The new news 24 thread

[chodweaver]

Alas poor cabbed Vel Satis. You were a friend when i couldn't find a Citroen to buy.

RIP presidential Renault

[Supernaut]

RIP Vel Satis.

I'd nominate the photo of it burnt out for next year's calendar, as a way of tribute.

[Fumbler]

Nooo, the VelShatit has died.

A family friend had a Picasso which did the same thing one morning.Burned completely to the ground.

[captain_70s]

Fuckers mint*

100% fleet legality, and only half are by merit of MOT exemptness! 

[Rust Collector]

14 hours ago, Yoss said:

Ironically, at least I think it's ironic, it's a very misunderstood word, no more than 16 hours after Favorit passed its test Felicia FTP'd.

Mrs Yoss left for work at 6.30 this morning. It's my day off but I still like to take the dog for an early walk, but not quite that early but ten minutes later the phone rings. Felicia has just died three quarters of the way to work. It turns over but no signs of life. So I jump up and in to Favorit. By the time I arrive a passer by has helped Lorraine push it in to a parking space, fortunately it's one of the few areas en route that has unrestricted parking. 

So I dropped her off at work and decided it was too early so went home again, it's only about two miles away. Went back and had a look mid morning. Cheap code reader says no. I suspect lack of spark. Can't do any thing here but can't phone breakdown services as I said I'd pick Lorraine up when she'd finished and you never know how long these things take so I went home again. 

Then spent some time tidying the garage up as it was obvious I was going to have to get the Triumph out. 

Called breakdown after lunch. They took about an hour which isn't too bad these days and he came to the same conclusion as me so we A framed it home. Actually it's more of a T frame. 

Once I got it home I have confirmed there is no spark. The rotor arm and dizzy cap don't look great but I wouldn't have thought they would cause sudden and immediate FTP. My guess would be the coil. I've already had to replace that once, about seven years ago, but it's kind of expected these days that replacement parts are shit and never last as long as the originals. 

Anybody have any other ideas of what causes sudden loss of spark? Is there anything obvious I'm overlooking. 

My money is on the crank sensor if it were a game of parts darts - I've replaced this on my Favorit twice now under similar circumstances. See if it turns on when cold, in the early stage of failure the sensor seems to stop sending a signal once it gets hot. This is all under the assumption that this is a 1.3 mpi and not a VW motor in it.

[Sigmund Fraud]

15 hours ago, Yoss said:

Anybody have any other ideas of what causes sudden loss of spark? Is there anything obvious I'm overlooking. 

Ignition switch ? Pretty common 1990s VW problem, they fail without much notice and result in a "turns over but won't start" fault.

A new switch is really cheap to buy, but a complete bugger to replace.

[Bren]

RIP vel satis. Main thing is nobody got hurt.

[junkyarddog]

Oil change time for the 205.

My second to last oil filter that I have in stock,these came from a place I worked in when it closed in 2007.

Great ground clearance,don't even have to Jack it up or wrestle with an undertray.

Oil filter is easy to reach too.

All told about 15mins of unhurried spannering got the oil change completed.

Had a bit of a score at an Autojumble recently, 4 matching brand new Pirelli tyres in 175 70 13 flavour.

Never fitted,but they are nearly 5 years old. 

For considerably less than a set of Chinese death rings I'm not complaining. 

I also added some of this snake oil to the gearbox,as the synchro on 3rd can be a bit iffy at times will see if it makes a difference. 

[Shite Ron]

I took a set of alloys to be diamond cut  and lacquered at the end of last year,  picked them up today after dropping the new tyres off yesterday to be fitted. I did tell him I wasn’t in a rush!
The car currently has very good Michelin’s on but they are over ten years old so it will have new tyres ready for the trip to Italy in September.

[wuvvum]

4 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

I also added some of this snake oil to the gearbox,as the synchro on 3rd can be a bit iffy at times will see if it makes a difference. 

I've generally found those Lucas products to be one of the few brands of snake oil that actually work.

[Wibble]

2 hours ago, Shite Ron said:

I took a set of alloys to be diamond cut  and lacquered at the end of last year,  picked them up today after dropping the new tyres off yesterday to be fitted. I did tell him I wasn’t in a rush!
The car currently has very good Michelin’s on but they are over ten years old so it will have new tyres ready for the trip to Italy in September.

Ooh, Cortina Ghia? Looking nice!

[Yoss]

20 hours ago, wesacosa said:

if these are anything like the Favorit if its not the coil its very likely the crank position sensor

 

7 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

My money is on the crank sensor if it were a game of parts darts - I've replaced this on my Favorit twice now under similar circumstances. See if it turns on when cold, in the early stage of failure the sensor seems to stop sending a signal once it gets hot. This is all under the assumption that this is a 1.3 mpi and not a VW motor in it.

It is indeed the VW 1.6 AEE engine but it could still be the crank position sensor. Although I'd have thought that might be picked up by a code reader and it's had two of those plugged in to it, my cheap one and the recovery man's rather more professional looking one. 

6 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

Ignition switch ? Pretty common 1990s VW problem, they fail without much notice and result in a "turns over but won't start" fault.

A new switch is really cheap to buy, but a complete bugger to replace.

Hadn't thought of that. So it could be the immobiliser, but again no fault codes found. 

 

The rotor arm and dizzy cap both look shit. They didn't look like this last time I looked, though I can't remember when that was. 

You would have thought this would give a more gradual deterioration rather than just stopping dead. So these definitely need replacing whether they are the cause or not.

Looked on ebay and prices vary wildly but a tenner each seems normal and yet you can buy a whole distributor complete with dizzy cap and, I assume, a rotor arm for £25. It's probably a cheap Chinese copy but at that price it's worth a try.

Especially as when I took the cap off mine there were pieces of a small plastic or fibre washer inside. I don't really know how these distributors work. Obviously it's electronic ignition so it is much simpler inside than an old Lucas one like my Triumph. But if that washer was isolating something from something else then it could be the problem.

So I have ordered a dizzy and a coil and am waiting for them to arrive before I can do any more. Crank sensor after that I guess. 

[wuvvum]

The Charade left on the back of the Cartakeback lorry this morning.  Part of me was sad to see it go, but it had its share of drawbacks - expensive bits, low value due to former Cat C, the gearbox wasn't entirely happy having been previously run very low on fluid, and the fuel economy was shit.  It was still great fun to drive though.

Got the aircon on the Doblo regassed today - it's one of two cars I now own with functional aircon (the Laguna being the other but that seems to work OK - Rover has no belt on the compressor and the Maxus has half the pipework missing).  They did say it has a tiny leak but it should be OK for a while - as long as it gets me through the summer (assuming we have one this year) I'll be happy - I would have waited longer but I had a Groupon voucher from last year that I needed to use up.

I've had a quote of £180 for a new ECU for the Rover, coded in to the car etc.  Given that the only diesel automatic ECU set I could find on eBay was £170 (and that would have involved swapping three ECUs, the immobiliser transponder and the chip in the key), £180 doesn't seem unreasonable, especially given that he chucks in a 160bhp remap with the price.  I'll probably end up going for it, although it's still an expense I could have done without...

[Zelandeth]

14 minutes ago, Yoss said:

 

It is indeed the VW 1.6 AEE engine but it could still be the crank position sensor. Although I'd have thought that might be picked up by a code reader and it's had two of those plugged in to it, my cheap one and the recovery man's rather more professional looking one. 

Hadn't thought of that. So it could be the immobiliser, but again no fault codes found. 

 

The rotor arm and dizzy cap both look shit. They didn't look like this last time I looked, though I can't remember when that was. 

You would have thought this would give a more gradual deterioration rather than just stopping dead. So these definitely need replacing whether they are the cause or not.

Looked on ebay and prices vary wildly but a tenner each seems normal and yet you can buy a whole distributor complete with dizzy cap and, I assume, a rotor arm for £25. It's probably a cheap Chinese copy but at that price it's worth a try.

Especially as when I took the cap off mine there were pieces of a small plastic or fibre washer inside. I don't really know how these distributors work. Obviously it's electronic ignition so it is much simpler inside than an old Lucas one like my Triumph. But if that washer was isolating something from something else then it could be the problem.

So I have ordered a dizzy and a coil and am waiting for them to arrive before I can do any more. Crank sensor after that I guess. 

If the crank sensor fails on a lot of engines it won't log a code as in the absence of a signal the ECU just assumes the engine isn't spinning.  It's that signal to which virtually everything else the ECU controls is slaved.  No crank sensor pulse = no fuel and very likely no spark.

[Yoss]

1 minute ago, Zelandeth said:

If the crank sensor fails on a lot of engines it won't log a code as in the absence of a signal the ECU just assumes the engine isn't spinning.  It's that signal to which virtually everything else the ECU controls is slaved.  No crank sensor pulse = no fuel and very likely no spark.

Okay, cheers. I've already ordered the dizzy and coil so I'll wait for those but the crank sensor is definitely next on the list. 

[New POD]

23 hours ago, Yoss said:

Ironically, at least I think it's ironic, it's a very misunderstood word, no more than 16 hours after Favorit passed its test Felicia FTP'd.

Mrs Yoss left for work at 6.30 this morning. It's my day off but I still like to take the dog for an early walk, but not quite that early but ten minutes later the phone rings. Felicia has just died three quarters of the way to work. It turns over but no signs of life. So I jump up and in to Favorit. By the time I arrive a passer by has helped Lorraine push it in to a parking space, fortunately it's one of the few areas en route that has unrestricted parking. 

So I dropped her off at work and decided it was too early so went home again, it's only about two miles away. Went back and had a look mid morning. Cheap code reader says no. I suspect lack of spark. Can't do any thing here but can't phone breakdown services as I said I'd pick Lorraine up when she'd finished and you never know how long these things take so I went home again. 

Then spent some time tidying the garage up as it was obvious I was going to have to get the Triumph out. 

Called breakdown after lunch. They took about an hour which isn't too bad these days and he came to the same conclusion as me so we A framed it home. Actually it's more of a T frame. 

Once I got it home I have confirmed there is no spark. The rotor arm and dizzy cap don't look great but I wouldn't have thought they would cause sudden and immediate FTP. My guess would be the coil. I've already had to replace that once, about seven years ago, but it's kind of expected these days that replacement parts are shit and never last as long as the originals. 

Anybody have any other ideas of what causes sudden loss of spark? Is there anything obvious I'm overlooking. 

On a mk2 cavalier, the same problem was an ignition module. 

[3VOM]

15 hours ago, Yoss said:

Okay, cheers. I've already ordered the dizzy and coil so I'll wait for those but the crank sensor is definitely next on the list. 

You can check the  starter by jump wiring the starter solenoid. Ran a golf like that for months until I could be bothered to replace the ignition switch insides.

[Split_Pin]

17 hours ago, wuvvum said:

The Charade left on the back of the Cartakeback lorry this morning.  Part of me was sad to see it go, but it had its share of drawbacks - expensive bits, low value due to former Cat C, the gearbox wasn't entirely happy having been previously run very low on fluid, and the fuel economy was shit.  It was still great fun to drive though.

Got the aircon on the Doblo regassed today - it's one of two cars I now own with functional aircon (the Laguna being the other but that seems to work OK - Rover has no belt on the compressor and the Maxus has half the pipework missing).  They did say it has a tiny leak but it should be OK for a while - as long as it gets me through the summer (assuming we have one this year) I'll be happy - I would have waited longer but I had a Groupon voucher from last year that I needed to use up.

I've had a quote of £180 for a new ECU for the Rover, coded in to the car etc.  Given that the only diesel automatic ECU set I could find on eBay was £170 (and that would have involved swapping three ECUs, the immobiliser transponder and the chip in the key), £180 doesn't seem unreasonable, especially given that he chucks in a 160bhp remap with the price.  I'll probably end up going for it, although it's still an expense I could have done without...

160bhp remap works well with the Diesel Auto, it does on mine anyway.

[grogee]

19 hours ago, wuvvum said:

The Charade left on the back of the Cartakeback lorry this morning.  Part of me was sad to see it go, but it had its share of drawbacks - expensive bits, low value due to former Cat C, the gearbox wasn't entirely happy having been previously run very low on fluid, and the fuel economy was shit.  It was still great fun to drive though.

Got the aircon on the Doblo regassed today - it's one of two cars I now own with functional aircon (the Laguna being the other but that seems to work OK - Rover has no belt on the compressor and the Maxus has half the pipework missing).  They did say it has a tiny leak but it should be OK for a while - as long as it gets me through the summer (assuming we have one this year) I'll be happy - I would have waited longer but I had a Groupon voucher from last year that I needed to use up.

I've had a quote of £180 for a new ECU for the Rover, coded in to the car etc.  Given that the only diesel automatic ECU set I could find on eBay was £170 (and that would have involved swapping three ECUs, the immobiliser transponder and the chip in the key), £180 doesn't seem unreasonable, especially given that he chucks in a 160bhp remap with the price.  I'll probably end up going for it, although it's still an expense I could have done without...

£180 for a fix and some more horses? Sounds like VALU to me. 

With all these things you have to ask what the alternatives are, and your alternatives are all worse by the sounds of things. 

Sometimes we just have to fork out for A Man Who Can. 

[wuvvum]

Assuming I can get the spring sorted myself and don't have to pay A Man Who Can to do that as well, I'm going to go for the replacement / remapped ECU.  If I have to pay someone to do the spring as well then the ECU may have to wait for a bit.

[Zelandeth]

Our kitchen units are stupidly designed in that they stand a good 3" or so off the floor with no panels at the base.  So there's a perpetual tide of dropped crumbs, dog hair etc building up under there.

We've been here eight years in a couple of weeks, and still occasionally wind up finding random stuff left back under there by the previous family when vacuuming.  

There's a lot of greasy crap at the back that I just can't reach to properly clean, not without removing the units anyway.  We'd like to replace the units anyway though as with most things the previous owner (she was an interior designer don't you know?) specified, are bloody hopeless.  Which is why I've never found the energy to just cap those voids off...doing it tidily sounds too much like actual work.

Yesterday probably presented me with the most unexpected item to materialise under the cabinets so far though.

I don't actually own that game myself, so it can get stuffed in the pouch next time I have it out - not that I think I've actually picked up a handheld gaming device other than the original PSP in several years.

[Fumbler]

The choke warning light has died. I haven't looked yet but I bet it's buried in the binnacle like the other lamps.

[stuboy]

Nothing exciting... it snowed ..ish...

[Sunny Jim]

After a long day it's good to be walking the dog at sunset rather than in the dark bow the clocks have gone forward.

[HMC]

Fabulous photo!

[Split_Pin]

If I'm honest, it's not looking good for this car.

I tried all afternoon trying to sort this.

The loom that came in the post is of course different as the one on the car has more wires coming out of the plug under the seat and going elsewhere, whereas the loom part I have is isolated with just 2 wires and not integrated with the rest of the wiring harness under the seat.

The plug was correct though and I spent ages splicing it into the loom and then resplicing it a different way when that didn't work. As the old plug had been ripped out I had no frame of reference. 

Unfortunately the MOT is due next month and it obviously won't pass like this. It seems so silly just because of a little plug and although I do have the patience, I have so little invested financially in this car, I already have another, better example on fleet and I have a hankering for something 90s again. This means that the generous offer of £350 from CTB makes sense. 

Sorry, Saab.

 

[Jazoli]

Can you not use the new one as a reference or is it completely different?

[Split_Pin]

28 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

Can you not use the new one as a reference or is it completely different?

Weirdly, the new one has 1 brown wire and 1 brown and yellow, the loom on the car has one brown and one blue.  Plus where it plugs into the connection under the seat, there's 2 extra wires that go somewhere else.

I tried both formats but neither worked, unless you need Tech 2 to the lamp off again. That's where the 75 is great as the airbag light goes off as soon as you've fixed the fault (squeezed the connectors together under the seat 😅)

[Saabnut]

I will match (or even slightly better) the CTB offer and give it a chance to live on a bit. Only downside is I cannot collect for about 10 days or so as I am stuck on a boat offshore Norway, due back around the 10th but nothing is certain in this game.

[Yoss]

Felicias fixed! 

The new coil and distributor arrived today. How do they make a whole distributor for £25?

Complete with distributor cap and rotor arm. 

Admittedly, having had a dig around inside the old one, the innards appear to be a cylindrical piece of metal with four holes in to act as a chopper. 

Also found the plug on the old one was broken and held together with a cable tie. That can't have helped. 

And the rotor arm was definitely shagged. 

 

So I changed the distributor first and was disappointed to find it made no difference. Ah well, never mind, there's no doubt the rotor arm and cap needed changing so it's not wasted. 

Moved on to the coil. That's pretty simple, two bolts, three wire plug and HT lead. It was at this point I realised I hadn't refitted the HT lead to the distributor cap. Doh. Needless to say it fired first time. So it could have been the distributor after all. Never mind, it works now, I'll leave it at that. 

I've not been able to test it properly as it's still in the garage and there are two cars in front of it on the drive and I can't be arsed to switch them all round. That's for tomorrow.