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Lord Sterling's motors - Small update


Lord Sterling

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16 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Kin 'ell. Another update in less than a few days? 

Today, I 'woke' (lol) up to a day of doong stuff down the unit. Initially I was going to do nowt more than remove the parts from my Mums old Micra to put the interior back up normally as it had been used as parts storage for around a couple of years. 

@fraser.innes.3 and myself agreed to give the KV6 Sterling's bonnet another tackle as it refused to open before

Somehow it had freed itself off before I could tackle it with a crowbar, and with the bonnet open we had access to try and start the thing.

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We tried a jump pack but that didn't really work so a MASSIVE caravan battery was used as a jumped pack.

Initially the Rover tried to start and had a lot of cranking but wouldn't fire. I remembered that I had actually run out of fuel when I last drove it up to the yard it was last stored at and had to have pushed up the hill with my Peugeot.

So half a gallon of fuel later and some more cranking and the Sterling fired up from a long slumber.  It wasn't as steady as it would have been before but it was enough to keep it moving.

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I popped it down the our mate Dave's unit as the jetwash was there, I gave the car a long overdue bath, enough to get most of the crud off it but not to my usual shiny polished standards.

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it looks cleaner than it actually eventually dried off to be.

The car has got considerably rustier than when it was last in use. Outside storage hasn't been kind, so its a case of weighing up the options. The engine has had little work since I got it and has kept on going for me despite a holed radiator and cambelt roulette. 

The Micra will be getting some attention innthe form of a service. I'm looking at having the back of jigged out because of the damage, Dave is quite enamored by the Micra as he used to service many of them way back when.

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The interior has been cleared of the bonnet and bumper that lived in there for the best part of a couple of years.

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The KV6 has its battery on charge, more petrol will be got to at least get it regularly running and moving.

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Some work on a Rover finally. Bet you never thought that would happen.

As a side note, on the way back home, the Peugeot 407 decided to make use of the new screen to chuck up a warning with "depollution system faulty" error message leaving the engine light on. Meh, I rarely use the car so it probably needs a good run up and down the motorway. 

L8rz.

@Lord Sterling Mo pop down to me if you want so I can try out my fancy Foxwell diagnostic tool I bought. Can do a DPF regen on it so will clear the soot and associated code.

Also as a side note, what garage do you allude to as having let you down with the quality of work? If it’s who I think it is, I had an experience which I genuinely think was down to poor workmanship from them. Never returned since. 

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6 hours ago, sims00 said:

@Lord Sterling Mo pop down to me if you want so I can try out my fancy Foxwell diagnostic tool I bought. Can do a DPF regen on it so will clear the soot and associated code.

Also as a side note, what garage do you allude to as having let you down with the quality of work? If it’s who I think it is, I had an experience which I genuinely think was down to poor workmanship from them. Never returned since. 

Oddly enough the "fault" on the Peugeot has now disappeared. I gave it a hard run down the bypass and up the motorway to Birmingham this taking a longer route. With the fault, the car oddly ran more "concentrated" when overtaking a line of moving traffic on a small dual carriageway the car flew, but despite the power, it still concerned me.  Then whilst taking Ma shopping, when switching the car back on the fault just disappeared! I'm hoping it was just a blip otherwise it runs great.

However, I will take you up on the offer of the regen say next Saturday if thats Ok? As I'll be using a little bit more now to pop into Brum a couple of times a week starting from week after next.

The garage I was alluding to was Mahmouds. I feel that whilst most of the time, the work he does is good (the work he done on the Peugeot was tops, couldn't fault it) there have been a couple of times where the work wasn't up to standard. But then again, I guess my reaction was a little over the top. He is an absolutely popular garage and always absolutely rammed with customers. I still go there but make sure the work is done properly. There are a few minor things they do forget but being so popular I think sometimes he is a victim of his own success.

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5 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Oddly enough the "fault" on the Peugeot has now disappeared. I gave it a hard run down the bypass and up the motorway to Birmingham this taking a longer route. With the fault, the car oddly ran more "concentrated" when overtaking a line of moving traffic on a small dual carriageway the car flew, but despite the power, it still concerned me.  Then whilst taking Ma shopping, when switching the car back on the fault just disappeared! I'm hoping it was just a blip otherwise it runs great.

However, I will take you up on the offer of the regen say next Saturday if thats Ok? As I'll be using a little bit more now to pop into Brum a couple of times a week starting from week after next.

The garage I was alluding to was Mahmouds. I feel that whilst most of the time, the work he does is good (the work he done on the Peugeot was tops, couldn't fault it) there have been a couple of times where the work wasn't up to standard. But then again, I guess my reaction was a little over the top. He is an absolutely popular garage and always absolutely rammed with customers. I still go there but make sure the work is done properly. There are a few minor things they do forget but being so popular I think sometimes he is a victim of his own success.

Yes mate just let me know which Saturday you mean and it shouldn’t be an issue at all.

ah yes I knew I guessed correctly.  He is a great guy however like you said, victim of his own success. I firmly believe one of his lads totally fucked up a Vectra I had sold on here which blew a head gasket shortly after, I’m in no doubt. I’ve never returned and sadly, won’t ever again. He just doesn’t have a good hold on his staff and frankly, I don’t think they are proper fault finding mechanics. More a case of if you know what’s wrong with your car, they’ll probably do a decent job but that’s it. 

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11 hours ago, sims00 said:

Yes mate just let me know which Saturday you mean and it shouldn’t be an issue at all.

ah yes I knew I guessed correctly.  He is a great guy however like you said, victim of his own success. I firmly believe one of his lads totally fucked up a Vectra I had sold on here which blew a head gasket shortly after, I’m in no doubt. I’ve never returned and sadly, won’t ever again. He just doesn’t have a good hold on his staff and frankly, I don’t think they are proper fault finding mechanics. More a case of if you know what’s wrong with your car, they’ll probably do a decent job but that’s it. 

Saturday 21st? I'm heading to Brum anyway so can pass by.

Yeah, I still go to Mahmouds but I'm keen to check the car over after. Again, because of the amount of customers he has, sadly most of them aren't that bothered so long as thier car is repaired, so its a a precious balance of getting jobs done properly and fast at the same time as some jobs can block up ramps for days.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So following on from a post last year about lack of aircon,  it had been correctly suggested to me that the lack of cold air or ultra hit air in the winter was down to a flap inside the airbox, this suggestion was correct as I took a look inside the airbox and low behold,  the bottom flaps are broken from the shaft.

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So my worst fears are true, the job will require the air flow box to cut through. Great 😡 finding someone to do the job is going to be challenging, I don't have the tools, space or patience to do it myself.

In other boring news, I bought a replacement boot mat for it.  Car breakers are utterly useless, they never get back so f*ck it, I'll buy some cheapy boot tray.

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Still waiting for my passenger side sun visor, the door has never been on presumably broken by previous owner.

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The bloody thing will get 2 rear tyres tomorrow as the although Ok, are starting to crack and wear. 

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  • Lord Sterling changed the title to Lord Sterling's motors - Small update

Not a huge amount been happening here at Sterling Towers.

Had to vacate the old storage unit due to some complicated issues I can't be arsed getting into. However, luckily I managed to sort 3 x rented garages from Telford Council after kicking their arse when they didn't reply to me and allocated a garage to someone else.

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(MK2 N-reg Sterling also garaged but not pictured, damn thing *just* about fitted in the garage with the number plate plinth removed)

I sold the KV6 Sterling as it was just too far gone for me to get around to sort out. I miss it but there are better examples out there. Did me proud for a good few years which ain't bad for a rusty old Rover with a leaky rad.

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Done a couple of collection capers, picking up a Fiat Panda and more recently a Ford Focus estate which did me proud when moving a couple of crates from old unit to garage:

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Finally sourced and fitted a parcel shelf for my 407 which has the optional rear blind after a bunch of failed attempts, the Peugeot 407 club on Facebook are utterly useless and after winning one on eBay from a breaker, the seller refused to send it to me citing delivery charges etc... called him a twat and neg'd his arse. I finally sourced one from Lithuania and even that took some argument to get it delivered.

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Also, been using the roffle-win Micra, done absolutely bollock all to it apart from changing the front tyres and replacing the wheel trim that made a bid for freedom, cleaning it and using it occasionally to go to and from work. It desperatly needs a service, MAF-sensor replacing, exhaust re-gasketed a replacement bonnet and wing-mirror backing.

To be fair, as Ma_Sterling is recovering from a knee operation and probably won't really feel comfortable driving a manual, I'm on the lookout for a small automatic, sadly these have shot up massively in price.

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I noticed my local restaurant's Clio was lookong sorry for itself, it had been a victim of a hit and run, so I sourced parts on the correct colour and repaired the it:

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I also did a few other small jobs around the car, got paid and treated to a free meal:

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Hopefully picking up a Suzuki Alto as another collection caper. May possibly be doing a deal on a Disco 3 2.7 TD but eventually looking to get myself in some sort of petrol Jag due to CAZ in Birmingham and Brussels, but before that I'll be using the Peugeot to go to Brussels again at some point.

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26 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

That was a good score in the Council lock ups, waiting lists up in my area of Scotland can be years. I'm glad you have a new safe place to store your Sterling now.

Winner on the meal too!

Yeah, I got really lucky with the lock-ups. Birmingham Clowncil sell off their garages and your waiting on the list for years, I think I applied in 2015, in the last few years they kept on sending me the "are you sure your still looking for a garage" letter, I got fed up and left it. I might also be privately renting a garage by mine soon as parking is an utter nightmare around here. It might be expensive but the convenience just outweighs the cost.

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