The new news 24 thread

[wuvvum]

The North Sea at Walcott at 10:30pm this evening. 

[High Jetter]

Nice. The shepherds will be pleased.

[davehedgehog31]

Not been active on here for quite a while, despite some car movements there's not been anything particularly happening with them other than using and enjoying. My posting tailed off around October last year, so an update of comings and goings since then.

In October I sadly inherited a car, a 2018 Kia Cee'd Estate in 1.6 diesel flavour. It's a really good AN CAR, really just about the perfect form factor for a car as far as I'm concerned, big enough to do 99% of everything you could ever need, but compact enough to never be a pain to park etc. Other than slightly disappointing fuel economy compared to some similar cars I've owned, it's been great. It has been pretty much appropriated in the style of the British Museum by Miss Hedgehog on account of it's featherweight steering and general presentable modern-ness.

Once it had been fully commandeered, it meant her C30 was for the chop, it exited to @gm, a painless transaction as always after only a short period dealing with the finest minds of the West of Scotland on Gumtree.

Another exit was the GSA, I had bought this project with the best of intentions, but found my time and motivation sorely lacking, as I was in a "too many cars" situation it was decided to move it on.

Having not learned my lesson, in late March I picked up this very cheap, low mileage Kia Cee'd with a brief MOT fail list. I quickly set to work on it and a mere three months later it still sits in bits under my car port, should really get the finger out.

In another incoming, I bought this Peugeot RCZ 2.0 HDi from @Jazoli of this parish, a top seller. Other than a wheel balance it has simply been used and enjoyed. I'd always fancied one of these and when his well looked after example with the diesel engine came up my jimmies were suitably rustled. This was very much a heart over head decision, but it has actually turned out to be a very sound and actually reasonably sensible purchase. It's comfy, fun on the twisties and economical to run. It was bizarrely cheap for me to insure too. Cracking car and my son absolutely loves it, christening it the "race car". It's definitely one of those cars you can't help but look back at, it's an amazing design. 

Have had a boomerang moment with my old Kangoo, having sold it to @Jim Bell several months previous my dad decided he was after a small van and he bought it from him. It recently shat it's power steering pump and my dad not being particularly mechanically minded and fancying something a bit newer replaced it and bequeathed the Kangoo back to me. It has AC and as a consequence has some god-awful electro-mechanical power steering setup hidden down behind the front bumper. Pumps are ££££.

The two non-movers on the fleet have been the Lexus and Skoda. The Fabia has been kind of replaced by the Kia, but I can't bring myself to part with it as it's such a well sorted little thing, even the AC is ice cold. Lexus continues to do as it does, 40mpg in total serenity with tons of performance on tap and a cracking stereo, I don't see it going anywhere for a long, long time.

As it stands a six car household is at least one too many. The grey Kia was really meant as a flip so I just need to get that finished off and some degree of equilibrium can be restored. Finding it quite hard to motivate myself to finish a car I don't particularly want to drive at the end of it though, cars are definitely a hobby for me rather than a profit making exercise which is just as well!

 

[richardmorris]

8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Nice. The shepherds will be pleased.

Red sky at night, sheep on fire 🔥 

[Supernaut]

Good to see you back @davehedgehog31

[egg]

Sprayster have a clearance sale on - just picked up some useful* odds and ends including a spray can of Mondeo Rimini Blue and some white grease.

Good for mini-shite painters who use rattle cans too.

https://www.sprayster.com/product-tag/clearance/

 

[High Jetter]

I'm pretty sure my van has OMGHGF as it's overheating and over-pressurizing after only a few miles. Have dropped the coolant and re-filled a few times, going to give it another go now. Are the £12 testers on ebay worth it for a second opinion? Anyone got a cheepie van for sale or loan while I get this sorted?

[HMC]

Taken just now from my living room….

 

[auntiemaryscanary]

58 minutes ago, HMC said:

Taken just now from my living room….

 

Wirksworth is Derbyshire. Might not on be on time for the quarry shift in the morning!

[egg]

I was being a bus wanker yesterday and saw this in Margate while being talked at by a fellow traveller. Not sure if it's a proper old skool factor or not? Seems more wheels and audio. As Herne Bay has lost both of ours in the last decade, always keen to see an indie clinging on to life.

[gm]

quick, run down and chuck some tarmac in that pothole !

[ruffgeezer]

2 hours ago, High Jetter said:

I'm pretty sure my van has OMGHGF as it's overheating and over-pressurizing after only a few miles. Have dropped the coolant and re-filled a few times, going to give it another go now. Are the £12 testers on ebay worth it for a second opinion? Anyone got a cheepie van for sale or loan while I get this sorted?

Nope, I can't remember who I was talking to, but they had a customer use one of those and diagnosed a faulty hesdgasket - when tested with a more expensive bit of kit it passed.   They then used the cheap kit on a few other cars in the workshop they all failed too.

[egg]

The i10 got scraped back in September 2022, at the time I just rubbed the offending car's paint off and left it, as it's plastic. Woman owned up, I said give me £20 for paint and we'll forget about it. And to her credit she did.

Today is so nice I just chucked some high build primer on, painted it and clear coated. Quick and dirty job - it's not a Mondeo after all! There's a couple of drips, but it doesn't matter - the rest of the bumpers are a state too!

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Taken just now from my living room….

 

Don't think I've ever seen a tracked steamroller before!

[HMC]

Just now, wuvvum said:

Don't think I've ever seen a tracked steamroller before!

oh yeah, i didn’t realise. I noticed the L plate  more!

[wuvvum]

Or is that a drive chain driving twin rear "axles"?  Difficult to tell.

[HMC]

2 hours ago, gm said:

quick, run down and chuck some tarmac in that pothole !

Thats quite a topic round here. People have been aerosoling penises around larger ones in the belief it encourages their repair.

[High Jetter]

1 minute ago, wuvvum said:

Or is that a drive chain driving twin rear "axles"?  Difficult to tell.

The last pic shows a roller so yes, I reckon one rear axle drives the other by chain(s)

 

[egg]

We need to go back to horses, all this modern heavy steam tech causing damage to our roads.....

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

Nope, I can't remember who I was talking to, but they had a customer use one of those and diagnosed a faulty hesdgasket - when tested with a more expensive bit of kit it passed.   They then used the cheap kit on a few other cars in the workshop they all failed too.

Thanks, I had a feeling that might be the consensus.

[JJ0063]

Just grabbed another trailer off marketplace for £60, electrics don’t work - luckily I had my board and a load of cable ties! 

This trailer is tiny and an arse to reverse as can’t even see it in the mirrors!

[Mally]

Always unhitch to reverse if you can't see it. I've damaged a few cars by forgetting it was on.

[richardmorris]

Driving back down the a 34 from oxford there were a couple of droop snout firenzas going north.

[vulgalour]

One more job application rejection letter to add to the pile.

Tomorrow's job interview will probably lead to the same, I'm not deluding myself on that score.  Feedback is always that I interviewed well but there was a more suitable candidate, whatever that actually means.  Just love being second-best all the time, it's a great feeling.

I feel like the LDV Cub of employees.

[mintwth]

The joys of a Megane RS225......this week I have mostly been replacing the washer motor and the driver's window temic.

Someone had clearly been inside the driver's door before. Most of the clips on the back of the door card are snapped or mangled and two of the four attachment screws were rattling around in the bottom of the door instead of being screwed in. Wondered why that door sometimes rattled. 

Also discovered from a trip to the scrappy that it's far easier to get to the temic on a Scenic. 

[lesapandre]

Out and about in France today - enjoy some spots on a French Sunday. First good weather without rain this month.

[High Jetter]

Love that 304

[wuvvum]

On 22/06/2024 at 21:43, wuvvum said:

I had an impressive collection of warning lights by the time I got back though.

I have a new ABS sensor to fit, tomorrow if the weather holds, which should hopefully put most of those lights out...

That's a bit more like it.

Got the sensor fitted this afternoon.  It was one of those jobs which was more difficult than it should have been but less difficult than it might have been.  My hopes weren't high when I saw that the head of the bolt holding the sensor in was basically just a blob of rust, but with a bit of persuasion from a hammer I managed to get a Torx bit to grip enough to wind it out, and the sensor itself came out with some prolonged and enthusiastic wiggling.  The plug is hidden in a little box up inside the inner arch behind the liner, so that took a bit of getting to as access isn't brilliant, but it wasn't the worst I've done.  Plugged the new one in, put everything back together, started the car up and pulled out of the car park, and as soon as I got over 10mph the dash beeped at me and all the lights went out.  I didn't even have to clear the codes.  So that's that job done.

I've been having a poke around the Merc today.  I'm still reasonably convinced that it's the rear discs causing the brake judder, and given that a. they're cheaper than the fronts and b. one of them is badly scored anyway, I'm going to replace them in the first instance.  I'm hoping there aren't too many rinkydinks with them - a HBOL is available for the W203 but it only covers 4- and 5-cylinder models so all the engine-related stuff is going to be useless to me, so I probably won't bother unless I find a cheap secondhand one.

I plugged the laptop in and got the Delphi to read the codes - only permanent engine code is one for one of the MAF sensors being out of spec - that might need doing at some point, but it runs fine, pulls as it should and there's no lights on so I'm going to leave it for now.  The interior lights don't seem to want to come on when the doors open - I'm sure they were working before.  The lights themselves still work when switched on manually so it's not going to be a fuse.  I'm not sure on that one.  Another electrical oddity happened last night while I was out in it - the battery light came on with a message saying "Battery / Alternator visit workshop", it stayed on for a few seconds then went out again, and it's not done it since.

I didn't get time to investigate the radio - removing it is rather an involved procedure - so that'll have to stay broken for a bit longer.  The aircon doesn't work either - it's showing a fault code for low refrigerant pressure.  I poked one of the Schrader valves with a screwdriver and it hissed, albeit not very enthusiastically, so there's obviously some gas in there, so hopefully a regas M8 will sort it.

Speaking of aircon, annoyingly the Rover doesn't seem to be blowing cold air anymore, so it looks like it's got a slow leak somewhere.  There's still some gas in the system as the compressor still kicks in, but not enough to provide any noticeable cooling.  The garage did say when they did the checks that the condenser looked a bit ropey, although they were unable to check it fully as it's a bit hard to access.  So it looks like it'll need a new one of those.  I've got a week's holiday coming up soon, and it looks like I'll have plenty to keep me occupied...

[SiC]

2 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Got the sensor fitted this afternoon.  It was one of those jobs which was more difficult than it should have been but less difficult than it might have been.  My hopes weren't high when I saw that the head of the bolt holding the sensor in was basically just a blob of rust, but with a bit of persuasion from a hammer I managed to get a Torx bit to grip enough to wind it out, and the sensor itself came out with some prolonged and enthusiastic wiggling.  The plug is hidden in a little box up inside the inner arch behind the liner, so that took a bit of getting to as access isn't brilliant, but it wasn't the worst I've done.  Plugged the new one in, put everything back together, started the car up and pulled out of the car park, and as soon as I got over 10mph the dash beeped at me and all the lights went out.  I didn't even have to clear the codes.  So that's that job done.

Disconnecting and reconnecting the front sensor in that box on my 330i fixed that. Rear sensor I had to replace though to get that to work...

I have to say that the BMW fixings I've come across can look pretty grotty from the outside but actually seem to be really high quality and don't snap or round if gone at carefully. I'll give them that one.

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

I've been having a poke around the Merc today.  I'm still reasonably convinced that it's the rear discs causing the brake judder, and given that a. they're cheaper than the fronts and b. one of them is badly scored anyway, I'm going to replace them in the first instance.  I'm hoping there aren't too many rinkydinks with them - a HBOL is available for the W203 but it only covers 4- and 5-cylinder models so all the engine-related stuff is going to be useless to me, so I probably won't bother unless I find a cheap secondhand one.

@Stanky and @Talbot are our Merc W203/S203 rear brake experts!