The new news 24 thread

[vulgalour]

Hey, I'm just as frustrated as you :<  I'm baffled as to why I can't get this engine running, I'm being a right tool about it.

[dollywobbler]

I assume you've reset valve clearances?

[vulgalour]

When the engine was fitted the valve clearances were done, they should be fine.  Wouldn't hurt to recheck I suppose.

[trigger]

Your using new old stock, it's possible something has broke down from age whilst in storage?

[MarvinsMom]

i'll bet its sommat stupid like the ht leads been in the wrong order, or the cap been out of place like 90 degrees or the points not opening up.

 

why do i know this?

 

these are all thing wot i've had wrong on marvin when trying to get iot running after "servicing" having it in bits and finding that the engine won't start....

 

good luck, am also looking forward to this car starting!

 

also BL day isn't just a show, well it is along with plenty of autojumble, but the chance to see so many of BMC/BL/ARG/MGR's finest all in the same field, on the same day.

 

we are going too, and are hoping to take the Metro down, though this may, or may not be joined with the Mini depending on how we feel.

[xtriple]

Are them Renoes one of the fancy sods wot are timed from the rong end? Yu know, cyl 1 is not where it should be but down t'other end!

[danthecapriman]

Last time I had similar trouble it was the condenser, eventually found out what it was and put a new one in and that was duff straight out of the box. This initially threw me off the scent but eventually came back to it. They are absolute shit quality these days. Out of the three I had to hand, the old one and one new one were totally dead, the other worked for a little while then died. Electronic ignition got it going in the end.

[MarvinsMom]

we've had the same problems with points, the new ones are made of chocolate. in the end we ended up putting the old ones back in.

 

why, just why is everything these days just made of crap??

[dollywobbler]

Condensers are now utterly, utterly dreadful. Had one fail on the Dyane after all of about 8 miles.

[Eddie Honda]

You got 8 miles? I think I got about 28 seconds out of a Valeo one when I was last playing withe GS.

[loserone]

 I expect she'll be swearing about the steering, but this is entirely normal when she encounters power assisted steering. Fair to say she's not a fan.

 

I know just the thing, and it's not a blue AX.

[RobT]

I'll see you Sunday then Rob!

Great, glad other shiters are going! Wasn't sure if you'd be there after all that's happened Trig, but some hardcore BMC/BL action should help restore your mojo. I might treat* myself to a cheap local B&B Saturday night rather than leave at the crack Sunday, haven't decided yet.

[purplebargeken]

What is an AX?

[anonymous user]

What is an AX?

In some dialects it's a question, as in can I ax you something? Often it's an axe with a bit missing, or it could be the most sought after car that Citroen ever made, especially if it's a blue one.

[gm]

spotted this lovely old Citroen on the way in to work

 

[Richard]

What is an AX?

 

[barrett]

The BX is dead, long live the £100 XANTIA BASE

[r.welfare]

Chevrons in the centre of the grille or on the bonnet?

[Richard]

It's not on the deck so I'd say grille.

[barrett]

It's a '97 so the DULL later grille but not the horrid facelift. I didn't even know they did a BASE, it's proper grim. Keep fit windows, no sun roof etc. Does have a radio at least, but I don't have the code to unlock it.

[Ghosty]

Had a man come around and re-gas the aircon on the Bini because it's probably never been done in the car's 6 years/20k (probably 80/90% of that mileage was done in Manchester!). Was booked for 9am tomorrow but the bloke randomly showed up this evening to reschedule, or do it there and then seeing as he was there. Turns out the system was completely empty, so we'll see how good it is tomorrow. 

Don't think we've ever had a car with properly working a/c.

 

A4's needs doing too but I bet Old Man never bothers. He's not even in the country at the moment.

[Jon]

Just had a quick look on the MOT History website and it's ACCESS DENIED for me - blocked by the security rules, apparently. Is this because I'm accessing the page outside of the UK, or is it an issue for everyone else? 

 

In other news, I'm going to actually attempt to affix the shock absorbers to the 205 today, due to a potential southern hemisphere shite gathering on Sunday I've just found out about. It'd be a bit embarrassing turning up in a 2006 Mondeo, although the Commodore is a back-up vehicle, I suppose. Still no 5th gear but also critically, no V8, either. Straight 6 diesel power* and 4 speeds will have to suffice, if it comes to that. 

 

I'm suffering from the First World Problem of a fleet of shite so permanently not-fixed that I forget about their existence......

[beko1987]

Amys aunt just popped round to drop my carpet shampooer off, and the battery in her m reg 1.2 clip died.

 

Fair enough, ill give you a jump to get home, but then I find threaded connectors on the ancient battery, and big ring terminals off the car wiring.

 

Never seen this before, and it made live jumping impossible so I just disconnected the battery, hooked it up to the meriva for 10 mins, which put enough juice in it to fire it up, and told them to call me if it died during the 4 miles home.

 

Had a look on ecp and couldn't find any batteries with that connector on, would it be easier to just buy a normal clamp terminal battery and 2 cable terminals and chop/rewire? Or do adapters exist?

 

I even looked for caps on the battery to top it up with de ionised water but there were none, it looked fooking old. If it had had normal terminals I'd have swapped it with the zx battery on Saturday night and limped mine to deans on Sunday, but its completely different!

 

I also had to deal with her flapperyness, she was scared to turn it on incase it caught fire ffs. I also hooked my multimeter up to it when it was running and the voltage was all over the shop, is that normal or is it the alternator?

 

They have a long drive tomorrow, I advised against it! I'd have lent them the zx and worked from home tomorrow but I don't trust them not to put it in a ditch due to the stiff then soft steering!

[Kiltox]

Threaded terminals are usually metal caps on top of the normal ones - tight fit but WD40 and a screwdriver will have them off

[beko1987]

Ah cool. Didnt look that closely tbh.

 

So if they come off, I presume they would just refit onto a. N. Other battery without having to chop the terminals off car side?

[Kiltox]

Yep should be a standard battery underneath the caps

[Kiltox]

Like this?

 

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f68/craigy_87/21022010522.jpg

[beko1987]

If they have grief getting it fixed tomorrow I'll chip in then. Apparently her husbands brother is a mechanic so he should be able to fix it, otherwise I'll go over with my smug face on and have a go

[beko1987]

Like this?

 

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f68/craigy_87/21022010522.jpg

I want to say no, I couldn't see the join at the bottom, it looked like the whole thing was one thread, but I didn't look that closely tbh

 

Was some old varta, I peeled the sticker off and there was no way to add water, which would have been my first port of call to try and revive it, it got us a week out of amys battery before ruffgeezer kindly bought us one!

[mercrocker]

Flippin' bumper fell off the Merc today.   Yeah.  Fell. Off.    

 

Actually it was the bumper shroud/cover/plakky whatever, the big steel banger racer beam is perfectly in ordnung.   Must have had a wonky clip one side which I might have noticed if I had cleaned the bastard since Christmas.   S'pose the other clip thought bugger this I ain't doing all the work and just let go. 

 

Chucked it on the back seat and carried on.   After wasting oodles of my time ordering bits from German websites that turned out not to exist (the bits, the websites are real enough) I now have some coming from Polish-land.   Mean-time we have a posh do to go to on Saturday and I can proudly arrive with a ratchet-strapped back bumper.   Might even run some gaffer tape over the webbing for the council house Mondeo look.  

 

On the plus side there was zero corrosion or paint loss anywhere under where the bumper shroud has been for 26 years.....