The new news 24 thread

[SiC]

28 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Vibration through the cabin caused by a failed hydro engine mount. Aftermarket brand new replacement purchased from ebay, becuase they are £HOWMUCH otherwise

The hydro mount on my 1.6 must be foobar as it squirted oil everywhere when poked. Presumably it's not an MOT failure? Can't remember anything in the MOT test manual that says about fluid mounts - providing they still attach the engine to the vehicle of course. Being a petrol, there isn't any extra vibration through really. Plus the under bonnet diesel soundproofing that came with this replacement bonnet helps make the engine even quieter. 

Mounts are ridiculously expensive for it. So I would prefer to get away with not replacing it if I can.

31 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

No aircon, which has been bloody torturous in this weather. There's gas in the system so hopefully just needs a regas m8 or perhaps a dodgy pressure switch 

Wish the Aircon on mine worked too. Thankfully I have two other vehicles with working air conditioning but having the tatty car with it would be useful too. Would also be useful in the winter when in a rush and needing a windscreen to clear and keep clear asap. 

If it passes it's MOT next month, I may invest in a vacuum pump and see if it holds pressure. Then I know if it's worth chucking it at a Aircon regas place and getting it working again. However I suspect being at ambient exterior pressure for at least 9 years could mean that the internals are very much dead. 

Thankfully the compressor is on a separate aux belt so I can just chop it off if the compressor does seize.

I really want to do a full service on it but again holding off until it's passed an MOT. Otherwise I could be throwing good money away if it fails in a big way and needs throwing away. 

[SiC]

23 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

Other than that, watched this wonderful thunderstorm with my son from the window. Magnificent stuff

 

3 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

A small but very energetic thunderstorm passed right over Bonnybridge this evening at about 9pm, they usually miss us.

This is interesting to watch and see where the actual strikes are when you hear/see them:

https://www.lightningmaps.org/

 

[Snake Charmer]

9 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Shared from Sky News: UK heatwave: Firefighters battle forest blaze in Surrey https://news.sky.com/video/uk-heatwave-firefighters-battle-forest-blaze-in-surrey-12672224

Again? It's only just started growing back!

[Split_Pin]

8 minutes ago, SiC said:

 

This is interesting to watch and see where the actual strikes are when you hear/see them:

https://www.lightningmaps.org/

 

I've used that for years but it isn't that accurate. I think it only detects cloud to ground lightning. Still fun to watch. If you zoom in you can see the sound wave as well.

[Snake Charmer]

9 hours ago, stuboy said:

Bil came round to take missus and daughter shopping gave me a chance to look at his new car...

I quite like the styling but can't help feeling the lead designer was a fan of Robocop.

[RoverFolkUs]

4 minutes ago, SiC said:

The hydro mount on my 1.6 must be foobar as it squirted oil everywhere when poked. Presumably it's not an MOT failure? Can't remember anything in the MOT test manual that says about fluid mounts - providing they still attach the engine to the vehicle of course. Being a petrol, there isn't any extra vibration through really. Plus the under bonnet diesel soundproofing that came with this replacement bonnet helps make the engine even quieter. 

Mounts are ridiculously expensive for it. So I would prefer to get away with not replacing it if I can.

Wish the Aircon on mine worked too. Thankfully I have two other vehicles with working air conditioning but having the tatty car with it would be useful too. Would also be useful in the winter when in a rush and needing a windscreen to clear and keep clear asap. 

If it passes it's MOT next month, I may invest in a vacuum pump and see if it holds pressure. Then I know if it's worth chucking it at a Aircon regas place and getting it working again. However I suspect being at ambient exterior pressure for at least 9 years could mean that the internals are very much dead. 

Thankfully the compressor is on a separate aux belt so I can just chop it off if the compressor does seize.

I really want to do a full service on it but again holding off until it's passed an MOT. Otherwise I could be throwing good money away if it fails in a big way and needs throwing away. 

Mine's a 1.6 pez as well, I got one for £25 off ebay. I fitted a cheap one to my other Focus that's just gone and it has held up fine to date approx 9 months later and no reason to think otherwise going forwards with the new owner.

Engine mounts are only an MOT fail if there's severe movement in it or a risk of detachment, as you suggest.

Its not a diesel level of vibration but its noticeable with mine, e.g the windows which are a little loose in their runners vibrate heavily when opened. (That's another issue to resolve, but I hate pulling off door cards and dealing with the sticky goop that holds on the weather proofing!)

I asked when I needed one for the other Focus last year, think Ford dealer said £160 + VAT if I recall correctly?! ECP list a "cheap" one for £80, but that's a lot for a non-OEM part that might not last. I'm happy with £25 though, this is the one I bought but its OOS now:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165557592508

Despite it saying for the 1.8 + 2.0, my engine code is HXDA as listed and I'm 99% sure they're the same across the range anyway, but worth a check. 

.....

I bought this one below for my other Focus which was fine, and then bought another this time but they sent me the incorrect one. So I've got a spare one floating around for a MK1 Focus 1.8TDCI now! They refunded and didn't want it back, didn't seem keen on the idea of sending the correct one out which is what I wanted and why I didnt reorder from them. Here it is anyway, on the off chance they do actually have the correct one on the shelf and it was a simple mix-up

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144473804056

 

What trim level is yours? Assuming you haven't got the lovely quick-clear heated front screen then

If it hasn't worked for 9 years as far as you know, I wouldn't think there's much hope either. Have you tried momentarily depressing the Schrader valve on the refill port to see if there is any gas? Obviously; be sensible and only a quick nano-second to check!

Hopefully it should pass an MOT! I've found them to be pretty good at getting through, common failures are mainly the front lower arm rearmost bushes and rear upper bushes to a lesser degree. Between my two, out of 5 MOTs between them, only had one fail and that was just a couple of damaged ball joint boots this year. Other 3 were advisory free and 1 last year advisories for rusty springs (anal tester) and a drop link (fair enough)

Otherwise had no other MOT related bother from them. 

[SiC]

5 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

What trim level is yours? Assuming you haven't got the lovely quick-clear heated front screen then

Zetec Climate whatever that means. Doesn't have climate control. Does have (non functioning) air con, heated windscreen and heated washers nozzles. 

6 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

If it hasn't worked for 9 years as far as you know, I wouldn't think there's much hope either. Have you tried momentarily depressing the Schrader valve on the refill port to see if there is any gas? Obviously; be sensible and only a quick nano-second to check!

Tried this already. Zilch. Not even any resistance when pressing it. 

No idea if it had a leak or simply never recharged. 

7 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Hopefully it should pass an MOT! I've found them to be pretty good at getting through, common failures are mainly the front lower arm rearmost bushes and rear upper bushes to a lesser degree. Between my two, out of 5 MOTs between them, only had one fail and that was just a couple of damaged ball joint boots this year. Other 3 were advisory free and 1 last year advisories for rusty springs (anal tester) and a drop link (fair enough)

Gaiters, boots and bushes all look good when poking my head underneath to have a look. Haven't had it in the air though.

[SiC]

25 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I've used that for years but it isn't that accurate. I think it only detects cloud to ground lightning. Still fun to watch. If you zoom in you can see the sound wave as well.

Yeah it's just lighting strikes. 

Rough overview how they work here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_detection

Providing they get good data from the detectors, there is no reason why they shouldn't be reasonably accurate. 

 

[Split_Pin]

There are currently 3 storms near me, my doorbell camera has captured them although you can't really tell in these screenshot:

Old 9pm storm just lighting up the night sky on the right:

Another storm in the middle:

And the new storm coming in from the west:

 

[High Jetter]

7 hours ago, puddlethumper said:

Having a trans van

I love how AS is LGBT friendly!

[brownnova]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

Please can I use your photos for next month’s Citroenian?

By all means. If you want me to send them over in a different medium than downloading them from AS just PM me. 

[RoverFolkUs]

6 minutes ago, SiC said:

Zetec Climate whatever that means. Doesn't have climate control. Does have (non functioning) air con, heated windscreen and heated washers nozzles. 

Tried this already. Zilch. Not even any resistance when pressing it. 

No idea if it had a leak or simply never recharged. 

Gaiters, boots and bushes all look good when poking my head underneath to have a look. Haven't had it in the air though.

Trim level confusion get all the Ford blokes frothing at the mouth on the owners forum 😅

Useless trivia - the hierarchy is as follows

Studio, LX, Style, Sport, Zetec, Zetec Climate, Ghia, Titanium 

Air con is standard from LX, but for some reason you need the climate pack on the Zetec to get air con.. So the standard Zetecs don't have air con, even though the lower down LX, Style and Sport(*) do have it. Go figure!

Exactly as you say, those features are what Zetec climate adds, doesn't mean anything else! 

If all the gas has gone I'd expect there to be a pretty big leak. Or as you say entirely possible it's simply not been touched for donkeys years

An at home vacuum pump to test the system is an interesting idea, be interested to hear how you get on if you decide to go ahead 

[Metal Guru]

42 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

I quite like the styling but can't help feeling the lead designer was a fan of Robocop.

I like the styling but creases like that are a nightmare on hire cars. It’s so easy to miss a ding and then get clobbered for it when you take it back.

[wuvvum]

The new drive belt for the Mobylette arrived on Friday so I fitted that yesterday, along with a shorter exhaust mounting bolt so it doesn't foul the belt.  The old belt was properly fucked.  I've also bought and fitted an AC horn - the moped has never had a proper horn during my ownership, when I was using it back in the day I had an Air Zound bicycle horn mounted to the handlebar with the air tank in a bottle holder clipped to one of the fork legs.  You could get away with shit like that in those days.  I still need to wire it all up mind.  I took the bike for a spin round the block and it seems a lot happier now the belt is going where it should.  Also the brake light has started working again.  I ran out of time to give it any more of a run but hopefully next weekend I'll be able to go a bit further.

Got the offside rear brake caliper refitted to the Volvo.  One of the pistons is completely stuck, but that's not a massive issue at the moment as the caliper isn't getting any fluid anyway.  I'm not sure why.  On a more positive note the nearside caliper which I cleaned up the other week doesn't seem to be sticking anymore, which is good, although I'll need to take it for a longer run to be 100% sure.

While I was in the mood for pissing about with brakes I took the driver's side front caliper off the Renault 6 and pumped the piston out to see what was what.  It's got a bit of pitting on it which isn't ideal and could be contributing to the sticking - I'll order a new one (they're only about 17 quid) but in the meantime I've put it all back together with lots of rubber grease so at least the car is mobile.  Annoyingly the bleed nipple doesn't seem to be doing anything so I'm not sure how I'm going to bleed it up when I fit a new piston - I might try filling the caliper with fluid with the piston most of the way out, then winding it back in which will hopefully eject any air.  Also the brake fluid is manky as fuck and really needs replacing, but I'm not sure about doing that if I'm not going to be able to bleed the fecker up afterwards.

While I was under there I noticed the CV boot had come off at the joint end - obviously the cable tie I'd used wasn't up to the job.  I still had the two "proper" CV boot clips from the two boots I'd bought - the first one I tried pinged apart as I tightened it, the second one tried to do the same but one of the "teeth" held so that's on there for now, although how long it'll last I'm not sure.  I also made the mistake while I was under there of poking at a bit of rust, which turned out to be quite a large bit of rust.  An extremely large bit of rust in fact.  So that's more welding to add to the list.

I got the rear wheel bearing done on the 121, at long last.  I was just going to replace the outer bearing again but once I'd cleaned out and degreased the hub / drum assembly the inner bearing felt gritty as fuck so I did both.  The inner bearing race was the most awkward bit, both getting the old one out and getting the new one in - the rest was pretty straightforward.  Interestingly the new bearings are either fractionally thicker or fractionally thinner than the old ones, as the hub nut tightens up in a different place, which means I had some nice fresh brass to stake in rather than having to try and get the mangled edge to hold one more time.  I'm not sure whether I've got the tension exactly right, and there's a tiny bit of free play in the nut anyway, but it's not overly tight and it can't come undone so hopefully it'll be OK.  If not I might have to take it off, degrease the threads and try using threadlock.

[Split_Pin]

3am and another really big thunderstorm is rolling in. I haven't seen one this severe for a long time.

[Split_Pin]

Now passing to the North, the doorbell camera shows how bright the lightning was.

[Split_Pin]

....and the FOURTH thunderstorm is now approaching at the back of 5 am. I've had almost no sleep!

[Cheezey]

I’ve been exactly the same through the night. 
 

PS got your PM. I’ll get round to replying!

[cort1977]

10 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

I quite like the styling but can't help feeling the lead designer was a fan of Robocop.

Yes.  I like it.  Also think it looks like a space age Maestro.  Does it have a talking computer?

[brownnova]

Right then Saab! Your turn. After a long lay up I’ve finally got round to booking this in for a fix. 

The air con compressor clutch seized and the bearings in the pulley appear to have gone wrong as it sounds like the jetsons car.  I’ve been quoted £lotsamoney by the Saab specialist for replacement. So with it having been sat for a while I don’t want to spend lots on it only for the effects of standing to render it off the road again. So today it’s having a new non-aircon drive belt fitted to bypass the compressor. (yes I know I could do it myself, but thinking I will get round to it is the reason it’s been sat for over 6 months) and then I’ll press it back into daily duties I think.

Loved driving it to the garage today… forgot just how much I like this car! 

[JJ0063]

Stumbled upon this on marketplace. Love to see a copper behind that. 

[Cord Fourteener]

Well it looks like I'm buying a car tomorrow! Joy!

[Fumbler]

Wing be stripped

Time to sand, paint with Electrox, sand, filler prime, sand, paint, sand, paint again, lacquer etc......

[richardmorris]

19 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

I quite like the styling but can't help feeling the lead designer was a fan of Robocop.

I think it’s more Kryten from red dwarf.

[Ghosty]

20 hours ago, SiC said:

Zetec Climate whatever that means.

Climate pack was a/c and possibly Quickclear windscreen?

[reb]

I may have a silly idea.

[AnnoyingPentium]

Just now, reb said:

I may have a silly idea.

I wholeheartedly support this idea.

[SiC]

16 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

Climate pack was a/c and possibly Quickclear windscreen?

Yeah I imagine so. Along with heated washer jets. 

[MrGTI6]

Had a very odd interaction at Cobham services this afternoon.

I was walking back to my car and heard someone saying "I need to borrow your phone". I didn't think it was aimed at me and didn't think anything of it. The guy then repeated his abrupt statement, so I turned round and asked him why.

Cue some nonsense about how he needed to create an account/password for a website in order to recharge his electric car. Apparently the battery died on his phone and he needed to login to his email address and wanted to use my mobile to do it. 

Sounded dodgy and I declined. The chap wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Perhaps it was an entirely innocent request, but something about him just didn't seem right. Eventually I just pointed to the building and said that there were plenty of other people he could ask and that he was wasting his time asking me. I actually had to tell him to move so I could shut my door.

If he was polite and courteous I might have obliged, but the more I think of it the more I feel like it was some sort of scam. Is this something anyone else has encountered? 

[Fumbler]

Gave the wing a light sanding down and wash with thinners I then slapped a layer of Electrox on just before sundown

With some drips on the mud guard and bumper wiped away, it's already looking better.