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Tim's Fleet - new V70


Cord Fourteener

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Right,

One in, one needs to go, ideally at the very end of the month.

So, I've just got back from a few days away with family. Poo count 1, grazed breakfast based on wrap with olives and tomato, no pics. Here's my afternoon (just arrived home) cup of tea...

20200822_140148.thumb.jpg.f0a99f4713a96f6c98f9f767909de3a4.jpg

Now all that important* stuff is out of the way I am now free to concentrate on the actual collection goings on ?

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So, the situation is (and we knew we were getting into this, just didn't know how long the thing would take);

Can't use the Ibiza because of missing paperwork, can't tax the car until the v5 Congress back from Abertawe (the sea of swans). So continuing to use the Mondeo.

It's still for sale, but just not available yet!

Not that I've had any interest for it.

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You can tax with a V62(?) form at a Post Office that does car tax. There is a tick box for waiving a V5 re-issue fee stating that as a new owner you didn’t get a registration document. If they know what they’re doing they can tax it on the spot. Needs the VIN and some name and address details only if I recall. Had to pull this a few times when buying from the wrong end of eBay...

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8 hours ago, rob88h said:

You can tax with a V62(?) form at a Post Office that does car tax. There is a tick box for waiving a V5 re-issue fee stating that as a new owner you didn’t get a registration document. If they know what they’re doing they can tax it on the spot. Needs the VIN and some name and address details only if I recall. Had to pull this a few times when buying from the wrong end of eBay...

I've done the v62 at the counter, under our name and under previous owner name, but it wouldn't let me.

We are now just waiting for the v5 and that came in a few weeks with the Mondeo so fingers crossed, maybe a phone call. At least we have a car, we need to sell the Mondeo before we tax the seat anyway just because we're not exactly flush right now!

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  • 2 weeks later...

News! We phoned Abertawe (Swansea) and managed, after no time at all, to get tax on the Seat.

Woop.

Now, it remains to sell the Mondeo. And insure the Seat, which Wifeykins might do at some point. Perhaps. So someone needs to buy it so she'll insure her new* car.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit of excitement!

Wifey drive the Seat to work, fresh with V5, tax and insurance, knowing there is an unresolved firing issue.

It almost made it before limp mode and mis-firing occurred. She got there but finished early to get the RAC out and get the car to a local garage. I always assumed it was the plugs or distributor at fault based on what I was told by the previous owner, but the injectors have been identified by the RAC and the garage.

They are testing to see if it's the injector itself or the lead, either way hopefully not too big a job.

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The Ibiza is back from the garage.

Either the problem will be intermittent and elusive or by changing number 2 injector, which was causing the fault code, with number one (to see if it is injector or wire - and now the car is behaving perfectly) and the contact cleaning and pin-bending that they did during the process they inadvertently fixed it.

Anyway I have my trusty £20 fault code reader ready incase it happens again.

Otherwise the Ibiza is s lovely little car. With half of the BMWs engine, wrong wheel drive, less sophisticated suspension etc it really does drive well, turn corners very well, smooth out the shitty roads and feel nippy.

The biggest foibles (agreed upon by me and wifey) are it's super light electric steering and the minimal instrument display, but I think we'll get used to that.

It sounds good, too.

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Today I got panicky messages from Wifey saying it won't start etc etc. I was getting half worried as she needs it tomorrow for work, half keen to scan it to see if we can tell from the codes if its to do with swapping injectors... 

She'd left the radio on. Dead battery. I was able to jump start no problem, she's running fine.

Now I'm sat outside of kids karate lesson with the car idling in case the battery is buggered. I do have the jump leads 😉

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Cord Fourteener changed the title to Tim's Generalistic Fleeting Phenomena - drama on the horizon?

Imagine going on a day out in your trusty  16 year old BMW family car, going for a walk with your 18 month and 6 year old kids while wife (who has breakdown insurance) is away working nights and staying away all weekend, only to find, when time to merrily go home in the afternoon, a perfect storm brewing.

Car won't run, it fires and dies, repeatedly. Pressing throttle seems to starve it of some essential fluid or other. Try and try but no joy. So, with two kids who are tired, toddler having no more nappies is my main concern. Next is there is little food left. Limited water, limited warm dry clothes.

I have, stupidly, 6% battery on my phone. I have a charger in the car but there is zero signal, and I mean zero.

So plan A: walk to find signal and phone a neighbour. Plan B would have to be knock on a house door to use a phone. Plan C will have to be hitch a lift, but with Covid 19 restrictions that is more of a ball ache than it otherwise would be.

If I was on my own walking home would be an option, but with several hours walk ahead that's not a child-friendly option at the moment.

This is the second no-start in a year so I feel my trust in this otherwise lovely motor not being the strongest right now...

So I walked to find signal down a half mile track to the main road, we are in the middle of a moor in North Wales, fortunately a tourist spot. However, no signal can be found.

I flagged down a fellow tourist leaving the site who let me use their phone in the car which has just enough signal. Kindness of strangers followed with gifts of kiddie crack biscuits and fruit shoots etc.

Phew; neighbour came out in his Isuzu crew cab pickup and rescued us.

So we are safe after minimal fuss.

Now to greet post-nights wife with the news that somehow, between sleeping for her next shifts on Tuesday and maintaining normal life with kids, we have to use her breakdown cover to recover car...

I'm quite glad we still have the Mondeo which is as yet unsold! Pity that fitting a tow ball will cost twice as much as the car is worth, though. So, I have to get the BMW beck on the road and assess the situation, but I will need a working car with tow ball before long!

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So, RAC came out to the car.

His suspicion was this: the car has a saddle shaped fuel tank and that the fuel, though not empty, was low enough that when I parked on uneven ground, emptied from the side that the feed comes from. I was sceptical as the guage was not really showing low and I've happily driven it emptier, but after tipping ten litres in he was proved correct.

Now I feel a bit more foolish.

And I owe my trusty BMW an apology, it didn't let me down.

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