The new news 24 thread

[Ghosty]

One front suspension arm changed on the A4. Feels a lot better - other side to do at some point now, then the front springs, headlights... it goes on.

[dollywobbler]

270 miles in the XM today and I'm back home. No problems at all, fairly light traffic and not a lot to report. 

 

Well, ok. There was the W124 Merc I convoyed with for a while on the M4, and the white Renault 6 I spotted on the back of a beavertail going the other way. 

 

I do adore the fact that the XM wafts so well on the motorway, but then is an absolute riot on the delightfully twisty roads of Wales. Almost 11,000 miles and a year of ownership. I'm looking forward to writing the full 12 month review.

[catsinthewelder]

Met Lord Sterling and very tall brad for the first time today and they both confirmed to the stereotype that all shitters are lovely people.

 

Here is a selection of French things

 

 

Mo on that bike

 

 

With video to follow later if flickr stops playing up.

 

Then saw this on the way home.

 

 

 

[Shep Shepherd]

That 305 is ace!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Just seen a red pre-HE XJ-S on a too small trailer, towed by a doom green Octavia estate, on the M25. If it's not somebody off here it bloody should be.

Couldn't take a pic as I had a passenger, sorry.

[r.welfare]

The 305 has been on eBay for ages, the seller wants a grand for it.

[stripped fred]

Spent far too long servicing my Alfa today, 6 hours in total. The pollen filter was the most tricky. You have to lie upside down in the passenger footwell and reach up to a tiny access panel located behind the dash. Now I know how to do it I could do it in 15 mins but took me over an hour to work it out and has defeated me previously. Not the easiest car to work on, the oil filter is buried deep inside the engine bay, but glad it's all done now.

[Lankytim]

That 305 is ANCIENT!

[scdan4]

Saab grateful for atf change - gearbox much smoother.

 

Stinky hot oil smell in traffic gone. (That) oil leak declared fixed.

 

Hurrahs all round.

[vulgalour]

Hmm, the Rover had less coolant in today than it should have which I discovered when putting antifreeze in for the first time after fitting the radiator and flushing all the horrid gunge out of it.  The water that came out was very clean, which was surprising, and I'm having no issues with lack of power, oil in the water, water in the oil or dodgy heaters so I don't think it's OMGHGF (yet).  I'm wondering if it's just the system settling or if I've got a little leak from a pipe or something somewhere.  I'll keep an eye on the water level in the meantime, see how much it's using over how many miles.

 

It's a K series so it's going to cook itself at some point, that's inevitable, and it doesn't worry me.

[HH-R]

The inlet manifold gasket is a favourite for losing coolant on a K-Series, especially if it's a "later" plastic jobby.

[wuvvum]

I seem to have done a lot of faffing with cars today but not got very far.  I got the door bottom sprayed in on the Innocenti, which is one job out of the way at least - it's not a great job and it's not a brilliant colour match either, but it looks better than it did and will see the car through the winter - I can always have another go in the spring if I can be arsed.

 

One of the main things I wanted to do today was to find the source of the battery drain on the Volvo.  This was a fail - while the car was unlocked it was drawing nearly 4 amps despite all the interior lights etc. being turned off, but once I locked it on the central locking and left it for a few minutes to calm down, it would sit there stubbornly drawing a steady 110mA, no more, no less.  This isn't much more than I'd expect from a "modern" and certainly not enough to drain a 75AH battery overnight.  So I'm still not sure what's happening there.

 

I also had another go at investigating the source of the knock from the offside front suspension.  I've come to the conclusion it can only be the strut top bearing, as everything else is tight and bushes unperished.  Pleasingly, all of the relevant bolts came undone with relatively little fuss (I've tightened them all back up obvs), so removing the strut should be feasible.  The ARB drop link has what I think is quite a neat touch - an allen key hole machined into the end of the bolt so you can hold it steady with an allen key rather than pissing about trying to wangle a spanner onto the flat bit behind the link.

 

That's about as far as I got.  I'd been hoping to get the Spacy exhaust off and have another go at sealing it (it's blowing from where it fits onto the head), but I didn't get time - probably not the end of the world as realistically it's not going to get used more than a couple more times before it goes away for the winter.

[vulgalour]

The inlet manifold gasket is a favourite for losing coolant on a K-Series, especially if it's a "later" plastic jobby.

 

That could be it then.  Chompy and I noticed a wet spot on the back of the engine but it look near enough to the brake fluid reservoir to be a minor spill when I topped it up that I hadn't cleaned off fully.  Shall check that and report back

[Bear]

Fixed a leak on a friend's car by relocating the drain hoses, then washed it and pointed out it still had perfect wheelarches with factory seam sealer and no rust. Then found that the Hearse fund is over the half-way mark! Exciting!

 

Everyone's been mucking about with YouCam Makeup/Perfect on my FB feed. And I do mean, everyone.

 

I mean, okay, Davros is more of a friend of a friend, but still. Isn't he pretty? Tell him he's pretty. He's had a rough day.

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

wuv- how about disconnecting each door in turn to see if the cl is the parasite

[purplebargeken]

 

 

The inlet manifold gasket is a favourite for losing coolant on a K-Series,

 

I do wonder how many MGF's have been scrapped with the above and the owner under the impression that the HG is fooked.

[dugong]

Or the heater return pipe which a 'specialist' replaced before I bought it.

 

The same 'specialist' who thought four different brands of differing size tyres were alright on an MGF, the least tolerant car for tyres evAr.

[Bear]

I do wonder how many MGF's have been scrapped with the above and the owner under the impression that the HG is fooked.

 

Indirectly, probably loads, on the basis that the MG F is less tolerant and all the bits are hidden away so a small coolant loss can become a major failure to proceed with much cooked engine in a short time.

 

On the other hand, I suspect most MG Fs that showed signs of HGF without boiling to death on a hard shoulder avoided scrap because it's such a well-known issue to fix that many specialists and garages don't charge the earth for it (though how well the work is done is up for debate). I think a lot of them see MG F and think "easy £500" 'cause they've done so many and the cars do seem to be liked by the owners.

[oldcars]

Hopefully going to have a look at this on Tuesday. Mot failiure but had new belts last year and no overheating problems she says.

mg zt.jpg

£250 so hopefully can't go too wrong. I always fancied a Rover 75 but just not enough to actually buy one, so we will see how it goes

Very nice indeed and with mudflaps. They sell for ££

[Tayne]

Fixed a leak on a friend's car by relocating the drain hoses, then washed it and pointed out it still had perfect wheelarches with factory seam sealer and no rust. Then found that the Hearse fund is over the half-way mark! Exciting!

 

Everyone's been mucking about with YouCam Makeup/Perfect on my FB feed. And I do mean, everyone.

 

I mean, okay, Davros is more of a friend of a friend, but still. Isn't he pretty? Tell him he's pretty. He's had a rough day.

 

Photo 05-10-2015, 00 36 30.jpg

 

 

Before I read this, I thought Dame Edna Everidge was looking rough.

[EssDeeWon]

Hopefully going to have a look at this on Tuesday. Mot failiure but had new belts last year and no overheating problems she says.

mg zt.jpg

£250 so hopefully can't go too wrong. I always fancied a Rover 75 but just not enough to actually buy one, so we will see how it goes

 

I iz confused ^^

 

So they spend in the region of £500 for new belts but then decide to more or less chuck it away when it fails an MOT?

 

For £250 you cannot go wrong, but im interested to know what it failed on, something quite expensive I would imagine.

 

Or the owners are just a little mad and see an MOT failure as a 'Oh no its too dangerous to drive ever again'

[panhard65]

I iz confused ^^

 

So they spend in the region of £500 for new belts but then decide to more or less chuck it away when it fails an MOT?

 

For £250 you cannot go wrong, but im interested to know what it failed on, something quite expensive I would imagine.

 

Or the owners are just a little mad and see an MOT failure as a 'Oh no its too dangerous to drive ever again'

The current owner didn't do the belts the previous owner did so she says. The details aren't very clear at the moment supposedly wants a rear exhaust due to failing on emissions, some brake pipes and number plate lights. Nothing drastic but we will see when I go to look at it this time tomorrow. Probably get there and they will say the price was a mistake and its 2.5k or something.

[xtriple]

Valve stem seals. Currently being done. Ho hummm!

 

But, I told them about a Bentley service bulletin and they say there are 24 stem seals... er, really?

[Bear]

Ah, you've got the rare 3-valve per cylinder CVCC-head designed to meet lean-burn requirements. Nice. Due to the stratified induction and ability to run super-lean mixtures at cruise, when restored your Bentley will do at least 36mpg.

[HMC]

Trudging back in the rain following a range rover fail to proceed. Not quite enough guts in the battery to get it to catch. Further investigations await. It's not as if I've had it sat about doing bugger all lately either....

 

The range rover actually functioning yesterday

[RobT]

Stuck on a misty moor....good luck getting home Matthew!

[brickwall]

They seem to suffer from this terribly and I've never gotten to the bottom of it. Let me know of any ideas on how to proceed, I've tried everything except relays

[HMC]

It shows how old cars work their charm on you- leave me stranded, get me drenched and I still don't have a bad thing to say about it!

 

An odd walk back- an RTA happened as I was walking on the pavement by a busy road- an old lady just ploughed into the back of the car in front. Didnt seem to notice the traffic had stopped. airbags deployed, as I bent the door open ( the shell was a bit bent) the cabin was full of smoke, people seem not too badly injured thankfully, stayed there untill the ambulance arrived etc.

[Bear]

Dark, miserable sort of day here at least, if it's the same where you are? No-one using lights correctly, saw one black Civic with a lone sidelight on the A5199 nearly have a Vectra pull out across them - and I'd be hard pressed to say it was the Vectra's fault if they had, damn car was near invisible. As long as no-one was badly hurt, and it's always good to have the time to help people out in these situations.

[dollywobbler]

Nasty. 

 

I drove to town and back in the Nippa today. It really is quite dreadful, but perhaps that's cruel given I've been wafting around in an XM for a couple of weeks. Wonder how the Dyane will feel...

 

In other news, finally got around to doing another video. Not bad (I hope!) considering my mate just chucked the keys at me one day, so no prep.

 

The downside to doing this video is that I then watched my Discovery one. I want another one now. SO BLUE!