The new news 24 thread

[320touring]

So the Polo will need discs and pads plus a wheel cylinder and oil/filter and air filter shortly.

 

everyone's favourite* parts site (CP4L) will do that lot for £55.37 after the "spend over £50 get a fiver back " script.

 

Anyone any suggestions on where could be even cheaper? Mister Auto charges like Harrods it would appear..

[beko1987]

Google a euro car parts code and try them?

[dollywobbler]

As there is no moisture falling out of the sky for a change, I'm trying to do a better job of painting the XM's rear arches. The paint I hurriedly slapped on before Christmas isn't doing too well as I didn't have time to really key the surface. Rubbed back, rust converter on (though most of the rust came off with rubbing back) and waiting for that to dry before I get heavy with the zinc primer. Snow forecast for 3pm, so the race is on. Again. I may resort to a hair dryer to help the primer and paint go off!

[320touring]

Google a euro car parts code and try them?

Ecp and cp4l are the same company.. and cp4l has always been cheaper part for part for me

[dollywobbler]

ECP aren't very good at sending the right bits. CP4L are even worse in my experience.

[barefoot]

This week, because snow is forecast, the fair lady barefoot has been playing in the Scirocco with the winter tyres and has left me the 944 without. Fair enough, I don't really have to go anywhere...

Nipped down to the CoOp this morning and on returning, I noticed what looked like a bit of moulding flash on the newish back tyre... No, it's a fucking thorn right through the sidwall. Nipped to tyre place... Yep, it's fucked we can't repair that and more worryingly, our suppliers are showing NO Porsche rated N1 tyres at all.

Phoned Porsche Nottingham for advise, what to buy to replace the Continentals and the cock end in service told me all he knew about tyres were that they were black and round. I asked to be put on to someone else that, "Actually knew what they were talking about and not just a fucking halfwit school leaver" and he seemed to buck his ideas up a bit. Wrote down tyre size, details etc and promised to phone me back.

Five minutes later a pleasant sounding young woman called back, there was only one in stock anywhere in the western hemisphere but they could get it and it would only cost one hundred and eighty.....

Logged on black circles. Tyre £107 delivered tomorrow.

And the moral if this story boys n girls is, probably get a spare that's not a lightweight space saving disc the size of a hula hoop. It's actually a 185 but I've only driven a few hundred yards on it and will never do so again.

Repeatedly flared up into a spinning thing whilst taking it very easy - frightening.

[320touring]

ECP aren't very good at sending the right bits. CP4L are even worse in my experience.

I've had very little issue with them tbh-only problem was a pair of calipers-and it was I who ordered the wrong ones. All dealt with ok.

[dollywobbler]

XM fettling continues. My Zinc 1982 has gone off - the lid can't have sealed properly. Managed to get some paste from the bottom of the tin - at least the stuff rubs down nicely! Bloomin' cold.

 

Takes hours to dry though, so not convinced I'll get this job finished today, especially as I've got to do emergency school minibus cover. 

[HMC]

^ another hydro-citroen benefit- you can raise the working area and drop the tyres clear of overspray!

[dollywobbler]

Yup! Makes a big difference and saves having to grovel around on the floor quite so much when masking the sills. 

[fordperv]

i got around to replacing the rear springs on mrs fp's escort earlier with the lovely new ones, i hadnt previously touched the suspension on this since she had it and i was shocked at the 2 rear springs side by side, i was faced with a bit of bodgery they were 2 completely different types one quite a bit shorter than the other, i checked for signs of snapping on the shorter one and there wasnt any, i always wondered why it scraped when anyone got in the back i just put it doen to it being lowered.

 

the one on the right is the correct progressive type spring, the left is a non progressive type

 

[barefoot]

More tyre related fun.

 

Whilst I was in the butchers moaning about having to buy expensive tyres he told me a story about an old tyre place in Swadlincote...

Apparently many years ago, he went in to have a tyre replaced on some crappy bit of farm stuff that you tow.

While he was in there, a huge gang of motorcyclists turned up, pointed at the wheel of one of their massive steeds, "got one of these mate?"

No problem sir, whip off that wheel while I attend to this farm machinery

Explained to the bikers that the easiest way to get the tyre off the rim was just to cut it off, and promptly did so.

Nipped into the back to get replacement tyre and...

Emerged absolutely pissing himself with laughing, "do you know lads, I've not got one after all"

Bikers were all packed for a riding holiday and rider and his pillion had to un pack all their gear and ride pillion on a couple of their mates bikes.

Those were the days eh?

When a garage owner could upset a biking mob and not get the shit kicked out of him!

[mrbenn]

Just collected the Focus after it recently broke down with no compression on cylinder 4. End bill (as advised before work commenced): £720.

 

Where do I hand in my Autoshite members card?

[saucedoctor]

Jaaaag can haz MoT. Emissions are 0.010%, despite it occasionally complaining about an o2 sensor.

[hairnet]

Just collected the Focus after it recently broke down with no compression on cylinder 4. End bill (as advised before work commenced): £720.

 

Where do I hand in my Autoshite members card?

[jaw hits floor]

[vulgalour]

AS card doesn't have to be revoked!  For £720 you could have bought at least one whole Focus, therefore you have spent more than the car's worth on repairs.  This is perfectly normal behaviour for a shiter.  Hopefully it's a really undesirable low spec model you've just splurged all the cash on too so that you get some bonus points.

[mrbenn]

AS card doesn't have to be revoked! For £720 you could have bought at least one whole Focus, therefore you have spent more than the car's worth on repairs. This is perfectly normal behaviour for a shiter. Hopefully it's a really undesirable low spec model you've just splurged all the cash on too so that you get some bonus points.

Thanks Vulg, I feel much better now

[derskine]

Changed two suspect glow plugs on the 18 and it fired into life better than it ever has in my ownership.

Textbook!

 

Must say thanks to everyone for the input and particularly Richard who came and tested them - I'm out of the shit now that I have a car that mostly works.

[catsinthewelder]

We decided to save some money at work today and fit new pads to a 13 plate Relay rather than letting the garage do it at it's service tomorrow.  Turned out that the discs were also knackered so it took all morning and cost a bit more than expected but was pretty satisfying.

 

We were just sitting down to a well deserved egg and bacon roll once the tools were away when a customer phoned to ask if we could recover him.  He'd slid one of our big XLWB 'Jumbos' into some mud on an icy track.  The boss groaned and offered me another Relay to use if I didn't want to use the Disco or I could use that and charge the customer for recovery so that was an easy decision.  A promise of 1/2 a tank of fuel prised the keys from Ms C and I set off with my trusty tow pole.  I found him at the bottom of a 1 in 3 hill with 5 hairpin bends,  some minor off roading was required to turn the Disco round without reversing halfway back up so that accomplished we hitched the two vehicles onto the pole.  Diff lock and low range first engaged the Disco dragged the well loaded 3 1/2 ton van out of the mud and round the icy corner without too much trouble but the pole was too short to cope with the next hairpin so we ground to a halt with bumpers worrying close together. 

 

Fortunately this corner wasn't too slippy so he made it round unaided but ground to a halt in a cloud of tyresmoke further up.   I backed down and hitched up but it was really steep and slippy here and we couldn't get far so we decided to reverse back down the hill 50yds or so to a drier bit of road.  I really should have unhitched the bar but its a right shit to hitch back up so I let him drag the Disco back down the hill with the van.  Unfortunatley he wasn't paying enough attention to where he was going and went off the road again still on the slippy bit and stopped suddenly, bending the pole.  I spun up the wheels three times on the Disco trying to drag him out but it wasn't happening so we unhitched and I managed to get both front wheels of van back on the road with him pushing it sideways.

 

With it back on the road we hitched the knackered pole back up and set off at 2mph in low 1st all the way to the top of the bank,  with the van just over the crest I applied the brakes and the bar finally snapped after 10 years of dragging round all sorts of rubbish.  I could be a bit pissed off but I've really enjoyed myself and the bar will be bodged back together when I find some stronger tube to weld it up with.  Customer is happy,  boss is happy and I swear the Disco is happy that it got to do some proper work for a change.

[twosmoke300]

I'm glad your all up and running again derskin .bloody strange it didn't fire on ether tho

[derskine]

Unsure if this is to do with the glow plugs but after changing it cranks over with much more power, perhaps it wasn't cranking fast enough.

[twosmoke300]

It could well be

[Shep Shepherd]

Got some new keys cut for The Volvo today, using blanks I bought on eBay a mere TEN years ago:

 

 

They work a treat

 

 

[barrett]

Mate of mine asked me today to find him a Fiat 124 coupe in France. Just found this little beauty does anyone know of any good contacts to bring  it back from Tours area. Possibly collecting another one from Orleans as well. Or a good place to hire a car transporter and trailer ?

 

What's his budget? I know a very good bloke who is used to trans-continental haulage, speaks enough French to get by, and is very reasonably priced. He's transported three cars for us recently (one with a very unhelpful vendor) and takes most things on the chin. Can pass on a number if you're seriously interested?

 

 

In other more exciting news, today I have arranged money and collection date for new tat. At 9am on Saturday morning I will own another half of stupid French tat with no MoT, which has never been driven by the current owner (who has had it for 20 years or summat) and has a gearbox 'issue'. Driving it 30 miles to a pre-booked MoT. WCPGW?

[panhard65]

What's his budget? I know a very good bloke who is used to trans-continental haulage, speaks enough French to get by, and is very reasonably priced. He's transported three cars for us recently (one with a very unhelpful vendor) and takes most things on the chin. Can pass on a number if you're seriously interested?

 

 

In other more exciting news, today I have arranged money and collection date for new tat. At 9am on Saturday morning I will own another half of stupid French tat with no MoT, which has never been driven by the current owner (who has had it for 20 years or summat) and has a gearbox 'issue'. Driving it 30 miles to a pre-booked MoT. WCPGW?

His budget isn't really big enough in my opinion as he has a couple of grand to play with to buy the car and get it back here. If you could pm me contact details that would be great as I am always looking for stuff in France.

[alf892]

I'm glad your all up and running again derskin .bloody strange it didn't fire on ether tho

Very often the case with indirect engines...........

[steve_earwig]

More tyre related fun.

 

Whilst I was in the butchers moaning about having to buy expensive tyres he told me a story about an old tyre place in Swadlincote...

Apparently many years ago, he went in to have a tyre replaced on some crappy bit of farm stuff that you tow.

While he was in there, a huge gang of motorcyclists turned up, pointed at the wheel of one of their massive steeds, "got one of these mate?"

No problem sir, whip off that wheel while I attend to this farm machinery

Explained to the bikers that the easiest way to get the tyre off the rim was just to cut it off, and promptly did so.

Nipped into the back to get replacement tyre and...

Emerged absolutely pissing himself with laughing, "do you know lads, I've not got one after all"

Bikers were all packed for a riding holiday and rider and his pillion had to un pack all their gear and ride pillion on a couple of their mates bikes.

Those were the days eh?

When a garage owner could upset a biking mob and not get the shit kicked out of him!

Nice stereotype that. You do realise that the vast majority of bikers aren't sociopaths don't you? They're just ordinary people like everyone else, jobs, wifes, kids, mortgages, one of the bikers I know here even has a collection of old Citroens, from 2CVs to a DS. I met the head of the Croatian Hell's Angels a couple of years back, nice guy, name of Alan, drives an old Golf.

 

Sunstitute "family of 4 on a touring holiday" for the gang of huge scary bikers in your story, how do you reckon that would've panned out?

[dave21478]

Just collected the Focus after it recently broke down with no compression on cylinder 4. End bill (as advised before work commenced): £720.

 

Where do I hand in my Autoshite members card?

 

 

You must now sell it for £450 for the full Autoshite experience.

[barefoot]

Nice stereotype that. You do realise that the vast majority of bikers aren't sociopaths don't you? 

 

Calm down Steve, it was only a story told to me by an old bloke in the butchers, it was forty odd years ago and was only intended as a bit of harmless inter web amusement - apologies to anyone else offended by my apparent ignorance and bigotry.

 

 

Either motorbike tyres are soft as butter in comparison to car tyres or there is a whiff of exaggeration to the story.

 

Similarly, of course there's exaggeration, it's a story that must have been re-told about a hundred millionty times over the years.

 

 

Anyway, without any wish to upset anyone further or to kill anymore kittens and nuns, my tyre arrived as promised.

[steve_earwig]

Gracious apology accepted. Now don't do it again of there'll be a load of big hairy bikers turn up on your doorstep