Popsicle

The dash at night - good night folks.

Trains, planes and...automobiles.

A Mini adventure if ever I saw one…
 

*$!&!! *(!?$¢!@
(Insert whatever unladylike swearwords you see fit)
Work are putting my whole team on consultation, so by new year I'm likely to be out of a job and by February without a car (car stays for notice period). 
Ouch. Nice Xmas pressie. 
Car is shit anyway. 😅
 

After having trouble finding someone who’d be willing to change my rear window seal on my Austin someone recommended I try Wimbledon Park garage in Portsmouth, which was a delight to visit, it really was a proper old school garage, I had a good long chat with Graham the owner about his business and it turns out he’s been there since 1969 and whilst he wasn’t able to assist in changing the seal he gave me the number of another garage Pete’s place who have booked me in for next Tuesday. Very happy 

Thankfully it was just the sensor clip. I needed to be more angry with it and tap the sensor in with a toffee hammer as the clip was so flimsy the sensor would work its way loose with a snide glance.

Had a bit of a win over the weekend with the modernish VW van.  Earlier this year I found the Haldex 4motion system was non-functional whenn i got stuck in the snow in a place where i have driven before with no issues.
Garage read the codes that were not visible with a generic code reader and advised the Haldex module wasn't doing what it should.  They got a quote to replace from the main dealer and checked I was sitting down beforehand - £1640 +VAT!  When we had stopped laughing it was agreed that it was OK for now, you couldn't tell it wasn't working except in the snow really.  Googling found a business in England that could repair the modules, checking around they seemed legit so got the module off the Haldex unit after a bit of a fight as it is under the van, tucked up in the driveshaft tunnel.  Sent it off special delivery and they tested it, confirmed the module circuit board was damaged due to water and quoted £180 to fix and improve by encapsulating the board to prevent further issues.    Got it back and after another fight under the van in 2 degree weather and van is driving fine.  
Need to find a muddy track or wait for the snow to test but I'm pretty confident it's sorted.  I need to change the haldex oil and filter as well but waiting for a less cold day for that one.  Recommend haldexrepairs.co.uk, seems a good business, good communications and so on.  They can fix most of the modules on VAG, Volvo and older LR stuff.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256320005579?hash=item3baddce5cb:g:q-MAAOSwOsdlZQRv


This poor man is obviously held against his will by the two extraterrestrials with rabbit ears, and if he didn't crack a smile for this picture they would've abducted him in their equally shoddy spacecraft. A cruel fate...

Do you like looking at cars only from the side?
Does the thought of buying four tyres bring you out in a cold sweat?
Are you just plain fed up with big windscreen wipers?
If the answer is yes then don’t wait another second, pick up the phone and call for a great deal on this, errr, on this.


 

https://www.facebook.com/share/fVg91WzNUBcojVj2/?mibextid=79PoIi

Look at the floor mats on the above Proton.


Hyacinth Bucket would be proud!

Can't be much room left inside with that massive cactus growing out the roof.

Ford Transit MWB Camper Van | eBay
'Me and my partner lived in the van for 18 months whilst travelling central America'
Fucking hats off to the fella. I went to Malpas (about 12 miles away) in a Transit 2.4 once, and it felt like a 4 month adventure.
 

One I quite like for misery is the local area Facebook groups, a couple from this week:
Post about a Santa float and where it will be going when. 70% of the comments are people moaning how disgusting it is the thing is not going to their house/street AGAIN this year, the evil bastards As a bonus, one of the organizers patiently replies to the thread saying they could go to more streets with more volunteers to help - 0 moaners volunteer. Post about this years xmas tree which TBF is a bit smaller than previously
100-odd comments of moaning about how shit it is. I quite liked this one:

Well Ken, I can assure you that the most important English tradition of being a miserable old bastard and moaning about absolutely everything, is alive and well!

Had a reasonably productive Saturday and a somewhat crap Sunday this weekend.
First job on Saturday was to run a wheel each from the Renault 4 and 6, together with the two new tyres I bought in a Camskill clearance a couple of years back, down to the local tyre place to have them fitted.  The nearside front tyre on the 6 got a puncture a couple of months back and since then it has been on the spare, which was a remould of uncertain age.  The offside front on the 4 didn't look too bad at first glance but I noticed a couple of bulges on the inner sidewall when I was replacing the driveshaft.  So each car now has a shiny new HiFly tyre on the front.  They couldn't balance the 6's wheel as it's centreless so that might have to end up going on the back if it vibrates.

Then I had the fun* annual task of putting the boat and the Renault 6 away for the winter.  This involves digging the various boxes of crap and assorted tyres out of the garage and piling them in the back of the Maxus, then wheeling the boat down the road from the house on its trailer, tipping it off and leaning it up against the wall, where it's held in place by a ratchet strap to a handy nail in one of the roof beams.  If done correctly this leaves about 3" of clearance either side of the Renault once it's driven in, so I have to remember to pop the tailgate before driving in so I can clamber out through the back.  If the Renault is parked with the bumper against the back wall there is then just enough room to squeeze the Mobylette and the Spacy in behind it.  The Renault started fairly easily with a jump and I left it running for a bit to charge the battery, then switched it off.  I came back to it a little bit later and it wouldn't start - I tried various things but it eventually turned out that the little bracket that holds the end of the choke cable had come away from the carb so the choke wasn't opening and the engine was flooding.  Once I'd opened the choke flap by hand the car soon chugged back into life and drove into the garage.
This has resulted in the Innocenti being evicted from the garage to the driveway, which I'm not entirely happy about - it has a much greater chance of surviving a winter outdoors than the Renault - it's still amazingly solid for what it is - but it is nonetheless at an age where I'd really rather it was indoors over winter.  I need to try and find another garage.  In an ideal world I'd have the Volvo under cover as well but I can't really afford three garages, even if I could find them.
Today I decided to tackle the next job on the Z4, which is to replace the nearside front strut with the secondhand one I bought off eBay.  It started off pretty well - the wheel bolts had been ugga duggad pretty well so I had to jump up and down on the breaker bar to crack them off, but they all came out OK.  Even the locking wheel nut key was present and correct.  The drop link nut undid with no fuss at all - I didn't even need to hold the ball joint in place.  Then I went to undo the pinch bolt - it didn't look particularly rusty but it just snapped, despite having been doused in GT85.  So that was the end of that. 
I'm not sure what to do next - it's a long M12 bolt so drilling it out is a non-starter really, and anyway I'd probably damage the threads.  I think a secondhand hub might be the way to go, and just take the whole lot out along with the strut.  The bottom arm is new so hopefully that will come undone pretty easily - I'm not so sure about the track rod end but we shall see.  I've given everything a good squirt of Plus Gas for now but I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to getting any further with it - it certainly wasn't a job to start tackling at 2pm on a freezing Sunday afternoon with only an hour and a half of daylight left.
Then I thought I might take the Renault 4 for a drive, as it hasn't been out for a bit.  I've Lanoguarded (or the Weldstation equivalent) the underside so it should be reasonably well protected against shit winter roads.  It didn't seem to want to start though - it always takes a bit of cranking when it's been stood, not helped by the fact that the fuel line between pump and carb is longer than it should be as I fitted an inline filter, but today it wasn't showing any interest at all even though there was fuel in the filter.  It does have a bloody good battery though!  Eventually I tried flicking it over with the choke pushed in and it fired straight up, which is odd - on the coldest day since I bought it I'd expect it to need more choke than usual rather than less, but when I pulled out the choke it conked out.  Very weird.
I left it to warm up for a bit while I pumped up the back tyres, which were a bit low.  As I got back in to drive off, I noticed steam coming from under the corner of the bonnet, which seemed to be rapidly increasing in volume.  Switched off and opened the bonnet to be greeted by this.

When things had calmed down I went in for a closer look and found that it was just a split in the pipe from the expansion bottle to the top of the radiator.  The engine wasn't even that hot - the radiator fan hadn't kicked in - but on a cold day it doesn't take much to make steam.  I cut off the split end of the pipe and refitted it and took the car for a drive, and everything seemed fine except that the heater is now blowing cold, so I assume it must have pulled some air into the system.  I was running out of daylight by then so didn't look into it any further but at least everything is fairly accessible on these, unlike the 6 where the water valve is hidden in a tight space under the scuttle.
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353676379132

Possibly the most flowery language I've ever seen in a used car advert...
I reckon he sat there in the dark and wanked himself off as he wrote that...

Well fuck again.

Should have stayed in bed today. 

Well fuck.

Been waiting for a nerve block injection, appointment was for Tuesday 21/11, private via work healthcare provider. Had a phone call Thursday 17th around 14.30 to discuss the pre-admission questionnaire, all ok, "We'll call you back to make appointment for bloods etc". 
So I waited. Nothing until 4.25 Friday, where I was told next available appointment is Monday 20/11. No good says I, I'm in peterborough, leaving 6am. Told not their fault blah blah, if I don't come in, the op is off. 
Monday crippling nerve pain, drove to hospital in Woodford in Megamoose, 10 minutes later, I'm on the road to Peebo, £12.50 ULEZ lighter + paying for my own diesel; had I chosen to come home and get the van, it would have added at least another hour to getting there, and leave my hours short for the day, I've already lost 4 hours
Tuesday, operation; don't know what painkillers / sedation they gave me, but they were ace. Didn't feel a thing.
Until Wednesday, painkillers have worn off. Lots of ouch.
Thursday back to work, did a few hours on the road while my* office was being used. Got in there at 13.30, did what I had to do, left 16.00, returned to the van - in the office car park - and the passenger window is in approximately 4,874,165 pieces. Appears the bloke who was parked next to me has twatted it with his door and then fucked off. Clearly he's not aware that there's CCTV in the car park. Depot bird going to review, and confirm, and have a word. If not (yeah, I know it's not MY van) I'm going to have a word* with the cunt myself. 
Rang Nationwide Windscreens (it's 16.10 now), their switchboard promised me an urgent callback. I wasn't expecting them to carry the window as stock, but hoped they'd come and stick some perspex over it or summert. I cleared as much glass up as I could, but those shitty latex gloves don't really protect you from glass splinters. Then I waited. Eventually, at 18.25 I got through to them again. Depot closed at 18.00, so clearly I won't be getting a phone call / visit tonight. Went home, frozen. They eventually rang 9.45 Friday, they're coming Monday between 8 & 1. Nice. the only good point is that I'll log on at 8 and wait.
Friday, felt a bit snotty, general aches and pains.
Today, full blown man-flu. SWMBO bought me a pie yesterday, don't fancy it. I might die.
 

Had a friend (Joe) phone Saturday morning in a panic as their car is making horrible noise from the wheels on their Hyundai ix35. Could i have a look/help?
No problem, says I come straight round in it. I will have a look & laugh at your predicament.
Ok, we will pick it up from the garage it is at as they can't look at it for a week! They say...
So it needs front discs and pads as they are down to metal, not a problem. The motorfactors down the road are still open and have them in stock, so we jump in my car and go down to collect them, on the way Joe says we may as well service it while it's in bits to which I agree so we get the 3 filters and 9 Litres of oil for it! 9 litres.
All went fine, and I did the fuel filter last, which was still a Hyundai filter in it. They have owned this car coming up for 5 years and had it serviced every year with the mot at a local garage! That container was clean before use!
Filters gonna filter!

Have been smelling the tell tale whiff of coolant when stopping with the heater on for a couple of weeks now. A root around with the torch didn't show any crusty pink crystals anywhere so I followed al the pipes about until I found the underside of the intake fanimold was damp. A look at the manual suggested it could only be the "preheating for crankcase ventilation" that I didn't know existed, which is attached to the underside of the manifold - item #13

Ordered a new one up and the various gaskets I would disturb and need to replace. Depressurise fuel system, drain coolant, remove fuel rail and injectors, throttle body and so on and so on until the manifold can be removed and access to the pre-heater achieved.
A real good laugh undoing endless electrical connectors you can barely get your fingertips on in 2° weather and drizzle but got there in the end.

The preheater was indeed the cause of the issue, it had split along the seam and was leaking from there.

New one arrived (along with new throttle body sealing ring) and was fitted, awaiting the delivery of the new manifold gaskets before refitting. Could probably get away with just lashing it back on but they're on order and I don't really want to take it all off again when I find I've got a leak. About £50 all in with new coolant, which was due a change anyway, so not too bad really.

A new cars and coffee started this weekend… yes, in November…. A decent turn out, and a combination of chavved up Focus/3-Series and some nice cars.. 

As a bonus on the way home I went the long way round and I spotted this! 

Replaced a front wheel bearing on the Trafic. One of those hub off and press jobs.
Now have an abs fault. Rather grumpy about this as the abs ring is part of the bearing and I spent extra to get a branded FAG bearing.
Live data looks like this.

As it's not a regular dropout I'm thinking / hoping it's not the bearing.
This should really be in the grumpy thread.

Had a silly bollocks moment and decided to sell my trusty old diesel Skoda Fabia that I've had for 5 painless years due to boredom and bought a newer Ford Focus from a garage

Nice car, well equipped, ticks all the boxes for a cheap to run work hack etc
I went to collect it yesterday from just over a hour away, firstly it wasn't very clean which the garage apologised for and then it had 30 miles of fuel left which again they apologised about but I made it clear I wasn't happy, especially as the nearest petrol station was a good 20 mins away, Thankfully I managed to full up ok only for it to go into limp mode as soon as I hit the A120 🙄

It did this 3 times after shutting it down and restarting it with a rough idle and smoke, FFS.
Garage said to bring it back and they'll fix it for me and will clean it properly now too and given me this Ssangyong Komodo thing to use until it's fixed

I shouldn't complain as it could have been worse but what a shit car, bonnet shakes at 70mph, it's far too big and bloated for a 5 seater SUV and it keeps bing bonging all the time.

Nice light show here last night. We could see it from the front door even with the bright modern street lights.
At the edge of the village it was lovely.