The new news 24 thread

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Tis but a scratch

I thought that tree was leaning over a bit?

[puddlethumper]

38 minutes ago, Pat Earrings said:

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. 

 

 

Can you get the matrix apart ? I've taken mine apart to clean it. Dunno if yours is similar but mine is plastic fixed with tabs to the metal rad part. I just levered up all the tabs, carefully so as not to break any, and separated them. Then you can clean all the innards with a pokey thing. When apart I could see the plastic bit had a rubber seal so when putting it back together I made sure they went together the same way round as they  had come off, in case of discrepancies in the seal, with a bit of good sealant and the tabs bent back I haven't had a leak.

 

When apart there was a rubber seal between the two.

[adw1977]

3 hours ago, omegod said:

Should the battery  still be under warranty possibly  ? 

I've sometimes wondered about battery warranties.  Surely even the best battery won't survive three years in a car that gets used once a week to go five minutes down the road, or one that ends up being jump started frequently because the owner keeps leaving the lights on?

[Pat Earrings]

47 minutes ago, puddlethumper said:

Can you get the matrix apart ? I've taken mine apart to clean it. Dunno if yours is similar but mine is plastic fixed with tabs to the metal rad part. I just levered up all the tabs, carefully so as not to break any, and separated them. Then you can clean all the innards with a pokey thing. When apart I could see the plastic bit had a rubber seal so when putting it back together I made sure they went together the same way round as they  had come off, in case of discrepancies in the seal, with a bit of good sealant and the tabs bent back I haven't had a leak.

 

When apart there was a rubber seal between the two.

Not entirely sure as I’m not the one doing it. They’re good guys and spent a while flushing it hence a lot of crud and crap coming out, especially the stop leak stuff that has been put in there. They were able to see some witness marks to the carpet which showed a previous leak. Doubt it will be fixable like this current state tbh. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, Pat Earrings said:

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. 

 

 

Have you tried a radiator repair shop to see if they can re-core the matrix?

[Pat Earrings]

3 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Have you tried a radiator repair shop to see if they can re-core the matrix?

That’s not a bad shout tbh. There’s a company called Readyrads in Birmingham I’ve used before. I will link in with the garage tomorrow and see if they’re happy for me to get this sorted.

[Pat Earrings]

15 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Have you tried a radiator repair shop to see if they can re-core the matrix?

Well what a result. G A T radiators in Brierley hill can recore it, and he clearly is an old school chap who knows his stuff. My garage are happy also to remove it and send it to him. 👏👏👏

[gm]

worth sending the main radiator at the same time ? could be just as full of gunk 

[richardmorris]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:04 AM, Cord Fourteener said:

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. 

 

What are they like for wear and noise?

[Pat Earrings]

13 minutes ago, gm said:

worth sending the main radiator at the same time ? could be just as full of gunk 

That was my thoughts, will speak to the garage in the morning

[Fumbler]

5 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

What are they like for wear and noise?

I put these tyres on the Fiesta back in July. They're surprisingly grippy and road noise is rather good. They have a decent amount of sidewall compliance. Haven't had them long enough to assess wear.

[richardmorris]

19 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

I put these tyres on the Fiesta back in July. They're surprisingly grippy and road noise is rather good. They have a decent amount of sidewall compliance. Haven't had them long enough to assess wear.

I’ve put goodyear efficient grip performance on my main cars for years. The current new fiat has falkens which all tipos seem to come with at the moment. They’re ok and 6mm left after 12,000 miles.

[omegod]

2 hours ago, adw1977 said:

I've sometimes wondered about battery warranties.  Surely even the best battery won't survive three years in a car that gets used once a week to go five minutes down the road, or one that ends up being jump started frequently because the owner keeps leaving the lights on?

I've has several work ok but fail on a battery tester at 2 yrs old  , replaced without any fuss  

[stuboy]

Picked up the beast for the FiL today, squeezed in next too the Rickman Ranger

[HMC]

School run transport- written off dog chewed yaris verso. I found some rear seats of a scrapped car so pretty soon it will just be crashed and written off rather than crashed, written off and dog chewed. 
#polishing a turd

[wesacosa]

my old Bini made it in to Autocar 

[MorrisItalSLX]

23 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?

Absolutely get it bought!

Or I might have to buy it myself!

[Braddon81]

New clutch kit finally fitted to my roffle winning  406 Coupe - it's thrust bearing finally gave out the ghost a few months back. Had dagger eyes from my usually chirpy spannerman - it turned out to be a pig of a job.

[EyesWeldedShut]

16 hours ago, wesacosa said:

my old Bini made it in to Autocar 

My wife's may stand out from the crowd if it wasn't stood outside the house now for over a week.

[edit] - just looked at the Autocar screengrab -'Bangeromics' and 'just £4695', just? Just?  (showing my age again I guess)

 

[junkyarddog]

Ridiculous modern car tyre sizes.

They have virtually no sidewall!

Madness,especially on ill maintained country roads.

 

[HarmonicCheeseburger]

Anyone running a W203 1.8 Kompressor? will be searching for my next car come late January and they do look tempting on Autotrader for £2,500.  Would prefer a post 2005 for e10 fuel compability, other than body rust any major downsides? also noticing Mk3 Mondeo 2.0's are a budget option under £2,000, likely to be leggy but have a few more years in them?

[Ghosty]

19 hours ago, wesacosa said:

my old Bini made it in to Autocar 

How on earth is anything with a Prince engine a 'best buy'?

[Stanky]

1 hour ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

Anyone running a W203 1.8 Kompressor? will be searching for my next car come late January and they do look tempting on Autotrader for £2,500.  Would prefer a post 2005 for e10 fuel compability, other than body rust any major downsides? also noticing Mk3 Mondeo 2.0's are a budget option under £2,000, likely to be leggy but have a few more years in them?

IIRC they have a bit of a rep for either stretching or snapping cam chains. I think they're a simplex setup and a little bit fragile, at least compared to either the 2.0 NA (M111.951, like mine) or 2.0 Kompressor (M111.955) which are both duplex chain driven. The NASP one like mine is no ball of fire, but plods along. Expect 32mpg from mixed driving or about 38mpg on a run. 

Mine has been run on e10 for at least 3 years now so I assume they're compliant? It gets super every now and then (and gives about 10% better fuel economy doing so. I saw a real-world 40mpg from it once on 5 gallons of super) and accidentally got fed some 2t the other week, seemingly with no ill effects yet.

Easy to work on and not expensive parts. Look for rust EVERYWHERE, but its reasonably obvious if its going - wheel arches, door bottoms and bootlid around the release handle. Petrols are Euro4 so CAZ/ULEZ compliant most places for the time being. 

Automatic gearboxes in the main (I think you'd be looking for an auto, right?) - Mercedes make good automatics gearboxes. I'd def choose a W203 over a mk3 mondy auto, is this not powershit era for the ford? Also, you'll be replacing rear brake calipers on the mondeo annually and probably chasing just as much rust. 

[Ghosty]

17 minutes ago, Stanky said:

is this not powershit era for the ford

Yes. Avoid.

[HarmonicCheeseburger]

43 minutes ago, Stanky said:

IIRC they have a bit of a rep for either stretching or snapping cam chains. I think they're a simplex setup and a little bit fragile, at least compared to either the 2.0 NA (M111.951, like mine) or 2.0 Kompressor (M111.955) which are both duplex chain driven. The NASP one like mine is no ball of fire, but plods along. Expect 32mpg from mixed driving or about 38mpg on a run. 

Mine has been run on e10 for at least 3 years now so I assume they're compliant? It gets super every now and then (and gives about 10% better fuel economy doing so. I saw a real-world 40mpg from it once on 5 gallons of super) and accidentally got fed some 2t the other week, seemingly with no ill effects yet.

Easy to work on and not expensive parts. Look for rust EVERYWHERE, but its reasonably obvious if its going - wheel arches, door bottoms and bootlid around the release handle. Petrols are Euro4 so CAZ/ULEZ compliant most places for the time being. 

Automatic gearboxes in the main (I think you'd be looking for an auto, right?) - Mercedes make good automatics gearboxes. I'd def choose a W203 over a mk3 mondy auto, is this not powershit era for the ford? Also, you'll be replacing rear brake calipers on the mondeo annually and probably chasing just as much rust. 

 

26 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

Yes. Avoid.

Cheers all, will be digging any info I can find on W203's I assume chain issues will come with the usual noises on start up etc?

Would be automatic only yes.  I thought the Mk3 Mondeos where the last with the standard auto before the 2.3 in the Mk4 went powershit?

[puddlethumper]

I had a Ftp last Friday evening about 8 o'clock. Gears started to leave the building with 5th going first and the rest following in about half an hour. I was on a busy dual carriageway and when 4th gave up I managed to coast into a small refuge at which point the engine died. Bollox. Would not start, don't know why. Minus 5/6 outside and very quickly inside. Called recovery and was told 1/1.5 hours. Luckily I had a jacket, wooly hat and long johns on. Called after 1.5 hours to be told it would be 30 to 40 mins. Hour later called again and told the same, 30/40 mins. I was freezing my balls off and even after playing the old, and obviously vulnerable, card it didn't turn up till about half past midnight. I can't remember the last time I was so cold. I thought hyperthermia was going to get me.

[doug]

I had a Ftp last Friday evening about 8 o'clock. Gears started to leave the building with 5th going first and the rest following in about half an hour. I was on a busy dual carriageway and when 4th gave up I managed to coast into a small refuge at which point the engine died. Bollox. Would not start, don't know why. Minus 5/6 outside and very quickly inside. Called recovery and was told 1/1.5 hours. Luckily I had a jacket, wooly hat and long johns on. Called after 1.5 hours to be told it would be 30 to 40 mins. Hour later called again and told the same, 30/40 mins. I was freezing my balls off and even after playing the old, and obviously vulnerable, card it didn't turn up till about half past midnight. I can't remember the last time I was so cold. I thought hyperthermia was going to get me.

In the Pug van?

Sent from my SM-A127F using Tapatalk

[puddlethumper]

9 minutes ago, doug said:

In the Pug van?

Sent from my SM-A127F using Tapatalk
 

Yep, the trusty* 305 van.

[GMcD]

Been using the Cav most days.

If you listen carefully I'm sure you can hear it fizzing, but fuck it, I'm enjoying the experience of just using it as intended. 

 I'll try and jet wash underneath whenever I can. 

 

[High Jetter]

Where is BIG atm? Guessing no shows in this weather?