The new news 24 thread

[doug]

Forgot to say I got some raffle tickets for this while in France. Should be an interesting collection if I win.

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Bear in mind that it burns 60 litres per hour cruise and 120 litres per hour acrobatic flying. Avgas 100LL is around £2 per litre...!

For a comparison an old Cessna 152 is around 26 litres per hour cruise.

So much more fun though!  It'd be the equivalent of taking driving lessons in a Tatra 603 vs a K10 Micra.

[chadders]

6 hours ago, wuvvum said:

So much more fun though!  It'd be the equivalent of taking driving lessons in a Tatra 603 vs a K10 Micra.

Just up the coast from you, near Trimingham, there's a guy who does aerobatics several times a week, stall turns etc.. He's apparently a professional stunt pilot and practices just over the sea, it's mesmerising especially the stall turns when the engine cuts out.

[stripped fred]

With my S type going due to rust I had decided to try and manage with the cars I had. However a planned work trip changed that. 

I have to deliver one of my clients to Manchester tomorrow. The Micra is SORN, the CMax is a dog and tip car so ruled that out, my TT is currently having new suspension fitted by my son, and my wife is using her MG4, and my son's getz has no MOT, so I needed a car. 

Looked at lots of older cars but kept coming back to XF's as I love the V6 + auto in the S type. I found a 2009 3.0D premium luxury 5 mins away for £1900, less than most at that age, and with a free remap. It also has nice wheels and a clean MOT history and looked great so I bought it without test driving it properly and not being presented with any recent service history but advised by the seller that it had been done recently. I completely ignored what the buyers guides told me. He knew I was buying it as soon as he saw me. I didn't even ask for any money off! It was back here within an hour of seeing it.

I'm sure it'll be fine once my son swaps all the dampers (£220 for 4 decent ones), we swap some of the suspension arms from the S type (lower control arms must be shot), sort the coolant leak, the smell of exhaust fumes when idling, the (hopefully diesel) smoke from the exhaust under power, the occasional restricted performance message, the whistle under load, and a chuffing injector. At least it drives nicely and the aircon works and no electric faults (apart from the reversing camera and all four parking sensors although he did tell me about those). Right, off to hire a car for tomorrow's trip..

PS. Is it normal to have a fair bit of smoke come out of the oil filler cap when idling?

[SiC]

9 hours ago, wuvvum said:

So much more fun though!  It'd be the equivalent of taking driving lessons in a Tatra 603 vs a K10 Micra.

I think the better comparison would be a Ferrari Vs a Micra!

Apart from acrobatic, it's a lot more complex aircraft - supercharger/retractable undercarriage/variable pitch prop/etc. Those things means you need additional qualifications before you're allowed to learn on it. 

While ground vehicles are less restricted on what you can do when you have your licence, there is still many similarities. It's a bit like you're not allowed to learn to drive a 44 tonne artic without having at least your car license (and I think your 7.5 tonne commercial licence too?)

[wuvvum]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

I think the better comparison would be a Ferrari Vs a Micra!

Possibly - I just used the Tatra as an example of another powerful Eastern Bloc machine that has the ability to bite you on the arse if you get things wrong...

Although I didn't realise that you need additional qualifications for supercharged engines though, so I've learned something today!

[SiC]

20 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Possibly - I just used the Tatra as an example of another powerful Eastern Bloc machine that has the ability to bite you on the arse if you get things wrong...

Although I didn't realise that you need additional qualifications for supercharged engines though, so I've learned something today!

I'm still learning a lot too and I haven't even got in the air yet!

Some are qualifications on a licence and others are just hours logged in log books with examiners/instructors. I think stuff like taildragger, variable pitch prop, etc are just hours logged. While Instrument Rating, etc are on a licence. 

I imagine, like a car, a lot also is down to insurance too. You need to show proficiency before an insurance company let's you loose. No insurance no fly. 

I'm just waiting for my manager to get back from his holiday and I can then sort out getting lessons booked. Plan is to do some during the week as quieter to get slots. Also hoping the weather will stay reasonably nice in the next few weeks/months to get some time in. 

Need to also sort out getting a CAA Class 2 Medical booked in. Fail that and I won't be get my license. 

[SiC]

Back to car stuff!

Bought a pair of new DISA valves for my 330i. I didn't know if they were duff or not on my 3'er but my newer Z4 they definitely were. However unlike the Z4 the 3'er engine bay access isn't as good. By the time I had been through the hassle of removing both of them to test, I might as well throw replacement units in. 

I don't usually like doing this, especially at £240 for two Febi units, but I've always had some occasional drivability issues at low speeds. Stuff like trying to accelerate from low revs where the engine stutters/won't accelerate for a second or two. Nothing obvious to diagnose but given these valves are older than the ones on my Z4 that had failed, I played an expensive game of parts darts.

Job is basically the same as my Z4 - going through where the alternator is. Which when removing the alternator required replacing it's bolts - one use Torque To Yield aluminium bolts. I had already anticipated this and bought them in advance when I bought a set for my Z4.

Old DISAs looked fine just oily. Can't easily test these unless they're out of the car. The position looks credible on live data but the actual flaps can be not moving if cogs/etc are stripped. I may test the large DISA now it's out of the car for some reassurance I haven't wasted money but then I might be better off not knowing 🙈

Also gave me a chance to clean up the throttle body. The N52 engine doesn't actually use this for the most part - it controls throttle with the intake valve. Clever and complicated. But this is there for emergency use when that system fails and also for emissions reasons. But cleaning it is no bad thing for it.

 

So after spending £250 on electronic valves and bolts, how does it drive?

The same 🤣

I did go for a test drive last night though and tried to provoke it hesitating/etc. My best guess is decelerating on an incline, holding constant throttle at low (~1.2k rpm) revs and then trying to accelerate. Think stuck behind some idiot duffer who is still in 6th gear on a steep hill in his Skoda Yeti that is labouring the engine and loosing momentum. Finally they shift down, slowing further, then again as they haven't shifted down enough and finally start to accelerate. It's at that point I start accelerating and the engine has a few moments of nope...

Despite my best efforts I couldn't provoke it. It doesn't do it all the time (pretty rarely but also makes you heart flutter when it did as invariably it's a time you needed power) so it may still do it. Other thought was perhaps the torque converter lockup getting stuck at low revs. ZF 6HP can have TC issues. 

Apart from this very occasional issue, the car is currently absolutely faultless. Handles very well indeed - it's no sports car but it's also not that big a vehicle especially compared to most moderns. Possibly being a Saloon helps the stiffness a fair bit especially over a hatch or estate.

Of course the pièce de résistance is that engine. Creamy smooth and more than enough power to get yourself into trouble really quite quickly. Overtaking two dawdling cars that are doing 40mph have you look at the Speedo as you pull in and realise you could be doing nearly double that right now (!)

After nearly a year and half of ownership, there is definitely no reason or urge for me to sell. Basically does everything I need to in a car - apart from having a estate boot would be more useful.

 

[Split_Pin]

30 minutes ago, SiC said:

After nearly a year and half of ownership, there is definitely* no reason or urge for me to sell.

Nice work on the DISA valve replacement, sad trumpet noises for it not making a discernable difference though.

[reb]

I got a decent chunk of TV episodes uploaded to my playout server, I'm still working on a playlist generator that isn't shit though so it basically just shuffles stuff at the moment.

TONIGHT THIS MORNING on TOP GEAR

[SiC]

15 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Nice work on the DISA valve replacement, sad trumpet noises for it not making a discernable difference though.

One big thing I forgot to mention is that the DISA valves help with fuel economy. If I can get an improvement from ~23mpg when running around locally then that'd be a big bonus! My Z4 does 28-30mpg running around locally but that's with a manual box. Part of the reason why I've been using the Z4 more. 

However for comparison my older M54 equipped Z4 did 32-35mpg running around locally. Progress 🙃

[reb]

1 minute ago, SiC said:

Z4

Funnily enough they reviewed the Z4 in this episode of Top Gear, they were talking about the £30k price tag as if it was a lot of money. Meanwhile in 2025 an Astra starts at £25k

[Split_Pin]

8 minutes ago, SiC said:

One big thing I forgot to mention is that the DISA valves help with fuel economy. If I can get an improvement from ~23mpg when running around locally then that'd be a big bonus! My Z4 does 28-30mpg running around locally but that's with a manual box. Part of the reason why I've been using the Z4 more. 

However for comparison my older M54 equipped Z4 did 32-35mpg running around locally. Progress 🙃

My E46 was pretty good on fuel, same MPG as your Z4 more or less.

*looks at Range Rover and weeps*

[JakeT]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

I did go for a test drive last night though and tried to provoke it hesitating/etc. My best guess is decelerating on an incline, holding constant throttle at low (~1.2k rpm) revs and then trying to accelerate. Think stuck behind some idiot duffer who is still in 6th gear on a steep hill in his Skoda Yeti that is labouring the engine and loosing momentum. Finally they shift down, slowing further, then again as they haven't shifted down enough and finally start to accelerate. It's at that point I start accelerating and the engine has a few moments of nope...

I wonder if you have the same hesitation as me. Mine being a manual is more easy to provoke, but if I am under 1500 revs and go at the throttle quickly, it will hesitate, and then decide to get going. It's been like this since I bought it 95k ago,  and I don't drive it in a manner that causes this 99% of the time. It just very occasionally catches me out. I can provoke it by snapping the throttle open at a standstill and it will do it. Will yours do it in P/N and you stomp the throttle? Mine will hesitate around the 1200 rev mark for a second or so, and then rev like nothing has happened. Slower throttle inputs, and it's totally fine. Like you say, I can't be arsed to throw parts at it when it seems totally fine otherwise. Some people talk about resetting engine adaptations, but that's not something I like to do.

[Rustybullethole]

Driveshafts take two.

Armed with what i thought was the correct sized socket i set about the nearside. Need to find my vernier calipers as BFH was required to fit the 34 onto the bastard 35 after id incorrectly determined and bought a 34 mm socket having been unable to find my old one. 

Saying that when the fuck would i use a 35 again? 

 

[Rustybullethole]

Not quite the whole story above. The other side  with the mid shaft bearing basically told me to fuck off. So after some considerable time and effort l did. 

Am sure a haynes manual would say undo the locking bolts and slide the shaft out. 20 few years of bi metal corrosion put paid to that. 

Experience/age/new found laziness has taught me to walk away and come back another day.

That other day is here. Started badly or rather didn't when I took a bullet on fuel light roulette. 

Was sure it would start if i rolled it to the flat ground...

It didn't.

Walked back up hill to the lock up I'd not long rolled past to collect a jerry can.

Called Ange cabs who had a few quids fuel left in the panda and gave me a lift to the garage and back to the van. 

Square drive drain bolt sourced to avoid a remake of yesterday's environmental disaster. And because i only have half a litre of fresh gearbox oil in stock. 

Back up on stands and gearbox drained ready for part three soon as ive finished this pony and made a cup of tea.

 

[Rustybullethole]

What oil slick? 

Overalls and shorts that were underneath both had x2 hot wash which has extracted the stench of box oil. 

Getting quite quick at this mostly thanks to the borrowed dugga dugga though also the 4lb club hammer.

Shall have that tea now whilst the can of 'i wish it would come undone' soaks in a bit.

[SiC]

3 hours ago, JakeT said:

I wonder if you have the same hesitation as me. Mine being a manual is more easy to provoke, but if I am under 1500 revs and go at the throttle quickly, it will hesitate, and then decide to get going. It's been like this since I bought it 95k ago,  and I don't drive it in a manner that causes this 99% of the time. It just very occasionally catches me out. I can provoke it by snapping the throttle open at a standstill and it will do it. Will yours do it in P/N and you stomp the throttle? Mine will hesitate around the 1200 rev mark for a second or so, and then rev like nothing has happened. Slower throttle inputs, and it's totally fine. Like you say, I can't be arsed to throw parts at it when it seems totally fine otherwise. Some people talk about resetting engine adaptations, but that's not something I like to do.

Yeah I remember you saying about it and I was thinking about you when I was doing the DISAs. Was going to ask have you ever replaced them on your car?

My Z4 hasn't done it. Well I tell a lie, I think it did on the way back coming off a roundabout but I don't know if that was simply putting it in the wrong gear too! The Z4 is also different as it has a newer ECU setup than our early N52s. I believe the early N52s got a firmware update for the ECU that improves drivability. But I rather not screw around with WinFKP unless I really absolutely need to. Especially on an engine ECU where if the update fails, the car is bricked.

Basically what it feels like is that the accelerator pedal is completely unresponsive. Even right down hitting the kick down it does nowt. In the rare time it does, it often it's less than a split second but sometimes can be a few seconds (at least feels like that) of unresponsiveness. Often the whole car slows down significantly too and jerky for the passengers. As if you were accelerating and completely suddenly let off the accelerator pedal.

As you said it's when it's low revs and under 1.5k rpm. Being auto, it tends to keep the revs low for economy and you don't get much choice in that matter to drive around it.

On the Z4 I often keep in a high gear too - it'll happily roll along in 6th at 30mph doing ~1100rpm. Actually a gear above what the dashboard is suggesting. (Side note, it made me jump when the cruise control told me to drop down a gear!). Then maybe dropping down to 5th or 4th on an incline.

It's this weird behaviour at low revs that made me think maybe it's the DISA as they're responsible for improving low and mid range performance. 

[Rustybullethole]

Hell to the fuck yeah shes out

[Dyslexic Viking]

My 62 year old Mercedes must be MOT every 2 years like all other cars over 4 years old here. And with the exception of emissions, I think the test is as strict for this as a 4-year-old car.

And it's time for it again now and the MOT appointment is booked for it in 2 weeks and I'm dreading this.

[Rustybullethole]

4 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

My 62 year old Mercedes must be MOT every 2 years like all other cars over 4 years old here. And with the exception of emissions, I think the test is as strict for this as a 4-year-old car.

And it's time for it again now and the MOT appointment is booked for it in 2 weeks and I'm dreading this.

Built strong your merc. Much more so than pretty much everything four years old. Itll be fine. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

3 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

Built strong your merc. Much more so than pretty much everything four years old. Itll be fine. 

It is but add 62 years and 9 of those as a taxi and things are not as good as they once were.

[SiC]

For the BMW 'fans'/owners on here will probably relate to this. I certainly do after my 330i went into a dealer for it's airbag recall!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1A4yvACngx/

 

[JakeT]

2 hours ago, SiC said:

Yeah I remember you saying about it and I was thinking about you when I was doing the DISAs. Was going to ask have you ever replaced them on your car?

My Z4 hasn't done it. Well I tell a lie, I think it did on the way back coming off a roundabout but I don't know if that was simply putting it in the wrong gear too! The Z4 is also different as it has a newer ECU setup than our early N52s. I believe the early N52s got a firmware update for the ECU that improves drivability. But I rather not screw around with WinFKP unless I really absolutely need to. Especially on an engine ECU where if the update fails, the car is bricked.

Basically what it feels like is that the accelerator pedal is completely unresponsive. Even right down hitting the kick down it does nowt. In the rare time it does, it often it's less than a split second but sometimes can be a few seconds (at least feels like that) of unresponsiveness. Often the whole car slows down significantly too and jerky for the passengers. As if you were accelerating and completely suddenly let off the accelerator pedal.

As you said it's when it's low revs and under 1.5k rpm. Being auto, it tends to keep the revs low for economy and you don't get much choice in that matter to drive around it.

On the Z4 I often keep in a high gear too - it'll happily roll along in 6th at 30mph doing ~1100rpm. Actually a gear above what the dashboard is suggesting. (Side note, it made me jump when the cruise control told me to drop down a gear!). Then maybe dropping down to 5th or 4th on an incline.

It's this weird behaviour at low revs that made me think maybe it's the DISA as they're responsible for improving low and mid range performance. 

I drone on a lot, so probably did mention it before. I did the large DISA with a genuine BMW unit, as when I removed it to do the starter motor it had fallen apart. The little one was fine. A friend has a 130i with the plastic cover, and it does do it also. I agree, no need to update the firmware and the MSV80 vs MSV70 could muddy the water a bit. Plus I don't really have an issue with driveability.

I think that mine is the same, yes. Like you say, unresponsive to the throttle, no matter the amount. I tend not to drive mine below around 1200 revs a lot, usually I am in fourth at 30, which is around 1400 revs. The cruise will also shout at you if you take too long to change gear too!

With DISA out of the window, it could be VANOS, too? With it having a specific timing for an EGR effect at idle, or also needing to change the valve timing. But there's a code for slow to respond cam timing. I just gave up trying to fix it fully, in my case it's a high mileage car and probably is an annoyance for me once or twice a year.

[SiC]

1 minute ago, JakeT said:

The little one was fine.

Did you test it with INPA? My large DISA on the Z4 looked physically fine but was very broken when I actually commanded it to move. This was commanded to full close and only how far it got.

 

[SiC]

5 minutes ago, JakeT said:

With DISA out of the window, it could be VANOS, too?

Another thought also could be something in the valvetronic system too. I don't think my position sensor is original and has been replaced.

[JakeT]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

Did you test it with INPA? My large DISA on the Z4 looked physically fine but was very broken when I actually commanded it to move. This was commanded to full close and only how far it got.

 

I didn't, no, Mainly out of sheer laziness and now I have no interest in taking the manifold off again or removing the alternator.

1 minute ago, SiC said:

Another thought also could be something in the valvetronic system too. I don't think my position sensor is original and has been replaced.

Also true, mine also is and all of the Valvetronic bits are original. The valve cover has never been off of mine, but I removed the motor to replace its gasket a couple of years ago.

[SiC]

Just had a call from Mrs SiC as she's driving her Civic

"Should the big gauge in the middle be showing between one and zero? Shouldn't it be at zero when you're stationary and the engine is running?" 

She's been driving 22 years and every single car we've owned has had a rev counter...

Literally zero idea on what one is and what it actually is telling you. 😳

[artdjones]

They should make a model called the BMW Acronym.

[Wibble]

I went for an eye test today, not news worthy I know but it’s been a while. They asked if I drove, yes but then asked if that was just my own car, or also company vans? I just thought later, what the fuck does that matter? Surely your sight is good enough to drive, or it isn’t? Just struck me as an odd question later.