The new news 24 thread

[3VOM]

1 minute ago, Coprolalia said:

The central locking wiring in the Octavia:

Ungrateful VAG POS.

If it is anything like my 6n Polo, it will be full of water.

[Coprolalia]

2 minutes ago, 3VOM said:

If it is anything like my 6n Polo, it will be full of water.

I mean that's a solid 4 inch bath right there.

No wonder the CD changer packed up.

[grogee]

4 hours ago, louiepj said:

My local motorfactors stock the later plastic housing for £35 but unfortunately I need the earlier version with integrated egr ports.
I have now redrilled the bad side and will try a Helicoil today (friend is dropping off a kit) in that side as it still has 3 good bolt holes out of four to hold the egr on.

Depends how borked the threads are but I successfully tapped 2 of the mounts for our Alfa's EGR from the (stripped) M6 to M7. Bit of a weird size but there's not room for M8. Pleasingly the nuts are 11mm head which justifies my owning about 5x 11mm spanners.

[MJK 24]

Lord above 🙏  

I’ve had my Merc 190 over 4 years and I’ve always been on the lookout for a decent spare tyre.  The current one is 23 years old!  Anyway, I had a new tyre fitted to my trailer this morning and so took the old one to the tip.  

In the tyre container what did I see?  A brand new and unused Dunlop in the correct size!  I took it back to the garage who happily swapped it for me.  Recycling at its finest ♻️

[wuvvum]

Very little has happened on the fleet recently - last weekend I spent most of my free time repainting the front door, together with the door frame and step.  I did splash out on two new tailgate struts for the Picasso - I replaced the one which was obviously leaking and the tailgate then sprang happily up when opened so I've not bothered with the other one.  It's made the car more usable - it's surprisingly difficult to load a bicycle into a car whilst balancing a heavy tailgate on your head.  I've also ordered an ABS sensor for it, which hasn't arrived yet but which will hopefully clear up the ABS / ESP / parking brake warnings I've been getting.  Then I'll have to decide whether I can be arsed to attempt the strut tops or not.

The Scénic is going to need to go in for an MOT in the next few weeks.  It's definitely going to need a rear spring, and probably a rear fog light as well.  I'm not going to buy the bits until I've put it through the test though, just in case it fails on something catastrophic (I don't think it will but you never know).  I had been puzzling how to work the sat nav - turns out that you need a remote control to programme it, which has gone AWOL.  Secondhand replacements are surprisingly expensive on eBay.  If the car ends up staying longer term I might splash out on a replacement remote, as well as attempt to fix the driver's door speaker which isn't working.

I had a go at machine polishing the bonnet on the Volvo.  It actually looks like it would come up pretty well, but it made such a fucking mess of both me and the front wall of the house that I'm not going to do any more on it for the time being.  I have discovered that Rock Auto will sell me a shiny new alternator for £80 including VAT and delivery, so I'm probably going to splash out, given that realistically it'd cost me that much to get the existing one rebuilt.

I need to sort out storage for the winter for the Renault 6 and the boat.  I'm somewhat regretting my haste in selling the Ducato van, or at least selling it so cheaply - I could have fitted the Innocenti in the back of that, possibly with the boat on a roof rack, and that would have left the garage free for the Renault, pushbikes and mopeds.  I have yet to find a running van of similar size at anything close to what I sold the Ducato for.  I might have to see if I can find a second garage to rent, which is an expense I could do without.

[stuboy]

Missus followed me from Sundays meal on a249 diner and said ur bumpers flappy... some new holes and good too go

[barefoot]

'Susie' had new wishbones for 'her' MOT & although OK for pottering, when negotiating tight bends with a modicum of enthusiasm, it feels like the car is lifting an inside wheel. It's fucking horrible, but 'shes' booked in to be tracked up in the morning. I hope to pull some serious G's on the return home.

Naming cars is for twats.

[grogee]

57 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Very little has happened on the fleet recently - last weekend I spent most of my free time repainting the front door, together with the door frame and step.  I did splash out on two new tailgate struts for the Picasso - I replaced the one which was obviously leaking and the tailgate then sprang happily up when opened so I've not bothered with the other one.  It's made the car more usable - it's surprisingly difficult to load a bicycle into a car whilst balancing a heavy tailgate on your head.  I've also ordered an ABS sensor for it, which hasn't arrived yet but which will hopefully clear up the ABS / ESP / parking brake warnings I've been getting.  Then I'll have to decide whether I can be arsed to attempt the strut tops or not.

The Scénic is going to need to go in for an MOT in the next few weeks.  It's definitely going to need a rear spring, and probably a rear fog light as well.  I'm not going to buy the bits until I've put it through the test though, just in case it fails on something catastrophic (I don't think it will but you never know).  I had been puzzling how to work the sat nav - turns out that you need a remote control to programme it, which has gone AWOL.  Secondhand replacements are surprisingly expensive on eBay.  If the car ends up staying longer term I might splash out on a replacement remote, as well as attempt to fix the driver's door speaker which isn't working.

I had a go at machine polishing the bonnet on the Volvo.  It actually looks like it would come up pretty well, but it made such a fucking mess of both me and the front wall of the house that I'm not going to do any more on it for the time being.  I have discovered that Rock Auto will sell me a shiny new alternator for £80 including VAT and delivery, so I'm probably going to splash out, given that realistically it'd cost me that much to get the existing one rebuilt.

I need to sort out storage for the winter for the Renault 6 and the boat.  I'm somewhat regretting my haste in selling the Ducato van, or at least selling it so cheaply - I could have fitted the Innocenti in the back of that, possibly with the boat on a roof rack, and that would have left the garage free for the Renault, pushbikes and mopeds.  I have yet to find a running van of similar size at anything close to what I sold the Ducato for.  I might have to see if I can find a second garage to rent, which is an expense I could do without.

Machine polishing is soooo messy. Then when you've finished your car is really dirty. It all feels like too much effort sometimes. I did my Celica in the summer - wash, polish, wash, wax, windows inside and out - and that was far too much effort. There are those that say I should have done a clay bar in there somewhere too - fuck that.

[grogee]

30 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Missus followed me from Sundays meal on a249 diner and said ur bumpers flappy... some new holes and good too go

You have fixed that and no mistake. I was once told by a rally licker that they always cable tie their bumpers on just because it's easier to repair when they inevitably ram it into a hay bale.

If it's good enough for motorsport, it's good enough for AS.

[stuboy]

Missus away at her friend's after I finished work...so tackled few jobs on the mondeo, another go at exhaust blow, the rear bumper in previous Post earlier,  another idea that some try is taking the header bottle and washer bottle cover from an st220 v6 mondeo and fit onto ST tdci and earlier v6 like mine, not direct fit, but disc cutter, snips, a file and some wire sheafing I manged to get it to go on... and no cable ties or hammer was required...lol 

[LabRat]

Thanks to the Tivoli chucking its toys out the pram and throwing an abs fault, we've taken the MG6 over to see my parents in Lincolnshire.

138 miles from Oldham to Skegness, surprisingly not only did it behave, but managed 41mpg combined on E10 too! Not too shabby really. 

[grogee]

1 hour ago, LabRat said:

Thanks to the Tivoli chucking its toys out the pram and throwing an abs fault, we've taken the MG6 over to see my parents in Lincolnshire.

138 miles from Oldham to Skegness, surprisingly not only did it behave, but managed 41mpg combined on E10 too! Not too shabby really. 

MG6 = Future secret shite for sure. There's one near me that needs a clutch and something else but it's still too much money and I don't need any more projects. I bet they're actually alright. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Changed the battery in the remote key fob for my Golf this afternoon.  It took under a minute.  I've been putting it off for two years...

[GrumpiusMaximus]

4 hours ago, stuboy said:

Missus followed me from Sundays meal on a249 diner and said ur bumpers flappy... some new holes and good too go

Went past that this afternoon.  Have they changed hands again?

[stuboy]

12 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Went past that this afternoon.  Have they changed hands again?

same chef and people inside look same, think rebranding to seperate from a228 bluebell hill diner

[RichardK]

You spend all year waiting for a classic Apple Mac and then…

[goosey]

My sons 2001 Lupo Gti doesn’t get charged to use the Birmingham clean air zone but my daughters 1999 1.0 Seat Arosa has to pay the daily charge 🤔

so how do you square that circle? 

[wuvvum]

1 minute ago, goosey said:

My sons 2001 Lupo Gti doesn’t get charged to use the Birmingham clean air zone but my daughters 1999 1.0 Seat Arosa has to pay the daily charge 🤔

so how do you square that circle? 

2001 is when they started basing VED on CO2 emissions - anything prior to that won't have the emissions recorded so will automatically be charged.

[Dr_Slow]

1 hour ago, RichardK said:

You spend all year waiting for a classic Apple Mac and then…

 

 

 

Do you know where it's possible to get system floppies for early Macs? I've a 128K M0001 sitting up in my loft, previously working, but last time I tried using it the floppy disks I had appeared to be unreadable and I got the 'sad Mac' icon. 

Oh yes, the first generation Mac portables were truly abysmal - they were huge, weighed a ton and had a very short battery life...

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, RichardK said:

You spend all year waiting for a classic Apple Mac and then…

Fucking hell! thats quite the haul, Macintosh (original 128K even maybe going by the lack of branding on the front) a Macintosh II, an SE/30 and then a Bloody Macintosh Portable just to the top it all off

not Jealous at all no...  

I hope your planning on posting more about them (either here or in the computershite thread)  

you must get at least the Macintosh II or the SE/30 running AU/X  

(and for the love of all that is shite REMOVE THE PRAM BATTERIES before they blow their load all over the logic board and really ruin your day)

[RichardK]

128 front, Plus board, no analogue board

Portable rebuilt (swapped a NorthStar Horizon for it)

SE/30 faulty - I know the PRAM battery and electrolytic woes

Mac II built July 87. Main batteries flat so I will jumpstart to check condition.

System Floppies - for a proper 128 you need single sided, joy. I had some, but now - I may be able to write some using the Portable.

I used to have an AWS95 which I did have AU/X for - my last SE was an AppleShare fileserver to netboot a //e Platinum/extended with workstation card and a IIgs…

[RichardK]

[Jon]

18 hours ago, Tickman said:

Can you pump up the brakes with the engine running or just constant sinking?

Constant sinking when running, normal brake pedal pressure once switched back off.

18 hours ago, 320touring said:

@Jon good effort - did it the correct way. 

Pity it did not solve it.

Does the car lose fluid if you press the brake when running? It sounds much like @Tickman says - that there is fluid seeping past a seal somewhere. Key suspects would be master cyl or servo.

if you need a hand getting parts let me know.

I had a stab of the brakes today and what do you know! Fluid leaking out the NSF bleed nipple!

I also noticed that my back up trolley jack on the NSF also had some staining on the sticker, as did the tie rod area, looking like it'd dropped down from the master cylinder (likely clumsy reservoir filling).  So I gave them a clean:

Excellent shot here. Although running a European car in NZ is often tricky, at least we don't have to deal with much rust!

 

In a textbook definition of madness, I proceeded to bleed the brakes again (on my own - a baton of wood held the brake pedal down when cracking the nipples), as the sign of leaky fluid was enough to convince me that this was a new variable, so worth a shot. It's also the last nipple bled yesterday and highly likely I just didn't nip it up enough but I pretended to think I could actually fix it....

Of course, I couldn't. My cat was looking on in scathing disbelief at my delusion:

I did manage to get the NSR caliper to clamp better to the pads and actually work as brakes with a bit of piston adjustment, as a quick spin when the pedal was down showed that I could still spin the disc by hand. I also managed to get a few small bubbles out the rear calipers but I honestly don't know how many more times I can go round the car, bleeding away and not achieving.

There's a good chance I'm just shit at bleeding brakes but I do think the signs show a seal failure somewhere. I'm hoping it's the master cylinder, as I can't seem to find a servo to buy for less than £200+, before postage to NZ. Seems I can get a Brembo master cylinder delivered from Germany for £70, which seems fair.

I'm also guessing that once the master cylinder is replaced, it'll require diagnostics to bleed the ABS? Or is that Clio Sport forum folklore?

I sense a garage getting some money from us, soon...

[TheOtherStu]

10 hours ago, RichardK said:

You spend all year waiting for a classic Apple Mac and then…

I get to spend the night at TNMOC once a week. You'd be in your element 🤣

I have a feeling my folks still have at least one of those Apples too.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Recent arrival....

[somewhatfoolish]

You've incurred a debt equivalent to a small african country?

[barefoot]

18 hours ago, barefoot said:

'Susie' had new wishbones for 'her' MOT & although OK for pottering, when negotiating tight bends with a modicum of enthusiasm, it feels like the car is lifting an inside wheel. It's fucking horrible, but 'shes' booked in to be tracked up in the morning. I hope to pull some serious G's on the return home.

Naming cars is for twats.

Popped down to the garage & said, 'I've just brought Susie down to have her tracking checked & adjusted'. Chap looked at me like I was a total fucking twat & asked, 'Do you mean the silver Scirocco over there?' 

Sorted, I drove the car back from the gariage at a relatively high speed, negotiating several roundabouts with much alacrity.

Naming cars is for twats

[loserone]

11 minutes ago, barefoot said:

Susie

You're enjoying this way too much

[Zelandeth]

Today on "Things you don't want to discover aren't working half way through a journey."

Windscreen wipers.

[SiC]

Put the Bini up for sale on a R53 Facebook group for £675... Wish me luck!

If it doesn't sell or I get too much hassle, I'll keep it and it can wait it's turn for repair. Problem is that I have an ever wandering eye and a spare storage bay wouldn't go amiss. Also it sat there never really does any car any good.

Boxster is also now at the trimmers having its roof window repaired. Apparently the roof was in very good condition. So I'm pleased I went that route and kept the genuine mohair Porsche hood rather than an aftermarket (glass) replacement.

Fabia passenger door lock is doing the 2000 era VAG thing. I'll do another write up later but looks like the micro switches aren't registering the door as open or closed. Can't check the module until my metal rivets come so I can take the panel off. Yes rivets to hold the access panel on FFS. Ordered a new module for £20 but hoping it might just be a dodgy solder joint and I can send that back.

Never bloody stops sometimes.