The new news 24 thread

[panhard65]

It's a really shit design that washer jet set up. When I popped the nozzle out of the bonnet the rubber seal was pretty much doing nothing it was all such a poor loose fit.

How long my silicone job will last I don't know but it should be fine for a good while at least.

 

This cars been doing this for years so far. It's fine through summer but once the weather goes shit in autumn it needs emptying and drying out every month or so so far.

Apparently you've got to be careful with them as it can rust through the heads core plugs and then it starts pissing coolant out into the same space too! The ones on this car are fine luckily!

 

I'll just keep an eye on it and see how it gets on now.

You can buy a cover from Volvo as they use that Zetec lump. Just fit a cover and it stops the problem.

[crapcarcollector]

Concerted effort on the Alfa Spider today that has been in hibernation. New 72A/hr battery installed behind drivers seat in a cubby hole (pig of a job for a simple battery change).

Fired it up, pumped the tyres up and checked the pressures and went for a winters drive.

Came home smiling. Such a beautiful car that just got better as the miles passed.

I might use it to go to Devon at Easter.

 

 

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[danthecapriman]

You can buy a cover from Volvo as they use that Zetec lump. Just fit a cover and it stops the problem.

Didn't know that!

Any idea which Volvo model part I'd need?

I assume they fit all the Ford versions? As there's a few different air box types/fittings etc on these.

[MikeR]

bit of local off roading with a Stobart lorry ...  as a result the veg delivery is late

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Jesus, where do you even start with that

[DodgeRover]

How did it get there? Looks like it was preceding forwards foot hard down through the fence given the amount of soil it thrown up?

[HillmanImp]

How did it get there? Looks like it was preceding forwards foot hard down through the fence given the amount of soil it thrown up?

 

Think he just overshot the corner a bit by the looks of it or went slightly off road to make it round it.

[catsinthewelder]

Well the avacados are going to be disappointed.

[DodgeRover]

Ah sorry assumed the later 2 pics were during the recovery and the position was straight through the fence line you can see in pic1

[Ghosty]

I can see the problem, it’s written on the cab.

[MarvinsMom]

been to the mini show today, and have come back with more bits for black mini

 

shown epecially blur-ie cos phone camera isn't up to much (or is it the operator?)

 

and we didn't get everything we were looking for even though we had a list of wanted bits with us.

 

but am now ticked off that i've got work in the morning, so no more mini tinkering for me till friday, typical 

[somewhatfoolish]

Fine potatocammage there.

[wuvvum]

Finally finished getting the lights sorted on the Transit today.  The original problems stemmed from the fact that the plonker who owned it before had shoved a single filament bulb in the brake / tail light socket, which was then shorting the brake light circuit across to the sidelights, which meant that every time I braked the sidelights came on.  I found the issue after lots of pissing around with cleaning contacts, checking earths etc.  I got a twin filament bulb in the relevant hole and normal service was resumed.  Except it wasn't, because the previous owner had also taken the original twin filament bulb (with blown brake filament) and somehow managed to jam it into the reversing light socket.  And it wasn't going to come out either. 

 

After pondering a bit I went on eBay and found that I could get a whole replacement bulb holder cluster for about a fiver.  So I ordered one, and when it arrived I swapped all the bulbs across (apart from the reversing light which got a shiny new 21w bulb) and plugged it in.  Unfortunately it turns out that a £5 cluster off eBay isn't quite as well made as a genuine Ford job, and unbeknown to me, when I plugged the multiplug back in it actually pushed some of the contacts out of place and resulted in the indicator circuit shorting to earth.  So when I turned the indicators on to test them, not only did nothing happen but it blew the flasher unit.

 

 A trip to the local motor factor's proved unproductive, not helped by the fact that the terminals on the Ford flasher relay are numbered 1 to 5 rather than anything useful.  A diagram of a 5-pin flasher relay that I found online turned out to be deceptive - when I ran a wire from what I thought was the live feed to what I thought was the switch feed, there was a spark and the fuse popped.  So out came the multimeter, and when I'd worked out what was what I "borrowed" the flasher unit from the Volvo to get the indicators going again - it's only a 3 pin unit but I ran wires to it from the original multiplug and it worked OK.  It's an electronic unit which is supposed to cope with a wide range of currents, so I stuck a piggyback connector on the pulsed feed and ran wires to both the indicator and hazard switch feeds - works fine, to my relief.

 

I celebrated its newfound nocturnal legality by taking it down my favourite stretch of bypass and doing a 0-60 run - 13.5 seconds, the quickest "big" van I've ever owned by some margin.  It does like a drink though, bless it.

 

On Saturday I took the 205 for its first "long" run since I did the suspension bush - to Kings Lynn and back.  It really has transformed the car, it's now a brilliant dual carriageway machine.  I was running rather late so may have wound it up to slightly more than 70mph in places, and it just hammered along like it was made for it.  Bit noisy and the brakes judder slightly, but otherwise I couldn't fault it.  It does badly need a new battery though - it's only just managing to start from cold now.

[Ghosty]

I had Old Man sort a slightly sticky front brake caliper on the Volvo for me today. Nearside ARB bushes to sort in the week...

I was told the expansion tank was "empty" - I've no idea how or when that could have happened. Only heard it third hand though so I think my dad might have been going easy on the details (he's awful for that) and he actually means 'it's on the low mark and I've topped it up for you'. He's about as easy as Father Jack to interpret sometimes.

I'm a bit puzzled by that, I know it's leaking most likely from the pipe butchery used to connect the Kenlowe transmission cooler. It hasn't been leaving any trails around the place (it used to) so I'd just sort of forgotten about it really.

Considering it was getting up to temp the same as ever then staying just above half where it always does, I'm really not inclined to think I've run it dry, surely it'd have overheated if so? Either that or the viscous fan's been doing a bloody good job.

[Mally]

I find that dad's explain perfectly, but sons only listen to half of it.

[catsinthewelder]

You'd be surprised how well some cars cope with neglect. I regularly have to top up the oil on the Astra so should have noticed the coolant getting low but didn't. About 50 miles into a 250 mile trip at Christmas I saw the temperature rise a bit higher than normal so pulled over at the next garage. The expansion tank was empty so I poured 2 litres of water in which mostly vanished down into the engine. At this point I was convinced it was broken so drove to Aldi and bought 10 more 2 litre bottles. The first one refilled it and it hasn't used any since. God knows where 3.5 litres of coolant vanished off to.

[beko1987]

One of my stepdads company Zafira's did this. 6 months old, I'd opened the bonnet to clean the shut lines and the expansion tank was empty. Stepdad had never touched it, no warning lights etc. Tipped some different coloured coolant that I had in and it never did it again. Was fine for the remainder of the lease

[tooSavvy]

Looking for an 'original' B&D drill stand for my faithful drill.

 

Fixing up 'the Skootah' really showed I need a pillar!!

 

Hit MongTree @11.00

Found one 20minutes away for £20

In boot of ToMM© @12.00

 

*image for Example*

 

Painless transaction/proper gent/immaculate (smells of gun oil)

 

HappY

 

TS

[Skizzer]

Ive got one of those I don’t use, you could have had it for the cost of postage... which would have been about what you paid and it would have taken a week, so well done!

[scaryoldcortina]

Further to my "I bought a 207 cc with a stuck roof" post, does anyone have a lexia I can borrow?

[tooSavvy]

Skizzer:... My original, mintter was 'loaned' to a guy in a motor club.

 

Time and roads passed & parted...

 

Never saw him or it again

 

 

.... good 2go now

 

 

TS

[wuvvum]

Further to my "I bought a 207 cc with a stuck roof" post, does anyone have a gallon of petrol and a match I can borrow?

FTFY.

[dollywobbler]

Thought I'd better change the alternator belt on the Nippa, as it's been chirping away for a while. What a sod of a job! Barely any more access than on the Lexus.

 

Couldn't get the new belt on, so forced the reluctant Nippa up the ramps. Hmmm, stinky clutch.

 

Belt still wouldn't fit. I bought one for an L200 Mira, but they must have made a slight change to the Nippa, so it doesn't fit. Sought help on Facebook, and a Kei-owning chum kindly gave me the correct belt number. He'd run into the same issue - no-one lists an alternator belt for a Nippa! Put the old belt back on in a huff. Just hope it doesn't split before the new one arrives - had some big cracks in it.

[tooSavvy]

.... old belt have any numbers legible on it?

 

TS

[Bucketeer]

It's the girlfriend's birthday today and 'cos I'm such an ace boyfriend I will be setting off shortly on a 15hour public transport journey to pick up a car most people would burn and drive it 560 miles back.

She's so lucky.

[tooSavvy]

.... that you are leaving her to enjoy the day without you :/ ?

 

TS

[320touring]

It's the girlfriend's birthday today and 'cos I'm such an ace boyfriend I will be setting off shortly on a 15hour public transport journey to pick up a car most people would burn and drive it 560 miles back.

She's so lucky.

Chodspeed young warrior!

[Roverageous]

Well for the first time V70 is on duty as my holiday car, now that I've had some* work done on it it's doing a fine job and looks at home in the forest!

 

*new tyres, all wheels balanced, alignment, fluids service & gearbox fluid change.

 

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[Datsuncog]

Driving about in this object today. Annoying fiddly foot-activated parking brake like my old XM, and eerily quiet. Also doing that modern car thing of feeling quite cramped and claustrophobic inside while actually being a massive brute of a thing, due to having needless haunches.

 

 

 

I like the idea of EVs, but I wouldn't like to drive this as a daily. Impressive motorway acceleration, mind.

[fordperv]

It's the girlfriend's birthday today and 'cos I'm such an ace boyfriend I will be setting off shortly on a 15hour public transport journey to pick up a car most people would burn and drive it 560 miles back.

She's so lucky.

What is it?

Please tell me your giving it to her as a birthday present to add insult to injury