Running Repairs!

Hi everyone,
Perhaps you'll remember our recent story of a leak in the power steering. Well since then we've had the handbrake fail which resulted in another visit to the garage to have a rusted bracket re-made and fitted. This led to us making a calculation on what it's taken in running repairs to keep our 1995 Boxer based Symphony on the road in the 9 months we've had it, and were concerned to note that it added up to about £100 a month. This is on top of the estimated £1000 it will take to rebuild the gearbox when we can afford it!
This is our first motorhome, after a lifetime of caravans, and we do enjoy the experience, and the habitation side is in very good condition and works well.
Question is.. is this all we can expect from a 16 year old motor home with 77K on the clock? Or are we being unlucky, because if so, we'd like our luck to change soon!

Any thoughts?

regards

Jeff and Di

You could always try sailing!

Ted Heath, who was Prime Minister back in the 60's, likened offshore sailing as "Sitting under a cold shower tearing up ten pound notes!"

I think you have been a bit unlucky. There are a few "lemons" out there and any old vehicle reaches the " repair or scrap" decision eventually; at which point the latter decision is like putting down a much loved dog.

Sympathy with you!

Dutto

I also think you've been unlucky or maybe we've been lucky. Our Symphony is 14 years old and in the 2 1/2 years that we've owned it the only thing we have had to do on the base vehicle is replace the battery apart from having the head rebuilt under warranty. On the habitation side we had a new burner on the water heater under warranty and I replaced the blown-air heater. Other than a couple of tyres, due to age rather than wear, thats it.

Hi Jeff and Di

I do sympathise with you, nothing worse than shelling out good money on any vehicle! as others have said I think maybe you have just been unlucky, but I guess there comes a time in every vehicles life when things break or need replacing, we (so far) have been very lucky with our Trident.

With regards the gearbox have you tried to obtain a second hand unit? 1k is a lot of dosh Your vehicle having done 77k is nothing I'd say and should have loads more life left in her, our Trident is coming up for 83k on the clock, some vehicles are loved and cherished by their owners, while others do not value them for whatever reason and these are the ones that tend to get neglected, your Symphony just sounds like it needs a little TLC I'm sure your luck will change and you can enjoy your Symphony as it was intended by Auto-Sleepers

CC

Hi Jeff & Di,
Stick with it, eventually you will get the top side of it. It may seem you are throwing money away atm but these things happen. my last van had done 150k but was totally reliable despite the mileage.
During the years we owned it, the biggest expense was the fuel bill as I drove the van 80k over the years..so it had covered nearly as much as yours when we first bought it.
Think of it as a long term investment, that will take you away and give you the freedom to stay where you want, whenever you want to go...Which is probably the reason you bought a camper in the first place.

Good luck

Tim

ps, a grand for a new gearbox seems pretty steep.

Thanks everyone for the helpful comments and support.
We will continue and hopefully get on top of the problems, because when all is working well we do really enjoy the exprience of our first motor home, and can only wish that we continue with our dream for the next few years, of exploring the UK in so much more detail.

regards

Jeff and Di