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6 hours ago, puntopaul said:

It's all down to preference really, I don't mind either the Ford or the Vauxhall personally. An I'd say Astra G's are also disappearing the same as the Focus mk1, for the usual reasons with any car when it gets old alas. In just over 3 years I've put around 40,000 miles on my Focus, an the only things that have ever let me down on it was a starter motor an a coil pack. Nothing has ever fell off or given me much cause for concern, so the build can't be that bad. For a car I originally bought for a £100 it does the job, it's comfortable, rides nicely and handles well. I've seen lots of other Focus mk1s with high mileage, so like any car if you maintain it right it'll last an do big miles no problem.

Yes on the milometer thing you don't have to have it working for the Mot, what happened was I got the impression very quickly the Mot tester was having a bad day. An then he was getting stressed that he couldn't put a correct mileage in for my car, an that it's supposed to work an he can't do it without it blah blah... I couldn't be bothered to argue, since I'd figured out in my mind a dodgy fuse was the most likely cause. When I said he was adamant there was no way it was just a fuse, it must be that my speedometer must be completely knackered etc... So when I fixed it in 5 minutes an pointed to a fully working milometer, he looked proper guttted.

I then asked if there was actually anything it had failed on, since he'd tested the rest of the car. To which he mumbled no.. great.. so he gave me my shiny new Mot certificate an I paid up. Thought it was funny myself, everyone has there off days and this one was obviously his!

There was a time, 2003, when I would frequently "back to back" an Astra G and a Focus 1.  The focus was better in every measurable way; really sharp and poised drive, more comfortable, better seating position, just - err - better (and that's a shit word).

You're right though - they're both disappearing like mad.  I was a bit cross when my Mum sold hers for peanuts on a Part Ex 4 years ago as it was a beautiful pre facelift 3dr in black that she got buttons for.

I love MK1s and if a half nice Millennium came up I'd buy it.

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My son in law/daughter's car is a 3 door 1.4 Focus MK1 bought with about 50K on the clock several years ago.  Mileage is now 170K.  It rarely needs attention above and beyond normal servicing - easily and cheaply fixed minor ignition problems have occurred twice and a power steering union on the pump fractured but was repairable. Other than using a bit of oil these days, it still looks smart, rides well, drives nicely and has hardly any corrosion anywhere.  Even as a non-Ford enthusiast, I am impressed.  The only Astra I've driven had unpleasant engine vibration tingling through the steering wheel at all speeds and was unremarkable in all other respects. As a passenger in a brand new Daewoo Astra back in the day, I noted that they had added a vibrating rear view mirror and enhanced the racket from the very 2nd hand sounding engine. Quite horrible.

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What do you do when the webbing tears and your seat collapses? Well...

image.jpeg.cc49ea30094a3d5290e2a4154b36ca5c.jpeg

String, String, String, String, Everybody loves string!

String, String, String, String, Everybody needs string!

Pull up your pants, slip on your vest, everybody agrees, string is best!

String, String, String, String...

A91898C6-7305-4688-9BEB-FFDF9F6A10E3.thumb.jpeg.c847d9050022486c66e9dcad29c41061.jpeg

Good as new.

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Yesterday we were walking Memphis in the park, which is quite near our house (just beyond the range of her little legs so we take her in the car).  This regular outing passes for Daily Exercise for MrsR too.  We'd got beyond halfway round out usual route when I heard sirens approaching; they stopped, so there was clearly some sort of incident nearby.  Then, with a view of one of the gates, I could see a police van parked up, and an officer entering the park on foot.  I turned around and found two vans cruising slowly along the wider paths behind us, heading generally for the side of the park we hadn't visited.  We carried on back towards the car, and found two more vans parked at another gate we had to pass, and officers patrolling on foot.

This whole scene is quite unusual!  I haven't found out what was going on yet but I thought it was worth sharing.

The standard urban patrol car round here now seems to be a Peugeot Expert van, with a crewcab and presumably a prisoner cage in the very back.  Four of the vans yesterday were this spec (the other was a similarly-laid-out Transit).  Looks like the ole Panda car, Fiesta etc, is obsolete, at least in Cumbria.

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One of the vehicles I am charged with maintaining at work, a 2.2 litre 14 plate Peugeot Boxer has a coolant leak. Slow & steady, but it frequently needs topping up. It does more sitting idling than motorway work. I'm taking it for a service next week and apparently when the garage were asked about this previously, there was a lot of tutting & 'its totally fucking fucked mate' and apparently it would involve removal of the engine to sort. Has anyone any knowledge of these engines? Do they have a weakspot? Is it a simple fix with a hose clip? 

In short, is there anything I should be aware of before the garage try to fob me off as well?

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The benefit* of not working whilst I await van repair means I can at last turn my attention to my sagging fleet.

Streetwise - ordered a 2nd hand alternator off the Bay, so hopefully that will arrive quickly and I can get that replaced and the car running again (nearly full tank of fuel)

Combo - awaiting osf coil spring repair, but I have taken the opportunity to order some brake pads (£10 off the Bay, genuine Fiat/Vaux) and I have some replacement discs too, so I can hopefully get that nailed over the weekend, along with changing the fuel filter

420 - will be aiming to give it the once over tomorrow checking last year's advisories, before booking it in for a test

Coupe - it's fucking fucked m7, so am gonna move all the crap outta the boot, stick a shit battery in it, and get it gone

620 - swapped out the ignition switch today and good news, it starts first time every time now so I have finally got a serviceable (just) vehicle. Couple of annoyances however since it's been laid up. Central locking is very hit and miss. osr door had been jammed up, stuck locked. Miraculously when I went for a drive and then parked up, it unjammed and now works perfectly. Thought I had fixed the perennial internal door handle not working - it lasted one opening before failing again, gah....back to winding the window down to get out. And now the heater/blower has packed up (hopefully just a fuse). I also have half the dash facia missing due to broken clips. Who cares, the car runs..... (half tank of fuel)

214 - what you need to remember about the 214 is that we don't talk about the 214.

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Someone will have reported a house party/illegal pub/whatever; dibble seem to have been given a memo that 'this kind of thing should not be tolerated' recently.

  

6 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Yesterday we were walking Memphis in the park, which is quite near our house (just beyond the range of her little legs so we take her in the car).  This regular outing passes for Daily Exercise for MrsR too.  We'd got beyond halfway round out usual route when I heard sirens approaching; they stopped, so there was clearly some sort of incident nearby.  Then, with a view of one of the gates, I could see a police van parked up, and an officer entering the park on foot.  I turned around and found two vans cruising slowly along the wider paths behind us, heading generally for the side of the park we hadn't visited.  We carried on back towards the car, and found two more vans parked at another gate we had to pass, and officers patrolling on foot.

This whole scene is quite unusual!  I haven't found out what was going on yet but I thought it was worth sharing.

The standard urban patrol car round here now seems to be a Peugeot Expert van, with a crewcab and presumably a prisoner cage in the very back.  Four of the vans yesterday were this spec (the other was a similarly-laid-out Transit).  Looks like the ole Panda car, Fiesta etc, is obsolete, at least in Cumbria.

 

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Just bought a new dizzy cap for the Mk2 Golf. It’s a 16v so searching by name brings up a price 40-50 quid for a Bosch part.

If you search by its part number, they’re 15 quid, genuine bosch. Fitted to loads of cars, inc Ford’s, Vauxhall’s etc.

Worth a remember really, parts are cheaper online by part number, than name. Especially true if like the golf, values have climbed last few years.

This phenomenon was definitely true of used parts. It was a lot more for mk1 Escort RS reversing lights on eBay, than a hillman imp reverse lamp used to sell for! 

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3 minutes ago, rickvw72 said:

Just bought a new dizzy cap for the Mk2 Golf. It’s a 16v so searching by name brings up a price 40-50 quid for a Bosch part.

If you search by its part number, they’re 15 quid, genuine bosch. Fitted to loads of cars, inc Ford’s, Vauxhall’s etc.

Worth a remember really, parts are cheaper online by part number, than name. Especially true if like the golf, values have climbed last few years.

This phenomenon was definitely true of used parts. It was a lot more for mk1 Escort RS reversing lights on eBay, than a hillman imp reverse lamp used to sell for! 

Yep... Definitely true for the plethora of random Lucas bits on the Jag.  Same part used on twenty different cars...but if they stick Jaguar in front of the listing they quadruple the price!

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Finally got round to booking the Volvo in to get new ABS sensors fitted, I would do it myself but my unit is full of french shit and furthermore I just can't be arsed. Hopefully once that's sorted it'll fly through a test and I can rid myself of the hateful little Fiesta. Fingers crossed as said Fiesta only has test til the end of the month and won't pass another without work I'm unwilling to put in. (Nothing dangerous, I hasten to add)

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24 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Yep... Definitely true for the plethora of random Lucas bits on the Jag.  Same part used on twenty different cars...but if they stick Jaguar in front of the listing they quadruple the price!

They always did, BL especially when I worked for a main dealer in the 70s. Lots of bits shared from the Mini  through the range of cars across to the Range Rover no surprise if you ordered for your Range Rover it would be dearer. (The cheap plastic  window winder handle was the same, as was some switchgear)

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1 hour ago, rickvw72 said:

Just bought a new dizzy cap for the Mk2 Golf. It’s a 16v so searching by name brings up a price 40-50 quid for a Bosch part.

If you search by its part number, they’re 15 quid, genuine bosch. Fitted to loads of cars, inc Ford’s, Vauxhall’s etc.

Worth a remember really, parts are cheaper online by part number, than name. Especially true if like the golf, values have climbed last few years.

This phenomenon was definitely true of used parts. It was a lot more for mk1 Escort RS reversing lights on eBay, than a hillman imp reverse lamp used to sell for! 

Any chance this will work for for a Land Rover 90 from the 1980's? Seems that anything with Land Rover or Defender written on the box costs three times as much as anything else!

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3 hours ago, anonymous user said:

They always did, BL especially when I worked for a main dealer in the 70s. Lots of bits shared from the Mini  through the range of cars across to the Range Rover no surprise if you ordered for your Range Rover it would be dearer. (The cheap plastic  window winder handle was the same, as was some switchgear)

Yup, I worked in parts for JRT, then AR, with late LR.  When they mention 'parts bin', that is exactly what they were, a 'bin' is a division on a shelf, given a coded number. 

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On 2/17/2021 at 7:54 PM, somewhatfoolish said:

Someone will have reported a house party/illegal pub/whatever; dibble seem to have been given a memo that 'this kind of thing should not be tolerated' recently.

  

 

I asked one of the park sweepers today.  He thought the cops had been "looking for some bloke" but didn't know if they'd found anyone.

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The preliminary verdict is in on the diesel C2's fuel consumption.  Using the highly scientific* method of zeroing the trip meter when the fuel light comes on, sticking some diesel in and then checking the trip meter reading when the light comes on again, it's been averaging around 57.5mpg.  Which is slightly less than the 61.3 the computer thinks it's doing, and a lot less than the official figures, but not bad considering most of my recent driving has been pottering round the houses rather than long runs.

It also now has choonz - the secondhand Kenwood CD player I bought off eBay for 6 quid turned up and was fitted at the weekend.  It works fine - it doesn't switch off with the ignition but it does switch off when the BSI shuts down a few minutes later, which is good enough.  It also doesn't retain the station when it's switched off, but it's the work of a few seconds to retune it.  I might swap the red and yellow wires round at some stage but there are bigger fish to fry at the moment.

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