The new news 24 thread

[Rod/b]

Bought a thing. Jap import SLK 320, 96000 km. Last owner has had it 5 years and done everything on it. Everything works. Coldest AC i’ve ever experienced in any vehicle.

 

[Shite Ron]

Just had a new company car delivered:

 

I like the fact they have a proper C5 on the delivery form, @maxxo thought you might be interested.

[Peter C]

56 minutes ago, SiC said:

In an hours lunch break I've bought lunch, eaten lunch and bought a car. Not quite a record for me but close! I wanted a 225 or 3.2 V6 but this literally was down the road from me. Still quattro and the 180 has the advantages of simpler under the bonnet - less intercoolers, no extra electric water pump, stuff like that. Also they're all CAZ which makes things easier. It's not exactly a car for life either.

Needs wheel alignment, exhaust blows (£120 from ECP/similar) and dash has done the usual Audi pixel thing (still usable though). Thermostat may need doing but blows hot so maybe just the dash (another known issue). Could do with a service. Paint is in decent condition. Back rear wing lacquer is cloudy and a scuff. 

Was up for £1250 and paid £1050. Don't think I did too bad. Especially in this market for a 180bhp AWD vehicle.

Just need to shift the Focus on now. Anyone want it? Probably put an advert up later today. It's a 2007 Focus MK2 1.6 16v petrol that drives well but cosmetically challenged.

Link for the eBay advert while it's still around: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334628721684

 

Very similar to the TT that I briefly enjoyed* a couple of years ago, down to the one red T and one silver T rear TT badge.

Have fun!

[SiC]

20 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Very similar to the TT that I briefly enjoyed* a couple of years ago, down to the one red T and one silver T rear TT badge.

Have fun!

Yeah I don't know what that badge is about. Only seen it on some of them. Aftermarket or maybe a cost option?

Yours was probably in much better body condition than this. Hopefully mechanically this is better though! No clutch slippage and it changed gear okay. Bit heavier than possibly I'd thought but I haven't another to compare to. 

Time will tell I guess. Clutch change is the one thing I don't want to get involved with. Especially if it's just the slave at fault. 

[Barry Cade]

This fella deserves something, not sure what but he should be rewarded.

Noticed a wheelbarrow in the garden, probably for his bollocks.

 

[Peter C]

36 minutes ago, SiC said:

Yeah I don't know what that badge is about. Only seen it on some of them. Aftermarket or maybe a cost option?

Yours was probably in much better body condition than this. Hopefully mechanically this is better though! No clutch slippage and it changed gear okay. Bit heavier than possibly I'd thought but I haven't another to compare to. 

Time will tell I guess. Clutch change is the one thing I don't want to get involved with. Especially if it's just the slave at fault. 

The badge colours issue is down to one of the plastic chrome Ts falling off and just leaving the red rubber backing. Kwality kars.

[SiC]

2 minutes ago, Peter C said:

The badge colours issue is down to one of the plastic chrome Ts falling off and just leaving the red rubber backing. Kwality kars.

That's great! I thought it was supposed to be like that. 🤣

[Ghosty]

Type R failed its kwikshit MOT on a broken exhaust bracket, offside rear, and nothing else. I declined to let them sell me a new exhaust. BS detector's going off tbh, unless it's on the centre section which I think runs down the o/s sill, as the backboxes are perfectly secure. 
Curiously it passed emissions. I'm going to inspect it, see if there's anything that needs doing, and then either dispute the fail, or fix it and take it somewhere else as they want to charge me £22.99 for a retest, and I'd sooner give my money to an independent than pay 23 quid for a five minute inspection. 

[Barry Cade]

8 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

Type R failed its kwikshit MOT on a broken exhaust bracket, offside rear, and nothing else. I declined to let them sell me a new exhaust. BS detector's going off tbh, unless it's on the centre section which I think runs down the o/s sill, as the backboxes are perfectly secure. 
Curiously it passed emissions. I'm going to inspect it, see if there's anything that needs doing, and then either dispute the fail, or fix it and take it somewhere else as they want to charge me £22.99 for a retest, and I'd sooner give my money to an independent than pay 23 quid for a five minute inspection. 

I've never known KF to charge for a retest, and I worked for them!

Edit.. just checked and its a thing, never knew that!

[Ghosty]

Just now, Barry Cade said:

I've never known KF to charge for a retest, and I worked for them? 

https://www.kwik-fit.com/mot/information/mot-failure-and-retest

Surprised, but exhausts aren't covered and they'll only do it next working day if you take the car away - I did, as I declined their offer of a new exhaust, and told them I need to see the fail item for myself before I'd commit to anything like that. 

I then got in the car and found they'd set the heater to cold, moved both front seats, fastened all the seatbelts and turned my auto lights off, so I drove off in the dark with no lights. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[Barry Cade]

10 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

https://www.kwik-fit.com/mot/information/mot-failure-and-retest

Surprised, but exhausts aren't covered and they'll only do it next working day if you take the car away - I did, as I declined their offer of a new exhaust, and told them I need to see the fail item for myself before I'd commit to anything like that. 

I then got in the car and found they'd set the heater to cold, moved both front seats, fastened all the seatbelts and turned my auto lights off, so I drove off in the dark with no lights. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Checking your aircon to upsell.. moving seats fastening seat belts and using light switch all part of the MOT 😄, having lights on along with every other electrical device can sometimes sneak a car through its emissions though! 

I can't believe how much Kwik Fit branches vary, depending on the manager...  

[GagaStan]

On 11/15/2022 at 9:44 PM, GagaStan said:

Going to test drive a minty 306 tomorrow. Very excited.

phase 3, 2.0 16v pez manual, just had the cambelt and water pump done… I hope it drives alright!!

No buy sadly.
“Cambelt is fine, we did it 10 years ago m9”

so that would need doing, plus a suspicious feeling clutch, creaks and clonks from the front end, two shot tyres, inop drivers leccy window… just didn’t add  up. Plan is that it was for mr Gagastans new hour-each-way commute. But it is not to be.

shame, because it’s so pretty and was so lovely to drive!

 

[Jazoli]

10 minutes ago, GagaStan said:

No buy sadly.
“Cambelt is fine, we did it 10 years ago m9”

so that would need doing, plus a suspicious feeling clutch, creaks and clonks from the front end, two shot tyres, inop drivers leccy window… just didn’t add  up. Plan is that it was for mr Gagastans new hour-each-way commute. But it is not to be.

shame, because it’s so pretty and was so lovely to drive!

 

How much was it up for? I had one exactly the same but lhd, it was awesome.

[HMC]

School run just kicked in YO

 

[andyberg]

2 minutes ago, HMC said:

School run just kicked in YO

 

Ah, I know that road I used to live further along in college avenue.

[GagaStan]

31 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

How much was it up for? I had one exactly the same but lhd, it was awesome.

Was up for 2k NZD. A bit of a bargain… it’s sold already!

[RoverFolkUs]

2 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Type R failed its kwikshit MOT on a broken exhaust bracket, offside rear, and nothing else. I declined to let them sell me a new exhaust. BS detector's going off tbh, unless it's on the centre section which I think runs down the o/s sill, as the backboxes are perfectly secure. 
Curiously it passed emissions. I'm going to inspect it, see if there's anything that needs doing, and then either dispute the fail, or fix it and take it somewhere else as they want to charge me £22.99 for a retest, and I'd sooner give my money to an independent than pay 23 quid for a five minute inspection. 

Exhaust hangers are only a fail if the system is insecure. Bullshit fail as I'm sure you've sussed. 

How much did they want to do the exhaust? I'm gonna bet £250-300

Tldr; don't go to Kwik fit. Someone/thing else has to pay the difference from the cheap MOT somehow...

[RoverFolkUs]

4 hours ago, SiC said:

dash has done the usual Audi pixel thing (still usable though). Thermostat may need doing but blows hot so maybe just the dash (another known issue).

As you say very common on those, the temp gauge is usually the first to die. 

Don't be surprised if the speedo goes haywire and you'll get an intermittent no start and flashing immobiliser light 

Only costs around £120 if you send it off, they'll fix it all. 

Looks a decent buy, I think they've aged very well indeed

[grogee]

35 minutes ago, andyberg said:

Ah, I know that road I used to live further along in college avenue.

I also know the road. 

Tavistonians unite!

[richardmorris]

Stoneacre called me today on my mobile about dad’s ds4. Seems they can’t have two morris’ set up on their system at the same address. Anyway, they’ve had it two weeks and have pronounced that the battery won’t hold charge. New battery due tomorrow ( exactly three years since they fitted this last one ).

[Yoss]

2 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

This fella deserves something, not sure what but he should be rewarded.

Noticed a wheelbarrow in the garden, probably for his bollocks.

 

I mean we don't know if any of them work. Still a brave choice though. 

[stendec]

3 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

This fella deserves something, not sure what but he should be rewarded.

Noticed a wheelbarrow in the garden, probably for his bollocks.

 

Reminds me of this bit from the Gumball Rally:

Barney Donahue:
[as Lapchik passes them] Would you say that man Lapchik has a certain "joie de vivre"?

Andy McAllister - Mercedes Team:
I'd say he's possessed of a severe case of masochism!

[richardmorris]

3 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

This fella deserves something, not sure what but he should be rewarded.

Noticed a wheelbarrow in the garden, probably for his bollocks.

 

Surely having a c6 for spares and a c5 for when it fails to proceed is good sense? They are so temptingly cheap, but I think @richykitchy s vids are finally putting me off. £650 road vel and hundreds of brittle plastic pipes that are now 15 years old.

[SiC]

31 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

As you say very common on those, the temp gauge is usually the first to die. 

Don't be surprised if the speedo goes haywire and you'll get an intermittent no start and flashing immobiliser light 

Only costs around £120 if you send it off, they'll fix it all. 

Looks a decent buy, I think they've aged very well indeed

The fuel gauge is twitching around a bit so I suspect something is up. Presumably the steppers just need resoldering rather than replacing? Screen has lines but it's not actually bad enough to be too much of a problem tbh. At least not a priority. 

I need to get some petrol asap which should get things up to temperature. Then I can read the live data and see if it gets to 90c+.

Fixed the remote central locking by replacing the batteries and resyncing the fobs. Ignition lock isn't the best. Doesn't always clunk off, so leaving things alive. Likewise the battery seems a bit weak. I'll see what spare batteries I've got that I can persuade to fit. 

Naturally a 19yr old Audi has stored codes. They all cleared apart from the alarm siren error. I'm not bothered about that really as I rather not have the car siren going off during the middle of the night.

Engine codes are ones I need to watch to see if they come back. Maybe it needs a (commonly failing) Diverter Valve. Not sure how hard these are to get to, but it wasn't terrible on my 2.0TFSi MK2 I had. Rich mixture maybe if the thermostat isn't allowing the engine up to temperature.

 

 

[Ghosty]

1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

How much did they want to do the exhaust? I'm gonna bet £250-300

Didn't ask, the guy read the fail sheet and said 'you need a new exhaust' - I said I wasn't doing anything til I'd looked at it myself. 

[brownnova]

5 hours ago, Shite Ron said:

Just had a new company car delivered:

 

I like the fact they have a proper C5 on the delivery form, @maxxo thought you might be interested.

Unpopular though praising a modern might be in these parts… I really like the new C5x, think they look super, and felt good quality when I went and nosed round one. If I were going brand new again (and sometimes I am tempted)  I probably would go C5x… 

[Eyersey1234]

Everyone is sad at Eyersey towers tonight as we had to have one of the cats put down due to renal kidney failure, its as though the other one knows as she is pacing around and seems to be looking for her sister.

[maxxo]

4 hours ago, Barry Cade said:

This fella deserves something, not sure what but he should be rewarded.

Noticed a wheelbarrow in the garden, probably for his bollocks.

 

very reliable cars

well the C5 likely is quite reliable

C6s even scare me a bit, and i own an XM!

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

The fuel gauge is twitching around a bit so I suspect something is up. Presumably the steppers just need resoldering rather than replacing? Screen has lines but it's not actually bad enough to be too much of a problem tbh. At least not a priority. 

I need to get some petrol asap which should get things up to temperature. Then I can read the live data and see if it gets to 90c+.

Fixed the remote central locking by replacing the batteries and resyncing the fobs. Ignition lock isn't the best. Doesn't always clunk off, so leaving things alive. Likewise the battery seems a bit weak. I'll see what spare batteries I've got that I can persuade to fit. 

Naturally a 19yr old Audi has stored codes. They all cleared apart from the alarm siren error. I'm not bothered about that really as I rather not have the car siren going off during the middle of the night.

Engine codes are ones I need to watch to see if they come back. Maybe it needs a (commonly failing) Diverter Valve. Not sure how hard these are to get to, but it wasn't terrible on my 2.0TFSi MK2 I had. Rich mixture maybe if the thermostat isn't allowing the engine up to temperature.

 

 

Unfortunately the clusters in them are a bit more complex and finicky than the Ford ones so I don't touch them, we always send them away. I usually do the Ford ones myself if customer is on a budget as they're straightforward. But when sent away they see to and rebuild everything as long as it's one of the reputable companies. One of our customers sent his away for the LCD to be done cheaply but that meant the rest was ignored and then the stepper motors and immobiliser element went wrong so it had to be rebuilt again. 

As far as I know the stepper motors aren't soldered in, they just clip in and they go faulty eventually so need to be changed. 

Rebuild prices depend on the issues I think, unfortunately you've got all 3 there - stepper motors, immobiliser and LCD. 

The P1570 will almost certainly be related to the dash. I've seen them time and time again, they'll just randomly refuse to start, if you come back a few hours later sometimes they'll then be a ok for a little while or even months. 

ECU testing charge £170 + shipping + vat so around £230 all in but they allegedly see to everything. 

Probably not the news you want to hear unfortunately having just bought it but it's not really ruinously expensive nor particularly major. 

Just a word of caution - take the fuel reading with a pinch of salt and probably carry a can around until you know how accurate it is. They tend to either over read or go dead which is not ideal for fuel! Although the temp gauge could be under reading so it's not impossible for them to go faulty and under read instead

The initial price of £120 I was getting mixed up with the Ford ones having had a quick look. 

Alarm codes are probably an issue with a switch or sensor somewhere so someone has just unplugged it. Not a biggie! 

I'd agree with what you say about the engine codes as well. 

Edit just to add - before condemning the diverter valve make sure all the vacuum lines are ok. They're an absolute bastard for deteriorating on the 1.8T and it's usually worth doing all of them in one go. Any actual loss of performance? Although I suppose that's hard to tell when you've only just bought it. A smoke test would be the quickest way. The fact you've got the rich code could also suggest it's overcompensating due to an induction or boost leak. 

[SiC]

1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Probably not the news you want to hear unfortunately having just bought it but it's not really ruinously expensive nor particularly major. 

It's fine, I'll probably have a go at fixing it myself. Probably just some duff solder joints on most of it. Displays aren't expensive but they're a minor fault. Steppers should be easy to do. I reckon probably just solder joints or broken wires too. 

I don't think it over reads as just put 20litres in and it's still under half way. This time I put super in to see if it makes any difference. Longer term it'll only be getting 95 though.