'Shed of the Week' this week

[Chris Skelton]

1 hour ago, henners999 said:

I'd love a DS, I'm guessing not too reliable though, being French and all.

What rubbish!  Why do you fall for this cliche? Like any other generalisation, flawed to extreme.

I had 4 DSs, NONE of whom had problems- except with the pillock who crashed into one and wrote it off (it was STILL drivable even bent up!)

The DS suspension had a false poor rep, I suspect because it was so different. A well engineered system that worked extremely well.

Like all cars, if it wasn't maintained it would fail- but no more than yer Ford (no....much LESS!)

I'd guess any DS now will either be needing serious rebuilding or be expensive. (There's one I saw, totally rebuilt, going for £75K!)

They are old beasts now of course.

I drove a borrowed one for a friends wedding about 12 years ago (when I had my Ser 3 LS) and thought (the DS) was a bit of a truck.

But then, much is, in comparison with a Lex.

[Newbie1]

2 hours ago, henners999 said:

Is that not included in this quote?

Quote

They've quoted for the serpentine belt ("auxiliary belt") but not the serpentine belt idler and tensioner (timing belt tensioners are different.) Not essential but nice to do when the front is stripped down.

[henners999]

1 hour ago, Chris Skelton said:

What rubbish!  Why do you fall for this cliche? Like any other generalisation, flawed to extreme.

I had 4 DSs, NONE of whom had problems- except with the pillock who crashed into one and wrote it off (it was STILL drivable even bent up!)

The DS suspension had a false poor rep, I suspect because it was so different. A well engineered system that worked extremely well.

Like all cars, if it wasn't maintained it would fail- but no more than yer Ford (no....much LESS!)

I'd guess any DS now will either be needing serious rebuilding or be expensive. (There's one I saw, totally rebuilt, going for £75K!)

They are old beasts now of course.

I drove a borrowed one for a friends wedding about 12 years ago (when I had my Ser 3 LS) and thought (the DS) was a bit of a truck.

But then, much is, in comparison with a Lex.

If you don't have first hand experience, there really is no other way of forming opinion than listening to other's opinions. Sadly for French cars that's the general consensus. Obviously I know better now.

[Malc]

3 hours ago, Newbie1 said:

Get the serpentine belt idler and tensioner done, too, as if they're not squeaking now they will soon!

why do you think this ....  to my knowledge none of my serpentine belt and peripheral stuff has ever been changed and at 200k miles it's as quiet as a mouse ......  a bit like the car generally, just purrs along ( not chasing that mouse at all  )

Malc

[cornershop]

19 hours ago, Malc said:

why do you think this ....  to my knowledge none of my serpentine belt and peripheral stuff has ever been changed and at 200k miles it's as quiet as a mouse ......  a bit like the car generally, just purrs along ( not chasing that mouse at all  )

Malc

I would replace them as you're effectively paying the labour already, so should be a parts only job effectively.

maybe just me (and newbie1 ;) )

[Newbie1]

20 hours ago, Malc said:

why do you think this ....  to my knowledge none of my serpentine belt and peripheral stuff has ever been changed and at 200k miles it's as quiet as a mouse ......  a bit like the car generally, just purrs along ( not chasing that mouse at all  )

Malc

Had the issue with an early Soarer 1UZFE not long after the timing belt had been changed. Managed to change the parts myself but would have been much easier done at the time of the timing belt. For my current car I got an Aisin tensioner and idler ridiculously cheap from Rockauto so it was a no brainer when I had the timing belt done. I do a lot of preventative maintenance...