Roverageous

All sorted for £130ish in the end. Managed to get my hands on a sealed Bosch unit locally which is brilliant. Changed it over today and given it a test drive - immediate difference in several ways! The car seems immediately more responsive, starts better, the slightly wobbly idle seems to have vanished (touch wood...). Anyway, money well spent. Happy Bunny.

I'm growing to like the colour. It looks MUCH better in the pictures than it actually is!

Yes, it's the only thing I'm slightly disappointed about - however - they didn't work in my last P2 Volvo anyway. The bluetooth thingamy looks good - I do tend to have earbuds in when driving though. Given the car a bit of a wash today, as I haven't washed it since buying in November, and hadn't really looked at the bodywork at all. The clear coat isn't too clever in many places (side mirror covers / stone chips on the roof / bumpers / running strips etc...), but from a couple of feet back it all looks presentable.

My best fleet was: 2001 Rover 75 Connoisseur SE CDTi Auto 2001 Rover 75 Connoisseur SE 2.0 V6 Auto 2004 Rover 75 Connoisseur SE 2.5 V6 Auto Long Wheel Base

So, a few new developments with this one. Firstly, I'm really growing to like this car - it's a very lovely place to be. I regularly drive a 2019 Seat Alhambra with all the bells and whistles, and it's always a relief to get back into the Volvo. I now have a nice, quiet suspension. Turned out the NSF ball joint had excessive play in it too, and required replacing - which is now all done. I think I've also had a breakthrough with regard to the starting issue. I was reading up, and it appears likely that it's either vapour lock in the fuel system (caused by a small leak) or a MAF issue. The car wasn't logging any fault codes, so it's a bit of trial and error to track it down. I've unplugged the MAF sensor, and so far the warm starting is much improved, so we'll see if that was it. A replacement Bosch item is only around £60, so it might be worth chucking one on anyway. In other news, I gave the interior a thorough going over today. I'm genuinely impressed at how well it looks inside for a 21 year old car...

Update time! It's absolutely filthy - needs a good wash! This thing has been my main vehicle since buying it, and I've now put 3000 miles on it. There are a few (hopefully minor) issues rearing their head, but nothing too worrying. I'm not getting any codes or lights. Doesn't like 'warm' starts: The car always starts from cold absolutely perfectly, with no hesitation, and if you've turned it off and go to restart it less than half an hour later, it's also fine. If you dare to try and start it after leaving it between 1-4 hours it really doesn't like it at all. It'll crank over for ages, and then gradually splutter into life. When it does this, the idle is always a bit all over the place for a while. Warm idle is lumpy: This could be related to the above, but the idle is lovely and smooth on a cold engine, but it's a different story when warm. At traffic lights etc, you become really aware of the engine hunting slightly, and you can feel it through the car. I *think* this is a mix of a coked up throttle body & shit engine mounts. Knocking from the front end: This has started recently, and was originally diagnosed as needing a ball joint. This was replaced and the car was handed back with even more knocking noises (thanks, Kwikfit). I've since had the car back to them, and quite frankly they couldn't have cared less, so it's booked in with a 'proper' garage for diagnosis. Kwikfit advised that they thought it was engine mounts, not anything suspension related - it definitely seems to be coming from the drivers' side wheel though. While it does knock over rough road surfaces, it is most apparent when setting off, and coming to a stop. We'll see! Other than that, it's comfortable, quick enough, refined and a nice place to sit for 50 miles every day.

Ask Corgi? I like it!

This is the latest addition to my collection - Vanguards Rover P6 from their Hidden Treasures selection. I think it might be my most favourite model yet!

Big Red (or Larry, as he's now known) is doing a sterling job of ferrying me too and from work. Latest MPG count is 32 average which I can't grumble at & I'm appreciating the - quite frankly - excellent heaters in this weather. This is the temperature that I was greeted by this morning when leaving for work: I almost did a cold start video, but realised that cold starts and warm starts don't really seem to be any different with this car. It's whisper quiet right from cold - nice. One thing I have noticed in these icy mornings, is that the S60 is VERY sure-footed, which is very reassuring.

So an update on this one! As with any 20 year old car there are a few niggles, but generally we're motoring along quite nicely. I'm currently running on petrol only, as the LPG system kept triggering the EML with code PO171 (Bank 1 Lean), so I think we need some adjustment there! I'll get the LPG system serviced in the new year, but for the moment will continue on petrol. It's returning circa 34mpg, so that's not too bad. I think the throttle body also needs a clean out as I'm getting a slightly lumpy idle at times (not a misfire, revs up and down slightly) as well as a hesitation when driving at a constant speed with light pressure on the accelerator. Driver's seat has a split along some of the stitching on the base. Either I missed this when viewing the car, or I've plonked myself in a bit too heavily at some point. I was thinking of getting some self-adhesive black leather to join the two sections as a fix. No more issues with starting - it's firing on the button every time which is nice.

This bot seems reasonably insensitive considering that's clearly a BMW! (I jest!)

I realise that this will be highly subjective, but I'm very interested to see what everyone values in their 'ideal' car. I suspect a lot will be due to people's ages, and what cars they grew up around too! For me, the car peaked in the early 2000s. Modern enough to have AC / electric windows / heated this and that etc... rust resistant enough to (mostly) still be plodding on, economical enough to justify running & reliable enough (with maintenance, obviously) to be viable. I have two nominations, which for anyone who's seen any of my threads, won't be a surprise... Rover 75: This is the emotionally charged entry. I've been in love with the Rover 75 since it was announced (I was 10), and have done most of my life's motoring in them. I've owned every engine / transmission option, and they've all been superbly reliable - I've never been left by the roadside by one. On the flip side, I do understand why people don't like them - the styling is subjective, and the 1.8 engine has its issues. Volvo P2 Platform: This is the sensible entry. A great range of 5-cylinder engines, and the cars are well capable of silly mileages. Estates and 4x4 models are superbly practical with a 7-seat offering in the XC90. Styling is perhaps not as characterful as the Rover, but probably slightly better materials and screwed together very nicely. There isn't much more you could need from a car. Over to you...

Have some early 2000s Volvo:

Well it's been an eventful 24 hours with the Big Red Swede. Came back to the car after work last night, and the engine was spinning over but not even attempting to fire. Until this, the car has been performing flawlessly and starting on the button whether cold or warm. The space that the car was parked in meant that the car was facing downhill, so I took a gamble and assumed that the car didn't like low petrol (just above the red) and pointing downhill. I walked over the the local fuel station, bought a petrol can (are they still called that?) and went back to the car with 4.5L to see if that made any difference. It did - hurrah! Lesson learned - despite mostly running on LPG, keep the petrol in the top half of the tank! This morning, having noticed the odd stutter when driving, I decided to get a cheap wireless code reader to see if anything was stored. It was - Cyl 2 misfire. Upon removing the coil pack it pretty much fell apart in my hand, so obviously it needed replacing. On my walk over to ECP, I also decided to get a full set of spark plugs, as there's no mention of these being done in the history of the car. £120 lighter, I set about changing all 5 plugs & the dodgy coil pack. Having driven the car this afternoon it does seem smoother, and we're now code-free! To celebrate, here's some nice interior shots:

Yes I understand that there has to be a safety margin built in to the tank, so it won't fill the last 20%. After filling the gauge on the tank was bang on 80 (I'm still unsure if this is % or litres!). M main mileage is in and around Milton Keynes so it tends to be "roundabout - roundabout -traffic jam - roundabout - roundabout" etc... My V6 Rover 75 was doing mid 20s, so I would be happy with that again!