The new news 24 thread

[RobT]

Fair enough, sounds irritating. A bit like the variable intermittent wipers that seem to have a mind of their own.  For example toggling the switch between frequencies doesn't have the desired effect.  Not sure if it's me being a twat or the auto wiper function getting involved when it shouldn't.

[dollywobbler]

If it has auto wipers, I'd expect the variable control to just be a sensitivity control. Auto wipers are great when they work, but sadly I often find they just don't get it right.

[dean36014]

The wipers do indeed work that way. Lights on warning doesn't work due to the sticky door switch. Really chuffed it made it there and back without mechanical incident. 

[Split_Pin]

On my 75, disconnecting the auto wipers sensor behind the rear view mirror restored actual variable intermittent wipe for which the rotating part of the stalk was, laughably, still there.

My Civic is the only car that I have owned with auto wipers where the function actually works extremely well. 

[wuvvum]

I only realised the other day that my 75 has the rain sensor behind the mirror.  Thankfully the auto wipers have never worked in my ownership, it just has variable intermittent - the only automation is that the delay becomes longer when the car is stationary, which makes sense.

In Renault-wiper-related news, the Scénic now has a full MOT - I picked a dry day to run it in for a retest just in case the wipers decided to go on strike, but they were working this morning.  Recently I've been finding that if the wipers aren't working, the old IT fix of switching the car off and restarting it will often get them going again.

[SiC]

11 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

In Renault-wiper-related news, the Scénic now has a full MOT - I picked a dry day to run it in for a retest just in case the wipers decided to go on strike, but they were working this morning.  Recently I've been finding that if the wipers aren't working, the old IT fix of switching the car off and restarting it will often get them going again.

I had that on my Laguna II wipers. If you switched them off and the park switch doesn't detect them parked after so long, it'll disable the wipers entirely till car is restarted. Not particularly handy and would have made much more logic to just stop them after timing out while still working when turned on. But that's Reno logic for you. 

I replaced the wipers mechanism and motor with a second hand replacement. Worked fine from then. 

[NigeT]

Spent yesterday doing stuff on an SLK that lives outdoors in rural Perthshire - having once been a decent car it's now starting to resemble something hauled up from the deepest oceans. Broken spring took a while to replace - no chance of removing the shock to free up space - nut on one side ready to disintegrate and bolt welded in.  Still, eventually got the coilf@cker out using a £70 made-in-China copy of the Mercedes compressor tool that seems safer than conventional spring compressors. Mercedes jack served a useful function of keeping lower arm in place whilst the compressing tool was wound in with a socket from below. Also took dash cluster out to remove annoying SRS light, got indicators working with some WD40 in fusebox, and reinstalled heater blower after water ingress had taken its toll on the connectors. 

[RobT]

2 hours ago, dean36014 said:

Really chuffed it made it there and back without mechanical incident. 

Same here!  Once home I was on alert for a few days, as the last 'modern' car I took on a long trip (a Volvo S60 to Sweden) shat its alternator a week later.

Next job is the MoT which I need to book for next week.  Possible fails are the front brakes and last year's TRE advisory, but I'll be getting the front discs and pads changed anyway.  Plus I need to clear that fault code again so the EML remains off for long enough.

[dean36014]

I pre mot'ed it at my usual place before I leant it my friend. Front discs and inner track rod joints an advisory. Actually would have failed on handbrake effort on I think the offside. It basically needed new rear discs and pads. Unless the trip has worn something out all the suspension and steering joints were fine.

[wuvvum]

30 minutes ago, SiC said:

I replaced the wipers mechanism and motor with a second hand replacement. Worked fine from then. 

I will probably need to do that eventually, but on the Scénic III there are two wiper motors and they go for around £300 a pair secondhand, so I'm going to put it off for as long as possible.

[TheOtherStu]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

My Civic is the only car that I have owned with auto wipers where the function actually works extremely well. 

I've had loads of cars since my 2004 Pug 307 SE where the auto-wipers just worked. Shit car to drive, but had every conceivable extra for a 2004 car - auto lights, wipers, fold-in mirrors, heated seats, Sat Nav and so on.

Every car I've had since, 2x Mercedes, BMW, 2 x Vauxhalls and a Prius (probably more, but can't remember them), none of them have had a decent auto-wiper.

[RobT]

2 minutes ago, dean36014 said:

I pre mot'ed it at my usual place before I leant it my friend. Front discs and inner track rod joints an advisory. Actually would have failed on handbrake effort on I think the offside. It basically needed new rear discs and pads. Unless the trip has worn something out all the suspension and steering joints were fine.

Thanks, yes I remember that from your FS thread.  I haven't had a rear wheel off yet to see what they're like, but obviously if they need doing I know what to expect.  Also @barefoot said this in the same thread:

I've also remembered that the parking brake is a two stage thing. If you just pull out the little lever, you get park. If you pull it out & hold it out for something like 2 or three seconds, you get something like 180 newtons of force, which makes it utterly immobile on the steepest of steep hills. 

I've tried it and you can hear the extra buzz when it engages fully, so hopefully the garage will know to do this.  Can't see why they wouldn't as they're a decent outfit.

[dome]

Gave the Jag a wash and wax before it gets parked up for the winter. It's now sorned.

I'd hate to see it deteriorate from being on the road all winter and it'll save me the £30 a month in tax 

I really should sell it but it is a decent example and I'll never be able to afford one as good again. Plus it's got history with me now after saving it from 20 years abandoned in a garage! 

[Ghosty]

1 hour ago, TheOtherStu said:

I've had loads of cars since my 2004 Pug 307 SE where the auto-wipers just worked. Shit car to drive, but had every conceivable extra for a 2004 car - auto lights, wipers, fold-in mirrors, heated seats, Sat Nav and so on.

My 2002 306 Meridian also had pretty good auto wipers! 

[TheOtherStu]

Just now, Ghosty said:

My 2002 306 Meridian also had pretty good auto wipers! 

Weird isn't it how the Pugs had stuff that you only got on the absolute top-of-the-range Mercs and Audis.

Even now, their bottom-of-the-range models include stuff that many manufacturers have as extras. They've had DAB as standard for years, for instance.

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, TheOtherStu said:

Weird isn't it how the Pugs had stuff that you only got on the absolute top-of-the-range Mercs and Audis.

Even now, their bottom-of-the-range models include stuff that many manufacturers have as extras. They've had DAB as standard for years, for instance.

Same with Renault. Pretty base spec Clio II would get auto wipers, lights, heated mirrors and such. 

I think it was a way of tempting buyers over to them rather than the usual German/Ford/GM purchase. 

[Mally]

19 degrees in Benidorm.

Sorry, not sorry.

[cobblers]

29 minutes ago, Mally said:

19 degrees in Benidorm.

Sorry, not sorry.

[Markeh]

52 minutes ago, SiC said:

Same with Renault. Pretty base spec Clio II would get auto wipers, lights, heated mirrors and such. 

I think it was a way of tempting buyers over to them rather than the usual German/Ford/GM purchase. 

Yep, my mid spec Megane II had auto lights and wipers and other kit you wouldn't have got on a mid spec Astra/Focus of the era.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

Alison's Pollen Filter *may have been overdue a change... VW Part Number for anyone who can't ba arsed to get an Audi A2 specific item. Fits perfectly. 👌🤓

[TheOtherStu]

1 hour ago, Mally said:

19 degrees in Benidorm.

Sorry, not sorry.

As I have Covid and not allowed to step out of my door, I couldn't care less if it was 25 and all the ladies were walking round in bikinis 🤣

 

However, I'll definitely curse you next week when I'm allowed out again.

[grogee]

5 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

On my 75, disconnecting the auto wipers sensor behind the rear view mirror restored actual variable intermittent wipe for which the rotating part of the stalk was, laughably, still there.

My Civic is the only car that I have owned with auto wipers where the function actually works extremely well. 

Mrs Grogee's Alfa 159 has rain "sensing" wipers. They are laughably bad. Hmm, it's raining - but why aren't the wipers coming on? I'll adjust the sensitivity. Click - nothing. Click - nothing. Click - OMGFULLSPEED.

[Mally]

3 hours ago, cobblers said:

I still envy you a little.

[Mally]

2 hours ago, TheOtherStu said:

As I have Covid and not allowed to step out of my door, I couldn't care less if it was 25 and all the ladies were walking round in bikinis 🤣

 

 

Some on the beach have less than a bikini.

[2cvspecial]

9 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

If it has auto wipers, I'd expect the variable control to just be a sensitivity control. Auto wipers are great when they work, but sadly I often find they just don't get it right.

when are you going back to your fleet thread (tat thread)

[dollywobbler]

Not sure I am to be honest. Fleet progress is woeful, mostly broken. The only working car I currently have access to (GSA away for welding) is the Fairmont. So that's pricey...

Storm Arwen ripped a rear wing off the 2CV (not designed for 70mph tailwinds it turns out), Matiz is out of MOT and needs me to remove the injectors, Charade engine rebuild is ridiculously slow in any sort of progress, Fox is STILL just parked up waiting, I wish Storm Arwen had simply blown the Multipla away, Oltcit way down the pecking order, Oltcit 2 and Sana just languishing at the back.

[TheOtherStu]

1 hour ago, Mally said:

Some on the beach have less than a bikini.

Unless they have cough sweets that will shut my wife up or soothe my aching sinuses, quite honestly, I'm not bothered 😂

[Yoss]

So it's getting near Christmas and we've got a few hire vans in ready for packetchaos. Which was handy as I came in yesterday to find my van had a puncture. A proper one, rim on the floor. So I have to phone the workshop because we're not allowed to change wheels, they even take the spare wheels out of our vans. So after reporting it I asked how long they think they might be (the main Royal Mail workshop for our area is in Marchwood,  only about five miles away) all they would say was 'within two hours'.

That's not much use so I go back to the office and ask if they have any spare vans. Have you driven an automatic? was the reply I got. Yes I have I replied, though the last auto I owned was a Wolseley Six. How different could it be? 

I was given this. 

71 plate with 25 miles on the clock. It's a bit different to a Wolseley Six, the gear selector is the size of an indicator stalk. 

It's here on the right, up for reverse, down for drive and press a button on the end for park. I figured that much out but I couldn't release the handfootbrake. I figured you press it down to put it on but couldn't find any way of releasing it. Obviously all this stuff is familiar to a lot of you but it's all new to me. 

So back to the office for advice. Apparently there's a small rectangle with a P on it tucked away under the light switch. 

And you pull it out like an ashtray and the handfootbrake goes twang. So that was it, I was off and it was all very effortless but I do wonder why a van has to have all these gubbins. Vans used to be proper basic, now they have all the same gizmos as modern cars. 

It also had a nice high definition reversing camera. 

Which I suppose you get used to but I've only ever used mirrors so I continued to do so. I just found the screen a distraction. 

But one thing I couldn't figure out was this cup of tea symbol. Seen here alongside the gear selection indicators. 

I could even make it turn red if I put it in neutral. 

But whatever I did  it stayed there all day. What does it mean? Also at the top of this screen is a pictogram of the front of one car and the back of another with an exclamation mark in between. No idea what this was supposed to indicate either. It would sort of suggest that you're too close to the car in front but it too was there all the time, even when parked. 

I'm guessing all you supermarket delivery drivers are used to all this stuff but it's a bit of an eye opener coming from a ten year old Pug Partner. 

 

[stuboy]

over weekend when starting the v6 up the needles spin round and resets the trip meter on the speedo, i did wonder was it because it was 0 degrees few times, but i did nip up the battery terminals, just hope its not the battery going tits up

[dome]

12 minutes ago, Yoss said:

So it's getting near Christmas and we've got a few hire vans in ready for packetchaos. Which was handy as I came in yesterday to find my van had a puncture. A proper one, rim on the floor. So I have to phone the workshop because we're not allowed to change wheels, they even take the spare wheels out of our vans. So after reporting it I asked how long they think they might be (the main Royal Mail workshop for our area is in Marchwood,  only about five miles away) all they would say was 'within two hours'.

That's not much use so I go back to the office and ask if they have any spare vans. Have you driven an automatic? was the reply I got. Yes I have I replied, though the last auto I owned was a Wolseley Six. How different could it be? 

I was given this. 

71 plate with 25 miles on the clock. It's a bit different to a Wolseley Six, the gear selector is the size of an indicator stalk. 

It's here on the right, up for reverse, down for drive and press a button on the end for park. I figured that much out but I couldn't release the handfootbrake. I figured you press it down to put it on but couldn't find any way of releasing it. Obviously all this stuff is familiar to a lot of you but it's all new to me. 

So back to the office for advice. Apparently there's a small rectangle with a P on it tucked away under the light switch. 

And you pull it out like an ashtray and the handfootbrake goes twang. So that was it, I was off and it was all very effortless but I do wonder why a van has to have all these gubbins. Vans used to be proper basic, now they have all the same gizmos as modern cars. 

It also had a nice high definition reversing camera. 

Which I suppose you get used to but I've only ever used mirrors so I continued to do so. I just found the screen a distraction. 

But one thing I couldn't figure out was this cup of tea symbol. Seen here alongside the gear selection indicators. 

I could even make it turn red if I put it in neutral. 

But whatever I did  it stayed there all day. What does it mean? Also at the top of this screen is a pictogram of the front of one car and the back of another with an exclamation mark in between. No idea what this was supposed to indicate either. It would sort of suggest that you're too close to the car in front but it too was there all the time, even when parked. 

I'm guessing all you supermarket delivery drivers are used to all this stuff but it's a bit of an eye opener coming from a ten year old Pug Partner. 

 

Did the cup of tea come on after driving for a while? If so it might be a prompt to take a break. I've had cars that do that before