Wibble’s Wittering - Cortina, Senator & occasional Skoda & family ramblings, soz!

[sutty2006]

Mmmmmm senator. Miss mine dearly. 
 

finding ABS problems on these is hard work. My last Carlton had a problem with ABS driving in the wet. All sensors were fine, cables fine, rings fine. Never did find it. Always came on when driving in the wet.

[Wibble]

18 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

My Dad had 3 Cortinas.

1976 Mk III  2000XL in Roman Bronze which I learnt to drive in.

1979 Mk IV 2.0 GL Auto Estate in Arizona Gold.

1982 Mk V 2.3 GL Auto Estate Dark Green Metallic not sure what it was called. This one was very near the end of Cortina production and had loads of extras so was virtually a Ghia. V6 sounded great and seemed very powerful but pitiful (116bhp) by today’s standards.

 

So your Dad’s were replaced every three years too. Assume company cars?

Love the sound of the Mk5, great colour and spec.

[Wibble]

10 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Very much a fan of the Senator, especially with this having the blue interior! Mine has velour inside as well, I thought about replacing it with leather at some point but it's what actually makes it a little more special.

A friend of mine in Germany has a huge parts stash for them, he might have a sensor, too but as with many of them it's a little hit and miss. I'd drive the car for a little while before replacing anything, it could very well clear itself again.

 

Ooh, another one? What’s yours exactly?

 

10 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Very much a fan of the Senator, especially with this having the blue interior! Mine has velour inside as well, I thought about replacing it with leather at some point but it's what actually makes it a little more special.

A friend of mine in Germany has a huge parts stash for them, he might have a sensor, too but as with many of them it's a little hit and miss. I'd drive the car for a little while before replacing anything, it could very well clear itself again.

 

0oh , another one, what’s yours exactly?

Have done over 100 miles so far and comes on every time but still got to try cleaning the rings again yet. I’ll keep going for a while though and see what happens.

I like the sound of your friend 😉

 

[Wibble]

9 hours ago, Talbot said:

Take the cabling from each ABS sensor in turn and wire it in to an amplifier (IE an audio amplifier).  The frequency of the pulses from an abs sensor is very much in the audible range, so if you then drive the car (or just spin the wheel up while the car is jacked up) you should be able to hear the signal from each sensor.

One will be absent or crackly.  That one is your issue.

Thanks @Talbotthats very interesting indeed!

[Wibble]

2 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

Mmmmmm senator. Miss mine dearly. 
 

finding ABS problems on these is hard work. My last Carlton had a problem with ABS driving in the wet. All sensors were fine, cables fine, rings fine. Never did find it. Always came on when driving in the wet.

We’ll I’ve got until next September to sort it🤞

[sutty2006]

Just now, Wibble said:

We’ll I’ve got until next September to sort it🤞

Good luck. We’re all counting on you. 

[Wibble]

Thanks man👍

[Wibble]

3 hours ago, Crackers said:

I had to google that, I lived there until this time last year. They must have started up since I moved, as the last time I saw that unit it was still an alloy wheel repair company.

You don't live/work down Chichester/Bognor/Selsey way do you? There's an identical blue Senator I see around from time to time but haven't noted the reg plate.

Yes, he’s only been going 2 years. He’s more interested in building a customer base for repairs/ servicing so is selling minis all with new timing chains, water pumps etc pretty much at cost at the moment.

Nope, work all over, live in “Amazingstoke”!

 

[Bren]

This was mine. 2.5 auto. Smooth but slower than continental drift. Laughably the gearbox had sport mode - utterly pointless and as much use as tits on a boar.

[Wibble]

That looks gorgeous. I never felt my 2.6 to be particularly underpowered but it was criticised for it. Here’s a pic of it when I first owned it, same wheel trims as yours (still have them) before I fitted the CD alloys, sorry for rotation!

[Schaefft]

2 hours ago, Wibble said:

Ooh, another one? What’s yours exactly?

 

0oh , another one, what’s yours exactly?

Have done over 100 miles so far and comes on every time but still got to try cleaning the rings again yet. I’ll keep going for a while though and see what happens.

I like the sound of your friend 😉

 

Yeah, he's kind of a Senator/Omega border, he's got barns full of parts and cars.

Check out my bargain barge extravaganza thread, there's a few posts about mine in there. I just got an original radio for it today, this is the first time I've heard music in the car since I bought it over 4 years ago! Unfortunately the buttons for the pin code on the original one never worked.

[Wibble]

1 hour ago, Schaefft said:

Yeah, he's kind of a Senator/Omega border, he's got barns full of parts and cars.

Check out my bargain barge extravaganza thread, there's a few posts about mine in there. I just got an original radio for it today, this is the first time I've heard music in the car since I bought it over 4 years ago! Unfortunately the buttons for the pin code on the original one never worked.

Thanks, I’ve seen your more recent posts so will check your back catalogue. Coincidentally my stereo has just stopped working. Display now just shows a couple of LCD bits but won’t do anything else. Was fine last week ☹️

[Schaefft]

The guy I bought it from was an old school car audio electrician and showed me what you can try to fix them for free. Take the display apart and use a pen to run it across the contact points the ribbon cable of the screen is soldered into. Apparently that's usually where the connection gets iffy causing the display to lose pixels. Not too easy to explain without photos but it should become clearer once you see it.

[Metal Guru]

4 hours ago, Wibble said:

So your Dad’s were replaced every three years too. Assume company cars?

Love the sound of the Mk5, great colour and spec.

Yes , all company cars. He must have got promoted after that because the next one was a Granada 2.3 GL estate in black. I hated it, looked like a hearse.

[Wibble]

Thanks @Schaefft I’ll try that👍

[Wibble]

20 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Yes , all company cars. He must have got promoted after that because the next one was a Granada 2.3 GL estate in black. I hated it, looked like a hearse.

Lol, my dad also got promoted, Mk3,4&5 Cortinas followed by a Carlton estate. He’d always wanted a Granada estate but they’d ceased to exist for a while after he had the first Carlton..

[omegod]

Lovely Senator, I love a big old 90's Vaux , here's my 17 k Omega 

[warren t claim]

~A manual 2.5 CDX with leather?

[High Jetter]

I haz buckets, if needed.

[omegod]

15 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

~A manual 2.5 CDX with leather?

it was optioned with the " Executive Pack" leather, heated memory drivers seat, Electric rear blind ...... posh innit   

[warren t claim]

I've had a couple of Senators, both ex plod. The first a 1986 that I bought from the auction I once drove for sometime in 1994. I sold it to someone who made a living driving around the motorway network cloning car phones.

The second was a J reg 24v bought from the part ex bin of a local car lot to replace a chrome arched, C reg XJ12 that'd NEVER pass another legit MOT. The last owner had fitted it with a tow bar and used it to haul and launch his boat. The rear corrosion had to be seen to be believed. The Senator's plod background nearly got myself and two friends shot when we used it to go to Manchester to buy  a decent quantity of tablets (not iPads) and the vendor thought it was a set up and we were 5-0.

[warren t claim]

Just now, omegod said:

it was optioned with the " Executive Pack" leather, heated memory drivers seat, Electric rear blind ...... posh innit   

The rear blind only worked for a day on my Omega Elite.

[warren t claim]

4 minutes ago, omegod said:

it was optioned with the " Executive Pack" leather, heated memory drivers seat, Electric rear blind ...... posh innit   

Nah, no Trafficmaster!

[omegod]

Just now, warren t claim said:

Nah, no Trafficmaster!

haha, it was shite anyway 

 

[warren t claim]

2 minutes ago, omegod said:

haha, it was shite anyway 

 

Trafficmaster licence expired. Call 08.....

[omegod]

Just now, warren t claim said:

Trafficmaster licence expired. Call 08.....

I've had 20 Omegas, please don't remind me : ) 

I think Senators will always overshadow the Omega due to it being the most menacing looking motorway cop car EVER ! That cheese grater grille in the rear view mirror was terrifying 

[High Jetter]

11 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

 the Senator's plod background nearly got myself and two friends shot when we used it to go to Manchester to buy  a decent quantity of tablets (not iPads) and the vendor thought it was a set up and we were 5-0.

Sounds...plausible

[warren t claim]

The 3.0 Omega always felt "weaker" than the Senator for some reason.

[Dj_efk]

14 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

I've had a couple of Senators, both ex plod. The first a 1986 that I bought from the auction I once drove for sometime in 1994. I sold it to someone who made a living driving around the motorway network cloning car phones.

The second was a J reg 24v bought from the part ex bin of a local car lot to replace a chrome arched, C reg XJ12 that'd NEVER pass another legit MOT. The last owner had fitted it with a tow bar and used it to haul and launch his boat. The rear corrosion had to be seen to be believed. The Senator's plod background nearly got myself and two friends shot when we used it to go to Manchester to buy  a decent quantity of tablets (not iPads) and the vendor thought it was a set up and we were 5-0.

Sounds like two epic stories you can tell there, if you get a few minutes?

especially the Manchester trip!

[warren t claim]

3 minutes ago, Dj_efk said:

Sounds like two epic stories you can tell there, if you get a few minutes?

especially the Manchester trip!

He bought the '86 off me because it was easy to wire the trio of aerials to the roof that were apparently needed to clone early car phones. I've got no idea how that works.