The new news 24 thread

[worldofceri]

Business is brisk at WorldofCeri's sanctuary for red Renaults.

 

My mother decided to restyle the back end of her Clio with the aid of the gatepost, but in hindsight it looked a bit rubbish.

 

 

So I had a go at putting it back to standard.

 

 

There we go, good as new*.

 

The rear lights on the Laguna have been 'being French'. Some sort of short circuit or earth problem causing the o/s stop/tail and indicator to flash in unison.

 

 

Don't know if you can see in the picture, but the wires have all got chafed where they pass through the hole in the metalwork. Bit of a shite design really. I chopped out the damaged sections of wire, but the issue remained, so I ran an extra earth wire from the back of the bulbs to a big bolt under the boot carpet.

 

My mate, who had a brand new Gooner II as a company car years back, gifted me this amazing period accessory:

 

 

ALL U LAGUNA-OWNING SHITEISTS GONNA CREAM UR PANTS YO!

[HMC]

Had the newly acquired mondeo out for daily duties in preference to the usual berlingo. The starter sounds on its last legs, and there's a whining noise when the clutch is pressed, not too loud, but noticeable. The clutch bites and operates with no other issues. Any intel on if its likely to go bang, or carry on like that for ages?

[egg]

Saw the local Favorit estate out and about today parked next to it in mine, but no camera on me. As only 265 are licenced, missed opportunity!

[DodgeRover]

Starter will be full of debris from a disintegrating DMF taking it out and cleaning it should make the starter last longer

[HMC]

^ No dmf on these

[Pillock]

DMF shredding itself into the starter is an issue on mk3 diesel Mondeo admittedly, but not mk2 pezzle ones surely?

[DodgeRover]

Sorry me bad, retro fit DMF by previous owner maybe as they are such an improvement*

 

Is the starter actually disengaging straight away once the engine is started

[drum]

Whining noise could be the clutch release bearing.

Btw, when did we stop calling these thrust bearings?

[Ghosty]

Yeah, that whine (might sound a bit like a supercharger?) is probably a clutch release bearing. I wouldn't imagine it's a high priority - after all our A4's been doing it for the 5/6000 miles we've owned it over 18 months.

[dave21478]

Yes, clutch release bearing. It will be fine right up until the point when its not, when it will jam up and chew its way through the fingers on the clutch plate, leaving you with no clutch at all. Could be tomorrow, could be 4 years from now. If its not too loud, I personally wouldnt worry about it.

New clutch kit will sort it.

[Guest Hooli]

Had that clutch noise on a Midget years ago, it was still doing it five years later when the clutch wore out.

[Guest Hooli]

Top mounts? I checked, then double checked, then triple checked every suspension bush, link and engine.gearbox mount on my Micra, before I found that it was knackered top mounts.

I can grab the springs and shocks & yank them so hard the car nearly slides off the axle stands, so they seem solid enough.

[Richard]

Had that clutch noise on a Midget years ago, it was still doing it five years later when the clutch wore out.

Your Midget wasn't a modern Ford.

[Guest Hooli]

Your Midget wasn't a modern Ford.

 

Thank the lord!

 

If it's not a DMF then the technology wasn't much different though

[Guest Hooli]

Mine appeared OK until I put a jack under the bottom arm and compressed everything back up. Guess you've done that?

 

Yup, tried it with & without weight. I can't find the damn noise. It even did it once as I jacked it up, but I couldn't tell where from.

 

Have I mentioned I hate frogchod?

[DeeJay]

Both, home, work and MOT place.

 

Meh, if you come to the house there's a cup of tea waiting, come to work and you can experience the pleasure of Helen the receptionist and if you go to the MOT place you can have, erm, an MOT! The fact that 98% of people get lost coming to our house means I should be OK, the shed is burgular proofed by filling it so full of hoovers if you dont hold the right one when you open the door they all fall on top of you!

 

You could end up with a front garden full of broken Hoovers and Dysons.

[meggersdog]

So, how do I make it smoke less

remove and replace the fuel filter.Fill the filter housing with this

put the rest in the tank then give it a damn good thrashing.

[M'coli]

Whining noise could be the clutch release bearing.

Btw, when did we stop calling these thrust bearings?

As far as I am aware, they're two different things: the clutch release bearing does exactly that, and the thrust bearing is what stops the crankshaft moving back and forth.

[beko1987]

You could end up with a front garden full of broken Hoovers and Dysons.

I've had dreams like that before

[twosmoke300]

remove and replace the fuel filter.Fill the filter housing with this

put the rest in the tank then give it a damn good thrashing.

It's the thrashing that does the good not the snake oil .

[bangernomics]

Spent a charming hour replacing a window reg in OH kids vw fox. The doors are full of razors.

 

 

If at first you don't succeed, keep fixing it until it's dead.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

When someone told you that thrust bearings are fitted to the end of crankshafts to stop for and aft movement?

 

Ben

A thrust bearing is a bearing that is designed to be loaded in the direction of the central axis of rotation, so it is an accurate name for a clutch release bearing too. HTH

[captain_70s]

The Doloshite 1300 is deader than a dead thing.

 

New solenoid fitted and it no longer sets on fire but the starter motor just cuts out a second after you turn the key. Looks like petrol has leaked on to it from the pump which is directly above so there is the potential that's fucked it somehow. Haven't even looked at the clutch, it's not going to work, I know it won't because I touched it. I'm going to arrange to get it towed to my garage and after that point it's future becomes unclear.

[alf892]

I went for a look at a Rover P4 yesterday.

 

It was up at good money with a local trader so I was expecting a reasonably sorted vehicle.....but bugger was I wrong! I couldn't believe how many little faults it had which made the driving experience shit......and much of it could have been sorted for very little:

 

It idled way too high.......didn't pull very well either

Brakes pulled left on initial application....only about half a second and given the accompying invoices for brake work it was clearly a badly done/skimped job.

Slight exhaust blow at mainfold giving a tick

Handbrake linkage lazy...when you let if off you could feel the linkage did not not follow

O/s/f door bottom hinge loose although I suspect this was a symptom of deeper problems.

Nasty knit one/pearl one type welded patches on inner sill......probably harder to bodge than do right

Loose wiring with taped joints hanging from dash

 

All of the above made it feel like a piece of shit to drive......a shame because it wasn't actually a bad car

[Guest Hooli]

The Doloshite 1300 is deader than a dead thing.

 

New solenoid fitted and it no longer sets on fire but the starter motor just cuts out a second after you turn the key. Looks like petrol has leaked on to it from the pump which is directly above so there is the potential that's fucked it somehow. Haven't even looked at the clutch, it's not going to work, I know it won't because I touched it. I'm going to arrange to get it towed to my garage and after that point it's future becomes unclear.

 

 

 

Could be a buggered starter that caused the old solenoid to produce fire originally.

[RobT]

Took the Jag for an 80 mile run today, just for the sake of it. Here it is at one of my regular haunts, Clacket Lane services on the M25.

 

 

The battery warning light flickers every so often just to keep me on my toes, but I've ordered a new alternator and am carrying a spare battery in the boot just in case. Managed to get the trip computer to read 21mpg, which is economy mode compared to the 15 I've been getting doing local pottering.

 

This is the first time I've used it properly since collection day in October, as it had a few jobs to sort, and I must say it's bloody lovely. Not mega quick but is plenty enough for waftage purposes, and despite being called a Sport there's no actual sports option on the gearbox. No cruise control or heated seats either (and aircon shows as an option on the original invoice), so I'm wondering if this was the poverty model in the range!

 

Mrs T really likes it and is suprised I've actually bought something 'nice' for a change, so it may be sticking around for a while.

 

There's myriad other jobs to sort, such as a few more bushes and possibly a new pair of tyres. Some tool has put two new ones on the back but they are a different size to the fronts, 225/60 versus 225/55, the latter being the correct size for this car apparently. I'm tempted to get two more 225/60s just so I've got new tyres all round. I'll look into it as I don't want to cock up my speedo readings obviously, but does it really matter that much?

 

Anyway, another gratuitous pic, this time at Brands Hatch. Paintwork is a bit rubbish being full of swirl marks and so on, so a clay bar and polish session is on the cards (that can be a job for Boxing Day or something when I'm bored stiff of all the Christmas shite!).

 

[Guest Hooli]

If it's the same as the XJ40 then either tyre size is correct but sports tended to get 55s for slightly better handling. From memory the sport was low in the range, but is also slightly lower & stiffer than the rest so earns it's name.

[320touring]

That looks a goodun Rob:)

 

The 'sport' moniker is to do with the fact that its dechromed..

 

That and the sport of actually trying to get anywhere;)

[captain_70s]

Could be a buggered starter that caused the old solenoid to produce fire originally.

We had issues with the solenoid previously but ended up replacing the old starter with a new one with a solenoid built into it, so we bypassed the old one entirely. Now that starter motor has been replaced with a stock one so we reverted back to using the separate solenoid, this seemed to work for a start and the motor would turn but then it started cutting out and the solenoid started burning out so was replaced with a new one but the starter still cuts out. 

 

So far it's had a new starter, battery, fuel pump, solenoid and the clutch master cylinder refurbed just in an effort to get it to the same state it was when I drove it into the garage 12 months ago. I,e a rusty, badly running example of a 1970s economy car.

 

I dunno'. For every step forward I take with this car I seem to take two back and then fall into a ravine...

[RobT]

Personally I prefer more comfort being a giffer at heart, but this one was too cheap to resist! May go for the 60s then.