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BL Bloke's Motors - 205 still here but the garage has gone


BL Bloke

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As it's been seven months since the last post I think it's time for a fleet update.

The Saxo passed its MoT yesterday with a few minor advisories. The back box on the exhaust had been blowing so that was replaced last week. One thing that should be blowing but isn't is the heater which stopped working a few weeks ago and will need investigating.

The 205 passed its MoT a few weeks ago with a few advisories. It's still running well but I need to get the tracking done and possibly a pair of tyres on the front as they're both worn on the inner edges.

The Rover is still running well when there is some charge in the battery as if it's left for more than a week it goes flat. The problem seems to be that the + post on the battery is too small for the clamp to grip it as even with a shim over the top of it I can tighten the clamp as much as possible and it's still loose. I don't know if battery posts have got smaller over the years so the clamp is now too big but I had the same problem with the previous battery too. 😕 It is also now the lowest mileage car on the fleet at 33800 as the Fabia passed it a few weeks back.

The Fabia is still doing 'an car' stuff. It'll be 10 years old next January so maybe it'll qualify as 'proper' shite instead of modern. 🙂

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Long overdue fleet update
  • 2 weeks later...

Last Saturday the Saxo, which is the highest mileage, or should that be least low mileage,  car on the fleet clocked up another 1000 miles.

 

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In other news I decided to sort out the Rover's loose battery clamp. As I mentioned in the previous post even with a shim on the post it won't tighten up enough to grip the post.

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A quick trip  to Halfords and I had a clamp that fitted. 

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Unfortunately after removing the old clamp and trimming back the insulation on the cables it wouldn't reach the post.

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I have bought a new cable so it does reach now but I'm wondering if I should buy a clamp with a 2 way connector as at the moment it has a cable coming in from each side of the clamp and I'm concerned that it may cause problems if I use it like it is.  Any suggestions welcome.

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Battery bother
  • 1 month later...

A quick update on the Rover's battery troubles.  At the end of the last post I had this, which I wasn't happy with.

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I bought another clamp with a 2 way connector and fitted that which looked more like the original set up.

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The battery had been charged three weeks earlier and had been in the car disconnected since then but after a few turns of the key the Rover fired up for the first time in over a month and over the next few days just over 100 miles added. Since then it hasn't been used for a week and half so yesterday evening  I thought I'd see if it would start. Nope. ☹️ As the battery held charge when it was disconnected I'm assuming that the battery is OK and  the problem is elsewhere. The question is, where? 

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Battery bother part 2
27 minutes ago, BL Bloke said:

A quick update on the Rover's battery troubles.  At the end of the last post I had this, which I wasn't happy with.

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I bought another clamp with a 2 way connector and fitted that which looked more like the original set up.

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The battery had been charged three weeks earlier and had been in the car disconnected since then but after a few turns of the key the Rover fired up for the first time in over a month and over the next few days just over 100 miles added. Since then it hasn't been used for a week and half so yesterday evening  I thought I'd see if it would start. Nope. ☹️ As the battery held charge when it was disconnected I'm assuming that the battery is OK and  the problem is elsewhere. The question is, where? 

Likely a parasitic drain, got an amp clamp? You could put a multi meter in series, but that's generally less accurate as not everything "wakes up"

It's not possible to fully assess a battery's condition without a load test, you could try popping it to one of those "free battery check" outfits and ask them specifically for the CCA rating (not just their opinion on whether it needs replacing)

Also; is the car definitely charging fine? Getting ~14v at idle with lots of things switched on - headlights, wipers, blowers etc?

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  • 4 weeks later...

No battery problems since the last update as the Rover has been in regular use including a couple of visits to the FoD, where it was joined last weekend by one of its younger siblings in the shape of @MrDuke's 45.

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A couple of months back it was my lowest mileage car but with  a few long runs over the past few weeks the Fabia is now lowest again by 40 miles. On the French front the Saxo has been put in the garage as a car with a non functioning heater fan blower isn't ideal for summer. On the plus side this means that the 205 is out for the first time since the end of March. 🙂 To mark the occasion I took it out for a run to the countryside.

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I have been thinking of reducing the fleet again but I can't decide which one to sell as I like them all plus I wouldn't know how much to ask for if I did decide to sell one. 

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Rover/205 update
  • 1 month later...

July has been a busy month for the Rover as on the 10th it was at Gaydon for the BMC & Leyland show.

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The following weekend it was off to North Wales for Shitefest.

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Back in August 2019 I had planned to take it on a run out to Llandudno but due to HGF issues it didn't happen so I took a detour on the way home and it finally got there. By the time I got back home via the A5 it had covered around 500 miles in just over a week without any noticeable problems which I was quite pleased with. 

When the 205 came out for the Summer the trim on the nsr door was hanging off. After a couple of attempts to stick it back on I decided to remove it and noticed that the rearmost few inches of the nsf door trim was loose too. I went out in it the other day and after doing some shopping I came ack anf found the trim had come off and the end was resting on the mud flap. It's a good job I approached from the passenger side or I probably wouldn't have noticed that it had come off. It was put in the boot and on the way home it clocked up 2000 miles since I bought it back in June 2019.

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I now have to decide what to do with the side trim. As I see it I have three options;

1. Find something suitable to stick them back on as they've done an excellent job of protecting the body from parking dings & scrapes.

2. Take them all off as, according to my 205 brochure, the GL shouldn't have side trim.

3. Take the asymmetric route and take the piece on the ns front wing off and leave the other side as it is. 

Decisions, decisions.

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Roving Rover and 205 trim troubles
  • 7 months later...

As it's been 8 months since the last post I reckon it's time for a fleet update.  

Going in age order first is the 205, which did 811 miles last year, finishing 2022 on a total mileage of 46056. Most of the winter it was tucked away in the garage. It went for it's MOT at the beginning of March, which it passed with a few advisories but I was told that it's running rich and needs to be sorted for next year or it would fail on emissions.

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While it was out I took it for a run out in the country.

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With the Saxo going in or it's MOT just over a week later it was back up to the garage to swap them back over. As they aren't seen together too often I took the opportunity to get a picture of them together. 🙂

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Which takes us on to the Saxo, which did a meagre 548 miles last year, taking it's total mileage to 61206, the highest on the fleet. During the cold weather during February it did suffer from a sticking rear brake, which I managed to free off.

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It went for its MOT just over a week ago and passed wit a few advisories.  The alternator belt still squeals a bit on start up  and the heater controls still don't work but apart rom that it's running fine. #NotMyCat

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Next is the Rover 45, which did 960 miles last year, taking it to 34978 total to the end of 2022. 

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It passed its MOT in August last year with the usual advisories and since then has done limited miles due to the battery still going flat if it isn't used or a few days. It has done enough miles for this to happen though. 🙂

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I'm still in two mind over whether to sell it or not but I've renewed my owner's club membership so it'll probably be around for a while yet.

Finally, and making its first appearance here since its 10th birthday in January is my Skoda Fabia, which I've owned since September 2015. It's a 1.2 with 70 bhp but that's still enough to get to over 70 on the motorway if you aren't careful. 

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Last year it did 2364 miles, taking it up to 35856 total up to the end of last year.  It passed its MOT at the beginning of February with a few advisories but before then this happened  in mid January when I went to a model show in Bolton .

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As you can tell I don't do a lot of miles and definitely not enough for four cars so one or two of them might be looking for a new home later in the year. 

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - An overdue update and Rover MOT fail

I really ought to do this more often but most of the time there's not much going on. Anyway, back in April the Rover went to Pride of Longbridge where it lined up with a lot of its siblings.

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At the end of May the 205 was the chod of choice for this year's first visit to the FoD, where it found itself next to the 205 of @barrett.

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The next day it was the Rover's turn. On the way down the offside  front brake started making occasional grinding noises, more of which later.

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In July the 205 went to Shitefest. While driving down Llanberis Pass it clocked up 3000 miles since I bought it back in June 2019. Unfortunately I left the SD card for my camera in my laptop, which was at home, so no photos. Also unfortunately, while doing some tight manoeuvring in the dark and rain I backed into a low wall which broke some of the clips holding the  rear valance to the bumper, leaving it hanging low at one end. I was able to strap it up with some string and some cable ties from @rml2345.

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Which takes us to today, when the Rover went in or its MOT. I knew it would fail on the brakes, which it did as the o/s front pads were down to the metal and the calliper may be seized, hopefully it'll just be the sliders sticking. It turns out it also  needed some welding on the floor and the back of the n/s sill.

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It'll be going in next week to have the work done, then it'll be good for another year.

 

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Rover MOT pass and fleet update

The Rover went in for the mot work last week so it's OK or another year and my wallet is a fair bit lighter. The rear wheel arch looks a lot better than it did in the previous post.

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The weekend before it was the Fabia's turn to visit the FoD, where it found itself next to @bobdisk's DAF. On the way down it clocked up 37000 miles, not bad for ten and a half years.

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While I was there I had a brief drive around the  field in the Mk2 Daimler and a ride to the chippy in the back of the Rolls Royce.

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Thanks to @Six-cylinder and @Mrs6C for a great day, it was nice to see the fleet lined up. 🙂

Back to my fleet and the Saxo had a little run out last week. The o/s/f brake sounds like it's rubbing a bit, the front suspension clonks a bit and the heater still doesn't work but apart from that it's OK. 

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Finally I found out which clips I needed to reattach the 205's rear valance so I've ordered some so I can get it sorted out.

 

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Four years with a Saxo

Today marks four years since I went down to that London and came home in a £200 Citroen Saxo. 🙂 To mark the occasion it came out of the garage for the weekly run to Sainsbury's.

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The front brake sounded better than it did last week so it might have just been sticking a bit due to lack of use as it's only done about 730 miles since April 2022. I really need to get the heater control working again though as it gets a bit* warm this time of year, which means I can't use it as much a I'd like. 🙁

In other news, the clips for the 205's rear valance arrived today. 🙂 Hopefully fitting them won't be too difficult.

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As I've mentioned before I could really do with reducing the fleet as I never meant to have four cars. The idea was to have the Fabia for my daily and an 'old' car for high day and holidays. I've worked out that if I sell the Rover, one of the smoll Frenchies and give up the tenancy on my garage I'd be around £1700 better off going by this years costs, which will of course be more next year. 

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£140 a month to own, run and store 2 cars doesn't actually sound too bad to me, so I'd be inclined to continue enjoying them :) - probably not what you need to hear though!

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When your works pension pays £1050 a month paying out £140 a month less is a big difference. Plus the £140 a month doesn't include fuel or maintenance, just tax, insurance, MOTs and garage rent.

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  • 4 months later...

 

After nearly five months I reckon it's time for an update on the 205. Things haven't been going well. 😟 

I made a partially successful attempt to fit the clips on the 205's rear valance. I managed to just about get the outer one to grip the bumper an valance as it's accessible from the rear wheel arch. The inner two seem to be inaccessible unless you get under the car or remove the bumper, neither of which I was comfortable with, so they're still in the bag.   

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While I was around the back end I noticed that the panel on the tailgate had cracked down the one side, which has temporarily been stuck together with parcel tape.

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This got me thinking that maybe I should move it on and find a good home for it before anything else happens, and then, at the end of November  ...

 

the driver's door wouldn't unlock. 🙁 This problem started at Shitefest but I thought it'd sorted itself out. Obviously I was wrong so since then I've been stressing out about how much it'll cost to get it fixed and whether I should get it sorted and then sell it or sell it as is. 😕 Any suggestions welcome. 

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Peugeot problems

Time for the yearly mileage update. Going in order from low to high we start off with the Saxo, which did 596 miles, taking it to a total of 61803. It was SORNed at the end of August but I taxed it the beginning of the month and gave it a run out to Merry Hill. I was pleased to find that the sticky brake issue seems to have gone away, if only temporarily.

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Next up is the 205, which did 825 miles, leaving it at a total of 46881. As mentioned in my previous post it'll probably be looking for a new home soon. 

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Runner up again was the Rover with 1122 miles, taking it total mileage to 36100. A few days earlier, however, this happened...

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which might not look significant but it meant that  it has now done 5000 miles since I bought it back in February 2019. I've been thinking of selling it as it costs the most to tax and insure but as this year is the 120th anniversary of Rover cars I might keep it and take it to some shows, plus it's had more money spent on it since I bought it than the rest of the fleet combined.

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Finally, the Fabia did 2710 miles, which took it up to a total of 38567. It had a trip out to the FoD after Christmas where it was parked next to a proper car.🙂 

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So, another year over and all four cars did more miles  than in 2022 and a total combined mileage of just over 5200, which isn't a lot. In fact the total mileage of the fleet over the last 2 years is less than 10.000, which some folk on here can do in a few months. 

 

 

 

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - fleet update

Quick update. The insurance renewal on the Saxo came through a couple of weeks ago £107 more than last year. By going online an increasing the mileage from 3000 to 4000 I've got a quote for £4 more than last year so I've gone with that.

The Fabia was 11 years old last week so has got slightly shiteier. 🙂

Lastly, the for sale ad or the 205 is up.

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - 205 still here and more door lock dilemmas

Yes, I do still have the 205. It was nearly sold but at the  last minute my self sabotage kicked in and caused me to change my mind about selling because (a) it's probably my favourite on the fleet and (b) I felt that as the issues that it has had happened on my watch I should be the one to get them sorted. The potential buyer was understandably unimpressed by the decision but at the time it seemed the right thing to do, although since then I've realised that it wasn't. 

Last week it went to the local garage to have the driver's door lock looked at and although they got the door open they couldn't get the lock to work despite apparently spending 3 hours adjusting it, so now instead of not being able to open the door from inside or out you can now open the door from outside but not lock it and inside you still can't open it as it sounds like the linkage inside the door has been disconnected. They said it would 'likely' need new locks or the key and door.  Tomorrow I might remove the door trim and look inside the door to see what they've done to it. The MOT runs out on Friday so I'm concerned about what to do with it after that date. 😕

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As or the rest of the fleet, the Fabia went in for a service and MOT at the end of January. The EML was on when it went in but was off when I collected it. Twelve days and 50 miles later it came back on again. 🙁 

On the 4th of February I'd owned the Rover for 5 years, since when I've done 5200 miles in it.

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A few months back I noticed that the Saxo's front tyres were both cracked and as one of them was an advisory on last year's MOT I booked it in for a new pair.

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Hopefully with the new tyres it'll pass its MOT when it goes in next week. It certainly handles better than it did on the old tyres, the steering feels lighter too.

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Last Thursday I took the 205 out for a run as I wanted to clock up 3500 miles in it before the MOT ran out on Friday. When I got back home I stripped the fittings and trim panel from the driver's door to have a look at the lock mechanism. While it was off I gave the door pocket a wash to see if I could remove the discolouration on it but without success.

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Once the panel was off  I realised that I didn't really know what  I was looking for but it looks like the rod connecting the interior handle to the lock has been moved forward as the handle popped out of its mounting hole when the trim panel was removed. 

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I did take some pics of the inside of the door in case anyone can give me an idea as to how the lock operates.

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I still keep thinking that I should have sold it as I don't have a good history with cars and lapsed MOTs. 🙁 I'm thinking of updating the for sale thread and seeing if anyone still willing to take it on. 

In happier news the Saxo has had its first wash since I bought it four and a half years ago and it had lichen growing on it even then. It does look a lot better, even though its battle scars show up more and the peeling lacquer on the roof got blasted off. 

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It's going in or its MOT on Tuesday so hopefully it'll pass. I'll leave you with a shot of the driveway. 

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - Saxo MOT pass

The Saxo passed its MOT yesterday with a few  advisories, nothing too serious though. Also, 23 months after clocking up 61K, this happened.

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As you can see it doesn't get out much, maybe it's time to move it on.

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  • BL Bloke changed the title to BL Bloke's Motors - 205 still here but the garage has gone

I reckon it's time for an update even though not a lot has happened since last time. Since the 205's MOT ran out at the end of February it's been sitting up the corner on the drive. It was nearly sold again at the end of March but after giving me a couple of reasons why he couldn't come and collect it the potential buyer seems to have disappeared off the face of the Earth. It does need to go though as, in all honesty,  I can't see myself doing anything with it so there will be a new for sale thread going up soon. . 

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Last year the Saxo only did 597 miles but so far this year it's already passed that.

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It should be making an appearance at Shitefest next month as it hasn't been to one yet. It could be a bit warm though as the heater blower switch still doesn't work so it'll be windows and sunroof open. 🙂

At the beginning of the year I had a plan to sell a car or two and terminate the tenancy on my garage in order to save some money.  While the cars are still here I handed in the keys to the garage last month after clearing it out.

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Although it has saved me some money it did mean that I had to find somewhere to put all the bits of dead Allegro that had been in there for the past 20 years .

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Most of them  now reside in the downstairs loo, while others are in a garden storage box or just in the garden, including the  1970's(?) luggage rack.

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I need to decide what to do with them a they do take up a lot of space and I have no use for them.  

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