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A long time ago in a Galaxie far, far away (and other shit)


sdkrc

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My Primera shat itself outside the in-laws. Drove beautifully there but wouldn't start for the trip back. Electrics came on but wouldn't turn over. I know the battery is old and has been brought back from the brink of death with trickle charging so quick trip to Costco in the Visa with an educated* guess of which sized battery I need.

One poorly fitted, oversized battery into the Primera later and wham, same problem. 

Primera abandoned for the night. Picked my mates up for a games night in the Visa - everyone was thoroughly impressed with the poverty. -2C and there was more ice inside the car than out. Used credit cards and drove home with zero visibility.

Resolved to get the Primera home somehow, quick Google says it could be a faulty ground. Drove over in the Galaxie with a jumper cable, hooked it up from the negative to the engine block and it fired up first time. Result!

Driving the Galaxie after the Visa...my god...

No pics of cars but a beautiful sky on my walk home 

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27 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

Primera abandoned for the night. Picked my mates up for a games night in the Visa - everyone was thoroughly impressed with the poverty. -2C and there was more ice inside the car than out. Used credit cards and drove home with zero visibility.

I once tried using a store discount card to remove ice from my windscreen but I only got 20% off.

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6 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

Well then...explains why the Primera shat itself. Can't get the cable out without getting it up on jacks and removing the undertray. Gah

 

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I've a very similar looking charger that does absolutely fuck all charging when the battery reads that low. Have to use the old one to get the battery voltage up to above 10 volt before that one will do anything useful.

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5 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

I've a very similar looking charger that does absolutely fuck all charging when the battery reads that low. Have to use the old one to get the battery voltage up to above 10 volt before that one will do anything useful.

I've had exactly the same problem with one of those new chargers a little while back. The old fashioned one, not a problem.

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20 hours ago, sdkrc said:

Visa has shit it's clutch

Primera has shit it's electrics

Galaxie just keeps stepping up. 

Bonus day is 31st Jan. Errbody getting new parts.

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You sir must have an enormous pair of plums for using a car like this through winter! Fair play.

I shit my panties at the first sight of road salt or drop of rain! I am shame.

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Drove to the gym and motorway route was closed. Not a fan of the attention through town

Lights started to flick on/off violently so that's 3/3 fucked cars now. Just have to make it home without anyone seeing my fucked lights...hmm

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I think it was PhilA who said it's gonna be the switch. Serves me right for not solving that right away

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On 1/25/2020 at 11:42 AM, busmansholiday said:

I've a very similar looking charger that does absolutely fuck all charging when the battery reads that low. Have to use the old one to get the battery voltage up to above 10 volt before that one will do anything useful.

Holy shit. 3 days charging and we're at 7.2v. RIP

I can't tell if it's the battery that's guffed or the charger but @busmansholiday's experience makes me think it ain't the brand new battery.

Surely 1 complete discharge wouldn't brick a new battery? 

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1 minute ago, sdkrc said:

Holy shit. 3 days charging and we're at 7.2v. RIP

I can't tell if it's the battery that's guffed or the charger but @busmansholiday's experience makes me think it ain't the brand new battery.

Surely 1 complete discharge wouldn't brick a new battery? 

Nope, the TF battery got down to three volts because the alarms on these don't ever turn off.

That charger wouldn't touch it. Overnight on an old, not regulated one had the battery up and running again.

 It still is, 6 months later.

Those chargers are good for trickle charging full batteries, they are, in my opinion, fucking useless for anything else.

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It's because the charger is probably thinking it's a 6v motorcycle battery. You need to get the voltage to around to 9v for it to properly detect it. Best method is using a 12v power supply. However you could do it dangerously by jumping it onto a good battery in parallel... Probably wouldn't recommend doing that though. Maybe tapping the clip onto the terminal rather than clamping. You don't need much, just enough surface charge to get it up to 9 volts. 

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On 1/25/2020 at 7:45 PM, captain_70s said:

Have you tried wiggling the fuck out of the switch?

That and going to town with the high/low beam switch- is it still on the floor? If so don't forget the other side of it gets all manner of shit thrown at it by the front wheel, now no longer on the dry side of the road, either.

Also your switch may have a bimetallic overload cutout- the contacts on those get crappy after a while and just need a good cleaning with abrasive paper to make work again, and no amount of switch wiggling fixes it. Sometimes reaching up, burning your fingers and moving the contacts that way can bring light back briefly.

Sounds like the latter may be the culprit, as the contacts get bad they make more heat and the overload cutout starts to act like a turn signal blinker unit.

Phil

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16 hours ago, sdkrc said:

I'm just trying to order some parts and the thought has just crossed my mind, this was built in '66 but is it a '67 model because 'America'?

Quite possibly, best to check the vin. Most parts will carry over between years but Sod's law not the one you're ordering.  

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VIN says 66 too. I've gone balls deep and committed to a new switch and a workshop manual for the 66.

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Visa is gonna be all clutched up soon. Gonna have to have the lads at the garage dig into my pockets and give it a shot

Primera is still goosed even with a new and charged battery. I've ordered fuses.

Bimmer is earning it's keep. I took her for a clean at Tesco's at 2am because that's what she deserves. Also tried to solve the wobble at 55mph+ by switching the spare wheel around and managed to lose the locking wheel nut. Minor improvements but nothing to write home about. Gonna treat her to an alignment, two new rear tyres and discs. Next to find out about the timing chain and tensioners...sounds like this could be expensive

 

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5 minutes ago, sdkrc said:

VIN says 66 too. I've gone balls deep and committed to a new switch and a workshop manual for the 66.

IMG_20200204_133259.thumb.jpg.296fa99316bbd5a0b342a415598f3377.jpg

Visa is gonna be all clutched up soon. Gonna have to have the lads at the garage dig into my pockets and give it a shot

Primera is still goosed even with a new and charged battery. I've ordered fuses.

Bimmer is earning it's keep. I took her for a clean at Tesco's at 2am because that's what she deserves. Also tried to solve the wobble at 55mph+ by switching the spare wheel around and managed to lose the locking wheel nut. Minor improvements but nothing to write home about. Gonna treat her to an alignment, two new rear tyres and discs. Next to find out about the timing chain and tensioners...sounds like this could be expensive

 

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IMG_20200201_015413.jpg

Springburn Tesco, you must be quite close to me. I'm about 2 minutes drive away ?

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Right. Galaxie stuff. Finger = out of my ass

I took apart the entire dash only to realise there's a spring loaded pin that, when pushed down, releases the switch. Either way it's finally out and there's a lot of copper oxide

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Clock was made in 65. I don't think this needs anything other than a working wire to it

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