The new news 24 thread

[dollywobbler]

Thought I'd cured the XM's sunroof leak, but it turned out I'd just parked it nose-up, so all the water went all over the rear of the headlining instead...

[chaseracer]

Thought I'd cured the XM's sunroof leak, but it turned out I'd just parked it nose-up, so all the water went all over the rear of the headlining instead...

 

Near Aberystwyth, yesterday...

 

 

[dollywobbler]

It was quite wet yesterday. More rain tomorrow. Ugh.

 

To cheer myself up, I thought I'd watch Darcey Bussell recount the life of Audrey Hepburn, mainly because a gorgeous little Autobianchi features. Sadly, it mostly features Darcey driving incredibly badly, and not knowing how to work the indicators. 

[oman5]

My everyday volvo, 20 years old, 248k. I took it to halfords for a £29 MOT.

 

 

Bugger me, it passed! Not even an advisory. Bloke said it was in better Nick than a lot of the newer stuff he sees.

Result!

[skattrd]

I wasn't sure if this was a grin or a grump, the jury is still out on that so it's in here.

I am in Jersey having purchased a Daihatsu and my ferry back home has been cancelled due to adverse weather.

I have been offered passage on the over night ferry tomorrow night instead, arriving 7am Sunday. I'm not keen on overnight ferries so I am currently contemplating going for a quick drive across Northern France and up to Calais instead.

[richardmorris]

Drove back from n. Wales yesterday via Evesham to collect a new glass fibre boot box for the 2cv. Generally very quiet, but the occasional idiot hogging the middle lane, and the odd obviously drunk driver driving erratically at 35 in a 60.

 

New Years eve I wasn't drinking as I was chauffeuring my godmother ( X1/9's original owener). Taking her back home to marford at 1am there wasn't another car on the road, but I did have to avoid the drunk pedestrians wandering about like extras from the walking dead.

 

Ps, despite n. Wales fuzz stopping 13,000 motorists in the last four weeks for mandatory breathalising I didn't see a single police car on New Years day and 450 miles.

[dollywobbler]

I saw an undercover Police car today. Some of them are very subtle. This is a black BMW with very, very little clue as to what it's daily job is. Not sure if they were scanning plates though as the minibus I was in shows up as untaxed at the moment! Computers must have bank holidays too.

[scruff]

 

 

To cheer myself up, I thought I'd watch Darcey Bussell recount the life of Audrey Hepburn, mainly because a gorgeous little Autobianchi features. Sadly, it mostly features Darcey driving incredibly badly, and not knowing how to work the indicators. 

 

She is fit though, bless her

[dollywobbler]

One of 'those' nights. Mrs DW set off for a night of dancing, with the 2CV her chosen steed. I get a call a short while later as the headlights have failed. I dash off, all shiny-armour in the XM. On arrival, no headlights at all - dip or main. Relays are clicking (I wish I'd never fitted the sodding things) but no juice. Pull out a headlamp to check the wiring, it falls apart in my hands! Shite!

 

I cobble it all back together as best I can and Mrs DW bravely follows me back home with one sidelight and the hazards going. Then the 2CV lights up like a council house at Christmas. At which point, the XM's headlights start flickering. FFS. 

 

We have however made it home. Dancing cancelled. I guess I'll be digging around in my parts stash for headlamps tomorrow, and trying to work out what went wrong. A relay fault shouldn't affect both dip and main as they're on different relays - and they seemed to be working anyway. Odd.

[Alexg]

After much consideration I decided to offer my beloved Estate on The Allegro Facebook page. It's been a wonderful car since I purchased her 3 years ago, but has a few niggles and bits that need the attention of a more dedicated and skilled owner. It was snapped up straight away. I'm sitting here with a deposit in my back pocket with the car going a week Sunday. I'm fucking devastated, I feel like I've just had the family pet put down or something. I've never been so emotionally attached to a car before, I was flippin' crying for half an hour, over a bit of 70's metal! What the flipping hell is wrong with me?

[trigger]

It's easy to get attached to cars and man, that Allegro was a hunny, i was generally interested in it myself, the wife even gave it the ok but it was just the wrong time ideally although i was hoping it was still available tomorrow. 

 

So do you have plans for anything else next or is it too soon to think about that?.

[fordperv]

This is why I don't sell cars

[richardmorris]

One of 'those' nights. Mrs DW set off for a night of dancing, with the 2CV her chosen steed. I get a call a short while later as the headlights have failed. I dash off, all shiny-armour in the XM. On arrival, no headlights at all - dip or main. Relays are clicking (I wish I'd never fitted the sodding things) but no juice. Pull out a headlamp to check the wiring, it falls apart in my hands! Shite!

 

I cobble it all back together as best I can and Mrs DW bravely follows me back home with one sidelight and the hazards going. Then the 2CV lights up like a council house at Christmas. At which point, the XM's headlights start flickering. FFS. 

 

We have however made it home. Dancing cancelled. I guess I'll be digging around in my parts stash for headlamps tomorrow, and trying to work out what went wrong. A relay fault shouldn't affect both dip and main as they're on different relays - and they seemed to be working anyway. Odd.

 

Headlamp switch contacts.

[Alexg]

I don't know Trig. The bar has been set flipping high so I'm not going to buy just anything. I reckon I've got up to Ã‚£2500 to spend so I'll take my time.

[Bren]

After much consideration I decided to offer my beloved Estate on The Allegro Facebook page. It's been a wonderful car since I purchased her 3 years ago, but has a few niggles and bits that need the attention of a more dedicated and skilled owner. It was snapped up straight away. I'm sitting here with a deposit in my back pocket with the car going a week Sunday. I'm fucking devastated, I feel like I've just had the family pet put down or something. I've never been so emotionally attached to a car before, I was flippin' crying for half an hour, over a bit of 70's metal! What the flipping hell is wrong with me?

At least it was snapped up and you did'nt have to bang it on ebay.

[vulgalour]

You could bid on that red Princess I heard about somewhere, there's still time.

[dollywobbler]

Headlamp switch contacts.

 

Yup, between us (we live an exciting life) we'd pretty much come to that conclusion, while watching Esio Trot and drinking hot chocolate. Odd that the relays were actually clicking though. Guess the switch will be coming off for a clean-up tomorrow. Maybe I can get on to the XM's relays too - as mentioned in this month's Citroenian (I'm not a member, but Adrian sent me a copy as I let him use that front cover shot).

[Sloth in a bowl]

Yup, between us (we live an exciting life) we'd pretty much come to that conclusion, while watching Esio Trot and drinking hot chocolate. Odd that the relays were actually clicking though. Guess the switch will be coming off for a clean-up tomorrow. Maybe I can get on to the XM's relays too - as mentioned in this month's Citroenian (I'm not a member, but Adrian sent me a copy as I let him use that front cover shot).

 

If the switch is firing the relay then surely the other thing to check is a shared earthing point between dip and main (if such a thing exists on a 2CV)

[dollywobbler]

That was a thought, but the sidelights were operating fine (which is rare enough!) and I would have thought they shared the earth. Even with a poor earth, I'd expect some life from the bulbs. I'm starting to think that getting this poor 2CV through its final 800 miles (199,200 now!) is going to be more of a challenge than I first thought. 

[trigger]

I don't know Trig. The bar has been set flipping high so I'm not going to buy just anything. I reckon I've got up to £2500 to spend so I'll take my time.

What you really want is a Honda Civic then in that case! (It also comes with free Brands Hatch touring car weekend tickets in November)

[drum]

The 3 has been earning its keep again.

 

The hilux had to be pushed out of that flat field thanks to its road tyres

[EssDeeWon]

Not News but I thought this was worth a post.

 

Flying Squad footage from the mid 80s with plenty of chod on show from 7min 50secs

 

 

[Doctormop]

Think it was 40 years ago tonight 2nd January 1975 that The Sweeney was first broadcast ( OK Regan was shown in 1974) but the actual series began with Brian Blessed playing arch villain Frank Kemble this very night!

Surely the best TV cop show of it's time.

[dave21478]

I wasn't sure if this was a grin or a grump, the jury is still out on that so it's in here.

I am in Jersey having purchased a Daihatsu and my ferry back home has been cancelled due to adverse weather.

I have been offered passage on the over night ferry tomorrow night instead, arriving 7am Sunday. I'm not keen on overnight ferries so I am currently contemplating going for a quick drive across Northern France and up to Calais instead.

 

Check actual availability before you decide. As far as I know, the Dover - Calais route has been borkd by the weather for a few days and when that happens there is often a few days of backlog. Maybe try the chunnel?

[dave21478]

DW - if the relays are clicking then the problem is in the power that they are used to switch. Supply from battery....is there inline fuses anywhere?...to the relay contact....to the headlight. If the relay clicks then it is getting a signal and is earthing, so the problem must be with the power supply or a fault with the headlight lamp itself.

[mat_the_cat]

That was a thought, but the sidelights were operating fine (which is rare enough!) and I would have thought they shared the earth. Even with a poor earth, I'd expect some life from the bulbs.

 

It is possible (if the problem is indeed the earth) for a shared high resistance connection to only drop a small voltage when a small current such as sidelights is being drawn, yet the voltage would drop much more when the headlights are turned on. If the sidelights remain on with headlamps turned on, that at least proves the shared part of the earth. If the relay is clicking then the fault must be in the high current part of the circuit, including (unlikely) a problem with the relay contacts themselves.

[richardmorris]

That was a thought, but the sidelights were operating fine (which is rare enough!) and I would have thought they shared the earth. Even with a poor earth, I'd expect some life from the bulbs. I'm starting to think that getting this poor 2CV through its final 800 miles (199,200 now!) is going to be more of a challenge than I first thought.

 

The poor thing doesn't want to die and is putting up a struggle to slow down the mileage!

I keep a spare light stalk/barrel in the boot as it's easy to swap if there's a problem. Then have to spend 15mins polishing the brass contacts and put it back in the boot. Also don't forget that the barrel may look ok, and it just needs the bendy fingers pushing together a bit.

[dollywobbler]

I've certainly done that before, back in the pre-relay days. Was getting a burning smell on main beam. Contact adjustment sorted it at the time. Has had a new switch since.

[dollywobbler]

Here's the state of the headlamp.

 

I've fitted my only good spare, so I daren't remove the passenger headlamp for the time being.

 

Next was indicators. I had to fit the fog light bulb the other day after the orange indicator bulb blew. I've had clear lenses fitted for just over a decade now. They're not all that clear...

 

So, for the first time since Easter 2004, the 2CV has orange indicator lenses once more.

 

The body is just falling apart all over the place though. The rear panel crumbles more every time I touch it, and more and more holes are opening up in the floor. I've refitted the rubber mat so they're out of sight. She is quite hideously rotten, making it more and more likely that April 15th will signal her demise (when the MOT runs out). Things are getting so bad that I'm going to be restricting her use until then - as long as I can travel the 780 miles she needs to hit 200,000 miles. 

 

This means we could really do with another car, though there's nowt budget-wise for one at the moment. 

[Cavcraft]

Demise? There's just no way ever you could not have that car, DW.