The new news 24 thread

[Rust Collector]

Uh oh

I’ve been feeling rough for a couple of weeks but testing negative. I had a fever yesterday and had to take the day off which is unusual for me, but I felt too crap to even just go to work and look busy. I took a test in the evening and it confirms that I’ve got covid for like the third or fourth time now 😢 on the plus side at least I can get some bed rest for a few days and hopefully get back to feeling myself a bit quicker.

[Cord Fourteener]

V70 has four brand new Vredstein all- season tyres (after much research looking at ice tunnel testing etc etc I'm now convinced that decent all-season are the best overall for UK conditions).

It was costly enough, Bridgestone, Continental and Michelin were a bit too expensive for comfort and I've had Vredstein before and liked them very much. 

 

[PicantoJon]

Passed my driving test on the 25th of November and due to various reasons I have only just got the Picanto in a state fit to be driven. Gets up on Thursday all excited about driving into work on my own like a big boy, only to find that mother nature has decided to gift us with snow. Erm... 

HELP! 

Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end but the Picanto has handled my ineptitude marvellously, even if I am a bit heavy on the clutch still... 🙈

[vulgalour]

Small light fwd car with skinny tyres really not a bad choice at all for learning to drive in the snow.

[SiC]

Civic went in for it's MOT today.

But did you expect any less from a 7.5 year old Honda?!

Impressive lack of advisories in all its history too. That very first one isn't really deserved to be an advisory either. Especially bad if 3yr old tyres were cracking.

[horriblemercedes]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

Civic went in for it's MOT today.

But did you expect any less from a 7.5 year old Honda?!

Impressive lack of advisories in all its history too. That very first one isn't really deserved to be an advisory either. Especially bad if 3yr old tyres were cracking.

They're described as 'cracking' - sounds like a compliment to me 

[SiC]

16 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

They're described as 'cracking' - sounds like a compliment to me 

That was it's first MOT. So almost certainly at a Honda dealer and then taking the piss I reckon. 

[RayMK]

My '94 Tipo passed its MOT today with an advisory on a blowing back box.  It needs to get used more often. Only about 900 miles done since the last MOT and has only covered 60.7K from new, so hardly a hard worked specimen.

The only preparation for the MOT was an oil, oil filter, plugs and leads change on Sunday.  It was too cold to give its underside and rubber gaiters an inspection (tyres are only a few months old). I did have trouble with the door locks yesterday. Both rear doors would not latch even when slammed - they just bounced open again. The grease appeared to have become ultra-viscous in the door latches but a blast of WD40 fixed that problem.

[horriblemercedes]

8 minutes ago, SiC said:

That was it's first MOT. So almost certainly at a Honda dealer and then taking the piss I reckon. 

cracking

1 of 3

adjective

crack·ing ˈkra-kiŋ 

 

: very impressive or effective : GREAT

[richardmorris]

Supremes in Paris narrowly avoiding getting run down by 2cvs.

https://fb.watch/hpYaKTmsZT/
 

[richardmorris]

2 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

cracking

1 of 3

adjective

crack·ing ˈkra-kiŋ 

 

: very impressive or effective : GREAT

As in “cracking exhaust gromit.”

[D.E]

Grandad's Atos appeared to have a flat battery after a freezing cold night, so I went there to help him replace it for a new one. However I found out that the current one isn't even two years old yet, and after a couple of hours on the battery charger it seemed fine again and fired up the car without a hassle. Now my grandad is a bit worried that he might experience the same problem again, so I've taken it with me for a couple of days to make sure it keeps starting reliably every morning.

Things like performance or handling aren't of any importance to my grandpa, but geez an autobox Atos is slow. Makes you anticipate the other traffic a lot more cautiously...

[cort1977]

Modern news but maybe of interest to some of you.

4motion transporter van was in the garage yesterday because it has ceased 4motioning.  A professional code reader found several codes that my cheapie hadn't detected, all related to the haldex control module.  Diagnosis was, it's donald ducked, need a new one.

Quote for the part from VW was, wait for it, £1547.10 + VAT!  A mere £1856.52 to you sir.  Plus labour obviously.  And it's on back order.

Happily, there's a guy in Crewe who can probably repair it for £150 which is more like it.  He can do all Gen 2 and 4 Haldex controllers fitted to Auid/VW/Skoda and Volvo 2004-2014 roughly.  You can't drive the vehicle with the module removed so it looks like I will have to do it on my drive but better than the alternative.

[Austat]

This 504 is dangerously close to me and is a good price. I'm having a hard time convincing my Dad as it's an automatic (anything manual is sought after and overpriced here) but I plan on treating myself to something special this Christmas and the funds for it will come out of my pocket. There's a dent and a little bit of surface rust in three spots to fix, but for around £1420 it's a steal.

 

Would anyone recommend them? Any technical gremlins to look out for?

Should I or shouldn't I?

[andyberg]

10 minutes ago, Austat said:

This 504 is dangerously close to me and is a good price. I'm having a hard time convincing my Dad as it's an automatic (anything manual is sought after and overpriced here) but I plan on treating myself to something special this Christmas and the funds for it will come out of my pocket. There's a dent and a little bit of surface rust in three spots to fix, but for around £1420 it's a steal.

 

Would anyone recommend them? Any technical gremlins to look out for?

Should I or shouldn't I?

I know nothing about these, but if I had the funds I would. No help at all I know.

[hairnet]

x2

oof

uncle shay had one an awful long time ago 

wanted one since

 

[puddlethumper]

I had a diesel 504 estate for a few months so not sure I can tell you much. Mine was a manuel and was, how shall I put it, pedestrian. Felt big and heavy, and don't think about 0 to 60 time. Great access to everything under the bonnet. Don't know about long term but shit loads running around in Africa so pretty solid and easy to repair. 

[cort1977]

1 hour ago, Austat said:

This 504 is dangerously close to me and is a good price. I'm having a hard time convincing my Dad as it's an automatic (anything manual is sought after and overpriced here) but I plan on treating myself to something special this Christmas and the funds for it will come out of my pocket. There's a dent and a little bit of surface rust in three spots to fix, but for around £1420 it's a steal.

 

Would anyone recommend them? Any technical gremlins to look out for?

Should I or shouldn't I?

I think your second picture with the seats answers that question really.  Get it bought and put a label 'from Santa' on it.  That will convince your dad surely?

They sold 3 million of them, made them for 30-odd years and there can't be many other classic cars you could drive to Cape York tomorrow.  I'm jealous already...

[Six-cylinder]

2 hours ago, Austat said:

This 504 is dangerously close to me and is a good price. I'm having a hard time convincing my Dad as it's an automatic (anything manual is sought after and overpriced here) but I plan on treating myself to something special this Christmas and the funds for it will come out of my pocket. There's a dent and a little bit of surface rust in three spots to fix, but for around £1420 it's a steal.

 

Would anyone recommend them? Any technical gremlins to look out for?

Should I or shouldn't I?

Get it bought, they are great cars.

Rust is the biggest enemy of these cars.

A big more tricky if it has Kugelfischer fuel injection (the reason my 504 in not running)

[omegod]

14 hours ago, D.E said:

Grandad's Atos appeared to have a flat battery after a freezing cold night, so I went there to help him replace it for a new one. However I found out that the current one isn't even two years old yet, and after a couple of hours on the battery charger it seemed fine again and fired up the car without a hassle. Now my grandad is a bit worried that he might experience the same problem again, so I've taken it with me for a couple of days to make sure it keeps starting reliably every morning.

Things like performance or handling aren't of any importance to my grandpa, but geez an autobox Atos is slow. Makes you anticipate the other traffic a lot more cautiously...

Should the battery  still be under warranty possibly  ? 

[D.E]

Just now, omegod said:

Should the battery  still be under warranty possibly  ? 

It is, it is a battery sold and installed by the Hyundai dealer, and has a 3 year warranty. My grandad still has the bill somewhere. If it gives more issues I'll ask the dealer for a new one, but after recharging it has been fine so far.

[Andyrew]

I left home jumped in the car, it seems Some snow turned into ice at the end of our flats carpark and at about 2mph i nosed straight into the neighbours bush! 

(Ill use better words when i explain to the other half)

Checked and all was well with the bush. 

Have a snowy pic with my usual photogenic tree.

 

[Andyrew]

Tis but a scratch

[barefoot]

I went for a drive in my Scirocco this morning, just because I wanted to. I've swapped from the chap who has kept it running on a shoestring for the past decade to a VW specialist who has begun to replace a lot of the old, knackered parts instead of just cleaning & oiling them. As you can imagine, the replacement of one bit leads to problems with the next bit. One thing leads to another... It has FTP'd twice recently, a drive shaft breaking which took out the gearbox linkage was followed shortly afterwards by a snapped throttle cable and it has made me a little grumpy, but at the moment, everything is running much more sweetly than I think it ever has in the twelve years that I've owned it.

Hippy xmas you fuckers.

[Asimo]

One out.

One in.

[justbinnedit]

Changing shock absorbers in minus degree weather is not fun. Plenty of swear words and heat freed off a stubborn bolt or two. 

[Pat Earrings]

So verdict from the garage re the Bluebird non heating. Looks like in the past the heater matrix has been leaking so someone used a stop leak type fluid which helped but ultimately blocked it all up. Will require a new matrix which of course is tricky to find, although I’ve done a lot of digging and there’s plenty of cross compatible similar matrix from other cars that are still available to buy. I’m hoping the garage can source one otherwise they are happy for me to get one but it’s the wait and extra labour which is a downer. Will be getting a new thermostat too. 

 

 

[Liggle]

Don't forget to swap your autumn filter for a winter one kids!

[New POD]

On 13/12/2022 at 22:09, JJ0063 said:

Oh maybe not then, I just assumed they’d be gas pipes as I’m sure it would have had a gas fire originally - my old man used to live next door and his had one, I was also born in a bungalow down the end of the road which had one too. 
 

Will of course get them checked out if we decide to knock it out!

We had pipes running into the back of our gas fire. On closer examination there was a 65 year old steel box, with stale water in. I assume some sort of water heating via the original coal fire. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Tis but a scratch

I thought that tree was leaning over a bit?