MotorPunk’s £16 Panda

[motorpunk]

Thanks @red5 - I will try that later when it’s light.

I did try jumping it with live to live then earth on good car to earth point on suspension on Fiat. Same thing?

[red5]

Sort of. Try just neg to engine - as prev. 

[motorpunk]

Thanks anyway. I’ve ordered a multimeter and will check for parasitic losses by pulling fuses, then I’ll fit a battery isolator for when it’s not in use. It’s had an alternator fitted but I don’t trust the garage that did it, so maybe the fault lies there. It’s a cracking car and I’m determined to fix this.

[Barry Cade]

Sounds like a engine earth as mentioned.. or a duff starter/connection..  give the starter a thump with something heavy...

[Mrcento]

There will be huge earth point on top of the gearbox and likely a smaller one on coil packs.

[motorpunk]

Can I rig a temporary earth by adding another strap from the negative terminal to something substantial on the bodywork, just to see if that’s the case? The earth strap means battery tray and clutch slave being moved to access, which is a faff as it’s currently parked in the street. I don’t see why I can’t just run a jump lead as a temporary earth. I think the car has now killed two new batteries in 12 months-ish. Grrr…

Current thinking is to pick up a used, charged battery that fits, add a new earth strap, and add a manual battery isolator. Then when the voltmeter turns up try pulling fuses one by one to try and see if there are parasitic losses.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions, by the way. 

[red5]

I think it got lost in translation - use one of the leads to earth the engine to the negative lead of the battery. 

[Aston Martin]

Battery earth to gearbox lead, corrode and snap.

Not saying that's the issue, but it happens.

[Dan_ZTT]

2 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Can I rig a temporary earth by adding another strap from the negative terminal to something substantial on the bodywork, just to see if that’s the case?

Yeah this is what red5 is suggesting, using a single jump lead to function as a strap

[Barry Cade]

16 minutes ago, Dan_ZTT said:

Yeah this is what red5 is suggesting, using a single jump lead to function as a strap

It has to be battery negative to a good, clean part of the engine though.. if you put the jump lead to the bodywork, it defeats the excersise..... engine lifting eye is good on these...

[motorpunk]

Okidoke. It now starts off jump leads and drives rather nicely. I've got a battery isolator switch coming, so I think we're in business again. Drove it to Leicester and back, climate on, tunes on, nipping through traffic nicely. 

Clutch is occasionally sticky, even though it's had master and slave cylinder replaced. Garage says "drive it and it'll get better" but actually it's not getting better. It's spotlessly clean in there now but I reckon the cack Ash spotted when he originally picked it up (his pic below) might point to a long-standing fault somewhere. 

[mitsisigma01]

Is it grease or carpet glue ?

[Jim Bell]

Can I have £5.00 on babies shite?

[yes oui si]

Peanut butter? 

[motorpunk]

My voltmeter is flakey, so I spent £5 on a new battery for it and it’s still flakey, so I ordered another one. I have jump start pack and that’s started to do odd things, so thats on order, and my old Fiat’s battery looks ancient but still works and my 190k BMW is also on its original battery and with winter and cold starts coming I’m trying to get ahead of the inevitable here with an eBay splurge.

[motorpunk]

1 hour ago, yes oui si said:

Peanut butter? 

Smooth, not crunchy.

@SmokinWafflehad cleaned all this cack off before I collected, thankfully.

[Aston Martin]

Mine is sticky after slave and master replaced.

I just grease the piston,  I think there's a proper fix. But this works for me.

 

The rubber seal, pushes the grease away. 🤷‍♂️

[Barry Cade]

Just been on a mercy call to daughters boyfriend.. Fiat Scudo, no start, no crank.. been fine up till today. He asked if I'd bring my diagnostic to see what the problem was.. jump lead from battery negative to engine mount and it fired right up. Took the earth lead off and it was a bit green and crappy, cleaned it up and all good. It doesn't take much to cause problems..

[Wgl2019]

On 1/3/2022 at 10:04 PM, Aston Martin said:

Mine is sticky after slave and master replaced.

I just grease the piston,  I think there's a proper fix. But this works for me.

 

The rubber seal, pushes the grease away. 🤷‍♂️

Maybe try a spray lube that leaves a PTFE coating behind.

Such as https://www.toolstation.com/action-can-dry-ptfe/p57723

[motorpunk]

Clutch slave fitted. Now drives lovely.

also - junior made a little cosmetic modification… 

[The Moog]

I would suggest unmodifying them as those metal valve caps have a habit of rusting to valve stems and causing issues

[UltraWomble]

1 minute ago, The Moog said:

I would suggest unmodifying them as those metal valve caps have a habit of rusting to valve stems and causing issues

I concur - JakeBullet sells some quiet groovy plastic dice caps - I have a set on the wifes Alhambra - they look great.

[St.Jude]

On 1/16/2022 at 6:56 PM, The Moog said:

I would suggest unmodifying them as those metal valve caps have a habit of rusting to valve stems and causing issues

That's a small price to pay for Max Powa Style yo.

[motorpunk]

18 hours ago, St.Jude said:

That's a small price to pay for Max Powa Style yo.

I like 'em! She bought me a set for my old 500, too. 

[motorpunk]

This really is a lovely little thing. Junior has her driving test on Monday, the L plate flew off when we were driving recent and she reckons it’s a sign from above.

[horriblemercedes]

On 1/16/2022 at 6:56 PM, The Moog said:

I would suggest unmodifying them as those metal valve caps have a habit of rusting to valve stems and causing issues

100%, absolute pain in the arse when they really stick

[BeEP]

21 hours ago, motorpunk said:

I like 'em! She bought me a set for my old 500, too. 

I can't see them being a problem assuming tyre pressures are checked occasionally!

[SmokinWaffle]

1 hour ago, motorpunk said:

This really is a lovely little thing. Junior has her driving test on Monday, the L plate flew off when we were driving recent and she reckons it’s a sign from above.

Best of luck! Loving the updates, so nice to see this being used compared to when I got it, destined for scrap and sitting on a driveway of a run down house covered in algae. Awesome stuff. 

[motorpunk]

49 minutes ago, SmokinWaffle said:

Best of luck! Loving the updates, so nice to see this being used compared to when I got it, destined for scrap and sitting on a driveway of a run down house covered in algae. Awesome stuff. 

The Panda you very kindly gifted lives on the back seat and is called Ash, apparently.

[motorpunk]

Well, junior failed her test (boo!) but the Panda passed it’s MOT with only a handbrake cable needing fixing (yay!)

We have regular lessons together while she waits for her next test. Car is lovely. Her sisters Panda has 100k + on the clock and also passed it’s MOT no bother.