The new news 24 thread

[dave21478]

Escort wouldnt start this morning - the battery was too flat. I jumped it off the Landrover and away it went. Parked up at work and it wouldnt start at home time either. I had parked at the top of a hill though so it bumped no problem.

 

First sign of colder weather and the battery went from A-ok to failed completely in a couple of days and half a dozen starts.

 

I have ordered a nice Varta online from battery meagstore. I used them for the Freelander battery earlier in the year and delivery was rapido.

[trigger]

I actually need some advice from you good folk. The underside of my Dolly has a few scabby bits where the underseal has come off. I've zipped the rust off with a wire wheel and it's all solid but I need to know what's the best way to treat it before i underseal it.

 

I was thinking of putting come Kurust on it and then paint it with red oxide paint before painting with that Hammerite underseal with the waxoyl stuff in, any good?

[Craig the Princess]

Sounds good to me, I'd try and take a bit of the good undeseal off around the scab to make sure it is back to a good bit.

[danthecapriman]

Yes, clean it well back from the rust you can see, then a bit of rust converter. Then lead or zinc rich paint then underseal/wax.

[trigger]

Excellent. Cheers chaps. Is it worth buying some of that Zinc 182 (or is that Blink 182) stuff to paint it with it or is red oxide good enough?

[danthecapriman]

I tend to go for zinc paint, I don't think red oxide is much better than any other primer unless it's the old red lead type stuff. But if the final coat of underseal or wax is good and put on properly it shouldn't make much difference.

[cort16]

the Zoe isn't as sophisticated as the leaf the range is about half and it's not as powerful . Then again it costs about half.

The leaf I was in recently felt pretty quick although inside it just felt like any other Nissan .

[Skizzer]

Enough talk of eco-friendly cars.  In a sudden and slightly complicated yet dull business arrangement, I appear to have just bought a 1999 Jeep Wrangler sight unseen 400 miles away.  (Don't ask.)

 

 

And yes, before anybody starts, I am aware of Queer As Folk.

 

[fordperv]

This afternoon because it's been dry I popped up to my mate with the mk3 cortina so I could fit his electric fuel pump, i am so glad I've done it for him as his mechanical pump was weak taking ages on cranking to get fuel up, while doing it i did unearth another fault, the metal fuel pipe had no clips from the front door backwards and was cable tied onto the fuel tank, why don't people spend an extra half hour and a couple of quid on clips to do a job properly, it angers me that people do things half arsed that take no effort to do. Saying that I aren't surprised at all with this car with how many bodges I've found and rectified on it for him

[Clanger]

Enough talk of eco-friendly cars.  In a sudden and slightly complicated yet dull business arrangement, I appear to have just bought a 1999 Jeep Wrangler sight unseen 400 miles away.  (Don't ask.)

 

 

And yes, before anybody starts, I am aware of Queer As Folk.

 

WINNAH!

 

My 1994 has been TEH most reliabist cars of EVAH and is still going strong after 21 years of ownership.

[Lord Sterling]

I drove an SWB version of one of these today:

 

 

Yes, in the same colour for the same council who I work for. As for the van itself, it was...er...Ok.

[Tayne]

the Zoe isn't as sophisticated as the leaf the range is about half and it's not as powerful . Then again it costs about half.

The leaf I was in recently felt pretty quick although inside it just felt like any other Nissan .

 

 

Did the Nissan salesman tell you all that?

 

The Leaf is marginally down on power and has a smaller battery, its a smaller, lighter car so has a slightly longer range and feels quicker from behind the wheel.

 

Its a shame its made by renault.

[cort16]

They must have done a very recent update on it as that certainly was the case.

[Tayne]

What are you basing that on?

[Bear]

Apart from the liner studs shearing (not sure how to address that)...

 

 

 

Those '90s Mercs don't half rust, etc.

[xtriple]

Passenger seat ecu has died. £350 for the part.

 

The car isn't even here.

 

I have never used the passenger seat.

 

I should NOT  ask anyone to check for 'any other faults while you're at it'...

 

Oh hum....

[Honey Badger]

Excellent. Cheers chaps. Is it worth buying some of that Zinc 182 (or is that Blink 182) stuff to paint it with it or is red oxide good enough?

 

 

http://www.bilthamber.com/special-offers/electrox-patch-repair-kit

 

I wouldn't use anything with Hammerite or Waxoyl on the tin if your going to keep it, the stuff is piss poor now.

[Crusty Sills]

Went to Norwich Audi to collect a £6 part for the Cabriolet this morning.

Went to main desk and asked where the parts department was, two very attractive receptionists said take a seat and have a coffee in the waiting area, 5 mins later a man with a shirt, tie shiny shoes and trendy beard came with my part.

I finished my complimentary Latte, read their paper, enjoyed the view at the reception desk a bit longer and left.

When did car dealerships change so much?

No proper parts window with a grease laden counter, grumpy old bastard in a store mans coat or inept spotty YT boy scratching his arse and looking confused to be seen.

They also seemed to be selling a lot of space in the show room.

[Fat_Pirate]

Passenger seat ecu has died. £350 for the part.

 

The car isn't even here.

 

I have never used the passenger seat.

 

I should NOT  ask anyone to check for 'any other faults while you're at it'...

 

Oh hum....

 

Looking at the one for sale here (eBay USA), these don't look especially complicated - it could be just mucky relay contacts or something.  Worth a DIY attempt?  Or perhaps somebody on here could take a look?

[panhard65]

Looking at the one for sale here (eBay USA), these don't look especially complicated - it could be just mucky relay contacts or something.  Worth a DIY attempt?  Or perhaps somebody on here could take a look?

I have a Polish bloke round the corner from me who can sort most of these electronics things out. He fixed a few of the relays on my Rolls for less than the cost of 1 secondhand unit.

[fraser.innes.3]

Went to Norwich Audi to collect a £6 part for the Cabriolet this morning.

Went to main desk and asked where the parts department was, two very attractive receptionists said take a seat and have a coffee in the waiting area, 5 mins later a man with a shirt, tie shiny shoes and trendy beard came with my part.

I finished my complimentary Latte, read their paper, enjoyed the view at the reception desk a bit longer and left.

When did car dealerships change so much?

No proper parts window with a grease laden counter, grumpy old bastard in a store mans coat or inept spotty YT boy scratching his arse and looking confused to be seen.

They also seemed to be selling a lot of space in the show room.

Same thing happened to me in a BMW dealership a couple of months back. Pilfered a couple of bottles of orange juice for the kids, as they had just raped me of £150 for a replacement key for the wife's daily.

[Skizzer]

I had much the same experience at Porsche Cardiff in about 2008 (before I saw the light of shite) when I went in to buy a new front foglight, except all the staff came out to sneak a look at The Person Who Wanted To Repair His Own Car.

[LC Torana]

I bought my Rover 75 nearly new, back in 2001.

 

Chatting to one of the mechanics or spare parts blokes or something, and he asked me what I thought of the car, now I've had it for a year or so.

 

I replied "Well, it's not very good on gravel roads"

 

He replied, thunderstruck, "It's not WHAT??"

 

Tee hee. It's a car! Life is too short to stick to the bitumen. But the reaction I got was priceless.

[tooSavvy]

Saw this in Carlisle, today

 

 

.... and thought of

 

 

TS

[John F]

^

[vulgalour]

It's always nice to get a compliment.  Except when it's for your Hallowe'en costume... and you're not wearing a Hallowe'en costume.

 

 

Also, my Siouxsie and the Banshees tape that arrived today went from playing fine to sounding like it was underwater, as do my other tapes.  Can you still get head-cleaning tapes these days?  I suspect the Rover needs one now.

[scaryoldcortina]

Sounds more like a dirty capstan/pinch roller than dirty heads to me. Tape deck needs taking apart and cleaning before it starts to eat tapes instead of just mangling the sound, it's worth fitting a new drive belt while you are at it.

 

Lol at the halloween costume.

[plasticvandan]

meths on an ear bud on the cassette deck head (the silver block bit) works a treat for cleaning

[Eddie Honda]

Can you still get head-cleaning tapes these days?

 

Yeah, ebay.

 

Sound & Vision > TV & Home Audio Accessories > Blank Media, Care & Storage > Head & Lens Cleaning > Music > Cassettes

[Richard]

Talking of head cleaners- I've just made this play CD-Rs by using one of those cleaning CDs they have now. It spat the cleaning disc out several times, which is what it was doing with CD-Rs. I figured it must be spinning up and wiping the laser each time so it was just a matter of putting it back in until the laser was clean enough to complete the process, and I was right.

 

 

 

Not my picture BTW, Supernaught must have been impressed by its majesty.