Someone cut the fuel line on my car…

I noticed a flat tyre last week and thought I must have driven over a nail. On Saturday, I put the spare wheel on to take the car to Kwik-Fit and noticed the wheel nuts on the tyre were unusually loose.

I drove round the corner where another driver flagged me down saying I was leaking fuel. I jumped out to find petrol pouring from the underside of the car and pooling at the kerb. Turns out I had been trailing a line of fuel all the way down the street. Shit.

A friendly passerby, who must have been a mechanic, immediately stopped and offered to inspect the car. He looked underneath and announced that someone had cut my fuel line.

I looked under the car and this pic is what I saw:

I couldn’t believe it.

I spent an uncomfortable moment contemplating if this could, somehow, be personal. A slashed tyre and cut fuel line are a serious intent to harm.

It just seemed impossible.

Later, I Googled around and discovered that thieves cut exposed fuel lines on older cars to siphon out the petrol. It seems they tilted the car by deflating the tyre so they could get more fuel out of the tank. I think they tried to take the rear wheel off as well, hence the loosened bolts.

It was a real shock, but at least it wasn’t personal. I dread to think what could have happened. A smouldering cigarette end, random engine spark, stray firework could easily have sent me up in a ball of flames.

I reported it to the police who were very helpful, but said they couldn’t really do anything about it other than give me a crime number.

Shit.

car

Decided to make the most of the Christmas break and fit a new fuel filter to the car.

The filter is situated underneath the chassis in a protective plastic casing halfway along the fuel line. Took one look at it and thought it’d be a piece of cake.

Backed the car into my Dad’s garage, over his inspection pit. Crawled under the exhaust and set about extracting the old filter. Half an hour of fierce swearing and heaving on the wrench managed to loosen the rusted bolts and release the casing.

I then had to prise off the hose clips and pull the old filter free.

Took ages, and I even managed to bang my head a couple of times on the fuel tank, much to my dad’s amusement.

Fitted the new filter without a problem. Job done.

Must say I do like the satisfaction of getting it right.

Spent a while hoovering the inside and cleaning up the dash and carpets.

Nice to have a sparkling clean car !

a new car…..

Bought a car today… hooray !

Spotted a nice little motor in autotrader on Thursday.

’95 1.8 VW Golf GL with 62,000 miles on the clock in metallic grey.

Electric sunroof, good stereo and good condition. One careful owner.

Sweet.

Went to see it this morning, checked it over and did a test drive.

Bargained him down by a few hundred quid and agreed a nice price.

Sped to the bank to get a bankers draft and sorted out some temporary insurance before driving it away.

Ha ! Piece of cake.

Spent the afternoon in a dusty inspection pit changing the oil and giving it a service, before popping online this evening to find a very reasonable insurance quote.

Job done.

I have wheels… How good is that !

that stolen car

Update on my bro’s stolen car. The police rang him the other week to say they’d arrested 4 people for stealing his motor.

This raised our hopes that it might be recovered and I’d be able to take in on after all.

However, they said the culprits were involved in a dodgy spare parts scam.

They would steal older cars, sell the parts and scrap the rest.

The coppers had recovered some cars, but not my bro’s.

It seems likely it was stripped of its more valuable bits and crushed to remove the evidence. Fuckers.

So, it’s an insurance claim and the delights of the second-hand car market for me.

I put out some feelers the other day to see if anyone knows of a car for sale.

Apparently, there’s a 1998 Golf VR6 that a friend of my mother’s is thinking of selling.

Nice.

Bit pricey, but I’m tempted.

Perhaps the theft drama has a silver lining after all…

car thieving SCUM

Damn, I’m pissed off.

Over the summer my mother, brother and I cooked up a neat plan to swap cars.

My mother was going to get a new car, my bro would take on her old one and I would take on his car.

I haven’t had a car since coming back from travelling and have decided it’s high time I bought a motor.

So, this little deal seemed a perfect way to get a reliable set of wheels with the added bonus of avoiding the dodgy dealers and tarted-up disasters of the second-hand car market.

My parents went to see a nice car on Thursday and have decided to buy, setting the family car swap in motion.

However – and here’s the real pisser – my bro rang yesterday to tell me his car was stolen from outside his flat on Friday.

I mean… jesus that makes me madder than hell !

Bastards.

What a total fucker.

Such a beautiful little plan with everyone a winner comes to nothing because of a bunch of car-thieving SCUM ! Baaaastards.

He reported it to the police who said there was a reasonable chance of finding it. I wouldn’t bet on it though. It’s a 10 year old Golf and no one would nick it to sell on.

I guess it’s either been trashed by now or dumped somewhere. I’ll give it a few weeks to see if it turns up in a decent state and then I’ll wade into the second-hand car market.

Bugger….