Interested In Advertising? | Contact Us Here
Warning!

 

Welcome to Clean It Up; the UK`s largest cleaning forum with over 34,000 members

 

Please login or register to post and reply to topics.      

 

Forgot your password? Click here

Yada Yada Yada - www.m-clean.uk

  • Posts: 406
Best made plans .....
« on: May 03, 2021, 04:21:15 pm »
Can still bring you unstuck.

Driving back from Prestwick last week couldn't get the van into gear.

Initially got it started, after visiting KFC and trying to consume a boneless meal & drive ( I do not condone eating & driving, even if it is finger licking good) but on each gear change it was having none of it, hazards on, pull over & switch off.

After two or three times of this happening I got it into 4th and passing Glasgow into 5th gear, knew it was virtually a straight road all the way back to junction 16 of the M6 (my turn off).

Short of being stopped by the rozzers or another unfortunate incident I was going home.

Meal consumed and chips all over the van, where was the 2nd opened barbecue dip?

5th gear for 225 miles and a steady 70,  quiet road, easy peasy.

After it being this good for an hour there was no way I was going to attempt 6th gear.

Engine cover had ripped off and was trailing underneath the van going up to Scotland because it was really windy - had to get down and dirty to cut it off on the side of the M74.

The shift was about 2 hours work on a fuel station canopy - there and back in a day.

Van to mechanic who can't fix it, over to a commercial mechanic who can't even begin to look at it till the 10th, had to pass on two weeks of work that was top portfolio.

You try and get a large van at the moment with reasonable mileage - found one after several phone calls in Dorset, collect it tomorrow after a 6 hour train journey, via London and god knows where and a hefty amount of money.

Still got to get the other van fixed to sell so a slightly expensive 2 week period with loss of work, new van & van repaired.

Character building!!

tom20001

  • Posts: 766
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2021, 06:08:55 pm »
Thats bad luck and this stuff always happens when you are at your busiest and most the  inopertune time not that there is ever a good time for it to happen 😭 fella drove into the side of me on my biggest yearly job last yr 🙈

Smudger

  • Posts: 13438
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2021, 10:41:20 pm »
Alway when I least want it - my boxer stripped its oil pump 10 days ago - got it fixed lovely only 2 days off the road - out it went and blew up the turbo - mechanic stripped it down in unit and had a stroke - so needed to get another mechanic in to put it back together take it to his garage and replace turbo - which apparently had split in half - now ready to work - I have managed to shuffle work but its not fun moving it back time and again

Darran
Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience

Aqua Power Solutions

  • Posts: 802
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2021, 05:45:23 pm »
Rob what did you end up buying  ,  looking around at the moment and the prices of used vans has hit the roof .  Ed
Aqua Power Solutions external property maintenance 01423 541 400 Mobile 0752 158 3240  Visit our Facebook page for examples of our work https://www.facebook.com/Aqua-Power-Solutions-332485570200950/

Yada Yada Yada - www.m-clean.uk

  • Posts: 406
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2021, 09:24:35 am »
Ed - tell me about it.

Everyone wants them for camper conversions & trying to get one under 100 000 on the clock is a mare.

Seen them wanting 15- 17000 for 130 000 on the clock.

Tried to get a couple local, then went out towards Leicester, then further out, every time I called they'd gone.

Found this one in Dorset.

It's a Ford Transit L4 (jumbo), high roof, 70 000 on the clock but couldn't find anything without VAT.

Bought from a couple who turn them around, proper business, she'd picked up two yesterday off the auctions and one had already been sold.

Said she just couldn't find them.

Won't buy a new one, not in this game so I'm not happy about the VAT but it'll see me out and because I've got the Luton with a partial conversion, bed, kitchen, seating, full solar, gas & diesel heater I'm hopeful when repaired it'll hold a very strong price and recoup half the new van cost.

Yada Yada Yada - www.m-clean.uk

  • Posts: 406
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2021, 09:25:54 am »

Yada Yada Yada - www.m-clean.uk

  • Posts: 406
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2021, 09:26:35 am »
That hose reel is not attached to the windscreen.

Mike Halliday

  • Posts: 11581
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2021, 10:17:40 am »
This is why I built a trailer unit that  I can tow behind my car, it’s just sat on my drive as a back up if my machine or van has a problem

I keep hoping my machine blows up so I can give this trailer a good go, it’s actually a better machine than my jetter
Mike Halliday.  www.henryhalliday.co.uk

Yada Yada Yada - www.m-clean.uk

  • Posts: 406
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2021, 10:45:37 am »
That works on residential/commercial within 50 kms/35 miles of your base.

Anything over that and you are towing for commercial gain and need a tachograph fitted.

I drove 265 miles last Sunday and then 265 back.

We used to tow big Ifor Williams trailers into London until pulled on the M6 one day.

VOSA will rip you apart if they have any reason to think that something is amiss with your vehicle or anything being towed & now they are a privately operated business can gain monetarily from their actions.

Was told in no uncertain terms - get a tachograph fitted or keep your vans off the road, you've got seven days to prove you've complied.

Even with a digital tacho I just didn't want to have something else to manage so took them out and sold the trailers.

I was finishing so thought the van would get me through - held onto it for a year too long and now it's going to cost a couple of quid.

Aqua Power Solutions

  • Posts: 802
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2021, 04:27:16 pm »
Very tidy van Rob , Where i bought my new custom sport in 2017  , they offered me LWB high top transit with 16 k on the clock  , Dead locks fitted  and tow bar £20k no vat .  Big mistake thinking i would get a better deal and how wrong was i Ed 
Aqua Power Solutions external property maintenance 01423 541 400 Mobile 0752 158 3240  Visit our Facebook page for examples of our work https://www.facebook.com/Aqua-Power-Solutions-332485570200950/

Matt.

  • Posts: 1832
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2021, 08:36:46 pm »
Yada I feel ur pain mate, I have had 2 partner vans sitting round for a year now and we went back to work on the 12th April. Within a week the clutch went on one of them so recovered it using my trafic van back to Liverpool from north wales, garage says will be a week at least before we can look at it so had to take it to Peugeot dealer 🙈🙈🙈🙈. Got it all fixed and back on the road and the very next day the lad in the other partner rings me saying I got engine failure coming up on my dash screen .... am like for sausages sake, gets that to local garage an he says the pump and sensor have gone on ur add blue tank and this is a dealership job ...... talk about breaking me heart....
Had to put off a jet washing job until I could get them back on the road, finally starts this jet washing job on Monday and been trying to work through the wind and rain and today the bloody pull cord snapped on me machine !!!!
It’s all or nothing with no in between, but am counting that as me 3 incidents now am hopefully tomora is a better day
Matt

Smudger

  • Posts: 13438
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2021, 09:02:40 pm »
Yada I feel ur pain mate, I have had 2 partner vans sitting round for a year now and we went back to work on the 12th April. Within a week the clutch went on one of them so recovered it using my trafic van back to Liverpool from north wales, garage says will be a week at least before we can look at it so had to take it to Peugeot dealer 🙈🙈🙈🙈. Got it all fixed and back on the road and the very next day the lad in the other partner rings me saying I got engine failure coming up on my dash screen .... am like for sausages sake, gets that to local garage an he says the pump and sensor have gone on ur add blue tank and this is a dealership job ...... talk about breaking me heart....
Had to put off a jet washing job until I could get them back on the road, finally starts this jet washing job on Monday and been trying to work through the wind and rain and today the bloody pull cord snapped on me machine !!!!
It’s all or nothing with no in between, but am counting that as me 3 incidents now am hopefully tomora is a better day
Matt

 ;D :D ;D
Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience

Yada Yada Yada - www.m-clean.uk

  • Posts: 406
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2021, 12:31:54 pm »
You know Matt & Darran

I'm going to be using 'for sausages sake' as my go to whenever something happens - love it ;D.

I take solace in that I'm not on my own.

Yada Yada Yada - www.m-clean.uk

  • Posts: 406
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2021, 12:32:29 pm »
Matt

The vans have been sat because of Covid?

Matt.

  • Posts: 1832
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2021, 08:14:10 pm »
Yes Rob

All my work is commercial window cleaning so everywhere closed down, to say the least it’s been a disaster.
I get all the pressure washing on the sites we do the windows but this has only just. Came back to me aswell.
Drove to Bolton this morning hoping that Conrad in ac pressure washers had a recoil to sell but he only does full set ups, he put me onto a company called seddon, and they was in Bolton just off m61 ( they have a few sites scattered around the country ) and they specialise in Honda bits so I was like a kid in Charlie’s chocolate factory .....
picked a few spare bits up while I was there so I have 2 machines set up in the back of the van and if anyone else is looking for bits they could check them out on the old inter-noogle....
was £80 for genuine Honda recoils or £20 for a look a like 😂😂 😂😂

Yada Yada Yada - www.m-clean.uk

  • Posts: 406
Re: Best made plans .....
« Reply #15 on: May 06, 2021, 09:04:53 pm »
Well that's been a tough old period mate, nothing worse than sitting on your backside, particularly through that lot.

Seddons in Stoke (I don't live in Stoke) closed completely - I've got a 240/3 phase genny, 12~Kva that I need looking at.