The new news 24 thread

[Sigmund Fraud]

How long were you stranded for?

 

About 45 minutes. Joining the AA hasn't made much of a difference to my drinking, but at least they're very helpful when my old shitters break down.

[wuvvum]

Q. Were the vans ever made with the 2 cylinder?

Defo not.  AFAIK the vans were only ever available with the NA diesel (XUD or DW8) or the 1124cc petrol.  Would have been an "interesting" drive with the 652cc engine though.  Probably the slowest light van since the 845cc Estafette.

[dollywobbler]

Incredibly, the Citroen Acadiane (Dyane van) remained in production until 1987 with the good-old 602cc powerplant.

[alf892]

I reckon you'd need to be a bit of a bullshit spouter to make a living charging folk 450 for a 'detail', I reckon you'd have to start by coming up with new scientific-sounding names for your bucket, cloths, sponge etc and take it from there.

Been done I reckon......one of my neighbours has his new merc detailed about twice a year. Even has a water filtration plant to wash it.

 

Just had it quartz coated he told me on Saturday......still looks fugging white to me.....never gets dirty anyway

[wuvvum]

Got the sill welded up on the Solara this afternoon - my mate was happy enough to do it when he saw how small the hole was.  Just got to book it back in for a retest now.  It was the first time the car had been for a proper run for months, and I'd forgotten how nippy it is.  It gets past dithering Sunday pensioners in no time at all.

 

This evening I went to run the van up to the local petrol station to pump up the OSR tyre, which has a (very) slow puncture.  The van decided it didn't want to know.  It's been getting more and more awkward to start from cold when it's been stood a while, and today it was absolutely dire.  I ended up having to run the jump leads across from the Rover 75, and even then it took a good ten minutes of solid cranking before it started.  It would cough after a few seconds of winding it over, but then nothing. 

 

Eventually it rattled into life with a huge cloud of black smoke - by which time the jump leads were almost too hot to touch.  Left it ticking over for ten minutes or so, then turned it off; came back 15 minutes later and, after cranking it for another 30 seconds or so, it fired back up again.  Let it run up to temperature, then switched it off for 15 minutes again, and it didn't want to know.  I wasn't about to get the jump leads out again, so I cheated and gave it a squirt of Easystart, which got it going straight away.

 

I have no fugging idea what's wrong with it.  It's a JTD so all common rail bo11ox, so I'm even more clueless than I would be with a normal diesel engine.  Someone suggested glow plugs, but a big direct injection engine like that shouldn't really need them.  Maybe there's an air leak or an air lock somewhere in the fuel line?

 

Anyway, I then got in and took it for a cane round the block.  It pulled as well as ever, but when I got back onto the car park I noticed the radiator fan was running, which I've never heard it do before.  Looked at the dash and the temp gauge was just over half - it normally sits rock steady at 1/3.  Popped the bonnet again and took the expansion cap off - the bottle was dry as a bone.  It eventually drank six litres of water before the bottle was back at the "max" mark, so it must have been bloody low.  No idea where it had all gone - no sign of any leaks or OMGHGF.  I hope it's not going to start playing up badly as it's been a good old van and I want to get it back on the road this summer.

 

On a more positive note, the Rover 75 started straight up with no preheat after sitting for two weeks, so the engine's obviously still got plenty of compression despite its 230K miles.  The exhaust blow has got worse though.

[dollywobbler]

All of our brand new minibuses have glowplugs - VW and Peugeot - so someone still deems them necessary. Black smoke is a bit odd though. Duff glowplugs usually result in grey and much lumpiness once it catches. Presumably there's MAF sensors and that sort of crap about the place? 

[wuvvum]

Presumably there's MAF sensors and that sort of crap about the place? 

Yep, it's probably got sensors coming out of its arse.  There's no warning lights on though - EML and injector light go out as they should - so I suspect it could be a mechanical issue rather than electronic.

 

I think most diesels need glow plugs in cold conditions - even the Rover of Doom needs a bit of heat when the temperature's below freezing - but when it's in the mid-20s and bright sunshine I'd expect them to manage without.  The van's only done 90K, so the engine shouldn't have lost too much of its original compression.

[twosmoke300]

Di shouldn't need glow plugs to start in these temps. They are mainly fitted now to help cold start emissions. I expect the fuel had run back to the tank due to a small air leak. Was it low on fuel and / or parked up hill ?

[wuvvum]

It is fairly low on fuel, although I stuck a gallon in last month and haven't really been anywhere since.  You might be right about the fuel running back to the tank - (what I assume was) the lift pump was whirring away for quite a while when I turned the ignition on.  It did stop eventually though - which I took to mean that it had done its job, but maybe it just gave up.

[Shep Shepherd]

Driving home from Cambridge in The Wentworth late last night, I got stuck in a traffic jam on the M11 for almost an hour due to some numpty roadtard in a Zafira hitting the central reservation. Not long afterwards, when I joined the M25, the car's temperature gauge went almost into the red zone, resulting in this:

 

 

While I waited an hour for the AA contractor to rescue me, I ascertained that a blanking plug on the car's radiator had popped out, leading to most of the coolant escaping:

 

 

Luckily, said plug was prevented from being lost on the road by the car's engine under-tray, which enabled it to be rescued and refitted with a bit of PTFE tape; after refilling the cooling system with water at a garage and leaving the car to idle for a bit, I drove it back to Southend from Brentwood with no problems at all - old Volvos are hard to kill

 

I'll be replacing the coolant at some point this week, as the cooling system contains about 95% plain water now...

 

 

 

EDIT (15:30): Just checked the car and it seems none the worse for its ordeal. Just as well that I saw the temperature gauge rising and managed to stop in a timely manner

[EssDeeWon]

^I hate getting stuck in traffic with older cars, I have been scar'd by seeing my dads SD1 implode in London many years ago when sitting at Piccadilly Circus traffic lights. It was like one of those smoke machines from Top of the Pops in the 80s.

[vulgalour]

It was like one of those smoke machines from Top of the Pops in the 80s.

...and what did it look like when it imploded? *buddumtish*

[meshking]

Got the twin pots sorted, just need to do a few more bits to the orange one over winter/summer and then it'll probably be up for sale. Not sure what happened to the altitude of it, but both my cars need their ride heights sorting out...

[phil_lihp]

Because Renault:

 

Kangoo central locking doesn't work, not amount of pissing about locking/unlocking doors, pressing the key fobs etc makes any difference. Went to get fuel before (a fiver's worth) and upon piss-arsing about trying to get the locking fuel cap before the locking started going mental. Anyhow, daughter and mate were ina  beauty supplies place so I got some interior cleaner foam out and with the spray air freshener I lobbed in earlier it now smells slightly less dead dog than it did before.

 

I might be tardy to the party here but mine had exactly the same issue.  It turns out there's a central control unit which deals with various internal electronics including the central locking and interior cab light.  I found mine had been unplugged - if you unscrew the speedo pod (easy to do, the screws are all exposed) there's a white plug underneath which on mine was dangling loose.  Once plugged back in, I got the remote locking back.  Of course, it was unplugged for a reason, the immobilisor light stayed on permanently afterwards but that was easily "fixed" with a small piece of screws up paper stuffed in front of the LED.

[HMC]

Sorry to hear about your radiator woes with the wentworth shep. As you say at least it seems none the worse for it.

 

504 estate rot repairs-

been sectioning and removing bits of bulkhead to get at the worst of the rot. Its suprises me the interior wasn't more mouldy when I got it considering the gaping holes the water could get through!

[dollywobbler]

Just did a quick pre-test prep on the Sirion. In for it's MOT tomorrow. I'm quite worried. I've not used this garage for MOTs before. I suspect it'll be a lot closer to a proper test than I'm used to! The Sirion is the best car to test them with though. Whether I'll trust them with the 2CV can wait until next year. 

[Shep Shepherd]

Sorry to hear about your radiator woes with the wentworth shep. As you say at least it seems none the worse for it.

 

504 estate rot repairs-

been sectioning and removing bits of bulkhead to get at the worst of the rot. Its suprises me the interior wasn't more mouldy when I got it considering the gaping holes the water could get through!image.jpg

 

The car seems to be happy enough, but I'll need to get some new coolant into it at some point this week; running a car with plain water in the cooling system isn't my bag.

 

The rust on your 504 would see me searching for the telephone number of the local scrapyard if I unearthed it on one of my Volvos!

[cort16]

Sorry to hear about your radiator woes with the wentworth shep. As you say at least it seems none the worse for it.

 

504 estate rot repairs-

been sectioning and removing bits of bulkhead to get at the worst of the rot. Its suprises me the interior wasn't more mouldy when I got it considering the gaping holes the water could get through!image.jpg

 

To be fair it's no worse than the bulk head of most 80's fords.

[wuvvum]

Van started first flick of the key this evening.

 

Fuck knows.

[cobblers]

Daily golf is coming up for MOT TIME and there's fucking awful noises coming from the suspension on one corner and the brakes on another, along with the exhaust not actually being "there" past the rear passengers footwell and a rusty great hole creeping past the lifesaver side skirts (it would have been condemned en years ago if it wasn't for those bastards). X-Xbolox toledo has ABS fault and I don't know an MOT tester friendly enough to not notice the modulator even if I did wire the bulb up to come on and go out as it should (it was previously wired to the alternator light, hence the non functioning alternator light that was doing bolloxxxes head in)

I'm bored of running round in shitboxes and I'm seriously considering waving £250pcm at some kind of 5 year old hot hatch on the never never. I keep thinking I'll wake up the next morning and change my mind, but I don't. I even looked at a Corsa VXR on autotrader the other day.

 

Is this the menopause? I need a great big dose of "pull yourself together man".

[vulgalour]

Even I've been there.  It'll either be the right decision or it won't.  Chances are you just need a healthy period of using cars you love without them emptying your wallet and days of money and time respectively.

[saucedoctor]

IIRC Clarkson's Volvo did the same thing (the one he bought for £1, Hammond got a Rover 416GTI and May got an Audi 80)

[cort16]

Daily golf is coming up for MOT TIME and there's fucking awful noises coming from the suspension on one corner and the brakes on another, along with the exhaust not actually being "there" past the rear passengers footwell and a rusty great hole creeping past the lifesaver side skirts (it would have been condemned en years ago if it wasn't for those bastards). X-Xbolox toledo has ABS fault and I don't know an MOT tester friendly enough to not notice the modulator even if I did wire the bulb up to come on and go out as it should (it was previously wired to the alternator light, hence the non functioning alternator light that was doing bolloxxxes head in)

I'm bored of running round in shitboxes and I'm seriously considering waving £250pcm at some kind of 5 year old hot hatch on the never never. I keep thinking I'll wake up the next morning and change my mind, but I don't. I even looked at a Corsa VXR on autotrader the other day.

 

Is this the menopause? I need a great big dose of "pull yourself together man".

 

after years and years of running old cars there is something comforting about the warm fluffy blanket of a manufacturer warranty.

I got rid of my leased Merc and have a BMW that cost 3500 but that's worse as it's not a new car and it's a lot of money to lose if it blows up. I recon I'm going to lease a new focus when I get rid of all these BMW's so I can spend time on the cars I actually like working on like my

Cortina and SD1

[Richard]

To be fair it's no worse than the bulk head of most 80's fords.

 

Not much worse than the bulkhead of my 1995 Escort was in 2002.

[vulgalour]

I'm looking at clutch kits for the Xantia online at the moment, ranging from £115ish from GSF to a supposedly Valeo kit on eBay for under £60 posted.

 

What's my best bet with this?  I'm told Valeo is the only way to go and I should expect to be paying in the region of £150 for a full kit.  The garage that quoted me for the job were perfectly happy for me to provide my own kit to them rather than relying on them to source one so I'd like to get the best balance of cost and quality.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Daily golf is coming up for MOT TIME and there's fucking awful noises coming from the suspension on one corner and the brakes on another, along with the exhaust not actually being "there" past the rear passengers footwell and a rusty great hole creeping past the lifesaver side skirts (it would have been condemned en years ago if it wasn't for those bastards). X-Xbolox toledo has ABS fault and I don't know an MOT tester friendly enough to not notice the modulator even if I did wire the bulb up to come on and go out as it should (it was previously wired to the alternator light, hence the non functioning alternator light that was doing bolloxxxes head in)

I'm bored of running round in shitboxes and I'm seriously considering waving £250pcm at some kind of 5 year old hot hatch on the never never. I keep thinking I'll wake up the next morning and change my mind, but I don't. I even looked at a Corsa VXR on autotrader the other day.

 

Is this the menopause? I need a great big dose of "pull yourself together man".

Pull yourself together man, imagine how pissed off you'd be if you had those MOT woes and £250 PCM to pay on top. A 5 year old hatch is just as likely to have stupid ABS etc problems as a 10 or 15 yr old one.

Due to the unique way I administer my cars I had 3 to MOT on the last day of July last year 2x59 plates and an x reg Arosa-the only one to pass first time without any advises ? Yes,obviously the Arosa otherwise it wouldn't be a very good motivational tale would it ? The 4 year old Fiat 500 needed pads and discs and the 4 year old Chrysler upper wishbone bushes , a washer motor and £200 worth of fucking about with the handbrake.

[drum]

For two months payments you could get yourself a decent shitemobile. Or, thinking about it another way, imagine how well maintained a chodwagon could be at £250 per month.

[catsinthewelder]

^this

 

Over the last ten years of driving the car that cost the most in repairs was the newest (admittedly it was a Renault Megane).  I would have scrapped an old banger if I blew the engine and couldn't fix it myself but because the car was worth £2k it was worth chucking £1k that I couldn't afford at fixing it.

[Sigmund Fraud]

I'm seriously considering waving £250pcm at some kind of 5 year old hot hatch on the never never.

 

For that kind of money, you would be far* better off buying a new shitter every month !

 

On a more serious note, Golf woes sound like £150 worth of parts and the Toledo can receive a ghetto ABS delete using a £30 scrapyard master cylinder and a roll of brake pipe.

 

Add a few expletive-filled tinkering afternoons, and you will have two road legal, interesting, reliable cars for £200. You know it makes sense !!!

[twosmoke300]

^^

Sorry to be the fun police but many abs equipped cars did away with the brake load sensing or pressure reducing valve for the rear brakes. You may find that the rear wheels lock up early if you just remove the abs.