Your fleet running reports

[GG.]

Insurance renewal on the Evora sorted with Alex@Sky for £460

For some reason, all the companies that were dirt cheap on my old Elise (REIS, ClassicLine, Henderson Taylor, APlan) are mega money on the Evora, around the £1k mark yet the run-of-the-mill companies you find on sites like Confused.com that were totally uncompetitive on my Elise, are far cheaper on the Evora.

I'll never understand the insurance game.

May be something as simple as 2 seats versus 4 seats skewing quotes? A greater percentage of 2 seat than 4 seats Lotii are binned?

[Alex_]

I had a slow puncture on one of the rear tyres on Friday night. Luckily both rear tyres need replacing as the thread depth was on the legal limit. Replaced yesterday with another set of "dangerous" MPSS

[integrale_evo]

I'm in the clk this week as it's still throwing occasional gearbox faults and I'm fed up of getting whinging texts about it.

I'm pretty sure it's the usual speed sensor issue, but would like to pinpoint it myself including any patterns which trigger it and ways to resolve it without having to stop and turn the ignition off and on.

Bought a maxiecu diagnostic tool which has a proper multiplexer interface and can talk to far more modules than a generic obd2 scanner, to hopefully catch codes as they appear.

Annoyingly it doesn't support the 7g gearbox on a clk, but if I choose a same age cls it pulls it up fine. I've reset the throttle pedal and torque converter adaptions and at the moment it's driving better than ever. I doubt it's fixed it but has been worth doing, and is something that probably should have been done after the gearbox fluid change ( but I've never seen mention of it in any guides )

Options for the gearbox fix

Go to Mercedes for a brand new control unit ~ £2k

Find an Indy who can remove and repair or have the part repairs ~ £700

Remove the conductor plate myself and send it off for repair ~ £200

Remove the conductor plate myself and replace the two speed sensors which require semi destructive removal and three dabs of solder each. ~ £40

I'm assuming the £200 unit only repairs are just people fitting the £40 sensors.

If it wasn't exactly the wrong time of year to be scrabbling around under cars I would be extremely tempted to try a diy fix, I'm confident I could do it, I just don't know if I can be bothered. I certainly won't be taking it to Mercedes, I'd rather clear the fault and trade it in against something else

On the plus side, it's still a superb cruiser, and while doesn't feel all that quick certainly piles on the speed pretty rapidly. It just doesn't feel sporty, or like it could ever be sporty in any way. I can see the appeal of a clk500, but not really sure I get the amg models. Quite different to bmws where even the basic base models have a certain sporty feel and balance to them so you can see how the sporty models higher up the chain would evolve that into a great drivers car.

[Swervin_Mervin]

MOT yesterday - just 4 advisories for nothing notable

If anyone might be interested in taking the 330i off my hands, do get in touch. I'm not putting it up for sale just yet as I'm in no rush to jump into a new car, and the wife wants the kitchen sorting out, so I'm going to get Xmas out of the way and plans for the kitchen well developed. However, if someone is interested I could be tempted to part with it early and just get a cheap runabout in the interim.

124k, auto, chassis mostly refreshed about 20k ago, most of the major jobs done (new water pump, new fuel breather hose, all new coils and plugs, new ecu). Fairly tidy all round - worst bit is wear on the drivers bolster which is no worse than when I bought it at 57k, 7yrs ago.

Only jobs which may need doing at some point are sump gasket, rocker cover gasket and the rack is misting ever so slightly. All leaks are only misting in fact and the independent that's been servicing it all the time I've had it (Darren Wood in Stockport) has said they're all good for some time time yet.

[JonMad]

I'm in the clk this week as it's still throwing occasional gearbox faults and I'm fed up of getting whinging texts about it.

I'm pretty sure it's the usual speed sensor issue, but would like to pinpoint it myself including any patterns which trigger it and ways to resolve it without having to stop and turn the ignition off and on.

Bought a maxiecu diagnostic tool which has a proper multiplexer interface and can talk to far more modules than a generic obd2 scanner, to hopefully catch codes as they appear.

Annoyingly it doesn't support the 7g gearbox on a clk, but if I choose a same age cls it pulls it up fine. I've reset the throttle pedal and torque converter adaptions and at the moment it's driving better than ever. I doubt it's fixed it but has been worth doing, and is something that probably should have been done after the gearbox fluid change ( but I've never seen mention of it in any guides )

Options for the gearbox fix

Go to Mercedes for a brand new control unit ~ £2k

Find an Indy who can remove and repair or have the part repairs ~ £700

Remove the conductor plate myself and send it off for repair ~ £200

Remove the conductor plate myself and replace the two speed sensors which require semi destructive removal and three dabs of solder each. ~ £40

I'm assuming the £200 unit only repairs are just people fitting the £40 sensors.

If it wasn't exactly the wrong time of year to be scrabbling around under cars I would be extremely tempted to try a diy fix, I'm confident I could do it, I just don't know if I can be bothered. I certainly won't be taking it to Mercedes, I'd rather clear the fault and trade it in against something else

On the plus side, it's still a superb cruiser, and while doesn't feel all that quick certainly piles on the speed pretty rapidly. It just doesn't feel sporty, or like it could ever be sporty in any way. I can see the appeal of a clk500, but not really sure I get the amg models. Quite different to bmws where even the basic base models have a certain sporty feel and balance to them so you can see how the sporty models higher up the chain would evolve that into a great drivers car.

Have you spoken to Olly Stoner at Prestige Car Services in Horndean? He looked after my CLK.

[Nic]

MOT yesterday - just 4 advisories for nothing notable

If anyone might be interested in taking the 330i off my hands, do get in touch. I'm not putting it up for sale just yet as I'm in no rush to jump into a new car, and the wife wants the kitchen sorting out, so I'm going to get Xmas out of the way and plans for the kitchen well developed. However, if someone is interested I could be tempted to part with it early and just get a cheap runabout in the interim.

124k, auto, chassis mostly refreshed about 20k ago, most of the major jobs done (new water pump, new fuel breather hose, all new coils and plugs, new ecu). Fairly tidy all round - worst bit is wear on the drivers bolster which is no worse than when I bought it at 57k, 7yrs ago.

Only jobs which may need doing at some point are sump gasket, rocker cover gasket and the rack is misting ever so slightly. All leaks are only misting in fact and the independent that's been servicing it all the time I've had it (Darren Wood in Stockport) has said they're all good for some time time yet.

Is it a touring? And how much? [mention]Swervin_Mervin[/mention]

[16vCento]

MOT yesterday - just 4 advisories for nothing notable

If anyone might be interested in taking the 330i off my hands, do get in touch. I'm not putting it up for sale just yet as I'm in no rush to jump into a new car, and the wife wants the kitchen sorting out, so I'm going to get Xmas out of the way and plans for the kitchen well developed. However, if someone is interested I could be tempted to part with it early and just get a cheap runabout in the interim.

124k, auto, chassis mostly refreshed about 20k ago, most of the major jobs done (new water pump, new fuel breather hose, all new coils and plugs, new ecu). Fairly tidy all round - worst bit is wear on the drivers bolster which is no worse than when I bought it at 57k, 7yrs ago.

Only jobs which may need doing at some point are sump gasket, rocker cover gasket and the rack is misting ever so slightly. All leaks are only misting in fact and the independent that's been servicing it all the time I've had it (Darren Wood in Stockport) has said they're all good for some time time yet.

Fancy a swap for a cheap runabout with fresh winter rubber........maybe a few pounds your way

[JonMad]

Much mashing and sawing:

[Swervin_Mervin]

[mention]Nic[/mention] Completely haven't thought about price. Probably around the £5k mark. Yes it's a Touring.

[mention]16vCento[/mention] Depends what the cheap runabout is and how many extra pennies we're talking about

TBH, I haven't given this much thought so far at all - certainly wasn't expecting much interest! Selling it to get a runabout (which I'd still probably end up budgeting a couple of £k for) is probably utterly pointless

[nuttinnew]

Much mashing and sawing:

I know driving not tinkering is the game, but if an A1 rack will fit it's a bit quicker (though maybe only half a turn lock to lock), and iirc a Polo Dune rear axle is beefier/possibly less twisty (but aftermarket rarbs are available cheaply enough and are easy to fit). None of that helps the window

[mik]

you need one of those clamp-on wheel twirler do-dahs, and a mind-operates handbrake.

[V8Granite]

ML is nearly on 120,000 miles and I finally traced a power steering leak which has needed about 50ml of fluid every year. It’s tracking down the back of the pump from the reservoir connection.

Annoyingly I found this after the air con showed a fault and the oil has covered the air con connector I’m struggling to separate.

Should just be an o-ring fix and a spray of contact cleaner on the plug if I can remove it.

Dave!

[V8Granite]

That looks far too complicated a course, well done on being able to follow it!!! The Fabia looks pretty cool as well, because rally car!!

Dave!

[JonMad]

you need one of those clamp-on wheel twirler do-dahs, and a mind-operates handbrake.

Definitely. I just added one to my Christmas wish list.

I have a pin through the handbrake button to lock it down so it releases automatically. Handily I could do these courses with just the lap belt and not my full harness as it made it easier to get leverage on the handbrake - the bolster of my seat is a bit in the way of my left arm otherwise.

Yeah, full hydraulic handbrake is the answer.

[Jimmy Choo]

Yeah, full hydraulic handbrake is the answer.

I was watching a video yesterday where John Schnider (Bo Duke) was showing off his General Lee. His has 3 pedals. The one where the clutch should be was a brake just for the rear wheels.

Are you any good at tap dancing?

[JonMad]

My next thing to learn is clutches downshifts (whilst left foot braking), and using left foot braking to move the car around e.g. keeping the throttle pinned and using the brake for weight transfer.

Team O'Neil Rally School on YouTube FTW! Their channel is ace, as was this related video where a relative novice has a go

[Sundayjumper]

Are you any good at tap dancing?

He fell into the sink

I was pondering the other day whether you could fit a line lock to shut off the front brakes, so that the brake pedal then only operates the rears.

[Jimmy Choo]

Are you any good at tap dancing?

He fell into the sink

I was pondering the other day whether you could fit a line lock to shut off the front brakes, so that the brake pedal then only operates the rears.

#Dadjoke

Would a line lock on the fronts be easily switchable? Would it hinder any part of the stage?

[Nic]

@Nic Completely haven't thought about price. Probably around the £5k mark. Yes it's a Touring.

TBH, I haven't given this much thought so far at all - certainly wasn't expecting much interest! Selling it to get a runabout (which I'd still probably end up budgeting a couple of £k for) is probably utterly pointless

Send me the details, it’s not for me personally but I know someone looking for one. Is it an SE or M Sport? What happened on the last MOT? it appears that it’s dropped miles this year.

[Swervin_Mervin]

@Nic Completely haven't thought about price. Probably around the £5k mark. Yes it's a Touring.

TBH, I haven't given this much thought so far at all - certainly wasn't expecting much interest! Selling it to get a runabout (which I'd still probably end up budgeting a couple of £k for) is probably utterly pointless

Send me the details, it’s not for me personally but I know someone looking for one. Is it an SE or M Sport? What happened on the last MOT? it appears that it’s dropped miles this year.

Will do. It's an MSport and last year's MOT mileage entry was a typo.