The new news 24 thread

[horriblemercedes]

7 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

My local Nissan main dealer has started importing parts from 1973

 

If you go down the road between the Nissan dealership and Aldi in Wolverhampton, the dealership still has faded red DATSUN writing painted up the side. Well, it did in 2022 when I was last there.

 

Edit, here you go. It's called Howard Street, apparently:

[mercedade]

On 07/01/2025 at 22:19, Lord Sterling said:

Spotted this Rover 800 on Google Maps as someone is currently doing an urban exploration on this road as it is now completely abandoned. I was taking a look when the road was fully occupied around 2008 and someone appears to have had a Rover 800:

Anyone Manchester-based have a Rover 800 around 2008?

 

I did, but I don't think that's one of mine.

[Schaefft]

53 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

In today’s episode of ‘XM versus mildly cold weather’, I dared to open the driver’s door at 7am in order to get the ice scraper out to use on the Clio.

Obviously* this act cannot go without punishment, and so the driver’s door no longer latches closed.

Ive had to disconnect the battery, and leave the bin propped against the door to keep it shut.

‘Which one is the bin?’ etc.

It's alright, E39s do the same. I once drove my manual (!) 528i to work while having to hold the door shut for half of the way (incl. a section of motorway).

[PhilA]

17 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

No worries, you’re not being thick at all - that’s exactly what I’m doing. Turn the key to the ‘on’ position for the first time, wait for the glow plug light to go out, turn it off, turn it back to the ‘on’ position a second time, wait for the glow plug light to go out a second time, crank the starter and it fires straight up.

I’ve heard of another school of thought that you should crank the starter just before the glow plug light goes out the first time, as the glow plugs will be hotter, but it makes no difference on my XM.

Had several Ford diesels at work and they would start better when the engine was cranked over with the pedal to the floor immediately, then stopped after a couple seconds and the glow plugs left to cook. Would usually fire straight up because at least one cylinder would catch fire and warm things up nicely. 

 

Phil

[wesacosa]

Fotu date confirmed as 26th July although tickets not on sale yet 

https://www.hagerty.co.uk/official-events/hagerty-festival-of-the-unexceptional/

[wuvvum]

So no news yet on how much people will be ripped off for the privilege* of displaying their own cars thus providing Hagerty with a show, or which sexually deviant violent criminal will be featuring as a special guest this year.  I await updates with bated breath...

[richardmorris]

9 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

Now you mention it, I’ve definitely had this happen before with my driveway ornament BX! Must have a similar latch or linkages.

It made me laugh too, I’m well past the point of this car being able to upset me now.

I’d run out of bins before doors 🤣 heat and then spraying various fluids into the doors is on the cards, once my mrs is back from the airport run and can take over the child wrangling. I had suggested that I do it in the XM to save her the drive, but she wisely chose to stick with relying on the Clio 🤣

XM was a different door handle, but a couple of times when I first got my s2 CX DTR I had to get in from the passenger side as the driver’s door was frozen solid.

[comfortablynumb]

Jumped into a brand-new Range Rover sport one frozen morning, and having started it, knocked the drivers window switch.

With a loud 'thunk' the drop glass did exactly that, separated from the mechanism and fell into the bottom of the door.

Since it was a demonstration vehicle about to be delivered to a prospective customer, I switched off, locked it up and dropped the keys back into reception.....🤦 

Yeah I know, not much point locking it 

[Six-cylinder]

Mrs6C has come home with a Lidl  offers leaflet and the 61 piece Socket set for £17.99 seems a useful thing to have in a car. In store from 16th Jan.

[lesapandre]

 Out and about I spotted this Maxus e-delivery van in for repair. Looks to my untutored eye very crude under the skin. Note the plastic wheel arch liner is just that - there is nothing behind it.  

[lesapandre]

Out in my Landcruiser today in London. Coincidentally picked up this big 4x4 toy in a local charity shop - was in the window at £2.50 - how could I resist. Made in China for John Lewis it says.

Well I say I bought one - there were two identical oddly - and I bought them both. 😂

[Dyslexic Viking]

5 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

 Out and about I spotted this Maxus e-delivery van in for repair. Looks to my untutored eye very crude under the skin. Note the plastic wheel arch liner is just that - there is nothing behind it.  

These are a bit unusually made, this below shows the underside among other things for the few interested. 

 

[brownnova]

22 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

Obviously* this act cannot go without punishment, and so the driver’s door no longer latches closed.

Had this happen on the 9000 during the last frozen snap. It was the back doors, I fiddled about, sprayed shit tons of stuff on it and still couldn’t work it. So I just left it on the drive. Mrs_b tried again in the daylight whilst I was at work and got it to close.

Back about 2009 I had a VW Polo Classic which used to freeze the door lock mechanism (not the lock) so you couldn’t open them at all in freezing weather. We had a cold snap about minus 10 all week and I couldn’t get to work because I literally couldn’t get into my car! 

[brownnova]

With the 4x4 conveniently broken when it would be most needed the bad weather commuting has been done in the Saab this week. Floods on Monday, Snow on Tuesday and heavy frosts the rest of the week… 

The handbook gives very severe warnings about operating the roof below 5C. I opted to test this out at 3C when I set off from work. No bother. The fact it was minus 1 when I got home worried me slightly, but no nuns or kittens died… glorious to bask in the sun zero temps with the heated seats on! 

 

Also this week (my passenger) took the most annoying photo ever! 

Just missed 123456 clicking take as it clicked over. 

[Bear]

Took the Insight for the first long drive after resetting, checking and charging it. 110 miles to collect a Mac PowerBook G3 I'd stupidly bid on and no-one outbid me (it's fine, it was cheap enough but not dirt cheap and it's a bronze keyboard, so doesn't have the desirable combo of interfaces that some G3 PowerBooks have - I have a Wallstreet one but it's scruffy and I;'d hoped this would let me improve it a bit).

The Insight behaved perfectly, aside from an occasional clonk at the back on bumps suggesting a bush or spring rubber might be a bit tired. It's bloody cold and part of taking it instead of the HR-V was to get it warmed through and not sitting like Jack Nicholson at the end of the Shining (spoilers) glaring through the ice.

Naturally I was offered a 2001-ish Ford Dorchester hearse with 36,000 miles. I've asked for more info if anyone's tempted by the idea of a 22ft long greenhouse on wheels.

[beko1987]

It's probably warning about the fabric snapping 😂 Won't it all defrost and thaw in the bit it folds away in too? Or is that well drained anyway? 

I'm amazed it moved at all. My front windows won't work for 5/6 miles until the car's got a bit warm, once they didn't defrost at all and I had to get out of the car to put my pass to the work car park barrier then hurriedly get back in and through before it came back down 😂

[grogee]

On 05/01/2025 at 20:06, aldo135 said:

Sad times @320touring @jaypee @Split_Pin

Ah, the E60 'easter egg'. Well done for finding it. 

[lesapandre]

Fleamarket bag this freezing morning - eight early 60's 'Car Mechanics' mags - 25pee each. These will cover works to 30-50's type cars owned by the economy motorist of the era. All those long departed Freds and Stans.

Now I can learn how to get 30mpg from a Humber Hawk etc.

[Kiltox]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

 Out and about I spotted this Maxus e-delivery van in for repair. Looks to my untutored eye very crude under the skin. Note the plastic wheel arch liner is just that - there is nothing behind it.  

Can’t say I’m surprised tbh, the T90EV is pretty fucking janky underneath. 

[aldo135]

34 minutes ago, grogee said:

Ah, the E60 'easter egg'. Well done for finding it. 

My local garage had it in on Thursday and it’s missing again, the only codes were for its other issues of brakes and tyres!  He thinks if I get them fixed and the faults clear that will be it, but I’m in that catch 22 of spending money and it does it again next week 🙈. That was my plan before this fault beeped onto the screen, as they were advisories on its recent MOT pass. The Mechanic’s advice for now is to put miles on it and go back in a week or 2. Will see what happens 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Die ya b'stad!

Finally! Happy days!
#everytrickinthebook

[artdjones]

3 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Fleamarket bag this freezing morning - eight early 60's 'Car Mechanics' mags - 25pee each. These will cover works to 30-50's type cars owned by the economy motorist of the era. All those long departed Freds and Stans.

Now I can learn how to get 30mpg from a Humber Hawk etc.

Back in the days when men wore suits and ties everywhere. My dad would dress like that on family days out. As a big concession, on beach trips he didn't bother bringing the tie along. In case you're wondering, he wasn't a chartered accountant, but a trolley bus conductor.

[mat777]

13 hours ago, brownnova said:

With the 4x4 conveniently broken when it would be most needed the bad weather commuting has been done in the Saab this week. Floods on Monday, Snow on Tuesday and heavy frosts the rest of the week… 

The handbook gives very severe warnings about operating the roof below 5C. I opted to test this out at 3C when I set off from work. No bother. The fact it was minus 1 when I got home worried me slightly, but no nuns or kittens died… glorious to bask in the sun zero temps with the heated seats on! 

 

Also this week (my passenger) took the most annoying photo ever! 

Just missed 123456 clicking take as it clicked over. 

I had a choice this week with the snowmageddon: Struggle to work with the Prius or let the Discovery do what it was born to do....

Except, the Prius didn't struggle at all. I'm not sure how much of this was down to being able to drive properly unlike the majority of wankpuffins out there, and how much was was to do with having proper all season tyres instead of rock-hard low profile summer compound hoops. But it matters not, it coped admirably whilst many others floundered. Which is lucky really, because my red car is now literally white from the amount of salt. The Discovery remains safely on my driveway, had I used it this week I suspect my hitherto pristine chassis would be doing a good impression of an Alka seltzer tablet .....

 

In other news, I was informed when buying it that the long term pre pre penultimate owner of my breaker P38 was a garage who had at some point replaced the engine. I'm beginning to wonder just how good a garage it was, because after last week's butchered ECU wiring I spent part of today removing the exhaust manifold. 1 stud was missing entirely, and 2 studs were snapped and glued back into place.... Good job the block is already scrap!

[Lord Sterling]

This week has been absolutely freezing (as if you didn't know). For the first 2 nights at work, I used the Vectra as I often do, but as I had not gone anywhere during my days off, I decided to use the Jag for the last 2 days to at least give it a small run out. Glad I did as it turned over slower than normal but fired up straight away.

I had this cover way back when Inwas using the Micra for a few months when my old red Jag needed some MoT remedial work. I bought for literally a couple quid, it covered the Micra nicely, not so much the Vectra, but it fitted the Jag just perfect. I had to peel it off after the big freeze we had a couple of days ago. This morning though, the cover and car were nice and dry again. 

[bramz7]

Took the newest fleet member to work today.

It drives very well for the miles, cruise down the A303 was lovely and even on the absolutely terrible sections of the A343 it was also fine. 

Niggles? Yeah, starting it is a massive pain in the arse. It took 2 minutes of faff this morning as either the clutch switch is duff, or the car isn't sending a signal immediately to the fuel pump (judging by the lack of noises). I can sense this becoming very annoying very quickly. I've found a very well regarded BMW specialist in Salisbury who I may take it to for MOT and service, and probably that issue too. 

It feels absolutely gigantic too. Which is no great issue, but I don't think it's a good commuting car for me due to this. But I won't be selling it as I'm always pining for an estate car....

[BorniteIdentity]

On 09/01/2025 at 15:34, Yoss said:

The place we bought it from had some odd stuff in stock. The oddest being this. 

A convertible ute! It's a Chevy SSR apparently. No me neither.

As owned by Richard Hammond. He drove a yellow one in one of the final Grand Tour episodes and bought it from the production company afterwards.

They strike me as the answer to a question that absolutely nobody has ever asked. For that, I like them. 

[Split_Pin]

All cleaned inside and out. Great condition.

 

[Cookiesouwest]

New rubber mats for the CRV

 

[lesapandre]

15 minutes ago, Cookiesouwest said:

New rubber mays for the CRV

 

Oh that's smart. Did you cut it yourself? ✂️📏📐

[Cookiesouwest]

1 minute ago, lesapandre said:

Oh that's smart. Did you cut it yourself? ✂️📏📐

My cutting skills would not end with a result like that !

Got them off Ebay pre cut to size.