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


Wibble

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A magnificent pair.  

That Senator dash.. big dials, a full array of buttons and controls with a chunky feel and sold action, posh stereo  and all the blue velour, just beautiful.  Your Cortina is simply stunning tho.. far to stunning and non base spec for here, even in the shade that blue pops and shines.

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You have impeccable taste, a mk4 2.0 GL Cortina in blue is the most stylish car ever in my opinion. I remember my dad borrowing a Cosmos blue one from his boss in 1979 for us to to go to London in, it was absolute luxury compared to our Viva. The only car I remember passing us on the M4 was a red 911 which we passed about 15 minutes later when the police had pulled him over in the hard shoulder.

The Senator is very nice too, although I like Fords a lot I think Vauxhall were at their best in the 1990’s with the Cavalier mk3, Carlton and Senator all great cars and more stylish than Fords offerings at that time,  If I was a Company Director in 1992 the Senator would have been my choice of Company car.

Thanks for posting, as you may have guessed I like Cortina’s a lot! I could never get bored of looking at that Cortina, it is lovely. 

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Hey @Shite Ron I couldn’t agree with you more about Vauxhall. In the 80s & 90s I thought they were on top form. 
In the early 90s I worked for a large utility company and they had around 3500 lease cars. I had a good deal going with the lease fleet manager at the time where I would use pool cars that had been returned by the user, mid term or just before end of lease and in return would make sure it was cleaned and serviced up to date. Basically I had about 2 years of free cars😃and nothing more than 3 years old. Might have something for a day, or 6 months. I drove literally dozens of Cavaliers and they out performed Sierras but I always felt more at home in Sierras, just found them more comfortable.

Always wanted a Senator though, had a Carlton before it and, even with company cars being my daily since late 90s, could never bring myself to let it go.

As for Cortinas, love them too. Ever since at 4 years old in 1974, travelling with my Dad to pick up his first company car, a Mk3 1.6L automatic. Always remember as we walked towards the collection point him saying “I hope that’s not mine”, it was bright orange😆

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Senator has a problem 

5442ABE8-6B7A-4D20-A7CA-16BDEE8AF09E.thumb.jpeg.8cdf7b5c1596cbaf8eeb3e59f312d6a4.jpeg

ABS light now comes on soon after pulling away.

Local garage can find nothing wrong other than very  slightly different readings from NSR wheel speed sensor. Of course, rear sensors are unavailable. Despite finding 3 online and ordering, all resulted in refunds🙁

Have also tried replacing ABS ECU and voltage resistor relay but light still comes back on.

I guess I keep looking on eBay etc and hope one turns up before next MOT🤷🏻‍♂️

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Shirley if resistance readings are ok AND it only comes on after pulling away, that would suggest rotten toothed wheel thingy? It's measuring speed from some sensors but others are giving zero/iffy reading. Sometimes a wire wheel clean can sort them out, depending on what type they are.

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The only other thing might be pump motor, if it does a self-test when you pull away. If module detects motor is stalled when it tries to spin it will throw a fault light. 

I have in the past successfully fixed a Rennow one by taking motor off, cleaning out crud and freeing/lubing up. Think I wizzed it with 12v as well for good measure, just to confirm it was working. 

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It does a self test on start up and light comes on and goes off as it should. It only comes on once you reach about 10mph.

It is hard to get parts now but GM6 I think  still have used main pump units so I could try that after cleaning rings again. Not sure about taking one apart though 😵💫

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Anyway, despite me looking for Polos, Fabias and Ibizas for a first car, we have a new fleet member for Wiblet senior to learn on. After getting insurance quotes, this wasn’t too bad, so a purchase was made todayC559F4F8-6D99-4079-9D87-2F411334585C.thumb.jpeg.600c984d66e4b3058312b01292aed365.jpeg

bought from a great guy in Deepcut who is specialising in Minis. Top end rebuild and 12 months warranty on engine and gearbox and a fresh MOT. Geoff at Geoffansons is a top bloke! Having never driven one before I was impressed and thoroughly enjoyed the drive home 😁

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38 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Thanks @Eyersey1234 and good luck to your Stepdaughter too. Must admit minis weren’t even on the list until last week. Got fed up with looking at absolute sheds for too much money so 🤞 with this. Happy hunting when the time comes!

Our next door neighbour bought a 55 reg BINI for their daughter to learn in, must admit I wasn't keen on the R50 BINI when they came out but am warming to them now. I think the new ones are fugly. 

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5 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Our next door neighbour bought a 55 reg BINI for their daughter to learn in, must admit I wasn't keen on the R50 BINI when they came out but am warming to them now. I think the new ones are fugly. 

Nor was I but really starting to like them now. 100% agree about the new ones and they’re bloody mahoosive!

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

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On 07/11/2021 at 01:42, Wibble said:

bought from a great guy in Deepcut who is specialising in Minis.

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.

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