The new news 24 thread

[scruff]

Today I thanked the good people of Longbridge for easily removable seats.

 

[Lord Sterling]

What a week. Middle of the week I found myself heading to Hull, then a car from Hull to Plymouth, then a car home.

 

Now I've got an Irish registered Landrover Discovery 3 (again) which has had a new engine fitted so I can't drive over 50mph or take it over 2k rpm. That'll make Monday mornings drive down to Ipswich interesting...

 

I have to admit, I do really like the Discovery 3, very soft, smooth and comfy to drive, very me. Sadly, I really can't afford one right now, though prices are tumbling so it's only a matter of time.

[Guest Hooli]

I just accidentally found out half the computer systems at work have died. As I'm not on call I did the obvious, ignored it & opened a beer.

I will laugh monday if I knew before they did.

[richardmorris]

Today I thanked the good people of Longbridge for easily removable seats.

 

IMG_7775.JPG

Would a hearse have been more suitable or is it just a large tool box?

[cros]

Is that one of those new Bentley things?

 

'kin hell, must have cost more than the house it's parked in front of![/q

 

Cabin has all the class of a prostitutes handbag.

[Lankytim]

Got home from work to and noticed a "chuff chuff chuff" from under the bonnet of the PT cruiser. I found another injector on the Merc diesel engine was leaking and spreading "black death" all over the shop. I noticed a slight leak on this injector last month but I couldn't get the injector out so I did the sensible thing and ignored it. It seems biodiesel softens and melts the dreaded black death as the injector came out easily and the usual hard black carbon shite was easily cleaned up. Actually, I recon the carbon was the only thing preventing the injector from leaking in the first place. A quick clean up, thick Honda injector seal and a new bolt and everything was back together and running A1. A glass of water poured over the base of the injector showed there were no more leaks, Brill!

 

A few blips of the throttle produced a loud BANG- I quickly turned the engine off. WTF have I done?? Turns out the Aux belt had lost half of it's width and it had whipped the shizz out of the subframe before flying across the drive. GAH! a job for tomorrow.

[scruff]

Would a hearse have been more suitable or is it just a large tool box?

 

Just a big tool box, they came from a local RAF base, one's gone on a trailer for stowing stuff and this one's going in the garden.

[SiC]

And so it begins.

 

Car has started using coolant in the last 48 hours. Approximately 500mls to 50 miles. Took it to the legendary Albert Lock in Rushden who looked at it for 10 minutes without seeing anything obvious. No time or ramp space to investigate further, but it's a disappointing development.

 

Water pump looks ok (if original)... No gravy in the expansion tank and no mayo in the oil. No bubbling when I idled the car with the cap off.

 

Bollocks. I'd actually rather it had shit itself... At least then you can see what's what!

 

1 like = 1 prayer.

Wow! You have terrible luck. Fingers crossed it's just a split pipe somewhere. Dye in the coolant and a UV light at a garage should find it quick if it's external to the engine.

[meggersdog]

The Quality Street green Discovery I bought in September appears to have a lot more structural* Isopon than first thought.

When I got the car home I pealed the flimsy piece of tin off the wheel-arch right next to the seatbelt anchor point.This had the strength of a coke can and was held in place with a mixture of filler and silicon.Further investigation (when I got it on the ramp) revealed a split along a seam of the inner sill between two body mounts.There was also a small hole in the chassis.Apart from the chassis the other two were advisories on the last MOT but for the opposite side.Jobs to do list.

 

Two weeks ago I went to Yarwell quarry for a pay and play day.I broke a rear anti rollbar link.The other day I fitted a pair of new links.As I was underneath I looked at the small hole in the chassis.It seemed to have cracked.A prod with a screwdriver uncovered 8 inches of structural* filler not metal.Yesterday after work was spent digging all the crap out and making a nice thick channel piece to weld in it's place.Today after work I decided to have a look at the split inner sill.The original steel hadn't bonded well with the .........Yep, structural Isopon.There was a piece of Rolf Harris's wobble board molded to look like an outer sill,pop riveted both ends, then covered in filler,silicon and underseal.So all the corrosion (in structural areas) is just wob and underseal.I have a date with a sparkly stick tomorrow and it's not even November the fifth yet.

[brickwall]

Ouch!

 

I suppose you sorta expect that.

[Cavcraft]

Can't get the Tigra to bleed, it seems to have an airlock of some sort and it's just refusing to burp itself clear.

[vulgalour]

Scrap it.

[Guest Hooli]

Can't get the Tigra to bleed, it seems to have an airlock of some sort and it's just refusing to burp itself clear.

 

Have you tried hammering a corsa over it?

[SiC]

Good squished of the top coolant pipes and a raise one side with a jack, I've found sometimes can help release a trapped bubble.

[For Fiats Sake]

The gopping panda is back home,  I was getting heartily sick of the hairdressers 500.  I ran the thing until it registered as no fuel in the tank then put a tenner in.  It said it had 100mile range.  By the time I'd gone 40miles it was complaining of no fuel.  Stupid bloody thing.

TBH if I'd known I'd have had to put up with it for a fortnight I would have taken the panda to get regassed locally.

I saw my old car up for sale on the pitch for 1800 more than I got for it.  I also received a letter wanting me to confirm its milage, I can't remember what it was so that will be ignored, or I could add 10,000 miles....

[Guest Hooli]

Just add a zero to the end

[SiC]

If it was a main dealer that's not bad imo. They have to do a bit more than the average local back street garage plus much bigger overheads, especially if it's an approved used.

 

Think of it as a good thing, as you obviously kept it in good nick for them to put it on the forecourt, rather than stuff it in the auction circuit.

[mercrocker]

Camper van has gone to bed for the winter.   Well, not quite, it is full of Cowley seats that need retrimming and which I hope to get to the trimmer before I SORN the van next week. 

Bet its all still in there in March.... 

 

Merc is back on duty after sucking a bag and a half out of my non-existent funds but is not running too well.  Oh dear, perhaps I should have shipped it off to Ghana like the others.   

 

Looks like its all down to the two Morrises for a while.....Replacement car fund spent on HGF.

[Coprolalia]

The free-notfree Sharan is paid for. Arranging recovery at the moment, then it's gutting and engine swap time!

[Craig the Princess]

Can't get the Tigra to bleed, it seems to have an airlock of some sort and it's just refusing to burp itself clear.

Are you using an eazi bleed type thing or the two person method? We couldn't get the Ambassador's rear brakes to bleed until we bought the vacuum bleed kit.

[Pete-M]

Slowly getting my 'fiddling with cars' mojo back. Currently the fleet is my E320 CDI S210 which just keeps on going, and my recently acquired Golf V6 4motion.

 

This week has involved retrofitting 'comfort' indicators to the Golf and replacing the front strut top mount bushes and bearings.

 

Funny thing is, I've quite enjoyed faffing about with it. I've not enjoyed mucking about with a car for years. How the hell did that happen?

[Cavcraft]

Are you using an eazi bleed type thing or the two person method? We couldn't get the Ambassador's rear brakes to bleed until we bought the vacuum bleed kit.

 

It's the water, Craig. My son said there's no bleed points for the coolant system, so it's been run with the cap off in 'til it lobbed out coolant and nothing seems to be stopping it. Going to try taking the heater (matrix) hoses off one at a time and see what happens.

[Ghosty]

V6 4Motion?

 

Hope you got an early one for cheaper tax.

[beko1987]

Mot time for the Meriva at 9am! at a garage I've never used before...

[twosmoke300]

I'm going for ball joint gaiter split , rear brake imbalance and advisories for child seat and rusty rear brake backplates

[dollywobbler]

It's the water, Craig. My son said there's no bleed points for the coolant system, so it's been run with the cap off in 'til it lobbed out coolant and nothing seems to be stopping it. Going to try taking the heater (matrix) hoses off one at a time and see what happens.

 

Couple of tips. Either use a cut-off plastic bottle to raise the height of the head of water at the header tank, or park the car in such a way that the header tank is the highest point of the cooling system. Assume the fan is set to hot? I know heater taps aren't as common as they used to be, but may help.

[LabRat]

Off to look at a 2001 mondeo 2.0i auto later. It's a ghia x with 116k on the clock and all the toys for £350... what could possibly be/go wrong, we'll just have to wait and see!

 

Anyone have any clues what to watch for, other than bodges, barrying and rust?

 

 

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[beko1987]

I'm going for ball joint gaiter split , rear brake imbalance and advisories for child seat and rusty rear brake backplates

Aha, I took the car seat out! I think the rear offside tyre will be an advisory, and a rear brake imbalance.

 

Its so odd not chatting to the guy doing it, I've been told to go and sit in a waiting area...

[ruffgeezer]

Been offered an lt28 to aid with moving house. V short mot and £650 anyone gen me up on what horrors lie within?

 

It's a '98 S with 108k on it.

[Pete-M]

V6 4Motion?

 

Hope you got an early one for cheaper tax.

It's a 2001 51 plate. £306 / year.