The new news 24 thread

[rml2345]

Finally got round to ordering one of those cheap eBay OBD-2 diagnostic things. Expectations set low in case it doesn't work or catches fire or something.

[Cavcraft]

Finally got round to ordering one of those cheap eBay OBD-2 diagnostic things. Expectations set low in case it doesn't work or catches fire or something.

 

Oh aye, we got one for the hateful Passat I had. Sadly it seemed useless because either it didn't fit into the port properly, or I'm a cack hand twat. Probably the latter. Anyhow I managed to break the port bit on the car so it was a right waste of money.

[skattrd]

Yay, just spoke to the garage again, they managed to get flexi's for the Mitsubishi and have almost done the work on the brakes. Once thats complete, hopefully tomorrow, all that it will need is a cv boot and a couple of tyres. I have some spare wheels with legal tyres I can put on for the time being.

 

The only chore left when it's MOT'd is a trip to the doovla office to change it from disabled to standard (the car's been parked up for a year so I never bothered changing it). I hate going to the DVLA office.

[rml2345]

Finally got round to ordering one of those cheap eBay OBD-2 diagnostic things. Expectations set low in case it doesn't work or catches fire or something.

 

Oh aye, we got one for the hateful Passat I had. Sadly it seemed useless because either it didn't fit into the port properly, or I'm a cack hand twat. Probably the latter. Anyhow I managed to break the port bit on the car so it was a right waste of money.

 

Oh... Crap. I hope it goes better than that

Being a bit cack handed myself it doesn't bode well...

Goot to hear of progress on the Mitsubishi though skattrd. Brakes that work are always nice!

[The Moog]

Had a thoroughly enjoyable day today playing with the T25. Started to do all the niggly jobs that need doing before it is sold. And for the first time of my life I remembered a camera to take pictures for your delectation.

 

First off changing the minging steering wheel cover.

 

Looked like this Horrible and plasticky and gets manky in the sun. The reason it is done is that the normal steering wheels are very thin with no padding.

Removed cover with stanley knife. You can see how thin it is

 

I bought a leather cover from ebay from Mr Steering Wheel. He has even got a youtube video to show you how it is done. Basically sow it on like so End result is

 

Then camera battery then died

 

Next up was two catches on the cupboard in the camper. After extensive research tracked 2 similar ones down. Went to fit them today and on one the catches screw means removing the hob to get at! and the other catch is changed but still doesnt work. Will go back and look at them again.

Fitted a new speedo cap to the front left wheel and used a piece of wood and hammer to make sure it stays on. I have lost 3 so far coming loose and pinging offf doing 50 down a road. Got a proper VW one this time so hopefully will fit better.

 

Then on to main event. Removed both bumpers, front grills, wing mirrors, windscreen wipers and rear vent covers. A PO had given the van a blow over and it all had overspray on it. Sanded it back and sprayed with Rustoleum. It came up nicely although a few runs here and there but miles better. Whilst that was all off I took the new silverline mop to the van. Took forever but got 3 out of 4 sides done and it is all sparkly. Sadly the white paint has been touched up here and there with slightly different colours so it looks patchy up close. But still 100% better, especially when new shiny black bits are fitted. Once i have done the final side I will get some more pics.

 

List of jobs left includes fitting cupboard catches, cleaning fabric in the pop up roof, fitting front seat covers, cleaning gunk off wheels (nothing seems to shift it at the moment), fit new bumper end cap, fit centre cap for rear wheel and then clean the inside.

[Negative Creep]

Bought some new wheels, but need some replacement nuts before I can fit them. I'm planning on respraying them anyway, with selling the current tyres and weighing in the wheels that are on it hopefully getting me a few quid back. Also painted the front calipers, took down the front arch liners and scooped out all the crap that's accumulated inside over the years, and undersealed the inside

[Shep Shepherd]

The Volvo's mileometer clicked round to 218,000 this evening. Not bad

[greengartside]

My little 106 is still proving to be a trouble-free motor and it's getting boring now and I'm itching to replace it with something else but nobody seems to want it! I'm surprised given the OMG ULTIMATE KAOS FUEL DIZASTA that is the UK, this little puppy gives 60 MPG easy and this must be what everyone wants, no? I'm after a bigger car as I need to do some motorway miles this year and it would be wrong to knacker it up by doing that. Anyone fancy a swap?

[Skizzer]

Changed the oil on the Rover. Sounds quite a bit less tappety now. The old oil filter had absolutely no plans to come off and I need the car to drive to Kent at stupid o'clock tomorrow morning, so I left it there and put the new one back on the shelf for another day. I also changed the wiper blades and made the airbag warning light go out by jiggling some wires around under the seat .

 

Finally got round to ordering one of those cheap eBay OBD-2 diagnostic things. Expectations set low in case it doesn't work or catches fire or something.

 

I just plugged mine into the Rover, which appears to be the only vehicle in the world (certainly in my fleet) it fits. Skoda and Street Triple both need a VAG COM cable, which needs its own reader or PC software. So much for OBD2 being a standard - turns out it's basically just (part of) the list of codes that's standard . Good news is the only fault code is for the air con, which I already knew wasn't working (and, in a £500 12 year old car, don't care).

[Cavcraft]

My little 106 is still proving to be a trouble-free motor and it's getting boring now and I'm itching to replace it with something else but nobody seems to want it! I'm surprised given the OMG ULTIMATE KAOS FUEL DIZASTA that is the UK, this little puppy gives 60 MPG easy and this must be what everyone wants, no? I'm after a bigger car as I need to do some motorway miles this year and it would be wrong to knacker it up by doing that. Anyone fancy a swap?

 

 

I'll be amazed if you can't shift that, they're incredibly popular cars. Have you tried the 106OC?

[M'coli]

My little 106 is still proving to be a trouble-free motor and it's getting boring now and I'm itching to replace it with something else but nobody seems to want it! I'm surprised given the OMG ULTIMATE KAOS FUEL DIZASTA that is the UK, this little puppy gives 60 MPG easy and this must be what everyone wants, no? I'm after a bigger car as I need to do some motorway miles this year and it would be wrong to knacker it up by doing that. Anyone fancy a swap?

Just keep it well serviced and do those motorway miles (take some earplugs if it's too loud!|) - it should be able to handle them no probs.

[vulgalour]

Looks like I've blown the head gasket on the Polo again. Sending off the head for a pressure test next week. Happily, the water pump seems fine. Fingers crossed that the head isn't borked, they're neither cheap nor easy to source for the engine I've got and I don't really want to play the engine swapping game.

[Cavcraft]

Stripped about 11 tyres off alloy wheels with my fancy* tyre changing machine. It doesn't seem to like 45 profile tyres, and although we did manage to break the beads the bar that does this is getting dangerously bent! Think I'll try and get the parts remade in something stronger than cheese, hopefully one of the lads at work can sort this.

I should have about 15 alloys ready for the great weigh off anytime soon.

[Lankytim]

Ditched the buzzy original Volvo speakers today for a set of nice ones I found in my garage, big 3 way Sony things in the rear and a pair of pioneer ones in the front. Things are now much improved- radio 4 never sounded so good!

 

The fronts were a straight swap but I had to cut the rear doorcards which was a bit nervewracking, once you start cutting there's no going back! I'm quite pleased with the result though.

[eddyramrod]

Deal agreed on new shite, which will be coming back in our container. I'm hoping to get some use out of it here before we move too. No, I'm not telling you what it is (look what happened to the Mazda when I did that ) but the present owner is going back to UK for a few weeks and we plan to sort it out when he returns. As soon as I have it home, there will be a thread.

 

Now I really need to sell the others!

[wuvvum]

Operation Fleet Reduction had a bit of a mixed weekend. The DS went off to its new owner yesterday (a very pleasant chap who's a professional photographer and is hoping to use it as a camera car), which was good, as it's freed the driveway up for the BMW (which I didn't really like leaving out on the road).

 

Unfortunately, though, a bit of eBaying whilst under the influence found me the proud owner of this.

 

 

I picked it up this morning from just outside London and it's, well, it's a bit rubbish really. It's a Limited, so it's got big leather armchairs, lashings of fake wood and pretty much every gadget you could possibly need, but it's a diesel, so it gets a 2.5 VM lump and an impossibly clunky 5-speed manual gearbox, in place of the 4-litre straight 6 and slushbox that most of these came with. I'd forgotten just how unrefined the VM is - the growl of the engine combined with the transmission whine conspire to make it a far less peaceful place to be than you would expect from such an ostensibly luxurious vehicle. It's comfy enough, the cruise control works, and it's quite high-geared so 70 is just under 2,500rpm, but it still seems a bit like ripping the V8 out of the XJ I had and dropping in the DI out of the Transit. It's not exactly the last word in handling, either, and seems a bit wandery at speed. It is a lot more economical than a 4-litre though - it seems to have managed comfortably over 30 mpg on the run home - and the performance is adequate once the turbo cuts in.

 

I'm not sure how the transmission works on these, apart from it seems to be permanent 4x4, but it appears to have a rather tight LSD on the back - a full-lock U-turn resulted in some scuffing and screeching from the back tyres. I don't know if that's a common thing with these or not. It has a towbar, though, and bloody good brakes (which is more than can be said for the Transit), so if I have anything heavy to tow it will come in useful. Don't know how long I'll be keeping it though - I've wanted one of these for a while, after driving (a petrol) one in the US years ago and being quite impressed, but unfortunately a high-mileage dizzler just isn't quite the same...

[M'coli]

^^^Is this the diesel version of Pete-M's "Heep" as he calls it? Hasn't he mentioned something about the LSD on his, too? Hope you have fun with it!

[vulgalour]

So frustrated with the Polo at the moment that I found myself browsing online to see what sort of price I need to pay for a solid but tatty Austin A35, Austin A40 or Triumph 1300 FWD. I suppose that's shitist logic for you; 80s car doesn't work, replace it with something older.

[eddyramrod]

I suppose that's shitist logic for you; 80s car doesn't work, replace it with something older.

 

This should be in Quote of the Year! Absolutely true too, and where else are you going to say something like that and be called sensible?

[catsinthewelder]

I suppose that's shitist logic for you; 80s car doesn't work, replace it with something older.

 

Top shiteing

 

Last summer the XUD engined Citroen would not start so we got a 40 year old Austin for daily duties, they're both still here

 

 

On another subject, has anyone got 4 matching heated leather seats theyed be up for selling cheaply? A mate has built a covered area in a patch of woodland he owns. Hes got a screen under it and takes a projector out to do film shows but fancys a little luxury for chillier nights. He lives near me in Shropshire so midlands based would be good. I think he would go for 2 if the price was right then we can find some more later.

[vulgalour]

I suppose that's shitist logic for you; 80s car doesn't work, replace it with something older.

Last summer the XUD engined Citroen would not start so we got a 40 year old Austin for daily duties, they're both still here

 

And that's probably why I won't be buying another car, not until I've redone the drive and garage at any rate.

[HillmanImp]

Once again I have wasted a weekend which could have been spent working on the Lancia because of booze! Went to the pub for '1 maybe 2 pints' on Saturday, cant remember leaving (but think it was late) and spent the whole of yesterday wishing I was dead but was not in a competent enough state to even move from the sofa to get an instrument of suicide.

 

Next week I wil be right on it. I promise. (The Lancia not to topping myself thing).

[skattrd]

It feels like the turbos gone in the vw boring.

Accelerating on to the motorway, loss of power and puff of smoke out of the exhaust. I'm hoping its just blown a hose off and not a dead turbo

[Cavcraft]

Hey Skatt, does it start working again if you turn the engine off for a few minutes or more? My PissHat did that and it turned out to be the N75 valve 'thing' and it was only £50 Inc. fitting. If you Google it you'll see what I mean.

[Volksy]

Once again I have wasted a weekend which could have been spent working on the Lancia because of booze! Went to the pub for '1 maybe 2 pints' on Saturday, cant remember leaving (but think it was late) and spent the whole of yesterday wishing I was dead but was not in a competent enough state to even move from the sofa to get an instrument of suicide.

 

Next week I wil be right on it. I promise. (The Lancia not to topping myself thing).

 

I think this was partially my fault, Although I did manage to leave early, so I could get on with some stuff, only to return to the pub in the evening - and yes you did leave pretty late on - from what I remember.

[dollywobbler]

BX has clocked up another 300 odd miles and aside from a rather unpleasant 'knackered bearing' sound that I assume is the alternator, it coped with no problems. Intermittent PAS was not fun, especially when I encountered snow on the hills on Saturday, but feels almost ok now.

 

Great to meet folk at Pride of Longbridge and the X Rally. Both were excellent, though the X Rally was rather smaller - unsurprisingly. I did win a prize for Shed of the Show!

[vulgalour]

Put 6 months Pointless Tax on the Princess today, went for a tootle around town and three people tried very hard to crash into me. Happily, now I'm all road legal, I can get myself to the club meet for fish and chips on Wednesday over in Rotherham, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Still can't get used to people staring at me while I'm driving around, even had a lady-giffer and a blokey-giffer do a double-take as I drove past though I'm not sure if that was because of the racket the downpipe is making or the fact it's a Princess.

[cms206]

I have been wafting around in the Senator needlessly using copious amounts of fossil fuels purely because I'm quite enjoying myself. It however has decided that it doesn't particularly like me (probably got into an arguement with the old SRi I've got lying at work over the weekend) and the following has resulted from about 700 miles of motoring:

 

1) the bloke at my local KFC reckons it's "a nice old motor" - I still think the Senator is new, despite only being four years younger than me.

 

2) the fuel economy meter has gone berzerk and now thinks that heavy acceleration equates to 2.4 gal/hr and normal running is about 0.9 gal/hr.

 

3) the speedo, mileometer and trip computer packs up if I attempt to turn left.

 

4) the no charge light comes on very dimly if I've got too many electrical items on. Or if I dare use the headlights at night.

 

5) I've nearly killed myself twice when I forgot that flicking the main beam switch puts the headlights off.

 

6) I keep forgetting to purchase a Vauxhall Senator HBOL.

 

 

Other than that it's bloody awesome and I can easily see why Dibble bloody loved them. It's an awesome bit of kit.

[The Moog]

Went to Torquay and back in the 850 for a football weekend. Cruises beautifully and quietly although 30 mpg is not great !

 

One way home something went. At first I thought it was a puncture but pulling over they were all fine. Checked coil springs but they looked fine. I think it is something suspension related as going over bumps was hard and it was wandery on the motorway. Will have a proper look when I get a chance. Hopefully it isnt something that expensive.

 

v40 is making more and more funny noises. Determined not to spend a penny on it till I get rid of it in July as it isnt worth it.

[skattrd]

Hey Skatt, does it start working again if you turn the engine off for a few minutes or more? My PissHat did that and it turned out to be the N75 valve 'thing' and it was only £50 Inc. fitting. If you Google it you'll see what I mean.

 

Yep, after posting that I had some food and set off, all normal. I've googled that N75 thing and it looks like a boost controller to me, if it happens again I'll get one ordered.