So what have you done to your car today?

[Doctor Gollum]

It's a chain lump

All the pulleys still spin freely with no untoward noises or play, so that's something.

Topped up the coolant where it had erupted as I was trying to find a safe spot to stop. Just at the back of the queue on the A3/M25 bolax wasn't exactly ideal.

Think I might just have got away with it, but it's taking some bleeding and the clutch didn't like driving onto ramps after being drenched in coolant.

That said, it's been out for a 45 minute shakedown and no apparent issues... Drives fine and temp gauge sits in the middle and fans do eventually kick in. There's some pressure in the system, but the heater is a bit intermittent, so will let it  settle until the weekend and I will re bleed it cold.

Oh and kudos to the AA, apparently entitled to a courtesy car foc for twoish days, so he swung by Enterprise in Guildford on the way home and I have a Vauxhall Combo to take to work tomorrow 

The Bini is actually more comfortable  but it's free so hey ho The alternative was a Datsun Leaf which is obviously of no use without anywhere to charge it at home or work

[Doctor Gollum]

Doesnt sound good.   

Well, the fan was running when I pulled up, so I am glad I checked that properly the day after I bought it

[Kevin Wood]

Doesnt sound good.   

Well, the fan was running when I pulled up, so I am glad I checked that properly the day after I bought it

A colleague of mine was scheduled to help a bini-owning mate fix the cooling fan this week. He was spared that.. The silly sod kept driving it, got stuck 9in traffic, and it got terminally melty.

[Andy H]

Tenth trip there since the beginning of April 

Ta, local factors has a belt in stock, but it's probably going to be prudent to go through the cooling system as I almost boiled it

why did the belt shred?

[Marks DTM Calib]

You need to find and fix what has caused the belt to go 

[Doctor Gollum]

I can't rule out that the belt itself wasn't bad. It was bought for £400 with a couple of known issues, so the pre purchase inspection consisted of checking the lights and tyres filled by a short test drive to confirm that the brakes/steering/suspension all worked as they should.

Only the back of the belt is visible without digging around, and whilst it looked ok, it wasn't a new belt.

I have a new thermostat and housing on the way so will drain and flush the coolant, (current coolant is wrong), fit new and refill/bleed it correctly and see what happens.


Zero play or binding on any of the pullies, all spinning freely by hand. And with the new belt it managed a 45 minute drive without issue.

[Andy H]

Is there a spring loaded arm supporting the tensioner pulley? Is it loose/bent/shagged in some other way?

Spring tension correct?

Is it a Diesel?/ is the freewheel on the alternator pulley working? (only applies to Diesels AFAIK)

[Doctor Gollum]

Is there a spring loaded arm supporting the tensioner pulley? Is it loose/bent/shagged in some other way?

Spring tension correct?

Is it a Diesel?/ is the freewheel on the alternator pulley working? (only applies to Diesels AFAIK)

It's petrol

The tensioner has plenty of tension in it, no play on the arm. In fact the difference between getting the belt on and the limit of travel at the pulley is barely a quarter inch in the two.or.so.inch arc of movement.

[TheBoy]

Fitted a XT60 connector in boot wired directly to battery, so I don't have to keep emptying the boot to get to a 12v supply (either to take electricity out, or put back in).

Other than its fused, no other protection, so how long before I forget and leave something plugged in and flatten the battery

[Doctor Gollum]

Drained, flushed and refilled the coolant on the Bini.

Related jobs included replacing the thermostat and housing, (I was half expecting the thermostat to be missing ), and also found some previous bodgery...

1. The fan assembly has been replaced with the wrong type, which is why the high speed fan doesn't work.
2. The air box to throttle body pipe is split all the way around and was held together with seam sealer. Temporary fix involved Airbus approved gaffer tape.
3. The air filter housing has a sodding great hole in it. Fortunately it's the atmosphere side of the filter, but even so. See #2 for temp fix.
4. The camcover gasket needs replacing and the two gallons of oil over the back of the engine cleaned off.
5. Had to do an under tray delete as it was dragging on the floor.

All told, possibly £100 in bits and bobs to sort wicba.

Also found that the offside inner CV boot is missing it's retaining clip. It was replaced at the last MoT, and it is possible that it escaped and took out the belt. Or vice versa. New belt seem happy and a cable tie is holding the CV boot in place. For now .

Thermostat now opens about halfway up the gauge and a quick blat saw no change to the now correct coolant level. I may have dodged a bullet, but am confident that the head gasket is still intact.

[TheBoy]

Still failed to locate an annoying noise in the Big Black Pussy - its like a wasp stuck in headlining, but seeing as its been intermittent for weeks, I suspect its something else!

[Rangie]

Fitted a new boot liner in the RRS , originally came with one when I purchased it but not really of good quality, got a really good one now expensive but a really perfect fit so fewer dog hairs to vacuum up now..👍

[Doctor Gollum]

Carried on with the retrofitting on the proper car.

I had collected/ordered the parts before the box went pop and the harness that was on back order finally arrived.

Boot lid, boot, and interior out on the drivers side wiring ran and back together so now has factory correct hydraulic boot lid closing.

Only apparent snafu is that the ECU for it is VIN coded so whilst everything is electrically ok, and the car is fundamentally happy with it, it needs coding to function.

[BazaJT]

Fitted a  better condition bonnet a properly working o/s rear door and a rear  hatch (because in her words it had a spoiler,tinted window and a GTI badge-inztead of TDI on it) to my granddaughters Mk I've Golf.

[Rangie]

4 new tyres on the RRS today , Pirelli Scorpions this time, a lot of good feedback on the RRS forum so give them a go. Got a good deal on price some places were quoting £259 per tyre, crazy.