the engine bay before and after a run just in case something was over tight and split a hose or too lose and leaked...

In general my theory is if you can carry the spares to fix it on the roadside, even if it is just electrical tape and some wire then I would just carry on with it but I probably wouldn't run with something I knew was a bit on the ropey side without the ability to fix it when it did go bang.

 

[Hilly_70]

I know what you mean though mate ..

Im paranoid too .. :roll:

When i used it a my daily .. i didnt give a shit cos there was only ever me in it .. i just enjoyed it and it never let me down ..

but the flipside of that is .. when we go to Cornwall in it with 3 kids ( a round trip of about 700 miles!) i spend about a week before trying to check everything i can .. then spend an 8 hour journey being the king of paranoia .. listening to every little noise and the wife dare not even speak to me .. that trip i should enjoy but i can't .. but it has made it everytime ..

I really have to learn to chill out a bit!

... oh and you were right not to risk it with the fuel problem ..

fuel and brakes .. its a no no .. everything else a maybe!

Hilly

 

[Soggz]

I just make a point of keeping on top of everything...after all, owning one of these old buses is a hobby/past time, isnt it?
The more time and effort (and a little money) that is put into these old vehicles, the more fun and entertainment is taken from them...THATS the secret.

 

[windsurfer]

Im in my late 30's with a missus, two kids and a dog and last year i decided to employ this as my daliy and stopped worrying about what could or might happen

Last week i did over 700miles in it with work etc and loved every one of them, best move i ever made

Don't want to Hi-jack this thread but I love this bus :mrgreen:

 

[61 stu]

Im in my late 30's with a missus, two kids and a dog and last year i decided to employ this as my daliy and stopped worrying about what could or might happen

Last week i did over 700miles in it with work etc and loved every one of them, best move i ever made

Don't want to Hi-jack this thread but I love this bus :mrgreen:

Praise indeed, thankyou