FatHarris - tales of a motoring moron

[AnnoyingPentium]

4 minutes ago, fatharris said:

The green one?

Nah it was a red/maroon one. X-reg.

[Supernaut]

I guess it says more about me than anything else, but these huge shows like Rustival and FOTU that go "lololol OLD CARS AMIRITE" just make me want to cringe my face inside out.

However, I'm now spending my life these days hiding on a farm without talking to anybody for days/weeks at a time. So I'm not speaking from a balanced perspective.

[fatharris]

4 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

I guess it says more about me than anything else, but these huge shows like Rustival and FOTU that go "lololol OLD CARS AMIRITE" just make me want to cringe my face inside out.

However, I'm now spending my life these days hiding on a farm without talking to anybody for days/weeks at a time. So I'm not speaking from a balanced perspective.

You're lucky you edited

[beko1987]

20 hours ago, IronStar said:

Pwoah, what a selection of cars! Looks like great fun being there! When I first saw the date I was a bit* skeptical about having a huge car show in a country renowned for rain this late in the year, but I’m really glad it was a lovely weather. 

Oh, and every time I see your photos, I want to go out and buy an MG/Rover for some reason. If I ever succumb, and we both know it’s a matter of time, I’m telling missus you’re responsible! 😄

I think we had the last nice day of the year. As mildly chilly as it was when the sun went in it was still lovely! 

Raining today, it will be at Gaydon too

[fatharris]

So, morning of Rustival, 0130 alarm, bag kids and wife up into the car, setting off for 0220.

Eldest slept on the way up, the youngest didn't. Got close enough to the venue to have breakfast at 0611. BX ran great the entire time pootling along at 60-70.

Great time was had at the show, although funnily enough, my youngest turned into a bit of an arse bag halfway through the day - still refused to nap though in her continuing acts of defiance.

We filled up at the beginning of the journey, loaded up with meal deals and did the entire drive home without stopping. All was well until we finally turned off the dual carriageway, where the car suddenly ran like shit at anything between light and half throttle, but would pull cleanly on full.

This cleared itself after a couple of miles and several subsequent drives have been trouble free so I'm going to assume that was a random occurrence.

Either way, we got home around 9pm, shattered.

My eldest had been an absolute superstar for the entire day and got to choose a gift from the museum, so he chose this number plate 🤣

Sunday was very much a pyjama day - we popped out for a spot of breakfast, picked up some kindling, lit the fire for the first time in the season, and just relaxed.

Monday however was a different kettle of fish. Did the school run in the Rover, then dropped Herman back off at Phills garage, before heading down to the local BMW to pick up my new ABS relays.

Got a free coffee and tiny biscuits out of the transaction so that was a win!

The relays were fitted the car cleared of codes. The transmission adaptions was set to reset and then....nothing happened about from the spinning circle of doom on the diag tablet.

After 30 minutes, I decided to leave the car plugged in and went for t'big food shop with MrsH as I was concerned with what would happen if I cancelled it halfway through the reset process.

Came back an hour later and still the circle was there, spinning. Elected to attempt to cancel it anyway as there was something not happening.

Thankfully, it didn't seem to have affected anything so I went for a quick test drive to check for absence of ABS Lights. Success! I tried a few ABS stops (all good) and then attempted to trigger the traction control on some wet grass.

This ended up causing a new issue - the traction light stayed on and the ABS light stayed off, even when cycling the ignition.

Sigh. Plug it back in.

There was a code for the throttle damper, which I imagine is tied into the remaining sticky throttle cable I've yet to change. Cleared it and left it with Dan and David to change the idler arm.

This had the desired effect!

So we headed back down to collect Herman with his fresh ticket.

That means that all the vehicles we currently own have a current MOT, a first for our household since 2015!

To celebrate, I SORNed the Beat, taxed the Laguna and Herman, and slapped the hardtop onto the Mazda. I'll use this for one more month before parking it up.

As a side job, I said I'd fix Phill's workshop PC as it was kippered - would power on, but no bios, no display, no beeps, nothing.

The PSU was okay, so that was a start, then I noticed this little doozy on the motherboard.

That was less than ideal, so a replacement motherboard was sourced on eBay for a whopping £18.

Board was swapped over but it still wasn't playing ball.

Eventually found this defective RAM stick.

Removed that, and success!

All booted up fine and windows was working too, so this was dropped back off at Phills when I collected Herman.

And that's me all caught up from a very busy three day weekend.

Here's a Daihatsu that has just cropped up on the school run. Won't be lasting long as it's already looking pretty battered.

Cheers!

[mk2_craig]

6 hours ago, fatharris said:

Daihatsu

That’s done well. My aunt scrappaged an R-reg Charade in that colour for a new i10 back in 2010, and I think that’s now also dead after she belted it off a traffic island last year. 

[fatharris]

A week without an update? Unusually, most things are working pretty well - the Laguna has re-assumed family car duties, the Mazda has been parked up for a bit and I'm taking the Rover back for a bit.

The entire fleet had a levels and pressures check when we had a break in the weather 😅

I used Herman for the school run and punted an interior trim piece off with my boot and the screenwash jets stopped working suddenly.

Fiddly buggers to get the clips out, but got there.

Onto the washer jets.

Easy enough to find the culprit.

As I didn't have a jubilee clip to hand, I elected for good ol' stainless wire to tighten it up.

Elected to replace the last section of original plastic washer hose too, which had become embrittled due to UV exposure.

Finally, I pulled my finger out and reattached the passenger mirror glass on the MX5.

Hasn't fallen out yet!

Cheers 😁

[Stinkwheel]

I’ll be honest I’d not kept up with this thread, but it’s bloody great to see all the great stuff going on, I’m also going to ask, how is the BX carb now? 
 

ulterior motive, I rediscovered this I’d forgotten I had 

If it’s any use, it is for sale and not going to be ridiculous money 

shameless plug over 👍

[fatharris]

I’ll be honest I’d not kept up with this thread, but it’s bloody great to see all the great stuff going on, I’m also going to ask, how is the BX carb now? 
 
ulterior motive, I rediscovered this I’d forgotten I had 
If it’s any use, it is for sale and not going to be ridiculous money 
shameless plug over

At the moment, it's been running absolutely charmingly - averaging mid 40s on a run and low-mid 30s on the commute - as it stands, I can't currently fault it.

However, I'm very aware that carbs are fickle bastards and there is always scope for improvement, so let me know how much you're after and I'll see how hard I can grovel to MrsH

[fatharris]

Five year comparison?

Five year comparison.

Picked the BX up five years ago today.

We're both wearing more battle scars and our tops are a little thinner.

At least the BX didn't get fat too, I guess 😅

[fatharris]

Herman has been the daily commuter for the last couple of days now, and things aren't going well.

Not sure what is up with this gearbox but it is deeply unhappy:

- in normal 'D' mode, it keeps kicking down beyond half throttle

-sometimes feels slippy

-sometimes sticks in third and won't change (even in manual)

-just never generally feels 'right' unless you're giving it the beams in manual mode.

-on light throttle, the 'box felt slightly 'surge-y'.

-it's doing appallingly on fuel consumption at ~22mpg too.

The traction light comes on after a few miles but not the ABS, but weirdly if you cycle the ignition, the traction light stays on, but the ABS light doesn't come at all, not even during the self test, although this clears if the car is left for a while. I've been getting 'AGS transmission fault (stored)' fault codes when I plugged it in last time, so I've bought a BMW-specific code reader which should be here this week so I can try resetting the transmission and engine adaptations. It had a fluid and filter change done a few years ago so I'm hoping that side of it is okay.

Will be quite annoying if I've put all the work to pumping it through an MOT if it decides to shit itself and die less than 100 miles afterwards. More concerningly, he's the car I've chosen to do the weekly 600 mile round commute in from Sunday.

No pressure then.

[2flags]

Does the transmission need a fluid change? I've no idea if this would improve things, but at least it won't do any harm.

[Nick57]

Sorry you are having troubles.

I am more of a lurker on here, but do enjoy reading the ups and downs of your fleet, so keep the diary going please.

 

 

[fatharris]

59 minutes ago, 2flags said:

Does the transmission need a fluid change? I've no idea if this would improve things, but at least it won't do any harm.

I think it's done roughly 20k since the last one so I imagine not

 

[kevins]

Have you looked at the colour of the trans fluid?  if the clutches are slipping it will usually look like old engine oil.

[fatharris]

On 15/10/2024 at 14:23, kevins said:

Have you looked at the colour of the trans fluid?  if the clutches are slipping it will usually look like old engine oil.

Unfortunately there's no dipstick etc to check - I ended up running out of time and taking the Rover instead, which worked well.

I might have time to check the fluid level this weekend, assuming the revision for this course isn't too daunting!

[2flags]

5 hours ago, fatharris said:

Unfortunately there's no dipstick etc to check - I ended up running out of time and taking the Rover instead, which worked well.

I might have time to check the fluid level this weekend, assuming the revision for this course isn't too daunting!

Ah, so it's the 'improved, sealed for life' models. 'No sir, one doesn't need to change the oil or check the level. If it goes wrong, one simple exchanges the gearbox, fitted by our main dealers of course, for HFM!'

[fatharris]

After coming home from Portsmouth in the Rover, I noticed the tyres are now borderline legal and with an MOT looming, it was time to re-examine Herman.

I took him for another drive until the TCS light came back on, then headed back to plug him on whilst it was lit - this took less than a minute.

The codes that came back were as follows:

Gearbox ECU - couldn't find an explanation for this code anywhere online.

Luckily, @twosmoke300 gave me some very good advice and I checked the engine ECU codes:

He reminded me that the adaptive gearbox side would rely on the throttle input so it was time to whip the throttle potentiometer out for a check.

With it hooked up to a multimeter, it seemed to show everything was working inside, with a smooth transition from minimum to maximum with no observed jumps.

However, I did give it a good drowning in contact cleaner and exercising with a screwdriver before refitting it and going for a test drive.

Success! The gearbox behaved impeccably for the ten mile test drive and no warning lights were observed - the 'box hasn't felt this good in years so clearly this fault was present for some time.

As I'm not home much at the moment due to work, the Mazda and Honda were parked up in the garage for the winter - these may not see the road at all next year due to upcoming work commitments.

The clearance between the Beat and the wall was rather tight!

The Mazda will now be SORNed - the Honda was done in September.

The Rover has been parked up for now and will get SORNed when the MOT runs out, but I will be putting it through one to get the failure list for repairs.

The BX has been stowed under a cover and the battery disconnected - this will remain taxed as our 'hot standby' car in case either Herman or the Laguna falls over.

I don't fancy undoing all my work on it by using it on salted roads 😅

Cheers!

[IronStar]

Herman is back to daily service?! Woah! I love that car, loved it since day one! One of the very few BMWs I’d buy with my own money. I hope provides you with unbothered waftage in this stint of daily service. 
What do you recon is wrong with Rover?

[fatharris]

Herman is back to daily service?! Woah! I love that car, loved it since day one! One of the very few BMWs I’d buy with my own money. I hope provides you with unbothered waftage in this stint of daily service. 
What do you recon is wrong with Rover?

That I know of:

I've poked three holes in it.
All four tyres have heavy wear on the outer edges
Split rubber washer on an anti rollbar link
The centre box is blowing and it needs a clamp for the rear box
There's also a knocking on the front end which is causing some vibration when braking

Smart money says get rid - it's cosmetically poor and there's awkward rust causing moisture ingress into the boot, so it probably needs two rear quarters for the gold standard fix. That's before I think of the poor paintwork and cosmetic rust blebs.

But - it drives bloody lovely, it's never broken down and the engine is a peach.

Dilemma.

[twosmoke300]

8 minutes ago, fatharris said:

That I know of:

I've poked three holes in it.
All four tyres have heavy wear on the outer edges
Split rubber washer on an anti rollbar link
The centre box is blowing and it needs a clamp for the rear box
There's also a knocking on the front end which is causing some vibration when braking

Smart money says get rid - it's cosmetically poor and there's awkward rust causing moisture ingress into the boot, so it probably needs two rear quarters for the gold standard fix. That's before I think of the poor paintwork and cosmetic rust blebs.

But - it drives bloody lovely, it's never broken down and the engine is a peach.

Dilemma.

Cough . 
 

Gear linkage falling off not a breakdown ?

 

Front strut sticking down ? 
 

[IronStar]

7 minutes ago, fatharris said:

That I know of:

I've poked three holes in it.
All four tyres have heavy wear on the outer edges
Split rubber washer on an anti rollbar link
The centre box is blowing and it needs a clamp for the rear box
There's also a knocking on the front end which is causing some vibration when braking

Smart money says get rid - it's cosmetically poor and there's awkward rust causing moisture ingress into the boot, so it probably needs two rear quarters for the gold standard fix. That's before I think of the poor paintwork and cosmetic rust blebs.

But - it drives bloody lovely, it's never broken down and the engine is a peach.

Dilemma.

It’s lovely and ridiculously rare, so surely it’s worth fixing?  That doesn’t sound like too much money to sink into it, especially as you can weld. 

[fatharris]

Cough . 
 
Gear linkage falling off not a breakdown ?
 
Front strut sticking down ? 
 

I forgot all about the gear linkages

Technically it could still be driven with the shock so I'm not counting that

[twosmoke300]

Just now, fatharris said:

I forgot all about the gear linkages

Technically it could still be driven with the shock so I'm not counting that

Drowning Egyptian 

[fatharris]

It’s lovely and ridiculously rare, so surely it’s worth fixing?  That doesn’t sound like too much money to sink into it, especially as you can weld. 

My work commitments mean I'm not home much until new year and will be away for most of next year, so my appetite for a project in between is small

[fatharris]

Well, the gearbox issue has completely gone away, and 470 miles were covered this week with no issues in that regard.

It even achieved 32.4mpg according to the computer, which is the highest it's done for years!

Unfortunately, a new issue has made itself known.

As most of the guys on my course are piling into Herman with me to save spending out on fuel, it's become apparent that with five people and their luggage in the car causes the exhaust to scrape on speedbumps, to the point where we were crawling over them.

The exhaust cat to backbox link pipes are the issue here, as they were kinked and bent downwards towards the floor when Herman was rear ended in 2016.

I'll add a photo of the issue tomorrow, but does anyone have any helpful suggestions to getting them higher up? I was tempted to put a trolley jack under the affected area and pump it, hoping to re-bend the pipe back into roughly the same area. This seems risky though.

Thoughts and suggestions very much welcomed 😁

Cheers!

[Stanky]

Any prospect of a shorter exhaust hanger rubber to pull the whole lot closer to the underside?

If you're over Portsmouth way then you are welcome to come over and put the car on my tilting lift it it helps with either access or adjusting the exhaust? I have a couple of spare exhaust hangers too if they are of any use? I'm in Fareham.

How easy* is it to disassemble the exhaust? Could you take the kinked section out, flip it over and re-fit? So it kinks UP not down?

Otherwise, cheapo temporary* fix could be a set of spring assisters to lift the car a bit?

[IronStar]

How difficult would it be to remove those so you can bend them back, without risking damage to the car with the jack?

[fatharris]

9 minutes ago, Stanky said:

Any prospect of a shorter exhaust hanger rubber to pull the whole lot closer to the underside?

If you're over Portsmouth way then you are welcome to come over and put the car on my tilting lift it it helps with either access or adjusting the exhaust? I have a couple of spare exhaust hangers too if they are of any use? I'm in Fareham.

How easy* is it to disassemble the exhaust? Could you take the kinked section out, flip it over and re-fit? So it kinks UP not down?

Otherwise, cheapo temporary* fix could be a set of spring assisters to lift the car a bit?

Ah, that might be handy to know, thanks, I said Portsmouth but actually meant Gosport!

8 minutes ago, IronStar said:

How difficult would it be to remove those so you can bend them back, without risking damage to the car with the jack?

The problem with that, and the reason I haven't fixed the exhaust sooner is the exhaust system is a one-piece, twin pipe system that only has one disconnection point - the exhaust manifold! Sourcing a replacement as an entire assembly has proven very difficult!

[Stanky]

Just now, fatharris said:

Ah, that might be handy to know, thanks, I said Portsmouth but actually meant Gosport!

Its ok, no-one willingly admits to being in Gosport!

In all seriousness, I'm 10 mins from HMS Sultan if you need tools, room to work in a dry, lit garage or a lift. Tea, Coffee and snacks are also available. With the car on the lift, we could probably wrangle the complete exhaust off the car and bend it back into shape?