The new news 24 thread

[egg]

White smoke from the Favorit exhaust on acceleration is just a bit of condensation cos its cold and foggy, right. Right? I love reveling in a bit of OMGHGF worry.

[xtriple]

Yeah, no need to worry...

 

 

Yet.

 

Worry tomorrow

[jonathan_dyane]

It will be fine although if it's the proper Skoda OHV engine a HG is dead easy in any case.

 

I've spent the afternoon fitting a towbar to the Primera which went well except the damp seems to have made my cough worse and I cut a bit too much off the bumper...

[Cavcraft]

Oh, hooray. I've just been offered a £495 Toyota Yaris as a swap for my car that's probably worth 4 times that or more. It's ok though, when faced with the big question (of how much cash he forgot to offer on top) he generously* stated £150.  

[hairnet]

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Geachte heer. Ik hoop dat je Engels spreken ?!

 

[REDACTED]

 

ik kijk er naar uit van u te horen.

 

Mr Bornite Identity

can you ask him where he imported it from as thats a new nl plate

 

should be 2 2 and 2 not 2 3 1

 

alstubleift

[egg]

No mayo, coolant level seems ok. Running cool rather than hot.

 

What I love about this Skoda engine is everything seems accessible e.g. oil pressure switch right in front of you, HT leads just there with a few clips. I think even I could work on this engine!

[vulgalour]

Booked the garaged panda in for an MOT on Monday in preparation to sell it so an immense game of "chod juggling" ensued.  Only for the ungrateful bastard to have a flat battery just as the light was fading.  Anyway pictures of cars not parked on my drive:

 

 

IMG_20161217_153121950_HDR.jpgIMG_20161217_154518458.jpgIMG_20161217_153011236_HDR.jpg

 

I've decided not to put another car in the garage, it needs a proper sort out, probably on boxing day.

 

Plus my drive looks even fuller, and with three cars parked outside my house led by the Uno, I'm sure the neighbours will be very impressed.

 

At one point I had the requisite number of cars the council thinks I should have on the premises, it was a desolate and despairing experience.

 

IMG_20161217_153245817.jpg

 

Eventually the mk1 had enough juice in the battery to start and fleet was duly reshuffled.

 

Only good point was that the bloody y10 started and ran faultlessly.

 

ANY of these images ought to go in the December 2017 calendar thread, but I can't find the sodding thing.

[bangernomics]

thumbnail_20161216_113548.jpg

 

It's my day off and I'm choosing to watch a fella wash my car.

Is that in Salford by any chance?

[bangernomics]

My 1.9d mk3 golf (more or less the same donkey?) wasn't that bad, I commuted up and down the m1 and a load of country lanes in it for years. Thinking back it was one of my favourite cars ever.

Are you sure the polo is running right?

It's probably as good as it ever was. I spend my weekends in a diesel XJ so it's a shock having to use every bit of its 64bhp all the time and a full tank isn't a good recipe but I'll get used to it.

 

Filled up today after a 380 mile week and averaged 57.5 mpg so I'll forgive it's slower than an 850 mini performance.

 

Coming up to 67k and I get the feeling it would go for another 10 years easily. I just get a bit bored and would like a van again for work really as they're so useful at the weekend.

[Cavcraft]

As per the thread about them, they're being done in Jan/Feb (12 months still) as trying to sort them at Christmas/just after is a bit much.

[beko1987]

Just popped out to buy an elf suit for the boy from facebook for £1. Fuck me it's foggy. Was down a single track road I've never been down before crawling at 15mph in a total whiteout.

 

Not seen fog that bad for ages, I turned the main beams off at one point and it helped, just got a wall of white otherwise. Front foglights did nothing to help, so I shall continue to not use them ever

[SiC]

I've never found a time when fog lights have helped. Actually that's incorrect, they're great with main beam to blind the tossers who drive around with fogs on when it's not foggy.

[SiC]

Just done a foggy 120 odd miles round trip from Bristol to Newbury in the Laguna. I seriously love that car! Ok it's not faultless, but it's comfy and quick. The trip averaged 29.7mpg, cruising at 70odd mph. Pretty respectable imo. Would have got more, but I can't help but jab the loud pedal on occasions...

 

I've also roughly attached the rear headlight adjuster sensor arm and updated my app to allow it to trigger a recalibration, which has now fixed the lights. Pumping the tyres right up to 39psi (recommended motorway pressure) from 33 psi (recommend general pressure) has also significantly reduced the shimmy through the wheel.

[captain_70s]

Had the rear wheel off the Civic to investigate the fact it was getting very hot.

 

Seems that when the garage said the pads were 80% worn what they actually meant was that the pads had ceased to exist on one side and the other wasn't much better. New ones have been ordered and will be fitted when they arrive, hopefully before my discs are toast.

[holbeck]

Is that in Salford by any chance?

 

No, it might look like it, but it's Exeter.

[Ghosty]

can you ask him where he imported it from as thats a new nl plate

 

should be 2 2 and 2 not 2 3 1

 

alstubleift

 

using http://ovi.rdw.nl, it was imported in 2008. 

[Asimo]

Had the rear wheel off the Civic to investigate the fact it was getting very hot.

 

Seems that when the garage said the pads were 80% worn what they actually meant was that the pads had ceased to exist on one side and the other wasn't much better. New ones have been ordered and will be fitted when they arrive, hopefully before my discs are toast.

Those calipers are plenty prone to seizing, stupid things. Be very thorough with cleaning any crud from the top of the piston (under the dirt seal) before winding the piston back in.

[greengartside]

Zafira has been booked in for an M.o.T on January 6th - gives me enough time to source a wheel and tyre to replace the O/S/F one which I strongly suspect was the spare as now there is nothing but an empty space under the boot floor. I'll also unblock the washers too whilst I'm at it.

 

Bit concerned about the binding brakes driving it to the test centre, but I shall be travelling all back roads at sub-30mph so it shouldn't completely seize the back end up. I test-drove it on a private road* and they unseized after half a mile but are now binding again.

 

Oh and it's completely covered in bird shit too. Fun fun.

[mat_the_cat]

Front foglights did nothing to help, so I shall continue to not use them ever

 

The only time I've known them to help is when even dipped beams were reflecting a wall of white back at me. I.e. almost never!

 

And don't get me started on the number of people who turn on their rear fog lights at the slightest hint of mistiness, and then leave them on for the next 30 miles

[SiC]

What are you up to in Newbury? I have the fortune* to live here and can see no good reason to visit.

Nor do I! Unfortunately the wife's family live there, I went to school there (st Bart's), my parents lived nearby for a bit (Inkpen, Woolton Hill, Froxfield - but got away now), learnt to drive there and I got married there too this year (Shaw Church + Mill Hall)!

 

So I know the area pretty well.

[dollywobbler]

I've never found a time when fog lights have helped. Actually that's incorrect, they're great with main beam to blind the tossers who drive around with fogs on when it's not foggy.

 

I was driving a Nissan Qashqai in fog on Friday. Proper '15mph is buttock clenching' stuff it was. Horrible. The front fog lights had about as much effect as me telling my cat not to do something. Hopeless and entirely pointless.

 

This Nissan has auto-dipping headlamps too. They're shit. Thankfully, I discovered how to turn that off. And the lane departure, which kept bleeping because of my racing lines. Probably need to turn off the parking sensors as well, as it keeps chucking a fit when I drive down my own driveway. It was nice to jump back into the ZX yesterday, which has fewer buttons on its entire dashboard than the Nissan's steering wheel, and makes no bleeping noises at all!

 

The Nissan does have good points. Which is good. As next week, I'm taking it on a trip around Yorkshire and Lancashire to fetch 2CV bits. Including an engine. 

[Kiltox]

I've never found a time when fog lights have helped. Actually that's incorrect, they're great with main beam to blind the tossers who drive around with fogs on when it's not foggy.

They help a lot on unlit country roads with shitty Renault xenons pointing at the floor!

[panhard65]

The only time I've known them to help is when even dipped beams were reflecting a wall of white back at me. I.e. almost never!

 

And don't get me started on the number of people who turn on their rear fog lights at the slightest hint of mistiness, and then leave them on for the next 30 miles

Living in Somerset we get some pretty thick fog which didn't help a few years ago with that massive smash on the M5. So I am a fan of fog lights and don't give a shit if it pisses people off as long as they can see me without running into the back of me. Admittedly front fogs are pretty useless but on unlit roads they do help to see the edges if they are set corrrectly. The biggest problem is people who have poorly adjusted lights or have no idea when to use fog lights.

[Tickman]

........Nissan Qashqai........

I can only recommend these as my Dad has one and it is the car that drove me to collect the Triumph Toledo from Cros.

 

That is all.

[Ghosty]

This Nissan has auto-dipping headlamps too. They're shit. Thankfully, I discovered how to turn that off. 

 

That explains a lot about me constantly getting blinded by Cashcows.

[mat_the_cat]

Living in Somerset we get some pretty thick fog which didn't help a few years ago with that massive smash on the M5. So I am a fan of fog lights and don't give a shit if it pisses people off as long as they can see me without running into the back of me. Admittedly front fogs are pretty useless but on unlit roads they do help to see the edges if they are set corrrectly. The biggest problem is people who have poorly adjusted lights or have no idea when to use fog lights.

 

I'm not saying to avoid using them, but if you can still see for several hundred metres without them I'd rather people didn't - as you say "no idea when to use fog lights."

 

Makes it more difficult to see when people are braking as well as being annoying. So I tend to turn mine off on A roads if someone does catch me up.

[catsinthewelder]

I don't find that front fog lights dazzle me at all. I would be much happier if people drove round with them on all the time and they banned all HID bulbs which are dangerously bright even on dip.

[beko1987]

I just found they made no difference last night, so didn't bother. Turning the headlights off was the better solution, as the glow from the side lights didn't bounce back from the fog, so I could see alot better! Obv it's a bit silly so I turned the lights on when out of the worst patch.

 

It lifted overnight though, fine this morning.

[Jim Bell]

Poorly Fiesta having a rest in town. Good job the driver was carrying a fat permanent marker and a large sheet of paper. #beprepared

[dollywobbler]

That explains a lot about me constantly getting blinded by Cashcows.

 

They're pretty quick to dip, but horribly slow to go back to main. That's why I turned it off. Well, that and the fact that it can't anticipate. We can see a car approaching over the hedgerows. The car can't it seems. I did get flashed twice by other drivers though. I'm not sure why. I dropped the headlamps to their lowest setting in the end (did have two people in the back).

 

I'm not saying to avoid using them, but if you can still see for several hundred metres without them I'd rather people didn't - as you say "no idea when to use fog lights."

 

Makes it more difficult to see when people are braking as well as being annoying. So I tend to turn mine off on A roads if someone does catch me up.

 

I'm entirely with Mat here. Rear fog lights should be like main beam - only use them when you actually need them on.