Volksy

I do hope that it was that pipe, I knew it was a bear of a job to change, but not as bad as that! I hope it becomes a more reliable car now, as I really liked it.

That seems a shame, but I fully understand the fear/hatred of KE-Jet. K-Jet would be better, as it doesn't have as many ancient electronics but you still need a degree in partical physics, and god knows what else to fix these systems. I've just spent the christmas morning on mine, fitted some new rear speakers, wet vacced the carpets as best I could, ordered a potentiometer (stupidly to my office where I am not for the next two weeks). But seeing as I had nothing to do today I pulled off the aircleaner and had a good check over of all the vaccuum hoses and electrical connections. Found a couple of suspect hoses, especially a vaccuum hose from the fuel accumulator of the side of the distribution unit, which has loose, and half seated jubilee clips, so adjusted everything and took it out for a spin. I thought at least the roads will be quiet, and no chance of a dozing bus driver ramming me up the arse if it cuts out randomly. Low and behold it behaived impeccably, I did 25 miles of stop start and open road, retraced my work commute route and not a glimmer of it acting up... I've to take Mother Volks and Brother and Sister-in Law out to lunch tomorrow, so it's guaranteed to shit itself then in a highly embarassing way isn't it! I've a fuel pump relay and the afore mentioned potentiometer on order, and my other two cheap OVP's arrived yesterday. So far it's had: OVP, Idle Control Valve, New Fuses, Bosch 'Bumrape' Dizzy cap, Bosch 'OMG moved on to Fisting' Rotor arm and Leads plus bit of pipe etc. So it's not cost a fortune* and it's never completely conked out, it's just been irritating to say the least. I'm hoping that something I've tinkered with this morning has sorted it. But not holding my breath!

Does yours have a Cat? Mine doesn't, as it's just too early, but didn't realise until yesterday that it has this... It manually adjusts the ignition timing to suit the octane rating of the fuel used. As I'm using E5 97 it's should be on S not N. It's certainly made it run a bit better, and less of a slouch. Still cuts out though.

Interesting. Things with mine are also pointing to a dying/worn potentiometer. Knock off ones are not expensive, so maybe worth a try.

IIRC, if you're offered a course, and complete it, you don't have to inform your insurers.

I bought two of these to try and combat The Big's steamy windows. It has water ingress, which will be tackled once it stops raining for more than 5 mins. But they have done a sterling job of keeping the windows clear. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B083M892KV?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

So it seems The Big doesn't want to be left out. Been driving great for the last few days... Low and behold it was an absolute pig on the way home. Cutting out, idle speed all over the place. I'm beginning to think it is possibly atmospheric, as it's been dry the last few days. Pouring down on the way home. There is no evidence of stuff getting soaked though, scuttle where the ECU is, is bone dry. Always restarted when it cut out, maybe it's ignition related, I've not checked the cap etc as yet. It's like a dog that shits on the carpet when you're not looking or too busy to do anything about it. As it'll sit happily idling away at standstill in Park.

I think it does need the ECU etc to run. It's my understanding that he OVP is solely there to protect the prehistoric injection ECU from voltage spikes. It does this by cutting the power rapidly to the ECU which can cause rough running as it cuts in and out etc. I assume there must be a way of wiring it out, but you risk a blown/melty ECU which no doubt will be a world of pain.

That kinda was what mine was doing. Sat at traffic lights, it would hunt about, revs going up and down, resulting is comedy 'LoRider' shenanigans with the rear end if in Drive. Then it would just cut out. Sometimes would restart with no issues, sometimes with loads of cranking as if it had semi-flooded itself. Would always restart though. I swapped the Idle Control Valve, with little to no effect, but the replacement OVP fitted on the weekend seems to have done the trick. I've used it since Saturday for running about and the commute, with no embarrassing incidents as yet. My new OVP was a red topped, twin fuse, 9 pin one. The original was just that, the original (back top, single fuse, 7 pin). I'm still waiting for the spare cheap OVP's to arrive, will swap one of those in to see if the problem re-occurs. Best of luck with the toothache. I used to get it really bad. Nowt worse!

I had the same issue on my old Honda Jizz. Despite mega low miles, and being garaged all its life the mechanical parts were horrifically rusty/crumbly. I just snipped through both nuts with a set of bolt-croppers.

That looks like Lego have recreated a K Car

Ooh. I had a red CTi which I loved. Well, until the brakes failed on the M62 when I was rapidly approaching a wall of stopped traffic. Given that, despite how lovely as those Tolman ones look, I certainly wouldn't want to do 140mph in one.

Had a bit of spare time over the weekend, so a new OVP relay was fitted. This, along with a new Idle Control Valve seems to have sorted the random stalling issue that seemed to be getting worse. It's fuel thirst had become quite ridiculous,. The Internets say that a failing OVP will cause this, so I'm hoping to now get more than the estimated 10mpg it's been doing recently. If it carries on I might go for a 560 next! Had a bit of a palaver getting a centre drag link. Autodoc sent me a LHD one (the bracket for the steering damper is handed). Ended up getting the last RHD in the country from Mercedes. It wasn't that* expensive. It's got it's, now monthly, booking at the tame garage tomorrow to fit it. Baptism of fire will be when I drive it down to Berkshire for New Year.

The £79 Autodoc one arrived today, I'll post a photo of it when I get home, as I dropped it and the car off at home earlier. Its interesting, as it seems to be made of a solid piece of Alloy rather than a bendy metal plate covering. It's the red top double fuse one, as with you, I had been told that it simply supersedes the single fuse one which are NLA. As I was tinkering with it the other day, my neighbour came out for a nosey. I know he's a semi retired Private Jet pilot, but what I didn't realise is that he also ran a Bosch Centre. He explained all the workings of the FI system, then casually mentioned that he has all the special tools etc to recalibrate the KE - Jetronic system fitted to mine. So I WILL be taking him up on the offer of a tune up once the OVP is fitted!

I'm interested to see how you get on with the cheap OVP Relay, I've ordered one from Autodoc at £79 and a couple of the cheap 'aftermarket' ones. Should be arriving today. As mentioned mine will cut out occasionally, and doesn't seem to follow any sort of pattern, atmosphere/temperature etc. So the OVP is the last thing to change. It should* improve fuel economy too.

I washed the cars today.

I'm having similar issues with the Big. Not to the extent that it leaves me stranded, but it will have the occasional stumble/stall when warming up. I've ordered a new OVP from AutoDoc at around £75.00 + P&P, then saw some aftermarket ones on ebay for £13.00, have ordered two of those as a back up/spares. It's in the garage today for a new drag link and a new idle control valve fitting. Hopefully a combo of the two will sort the issues.

OUT: Mr reliable, had for three years, without it putting much of a foot wrong. If I had any parking I would have kept it. Stayed within the forum for now. IN The Big. One of my bucket list cars. It's a bit of a sorry old dog, but it's rather charming and a bit of fettling seems to be keeping on top of things. Currently my daily, and it seems to be coping. Need it to f*cking stop raining for more than a day so I can get the interior leaks and other bits sorted. It's on planned refurbishment with my tame garage so goes in once a month for various bits and pieces doing. IN Current work hack. No one in the office seems to like it, they prefer the petrol Merc A Classes. So I've adopted it as my daily, and I really like it.

My Neighbour has this one sat on his driveway. Only ever moves for him to clear all the dead leaves from around it. Bit of a shame, as it is quite mint.

Yes, I had the misfortune of renting a 1.6 NA Astra J. That was slow enough to not be able to accelerate up a motorway on-ramp. The Astra J weighs approx. 100kgs less than a Senator.

This was outside my office this morning. Tell you what, they're a lot bigger than you expect in real life!

My office is five miles away from my house, granted I have to drive through Stoodent-Ville on my commute, however last night it took me over an hour and twenty mins to get home. The reason? One small hole dug by Northern Gas Networks next to a set of traffic lights. The lights were covered over and a set of temporary ones installed, and seem to have been programmed by an idiot. The result, complete and utter gridlock in all directions spanning a good few square miles. One chap decided to perform a U-Turn to try and make his escape, only to be stuck across the road, as no one was moving in any direction. I really must look at the Idle Control Valve on the Big, as it omm nommed its way through over quarter of a tank of juice in the process. Temp stayed rock steady at about 85, despite not having an electric fan, so I'm glad I had the pump and thermostat done.

I think that Seat used to make something like that Panda Strip out of the Marbella. *Edit* They did, called the Seat Panda Terra

Also. Stupidly Sized Wheel

Turns out it appears to be some play in the centre (connecting) drag link. Seems to amplify the knocking through the steering box. One ordered from Autodoc, for a reasonable £28.00 + Delivery. Should be here by the end of the week. Also one of the headlight bulbs went on the weekend. So I ordered some LED replacements. Fitted them this afternoon, and low and behold, wasn't the bulb. Was a slightly corroded fuse. Anyway the LED lights are super-bright, so will stick with them. Least I've got a spare pair of halogen bulbs