The new news 24 thread

[stuboy]

 

Nothing exciting... visited the dealer today and he sold me a baggy of E5... lol

 

Was gonna change the fuel filter but suspected arthritis in my fingers said no son try next weekend..

[lesapandre]

(🎉Seems a life well-lived - good on him 🎉) I had one of those Crowns - a saloon 31 years ago - they were rare then even.

[bramz7]

@Spottedlaurel

Was he the chap who featured in TG mag 30 years ago? I probably have the issue in a cupboard. 

[richardmorris]

36 minutes ago, stuboy said:

 

Nothing exciting... visited the dealer today and he sold me a baggy of E5... lol

 

Was gonna change the fuel filter but suspected arthritis in my fingers said no son try next weekend..

It’s the wrong time of year to try changing old rubber fittings. Wait until it’s 20degrees!

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, bramz7 said:

@Spottedlaurel

Was he the chap who featured in TG mag 30 years ago? I probably have the issue in a cupboard. 

Maybe, pretty sure he was in C&S with his coupe many years ago.

[bramz7]

Ah no sorry, it was someone else. My mistake.

May 1995.

[Split_Pin]

The Saab is between V5s at the moment and showing as untaxed so I've been out an about in the E46 this weekend and covered quite a few miles with the family in it. I have barely driven the car since getting it back from having the gearbox replaced and I think I'm warming to it eventually. Now that it has a healthy gearbox I am learning to drive it properlyand using a bootful of throttle as a normal driving style is where it seems happiest. The exhaust note is very addictive too.

More miles to cover in it this week.

[vulgalour]

Did some Renault fettling today and now I can tell you how to replace the door handle and lock mechanism on a Renault 5 Extra.  Not a bad job really.  Couldn't find any guidance on it when looking online, kept pulling up pretty good tutorials and videos on basically every other Renault ever made, typically.

[Spottedlaurel]

31 minutes ago, bramz7 said:

Ah no sorry, it was someone else. My mistake.

May 1995.

That's Billy Wells, who sadly died last year.

[reb]

It's my birthday, twenty fucking nine!

Because I am old at heart I'm not doing much for it, just going for a curry this evening.

It doesn't feel that long since the last one. In fact it feels like only a few months since I turned 20!

[EyesWeldedShut]

14 minutes ago, reb said:

It doesn't feel that long since the last one. In fact it feels like only a few months since I turned 20!

Don't worry - once you get to 30 you'll just stop counting. Next thing you know - you'll be 60 (well, that's my experience).

Happy Birthday in any case - have a tasty curry.

[reb]

Just now, EyesWeldedShut said:

Don't worry - once you get to 30 you'll just stop counting. Next thing you know - you'll be 60 (well, that's my experience).

Happy Birthday in any case - have a tasty curry.

Honestly I've sort of already stopped counting. Recently-ish the cashier in Lidl asked how old I was when I was buying a shitload of wine and I heard myself say out loud "oh, that's a good question, I don't know"

I'm now older than my parents were when I was born, have been for a while I suppose. When I passed that point it was sort of a big step in the direction of really realising one's parents are, well, just people. And often are just as lost and confused as anyone else. Which it turns out a lot of people very much are.

As for the curry, we can't go to my favourite curry place because it's not open on Mondays, but the place we're going instead is still pretty good! Alas it doesn't seem to have any Naga curries, which has been my go-to birthday curry over the last few years.

[comfortablynumb]

Had to withdraw some cash over the counter at nationwide last week.

As part of the security questions cashier asked how old I'd be on my next birthday

Had to stand there and work it out!

Didn't look suspicious at all 🤦

[EyesWeldedShut]

3 hours ago, reb said:

And often are just as lost and confused as anyone else. Which it turns out a lot of people very much are.

I only sussed out that my parents had been winging it for years when I was 37 - I married the child bride who brought along an eight year old and a ten year old to the reception - I just started winging it too.
In times of real panic I'd just do what my Dad would have done it the same situation - seems to have worked as neither of the kids turned into axe murderers.

[comfortablynumb]

4 hours ago, reb said:

As for the curry, we can't go to my favourite curry place because it's not open on Mondays, but the place we're going instead is still pretty good! Alas it doesn't seem to have any Naga curries, which has been my go-to birthday curry over the last few years.

You know the answer to this is curry on Monday and Tuesday?

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

1 hour ago, comfortablynumb said:

You know the answer to this is curry on Monday and Tuesday?

[richardmorris]

[bunglebus]

Anyone with a yellow car up for this on Saturday? We're taking one of the Lupos

[Rustybullethole]

Man V tyre 1 ended tyre 1 man 0. 

My usual method of bead breaking using a spade and a big lever bar resulted in a bent spade and pulling the workbench out of its fixings to the floor.  I was tired and admitted defeat like a mature adult as the risk of regretful damage was high.

Went up the yard where the old boys fuckabout with tractors and whatnot to see if they had a bead breaker I could borrow. They lent me a pry bar they had used it for years. He used the claw end, smashed it in the bead and levered it over. May work with a stiff old big arse tyre though no joy with my soft sidewalls.

The flat end could be clobbered in though and doing that all the way round loosened the bead just very slightly.

More work with big bar and spade saw it off. 

Turns out my trusty rusty levers were better at this method than the pry bar. Which was just as well as rust had made the second one more of a battle than the first. In fact i'm calling that a full blown war. 

Could of just taken them to be fitted instead of spending a good hour sweating, bleeding and risking actual tears though what's important for me is i've walked away with a 2-1 victory.

When i find the bolts I bought i can fit them again to the gti alloys and have a matching set of four wheels. Am more than happy to settle for some grip though. Plus it'll give me time to club the curbed alloy straight and prep them for paint proper. 

[Rustybullethole]

Have also reattached the roof rack when it got ripped off sliding a bit wide on my woodland rally stage *shortcut. Sure the Toyos will help with that on the next run.

[loserone]

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Anyone with a yellow car up for this on Saturday? We're taking one of the Lupos

Someone needs to buy that Saab in the for sale forum.

 

Also, anyone after a free petrol paid trip to London on Saturday is welcome to borrow my Mégane.

[Split_Pin]

Oil change for the new-to-me forum Saab. It had only done 4k since the last change in November but I had the consumables ready and tonight was my only free night for a while so I went ahead. Very easy change although it's the first time I've ever seen a white oil filter, K&N no less! Replaced with a Bosch item and 4 litres of 5W30, mixture of Saab stuff, Comma and Castrol Magnatec fully synthetic. Not gonna lie, I had a full 5l of 5w40 Comma oil poised to go in before I realised that was incorrect and dashed to Halfords at lunchtime! Normally it would get what it's given but as it's an elderly Saab I thought best to put quality stuff in of the right grade. It's a bit like a cat that's been fed white fish all it's life, you daren't give it anything else 😂

It has been parked up for a few days and I noticed a few drips of coolant hanging off the offside splash guard, just under the subframe. This is obviously where the tiny amount of coolant has been going although I've done about 500 miles since I bought it and the level hasn't budged. Just means it's losing it and not using it which is a win in my book 👍

I've been having a few conversations recently with my son's head basketball coach who is in his seventies and I don't think has driven anything other than Saabs for decades. I'll park next to his at the game on Friday!

[Split_Pin]

Out and about in the E46 helping my mum this morning before work. After dropping her off I was pressing on, so to speak and the ABS, traction control and red brake light came on and hasn't cleared on restart. Doesn't seem to affect anything (apart from making it very easy to light up the rear without TC being on!) and importantly  the gearbox light remains off so that's good.

I may have to cave and order a code reader for this car as I'm actually quite enjoying it now!

[wesacosa]

50 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Out and about in the E46 helping my mum this morning before work. After dropping her off I was pressing on, so to speak and the ABS, traction control and red brake light came on and hasn't cleared on restart. Doesn't seem to affect anything (apart from making it very easy to light up the rear without TC being on!) and importantly  the gearbox light remains off so that's good.

I may have to cave and order a code reader for this car as I'm actually quite enjoying it now!

it was one of the ABS sensors when my m3 did similar but it can also be the brake pressure sensors and one or two other things so think you might have to plug it in as you say

[JakeT]

I’d say wheel speed, as if a brake pressure sensor fails it will keep the ABS and lose only DSC and put the yellow handbrake light on. Sadly I’ve experienced all of those failures…

[Lord Sterling]

Right, so used the Jag the other day and there seemed to be a scraping noise, a bit like a loose brake shield or something (I had this before on a Rover 827 I had) but looking into the brake shield I couldn't see anything and nothing seemed to be loose. The problem is often, as I work nights, I often only see the cars in the dark. 

Yesterday morning whilst looking for any car wash that was open (none were )  I managed to grab some pics and managed to find something that was loose:

It appears that what looks to be a torsion bar has ccome loose.and something else is hanging. I was hoping that this week and next weeks money would be mine, but clearly not. I also need to sort out a dentist as my top inner teeth have lost thier fillings and it's starting to hurt very slightly now. Local dentist is booked up for 6 months...

So it looks like it's gonna be March before I see any free money, by which time something else will come up and require paying.

[Split_Pin]

Thanks @wesacosa and @JakeT. Northernmonkey did think one of the sensors was drifting out of spec at higher speeds.

If I stick to the limits on the motorway I should be fine.....

[brownnova]

Changing a tyre in a farm track by a busy dual carriageway, whilst wearing a full suit wasn’t high on the list of aims for this morning… 

I did end up having to remove my tie as it kept getting in the way, but the rest of the suit survived unscathed. 

I hadn’t considered how much extra physical effort it is to hold everything at arms length so as not to get dirty 🤣

[richardmorris]

[richardmorris]