Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

...something old and not particularly fussy about fuel

Beany ?

I'm currently flip-flopping on what to do. Quite tempted to go the easy route and get someone to fix it, but also curious to bung it in the Galaxie and see what happens. I just need to acquire a few jerry cans first. The tank is full so there's 40+ litres to drain out.

[Sundayjumper]

I've ordered some jerry cans. I do like to live dangerously.

I didn't do a final conclusion from the wife's MINI. I'm still none the wiser about the dipstick problem. Before resorting to dropping the sump I had another go. I bent the end of the dipstick slightly to see if it could find its way through and after some trial & error it went in. And then wouldn't come out ! Yanked it out forcibly. And after that it goes in & out perfectly normally again. Weird.

I did about 15 miles of mixed roads in the car today and it seems to be running nicely now. A combination of the new guides & tensioner, and that aux belt being so shagged it was introducing vibrations as it went over the pulleys. Also the engine mounts seem to have made more difference than I'd expected, it's noticeably less crashy over speed bumps now, which makes sense if the engine was bouncing around before.

All up it cost me appx.: £83 cam chain kit + £11 aux belt + £126 pair of engine mounts + £48 for the cam timing tool, and most of a weekend, but I tend not to get moving until late morning, you could do it in a day if you were more disciplined. A worthwhile job.

[mik]

Public information announcement. Not my car, and I hadn’t heard anything about this, but without wishing to scaremonger, I was surprised by the number of responses confirming other peoples experiences ??

[Jobbo]

Funny, I saw something similar about Michelins a couple of weeks ago so ordered Goodyear Vector 4seasons rather than Michelin CrossClimates. Keep an eye on your tyres and complain if they crack or tread falls off; nothing else we can do really.

[KevH18]

The two fronts on the Focus have cracked on the outer sidewall, possibly inside as well but I haven't checked. They're Goodyear Eagle F1s. They're also over 5 1/2 years old so probably can't complain about that!

[Mito Man]

I used to have the same with Bridgestones.

[Explosive Newt]

The Golf has about 4 weeks left to go as I now have a delivery date for the Tesla.

I should like it more as it's done everything asked of it and more (and by god adaptive cruise and apple carplay make your life easy) but I am not feeling as though I shall miss it. Probably the Jags and the Porsche spoiled me but I never felt the desire to go for a drive in it, just felt a lack of discomfort as it conveyed me from one place to another.
52-57 mpg and £15/month tax aren't bad running costs though.

[Matty]

Public information announcement. Not my car, and I hadn’t heard anything about this, but without wishing to scaremonger, I was surprised by the number of responses confirming other peoples experiences ??

It's a common issue on Up GTi's - mainly because people are lowering the pressure's below the recommended because the ride is rock hard, and the sidewalls split when squished.

Like Oli, I had 3 split sidewalls on mine; I did one over a pothole not long after I bought mine, then about 6 months later split the front AND rear over the same pothole. It's the reason I'm now running 16's with Eagle F1's

Note, this is only really the Goodyear EfficientGrip - the VW Up groups are well versed in "first job - replace the Goodyears"

[Swervin_Mervin]

This reminded me to check my tyres, not least as the MOT is due at the end of the month. Sure enough, the nsr is on the wear markers and the osr not far off. They're knocking on a bit now anyway - dated late 2018. The fronts are older still at early 2018 but still plenty of life left in those.

I might start spending some money on it again soon to tidy a few areas up, given I still have no idea what I'd want to replace it with.

[Beany]

Curious. I've run a tank or two of super through the car in the past, and it's never really made any difference to performance.

Swap the battery out (and a tank of super) and it now has significantly more low down torque - I'd guess a low battery was hindering things like the DISA valve operating properly (the DISA valve adjusts the intake length for more torque at low revs).

So, on the list of Things To Do

All the fluids, bar roof hydraulics fluid - that'd be an hour of chargable labour to pull the car apart to get to it, and I don't mind paying for things I can't reasonably do myself, paying someone to remove some fiddly panels seems....a bit much. If the roof is still wonky after that, I'll do some more serous diagnosis. It'll either be 'wet' fluid, or a microswitch/sensor, I expect.

Front shocks - this'll require spring compression which I am not doing at the side of the road, and I can't use my neighbours drive as he's moved out now. So, garage.

Brake lines - some of them are a bit scabby, and I'd rather replace them before they pop. Probably the same time as the front shocks.

Front trailing arm bushes - a ten minute job per side while it's up for the front shocks and brake lines.

Rear shocks - theoretically a 30 min job per side, assuming you have clean bolts etc. I can't justify spring compressors for myself for various reasons (space, I'd use them once every five years, etc) but I can justify rounded bolt remover thingies, and throw some new bolts in there.

Beyond that it's little things - the interior rubber coating is shagged, a window regulator and some weather stripping needs replacing, all of which I can easily afford these days and which don't require 'big' work to replace.

I need to replace (or clean up a bit of rust on) a wing, and generally get the paint cleaned up a bit.

Idea is to have the car in a reasonable shape to be sold at a sensible price next summer. And now that I've got the convertible bug out of my system, I can look at what else the market has to offer.

P'raps a V8?

[Sundayjumper]

I ordered two Jerry cans last week from a place that seems to deal in surplus. Described as “grade 1”. They arrived today and one of them has a very obvious hole in the bottom. WTF ? Utterly bloody useless. The other is full of sludge so most likely rusting inside. Both are scrap.

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[Sundayjumper]

P'raps a V8?

Yes. Everyone should have a V8 at some point.

[Sundayjumper]

Jerry can update - I emailed the seller, they immediately gave me a full refund. I guess their business model is to ship stuff without checking it and refund anyone who gets a duff unit. Pretty rubbish.

I've found someone local on facebook marketplace who has two cans for sale. I can pick them up this afternoon. I should have done that last week

[integrale_evo]

P'raps a V8?

Yes. Everyone should have a V8 at some point.

Correct

[integrale_evo]

I can’t imagine how abused Jerry cans have to be to end up like that. My grandad had loads dotted around his farm, all 1940s dated and nothing worse than minor surface rust on a few. I rescued a couple, would have had more if I had space

Needs a mention in Mics thread in the other forum

[integrale_evo]

X5 update

It has some gremlins

Occasionally you’d get no flashing or clicking from the dash when the indicators were on, or a light to tell you high beams were on, even though everything was working outside.

When I bought it I knew the radio screen was broken. Picked up a really good ( no dead pixels ) one off Facebook. Was still temperamental. On these the ‘radio’ in the dash is just a screen, all the actual electronics are elsewhere.

I noticed the dash worked properly when the radio worked…

After heavy rain I decided to check the spare wheel well where the battery and radio module live. Dry as a bone.

Checked the left cubby hole where the nav dvd and cd changer live and find drips. Remove the dvd drive and you can pour water out of it unplugged it, dried out the connectors, all indicator lights and radio working properly.

New dvd drive ordered for £35, now to find the cause of the leak…

Bodged wiring to driver side angel eye lamp fixed so works every time now. Shitey wind deflectors removed. Oe outer rear lights fitted to replace the aftermarket smoked top ones.

[Sundayjumper]

I've got a couple of forties ones already but they're full of engine oil waiting to go to the tip !

[Sundayjumper]

New dvd drive ordered for £35, now to find the cause of the leak…

Sunroof drains ? Strange for it to be as high up as the DVD drive, rear lights are the normal suspect but that would go into the spare wheel well.

[nuttinnew]

I ordered two Jerry cans last week from a place that seems to deal in surplus. Described as “grade 1”. They arrived today and one of them has a very obvious hole in the bottom. WTF ? Utterly bloody useless. The other is full of sludge so most likely rusting inside. Both are scrap.

[nuttinnew]

A2 derv had an uneventful mot pass