The new news 24 thread

[SiC]

Doing my job of facilitating my colleagues to make poor automotive life choices...

My colleague is more into motorbikes and restoring them. He usually uses his early 90s Honda Dakar bike (replacing one that was a few years old that was boring to him) but has a modern car for when he wants a tad more comfort. He recently had a LR Freelander 2 but that snapped exhaust manifold studs (apparently tadis) and was quoted by a specialist £1200 minimum and might be more if they are seized requiring the block removing. Previously to that he had a X5 for a week that was a disaster which replaced his 60s F100 truck.

Anyway he loves Alfa's having had 2 previous GTVs and a 156. He thoroughly regrets selling his last GTV. So naturally wanting something he knew and loved, he was on a hunt for one. They're a lot thinner on the ground than they used to be and had to travel far to see any.

After a mix of turds, others getting in sooner and struggling to find one, he found one local to us that is a bit of a project. It was on an Alfa forum and neither him or the seller had enough posts to talk to each other. With a bit of sluthing on Google earth, we figured from the village location where they were.

So this afternoon we rocked up and knocked on the door.

The story is that the idle control valve is faulty and keeps cutting out at idle. Their local garage diagnosed it but couldn't find a replacement. Presumably they didn't want to spend hours hunting online either. The chap was an accountant and not mechanically inclined at all.

Unfortunately while using the car, it cut out at a junction and he lost brake boost - presumably using the brakes too much with no engine running as he coasted. The resulting factor was that he impacted the back of another car in the front right.

£550 later it was my colleagues.

You can see the damaged bonnet and bumper. What I didn't know is that the bonnets are fibreglass out the factory. With a bit of brute force, I popped the bits around the light back into position. Tbh I think it could do with a new bonnet at least.
(Also the sky suddenly went orange as the sunset - hence the weird colours)

 

I didn't take any other photos but the interior is absolutely immaculate. The passenger seat doesn't even look like someone ever has sat in it.

Apart from the idle control valve, the throttle position sensor is missing it's cover. I do wonder if that might be giving duff readings which is leaving the ECU not aware that it's in an idle position. To get it home I wound up the throttle stop to keep the throttle body open and thus a high idle. Revs were bouncing about a bit as the ECU must be confused about the open flap and possibly the ICV is sticky.

Other things it needs is a new headlight but they're cheap second hand. Also the central locking doesn't work and there is no alarm fob. The passenger side door lock is a different key too. 

Belts squeal - we think some pulleys. It's had a new air con compressor last year (air con works!) and a new belt by the looks of it. So possibly that caused more load on the pulleys and they're now protesting. Cambelt has no record and these are prone to snapping at low mileage (like 36k recommended nowadays). Hence my colleague is going to get that done asap.

Apart from that, just a good routine maintenance with coolant + brake fluid + oils. Inside is lovely, rest of the paint is good and the alloys aren't really marked. Tyres are 12yrs old but not cracked and premium brands. Fronts need replacing very soon though.

Basically it's a car that needs some love however has 'good bones'.

Does anyone have any sources of Alfa breakers that might have a bonnet, bumper and throttle body assembly? Ideally colour matched but not end of the world if not as he'll get it sprayed.

[Popsicle]

New rubbers fitted on the couriering caddy today, cheap Goodyear Vector 4seasons Gen3, from Costco again.

Date code of 3625 which, according to Google, is the 1st to the 7th of September, I don't think I've ever had such factory fresh tyres before. I did notice the new ones are made in Slovenia, I had a set of the same tyres in 2023, they were made in France, hopefully the Slovenian ones last as well as the French ones as I got over 100k miles out of the froggys.

Also new wiper blades, I'm being very decadent these days. The box they arrived in would have fitted about 50 pairs of wiper blades in! At £16 posted from Valeo it seemed nice and cheap. I always used to prefer the Bosch aero's but I find them smearing and juddering after a couple of months, at least the Valeo ones last me about a year.

 

 

[stuboy]

Some nice classic cats at the pub today despite the crap weather

[loserone]

36 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Some nice classic cats

 

[richardmorris]

Nice lancia.

[Spottedlaurel]

11 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

My best mate is over the moon with the Carina..........

I'm super pleased Marcus is happy with it!

It did a great job for us in its time here, sounds like it will continue to do the same for him. And I'm pleased you're able to assist and point him in the right direction as necessary.

[lesapandre]

'All the news that's fit to print...'

"The Guardian view on hybrid cars: profitable for carmakers but not very green"

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/19/the-guardian-view-on-hybrid-cars-profitable-for-carmakers-but-not-very-green

Worth a read if you like that sort of thing - the reader comments are particularly bizarre.

[brownnova]

21 hours ago, Lacquer Peel said:

Love this, what's your role?

I teach secondary. This was part of teaching GCSE English! 

15 hours ago, Marina door handles said:

I do hope that with Vauxhall launching a new Fontera, they do a "Snowdon edition" in honour of this car....

I think they missed a trick not launching the new model at the top of Snowdon! 

11 hours ago, cort16 said:

Did you see this is how they got it down?

This was all part of the lesson… comparing the first and second attempts! 

[reb]

Behold, a shitty little cupboard my new office!

[High Jetter]

13 minutes ago, reb said:

Behold, a shitty little cupboard my new office!

Is the window behind you? 🤣

[reb]

Just now, High Jetter said:

Is the window behind you? 🤣

Long story, but I ended up with the one of the two that doesn't have a window. I'm actually not at all bothered really, means I don't have to deal with sunlight reflecting off of my monitors or fucking up the lighting if I'm filming with the greenscreen!

[High Jetter]

I kinda guessed that, looking at the vent. Hope it works out for you, and the divide between home and work helps your productivity as well as sanity.