The new news 24 thread

[Split_Pin]

Worth a try!

[RoverFolkUs]

13 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Just been round to my sister's '08 Nissan Note. EML was on, code showed No. 4 cylinder misfire so have erased that, see if it returns. Airbag light is flashing though, and think something more technical than my cheepie reader to sort. Can it be underseat connectors on these like the R75s?

Seat connectors would be the easiest thing to try but clock springs are equally common on Nissan's of that era so needs a code scan if fiddling with the seat connectors doesn't sort it

Misfire will probably be a duff coil and will be back within 3 drive cycles, mark my words 😉

[JakeT]

New brake hoses on ‘the old bus’ as it’s know today. It’s 30 years old in a few weeks, and the hoses weren’t looking too great. I dropped a caliper and a hose caught it last year, which damaged one. Having been laid up over winter I thought I should do them, and have got a weekend without distraction. The boss has gone skiing for a week, and due to work commitments I couldn’t make it. I’d been putting this job off for a while as usually for me brake hose replacements end in tears (and snapped hard line).

Weirdly there’s six hoses on these. The rear have two each. Unless it’s a late car then it has one long hose. Anywho:

Up on stands at the rear and a quick look over the undercarriage. I’m still very pleased with how rot-free this car is. Garaged and not been a daily driver all it’s life. This jacking point is the nearside rear. Usually they get grotty easily now due to salt and rubbish in the gutter.

Trailing arm pockets are good too, which cause issues on these cars (and E46s).

Rear short line done, usually these can be a real pig but everything came apart brilliantly.

… And the line to the caliper from a funny S-piece of hard line.

Bled up with a cheap pressure bleeder from eBay. I have an Eezibleed but messing around with a spare tyre can be a pain. Pumping this up is nice and easy, and means I can do this job without a helper. 

Being in such a good mood as the job had gone so easily, I also remembered I have a steam cleaner. So I cleaned the rear Inner arches. The steam loosened the dirt nice and easily without putting any muddy water on the garage floor. I’m sure a few pounds of Berkshire has been liberated from the arches. Unsurprisingly what was left in my bucket can only be described as…

Before

After

Then I had lunch. And did the fronts. But I forgot to take any pictures. The fronts were easy though, and bled up nicely too.

 

Finally, the test drive. We’ve had some good rains this week, which have taken the salt off of the roads. They also dried up nicely in time for a drive. Didn’t roll into anything, so good news.

Pedal feels less  ‘wooden’ now, too which is nice. Next job will be fuel hoses, but they looked in a better state than the brake hoses.

 

Final pic, to prove I did drive it, and didn’t restyle the front bodywork.

 

[dozeydustman]

C2 has been booked in to have its two 2006 dated original spec Michelin tyres changed on Monday morning. Have ordered Uniroyal Rainexperts for it at a reasonable £55 fitted each from a local tyre place. Just need to make sure the spare wheel cradle underneath can be got at. The other 3 tyre have good tread and are dated 2021 but are a ‘Iris’ brand, which I’ve not heard of, but they seem to be holding the road well in the wet & greasy roads round here.

In a bit of a grump the ex-Beep Kia has started dropping oil, so I’ll be putting that up on ramps after the C2 has had its tyres changed and having a look.

[wuvvum]

2006?  Pah!  The rear tyres on my Volvo were made in April 1990 and they're still going strong.

(Now watch me have a blowout next time I go out in the car...)

[RoverFolkUs]

Still got the original michelins from 2005 on the back of my picasso. Easily about 6mm of tread, but they've held up well in terms of dry rot although it was garaged out of the sun for most of its life. Thinking I might bite the bullet and treat it to a set of 4 especially to replace the dubious "Chengshan Sport Cat" offerings on the front 🤨 - if it's upcoming MOT is otherwise plain sailing which I'm hoping it should be

[LightBulbFun]

9 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

2006?  Pah!  The rear tyres on my Volvo were made in April 1990 and they're still going strong.

(Now watch me have a blowout next time I go out in the car...)

Oh playing a tyre age game are we? I think @brummiejon can get most of us beat LOL

On 08/02/2023 at 21:20, brummiejon said:

I had a bit of a mishap on Flo’ at the weekend…. I knew that the 70 year old tyres weren’t going to go far… My word, the explosion scared all the seagulls in Whitstable…. By Tuesday, I’d sourced, had delivered and fitted two new tyres and inner tubes…. Totally transformed the ride….. The front tyre is next but it’s a rarer size….

 

by the wording of "front tyre is next" that implies the front tyre is still whatever was fitted to the Argson when it was laid up gawd knows how many years ago  (easily 50+ years ago)

[wuvvum]

The tyres on my Vauxhall 10 dated from the mid-'60s, but they had tubes so not quite the same.  Assume the Argson tyres are tubed as well?

[Split_Pin]

Had another chat with my wife yesterday and I'm now officially on the lookout for a MK1 Bini, Audi A3 or something along those lines. My budget is around £2k but can move a bit for the right car.

[SiC]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Had another chat with my wife yesterday and I'm now officially on the lookout for a MK1 Bini, Audi A3 or something along those lines. My budget is around £2k but can move a bit for the right car.

I was thinking about your misfire the other day. Are you running on super and been running on it for a few tankfuls?

I'm wondering if yours has been remapped in the passed. If so, they really need super otherwise they'll play up. Also would explain if it feels a bit too quick as the map might have fiddled with the throttle pedal responsiveness map. 

[Low ontime]

10 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Still got the original michelins from 2005 on the back of my picasso. Easily about 6mm of tread, but they've held up well in terms of dry rot although it was garaged out of the sun for most of its life. Thinking I might bite the bullet and treat it to a set of 4 especially to replace the dubious "Chengshan Sport Cat" offerings on the front 🤨 - if it's upcoming MOT is otherwise plain sailing which I'm hoping it should be

How about Swap then round so the budgets are on the back for the more exciting Scandinavian flick on exiting roundabouts when pressing on a bit / spirited driving? 

[brownnova]

Reminiscing of Shitefest with a quick visit to Llanberis in the old 9k… 

The mountain roads are incredible! 

[RoverFolkUs]

37 minutes ago, Low ontime said:

How about Swap then round so the budgets are on the back for the more exciting Scandinavian flick on exiting roundabouts when pressing on a bit / spirited driving? 

Tis a Citroen Xsara Picasso, no spirited driving going on here 😉🤣

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

I was thinking about your misfire the other day. Are you running on super and been running on it for a few tankfuls?

I'm wondering if yours has been remapped in the passed. If so, they really need super otherwise they'll play up. Also would explain if it feels a bit too quick as the map might have fiddled with the throttle pedal responsiveness map. 

Yeah always been run on super. More than likely been tickled in its 12 owners too! It feels fine to me though.

[Low ontime]

1 minute ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Tis a Citroen Xsara Picasso, no spirited driving going on here 😉🤣

Most round here are driven like stolen! Thought was the norm, saying that the driver is usually a fat woman with a worn old face and at least one kid in the front seat…

[louiepj]

Just spoke to one of my neighbours about why I had not seen her Mini One on the drive that she bought three weeks ago. It drove perfectly for two weeks, then no heat in the cabin. 3 and a half litres of coolant to get it up to max level on expansion bottle and and while topping it up with engine running, it sounded like a boiling kettle.
Was so tempted to tell her that two weeks of trouble-free motoring seemed good for a Bini, but I stood and empathised with her about the bad luck with the new (to her) car.

[Vince70]

This morning I decided to fill the cills with waxoyl on the survivor poverty spec Punto.

I couldn’t find my can of waxoyl and I only had a timeframe of half hour to do the job so I used some old engine oil I had knocking about lol.

A big mistake as now the driveway resembles an environmental disaster and it’s taken me another half hour to clean up the mess lol.

I’ve driven around in it since so hopefully the road won’t be covered.

 

 

 

[Vince70]

23 hours ago, JakeT said:

New brake hoses on ‘the old bus’ as it’s know today. It’s 30 years old in a few weeks, and the hoses weren’t looking too great. I dropped a caliper and a hose caught it last year, which damaged one. Having been laid up over winter I thought I should do them, and have got a weekend without distraction. The boss has gone skiing for a week, and due to work commitments I couldn’t make it. I’d been putting this job off for a while as usually for me brake hose replacements end in tears (and snapped hard line).

Weirdly there’s six hoses on these. The rear have two each. Unless it’s a late car then it has one long hose. Anywho:

Up on stands at the rear and a quick look over the undercarriage. I’m still very pleased with how rot-free this car is. Garaged and not been a daily driver all it’s life. This jacking point is the nearside rear. Usually they get grotty easily now due to salt and rubbish in the gutter.

Trailing arm pockets are good too, which cause issues on these cars (and E46s).

Rear short line done, usually these can be a real pig but everything came apart brilliantly.

… And the line to the caliper from a funny S-piece of hard line.

Bled up with a cheap pressure bleeder from eBay. I have an Eezibleed but messing around with a spare tyre can be a pain. Pumping this up is nice and easy, and means I can do this job without a helper. 

Being in such a good mood as the job had gone so easily, I also remembered I have a steam cleaner. So I cleaned the rear Inner arches. The steam loosened the dirt nice and easily without putting any muddy water on the garage floor. I’m sure a few pounds of Berkshire has been liberated from the arches. Unsurprisingly what was left in my bucket can only be described as…

Before

After

Then I had lunch. And did the fronts. But I forgot to take any pictures. The fronts were easy though, and bled up nicely too.

 

Finally, the test drive. We’ve had some good rains this week, which have taken the salt off of the roads. They also dried up nicely in time for a drive. Didn’t roll into anything, so good news.

Pedal feels less  ‘wooden’ now, too which is nice. Next job will be fuel hoses, but they looked in a better state than the brake hoses.

 

Final pic, to prove I did drive it, and didn’t restyle the front bodywork.

 

I love an E36 and I’ve had most of the models over the years and I’ve been extremely lucky, as I’ve only had nice rust free examples before the current price hike.

I still have an immaculate low mileage Ti, which luckily for me, I bought  about 9 years ago.

I normally put a smear of grease around the jacking point covers and it seems to keep  the jacking points nice a new.

 

 

[BeEP]

Took the trailer for a Sunday morning jaunt to Lincolnshire  and somewhere along the way this leapt on.  Anyone want a mechanically sorted (other than wheel bearing which is included) 1.6 Puma which needs sills & cosmetics?

[Fumbler]

Fiesta needed topping up with 1L of oil, weirdly enough. It's a financial crisis car so I'm wondering if it was subjected to the low tension piston rings other companies were fitting back then. Either that or there's a seal leaking.

[brummiejon]

19 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

Oh playing a tyre age game are we? I think @brummiejon can get most of us beat LOL

by the wording of "front tyre is next" that implies the front tyre is still whatever was fitted to the Argson when it was laid up gawd knows how many years ago  (easily 50+ years ago)

I’ve changed it already…. The rubber just brushed off the sidewall it was so dry

[JakeT]

7 hours ago, Vince70 said:

I love an E36 and I’ve had most of the models over the years and I’ve been extremely lucky, as I’ve only had nice rust free examples before the current price hike.

I still have an immaculate low mileage Ti, which luckily for me, I bought  about 9 years ago.

I normally put a smear of grease around the jacking point covers and it seems to keep  the jacking points nice a new.

 

 

I agree. Fortunately this wasn’t subject to some of the truly insane pricing that’s happened recently.

 

Love a ti, too. Fun little cars and were very cheap for a long time. Bought a high mileage one from a colleague a few years ago for £100. It was quite tidy, and with a new rear exhaust section and handbrake adjusted went through the test nicely and sold for £850.

[wuvvum]

Last time I drove the Volvo the viscous fan was making a dreadful racket.  New viscous clutches are available but they're a bit spendy, and I had a spare electric fan fitted to the Mazda which wasn't needed (the Mazda temp gauge has never been over 1/3 in my ownership, even in the heat wave last summer) so yesterday between showers I removed the viscous fan assembly and fitted the electric fan in its place (well sort of, over to one side a bit as there isn't enough clearance in front of the water pump to fit it in the middle of the rad).  There was quite a bit of play in the viscous coupling so I don't think it would have lasted much longer.

Today I had the enjoyable task of wiring the fan in, using a spare relay I found in the glovebox of the Mazda.  When the fan was in the Mazda it was just wired in to the original thermostatic switch, but there isn't one of those on the Volvo so I've had to fit a switch under the dash.  It's all working now though, although I haven't yet had the chance to get the car hot enough to need the fan but I assume it'll be sufficient - if not there's room over the other side of the rad to fit a smaller second fan.

I've also got the headlights working more or less reliably after much fiddling with the wiring to the relay, and I've re-earthed the driver's side headlight - that was earthing through the voltage regulator and the connection wasn't great so the light was a bit dim.  I've also got the foglights working again - that turned out to just be blown bulbs, so a pair of shiny new H1s sorted that, although they took some fitting as they evidently hadn't been out in a very long time (certainly since before I owned the car).  So now that I can see where I'm going at night (even if the headlights play up again I can always use the fogs) and the fan doesn't sound like it's about to take off, the car's taken another step towards being fully usable again.

This afternoon I decided to put the Visa up on the ramps and drain out a bit of oil, as the level was over the max mark on the dipstick and as mentioned before it seemed to be chucking some out of the breather.  It's a good job I did - the oil that came out was about as viscous as mineral water.  I can only assume that while it was overfuelling, not all of the fuel was escaping through the hole in the inlet manifold - some of it was evidently getting into the cylinders and then down past the rings into the sump.  I've drained off about a litre and a half and topped it off with some nice gloopy 20W50 to try and restore some semblance of viscosity, but it's going to need a full oil change - I wasn't able to do that this weekend as my oil container is full, so a visit to the tip will be required before I can do anything (the Rover is due an oil and filter change as well).

I made a small amount of progress on the MG - I was able to get the brake disc off the nearside hub, and I've also managed to get the bottom ball joint to move - I've hammered it back into place for now so at least the car can be driven if need be, I'm going to have another go at removing it but I'd reached the limit of how much banging I was prepared to inflict on the neighbours on a Sunday afternoon.

I took the Rover 75 in to Norwich this evening and on the way back I took it for a quick blat down the bypass to check that unplugging the MAF sensor has sorted the lack of power at high revs.  I can confirm that it has - I put my toe down coming off the roundabout and it got from 30 to *ahem* mph in short order.  I was going to leave the MAF unplugged but I think I will fork out for a new one as there's a bit of diesel knock at certain engine speeds which wasn't there before.  I'm also going to whip the EGR valve off and give that a good clean - I popped the hose off for a look and it's a bit* manky in there...

[goosey]

Pulled up on the road to get into character outside a customer and noticed this might have to check it out when I’ve finished 

[Vince70]

4 hours ago, goosey said:

Pulled up on the road to get into character outside a customer and noticed this might have to check it out when I’ve finished 

I love a dig around old world war 2 structures,

When we were kids, we had a massive governmental H bomb shelter that gave us hours of fun exploring.

An old pillbox was dug out recently just up the road from me.

 

[barefoot]

I nipped up to check the fleet of mini-buses as I do every week & began with the Renault Master. I pulled the dip stick, gave it a quick wipe & stuck it back in. When I removed it to read the oil level the final inch, the bit I wanted to look at was missing. The fucker had snapped off & stopped in the engine. I waited until my boss turned up and he fired up the engine with a cheery, 'I'm sure it'll be all right'.  And all right it appears to be.

A new dip stick is on order, is the old one likely to cause any damage?

[EyesWeldedShut]

1 minute ago, barefoot said:

I nipped up to check the fleet of mini-buses as I do every week & began with the Renault Master. I pulled the dip stick, gave it a quick wipe & stuck it back in. When I removed it to read the oil level the final inch, the bit I wanted to look at was missing. The fucker had snapped off & stopped in the engine. I waited until my boss turned up and he fired up the engine with a cheery, 'I'm sure it'll be all right'.  And all right it appears to be.

A new dip stick is on order, is the old one likely to cause any damage?

Plastic or steel dipstick? (The Renault, not the Boss)

[EyesWeldedShut]

Just now, EyesWeldedShut said:

Plastic or steel dipstick? (The Renault, not the Boss)

and how long is it ? (the missing bit)

[barefoot]

Sorry, it's plastic &  about an inch long.

[wuvvum]

Renner of that age will probably be plastic (and fairly soft plastic at that) so unlikely to cause too much damage.

Edit: beaten to it...