Three little words: “While I’m on…”
Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2026 8:50 am
okay, technically it’s four words but anyway… you know how it is. You plan to do a job on the car that, somehow becomes a lot bigger.
For example, the car was about due a timing belt. It makes sense to replace the water pump at the same time so, “while I’m on”, I might as well do that. This means draining the cooling system. There was a discussion on the forum a while ago about the benefits of using Prestone antifreeze so I thought I’d give it a try and, “while I’m on”, replace the old OAT stuff.
The car’s 31 years old and, although it didn’t actually seem to be leaking, the radiator’s looking a bit crusty in places. If it did let go it’s bound to be at the worst time so, “while I’m on” (and the system’s drained) I might as well replace it.
I’d touched up the front corners of the wheel arches a few years back but the rust had broken through again, so it seemed a good time to take the wings off and tidy them up. Lights out, bumper off etc - a bit of extra work but it did improve access to the mechanical stuff. What started as a fairly straightforward belt change ended up taking several days – waiting for paint to dry etc.
As it happens, when I came to remove the cooling fan, the bottom was flapping about. It was still fastened to the bottom bar of the rad, but the bar itself had come adrift at the ends, so a new radiator turned out to be a good move.
It was good to get so many things done at once (and take advantage of the decent weather), but there’s a lot to be said for doing one job at a time!
For example, the car was about due a timing belt. It makes sense to replace the water pump at the same time so, “while I’m on”, I might as well do that. This means draining the cooling system. There was a discussion on the forum a while ago about the benefits of using Prestone antifreeze so I thought I’d give it a try and, “while I’m on”, replace the old OAT stuff.
The car’s 31 years old and, although it didn’t actually seem to be leaking, the radiator’s looking a bit crusty in places. If it did let go it’s bound to be at the worst time so, “while I’m on” (and the system’s drained) I might as well replace it.
I’d touched up the front corners of the wheel arches a few years back but the rust had broken through again, so it seemed a good time to take the wings off and tidy them up. Lights out, bumper off etc - a bit of extra work but it did improve access to the mechanical stuff. What started as a fairly straightforward belt change ended up taking several days – waiting for paint to dry etc.
As it happens, when I came to remove the cooling fan, the bottom was flapping about. It was still fastened to the bottom bar of the rad, but the bar itself had come adrift at the ends, so a new radiator turned out to be a good move.
It was good to get so many things done at once (and take advantage of the decent weather), but there’s a lot to be said for doing one job at a time!
