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[SiC]

Yesterday I went to my parents and investigated why their central locking on their Astra H wasn't working. I dug out my Tech 2 after a long protracted search.



My dad found that the car popped the locking fuse, which he replaced but nothing was still working. I plugged in my Tech 2 to find that the CAN adapter box (CANdi) had packed up and wasn't being recognised. Bloody annoying that.

Anyway I tried power cycling the car. Tried the central locking again and it made a clunk but nothing else. Hmm.

Checked the fuse and it had blown again.

Now I know these age Astra's are prone to breaking their rear door loom. One side had been replaced before but not the other. So went to check.

Well that will do it.


Chopped it off for now and taped off the wires. I'll get a repair section and solder it up when I'm next down. At least the electric boot release now works again, even if the central locking is now only working on three doors.


All Vauxhalls are shit.

[puddlethumper]

2 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

My local Lidls had their plasma cutters in this morning. If only I was into fixing rusty old bags of shite I could have justified asking how much they were ,( no visible price).

I had a go of a plasma cutter a few months ago cutting 6mm steel. Brilliant piece of kit. This one was not a hey diddle diddle coz it cost a grand. Guy who owned it said it was no good on 90% of car work. On panels it was too hot to use for some reason. Mind you a lidl version is probably a bit less powerful I would imagine.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

My local Lidls had their plasma cutters in this morning. If only I was into fixing rusty old bags of shite I could have justified asking how much they were ,( no visible price).

I thought they were for breaking in, not carrying out!

[wuvvum]

Got the aftermarket radiator fan fitted to the 121 yesterday.  Unfortunately it runs all the time with the ignition on, so the MX5 temp sensor is either knackered or the wrong spec for the 121.  I'll have to swap them over at some point, although that'll mean draining the coolant again and there's no need for a radiator fan at this time of year so I've unplugged it for now.  I also spent a futile hour and a half trying to get the tailgate to latch - it seems that the mechanism is sitting too low to engage with the hasp in the boot.  I tried raising the mechanism and lowering the hasp using washers to tilt them, but that didn't work either.  I think I might end up having to take the tailgate off and lift it up a couple of mm using shims between the hinges and the body.  I'm not sure quite how it's got like that mind as there's no visible signs of damage.  Then I put my brave pants on and drove it the 16 miles to Wroxham and back - popped the grease cap off when I got back and I was pleased to see that the hub nut hadn't budged.

Most of the weekend was spent playing with the LDV.  It now has a full complement of legally required lights - most of the issues were down to either blown bulbs or dodgy contacts in bulb holders, although the number plate lights weren't working because the spring loaded contacts that pass the current from the body to the door had fallen to bits - I've hard wired them in for now, just have to be a bit careful not to catch the wires when closing the door.

It also now has one working front fog light - again, the wiring in the connector plug had fallen to bits so I took the plug off, stripped the wires and fitted a couple of spade connectors instead.  The other foglight (offside) was a bit of an odd one - I took the light unit out to find that not only was the plug not connected, but the layout of the connectors bore no resemblance to the connectors on the light itself.  Most odd.  The multimeter reckoned that there was no power to the plug anyway, so I've left that one for now - front fogs aren't an MOT issue on a van that age and I rarely use them when driving.

The blower unit is definitely dead.  I removed it (which took a while as LDV in their wisdom decided to hold it in with 5.5mm bolts, and the only socket I own of that size is in my cheapo Rolson socket set, which I eventually found in the boot of the Volvo) and ran 12v straight to the motor from the battery, and nothing happened.  It's not drawing any current as there was no spark when I touched the wires to the terminals.  It isn't seized though - the fan spins freely by hand.  I'm going to have to try and track down another one - there are plenty of people breaking Maxuseses on eBay so hopefully I'll find someone who will sell me a blower unit for a sensible price.

The next job was to remove the latch mechanism from the rear doors - it has seized in the closed position and was preventing the offside door from closing properly.  The doors now close flush - I may treat it to a replacement mechanism if one comes up cheap enough, but for now I've bought a hasp and staple and a waterproof padlock and I'm going to use those instead - better than the padlock and chain that's on there at the moment.  I was going to have a crack at getting the side door unlocked, but closer inspection revealed that it's actually been Tiger Sealed closed, so I might leave that one for now...

I took the Volvo for a quick spin round the block to put some charge in the battery.  I've now replaced all the rubber fuel lines with marine grade shiz, not that I'll ever be running the car on E10.  It's still not getting enough fuel through - I'm going to try blowing the fuel lines through with the compressor just in case there is a blockage in the metal line from the tank, but if that doesn't sort it it's going to be carb stripping time unfortunately.

This evening once the roads were quiet I took the Charade out onto the bypass to do a 0-60 run.  It did it in 14 seconds dead - not bad really for a 1-litre automatic shopping car, especially given that the road was a bit damp.  It's still using more fuel than I think it should though mind...

[NigeT]

Friend of my missus recently passed her test and asked me to hunt down a first car for her that wasn't "boring like a Yaris".  Cue this beauty which I found not far from Edinburgh.  Almost a year's MOT, less than 60,000 miles on the clock and an absolute hoot to drive, just as fun as the reviews suggest and the 1.7 engine is a gem. Gear shift isn't the most precise but it's got great steering feel, sporty suspension and feels stable at all times. Only worrying rust I could find was a couple of ugly-looking patches on the rear subframe area, both sides - still solid underneath for the time being but will go right through if I don't treat and protect it soon. I was shocked to find the rest of the underside solid.  Not much to lose at £900 with a year's ticket and 4 brand new Michelin tyres. I'd love to have one for myself now. 

 

[NigeT]

And in other news, I got Dad's "Petri" Rover 620 another year's ticket so it soldiers on with probably the oldest cambelt on AS. Not even an advisory. 

[Ghosty]

good news - the ex- @RobT 416GTi has been bought back from the insurers (for £200!) and is apparently off to a new home. 

[JJ0063]

N57 330D came into my pals garage, it actually was still running and driving somehow! 

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, NigeT said:

And in other news, I got Dad's "Petri" Rover 620 another year's ticket so it soldiers on with probably the oldest cambelt on AS. Not even an advisory. 

Isn't the belt on them non interference?

[grogee]

15 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Got the aftermarket radiator fan fitted to the 121 yesterday.  Unfortunately it runs all the time with the ignition on, so the MX5 temp sensor is either knackered or the wrong spec for the 121.  I'll have to swap them over at some point, although that'll mean draining the coolant again and there's no need for a radiator fan at this time of year so I've unplugged it for now.  I also spent a futile hour and a half trying to get the tailgate to latch - it seems that the mechanism is sitting too low to engage with the hasp in the boot.  I tried raising the mechanism and lowering the hasp using washers to tilt them, but that didn't work either.  I think I might end up having to take the tailgate off and lift it up a couple of mm using shims between the hinges and the body.  I'm not sure quite how it's got like that mind as there's no visible signs of damage.  Then I put my brave pants on and drove it the 16 miles to Wroxham and back - popped the grease cap off when I got back and I was pleased to see that the hub nut hadn't budged.

Most of the weekend was spent playing with the LDV.  It now has a full complement of legally required lights - most of the issues were down to either blown bulbs or dodgy contacts in bulb holders, although the number plate lights weren't working because the spring loaded contacts that pass the current from the body to the door had fallen to bits - I've hard wired them in for now, just have to be a bit careful not to catch the wires when closing the door.

It also now has one working front fog light - again, the wiring in the connector plug had fallen to bits so I took the plug off, stripped the wires and fitted a couple of spade connectors instead.  The other foglight (offside) was a bit of an odd one - I took the light unit out to find that not only was the plug not connected, but the layout of the connectors bore no resemblance to the connectors on the light itself.  Most odd.  The multimeter reckoned that there was no power to the plug anyway, so I've left that one for now - front fogs aren't an MOT issue on a van that age and I rarely use them when driving.

The blower unit is definitely dead.  I removed it (which took a while as LDV in their wisdom decided to hold it in with 5.5mm bolts, and the only socket I own of that size is in my cheapo Rolson socket set, which I eventually found in the boot of the Volvo) and ran 12v straight to the motor from the battery, and nothing happened.  It's not drawing any current as there was no spark when I touched the wires to the terminals.  It isn't seized though - the fan spins freely by hand.  I'm going to have to try and track down another one - there are plenty of people breaking Maxuseses on eBay so hopefully I'll find someone who will sell me a blower unit for a sensible price.

The next job was to remove the latch mechanism from the rear doors - it has seized in the closed position and was preventing the offside door from closing properly.  The doors now close flush - I may treat it to a replacement mechanism if one comes up cheap enough, but for now I've bought a hasp and staple and a waterproof padlock and I'm going to use those instead - better than the padlock and chain that's on there at the moment.  I was going to have a crack at getting the side door unlocked, but closer inspection revealed that it's actually been Tiger Sealed closed, so I might leave that one for now...

I took the Volvo for a quick spin round the block to put some charge in the battery.  I've now replaced all the rubber fuel lines with marine grade shiz, not that I'll ever be running the car on E10.  It's still not getting enough fuel through - I'm going to try blowing the fuel lines through with the compressor just in case there is a blockage in the metal line from the tank, but if that doesn't sort it it's going to be carb stripping time unfortunately.

This evening once the roads were quiet I took the Charade out onto the bypass to do a 0-60 run.  It did it in 14 seconds dead - not bad really for a 1-litre automatic shopping car, especially given that the road was a bit damp.  It's still using more fuel than I think it should though mind...

I think the 5.5mm bolts might be a Lucas thing. I remember changing a throttle pot on an XJ40 (Lucas) and it was held on with those. Luckily I think I had a suitable socket in my collection of shit socket sets. 

[artdjones]

I just drove this back 50 miles from having all the joints and windows resealed. LHD, column shift and 75hp to move 2½ tons. Three small bits of welding, a couple of lights to be got working and it should be ok for a test. My brother in law owns it, but I'd say it's going to be swapped for something smaller.

[NigeT]

5 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Isn't the belt on them non interference?

I think the 2.0 litre Honda lump is interference (though if I'm not mistaken the bigger Honda V6es of that era weren't). Sure there will be enough Rover nerds here to confirm either way!

[Spurious]

3 hours ago, NigeT said:

Friend of my missus recently passed her test and asked me to hunt down a first car for her that wasn't "boring like a Yaris".  Cue this beauty which I found not far from Edinburgh.  Almost a year's MOT, less than 60,000 miles on the clock and an absolute hoot to drive, just as fun as the reviews suggest and the 1.7 engine is a gem. Gear shift isn't the most precise but it's got great steering feel, sporty suspension and feels stable at all times. Only worrying rust I could find was a couple of ugly-looking patches on the rear subframe area, both sides - still solid underneath for the time being but will go right through if I don't treat and protect it soon. I was shocked to find the rest of the underside solid.  Not much to lose at £900 with a year's ticket and 4 brand new Michelin tyres. I'd love to have one for myself now. 

 

 

In the current market, that's a steal at £900 squid. 

[Jazoli]

1 hour ago, JJ0063 said:

N57 330D came into my pals garage, it actually was still running and driving somehow! 

BMW's really are quality engineered vehicles aren't they.....

[SiC]

6 hours ago, NigeT said:

Friend of my missus recently passed her test and asked me to hunt down a first car for her that wasn't "boring like a Yaris".  Cue this beauty which I found not far from Edinburgh.  Almost a year's MOT, less than 60,000 miles on the clock and an absolute hoot to drive, just as fun as the reviews suggest and the 1.7 engine is a gem. Gear shift isn't the most precise but it's got great steering feel, sporty suspension and feels stable at all times. Only worrying rust I could find was a couple of ugly-looking patches on the rear subframe area, both sides - still solid underneath for the time being but will go right through if I don't treat and protect it soon. I was shocked to find the rest of the underside solid.  Not much to lose at £900 with a year's ticket and 4 brand new Michelin tyres. I'd love to have one for myself now. 

 

Nice! 

I'm after one for myself to replace the Fabia. Surprisingly rare cars now.

[cort1977]

Just had a ftp in the sierra. A brief trip round the block to check new tyres and spigot rings resulted in running out of fuel. Fair play to my missus, she didn't bat an eyelid, grabbed a petrol can from the garage, came out and i soon got going again. 

Test drive results, front and rear drivers side brakes binding, classic 80s Ford earth fault in the back lights. Apart from that it went well.

[spike60]

21 hours ago, Jazoli said:

BMW's really are quality engineered vehicles aren't they.....

The chain on my Mercedes 500 sec was so loose it had the right bank camshaft 17 degrees out when I checked but I couldn't lift the chain clear, the sprockets ran again with a new chain and guides. It was running fine as well, far too old for cam sensors or this limp home guff!

[artdjones]

The Berlingo sold today. 2011 so one of the last of the original type. Lovely to drive but I needed extra length. Just picked up at 21:45.

[Popsicle]

6 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Lovely to drive but I needed extra length.

What Mrs Popsicle often says to me.

[AnnoyingPentium]

Fabia is running on what feels like mildly reduced power again. Struggling to get up hills and mashing the loud pedal into the shagpile is just making noise and revs.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Popsicle said:

What Mrs Popsicle often says to me.

Sympathies, extended. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 19/01/2022 at 23:09, SiC said:

Actually that figure wasn't entirely correct. I put a new pollen filter (fiver) and drop link (£20 iirc) on it shortly buying it too. 

Fabia isn't anywhere near exciting enough for me to buy another. Plus I try to never buy the same model + generation twice of a car.

Pretty much every car I buy, the first thing I change is the pollen filter. Many garages don't bother changing them. Apart from putting extra strain on the blower motor, they also go stinky. Especially smelling a lot like the last owner.

The Civic filter was pretty filthy. I remember when I last got a dealer service at a Honda garage, they wanted £80 to change one of these on the 7th and 8th gen Civic. 

if 9 gen is same filter as 8 gen here is a charcoal filter

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391882705054?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

not the easiest thing to find for a civic!

[mitsisigma01]

On 1/15/2022 at 3:40 PM, wuvvum said:

Collectioned.

 

Bumhats, just found out my brother his binned his Maxus recently, not sure who to or when or even where ... whereabouts are you ? ...was it East Anglialand area ...if so it might not be far from your area 

[New POD]

My 1.4T Astra J GTC has no spare wheel.  I've decided that a skinny spare would be fine. 

Turns out that the size 5 x 115 pcd is not the same as my wifes 1.6 Astra J hatch. 5 x 105 pcd. God knows why. 

Anyway there's one on EBay, not far from my home which I probably won't be at until next Tuesday.

I tried to send him a message asking about the size And he responded that he didn't know. But he bought it for a GTC.  Do I click buy it now and measure it on collection? And reclaim my money from ebay if it turns out to be wrong. Or do i wait and pay cash on collection, and risk someone else buying it. 

Or I could ask @MikeR to go home from work via Lunt, with a tape measure. 

[SiC]

if 9 gen is same filter as 8 gen here is a charcoal filter
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391882705054?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
not the easiest thing to find for a civic!

I think it is.

I went for this all singing and dancing one that is both a charcoal and microbial filter. Mann also do a charcoal filter for less. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LBX43LG

[Fabergé Greggs]

Some pretty juicy discounts on certain tires from F1 auto centre. This is for 4x tires for the X1/9. At this price I’m tempted but we all know you don’t start restorations with a set of tires… 

[beko1987]

If you can store them though that's a bloody good price... 

[BorniteIdentity]

39 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

we all know you don’t start restorations with a set of tires… 

Quoting for prosperity. It should be our company slogan. 😂

[tom13]

1 hour ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Some pretty juicy discounts on certain tires from F1 auto centre. This is for 4x tires for the X1/9. At this price I’m tempted but we all know you don’t start restorations with a set of tires… 

Can't get that code to work which is a shame.

[Split_Pin]

I'm only posting on here to give a shout out to @GingerNuttz who did an absolutely amazing job on replacing both rear sill sections on my 75 over the weekend.

He went through the area completely, worked out why it had rusted in the first place, removed the rust traps and made a perfect job all round.

Before:

 

After:

He also tidied up the front bumper which had reacted to some TFR before I bought the car and polished the dull headlights.

He also said the shell has at least another 20 years left in it provided I keep on top of things and the mechanicals are OK. Good news for a car that I was not planning on selling .