My EA and the holiday from hell (it's a LOOOONG story!)

[KaptnKaos]

I purchased a EA series II wagon last July for the princely sum of $2000. It had 350,000 on the clock which made me a little nervous, but it had a full years rego, rwc, and was dual fuel which our budget desperately needed.

All went well for about 5 or 6 weeks, till one day I found I couldn't catch (of all things!) a rusty orange 120Y off the lights. I thought this was cause for serious concern so off I went to my trusted mechanic, who informed me that my auto was badly in need of a service and fluid top up. Job done, $180 thanks.

2 weeks later, the weather started to warm up so I took it off to get the air con checked & re-gassed etc. $120 thanks, and by the way you got 2 leaky welsh plugs.

I decided that welsh plugs aren't all that hard, so I'll do them myself. $50 for plugs and assorted gaskets etc and (5 days later!) the job is done.

Remembrance Day rolls around and I head off up to the local RSL to do my volunteer duties as I do all year. I come out after lunch and the car won't start. Turns over, but won't fire.

I duly call the tow truck to come get it and take it to the sparky to be fixed. $80 for the tow thanks. (80 bucks to tow it 2 blocks?? I'm in the wrong game!).

Next day the sparky calls. Your distributor is "Donald Ducked". That'll be $420 to replace thanx.

2 days to get the job done, and I finally get my car back ...... for about 20 minutes. I got less than a kilometre up the road and it stopped again. I ring the sparky, and an hour and a half he turns up on the side of the road and starts testing. The stuffed dizzy must have spiked your coil, cos it's buggered now too. That'll be another $60. And don't forget the $65 call out fee.

She who must be obeyed decides that we should take a trip up to visit her folks in NSW before Christmas. Good idea, I'd better get that tranny fluid level checked. Level was a bit low, $30 to top her up.

So I've now spent a grand (near enough) in a month or so on the car, and off we go on our relaxing 2 week break, leaving Cranbourne just after 9am bound for Cooma in the Snowys.

Junior was getting antsy in the back so we stopped at Bairnsdale for lunch. As I walked round the back of the car I noticed a hint of oil on the rear bumper. No panic, I probably just picked some crap off the road.

We pulled up at Cann River for a break and fuel, and I checked out the rear of the car. Still a little bit of oily stuff there but no worse than Bairnsdale.

By the time we got to Bombala, I had a single speed auto box! I nursed it on to Cooma and decided I could deal with it the next day.

Went out to take the car to a local garage to get checked out. Now I got a NO speed auto. The mother-in-laws boyfriend knows a bloke has a workshop just out of town, so we go see him. Another day, another tow truck.

8 days and $1350 later, I have a reco box, a new shaft, a new universal joint, a new diff, a new water pump, and a VERY unhappy woman!

Almost 2 and a half grand on repairs to a car that cost me $2000 to buy.

I'll be glad to get back home so I can have a break from the stress!

[pecker73]

Hey. Look on the bright side. It'll probably run like a peach for the next 5 years.. Fingers Crossed :thebirds:

[XRated]

1350 for all that work is fairly decent though, assuming it is a genuine reco box. Is it a 3-speed or 4-speed auto?

Well if the engine craps itself at least low km AU engines are cheap to come by and you will have an almost bulletproof EA :P I said almost!

[Tiga_EL]

Option 2 sounds most appealing. Sorry man, but seriously who spends that much cash on repairs on an EA, an excab with like 11ty billion km's is like 50 times more reliable than that car by the sounds of it. All the best with it anyhow

[OED666]

not much else that can go wrong... if the motor dies... smash in an AU motor... as previoulsy said, an almost bullet proof EA then

[needaXYGT]

unless you knew the history of the car with 350,000k's, then maybe, but if you didnt, then i would walk away. just my opinion.

[KaptnKaos]

Originally Posted by Tiga_EL

Option 2 sounds most appealing. Sorry man, but seriously who spends that much cash on repairs on an EA, an excab with like 11ty billion km's is like 50 times more reliable than that car by the sounds of it. All the best with it anyhow

Who spends that kinda cash? A bloke stranded 600+ kms from home with a wife & 2 yo son who has no other option for getting them and their possessions home. That's who spends that kinda cash.

Yes we considered selling it and buying something else but decided to stick with the devil we know.

It's pretty easy to be glib about these things when it's not happening to you.

[EA2BA]

KaptnKaos - look at this way, you have fixed alot of probs that you would buy in another car now, so keep it, you have joined a forum with a wealth of knowledge and alot of member willing to help do repairs for not uch more then a BBQ and a few beers, so more paying mechanics, and also many members have cheap quality parts for sale.

[efgiar]

yeah jason is right, dont sell it now after youve spent all this money on it, fresh dif and box, 2 of the 3 major problems! the next thing to go is a headgasket. but new dizzy, coil and waterpump, this thing sounds like it runs pretty good now! you should check the leads and plugs while you at it, then your spark system maybe brand new pending on what condition they are in/if you are going to replace them or not. not worth selling these cars as you dont get any of your money back. what ever 2nd hand car you buy, youll be buying someone elses problems so just stick with this one

[DanXR6T]

Just a few words of experience having owned an EA...

$180 to service the auto? Expensive but not that much overpriced
$420 for a distributor? Find a different sparky. Mine was $200ish installed for a new one.
$65 call out fee? $80 towing? Join RACQ/RACV/NRMA or the equivalent
$30 to top up a low fluid level? It's $10-15 for a litre of fluid, if you chewed through that in a month, then there was a much bigger problem your $180 you spent earlier didn't diagnose.

The reco box and all the other work was cheap. Not sure why you needed a new diff though... unless it was cactus too..

Dan..

[Polyal]

Im not even going to list the things that went wrong with my first EA, ill cry.

Like the others have said, you have come this far, you now know whats good and bad about it, just keep plugging away. If the things you have just fixed die again, then its bye bye IMO.

[Kenaz]

Originally Posted by XRated

assuming it is a genuine reco box. Is it a 3-speed or 4-speed auto?

Originally Posted by KaptnKaos

I purchased a EA series II wagon last July

Series II EAs are 4 speed.

[LTDHO]

I hope option 2 is a joke.

When you buy a car this that many klms, expect to reco everything. Not many cars live that long and when the do, they need lots of $$$$ thrown at it.

$2000 is alot fo an EA. Especially if the major components haven't been reco'd in the last 100,000 klms. I sold mu 5.0 EB Gear for 2k and it needed only a little body work!

You have passes the point of no return. Either cut ya losses and sell or put more $$4 into it.

[poomba]

ahhhhhhh good ol' trusty mechanics... go in for a tranny reco, come out with a new diff. sounds like you got the raw end mate...

EA's a prone for this, but you have fixed a fair bit of it. from now on, i would suggest learning to get your hands dirty, instead of paying someone to top up tranny fluid... nothing a $2 funnel cant take care of. if something goes wrong, dont run straight to a mechanic, slap a thread on hear, and most people can handle it...

you mentioned leaving for your holiday from cranny? i live in narre warren, and would be happy to help out should the need arise, so would half the ff members, as most are in cranny or there abouts!

[Sundeep]

I seriously no sh1t know a guy who did the exact same thing as you, bought a high kay EA wagon from a dealer with RW/reg/dual fuel and had almost exact same problems. He tried to get on to the dealer about warranty but they wouldn't hear of it.

The car was later found burnt out near Police Paddocks in Endeavour Hills, lucky he had full comp ey... nuff said.

Sundeep

[XRated]

LOL Dosey.

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by EA2BA

KaptnKaos - look at this way, you have fixed alot of probs that you would buy in another car now, so keep it, you have joined a forum with a wealth of knowledge and alot of member willing to help do repairs for not uch more then a BBQ and a few beers, so more paying mechanics, and also many members have cheap quality parts for sale.

Too right Jason, just mention BBQ and beer, and e-series members come running

KaptnKaos. I used this method when I ripped out my old dodgy auto and put in a manual. I had heaps of e-series guys come over, and they helped me (or more like Josh did most of the work, while others helped ). We spent the entire Saturday doing it, and while it was a lot cheaper than getting a mechanic to do it, it also taught me a lot about these cars, plus it was good to catch up with heaps of the e-series fellas again.

[eb91xr6]

take all the goodies out and leave it in a high crime aria and leave the keys in it, u will get a call from the cops saying it was stolen, just say it was in your drive way and you can leave your keys in it and not get in shit,

[KaptnKaos]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

I hope option 2 is a joke.

The entire thread is kind of a joke really. I figure I can either find the funny side or have a nervous breakdown over it. And I don't have time for a breakdown right now! lol

Originally Posted by poomba

you mentioned leaving for your holiday from cranny? i live in narre warren, and would be happy to help out should the need arise, so would half the ff members, as most are in cranny or there abouts!

Very handy to know!

Originally Posted by EA2BA

you have joined a forum with a wealth of knowledge and alot of member willing to help do repairs for not uch more then a BBQ and a few beers, so more paying mechanics, and also many members have cheap quality parts for sale.

Also very handy to know.


So this means that all it takes is a few beers and a bbq to get some expert help & advice - and I might even be able to get someone to teach me how to do some of these things myself.

I guess none of you would be interested in the brewery in my back yard then? lol

[Damo]

good stuff mate, I owned an EA once... soooo many memories.

Welcome to the forums.

[Felony]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

I hope option 2 is a joke..

I was waiting for you to say that wayne, LOL! :P
Cheers

[TUF_302]

Burn the MoFo!! :

[MotherNatureVer2]

I am closing this thread as the original poster hasnt been here since Last Activity: 06-04-07 07:35 PM. I dont believe any replies are going to help him now !!!!!