The new news 24 thread

[Andyrew]

I left home jumped in the car, it seems Some snow turned into ice at the end of our flats carpark and at about 2mph i nosed straight into the neighbours bush! 

(Ill use better words when i explain to the other half)

Checked and all was well with the bush. 

Have a snowy pic with my usual photogenic tree.

 

[Andyrew]

Tis but a scratch

[barefoot]

I went for a drive in my Scirocco this morning, just because I wanted to. I've swapped from the chap who has kept it running on a shoestring for the past decade to a VW specialist who has begun to replace a lot of the old, knackered parts instead of just cleaning & oiling them. As you can imagine, the replacement of one bit leads to problems with the next bit. One thing leads to another... It has FTP'd twice recently, a drive shaft breaking which took out the gearbox linkage was followed shortly afterwards by a snapped throttle cable and it has made me a little grumpy, but at the moment, everything is running much more sweetly than I think it ever has in the twelve years that I've owned it.

Hippy xmas you fuckers.

[Asimo]

One out.

One in.

[justbinnedit]

Changing shock absorbers in minus degree weather is not fun. Plenty of swear words and heat freed off a stubborn bolt or two. 

[Pat Earrings]

So verdict from the garage re the Bluebird non heating. Looks like in the past the heater matrix has been leaking so someone used a stop leak type fluid which helped but ultimately blocked it all up. Will require a new matrix which of course is tricky to find, although I’ve done a lot of digging and there’s plenty of cross compatible similar matrix from other cars that are still available to buy. I’m hoping the garage can source one otherwise they are happy for me to get one but it’s the wait and extra labour which is a downer. Will be getting a new thermostat too. 

 

 

[Liggle]

Don't forget to swap your autumn filter for a winter one kids!

[New POD]

On 13/12/2022 at 22:09, JJ0063 said:

Oh maybe not then, I just assumed they’d be gas pipes as I’m sure it would have had a gas fire originally - my old man used to live next door and his had one, I was also born in a bungalow down the end of the road which had one too. 
 

Will of course get them checked out if we decide to knock it out!

We had pipes running into the back of our gas fire. On closer examination there was a 65 year old steel box, with stale water in. I assume some sort of water heating via the original coal fire. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Tis but a scratch

I thought that tree was leaning over a bit?

[puddlethumper]

38 minutes ago, Pat Earrings said:

So verdict from the garage re the Bluebird non heating. Looks like in the past the heater matrix has been leaking so someone used a stop leak type fluid which helped but ultimately blocked it all up. Will require a new matrix which of course is tricky to find, although I’ve done a lot of digging and there’s plenty of cross compatible similar matrix from other cars that are still available to buy. I’m hoping the garage can source one otherwise they are happy for me to get one but it’s the wait and extra labour which is a downer. Will be getting a new thermostat too. 

 

 

Can you get the matrix apart ? I've taken mine apart to clean it. Dunno if yours is similar but mine is plastic fixed with tabs to the metal rad part. I just levered up all the tabs, carefully so as not to break any, and separated them. Then you can clean all the innards with a pokey thing. When apart I could see the plastic bit had a rubber seal so when putting it back together I made sure they went together the same way round as they  had come off, in case of discrepancies in the seal, with a bit of good sealant and the tabs bent back I haven't had a leak.

 

When apart there was a rubber seal between the two.

[adw1977]

3 hours ago, omegod said:

Should the battery  still be under warranty possibly  ? 

I've sometimes wondered about battery warranties.  Surely even the best battery won't survive three years in a car that gets used once a week to go five minutes down the road, or one that ends up being jump started frequently because the owner keeps leaving the lights on?

[Pat Earrings]

47 minutes ago, puddlethumper said:

Can you get the matrix apart ? I've taken mine apart to clean it. Dunno if yours is similar but mine is plastic fixed with tabs to the metal rad part. I just levered up all the tabs, carefully so as not to break any, and separated them. Then you can clean all the innards with a pokey thing. When apart I could see the plastic bit had a rubber seal so when putting it back together I made sure they went together the same way round as they  had come off, in case of discrepancies in the seal, with a bit of good sealant and the tabs bent back I haven't had a leak.

 

When apart there was a rubber seal between the two.

Not entirely sure as I’m not the one doing it. They’re good guys and spent a while flushing it hence a lot of crud and crap coming out, especially the stop leak stuff that has been put in there. They were able to see some witness marks to the carpet which showed a previous leak. Doubt it will be fixable like this current state tbh. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, Pat Earrings said:

So verdict from the garage re the Bluebird non heating. Looks like in the past the heater matrix has been leaking so someone used a stop leak type fluid which helped but ultimately blocked it all up. Will require a new matrix which of course is tricky to find, although I’ve done a lot of digging and there’s plenty of cross compatible similar matrix from other cars that are still available to buy. I’m hoping the garage can source one otherwise they are happy for me to get one but it’s the wait and extra labour which is a downer. Will be getting a new thermostat too. 

 

 

Have you tried a radiator repair shop to see if they can re-core the matrix?

[Pat Earrings]

3 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Have you tried a radiator repair shop to see if they can re-core the matrix?

That’s not a bad shout tbh. There’s a company called Readyrads in Birmingham I’ve used before. I will link in with the garage tomorrow and see if they’re happy for me to get this sorted.

[Pat Earrings]

15 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Have you tried a radiator repair shop to see if they can re-core the matrix?

Well what a result. G A T radiators in Brierley hill can recore it, and he clearly is an old school chap who knows his stuff. My garage are happy also to remove it and send it to him. 👏👏👏

[gm]

worth sending the main radiator at the same time ? could be just as full of gunk 

[richardmorris]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:04 AM, Cord Fourteener said:

V70 has four brand new Vredstein all- season tyres (after much research looking at ice tunnel testing etc etc I'm now convinced that decent all-season are the best overall for UK conditions).

It was costly enough, Bridgestone, Continental and Michelin were a bit too expensive for comfort and I've had Vredstein before and liked them very much. 

 

What are they like for wear and noise?

[Pat Earrings]

13 minutes ago, gm said:

worth sending the main radiator at the same time ? could be just as full of gunk 

That was my thoughts, will speak to the garage in the morning

[Fumbler]

5 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

What are they like for wear and noise?

I put these tyres on the Fiesta back in July. They're surprisingly grippy and road noise is rather good. They have a decent amount of sidewall compliance. Haven't had them long enough to assess wear.

[richardmorris]

19 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

I put these tyres on the Fiesta back in July. They're surprisingly grippy and road noise is rather good. They have a decent amount of sidewall compliance. Haven't had them long enough to assess wear.

I’ve put goodyear efficient grip performance on my main cars for years. The current new fiat has falkens which all tipos seem to come with at the moment. They’re ok and 6mm left after 12,000 miles.

[omegod]

2 hours ago, adw1977 said:

I've sometimes wondered about battery warranties.  Surely even the best battery won't survive three years in a car that gets used once a week to go five minutes down the road, or one that ends up being jump started frequently because the owner keeps leaving the lights on?

I've has several work ok but fail on a battery tester at 2 yrs old  , replaced without any fuss  

[stuboy]

Picked up the beast for the FiL today, squeezed in next too the Rickman Ranger

[HMC]

School run transport- written off dog chewed yaris verso. I found some rear seats of a scrapped car so pretty soon it will just be crashed and written off rather than crashed, written off and dog chewed. 
#polishing a turd

[wesacosa]

my old Bini made it in to Autocar 

[MorrisItalSLX]

23 hours ago, Austat said:

This 504 is dangerously close to me and is a good price. I'm having a hard time convincing my Dad as it's an automatic (anything manual is sought after and overpriced here) but I plan on treating myself to something special this Christmas and the funds for it will come out of my pocket. There's a dent and a little bit of surface rust in three spots to fix, but for around £1420 it's a steal.

 

Would anyone recommend them? Any technical gremlins to look out for?

Should I or shouldn't I?

Absolutely get it bought!

Or I might have to buy it myself!

[Braddon81]

New clutch kit finally fitted to my roffle winning  406 Coupe - it's thrust bearing finally gave out the ghost a few months back. Had dagger eyes from my usually chirpy spannerman - it turned out to be a pig of a job.

[EyesWeldedShut]

16 hours ago, wesacosa said:

my old Bini made it in to Autocar 

My wife's may stand out from the crowd if it wasn't stood outside the house now for over a week.

[edit] - just looked at the Autocar screengrab -'Bangeromics' and 'just £4695', just? Just?  (showing my age again I guess)

 

[junkyarddog]

Ridiculous modern car tyre sizes.

They have virtually no sidewall!

Madness,especially on ill maintained country roads.

 

[HarmonicCheeseburger]

Anyone running a W203 1.8 Kompressor? will be searching for my next car come late January and they do look tempting on Autotrader for £2,500.  Would prefer a post 2005 for e10 fuel compability, other than body rust any major downsides? also noticing Mk3 Mondeo 2.0's are a budget option under £2,000, likely to be leggy but have a few more years in them?

[Ghosty]

19 hours ago, wesacosa said:

my old Bini made it in to Autocar 

How on earth is anything with a Prince engine a 'best buy'?