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Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite - Volvo gets a clean sheet MOT, now on to wheel trims, thermostat and brakes revisited


Shirley Knott

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Saw a Golf MkIV SDI Estate in Dover yesterday and thought of you, Joey!

 

A Mk4 or an Octavia SDI in estate format is a rare creature indeed.

 

 

Ignore ALL noises that go away after a couple of miles.

 

That's like rule 78 man.

 

Relief

 

I wish someone had mentioned this earlier, I'll stop worrying about it

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Just going back to the radio....

 

The CR906 should have a CD input on the rear and its possible to fit a Yatour MP3 kit to these

 

or cheapo one from allibaba

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/554632319/Digital_music_changer_for_usb_sd.html but you do have to find the correct fitment for the CD changer plug.

 

The alternative is wiring in a 3.5mm jack yourself - not overly difficult - or you can wire in something like the iSimple which pushes the music via the aerial input of the stereo rather than wirelessly

 https://www.sonicelectronix.com/pictures_new.php?id=41679&picture_id=869143

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Good call RE the Yatour, I had literally no idea such things existed, thanks. Meanwhile I've managed to bag one of those FM tuner jobbies (Also learned about via Autoshite) Either way I shall look into them as a preferable/better long term solution.

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Mrs Eunos has been moaning for ages about the door lock on her Lupo no longer operating, I'd ordered a repair kit from China and this week it arrived so I cracked on with it this morning.

 

I checked the lock out for myself, she was right, the key literally just spun in the barrel, not good. First things first, popped the cap off to reveal the t20 torx screw and slackened it off...

 

46561690552_9fcd412e49_o.jpg

 

 

Lock removed...

 

 

 

46561689732_91a2dc084b_o.jpg

 

No immediate problems apparent...

 

46561688732_6a877b86ca_o.jpg

 

 

Lock stripped down...

 

32739592518_a0764f8034_o.jpg

 

 

Obvious problem is obvious...

 

32739589748_e523b5c546_o.jpg

 

 

Cheap VW lock repair kit courtesy of Ebay included all the parts required…

 

 

46613766631_d65cea51d2_o.jpg

 

 

And one working/reassembled lock...

 

 

46613764201_4e4fb4b2cc_o.jpg

 

 

Despite being a bit fiddly the whole job took less than 30 minutes, most of that was spent getting tools out and putting them away again. The best part of the whole fiasco is that the China-Bay repair kit only cost £2.19p, less the cost of a pint of beer and yet seems to be made from reasonably robust materials, I suppose time will tell but for now it's fixed and that's the main thing.

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It'll be a sad day when the Chinese government stops subsidising postage on exports and all us sassy 1st worlders have to start paying actual value for things. Until then, let's keep ordering!

Good work man.

You know you've had a good day when you're counting the time it takes to get tools out and put tools away into a job time.

Happy woman too now I hope!

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Thanks chief.

 

Yes, cheap bits from China are a Godsend.

 

As you say, hopefully this has earned me some goodwill, I'd like to think so but she's a mardy specimen at the best of times and mostly doesn't appreciate what a wonderful kind-hearted chap I am.

 

I recon a garage would've had at least £50 out of her for a job like this, better in our pockets than theirs!

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  • 1 month later...

Over a month without an update here and frankly that's because there hasn't been a huge amount going on, no cars have entered or left the fleet since April (Something of a record for me) progress on the ones that are here is as follows...

 

Lupo

 

Clutch died on Wednesday!

 

Mrs Eunos mentioned it felt 'Funny' to drive and after a road test it became clear that it was slipping to the point the car was barely driveable in 4th and 5th. Bad times but luckily I had a LUK clutch kit in the loft that I'd spotted on an Ebay auction and won for £26 about a year and a half ago (Rude not to at that money and I was pleased to have it in the circumstances)

 

The clutch was a bastard of a job, I started it on the drive and after about six hours I gave up and, wait for it.... had to call a local mobile mechanic to help me with the last bits! I felt immense shame about this at the time and I'm still fairly embarrassed about now but no matter what I did I couldn't get the gearbox into position and back on single handed  :(

 

 Unfortunately no pics of this process as it was a rushed/panic filled affair TBH. Either way the car is now sorted and was back on the road within 24 hours of the troubles being reported so all's well that ends well.

 

Golf

 

Central locking module on the front passenger side is still borked, £16 Ebay special module is in the shed waiting to go on but until the weather warms up a bit this will be left 'as is'. Otherwise uneventful and providing reliable, albeit noisy and slow transport.

 

Ovlov

 

Had new headlight wiper blades on Friday as the old ones looked like this...

 

32174070487_85da132af2_o.jpg

 

 

A pair of new blades came in at a tenner IIRC which seemed worth it if only to improve the car on an aesthetic level, the front end's now looking much nicer with the new blades fitted...

 

 

40151437243_af7dd85742_o.jpg

 

 

46202218795_8deaa2d603_o.jpg

 

 

Today we took it out on a 100 mile round trip to visit the High Force waterfall and stopped to take this 'scenic background' snap en route

 

 

46392401114_6765273f7c_o.jpg

 

 

It's on longer family day trips/adventures that the 940 really shines and as a comfortable long distance tourer it's hard to beat.

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Bottle of 'Forte Injector Cleaner TM' dropped into the Ovlov 940 this morning, not because of any problems, just as an experiment as I found some in the shed yesterday afternoon!

 

Setting off to work in a minute, let's see what happens....

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Well, injector cleaner seems to have had no effect although TBF I've only covered 20 miles and the car wasn't broken to begin with!

 

I'm not sure what I expected, more powah maybe? Either way I'm just arsing about because I had it but the results are underwhelming. I've had the bottle of Forte for years (So long I'd forgotten I'd bought it) and it wanted using up really. Snake oil? I'm undecided but will consider it preventative maintenance.

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More Lupo fun today.

 

The little red tractor scraped a pass on it's MOT this Wednesday but only just :neutral:  My tester's an understanding chap who shows mercy where possible, so whilst he was prepared to pass it he did say the rear offside brake wanted looking at and that the front two weren't to hot either. The conversation went along the lines of "I'll pass and advise today but sort those fucking brakes out"

 

I had a look over the car that afternoon and from what I could see through the steel rims the front pads and discs looked worn and the rear offside wheel, whilst fine on the handbrake didn't do much at all under regular breaking leading me to suspect a seized or leaking brake cylinder. 

 

Fight fire with fire...

 

 

47207385952_6509f24bc2_o.jpg

 

 

Bits for small VAG cars of this era seem to be incredibly cheap these days, the bill for the lot in the picture (Ignoring my new pressure bleeder and impact driver) was as follows...

 

£20- Mintex discs (Ebay)

£12-QH brake pads (Local factor)

£12- Pagid non ABS brake cylinder (Ebay)

£10- 1.5l of Dot 4 and a tin of brake cleaner (ECP)

 

First up was front discs and pads, turns out they actually had plenty of meat left on them! Serves me right for being lazy and squinting through the gaps in the steel wheel instead of taking it off and looking properly like any normal person would do. Either way I stripped both sides down then cleaned and greased them for the craic...

 

33383514058_43791aa3c8_o.jpg

 

 

The new discs and pads can go in the loft until they're needed. Next job, rear drum off. My new impact driver made short work of this, can't believe I've been battling on with regular screwdrivers for so many years...

 

47207384652_1c326ed9d8_o.jpg

 

Next step was to swap over the defective brake cylinder, old vs new...

 

33383513708_a3b2bbeb62_o.jpg

 

 

Finally the full breaking system got a good bleed through with my new Sealey pressure bleeder. Again, can't believe I didn't buy one of these years ago as they make the job so much easier. Sure beats pumping the pedal.

 

The good news is that the brakes feel much sharper, the bad news is I feel like I've been hit by a roadside bomb. At least the brakes are sorted but I'm starting to admit to myself I'm getting way too old for this kind of carry on.

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Thanks. Yes please, that would really be rather agreeable. I test drove a sheddy one of these last year (it was too far gone and just too much money). Really liked it for what it is and I love the utilitarian feel of the thing.

 

To be honest even the good ones are a bit 'Sheddy'.

 

Ours has just clicked over 140k, has full service history since the day it was born and a low number of owners despite being nigh on 20 years old and yet despite it's pampered life it's rattly, noisy, smelly and feels pretty worn out and baggy. 

 

On the plus side, as you say they do have a certain charm about them. Also they're easy to work on, don't have DMF, don't have a DPF, don't have a turbo and with £30 tax and 60-70mpg easily achievable you can see why they're still popular with those in the know!

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  • 2 weeks later...

A new whip enters the fleet...

 

33475608328_aca28fe3d7_o.jpg

 

 

Somehow I nearly made it a full year without buying a car (I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about the waterlogged Volvo) Either way something had to give, weirdly Mrs Eunos was the protagonist in this purchase! Usually her role is that of the shouty/sad/disappointed party. Funny how it all works out eh?

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is that a rev counter I can see ? must be the sport* model :)

 

I've driven my scruffy little 107 up and down the a68 a couple of times recently and had a hoot - it's all about momentum when you've got tot all horsepower :)

 

Well spotted! I fitted that this afternoon directly outside the scrapyard from whence it came…

 

Before...

 

47353004101_c81743142a_o.jpg

 

During...

 

 

47353003451_5b3fa3245b_o.jpg

 

 

After...

 

 

47353002731_96faabb94a_o.jpg

 

 

Alas, rev counter aside (£20 well spent) it's a full misery 'Vibe' spec.

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Andy?

 

It came from Kev Brunton's yard (KB Autospares).

 

I'd spotted they were about £70-£80 on Ebay so thought I'd have a crack locally and struck lucky, I was pretty pleased with myself when he said £20. 

 

FWIW they've got 3 C1's in at the minute but this was the last rev counter there (Possibly because he's under-priced them)

 

EDIT: This makes sense, Andy= Scaryoldcortina..? I've never met him but I believe he's located next door to KB.

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