Your fleet running reports

[John]

I'm no expert, but the wheelbase looks a little short and it could do with bigger wheels.

Old car, small rimz.

[John]

Normandale do some lovely work don’t they, they paint all of the Jordan Race Teams cars including the very successful austin a40 that my mate in the other half of my unit does the engines for, the paint is stunning.

It really is quality work, like glass is a comment you hear when looking at their paint.

[Mito Man]

How many miles/how long will an alcantara steering wheel last without wearing gloves? Is it really so fragile that it needs an annual retrim?

[integrale_evo]

Probably about 200

[Mito Man]

My Momo dreams have been shattered

[nuttinnew]

I experienced range anxiety today. You don't have to have an ev to do so, just have your aux belt tensioner poop itself and fall out the bottom of your car. No battery charging (or pas), no idea how much charge the battery has, and 173 miles from home has a similar effect. That was in the Polo, I haven't looked at the A2 misfire yet; I left the house at 4 a.m. - a bit early to start tinkering outside - so took the Polo for a good run because it hasn't had one for a while. Annoying but it could have been worse, I wasn't even left stranded at the side of the road

[Orange Cola]

A small update.

Mustang:

I put some 303 protector on the roof back in May, it's dead easy to clean with the Dyson on the softest brush now Fixed some chips ourselves which are holding up well (standard Ford repair kit). Did the evo triangle in it and a massive jaunt around Wales last weekend. New highest MPG recorded of 32.6 with the roof down on A roads too. It's also sporting some dodo juice wax which should fade out around mid August but there's a much harder wax waiting in the wings.

Battering through the miles this summer due to the good weather, we own it so that doesn't matter one iota. I doubt we will get a summer like this for a long time now and what a summer to enjoy in your dream car This is more than just a car.

Focus ST

Now on just over 1600 miles. Massively over shadowed by the Mustang. Makes me realise my every day car is spoiling me a bit but it's surprisingly capable. Put the shopping in, no problem. Drive 200 miles, no problem. Carry three or more passengers,no problem. Cold day, put the heated steering wheel, windscreen, seats, wing mirrors on, no problem. Over take that car in front, no problem. Sit on the motorway for a journey, holy fuck how fast was I going back there and was there a camera?

Waxed it this weekend and it looks spot on, really subtle too on an 08 plate rather than an 18 plate. Might be a keeper this one but I said that about the Fiesta ST, which I still regret selling. Hopefully the new Focus ST will come up to the Fiestas level and we can trade in for one of those.

[scotta]

How many miles/how long will an alcantara steering wheel last without wearing gloves? Is it really so fragile that it needs an annual retrim?

APC and a soft brush brought my OMP Alcantara back to nearly new. Might need done annually but an easy job.

[Sundayjumper]

I bought a cheap elastic cover from ebay, it's ended up staying on all the time.

[integrale_evo]

I experienced range anxiety today. You don't have to have an ev to do so, just have your aux belt tensioner poop itself and fall out the bottom of your car. No battery charging (or pas), no idea how much charge the battery has, and 173 miles from home has a similar effect.

You did 170 miles in a car with no alternator?

I'd have said you'd be lucky to get 30 in something with an electric fuel pump and an ecu!

[Sundayjumper]

The Aston threw up the "Emissions System Service Required" error on Friday and again on Sunday. It's a common issue with the lambda sensors on these and is usually filed under "TADTS". It doesn't go into limp mode or anything and only takes a couple of minutes to clear with the code reader (which I keep in the boot) but I'm wondering if it's worth chucking a new set of sensors in to see if if becomes less frequent.

And the AC seemed particularly limp in yesterday's 30+ degree heat.

[_andy]

I changed the blowing exhaust on the Smart car a couple of weeks ago, but something is still blowing, I guess the turbo manifold is cracked (TADTS). There's an OEM recon unit (including turbo) on the Bay for about £400, but I don't want to spend that so I'll just live with it.

On the way back from my brothers the car thanked me my shredding its alternator belt, made a bloody awful sound, I thought the whole engine had shit itself at first, managed to limp it home where it sits forlornly. A new belt was purchased from ECP using one of their never-ending discount codes, so it is just a matter of summing up the enthusiasm for the task. According to the Evilution website (lots of Smart car how-to's) it shouldn't be too bad - famous last words..

The M135i put up some fault about the suspension a while back, and the ride was bloody awful. Drove it for a few miles then remembered that I work in IT so decided to turn it off and on again, which fixed it, yay! It's not come back since (touch wood) and a bit of poking around on the forums indicates it isn't an unknown and usually goes away.

The Spazda continues its slow journey to completion, most of the Elise/Stack dash is hooked up, the speedo and rev counter both work and most of the warning lights too. Oddly the rev counter input is hooked up directly to the ECU output - for some reason it outputs half the actually speed so works with my dash which is expecting a four cylinder input.

I also removed a load of the heat/sound deadening from the drivers and passengers floors, I'd previously removed some of it by scraping it off which is a horrible job, this time I took a trip up to New Covent Garden early on Sunday morning and bought 5kg of dry ice. Threw that in the footwell and left it for a few minutes, the tar like crap became brittle and could just be hit with a chipping hammer to break it up and scraped out, much better.

I think the Transit may have a bit of a diesel leak, or the Eberspacher diesel heater is firing itself into life, as it seems to be using fuel even though I haven't driven it in weeks. I am also thinking about turning it into a camper van, along the lines of a Winnebago Revel:

[Marv]

How many miles/how long will an alcantara steering wheel last without wearing gloves? Is it really so fragile that it needs an annual retrim?

APC and a soft brush brought my OMP Alcantara back to nearly new. Might need done annually but an easy job.

The Alcantara steering wheel in my CSL was refurbished by the previous owner shortly before he sold it to me. I've cleaned it once in the ~20,000 miles I've done in it, and it's barely worn.

I suspect people who wreck them quickly have troglodyte claws.

[mik]

You do use mild green fairy liquid though Marv.

[scotta]

How many miles/how long will an alcantara steering wheel last without wearing gloves? Is it really so fragile that it needs an annual retrim?

APC and a soft brush brought my OMP Alcantara back to nearly new. Might need done annually but an easy job.

The Alcantara steering wheel in my CSL was refurbished by the previous owner shortly before he sold it to me. I've cleaned it once in the ~20,000 miles I've done in it, and it's barely worn.

I suspect people who wreck them quickly have troglodyte claws.

Me on track

[Mito Man]

I’ve gone for a leather/alcantara compromise

[nuttinnew]

I experienced range anxiety today. You don't have to have an ev to do so, just have your aux belt tensioner poop itself and fall out the bottom of your car. No battery charging (or pas), no idea how much charge the battery has, and 173 miles from home has a similar effect.

You did 170 miles in a car with no alternator?

I'd have said you'd be lucky to get 30 in something with an electric fuel pump and an ecu!

Yup, and while an older car with few gadgets it does have an ecu. I'm not sure if the fuel pump runs continuously or just when starting, and I didn't have to start it because I didn't turn it off; it was running ok when I pulled over after the dodgy noises and bit falling off, looked under the bonnet and there wasn't anything to cause another problem so carried on. I wasn't sure how charged the battery was, didn't know if it'd make it even if it was fully (it's only an 063), so heading home was intriguing. Radio and blower fan off were a given, the only other way I could think to save power was by using the lights as little as possible, which in daylight means avoiding indicating (like the plebs ) and braking (easy enough even without working pas).





In other news, nothing obvious re A2 misfire. That's going to be a pita then, and probably nothing that major when found. I'll get a proper diagnostic on it and look at the logs.

[mik]

You need to bleed your HT leads using the appropriate technique. Check with Duncs.

[nuttinnew]

Will do, ta.
I tried cleaning the maf but couldn't find it. After thinking that was the problem I found out it shouldn't have one. Some of you don't know how privileged you are.

[JLv3.0]

What firmware version is the head unit running?

MAFs are SO last Beany.