The new news 24 thread

[PhilA]

8 minutes ago, Skizzer said:

My local BMW dealer told me to piss off when I tried to drop off a 3 year old car for a booked service.

Never, ever again.

Why? What's wrong with a 3 year old car going in for service?

[wuvvum]

/\ That's exactly what I was wondering...

[wuvvum]

2 hours ago, Lankytim said:

The calipers look horrendous but might make good core units for a rebuild. @wuvvum, were you after a pair once?

I was, but my 164 has vented discs so those wouldn't've been any good.  I forked out for a new pair in the end.

[Cord Fourteener]

33 minutes ago, Skizzer said:

My local BMW dealer told me to piss off when I tried to drop off a 3 year old car for a booked service.

Never, ever again.

I had an airbag recall job and a failed attempt at boot hinge replacement at my local BMW dealer on a 17 year old car.

They gave me all the tea I could drink, biscuits, a lift into town and back, etc etc.

I would have another BMW just for the tea and lifts about the place.

[wuvvum]

Got very little done on the fleet this weekend, partly because I was busy with other stuff but mainly because I just couldn't be arsed, probably due to the heat.  I did fix the screenwash on the Renault 6, which has been dodgy for ages - turned out to be a combination of gunge in the bottle and the fact that I'd managed to trap one of the hoses behind the slam panel when I refitted the panel after fixing the heater valve.  The washers are still shite, as most foot pump washers are, but I can at least clean the screen now.

I gave the Mondeo a quick look over before its MOT on Wednesday.  Didn't find anything too glaring - I'd already replaced the blown nearside number plate bulb and the only-just-amber-enough offside rear indicator bulb.  Only obvious thing it needed was a passenger side wiper blade, which was duly bought and fitted.  I topped up the screen wash while I was at it, and I'll take it for a blat on Tuesday night to give it a bit of a clearout, but the rest is in the hands of the MOT gods.

Next job was to loosen the cambelt cover on the C2 to have a look at the belt.  It was quite obvious given the state of the retaining screws that the cover's not been off recently, but the belt itself didn't look too bad - it's obviously not new but it's dry, clean and not too badly perished - it certainly doesn't look like it's about to let go.  Having said that it really doesn't look a difficult belt to do and a new Gates belt and water pump can be had for under 30 quid all in so it wouldn't be an expensive job.

I had another crack at getting the Spacy running this afternoon, rerouting the fuel lines to give the petrol a better chance of getting to the right place.  It hasn't quite worked - the bike now fires up straight away but then cuts out immediately, like it's not getting enough fuel through.  The fuel tap was leaking like a sieve which didn't help, so I've drained the tank and taken the tap off for now - it's going to need new O rings as the old ones have partially dissolved (fugging ethanol...).

The Innocenti's master cylinder seems to be pretty well seized.  I took it round a mate's to borrow his circlip pliers as I couldn't find mine - we got the end off the cylinder easily enough, but the piston showed no interest in moving.  I could open up the other end of the cylinder and try knocking the piston back from that end, but that would entail taking off the fluid reservoir and I'm pretty sure if I do that I'll never get it back on again.  @Angrydicky, how are your lot at rebuilding obscure unobtainium Italian master cylinders?

I watched a couple of videos on YouTube showing how to remove the steering wheel on a Fiat 500 - my reasoning was that the Ypsilon wheel is probably exactly the same.  The 500 wheel seemingly has two holes in it into which one inserts a screwdriver to release the spring clips holding the airbag assembly in place - the Ypsilon's wheel doesn't have holes, but it has two indentations in the same place as the holes were on the 500 wheel - I assume these are designed to be stabbed with a screwdriver to gain access, although I have a feeling the spring clips could be rather fiddly.  I might give it a go one weekend, but it was too bloody hot this weekend to be working inside a black car with the battery disconnected.  I have been running around a fair bit in it this weekend, as it's the only car I have with working A/C, and the opening panoramic roof is nice when it's a little cooler.  It's still a fun little buzzbox, although I'm still not gelling entirely with the driving position, but that's less of an issue for local running around.

[Skizzer]

7 hours ago, PhilA said:

Why? What's wrong with a 3 year old car going in for service?

Their incompetent ‘national call centre for better service’ messed up the booking and the woman at the local branch of Sytner, formerly a really good independent, was very rude about it, as later was the call centre.

[New POD]

9 hours ago, Spurious said:

 

Maybe it's a Japanese thing. 

Or just a policy to make all customers feel valued.  For all they know you might have a job where you run a fleet of 2316 management cars for JCB, and you last order was 2315 insignias in appliance white.  

Or be fixing your mother's car and actually be in the market for a new car in the next month or so. 

[New POD]

7 hours ago, Cord Forteener aka Tim_E said:

I had an airbag recall job 

I last owned a Honda in 2015. I got a letter inviting me for a new airbag the other day. 

[Cord Fourteener]

11 hours ago, JuridicalGrunt said:

sometimes cars drive you absolutely mad one of these starts first turn of the key runs beautifully and pretty much everything works, one has had thousands spent on it and refuses to run properly and has multiple issue’s that are driving me and rich mad! I shall let everyone guess witch is witch.

 

.

Sd1, being the pig to run?

[Cord Fourteener]

8 hours ago, wuvvum said:

... the rest is in the hands of the MOT gods.

Fingers and toes crossed. Figuratively as I'm not superstitious in the slightest. But still, here's hoping for a decent pass 👍

[Zelandeth]

23 hours ago, Lankytim said:

Well this thing failed on two out of three points. 

It’s far too rotten to move

Its falling to bits,

It did provide some parts though, I needed things like steering arms as mine has a mix of metric and imperial parts which don’t fit together properly. I bought cutting gear but forgot my 110v transformer which meant I couldn’t use any of them! Fortunately the 145 was so rotten I was able to remove the front and by hand by just cutting the radiator hose and with a little force pull the front suspension out and away. The bodywork in this area was non existent, the front axle had rotted away and the engine was sitting on the ground. 
 

The parts removed are remarkably in pretty good shape, including the steering box and idler. I tried to remove the remaining chassis sections clinging onto them this morning but the bolts are seized into the steering box and will need some persuasion. 
 

Im going back to this wreck next month to remove the engine and axle! It’s shiting and archaeology all in one! 

That's in quite the state!  Anything left of the interior?  Switchgear in particular as a friend has been after the switches for a while - his have been chewed by mice.

[Lankytim]

14 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

That's in quite the state!  Anything left of the interior?  Switchgear in particular as a friend has been after the switches for a while - his have been chewed by mice.

The switchgear is semi-intact. I tried to remove a couple and I think they've been affected  by damp ingress. When I go back ill take them all out and have a look. 

The interior is all there but again, decades of damp have badly damaged  it all. 

[Shite Ron]

We may have a new car arriving today,  there are currently two very nice Lotus Eclat’s on ebay which I am so far resisting due to lack of space. My girlfriend wants to replace the BMW which I wholeheartedly approve of. The replacement drives the wrong wheels but shares an engine with a Lotus Elise.

A clue if anyone is interested, she already has one of these so I do not know why we are getting another:

No correction Fred as it has no MOT so is coming on a recovery truck.

[Zelandeth]

6 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

The switchgear is semi-intact. I tried to remove a couple and I think they've been effected by damp ingress. When I go back ill take them all out and have a look. 

The interior is all there but again, decades of damp have badly effected it all. 

Usually easiest because of the spring clips to remove the few screws that hold the panel onto the dash and pull it out as a unit... assuming this is the same as the last one I touched about twenty years ago anyway!

Thanks for checking whether they're intact or not.  The switch mechanism condition isn't too important as it's the plastic rockers that are knackered in John's one, so the caps could be switched over if need be.  His switches work fine, they just look a mess (well, it's got ones from a later 240 fitted currently but they look wrong).

[cort1977]

Had some reasonable car progress lately.

Passat has gone to a local home and will hopefully see it around occasionally.

MX5 failed the MOT last week but only on a caliper, damper and bulb.  Bulb was just a loose connection, new caliper sorted that issue and bleeding was trivial.  Had a slight issue with bloody Hermes delivering a replacement damper, it still hasn't arrived, but on the recommendation of @gm I called a company called Autolink (www.autolinkmx5.com) who are a Japanese car breaker.  Ordered at 11.00am Friday and it was at my house above the Arctic circle before noon the next day which is fantastic service.  Got the brake and shock replaced yesterday with a minimum of fuss and it's in for retest today.  Then it will be up for sale as being replaced with a 4 seat floppytop.

The i3 has had an annoying issue with error codes occasionally popping up the last few months.  Despite dire warning that it wouldn't restart and to drive to the nearest dealer it always did so i just ignored it.  Eventually, domestic management escalated the complaint so I took it to the only HEVRA (electric car association) garage in Aberdeen and got an MOT at the same time.  MOT diagnosed one broken spring but also that there was a recall for the car.  I had an idea that this might be related to the error so got BMW to collect the car (it was only over the road) and do the recall.  Went to pick it up on Friday and seems like they have fixed it, blissful silence on the way back.  So the i3 keeps on for another year, crossing fingers the beep of doom doesn't reappear.

All this means I am running out of excuses to procrastinate working on my Sierra so hoping to get some mojo back for that this week.  @supernaut and I did put the anti roll bar back on it a couple of weeks ago with not too much trouble, they can be very awkward sometimes apparently.  Need to put new brakes on both sides, bleed them, new battery and then see about an MOT.

[Talbot]

Regarding going into a dealer to ask for parts for a >15 year old car, it seems to depend on the actual dealer rather than the marque. I've been into Merc dealers to ask for £7 worth of seals before now and been offered a cuppa, had a nice little chat about "That's a great old bus, they don't make 'em like that any more" etc. etc. and left very happy.

I've also been to Merc dealers that have a properly nasty attitude who look down their nose like you're shit on their shoe.  I usually take the opportunity to get my own back, especially with the snotty sales staff by saying "actually, that's only one of a few Mercs I own.  I was considering changing one of them for something like this *points at horrifically expensive car in showroom* but with an attitude like that, I think I'll go elsewhere"

The look of "ah fuck, lost a decent sale there" as you walk out is absolutely priceless.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

Alison performed really well on the first long(ish) drive since having quite a bit of work done last year. 

Norfolk Broads, Snetterton and I must say I'm glad that the A\C was repaired earlier this year! 😎

[goosey]

OMFG !!!!!!!

the new Renault Alpine..........it’s here !!!!!

[Split_Pin]

Oh.

This is oil of some sort being thrown up. Inside the nearside wheelarch of the TD Cav.

Subframe dripping on the opposite side to the engine, which is bone dry.

Ah.

Run dry. Fuck.

Hose had sufficient length for me to just cut it off and reattach.

New fluid and the steering still works fine with no untoward noises. A lucky escape!

[reb]

Unfortunately my plan to fit a TD lump to the pug has been scuppered by the loss of storage by the owner of the potential donor before I've been able to clear space for it on my end. Thus starts the journey of trying to reinstate the original engine, starting with identifying what has gone missing in the 2 years(!) since I took it out. The engine seems to still be in useable condition despite having been sat outside for quite a long time, it is now safely in my unit though at least! The majority of things missing are just nuts and bolts and such, I think at least. I'll also need a complete set of coolant pipes as I may have rather stupidly cut them in order to remove the engine in the first place.

Thread incoming probably this evening.

[loserone]

Good call.  Need to get that back on the road

[reb]

I've owned it for 5 years this year and it's been off the road for various reasons for most of that! It's by far my favourite car I've owned, so it's really important to me that it makes it back onto the road, no matter what!

[puddlethumper]

6 hours ago, Lankytim said:

The switchgear is semi-intact. I tried to remove a couple and I think they've been effected by damp ingress. When I go back ill take them all out and have a look. 

The interior is all there but again, decades of damp have badly effected it all. 

Any trim bits are worth having. Hardest to get. Not relevant for me in this case but I've been looking for about 2 years for chrome windscreen trim for a PC Cresta. Nothing yet and I'm not holding out much hope.

[OM646]

21 hours ago, Bren said:

I didn't even enquire - and i'll tell you why.

The car suffered with a burst hose which I knew would be main dealer only. When I rang up my local dealer and told them the model and age they stated they had little to do with them anymore. In fairness they got me the part - forty odd quid - but you can see they are about selling finance and throwing a BMW in. I felt a bit embarassed getting a part for a 17 year old car.

Meanwhile you can still ring Mercedes and buy half a W203. Both BMW and Audi are lacking in that unfortunately

[richardmorris]

Letter today reminding me my photocard licence is due for renewal in August. Fair enough, but unlike the passport you don’t get 10years from the renewal date, but from when they process the application. Why? 

[Cord Fourteener]

Hurray for safety glasses!

I was strimming weeds from under an electric fence with a brush cutter blade for a customer when the blade kicked a stone the size of my first two knuckles right at my left eye of my safety glasses, and therefore not my eyeball. 

There was a good thunk and much hurraying to myself for being sensible. 

[Shite Ron]

Latest addition to the fleet in front of what it will hopefully replace with some expert* numberplate obscurification. No jokes about the old dog.

[Fumbler]

3 hours ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

Micra ran great for 24hours, then back to all over the place on the idle.  

I give up, it's in the local mechanics tomorrow if they cannot sort it, they can squash the ungrateful little shit box.  

Apologies if this has already been tried and done, but has the ECU been interrogated? There's the LED strip on the side and the OBD1 port as well to approach it. Also, MAF sensor, but I'd expect this was already done.

[Fumbler]

3 minutes ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

Laptop I had I was forced to part with recently, so no it has not been, the garage it's going to handles all the work for a K11 softtop (yes it's a thing) so I am hoping they can handle the problem.  I suspect it may end with another throttlebody as it seems k11 consumes them like bloody petrol. 

Of course finding one for a N-CVT is interesting as afaik they are unique and different from the manual versions.

I'm rather surprised it's lasted so long its shat its throttle body as opposed to its gearbox. My HBOL showed what light combos on the LED strip meant what. The MAF suggestion was from my dad's experience with the family K11 which went all kangaroo when the MAF went on one journey. Reading into it a bit, the fact your car sounds fine when revved suggests something else though.

Don't give up on the wee thing just yet. There aren't many really early K11s bimbling about anymore. Besides, yours has just been welded so has a much better chance of surviving the weather.

[Fumbler]

2 minutes ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

 

It's off to a local shop tomorrow as it's downright irritating to drive, with a rattling calliper and this idle issue.  They fix a soft top K11 so I have some hope they can sort this.   

And knowing we never got soft top K11s, I'm willing to bet it's an auto as well. I remember seeing a JDM import for sale last year.