THE GUBBERMINT ALWAYS KNOWS BEST

[dollywobbler]

Looks good. Wouldn't mind a P38, though I did once drive a diesel one, which did put me off a bit. That and tales of electrical woes to shame a Renault* owner.

 

I'm all nervous about the MOT tomorrow for the BX. For a start, I'm not sure there's enough diesel in it to reach the petrol station four miles away. I intend to play roulette and just go for it. I don't own a diesel fuel can.

 

* Other cars with hopeless, French electrics are available. The Citroen C5 for example.

[Pete-M]

  dollywobbler said:

Looks good. Wouldn't mind a P38, though I did once drive a diesel one, which did put me off a bit. That and tales of electrical woes to shame a Renault* owner.

 

I gave it a full diagnostic interrogation this afternoon. Only fault code was in the air suspension saying something about an air leak in the supply side. As the chap I bought it from only recently fitted a new compressor and a couple of other air suspension related bits it didn't frighten me too much. Cleared the code and it hasn't returned... yet. If it does, I'm not too worried. An hour with leak detection spray and / or smoke machine should find whatever is leaking. It's normally only the seals, which cost pennies. If it's an airbag or two, they're a piece of piss to change.

 

The HVAC unit (climate control) has the traditional 'book of death' symbol showing, but that is normal. There is a way of making it do a self-test but I'm buggered if I can remember how to do it and Googleâ„¢ hasn't brought anything up yet. I did it to my last P38 and fixed the fault, but with this one I suspect it's out of gas... I'll give the AC a vacuum test and see if it's leaking, if not, recharge it and hope that fixes it. Otherwise it's a day playing with bloody blend servos. It doesn't have the dreaded leaking heater matrix o rings, so that's a major bonus.

 

The drivers window kept stopping half way, then backing off again and flashing "Window blocked" on the dash display. Silicon spray on the runners cured that.

 

Only a couple of little jobs left. I need to get the EKA (Emergency Key Access) code for the remote locking from Land Rover and then I'll be able to fix the remote locking. The fob buttons are knackered (another common fault) but the key is synching with the alarm immobiliser perfectly so until I get the EKA I'm not going near it.

 

Diesel ones blow donkey cock. That engine only just makes 1.5 ton of E34 go well, put it in 2.2 ton of 4x4 Rangie and it was never going to be good enough. This is a 4.6 - with a 25k mile since rebuild engine with top hat liners, so should be good for another 100k or so.

[wuvvum]

I saw a Lancia Jetta today. Another new car that I wasn't aware of the existence of. Not convinced by it at all. At first I thought it was a Kia - the front chrome grille is tacky enough to be Korean. Will be interested to see if it sells here.

[Timewaster]

  wuvvum said:

At first I thought it was a Kia

 

I keep seeing new Focuses and thinking they are Kias.

 

Does this mean Kias are now good, or Fords are now shite? Could you imagine mistaking a Mk1 Focus for Kia Mentor?

[boobydoo]

I don't think a Lancia Jetta exists? It was a Chrysler Delta.

 

It was launched over here 1st September. We have one in the showroom....but no interest in it so far whatsoever. Shame as its actually a nice car. 1.4 twin air petrol or 2.0 or 1.6 diesel. Interior space is amazing and the build quality is good! It just suffers from an identity crisis and at over 20k for a decent spec, a tad expensive.

 

[wuvvum]

I hadn't heard of the Chrysler Delta either. Appears to be exactly the same car as the Jetta barring the grille. I couldn't see a Lancia badge on the car but the name badge said Jetta and the dealer sticker said Desira Group, who are the local Fiat group dealers, so I figured it was either going to be a Lancia or an Alfa. Google confirmed it was a Lancia.

 

Edit: having seen the picture you posted, it looks like Delta is written in a weird font which makes it look like Jetta. A Google image search for Lancia Jetta does bring up quite a few results though...

[boobydoo]

Yes, the Delta script does look like Jetta from a distance. It is a Lancia but imported as a Chrysler in US and UK markets.

[wuvvum]

I see. I have to say I was surprised to see [what I thought was] a Lancia over here - I hadn't heard of any definite plans to reintroduce Lancia to the UK market, although as I say I don't really keep up with the new car market these days. Desira must have started selling Chryslers then - I wasn't aware of that.

[Cavcraft]

*Not safe for eyesight warning*

 

Here's one of the two latest acquisistions. Been stupidly lowered to the point where the exhaust decked it coming out of the pez station this morning. Caused me a fair bit of grief on the tyre front today too, as the previous owner said 'oh yeah, a local garage said the rear tyres were slightly worn on the inner edges'. Slightly worn actually meant completely knack'd to the point the wires were showing. It also appeared to mean that it had three different sizes of tyres on it

Good laugh to drive though (surprisingly) except the stupid lowering, and pretty quick and rorty.

 

 

 

Trust me though it's a whole lot better than the Mongdeo I got, pictures of that another day when your eyesight is better.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The Accord has gone. Helpfully, the only thing I now need to do in order to get a garage is to go to Barnsley and sign the paperwork (had this happened two weeks ago, the Honda would've been saved)...Shall I do it and look for some other shite, or shall I just stop having chod-related ambitions for now? Can't decide...

[cms206]

Saw some sort of new Kia Rio today, whilst we're on the subject... not entirely sure why they've bothered as it looks like a chunkier Cee'd, which I assume you can still get?

 

Anyone else seen the advert on the tellybox for the Hyundai i40 Tourer today? I may have to nip down to my local Hyundai dealer for a poke and a prod at one.

[Spottedlaurel]

  cms206 said:

Anyone else seen the advert on the tellybox for the Hyundai i40 Tourer today? I may have to nip down to my local Hyundai dealer for a poke and a prod at one.

 

I was at a Hyundai dealer’s yesterday for work and saw an i40. Hadn’t heard about it, was quite taken with the looks.

[dollywobbler]

Vectra looks ripe for some serious de-chav work Billy! That Corsa was a mere starter - this one needs some suspension fitting!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

That Vectra looks alright from the side. If the wheels were any other colour it'd look shit.

[CreepingJesus]

The Vectra's an unfinished project: it needs a red band painting around each wheel rim, and some HKS stickers.

[HillmanImp]

  Peter said:

That Vectra looks alright from the side. If the wheels were any other colour it'd look shit.

 

I agree, I think it looks okay. However due to my image of the people who normally drive tarted up Vectra's I dont think I could seriosuly drive round in it unless I was a member of the EDF, had a fat angry wife, unruly kids and confused being being overweight with being hard.

 

So yes, I think a de-chav project is a good idea on that one - unless you know of anyone who fits the above criteria?

[CreepingJesus]

  HillmanImp said:

  Peter said:

That Vectra looks alright from the side. If the wheels were any other colour it'd look shit.

 

I agree, I think it looks okay. However due to my image of the people who normally drive tarted up Vectra's I dont think I could seriosuly drive round in it unless I was a member of the EDF, had a fat angry wife, unruly kids and confused being being overweight with being hard.

 

Dunno, sounds like a real powerhouse to me. Who wouldn't want to be a powerhouse of a bloke?

[HillmanImp]

Sorry meant EDL, not the Equality and Diversity Forum...

 

But here I am stereotyping. No better eh?

[meggersdog]

Thought I would have a look at the Fiat for MOT.

Ooooh nasty

well after cutting out as much as I could it turned out like "there I fixed it"

curves in many different directions meant small bits of metal welded together.Thick under-seal is next on the agenda.

When I collected the car from it's month long slumber the passenger's footwell was awash with water.Looks like the possible cause

is the heater matrix, bollocks.

[Cavcraft]

Is there such a thing as a wife who isn't angry?

 

The wheel on the Vec used to be white and to be fair looked pretty good, but he had them resprayed in BMW charcoal (or some such colour) paint and they can stay that way. I could live with the car being dropped but this really is too much. It sure as hell won't be getting a shopping list down the door in my ownership whatever happens.

Next up is the chav'd Mondeo which (hopefully) will be getting some S-type Jag wheel interface before being thrown to the general public on eBay.

[John F]

V6 LOWERD VETRA INNIT, GR943 FOR COMUTIN AN TRAKC DAYZ LMAO

[dollywobbler]

  Cavette said:

Is there such a thing as a wife who isn't angry?

 

*looks at wife.* Apparently so! Though telling her that I might have a buyer for the Range Rover has helped...

[meggersdog]

There seemed to be water dripping out of the heater fan on the Tempra so I removed it.Had a poke around and found the ducting directly below the matrix had a danger deep water sign (not really) fixed to it.Using the trusty Vax I removed most of this then drilled a small hole in the corner to drain out the rest.The thing is although the header tank needed topping up slightly there was no anti-freeze smell from the water inside the car.Whilst putting the fan back in I started the engine,leaving it running until the radiator fan cut in.Feeling around the ducting the occasional drip of water was not hot so fingers crossed the heater matrix is fine and the problem is with the new windscreen that was fitted just before I bought the car.

[messerschmitt owner]

  dollywobbler said:

I don't own a diesel fuel can.

 

you don't own 3 litres of vegetable oil? Man, ye havnae lived!

[Cavcraft]

Jesus bleeding wept, what a caper with the Mongdog. *Cleverly decided to lob the spare S-Type alloys on it as they have good tread and will temporarily save me a few quid.

So there I am, happy as a sand boy mucking about doing one wheel at a time, starting with the o/s/f. Now the fun begins to start as the whole hub(?) disc area is sloppier than Jordan's flange and Kerry Katona's gob.

Convinced it must be the wheel bearing, this doesn't inspire me but like a twerp carried on regardless. Every single wheel nut was an absolute bastard to get tight, but again like a nitwit I just carried on, thinking to myself if the worse comes to the worse I'll have to get some new tyres for the alloys the car came with.

 

Just as it's playing on my mind not to use the car as it doesn't seem right I moved it twenty yards and it felt like the handbrake was on. Just then me laddo comes home from work, I mention the wheel bearing so he suggests whanging the o/s/f wheel off to have a look.

Here's where the f*ck*ng car decided to play good cop, bad cop. Starting with the bad it would appear I'm still a ham fisted twonk and the nuts were an absolute nightmare to get off, all were showing signs of cross threading and the very last one took probably forty minutes to shift using a commercial (truck) tyre lever wedged against the wheel as the blinking wheel nut and stud were just turning. Once the first wheel was off we discovered why the car felt like it still had the handbrake on: the 225 section tyres were rubbing on the struts!

Anyhow the good news was the wheel bearing seems fine, it was the hub nut that was a bit loose. The bat bit is the wheel studs and nuts are knackered and I haven't tried to get the other three wheels off yet

New studs/nut will be ordered (and hopefully here) tomorrow then Sat I'll go and get the right flaming tyres and put the Jag wheels back in the garage. Feel free to insert your own 'socket/wheelnut' comments, I'm going to have a bath and probably cry!

 

Moral of the story: don't be a mingebag, just buy the right tyres and save shed loads of grief.

[CreepingJesus]

  HillmanImp said:

Sorry meant EDL, not the Equality and Diversity Forum...

 

But here I am stereotyping. No better eh?

 

Actually, I was thinking of Electricite De France. But hey, I'm not that good on current affairs.

[overheadvalve]

  Cavette said:

*Not safe for eyesight warning*

 

Here's one of the two latest acquisistions. Been stupidly lowered to the point where the exhaust decked it coming out of the pez station this morning. Caused me a fair bit of grief on the tyre front today too, as the previous owner said 'oh yeah, a local garage said the rear tyres were slightly worn on the inner edges'. Slightly worn actually meant completely knack'd to the point the wires were showing. It also appeared to mean that it had three different sizes of tyres on it

Good laugh to drive though (surprisingly) except the stupid lowering, and pretty quick and rorty.

 

 

 

Trust me though it's a whole lot better than the Mongdeo I got, pictures of that another day when your eyesight is better.

Fuck me! All i can say is the roads around your parts must be billiard table smooth!

Actually if it wasn't quite so low and didn't have halfrauds side skirts it would look ok to me, from the side at least!

Edit: Iv'e just noticed the grille type ends on the front spoiler, isn't that a special edition? Sold as a celebration of them winning the btcc or something? V6?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Never mind speedbumps, that thing will be dead at the first set of traffic lights that features a slightly elevated pedestrian crossing.

[Cavcraft]

The front bumpers are standard (MSD) GSi affairs, think the side skirts are standard too, but don't know enough about these models to say for sure. Quite like the look of the car tbh, it's just the ridiculous amount of lowering it's had that annoys me.

[cort16]

That Vectra looks alright. About as good as one of these can get anyway. I'd get that on RR claiming OMG Hard Slammage and you'll probably shift it.

Does it look like it's had the springs chopped or haz it got coiloverz? If it's got coilovers you can probably wind them out a bit to give it a bit more clearance.