The new news 24 thread

[clayts450]

Finally got some time to sort out the alternator on the Streetwise. In my last thrilling* instalment, I had fought the bottom mounting bolt and won, only to be thwarted by one of the two bracket bolts which had rounded to near spherical proportions. Not being able to get this bolt out essentially meant I could not get the old alternator out or, naturally, the replacement in. I left it a few weeks, helped by being crazy busy. Had to take the day off today really (domestic driving regs bollox) so, with the sky blue and the sun warm I set to work.

Various techniques were employed all with no success whatsoever. In the end, due to the amount of rounding that had occurred as a consequence of my continued ham-fisted attempts to budge it, I was able to coax a 9mm one of these onto the bolt and with much trepidation was able to encourage it stay on with a 16mm spanner and all fingers crossed (the problem being there wasn't enough room to swing a hammer to properly force it on). Crack....gotcha ya bastard.

The swap out and swap in was easy peasy by comparison, and had it all back together again in about 10 minutes. Now the moment of truth. Turn the key.....battery dead. FFS.... Remembered there was a recently recharged one in the 420 which I had left untethered, so swapped that in, turned the key and.... boom. No, it didn't explode - the battery light disappeared.

Win. Promptly went for a trip and the urban on-roader is on-road once again.

So three working vehicles (although the 620 is back on the naughty step due to the alarm going on for no fucking reason...again).

[wuvvum]

Well the Trafic now has a fully fitted diesel heater in the back. 

It doesn't work though.    I think the controller is duff, as it's not doing anything much - it'll turn the heater on but it won't turn it off again, the display fades out after a few seconds of the heater running and all the buttons stop responding, and it won't prime the fuel pump so no diesel is actually getting to the heater - so it's just putting out cold air.  I need to message the seller and ask him to send me another controller.  It's not a brilliant installation as I was limited as to where I could put it by the location of the hole in the floor - I didn't want to start cutting new holes when there was already one there from the van's previous life as a camper.  The wiring all needs tidying obvs, but I want to get it working before I worry about that.

The lighting in the back is courtesy of these two LED strips off eBay - £4.25 a pop and they're surprisingly effective - I wouldn't want to read by them for any length of time but for pottering around in the back they're fine.

I went to put the new tyres for the Renault 6 in the back of the Mondeo, but it wouldn't unlock on the remote.  Unlocked it with the key and it turned out the battery had gone completely flat.  Popped the bonnet to jump start it and the bonnet release cable snapped.  Epic.  Fortunately it had the courtesy to at least partially ping the bonnet catch before it let go, so with a bit of heaving and jiggling I was able to get the bonnet open, which was a relief.  I've ordered a new cable off eBay (just the inner, with a screw-on nipple at one end - fuck dismantling half the car to change the whole thing) which I will hopefully get sorted next weekend.  In the meantime I've flicked the catch closed so that the bonnet can't close all the way and get stuck - it's on the emergency catch at the moment so I don't want to drive it too far but at least it's moveable now.

On the subject of Renault 6 tyres, I had a look at the date codes of the ones on the car.  The rears are a matching pair of 2002 vintage - they are showing very little wear so will be staying put.  The fronts are 2004 on the offside and 2001 on the nearside - the 2004 one is OK-ish but the 2001 is fairly knackered, with only about 3mm of tread and some fairly serious cracking.  So the shiny new pair of Hiflys will be going on the front.

I also treated the 6 to a halogen headlight bulb in the nearside - I just bought the one initially to make sure they'd fit and work OK, and it's noticeably brighter than the old bulb so I'm going to get one for the offside as well.  The headlights weren't too bad as they were to be fair - certainly better than the Skoda's - but these should make it even more usable at night.

I got the lawn mowed this weekend, thanks to the excellent @Stanky of this parish who sent me a replacement pull start mechanism and a new spark plug and carb diaphragm for the mower - I've only fitted the first two of those so far but it's got the old crate working again - three pumps on the primer and away she went, chewing through 6 months' worth of grass and partially buried cat shit like nobody's business.  It's a pretty basic old mower, but being plastic it's light enough for me to carry in and out of the shed, which is easier than having to manoeuvre it over two quite steep steps.

Then I went for a bike ride up to Hickling Broad - completely deserted other than a bloke fishing, a few ducks and a solitary swan.

[OM646]

Weekend marked by me throwing parts at an electrical gremlin that was caused by a metal tab that fell off a headlight, probably shorting something in the process 

[Zelandeth]

53 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Well the Trafic now has a fully fitted diesel heater in the back. 

It doesn't work though.    I think the controller is duff, as it's not doing anything much - it'll turn the heater on but it won't turn it off again, the display fades out after a few seconds of the heater running and all the buttons stop responding, and it won't prime the fuel pump so no diesel is actually getting to the heater - so it's just putting out cold air.  I need to message the seller and ask him to send me another controller.  It's not a brilliant installation as I was limited as to where I could put it by the location of the hole in the floor - I didn't want to start cutting new holes when there was already one there from the van's previous life as a camper.  The wiring all needs tidying obvs, but I want to get it working before I worry about that.

The lighting in the back is courtesy of these two LED strips off eBay - £4.25 a pop and they're surprisingly effective - I wouldn't want to read by them for any length of time but for pottering around in the back they're fine.

I went to put the new tyres for the Renault 6 in the back of the Mondeo, but it wouldn't unlock on the remote.  Unlocked it with the key and it turned out the battery had gone completely flat.  Popped the bonnet to jump start it and the bonnet release cable snapped.  Epic.  Fortunately it had the courtesy to at least partially ping the bonnet catch before it let go, so with a bit of heaving and jiggling I was able to get the bonnet open, which was a relief.  I've ordered a new cable off eBay (just the inner, with a screw-on nipple at one end - fuck dismantling half the car to change the whole thing) which I will hopefully get sorted next weekend.  In the meantime I've flicked the catch closed so that the bonnet can't close all the way and get stuck - it's on the emergency catch at the moment so I don't want to drive it too far but at least it's moveable now.

On the subject of Renault 6 tyres, I had a look at the date codes of the ones on the car.  The rears are a matching pair of 2002 vintage - they are showing very little wear so will be staying put.  The fronts are 2004 on the offside and 2001 on the nearside - the 2004 one is OK-ish but the 2001 is fairly knackered, with only about 3mm of tread and some fairly serious cracking.  So the shiny new pair of Hiflys will be going on the front.

I also treated the 6 to a halogen headlight bulb in the nearside - I just bought the one initially to make sure they'd fit and work OK, and it's noticeably brighter than the old bulb so I'm going to get one for the offside as well.  The headlights weren't too bad as they were to be fair - certainly better than the Skoda's - but these should make it even more usable at night.

I got the lawn mowed this weekend, thanks to the excellent @Stanky of this parish who sent me a replacement pull start mechanism and a new spark plug and carb diaphragm for the mower - I've only fitted the first two of those so far but it's got the old crate working again - three pumps on the primer and away she went, chewing through 6 months' worth of grass and partially buried cat shit like nobody's business.  It's a pretty basic old mower, but being plastic it's light enough for me to carry in and out of the shed, which is easier than having to manoeuvre it over two quite steep steps.

Then I went for a bike ride up to Hickling Broad - completely deserted other than a bloke fishing, a few ducks and a solitary swan.

If you don't get anywhere with the seller of the heater drop me a PM, happy to send the old controller from mine over to you, it's just been in a drawer in the van since I fitted the Afterburner controller.

[Stanky]

9 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I got the lawn mowed this weekend, thanks to the excellent @Stanky of this parish who sent me a replacement pull start mechanism and a new spark plug and carb diaphragm for the mower - I've only fitted the first two of those so far but it's got the old crate working again - three pumps on the primer and away she went, chewing through 6 months' worth of grass and partially buried cat shit like nobody's business.  It's a pretty basic old mower, but being plastic it's light enough for me to carry in and out of the shed, which is easier than having to manoeuvre it over two quite steep steps.

Glad it got it going again! these little mowers are actually really good, the decks don't rust out like the more expensive steel ones, they have a nice small footprint so don't take up the entire shed and the engines are standard B&S units so are really hardy, and if something does break, easy to source spares for. 

[Slappy]

Carina update: Car is spoken for alas, my cousins down the road don't think it would get through another MOT without a decent go at the tickle stick and as the car is stood most of the time, it's not really viable to keep a hold of. I was told though that rather than going through WBAC, it seems to be going to a specialist breakers, so at the very least it'll help some others stay on the road.

[N19]

Bluebird window part has arrived at the garage and they've fitted it. Be nice to get it out and about and enjoy the fruits of the work I've done on it! 

[Cord Fourteener]

New Passat update: needs fuel filter I think. I've just given it some beans and it was hesitant.

I was told it might be the case.

[Cord Fourteener]

But Comes up nice for a scrub though. 

[Cord Fourteener]

Hoho what a co-inky-dink

[SiC]

18 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

Hoho what a co-inky-dink

Not really! Those VAG rear wipers have been failing for years. Even now they haven't seemed to have made a design that doesn't fail. 😄

[Vince70]

Not much work was done today but I did start the Mini up for the first time in weeks and gave it a clean as her indoors daughter is having the car so I thought it would be best to clean it and throw a cover over it and disconnect the battery as she won’t be driving it till June.

 

I also started up the Ka as it hadn’t moved for about 6 months and it started first turn of the key and is in amazing condition but I guess being it’s only done 19000 miles I guess it’s never seen road salt.

The Ka is my other half’s car and  I’m sure she bought it as a Ford scene tax car as She paid £150 for it lol.

Maybe one day I might get my driveway back for my cars

Thinking about it I better start looking for some genuine hub caps for it.

[Split_Pin]

15 hours ago, OM646 said:

Weekend marked by me throwing parts at an electrical gremlin that was caused by a metal tab that fell off a headlight, probably shorting something in the process 

I didn't know you had an Audi 80!

[Cord Fourteener]

Right, I can now detune the Beeest by about 80 fine German PferdeStärke just by putting these new shiny letters on. 

Or I could spell Tit. Undecided. 

[OM646]

38 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I didn't know you had an Audi 80!

Grew up in this one! It's a 1994 (built 1993)  estate TDI, I'm currently trying to bring it back to a decent shape.

You have a Cabriolet, right?

[OM646]

7 minutes ago, Tim_E said:

Right, I can now detune the Beeest by about 80 fine German PferdeStärke just by putting these new shiny letters on. 

Or I could spell Tit. Undecided. 

Or spell "DAT ASS" with the Passat badge and the shiny D

[rob88h]

Time to enter the 99th percentile 🤣

[Cord Fourteener]

9 minutes ago, OM646 said:

Or spell "DAT ASS" with the Passat badge and the shiny D

It's a shame I can't spell Piss Hat

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, OM646 said:

Grew up in this one! It's a 1994 (built 1993)  estate TDI, I'm currently trying to bring it back to a decent shape.

You have a Cabriolet, right?

Excellent, I'm a big fan of all variants. Yes I have a Cabriolet, one of the last made! 

[OM646]

2 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Excellent, I'm a big fan of all variants. Yes I have a Cabriolet, one of the last made! 

B3s and B4s were way ahead of their time. Your cab looks stunning!

I'll post some pics of my estate when i take it for a spin again

[Vince70]

42 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Excellent, I'm a big fan of all variants. Yes I have a Cabriolet, one of the last made! 

That’s a real beautiful motor I had one of the first built which was immaculate with the 5 pot and it really was one of those cars I regret selling.

 

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Vince70 said:

That’s a real beautiful motor I had one of the first built which was immaculate with the 5 pot and it really was one of those cars I regret selling.

 

Loving that! Mine is indeed a keeper, not least because it's the only car I've ever owned that my wife loves!

[MarvinsMom]

3 hours ago, Tim_E said:

Right, I can now detune the Beeest by about 80 fine German PferdeStärke just by putting these new shiny letters on. 

Or I could spell Tit. Undecided. 

this-

cos that is what every other road user is already thinking.

fuckin' pisshats....

[OM646]

2 hours ago, Vince70 said:

That’s a real beautiful motor I had one of the first built which was immaculate with the 5 pot and it really was one of those cars I regret selling.

 

One of the first means it's still one that has no airbags, right? 

 

You might have had the same steering wheel i have in my estate 

(Sunshade because I was working on the inside and it was burning hot outside)

[Cord Fourteener]

6 hours ago, Tim_E said:

New Passat update: needs fuel filter I think. I've just given it some beans and it was hesitant.

I was told it might be the case.

Could also be the maf, I'm told. 

Other news, my fwd Passat has had two Haldex filter changes, one at 130k and one at 140k.

That's truly amazing... 🤔

[rusty998]

I had a Skoda Fabia 1.9TDi that used to go in to limp mode if I gave it the Beans, changed the MAF no difference, changed the turbo solenoid valves still no change, so it looked to be a turbo issue with the variable vanes, I had another TDi Fabia complete that was my own car before it was written off so I knew the parts I swapped over were good, I had to get the turbo out and then swapped it for the good used one and the problem was resolved, try the MAF and turbo solenoid valves to see if you get any results from that, also check for a boost leak from underneath the car with someone revving the engine to see if you can hear a leak, fuel filter as someone has already mentioned above 👆

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I had an air leak after getting the cambelt done last January.  It wasn't hesistant but instead surged because the turbo wasn't spooling fully and spat out a whole load of soot.  Turned out it was an o-ring that hadn't properly sealed on its way to the DPF.  Fixed in five minutes when I turned up with the car at 8AM the Monday afterwards.  No questions asked, swapped the car off the ramp and fixed it with an apology - which wasn't really necessary because it was something that anybody could have missed.

[somewhatfoolish]

  

6 hours ago, Tim_E said:

It's a shame I can't spell Piss Hat

SHARAN badge?

[Cord Fourteener]

12 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

  

SHARAN badge?

Ha, the one I didn't think of, clearly. 

PISSHAT GIT might be the best combo

[wuvvum]

The bonnet cable for the Mondeo turned up today - pretty impressive given that I only ordered it on Friday evening.  Since I had the day off work I thought I'd have a crack at fitting it between rain showers.  It turned out to be pretty easy - the bonnet catch mechanism came off with two 10mm bolts, the cable was fitted easily and with a squirt of GT85 down the sheath it fed smoothly through to the cabin - I was getting worried at one stage as it was catching on something and didn't want to go in any further, but when I investigated it turned out that it was getting stuck on the lever assembly in the passenger footwell - so the cable was already protruding into the car, and was easily pulled through with a pair of pliers.  Everything went back together easily after a squirt of grease, and the bonnet is now functional again.  I haven't got around to fitting the other end of the cable to the lever, but it's not a particularly stiff mechanism so it's easy enough to pop the hood by just pulling on the cable.  I'll get the lever refitted at the weekend, if I can be arsed.

The bonnet cable wasn't the only exciting thing postie brought today.  He also brought this:

It's a Lego set that I really wanted as a kid - I had to choose between this and another set for Christmas, and I chose the other one, but then by the following Christmas they'd stopped making this one so I never got to have it.  They come up for sale quite often on eBay, but they tend to make rather more than I'm prepared to pay - there are a lot of other nostalgic fortysomethings with rather more disposable income than me.  This one came up with a £6.50 start bid and I was the only bidder, so that was a result - with postage it owes me £9.50.  It's not perfect, there are a few bits missing, but I reckon I can make most of those up from the stash of Lego my mum still has squirreled away somewhere.

The rain eased off in the late afternoon so I got the 12v pressure washer out to give my mountain bike a hose off, as it's got rather muddy recently riding round the back lanes.  Whilst I had it out I decided to give the diesel C2 a quick wash, as it hadn't had one since I bought it (or indeed some time before that) and was looking rather manky.  It came up pretty well and looks rather more respectable now, at least on the outside.  I'm actually rather fond of the old crate, which has surprised me - normally when a car sharts itself before even getting home from being collected, it struggles to worm its way back into my good books and usually gets sacked off fairly quickly, but this one has managed it for some reason.

Then I went out and bought a folding mountain bike.