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Meg the Visa.


HillmanImp

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  • 1 month later...

Yesterday I was on the Visa forum and throwing caution to the wind, I wrote this:

 

Hi Stephen, welcome along. I also use my Visa as a daily and its very capable.

 

This morning I was driving Meg to work and suddenly the engine just lost power, came back then died completely. Thankfully I was just going past a bus stop so pulled in there, out of the way of any traffic.

 

Puzzled I sat there for a few seconds and thought, 'Before I start fooking around with owt, I will just try starting it again', turned the key and it worked. 'Bob on' I thought and trundled off on my way up the hill.......for about 15 metres where it cut out again right across a junction. Brilliant. I tried starting it but it was borked, it was turning over fine but not firing. 'Well, I'm boned' I thought.

 

It took me about 10 minutes to get the car moved as despite the fact that it would take me about 20 seconds to move the car to a position in the road that was not disrupting the traffic, nobody would stop and let me move, instead driving round me and blocking me from moving the car, whilst they glared at me for causing a delay in them getting to their drab offices in their Ford Fiestas and Seat Leons. NO. YOU ARE CAUSING THE DELAY BY NOT LETTING ME MOVE, dickheads.

 

Eventually I found a gap in traffic and rolled it back round the junction and parked it up at the side of the road. A quick poke around did not show anything untoward. All the plug leads were connected, the battery was earthed fine, the dizzy and coil were connected okay. However the dizzy cap is screwed on and being a total dick I had taken all the spare tools out of the car the other week to put some rubbish in and had not put them back so could not check that.

 

Not sure what to do now, a well timed Mrs Imp then drove past on her way to work. Result. So Meg was left there whilst I got dropped off at work and was only 10 minutes late.

 

When I was at work I decided to ring the RAC as have only used them once this year (the other week when the Audi broke down outside the MOT test centre). A couple of hours later I get a call saying to meet them at the car in 15 mins so I collar a chap from work to wang me up there. 

 

Obviously as soon as I get there Meg starts up first time. This would normally make me think it was a faulty condenser. However I rang up the local factors I use and they said its got electronic ignition? The chap from the RAC said the it would cough and splutter if it was the condenser on the way out, but in my experience it will but only when it is warm.

 

Could it be the coil? The chap from the motor factors suggested that but he might have just been trying to offload a coil for a Visa that has been clogging up his storeroom for the last 25 years. I have had coils die on me before but not slowly. Sudden deaths only. TBH I should have just got another coil from the garage at home and tried that first. The Imp coil has been used as an emergency coil on at least 3 vehicles now. 

 

Well the plan is to replace the coil, dizzy cap and rotor arm tomorrow at work. I am cycling in and Mrs Imp is dropping off the tools on her way into work. If it all goes to plan I can drive Meg home with the tools and the bike in the back. If Meg disgraces herself again I will still have the bike in the back so I can ride off and leave her to think things over at the top of Otley Chevin.

 

I am also hoping that my ability to tempt fate is still strong and complain that I never win it big on the lottery. Or by saying 'I am also hoping that my ability to tempt fate is still strong' have I negated the 2nd bit? God knows.

 

 

 

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Frustrating when you have a niggling fault like that. Does meg have the " suitcase" engine? My new 205 does and I'm wondering where to get service items like that from.

 

The 205 fluffs about a bit when you want it to start pulling from low revs in the upper gears and I'm wondering if its an ignition problem of some sort too

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Yeah its the suitcase engine. Its currently got a leak from what I think is the rocker cover gasket and its a bit of an arse to get at so it might stay like that for a while TBH, despite me getting the gasket. 

 

I have had no bother getting stuff from Ebay for it. Most other stuff is available on order at the motor factors too but is a little more pricey obviously. Halfrauds sell the oil filters for £4 still too so that's easy enough to do if the mood takes you.

 

Getting mineral oil was a pain though. Everywhere only did 10/40 in semi synthetic. I saw some on ebay from Wilco Motosave though. Instead of ordering it straight away on Ebay, I rang them up and asked if I could pick it up in store. no problem apparently except it was £23 in store, or £16.99 delivered on Ebay. The guy on the phone even had the nerve to get arsey with me when I said I would just order it online as its was £6 cheaper, like it was my fault. 

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Showing my ignorance as usual Mr Imp but those symptoms sound more like a fuel problem than electrical, many many moons ago a mate's Mum had an X reg visa which would run for ages without trouble and then chuck a hissy fit stalling left right and centre, think it was a carb diaphragm or something like that which was eventually traced after every electrical component had been replaced.

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It did not feel like a fuel problem, it defo seemed ignition. However you are probably right for the sole reason that I have spunked loads of money on the ignition system. It is almost certainly bound to be something else now.....

 

It was not a gradual death it was suddenly no power, not the horrible 'the accelerator is not working' feeling you get with fuel starvation.

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Trying to remember back 20+ years, not easy when last week is mostly a mystery to me I seem to recall the local Citroen 'specialist' discounting fuel problems and insisting it was them French electronics back then, if memory serves it was a chance comment about the carb from someone with even less mechanical knowledge than me that sorted it, and it never gave a minutes trouble for about 3 years when it was px'ed for a new Polo! (Yes I said as much at the time but you know how it is, polo lasted 6 years and died an ignominious death)

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Well I bought a new coil yesterday, fitted it and the car was fine on the way home. Obviously I cannot be sure that was the problem. If I had thought about it, I would have bought the coil, waited to break down, then replace the coil to see if that sorted the problem.

 

The motor factors that I went to said that this car did not have points, and therefore no condensor which had been my initial thought. As it had started up okay the 2nd time and started running I just left it at that last night as it was unlikley to be the rotor arm or dizzy cap if it was now working fine, so headed home. This decision was helped with the fact that I had left my stubby screwdrived in Mrs Imps car so could not get the dizzy cap off even if I wanted to. Will do the rest of it on Saturday.

 

Apparently the Visa has one of these instead of points, never seen owt like this before. However that does not mean they are not amazingly common as my experience of such things is limited.

 

 

$(KGrHqR,!rQFIoTIDi04BSOGPY6y3Q~~60_12.J

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If they were a cut and shut job they guy who did it had been busy here:

 

post-3133-0-29989300-1524256178_thumb.jpg

 

This is the same one (it might be the only one for all I know) that was spotted by someone else recently wasn't it. I can't find the thread but had linked to the photos on the Visa forum:

 

IMAG1315_zpsecfffbec.jpg

 

So it gets about like by the looks of things.

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Hopefully the coil will cure it. 

 

Hopefully. I rode in today though, not because I was scared of breaking down, it  was because it dawned on me last night that when I moved I spent £330 on the Visa for occasional commuting and spent £700 on a bike to use regularly. However the bike has only been used once in the last month.

 

So despite it pissing down this morning, I got on the treader and peddaled (slowly) up Hollins Hill and off to work.

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This is the same one (it might be the only one for all I know) that was spotted by someone else recently wasn't it. I can't find the thread but had linked to the photos on the Visa forum:

 

IMAG1315_zpsecfffbec.jpg

 

So it gets about like by the looks of things.

Twas I that spotted it, tidy Lil thing it were. Can't find the thread at the moment

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  • 1 month later...

Went to go round to see my tenants at my old place this morning but it seemed I had a problem:

 

post-3133-0-81846200-1524256354_thumb.jpg

 

 

post-3133-0-47353700-1524256374_thumb.jpg

 

It was fine when I parked it up yesterday after going to the shops but the tyre is properly borked. A quick look at the other side shows that it is equally as fooked but still holds air. 

 

There is a couple of foot long cobbled kerb bit that I have to drive over to get to the flats here and all I can think is that it gave out there and I must have parked it up as the air came rushing out of it. Still seemed fine when I reversed in though. Have not seen a tyre go like that on any of my cars since I stopped using remoulds. 

 

The two rears are looking a little worn to and whilst not cracking really could do with replacing so it looks like I am going to have an expensive Monday.

 

Am taking note to keep a better eye on this kind of shizzle as if that had gone on the country roads I drive down on the way to work each night I could have been well boned.

 

Annoyingly my Halfrauds jack has decided to give up the ghost too so I will need to buy a new one. Grrr. 

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  • 1 month later...

Yesterday at the Otley Vintage show Mrs Imp was appalled at the amount of crap that people were selling.

 

'Bloody hell, will you look at all this shit. Who on earth would buy a shitty broken car stereo that's been lying in the back of someones garage for the last 20 years'.

 

30 seconds later, I was the proud owner of an Audioline 434 Radio/Cassette player like this:

 

post-3133-0-93972500-1524256469_thumb.jpg

 

It even has an audiojack so that I can play all my old HARDCORE (not happy) on my MP3 player and look like one of life's winners on my way to work. I will need to get some bass bins though, so people can watch them and tell me about it, or something like that.

 

So tonight I had a look in the stereo holeâ„¢. The speakers were pretty easy to figure out (they had labels on them) and there were only 4 other wires, 2 yellow ones, the aerial and a green one.

 

It looks like whatever the yellow wire was, has been cut and used as the live wire to power the stereo, and therefore the green wire must be the earth. I connected it all up and nada, nothing, nowt. 

 

So I opened the door to get a good look in the stereo holeâ„¢ and as I did I noticed the clock stopped ticking. I shut the door, it started again, opened the door, stopped, shut the door started. Puzzled I immediately consulted Derek Acorah as I thought it might be haunted but he was too busy being arrested for drink driving or something about an operation on his Yewtree to get here, so I decided to look at an electrical diagnosis instead of a paranormal one this time.

 

Quick look in the HBOL suggests that the clock, interior lights, indicators, brake lights and hazard lights are all on the same fuse. So I turn on the hazard lights, clock stops. Turn on indicators, clock stops.

 

Issue is, the interior light, brake lights, hazard lights, indicators are not actually coming on when I use them, they simply stop the clock. Therefore I think it only makes sense to rename Meg; Anneka at least until she stops stopping the clock. 

 

Anyhow, back to the matter at hand. Can anyone explain what I have done? The wiring is back as it was, the fuse looks okay and I assume the clock would not work if not? I wanged a 25a fuse in to replace it to see if it was that but it made no difference (the original fuse was 20a but the HBOL said it should be 16a). 

 

I am going to order a load of new fuses of ebay so I have a correct one but thought I would chuck it out here for the wise and wonderful of Autoshite to point out where I am being really really stupido as I usually am.

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My money would be on a high resistance connection somewhere (may be a poor earth!) so when more current is drawn from anything else on the same circuit, the voltage drops to a point which is not enough to power the additional load, and stops the clock from working. With the load removed, the voltage goes up enough to power the clock, which will only draw a tiny current.

 

If you set a meter to read voltage, with one end on the battery positive and the other on the yellow wire, see what happens when load is put on the circuit. It shouldn't read by more than a couple of points of a volt difference between the two locations. Do the same thing with the battery negative and any earthing points, again there should be very little voltage difference but may well be under load.

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  • 1 month later...

Right, finally managed to sort this today, I am just not sure how. 

 

Following on from the last post, nothing was working except the clock and that didn't work whenever I used either the indicators, the front doors, the brakes which were all on the same circuit. I changed the fuse and no change. 

 

I then looked at the rear lights to see if I had blown the bulbs or owt. It seems I hadn't but in checking I knacked the rear bulb holder:

 

15681650395_559a0c1279.jpgIMAG1164 by Afalseicon, on Flickr

 

TITWANKS.

 

I tried getting hold of another bulb holder but to no avail so I ended up going to Maplins and getting some circuit board repair liquid and to the corner shop for some superglue and did this:

 

15496853690_3affd9290c.jpgIMAG1169 by Afalseicon, on Flickr

 

Which is when I accidentally glued my arm to a magazine watching a video of a Renault 25 Monaco.   

 

Anyhow, after I had managed to remove my arm from the voucher offering me £5 off when I spent £30 or more at my local Cook store, the rear light worked again but still no brake lights on both sides. 

 

I had assumed that in order to fit the stereo someone had cut the yellow wire which I guessed was live and plumbed it in there. Therefore I had at some point connected the yellow wires without testing if they were + or -. When everything stopped I had at some point disconnected these so that the wiring was as it was when I started.

 

15496453687_f42d5f4a15.jpg

 

Anyhow, thinking it was a bad earth I ran a wire from the battery negative directly to what I assumed was the earth in the loom, the green wire. It did nothing.

 

Anyhow using the same logic, I ran a wire from the positive on the battery to the front yellow wire and everything sparked back into life......except the brake lights. Hmm, methinks there is something amiss here. So I reconnected the yellow wires and everything stops again. I disconnect the yellow wires and then run a wire from to positive to the front yellow wire and it all starts up again. So I connected the 2 yellow wires again and ran the battery positive to the back yellow wire and nothing.
 
Now the electrically savvy of you will probably be aghast at my trial and error techique there but don't worry I have already been chastised on the Visa forum. 
 
What I had basically worked out is that it did not matter of I ran the wire from the positive to the front yellow or green wires, if the interior light has stopped working either wire being attached directly to the positive will make everything work again. However to the back yellow wire it did shag all. 
 
This made it look like I had made a rather stupid assumption about someone cutting the yellow wire.
 
After much digging around in the mess that is the garage I finally managed to find my multimeter (if I showed you it you would understand why I didn't just do this in the first place) and discovered both the front wires are positive and the yellow wire in the background is negative.
 
So, I knew how to get everything working except the brake lights which for some reason still wouldn't come on. At this point I thought I was out of ideas so I went online. A chap on the Visa forum suggested I check the power to the switch which seems really obvious now but turned out to be a great help. 
 
I got an old paperclip and tested the circuit and the brake lights came on. So its not the lights that are the problem. I must need a new switch. 
 
So I put the connectors back on the switch and out of interest pressed the brakes and the brake lights came on. Fuck knows what they weren't before. 
 
I assume the switch 'might' be on the way out but I taxed the car this afternoon and will run it for a few days checking the brakes before each journey.
 
If it is okay I will just put it down to one of those strange things I can't explain like the popularity of Jay-Z and leave it at that. 
 
Speaking of rappers I was looking at the back of it when I was washing it today and noticed it was originally sold by Eric White motors. I get quite excited realising that Eric White was the real name of Eazy-MuthaFucking-E but after looking it up on Google it seems that he was actually called Eric Wright. So that story is not as good as it could have been.
 
So NEARLY a gangster MOFO.
 
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Just woke up and a thought suddenly popped in my head. I changed the fan switch yesterday. As you would expect a little water vame out before I could swap them over. Should I have bled the system a little? Might reverse the car up the hill for 5 mins before i go to work and take the cap of the expansion tank to be sure.

 

*EDIT* Ignore me. Thinking about it as I came round in the shower and it will be fine.

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So is Meg in good working order with all electrical gremlins over come?

 

I am just about to put my Visa away for the winter to preserve it a bit longer.

 

Aye. Wont be used too much over the winter I have the Jag as a daily and will probably be cycling to work most of the time but it will be called into winter duty when it snows as it has nice skinny wheels. Picking up some spare wheels to put on some winter boots on at the weekend.

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