StevesTruck

I'm pretty sure they were Depo's, although there was no name on the website. Just bear in mind we drive on the wrong side of the road, so our headlights have a different beam pattern to what you'll need if you're in Romania.

I put a pair of headlights from carparts4less on mine about 6 months ago, there's a little bit of scatter to the nearside, but other than that it's made a world of difference. Probably the best £100 I've spent on the car.

My very limited understanding of it, from conversations had while delivering Motorbility vehicles several years ago is that you can't buy your own car from them. Sometimes your supplying dealer will help you work around this by buying the car from Motorbility then selling it to you, but there's obviously got to be something in it for them to make them want to do it.

It's worth giving them a blast of WD40 (or whatever release spray you like) the day before. You can get to the back (thread) of a lot of the screws if you've got a can with a straw on. I normally tap the screwdriver bit in with a little hammer, and most of the time that helps them it break through the rust and get seated right. If you've got an impact driver, that will almost always get them out as long as the bit is seated right - just don't use it to put them back in afterwards! Worst case, you can normally get a flatblade screwdriver to bite in a couple of the lobes on the screw head, or bite down on them with some mini mole grips. You can get replacement screws on ebay, it's worth changing the speed fasteners as well. If you can get stainless steel ones, that will help the job next time. I normally give them a good coating of copper grease as well.

Does the engine crank/turn over?

If it's parking brake stuck in the off position, you might get lucky if you apply some WD40 and some patience. It can just be the lever mechanism that the cable goes through on the caliper getting gunked up. I sent mine off for a refurb with these guys http://biggred.co.uk/ they didn't take long and did a really nice job. If Eurocarparts are coming up expensive, try their other site, carparts4less, or just your local motor factors.

There's the question, anything can break on any car. Generally speaking though, as long as you turn it off as soon as it happens, something like a turbo or a rad going isn't the end of the world. Either one could be changed in a couple of hours. As above, worst case is cambelt. You're looking at about £300 to change that and the water pump (do change the water pump and get a genuine one fitted) before the event happens. Head gaskets can leak if you've giving it a lot of beans, and similarly, clutches wear fast if you give them a hard time.

As long as you like it and it's not rusty, I'd stick with it. Low mileage won't really cause a PD any problems compared to a modern diesel.

See what the local back street dealers offer you. Decent second hand stock is getting to be a bit hard to come by at the moment. And yes, if you can do the basics yourself, and don't feel the need to impress people, a cheap runaround is the way to go. The secret is spend half your budget on the car and keep the other half back to put it right.

It's not something you commonly come across. Which sensor are you looking to change in which car?

I've never heard off another rebuilding one and it lasting. Personally I'd be looking at swapping a lower miles engine into it if you like the rest of the car.

I don't think most people notice when a new registration number comes out any more. Although there first thing with the new years registration around here is normally a tractor

The pumps can get gunked up, especially if you use plain water in the washers. I suspect that's what's happened if it's scanning as normal. Pull the plug off and check for a voltage there and a clean run back to earth. It's also worth testing the pump by dropping 12 straight to it with a pair of wires. Pumps are cheap and a fairly generic part. If you're taking it off, give the bottle a good flushing out

HP lasers are generally good for cheap refurb cartridges because there's that many of them, I have a couple of the little £70 LaserJets. Refilled cartirdges are a tenner each and will last for a box of paper. It's their inkjets that are expensive to feed. Brother had completely passed me by as a brand until someone gave me a Brother A3 inkjet with a clogged printhead. Once that was cleaned out, it's been absolutely brilliant.

HP laser if you're not wanting to spend a lot, Brother if you're wanting something better.

The worst of it will be seized unions and rusty pipes. It's generally easier to bleed them through before you hook the spring on, but that varies from car to car.