HMC BIOHAZARD B5 passat

[High Jetter]

Mine occasionally beeps, but still locks, if the tailgate isn't 100% closed - just something slightly in the way. I've aways sorted it straight away so no idea on battery drain though.

[HMC]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Take the rubber cover off the alarm sensor on the nearside.of the slam panel. After all the bad weather I'll bet it's full of water and shorting out. No idea how it gets in there but it does!

If the car thinks a doors open it won't lock and the alarm will beep loudly once. As said above, the interior lights will stay on. Just manually switch them to stay off until you can sort it.

Good choice on the diesel auto as well. As long as its not rusty and/or falling to bits then you really can't go wrong with that. Tourer has superb load space too, a proper estate car.

Is that the slam panel for the bonnet?

[Split_Pin]

1 minute ago, HMC said:

Is that the slam panel for the bonnet?

Yes sorry that's the one.

[HMC]

On 31/12/2024 at 12:24, HMC said:

Agreed- its so 50s - usually the brochure artwork shows the ambition, and the reality is a bit different! 

Daimler seem to have been particularly guilty of this it seems…..

Shameless!

[HMC]

But I do like how “dignity “ is cited as a sales feature. Very different times 😂

[adw1977]

Different times indeed, when a man had very different suits (and hats) for town and country.

[lesapandre]

People wore a hat in the car - and driving gloves. That's why they had 'headroom'.

[barefoot]

I still do.

[DSdriver]

Automatic chassis lubrication:  something certain Citroens are rather good at 🤣

[HMC]

I had great success earlier, in the midst of a cold snap, in freeing off carefully and successfully, the heater  valve on the daimler. 

Ive now got very  slight wisps of tepid air coming through. Maybe the matrix is clogged? Any recommendations on how to improve the performance?

[somewhatfoolish]

If it is wisps I'd look at the air flow path of the heater; is there a filter or wire mesh that's encrusted with 70 years of grot obstructing the flow? Is there grot in the matrix? Is the fan motor putting all of its dobbins out in synchronisation? Are all the phlappy phlaps phlapping as intended? 

[lesapandre]

16 minutes ago, HMC said:

I had great success earlier, in the midst of a cold snap, in freeing off carefully and successfully, the heater  valve on the daimler. 

Ive now got very  slight wisps of tepid air coming through. Maybe the matrix is clogged? Any recommendations on how to improve the performance?

The nuclear option is to put a couple of dishwasher tablets or dishwasher cleaner in the radiator and take it for a  long run. 

Then drain the coolant out - it will have a drain plug on the rad and probably one on the block the heater may have one too.

Then disconnect the heater in and out under the bonnet and connect a hose to the in - and extend the out with some plastic pipe so it drains away from the car.

Gradually increase the water pressure and let it run through for 10 mins.

At the end you will either get it back together and find:

Nothing has changed.

You have the flu.

It leaks everywhere.

You have heat.

Daimler and Lanchester owners club may have a spare matrix - who knows.

I'd give the block a flush through too.

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

 

[Weird Car]

14 minutes ago, HMC said:

Ive now got very  slight wisps of tepid air coming through. Maybe the matrix is clogged? Any recommendations on how to improve the performance?

The only true answer is to swap it for a newer Daimler😉🤣 

 

On a more serious note I’d be pretty surprised if it was a particularly good heater even when it was new to be honest, I’ve never had much more than a “mildly warm mist” from any 50s car heaters 

[wuvvum]

Re the Rover 75 door closing issue - it could also be the microswitch in one of the door lock mechanisms that has got stuck - that can happen in cold weather, mine did it a few years back.

[lesapandre]

The heater box - ie the heat exchanger may be a generic one from the 50's ie a 'Smiths Industries' or some such so there may be a replacement about to fit for when the original gets recored. 

Try muffing the radiator grille - the car may be running cool. What does temp gauge say...or is it accurate...

Silver foil should do it.

[lesapandre]

On 01/01/2025 at 19:14, HMC said:

Daimler seem to have been particularly guilty of this it seems…..

Shameless!

[Matty]

30 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Try muffing the radiator

Phnnarr 🤣 

[lesapandre]

8 minutes ago, Matty said:

Phnnarr 🤣 

[HMC]

1955

 

2025 (different car, same spirit of ownership)

[captain_70s]

Funny to think it was considered a vintage car in 1955, when my Cresta was brand new, which was considered a classic in 1977 when my Dolomite was brand new, and has been a classic itself for 20 years...

[lesapandre]

@HMC how are these Conquests to own? They look charming.

I know the 'Carbodies' coachwork can get very rusty. But given how few they made there are a surprising number still lurking about. 

I've heard them described as 'high camp' which I think sums up 50's Daimlers  - they always make me think of parma violets and Boris Karloff in a Homburg hat.  But how do they drive? They were even raced in period. Are they 'fun' or a chore?

I've not used a pre-select g/b much - though I have driven a 30's Lanchester years ago.

They make nothing much £-wise on the open market whereas the compact Jaguar MK1 or the big MK7-9 were cheaper in period and are now worth ×5 as much at least.

I always take my bangers abroad - will these tackle the motorway/autoroute or are they quaintly undergeared?

Great content as usual. You and @LightBulbFun should get the annual oscar award.

[lesapandre]

They have quite a lot in common with the Dingo scout car I think. As seen here.

It is possible to mash the pre-select and get quite a lot of performance out of them (shortening the life of the g/b quite considerably before a rebuild I am sure). Secret will be to have 2-g/b one in use and one under refurbishment I suppose.😂

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, lesapandre said:

They have quite a lot in common with the Dingo scout car I think. As seen here.

It is possible to mash the pre-select and get quite a lot of performance out of them (shortening the life of the g/b quite considerably before a rebuild I am sure). Secret will be to have 2-g/b one in use and one under refurbishment I suppose.😂

London Transport RT buses (the one before the Routemaster, 1939 - 54ish) also had Wilson pre select gearboxes. I assume it was a slightly bigger version. But I have been on some very spirited drives in those.

I've not driven one myself but sat in the downstairs front seat and watched many times. They seem like a brilliant idea so I don't know why they didn't catch on more. Maybe they were a bit expensive for a car? 

A late friend once told me Mr Wilson had the idea in a dream and even though it works perfectly he still had no idea how or why it worked even after he built it. But that might be an old wives tale. 

[wuvvum]

4 hours ago, HMC said:

1955

 

2025 (different car, same spirit of ownership)

That's the first time I've ever heard of removing the water pump being considered an upgrade!  Also are those LED bulbs in the sidelights?

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

@HMC how are these Conquests to own? They look charming.

I know the 'Carbodies' coachwork can get very rusty. But given how few they made there are a surprising number still lurking about. 

I've heard them described as 'high camp' which I think sums up 50's Daimlers  - they always make me think of parma violets and Boris Karloff in a Homburg hat.  But how do they drive? They were even raced in period. Are they 'fun' or a chore?

I've not used a pre-select g/b much - though I have driven a 30's Lanchester years ago.

They make nothing much £-wise on the open market whereas the compact Jaguar MK1 or the big MK7-9 were cheaper in period and are now worth ×5 as much at least.

I always take my bangers abroad - will these tackle the motorway/autoroute or are they quaintly undergeared?

Great content as usual. You and @LightBulbFun should get the annual oscar award.

The pre-selector 'box is very easy to get the hang of once you've got your head round the idea that the left pedal is emphatically not a clutch!  I wouldn't describe the Conquest as fun to drive in the way that, say, a Sunbeam Talbot 90 is, but they're pleasant enough and keep up with modern traffic OK.  Mine was happy enough at 60 - it sounded like it was revving hard at that speed but then straight 6s always sound like they're spinning faster than they are.  The Century will (or would) do 100 flat out so at A-road speeds it's probably only doing half of its maximum revs.

[IronStar]

What happens to preselector gearboxes if you use the select pedal as you would normally use the clutch? Doesn’t work? Borkage express? Something else?

[wuvvum]

Borkage express, basically.

[somewhatfoolish]

It's not a clutch, the pedal just tells the box to shift. How it works.

[lesapandre]

In effect it's a big foot-operated switch between ratios which are 'pre-selected' on the column.

[Sigmund Fraud]

The Wilson/Daimler box uses epicyclic gears, brake bands for gear selection, and a torque converter. I'm not an engineer, so my little brain can best make sense of it as an automatic box without the automatic selection.

They were amazing compared to the manual boxes that were around in the 1930s, but by the mid 1950s they had become so much of an anachronism that even Daimler began fitting fully automatic boxes.

If you slip the gear selector pedal like a clutch, you are basically putting quite a lot of torque onto the tiny friction surface of a brake band. Said brake band will soon wear out, resulting in the box slipping. There is a small amount of adjustment possible, but once you've run out of friction material the box needs to be taken apart and the brake band reconditioned (because it's certainly not a part that GSF keep on the shelf !).