The new news 24 thread

[panhard65]

I eventually managed to get the Mitsubastard going yesterday without too much frostbite. I slithered down the mountain track and popped into the village for some supplies. Imagine my delight upon returning homeward much later when I discovered that some kind soul had cleared the first part of the track with a plough and then just stopped, leaving a huge bank of frozen earth and snow across the road. It was completely solid, immovable and impassable.

Yeah, thanks for that.

 

 

At least I had my driving gloves socks on for the 4 mile walk home with several bags of shopping.

 

Love the driving socks ! I remember those from years ago when I had a series 1 Land Rover. Having to stop every few miles to scrape the ice off the inside of the screen was another joy of Land Rover ownership.

[M'coli]

Re: ramps, and extensions.  I made up some wooden extentions for my ramps after trying to get my last Metro up them - like Dollywobbler says, the small wheels tend to sit in the gaps between the rungs, and I was bricking myself at the thought of the car suddenly lurching forward and going over the top of them, pivoting around as it crashed down onto them, bursting the floorpan (this happened on my very first car, another Metro!) and trapping me inside with the car wedged between the wall of the house and the foot-high retaining wall on the other side.

 

So here they are in action, with the sadly-departed 205 Sceptre as the model, with a cameo appearance by the Imp.

[Bucketeer]

Why didn't I think of driving hat pants. EWE R GENIUS.

My ears and bald patch thank you in advance.

[SiC]

I guess the Saab makes a great candidate to practice with ramps. If I go over and hit the sill, I really don't care! Well apart from the fact I'd need to figure out a way of getting it back on to the ground...

 

My biggest concern is that I fuck it up and make it dangerous when I'm under the car.

 

The drive is directly on the side of the house, so I'm wary of putting any car up on stands/ramps there - as if it fell sideways, the kitchen will have a rather large hole in the wall. The front road is a cul-de-sac but not completely level - i.e. its has a slight camber to it.

[tooSavvy]

The drive is directly on the side of the house, so I'm wary of putting any car up on stands/ramps there - as if it fell sideways, the kitchen will have a rather large hole in the wall. The front road is a cul-de-sac but not completely level - i.e. its has a slight camber to it.

 

... you might u-bolt a scaffy board >> to space the ramps the right distance apart/not moving independently/not tipping over.

 

 

TS

[Mr_Bo11ox]

How is it ever going to fall sideways off the ramps? (Assuming you have managed to drive it on straight, which is easily checkable)

[beko1987]

The worst I've had with ramps is having an inch of wheel off one side, which I don't like as it bends the tyre an odd shape. Or trying to get the meriva up them as you need a million revs to stop it stalling, but then the light as fuck clutch needs fancy footwork to stop it shooting up.

 

Or one wheel goes on fine and one doesn't, so just pushes one out the way. The meriva needs a paving slab at the bottom too to lift it up half a cm, otherwise the bumper hits the ramp first

[Justin Case]

Popped into Tesco this afternoon, was parked only a few cars away from a Lancia Lybra estate (1.9 jtd) I didn't even know they existed in estate form and I've never seen any version before, so spot of the year for me (no camera though, unfortunately )  Number plates had RU for nationality, where's that from? Romania, Russia, Ruritania even?

[Chris2cv]

While "enjoying" my commute on the moped, in sub zero temperatures, the throttle jammed full on! Don't know if its possible for it to freeze, salt in joints or whatever, but it made for a rather scary few minutes until I managed to turn the engine off. Can't really just stop when you are doing about 25mph on icy roads.

 

 I have never been so glad to ride one of the least powerful vehicles around! If it had been any more powerful, it would probably have thrown me down the road, fortunately I was just about able to hold it.

 

  All fixed* now with own brand WD40 and a big screwdriver. This is my youngest vehicle by quite some margin. Oh dear.

[Stanky]

Popped into Tesco this afternoon, was parked only a few cars away from a Lancia Lybra estate (1.9 jtd) I didn't even know they existed in estate form and I've never seen any version before, so spot of the year for me (no camera though, unfortunately )  Number plates had RU for nationality, where's that from? Romania, Russia, Ruritania even?

 

Rutland?

[andy18s]

Meh.... common as muck .....

[scaryoldcortina]

How is it ever going to fall sideways off the ramps? (Assuming you have managed to drive it on straight, which is easily checkable)

 

I'd agree, and even if it does fall off the ramp it's just going to drop onto the drive and stop - cars are pretty heavy, it's not going to flip over or anything!

 

I've managed to get a car stuck on a recovery truck with almost half of it hanging off the side and giving the truck a massive lean. Nothing fell over.

[Cavcraft]

Had three cars lined up this week, got gazumped on a Civic 1.5 coupe, so didn't get that. Tonight, however, saw a bit of a French car frenzy: a  406HDi estate with no 4th gear (not driven it yet) got delivered by the vendor, who we dropped off then went to finally collect the Scenic diesel.

The owner of that had to be fair been trying to start it for us for a few days (it has a starting problem mentioned elsewhere) but got it going this evening and left it running for a couple of hours whilst we pissed about collecting it. It went like an absolute rocket to be fair, but putting it into top at lowish speeds was like turning the engine off. Anyhow it smoked a bit (probably because it's been stood for ages) and the ABS light is on. Going to try and clean the sensor 'thing' and if it works we'll try an offload it, otherwise it's the bridge I reckon.

[theorganist]

The doom blue Maestro has been for it's MOT today.

 

It didn't pass (I didn't think it would) but it has done well, needing a handbrake cable, two tyres and wiper blades. It also needs a battery.

 

The mechanic who has apparently taken it for a jet wash is quite impressed, saying it is very good underneath and says it sounds very good when running, so things have worked out well in the end.

 

With it's heavy duty tow bar it should make a useful tool for collecting some old chod from France!

[Cavcraft]

/\

Was that the barn_find_not_Maxi Maestro? GR8 result if so!

[theorganist]

/\

Was that the barn_find_not_Maxi Maestro? GR8 result if so!

It certainly was. 

 

When it is back home, next week sometime I suspect, I will get some photo's.

[SiC]

Pissed off the neighbours. Parked the Laguna at the end, in front of their house but on the public road.

[vulgalour]

Top news on the Maestro there, that's the sort of MoT fail even a car in use could get so I bet you're well chuffed with that as a result especially if it really is as solid as it seems elsewhere.  It's amazing how much crap you get inside a Maestro with the seats folded down too, they're enormous inside.

[DodgeRover]

While "enjoying" my commute on the moped, in sub zero temperatures, the throttle jammed full on! Don't know if its possible for it to freeze, salt in joints or whatever, but it made for a rather scary few minutes until I managed to turn the engine off. Can't really just stop when you are doing about 25mph on icy roads.

 

I have never been so glad to ride one of the least powerful vehicles around! If it had been any more powerful, it would probably have thrown me down the road, fortunately I was just about able to hold it.

 

All fixed* now with own brand WD40 and a big screwdriver. This is my youngest vehicle by quite some margin. Oh dear.

It could have got water down the throttle cable or the throttle slide in the carb may literally have frozen open...I've had it happen once to me whilst trail riding I was too busy trying to hang onto the bars as the motor came into it's powerband to manage to reach the kill switch, luckily the following crash freed off the sticky slide....

[plasticvandan]

My horn button stuck in the on position on my mz yesterday,had to pull over and pull the wires,all the hot water I used to defrost it had frozen up again

[Noel Tidybeard]

Just been asked by the editor of 'The Spirit' which is the official magazine of the Rolls Royce/Bentley owners club if they can use my car on the front cover of the next mag! I am sort of impressed but now got to get permission from the photographer who took the fantastic pictures for a totally diffferent magazine!

 

shirley they will take their own picture- then its got sfa to do with the other photographer as its not his car?

[captain_70s]

Managed to get some fuel to the Dolly 1300's carb from a jerry can today, took a long while to pump through so I suspect the system may have been air-locked to a certain extent as it flows well now. Unfortunately it won't start as  it now sets the starter motor solenoid on fire so I'll have to get that wee issue sorted. Also the carb overfilled and petrol started backing up out the pipes and leaking everywhere, should probably get some jubilee clips on those... 

 

Still got a week to sort it and get it moved before my parents move house, this is fine.

[xtriple]

shirley they will take their own picture- then its got sfa to do with the other photographer as its not his car?

 

Nope, Mickey mouse outfit want Marks pics. They are bloody good though

[beko1987]

Went to turn the car off when I got to work this morning, and as I turned the key down a notch to knock the engine off the interior fans came on full blast... no movement of the speed knob does anything...

 

Will see if it fixes itself today at all, otherwise does anyone know what the problem could be before I start a mega google? At least I won't be cold in the mornings...

[panhard65]

It will be the ignition switch very common on PSA stuff

[beko1987]

It will be the ignition switch very common on PSA stuff

I was worried about that, it's on its second one already I think. Hopefully it continues to fire up. Some light googling reveals some resistors that go in the heater motor too though, any other symptoms of ignition switch problems I should look out for?

[Supernaut]

it now sets the starter motor solenoid on fire so I'll have to get that wee issue sorted.

 

Fire. Just a trivial little niggle.

[angle]

I was worried about that, it's on its second one already I think. Hopefully it continues to fire up. Some light googling reveals some resistors that go in the heater motor too though, any other symptoms of ignition switch problems I should look out for?

If the ignition switch is making the heater play up, the heated rear window will be doing the same thing as they're both on the same switch. The fix is to wire a relay in to protect the switch - If phrases like 'cut this live wire somewhere convenient' and 'connect the live side of the car to one of the pins on the switched circuit' don't make you come out in a sweat, then try this:

 

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50146

[beko1987]

I think it's a motor resistor issue, which has a nice how to guide to follow. The whole modules are sold on ebay for a tenner too, but there was talk of them having the wrong resistors fitted, so I've asked the question of 'does anyone know of a good listing to buy', otherwise I'll have a bash at fixing it,although I now need to find out how to get to the resistor pack

 

https://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22348

[M'coli]

Has anyone else mentioned the Radio 4 series about Will Self driving a Trabant to East Germany?  He's not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but the car should be interensting enough.  Podcast page here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084xxm1/episodes/downloads

 

There's also a driving series with Victoria Coren-Mitchell, called "Women Talking About Cars":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084yrjf/episodes/downloads

 

Don't blame me if they're awful, I've not had the chance ot listen to them yet.