The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Its the AA breakdown repair cover.

£20.69 a month includes

Homestart
Breakdown recovery short distance and relay
European cover

and the biggy

up to £500 worth of repairs up to 5 times per year per car

Exceptions
only things not included are worn clutches. Broken will be repaired but not worn out
Worn out brake discs and pads. Again sudden failure is covered.
Exhaust systems.

A pretty good deal as we have the modern and the Triumph and the DAF with all that cover for the one price.
Special deal that was only available if taken out in may and worked out only £10 a year more than, homestart, relay and roadside assistance from the RAC.

I see. Mind you, £248.28 would buy an awful lot of spares at specialist prices.

I gave up the RAC when they stopped covering the driver, instead insisting that the car be covered so migrated to the AA in January at £39 for the year on a special offer with Nectar points, it's me, in any car, who is covered and they guarantee to attend within 20 minutes if I should break down on a motorway or other location where the car being stationary on the road (or shoulder) would be viewed as a priority when the driver doesn't have the option of taking to the verge for safety's sake.

There's NCB too, based on the undiscounted annual premium of £107, so next year, although the Nectar member discount won't be available again, the same cover will then cost a mere £80 and so on, incrementally throughout the duration of my membership so yes, good for the AA.
I can have hotel accommodation, free hire car for up to 48 Hours and have my own car taken anywhere in the UK for repair, so this way, I still have the opportunity to do any work myself and buy the parts at sensible prices. Even when I was running the Volvo though, I didn't have to call them out so was almost disappointed!

Last time I needed recovery service was when I was with the RAC and all that was wrong was that the seat of the oil pressure relief valve in the Rebel had become loose in the chamber, so the pressure dropped away from 70ish psi at motorway speed to less than 20 psi. I explained to the guy who came out what needed to be done (5 minute task) to fit the new, one-piece valve I had in the glove hole but he wasn't allowed to do the job as that would have meant his jacking up the o/s/f corner of the car, which he said wasn't allowed on a motorway.
Funny thing is, every breakdown operator I've met and discussed this with since agreed that the work could be done at the n/s and without the jack.

If I work out garage prices though. The head gasket on Bruce and brake cylinder on Gladys would pay for the premium. The only problem is I like doing stuff myself my problem is facilities, especially since the council have started cracking down on people mending cars on the estate. But I dont like working on Mums 2002 vintage all computers and no workshop manual available. Plus when those computers go wrong their expensive

Pauldaf44 wrote:Its the AA breakdown repair cover.

£20.69 a month includes

Homestart
Breakdown recovery short distance and relay
European cover

and the biggy

up to £500 worth of repairs up to 5 times per year per car

Exceptions
only things not included are worn clutches. Broken will be repaired but not worn out
Worn out brake discs and pads. Again sudden failure is covered.
Exhaust systems.

A pretty good deal as we have the modern and the Triumph and the DAF with all that cover for the one price.
Special deal that was only available if taken out in may and worked out only £10 a year more than, homestart, relay and roadside assistance from the RAC.

I looked at that but was put off by
# For a claim to be considered you must call the AA for breakdown assistance.
# Once you've nominated a vehicle for Breakdown Repair Cover, you'll need to keep it serviced in line with the manufacturer's recommendations. Servicing must be done by a suitable garage business.

The second clause I spoke to them about. Particullarly with the DAF as very few garages will work on it. I was told by their salemen and he confirmed with head office that as the company is no more that the vehichle can be home serviced. As long as a record and reciepts for parts are kept.

Im afraid you ahve been conned (I know the following through my work) if the car is over 10 years old it will not be covered for mechanical repairs.
and MUST be serviced by agarage its alright someone telling you diferent on the phone but when you come to claim that means nothing.

To do a head gasket on a 1300 is a days work. easy. our 1500 blew the gasket on new years day and i had it stripped in 2.30 hrs, make sure you undo the head nuts in sequence, its listed in the manual and the other difficulty my be the down pipe studs, mine stripped when undoing them, apart from that is dead easy and you should be able to do it in one day unless the head needs skimming!!

Good luck!!

N

Option 2 has been taken. Car is now somewhere it can easily be worked on.

The car has now moved 7 miles up the road. To somewhere nicely off road. This means tomorrow will see the head come off and we will see what we have then. Because of the amount of meat between pots 2 and 3 I am slightly worried the head may be warped. If so it will be skimmed. 50mph on 2 cylinders I think was quite impressive. Mind you I only took it 2 miles then got it transported the rest of the way.

I am in 2 minds now that its off the road as to whether or not to pull the whole engine, do the headgasket on a bench and clean everything up before it goes back in. This will also be the perfect oppurtunity to do the welding needed in the engine bay. Namely under the battery. Im setting a deadline this car will be back on the road in 3 weeks time and be going to the rr gathering.
It will it will it will.

Can anyone reccomend a good place that will skim a cast iron head for a decent price

Paul

I feel asleep, what is option two I take it option two dosen't involve taking advantage of the £200 you have given the AA?

Paul, you've obviously been mis-sold that policy, you ought to be able to get something back from the call centre drone who sold it to you, untruthfully.

Option two, that was trying to drive it seven miles along the Khyber pass on two wheels without a safety net, wasn't it?

this was option 2


2. Tow it to the farm and do it in peace and hope the suspension can cope with a mile and half of pottholed dirt track. Alternatively attempt to drive it their on 2 cylinders. I dont think thats a good idea or that it would manage the 7 miles.

and as far as the AA are concerened we still have more cover than we had before just not as much as we thought. The breakdown repair cover will cover the modern which I dont work on anyway

Still a waste of money as the cover will not pay for the cost of the most likely breakkdowns like ECU or sensor faults, HGV is also normally not covered as they will try to blag it and say the HG failed due to overheating caused by failure of hoses or thermostat that you didnt replace at the correct interval and that the fact that you bought a new thermstat is no proof that you fitted it reffering back to the 'garage serviced' clause,
How do you think these companys make money its sure not by paying out for every claim I would cancel the policy and demand a refund on the basis that it was missold and join another club just to give you UK recovery which at the moment you can get cheaply as the major companys are plying for the custom.

Items not covered by (most) repair policys
Anthing wear and tear,wheels, tyres ,brakes, suspension, cam/timing belts, fuel pumps, clutch, alternators, water pumps, peddle boxes and related gumpf, hoses, radiators, sensors, ecu related faults, exhausts, DPF or ESP faults, electrical faults,corrosion and umm that about covers most things that go wrong!

Justyn, I couldn't think of a single other thing that would actually prevent a roadside fix. Not on a simple, older car.

Paul, listen up man, you've been sold a pup, don't let them take you for a mug. Go to Trading Standards, write a stiff letter to BBC Watchdog, get Dom "Mini me" Littlewood to highlight this blatant abuse of trust by the sales person, but please, do something.
The ******* **** that sold you this product must have known that it wouldn't, in fact, cover you for any likely scenario you'd encounter with older cars which are far more likely to be fixable by the roadside than moderns, in many cases, so, IMHO, straightforward roadside assistance, recovery and possibly home start would have suited your needs well enough.

Sorry to bang on about this, but I loathe the idea of some call centre cheese-merchant taking the pure p*** for the sake of their couple of quid commission.
It's bloody well wrong is what it is, and it's disrespectful and you deserve better.

If you go to http://www.theaa.co.uk there is a link to a PDF file listing the terms and conditions of the various policys.
As with all T&C's ther eis a lot of jargon and takes a lot of effort to read through it properly I would be surprissed if the PDF has a 'clear english campaign' award!

The strip down has started today and I can confirm that all valves open and close as they should. Turned the engine by the starter ring with the rocker cover off.

Todays list

Fuel lines disconected.
Dynamo removed
Fan belt removed
Carb instalation removed
Rocker cover off
Manifolds off
Rocker shaft off.

I have also drenched the heater pipe union in wd40 as its currently preventing the water pump from being dismounted along with the jubilee clips holding the rad bottom hose on. Which also wont release.
When I get back to it the wd40 should have done its stuff then the water pump can be removed. Mounting bolts already loosened and the pushrods pulled out. Then the head can come off easy as all the head bolts have been loosened off in the correct order as well.

One thing I will say is whoever thought the positioning of the lower mounting bolts on the inlet manifold where a good idea should be shot with all haste. All in all everything has come apart relatively easily with the exception of the manifold and down pipe union and heater pipe union . Happy at the moment. We will see how happy I am when the head comes off though ;D

a few pics of todays escapades.

manifolds came off with a bit of persuasion in the end.

rockers look okay and this engine looks ruddy small with most of its peripharals missing.

Mostly looks ok couple of things noted.

Internal bore of inlet manifold is scored where it mounts to the carb no idea what could have caused this but it was working with it like it so its going back on ;D
and the engine oil is quite black and smells a bit burnt. With the level of work being done on this engine it and the filter will be changed as a matter of course so probably not a problem either.

Plan for tomorrow and next day is. Finish getting the head off not long now.
Change the rad, seems the ideal time to do it with the cooling system drained.
Change the gasket remount head and check for compression. If there everything goes back together and Bobs your uncle if not take the head into town and get it skimmed and Bobs your uncle ;D. Oh and sort out the minor electrical problem resulting in no lights other the headlamps or dash gauges ;D

we seem to be on track for the gathering

Paul