Shitting in the shallow end. *A2 fixes*

[Jim Bell]

Other than messing about with keys, not much has been happening. It's still my daily and only car. I'd still hop in it and drive it anywhere (I really fancy trying to drive it to the Arctic circle on veg oil)

It's done almost a year on straight veg oil now without grumble or complaint. 

 

Here are some recent pics from various points between Newcastle and Central Scotland. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With another 290 Rexton and SEXY ALFA

 

@320touring even put a code reader on it, and it only came back with one historical code which doesn't seem to relate to anything. 

 

Brakes work and all the lights work so God knows what that relates too. 

 

Mot looms soon. Can I make it to a full year in continuous ownership?!

Let's find out. 

 

[Jim Bell]

13 minutes ago, loserone said:

And now with those pictures, so can we all!

Best of luck with the Disclock lads!

[loserone]

51 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

Best of luck with the Disclock lads!

Thanks man, it's not really luck though

It's toys

[Dave_Q]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

And now with those pictures, so can we all!

If you can make one from that side on picture and the fact it's a Toyota blank then you can be the new key wrangler

[Jim Bell]

Well it's anniversary time. 

Its been a year in the loving arms of a Rexton. 

Apparently you get a happy anniversary letter from the government if you keep a car for a year. Who knew?!

 

Which also meant it was time for a test. 

 

 

Completed it m8. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a year, I'm still happy with it. I miss doing collection threads and trying new cars, but if you're on a budget, 290 Rextons make so much sense. 

 

Update ends. 

 

[garbaldy]

Is that less than 6k miles in a year ?

[Jim Bell]

7 minutes ago, garbaldy said:

Is that less than 6k miles in a year ?

Probably. Sounds about right. 

[garbaldy]

2 hours ago, Jim Bell said:

Probably. Sounds about right. 

I expected more than that as you pictured it doing collection runs and scenic drive outs.

[Jim Bell]

26 minutes ago, garbaldy said:

I expected more than that as you pictured it doing collection runs and scenic drive outs.

 

Well, some scenery is small. And some scenery is far away. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell the difference. 

 

 

 

[Bradders59]

Only just spotted this thread. Off to read it start to finish now. Might tempt me back into veg motoring.

That number plate is superb by the way.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Jim Bell said:

 

Well, some scenery is small. And some scenery is far away. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell the difference. 

 

 

 

Ah, now, are ye shure?

[Jim Bell]

On 4/30/2022 at 12:05 PM, Jim Bell said:

 

It's officially the one year anniversary of fine silvery green Rexton ownership. 

 

 

 

In the 12 months that it's been regularly zooming but not travelling very far, it's generally been a very good boy. One issue with the nearside front caliper sticking is the worst issue it's thrown up until recently. 

 

 

Of course, even Rextons occasionally require some *squints* main-tain-ance, and very recently it began starting like some type of grumpy french bastard. 

 

 

This of course, will not do. 

 

I tried changing fuels, thinking it might have been a bad batch of veg oil, but the issues remained. I tried changing the fuel filter but the issues remained. Frankly, that was me 100% out of ideas so I consulted with a real grown up. @Jimbob McGregor kindly scanned it with his olde worlde diagnostic device (eyes and hands) and diagnosed glow plugs what have got too bad at hotting and rotten old leak off pipes. Fast forward through a good few hours of fucking around and the old slut is back in fine form again.

Field report from the lift, post fixing:

 

 

Back on song and starting like a petrol engine again, even on the veg. 

 

While it was getting attention, the dogshit LED headlights were yanked and replaced with good old fashioned analogue bulbs. 

 

Bin.

 

Back on form, with a clean MOT pass, the old hound is ready for another years veg hauling. 

Only one thing left to do........

 

[Jim Bell]

Bonus pics from scenery that's deceptively not that far away. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[320touring]

I honestly think it's between this one and @Lacquer Peel's one for best car bought by a mate in the last year.

@Supernaut's one would have been in with a chance, but it was too grumpy too soon (I'm telling myself this so I don't buy it!)

[Jim Bell]

It's been more than Seven Hours And Fifteen Days, since I bought a car ok. 

I sleep well all night, and work all day. Since I turned ebay away. 

(Aaaah, aaaah, aaah, aaaahh)

But noooooothing compares. No THING compares, to buying a car blind off the internet then going to get it. 

 

Please note: Every time I do something stupid. A shrew will scream. 

 

I'd done so well not buying a car for 18 months. That's 18 months IN A ROW. I'd saved a bit of money, had no real issues and generally had quite a nice time. 

 

Then like a pure junkie, 18 years clean and remembering the smell of methadone I thought well I'll just have a little look on eBay. Just a look. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Browsing eBay seemed fine, so I started popping a few daft small bids in on things. Just small bids. Not gonna win owt. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Bids got a bit higher, because they do dont they? That's not my fault. Bids just get higher. That's just a fact of life. You can't deny it. Bids just get higher. 

 

Until. 

 

 

YOU ARE THE WINNING BIDDER. PLEASE MAKE PAYMENT. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Well I've won it now. I can't let the seller down so I'll have to book a ticket to collect. It's only about 4 hours round trip so it's barely even half a day's work. 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Tickets booked, up with the larks and out to the rail station. 

 

Got some support from my support team. 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Out on the train. You meet the best people. 

 

This gentleman was browsing the actual physical Wetherspoons food menu. 

 

 

This lad seemed like he was a bit peckish as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

PC up one to one. 

[Jim Bell]

Half way there. 

 

[Jim Bell]

Change of trains and a swoop out to the coast. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

I arrived and the car looked great. 

Mot history was good. One keeper from new. 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

 

 

 

Oh fuck. 

It's a Vauxhall lads. 

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Checked the levels, ran it round the block and it seemed fine. 

It had been sitting for two years but had a recent MOT 

 

Let's hit the road!!

[Jim Bell]

Filled the cunt up. Threw it over the moors and everything was fine..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.............. For about 50 miles. Then I noticed a funny smell. 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Smell got worse. 

 

So I pressed on. 

Ignore it. It'll go away. 

 

 

 

I'd did not go away. It got worse. Then smoke started coming out of the wheels. 

[Jim Bell]

 

 

Is it bad if some of the smoke escapes from some of your wheels lads?

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Front brakes were dragging bad. Which is to be expected really. I was hoping to get away with the drive home, but they really dug in. Foot the the floor in 4Th to maintain any kind of road speed. 

I limped into a Coop and grabbed some water. Which will fix everything. 

 

 

 

[Jim Bell]

Spoilers. Water did NOT in fact fix everything.