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76

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 19 January 2024, 13:33:22 »

Name and shame! 

That would be the fourth emergency service

How many batteries does it have the short run may have pushed it nearer the edge and low voltage does some very unpredictable things...

Just the one, a biggun, in the boot.

 Having been and retrieved it, clearly the alternator, or a connection to it is goosed. There's no charge whatsoever and the battery was down to 5v when tested. After a jump and 10mins on charge it was back up at 12 but, when I uncoupled the zafira from it, the voltage just started to drop off. Clearly the drain from the car wasn't being replaced.

So I stuck a known good battery on it, jump started it and drove it home at pace. Not done anything else with it other than check the aux belt is still in place and spinning ,(it is).

Next step is to try and get access to the alternator and check the voltage it's putting out at source.

77

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 19 January 2024, 09:50:44 »

The 300c decided to up and die on me on my way to work this morning.

Due to currently having an excess of cars (five between two adults), the 300c had been parked up for about ten days, so I decided to give it a run out to keep everything in working order . In preparation for this I took the car out for a short run yesterday evening to make sure everything still worked, then jumped in it this morning.

After a few miles, and in a move somewhat reminiscent of M140i I had complete electrical failure and ended up stopped holding up traffic. Fortunately some rather nice members of the local constabulary helped me push the fat yank into a lay-by where its currently having a little rest while I formulate a plan of action. Thankfully my OH was able to come and collect me as after 20mins on the phone to my breakdown recovery company I was told it would be "over four hours" before anyone could come and help me. Someone is going to have to remind me why I bother to pay for those shysters.

Off to do a bit of recovery of my own shortly, once I've had a bit of a warm up and decided on a plan of action.

78

General Discussion Area / Re: Vans

« on: 17 January 2024, 22:21:21 »

*Joking aside, I found my (much later) tranny too much of a handful, esp in the damp, without it being heavily laden

I very very nearly binned a tranny trying to get it back to the hire place in time to avoid a fine. I hadn't driven a van in a couple of yrs and had forgotten about a lack of weight, skinny Chinese tyres and damp roads.

Let's just say my ar$e was twitching like a rabbits nose. And if there had been anything coming the other way there would have been an almighty accident. 

79

General Discussion Area / Re: Vans

« on: 16 January 2024, 15:15:22 »

Not a CF van, but a rather nice build all the same. Thought this might tickle your pickle Skruntie....


https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=47&t=1801726&i=0

80

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 12 January 2024, 09:37:10 »

I did quite like the Ranger. Bigger and higher up than I expected. 

Really, really popular in these parts over the last 2 or 3 years.  Not sure if its the HS2 mongrels, or all the workmen from the building estates.

Same round here. Doing the school drop off this morning, probably 60% of cars were either EVs or Ford Rangers (wierdly no other pick-up type seems acceptable  ).

81

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 03 January 2024, 18:26:18 »

We're all born waterproof 

Very true. In my case the fat and lazy came later 

82

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 03 January 2024, 17:42:18 »

Thrashed the rear trailing arm bushes out and refitted their poly equivalents, then built everything back up. Took about 90 mins and my arms felt like they were dropping off by the time I'd got the second one out.

Clearly I'm more suited to a soft office job. 

83

General Discussion Area / Re: In a world I can't identify with

« on: 02 January 2024, 09:31:51 »

Surely, in the case of item 2, she just removes the headset? 

Shush you!

This is 2024, there's no space for that kind of practical no nonsense thinking anymore. 

84

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 01 January 2024, 00:49:14 »

Took out the rear springs on the Zaf for a quick wire brushing and paint (another MOT advisory) on my way to the trailing arm bushes.

Given it's six degrees here, I wasn't going to carry on in the rain, so I put some penetrating oil on the bolts and retreated to the garage to clean up the springs. Then borrowed a blower heater off the in-laws so I can get some paint on them in the morning  .

It's debatable whether this will work as well on the subframe 

85

General Discussion Area / Re: That's Christmas done then.

« on: 30 December 2023, 14:58:27 »

Funny you mention that , my eldest Grandson was talking about going there next year, had never crossed my mind at all.

If you can afford it then I could say go for it. Just make sure you get a balcony cabin so you can see the scenery. I can heartily recommend the wildlife tours too. This was from our whale watching excursion...

https://imgur.com/gallery/84O6k1Z

86

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 30 December 2023, 14:51:49 »

Changed the inner tie rods on the zafira. Very straightforward job other than trying to get the rubber boot back onto the rack on the near side. 

I don't know which imbecile thought that placement was a good idea, or who went on to give them a job designing inlet manifolds for JLR but I honestly couldn't get tired of punching them.

Is there some sort of trick to getting this done? After faffing about for far too long I used a jubilee clip and folded the boot back over it, then used the same jubilee clip to secure it to the rack. Worked out ok in the end, but one hell of a performance for something that should have been so simple.

87

General Discussion Area / Re: That's Christmas done then.

« on: 30 December 2023, 09:00:20 »

I would love to have the time to do a couple a year, living the retirement dream!

Have you ever been up to Alaska? We went in May last year and it's honestly the best holiday I've ever done.

88

General Car Chat / Re: Can I have....

« on: 30 December 2023, 07:54:47 »

No, personally I would not buy a car that looked like that.

I may be being unfair (which after all is what the internet is for) but that looks like it was owned by someone that would rather spend money on some 4d number plates or carbon fibre-ish tat than having the car maintained properly.

89

General Discussion Area / Re: That's Christmas done then.

« on: 30 December 2023, 01:31:00 »

TB: I've done about 5 or 6 so far, either on Royal Carribbean or MSC. I was similar to you, in that I thought it would be a terrible idea but my partner and family have always done it so persuaded me to try it. A few observations:

The boats never feel as busy as the numbers on board would make you think they might be. The only exception to this is Round the swimming pool(s). For engineering reasons these have to be small and inevitably get crowded.

Don't sail out of the UK for anything less than 7 days. If you do you're likely to get a lot of stag and hen parties, with all the bullsh!t that entails.

Having a balcony cabin is a big bonus as it means you can always just sit and watch the world go by with no one around.

I would always book through an agent - I've personally used vacations2go (denominated in USD but have thousands of cruises listed in a very no nonsense website) and cruise.co.uk. it's usually worth using these as you can typically get a good chunk of discount.

Finally, all cruise lines have a different ethos and target market they cater to. So think hard about what type of holiday you want as picking the wrong line will likely lead to you having a poor experience. We've booked the Carribbean for Easter 2025 with MSC, 2 adults and 2 children for 10 days and it's £3,500 'all inclusive' which for the Easter holidays is cheaper than center parks. That said, we picked MSC because it's family focused, tons for the kids to do and lots of shows. But it will be busy and it will be full of kids. Although Rangie hasn't said, unless he's going with grand children I'd be surprised if he's booked the same cruise line as (in his position) I wouldn't want to be surrounded by children on my relaxing beach holiday.

Lastly, on your sailing from the UK point, I found out this week that my partner has booked a 7night cruise from Southampton in may for my 40th. That route is Southampton -> at sea -> Bordeaux -> Bilbao -> la coruna -> at sea -> le harve -> Southampton. We will probably stay on board at le harve, but the other stops will doubtless have something interesting to offer.

90

General Car Chat / Re: Can I have....

« on: 30 December 2023, 01:10:15 »

As a newly converted BMW fan, I could recommend the F31 Estate. But go for the larger 6 cylinder engine. Mostly diesels around, very few petrols in the Saloon/Estate.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202312014459794?sort=mileage&twcs=true&advertising-location=at_cars&body-type=Estate&make=BMW&maximum-mileage=80000&minimum-badge-engine-size=3.0&model=3%20Series&page=3&postcode=tw75qd&price-from=13000&price-to=17000&radius=1500&fromsra

313 BHP and presumably plenty of derv torque.

Exhausts look like a petrol car to my eyes.

Mine was exactly this, but in luxury trim, so no m-sport stick ones. It was hugely capable and I only got rid of it to fund my divorce.

I'd rate it as one of the best estate cars of it's age/size. Silly quick when you wanted it, but able to touch 50mpg when on a run on company time  .

And the exhaust tips were the same on mine.