The new news 24 thread

[bobdisk]

10 hours ago, OM646 said:

So, my W203 Mercedes radio decided to quit working.

Only hangs in the Mercedes logo and doesn't do anything.

Everyone says "it's a break in the fiber optic ring, check your accessories fitted"

My car doesn't have any.

Fuck.

Try disconnecting the battery for 1 or 2 minutes.  That might reset it.

[The Vicar]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:04 AM, The Vicar said:

I've made my first purchase of 2022:

Unseen, and its 1500 miles away..

Two weeks later and finally this has finally arrived:

[cobblers]

13 hours ago, captain_70s said:

A steep 1 1/2 lane road with a double hairpin. Not where you want to loose brakes...

That's about half a mile from my mums house. Pretty treacherous bit of road.

[Bear]

Considered doing a deal to change MX-5 for this:

But the seller seems utterly disinterested in me actually viewing it (after I said I was interested in buying outright and they asked about the MX-5 for a deal) and I've had enough time to think about it that an unappealing colour of cheapest-possible M62 V8 BMW seems like a terrible idea...

[aotb]

Retest success! Took it out for a quick drive in my test route and there’s a few niggles- suspension refresh and a thermostat are top of the list as well as a timing belt- No idea how old it is. Also a good clean up underneath to stop it dissolving. 

[auntiemaryscanary]

3 hours ago, grogee said:

This is that solar charger I got. Does anyone know what the buttons do?

I've got one  brand of these and basically they are all the same. The 3 buttons let you set the float charging voltage of your battery, what voltage it will disconnect and reconnect charging and also to show that any base/overload is working (for base/overload I've got 9 x T5 bulbs in holders wired in series & parallel). There is some sort of timer function which I've ignored.

Anyway these are the instructions, it takes a bit of fiddling to understand if you want to change settings but these solar charge controllers should work fine without changing any of the settings. If the download doesn't work here is a direct link

https://www.solorder.se/image/data/uploads/KLD1210.pdf

KLD1210.pdf

Edited April 20, 2022 by auntiemaryscanary
Direct link added

[trigger]

So recently I found that my wife's cousin works for a solicitors and deals with probate properties and often has old cars to get rid off, obviously I asked her to let me know if anything turns up that would interest me. 

The next day I get a WhatsApp from her offering me a Volvo 340... 

Armed with some rubbish photos and working out that it been parked outside a property in Potters Bar in since 2010 I decided it probably wasn't for me but Brodders of this forum stepped in and made a offer on it! 

I passed the offer onto my relative at the solicitors who said the family will have to pay £300 to dispose of it so give them £50 and they'll be happy. The car arrived late last night (which was a pretty eventful delivery by all accounts) so a few of us went over this evening to take a look at it. 

It turns out to have been a 1 owner locally sold car with only 53000 miles and under all the green is a really tidy car, sadly its missing its keys as the owner lost them in 2010 hence it being left on the drive but after some fresh fuel down the carb and hot wiring the ignition the car fired straight up and ran! 

Unfortunately a rear brake is locked on so we couldn't move it but instead spent a while pressure washing it, unfortunately no photos but it's cleaned up really well. 

All in all for £50 I'm gutted I didn't buy it now! 

[New POD]

6 hours ago, RichardK said:

Considered doing a deal to change MX-5 for this:

But the seller seems utterly disinterested in me actually viewing it (after I said I was interested in buying outright and they asked about the MX-5 for a deal) and I've had enough time to think about it that an unappealing colour of cheapest-possible M62 V8 BMW seems like a terrible idea...

I toyed with the idea of a 6 series as a replacement for my MV6.  Spent too much time on research and decided that a 1.4 Astra for more money was more sensible. I'm.not sure I recognise myself. 

[Split_Pin]

7 hours ago, trigger said:

So recently I found that my wife's cousin works for a solicitors and deals with probate properties and often has old cars to get rid off, obviously I asked her to let me know if anything turns up that would interest me. 

The next day I get a WhatsApp from her offering me a Volvo 340... 

Armed with some rubbish photos and working out that it been parked outside a property in Potters Bar in since 2010 I decided it probably wasn't for me but Brodders of this forum stepped in and made a offer on it! 

I passed the offer onto my relative at the solicitors who said the family will have to pay £300 to dispose of it so give them £50 and they'll be happy. The car arrived late last night (which was a pretty eventful delivery by all accounts) so a few of us went over this evening to take a look at it. 

It turns out to have been a 1 owner locally sold car with only 53000 miles and under all the green is a really tidy car, sadly its missing its keys as the owner lost them in 2010 hence it being left on the drive but after some fresh fuel down the carb and hot wiring the ignition the car fired straight up and ran! 

Unfortunately a rear brake is locked on so we couldn't move it but instead spent a while pressure washing it, unfortunately no photos but it's cleaned up really well. 

All in all for £50 I'm gutted I didn't buy it now! 

That's a really good find, the interior is impressively tidy and mould free for having sat so long.

[AnnoyingPentium]

10 hours ago, The Vicar said:

Two weeks later and finally this has finally arrived:

Did that door change color in transit?

[grogee]

10 hours ago, auntiemaryscanary said:

I've got one  brand of these and basically they are all the same. The 3 buttons let you set the float charging voltage of your battery, what voltage it will disconnect and reconnect charging and also to show that any base/overload is working (for base/overload I've got 9 x T5 bulbs in holders wired in series & parallel). There is some sort of timer function which I've ignored.

Anyway these are the instructions, it takes a bit of fiddling to understand if you want to change settings but these solar charge controllers should work fine without changing any of the settings. If the download doesn't work here is a direct link

https://www.solorder.se/image/data/uploads/KLD1210.pdf

KLD1210.pdf 964.71 kB · 2 downloads

A thousand thanks!

Do I have to connect a load?

[brownnova]

Had an awkward moment yesterday… 

Driving along in the 940 I saw another black one approaching on the other side of the road, we gave a wave to the driver, but they looked stony faced… then we we realised that it was black, with blacked out rear windows, occupants in black ties, and the words private ambulance on the side… think we waved at the cadaver wagon…

[The Vicar]

1 hour ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Did that door change color in transit?

Unfortunately!

[grogee]

Went to help out my semi-employer last night, he had given his 911 a run during the day. It was a nice evening light so I papped a couple of pics. 

A few jobs for me to do on it including fix windscreen washer pump and change front shocks. 

Apparently it's a 'Supersport' so looks like a Turbo but isn't a Turbo. 

Pretty sure I had a pic on my bedroom wall of one of these...

[cort1977]

Thought some of you Rover appreciators would enjoy this:

Driving Two Sterlings from Portland to Austin—What Could Go Wrong? (caranddriver.com)

 

[auntiemaryscanary]

50 minutes ago, grogee said:

A thousand thanks!

Do I have to connect a load?

I don't think so but not 100% sure. The overload on mine has never come on (I don't know if it's even meant too) even when the controller is showing that the battery is at max charging volt. I've used this controller with a 20w solar panel on 3 batteries (ranging from 40-110ah) over the last 10 months and none of them have gone bang so the controller seems to do its job. 

[BorniteIdentity]

10 hours ago, trigger said:

So recently I found that my wife's cousin works for a solicitors and deals with probate properties and often has old cars to get rid off, obviously I asked her to let me know if anything turns up that would interest me. 

The next day I get a WhatsApp from her offering me a Volvo 340... 

Armed with some rubbish photos and working out that it been parked outside a property in Potters Bar in since 2010 I decided it probably wasn't for me but Brodders of this forum stepped in and made a offer on it! 

I passed the offer onto my relative at the solicitors who said the family will have to pay £300 to dispose of it so give them £50 and they'll be happy. The car arrived late last night (which was a pretty eventful delivery by all accounts) so a few of us went over this evening to take a look at it. 

It turns out to have been a 1 owner locally sold car with only 53000 miles and under all the green is a really tidy car, sadly its missing its keys as the owner lost them in 2010 hence it being left on the drive but after some fresh fuel down the carb and hot wiring the ignition the car fired straight up and ran! 

Unfortunately a rear brake is locked on so we couldn't move it but instead spent a while pressure washing it, unfortunately no photos but it's cleaned up really well. 

All in all for £50 I'm gutted I didn't buy it now! 

@Broddersliterally living the shiters dream.  Looks great.

[trigger]

I'm not sure his neighbours are quite as impressed with his dream! 

[Sheefag]

56 minutes ago, cort1977 said:

Thought some of you Rover appreciators would enjoy this:

Driving Two Sterlings from Portland to Austin—What Could Go Wrong? (caranddriver.com)

 

Great article. Related videos here - https://www.youtube.com/c/TemptingFateTours/videos

[wuvvum]

Just bagged a complete clutch kit which as far as I can tell should be correct for the Innocenti for the princely sum of 33 quid.  Obvs I won't know if it's actually correct until I take the gearbox off which is a bit further down the line, but from the references I've found online it should be right and for the sake of £33 I thought it was worth a punt...

[Longbridge Apologist]

Oh good…

[grogee]

10 minutes ago, Longbridge Apologist said:

Oh good…

The Warning Light of Honour. 

Actually, can we get some EML badges made up?

[AnnoyingPentium]

7 minutes ago, grogee said:

Actually, can we get some EML badges made up?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

29 minutes ago, Longbridge Apologist said:

Oh good…

Did you park too close to one of those modern Folksfarkens? 🤣

[vulgalour]

New tyres sorted for the rear of the Princess today, which is good.  New rust spotted that extends the entire length of the outer sill and has just got to the point it's crunchy, which is bad.  New replacement sill in the garage that will replace the whole thing, which is good.  Out of gas for the welder, which is bad. Bit of a mixed bag really.

On the way home I was following someone whose lane discipline was... interesting.  Had a close call in traffic when they didn't see the traffic in front of them had stopped and they ended up swerving almost into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting the van in front of them at the last minute.  Thankfully, the person behind me had kept a sensible distance and I was paying attention, so when I had to slam on nobody hit anybody else. Still rather closer than I would have liked to being the filling in a traffic sandwich.

Not looking forward to the sill repair on the Princess, I've got to do it outdoors and I've also got to take the doors off to fit the new outer sill.  I'm not expecting horrors for the inner sill or floor as they still looked okay the last time I checked (which admittedly wasn't this year).  It looks like it's really just the bottom inch that needs replacing but, since this side is probably a cover sill since that's what the other side was, it makes most sense to pull the whole panel off and replace it with the one I've got so I can deal with any problems that might be hiding inside.  I am sort of expecting it to be one of those jobs that should take a weekend and ends up taking two weeks.

I also still haven't quite finished the welding repair on the Maestro arch (see gas situation) and I haven't even started on the welding the Lanchester needs.  Bit bored of welding right now, I've not got @GingerNuttz staying power on this job.

[Split_Pin]

I tackled the Saab airbag light issue today.

The driver's seat proximity sensor had been ripped out from the loom by an upholsterer a few years ago, long before I bought the car. It was taped in and this worked for a while but the airbag light has been on since before my ownership.

I had tried to splice in a new plug but it was having none of it.

Seat out, rear panels off and the loom was out quickly.

The scrap car had some additional wiring as part of the seat which mine doesn't have but both looms were checked and were identical.

However, as you can see, my repair would never have worked as the loom was completely severed just below the seat belt buckle.

The sheath was all that was holding it together.

New loom worked in and seat back together.

Ignition on and a deep breath was taken.....

The airbag light is under the fuel and temperature guages.

Success. Much delight as I can now submit for an MOT next week.

At the same time, my neighbour Peter was having some trouble with his sons Corsa D which was making a knocking sound when steering. His daughters Corsa had the same problem and it was found to be a loose clamp on the column. He tried a  few sizes and 8mm was found to fit before my crappy socket split after 1/2 turn. Arse. Oh well hopefully it's enough.

He then told me that after removing the drivers side dash kick panel which involves disconnecting the lighting plug, they were staying on even with the key out and plug connected up. I saw that the plug had a little lever where you loosely insert it into into terminal and then flip the lever down which pulls the plug home. Normal operation restored.

Time for a coffee now!

[SRi05]

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

I tackled the Saab airbag light issue today.

The driver's seat proximity sensor had been ripped out from the loom by an upholsterer a few years ago, long before I bought the car. It was taped in and this worked for a while but the airbag light has been on since before my ownership.

I had tried to splice in a new plug but it was having none of it.

Seat out, rear panels off and the loom was out quickly.

The scrap car had some additional wiring as part of the seat which mine doesn't have but both looms were checked and were identical.

However, as you can see, my repair would never have worked as the loom was completely severed just below the seat belt buckle.

The sheath was all that was holding it together.

New loom worked in and seat back together.

Ignition on and a deep breath was taken.....

The airbag light is under the fuel and temperature guages.

Success. Much delight as I can now submit for an MOT next week.

At the same time, my neighbour Peter was having some trouble with his sons Corsa D which was making a knocking sound when steering. His daughters Corsa had the same problem and it was found to be a loose clamp on the column. He tried a  few sizes and 8mm was found to fit before my crappy socket split after 1/2 turn. Arse. Oh well hopefully it's enough.

He then told me that after removing the drivers side dash kick panel which involves disconnecting the lighting plug, they were staying on even with the key out and plug connected up. I saw that the plug had a little lever where you loosely insert it into into terminal and then flip the lever down which pulls the plug home. Normal operation restored.

Time for a coffee now!

Superb man. Not a fucking chance I'd have been able to fix that, so happy this thing can live on 😂

[richardmorris]

11 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I tackled the Saab airbag light issue today.

The driver's seat proximity sensor had been ripped out from the loom by an upholsterer a few years ago, long before I bought the car. It was taped in and this worked for a while but the airbag light has been on since before my ownership.

I had tried to splice in a new plug but it was having none of it.

Seat out, rear panels off and the loom was out quickly.

The scrap car had some additional wiring as part of the seat which mine doesn't have but both looms were checked and were identical.

However, as you can see, my repair would never have worked as the loom was completely severed just below the seat belt buckle.

The sheath was all that was holding it together.

New loom worked in and seat back together.

Ignition on and a deep breath was taken.....

The airbag light is under the fuel and temperature guages.

Success. Much delight as I can now submit for an MOT next week.

At the same time, my neighbour Peter was having some trouble with his sons Corsa D which was making a knocking sound when steering. His daughters Corsa had the same problem and it was found to be a loose clamp on the column. He tried a  few sizes and 8mm was found to fit before my crappy socket split after 1/2 turn. Arse. Oh well hopefully it's enough.

He then told me that after removing the drivers side dash kick panel which involves disconnecting the lighting plug, they were staying on even with the key out and plug connected up. I saw that the plug had a little lever where you loosely insert it into into terminal and then flip the lever down which pulls the plug home. Normal operation restored.

Time for a coffee now!

Most of new car ownership seems to involve fixing previous errors and bodges.

[Split_Pin]

It wasn't a bodge, just an accident by a careless upholsterer.

[SRi05]

1 minute ago, richardmorris said:

Most of new car ownership seems to involve fixing previous errors and bodges.

Oi, I resemble that remark