Your fleet running reports

[speedingfine]

...likely an M-tax heavy part of the running gear.

Surprisingly a lot of the parts are shared with all the non-M V8s, so e.g. using OEM Bosch, coils are < £25 each, spark plugs < £10 each, even a whole set of four lambda sensors will just squeak under £200 next time there's a good promo code. The car's done 120k miles and these things are consumables really, so I'm very tempted to replace the lot for peace of mind.

We're heading down to the coast to visit my parents tonight. I'm feeling brave.

Hope the trip goes well, the car looks stonking, and quite the deal (even with the breakdown )

[Beany]

Anyway, if you're wondering how much it costs around here for
Engine oil + filter
Coolant
Brake fluid
Gearbox oil
Diff oil

and MOT

It's about £520.

Which doesn't feel too horrid given that I should only need to worry about oil and filter changes for the next couple of years, maintenance wise.

No advisories - they noted the brake disks were a bit scabby, but I'd told them it'd been sitting on the road for a week and a half so they didn't note it down - just needed a few good stops to sort that out.

[John]

Anyway, if you're wondering how much it costs around here

I've forgotten where you live, Scarborough?

[Beany]

Anyway, if you're wondering how much it costs around here

I've forgotten where you live, Scarborough?

Pudsey these days.

[John]

Ah yes, brain fart time

As an aside, I visited Scarborough last month to visit a friend for the first time in years. We went into the centre for a bite to eat and I thought I'd stumbled onto the set of a zombie movie

[Sundayjumper]

OK, my money is on HPFP being the actual problem though

£200 - although there’s two of them because of course there are - and an easy job too:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234828996297

Could be £350/pair if they have a 20% promo again soon.

Car made it down to the coast absolutely fine FWIW. Although only 27mpg and I think it’s running rich; the tailpipes are very sooty.

[Rich B]

OK, my money is on HPFP being the actual problem though

£200 - although there’s two of them because of course there are - and an easy job too:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234828996297

Could be £350/pair if they have a 20% promo again soon.

Car made it down to the coast absolutely fine FWIW. Although only 27mpg and I think it’s running rich; the tailpipes are very sooty.

How many mpg were you expecting?!

[240PP]

Was going to say… V8 twin turbo barge. 27 sounds ok to me.

[Sundayjumper]

30 was a target. BMWs are usually quite good on fuel and this was a longish steady run barely going over 70 because of the traffic, so basically optimum conditions. And we know there’s something not right with the fuel/ignition atm. Can do better.

Returning to M-tax, the brakes are *not* shared with other models, and genuine are *not* cheap…

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266325452372

[Mito Man]

Changed the differential on the brush cutter. The dealer here wanted £1500 for the part. After ordering it from America and paying all the taxes it was £450.

[Beany]

OK, my money is on HPFP being the actual problem though

£200 - although there’s two of them because of course there are - and an easy job too:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234828996297

Could be £350/pair if they have a 20% promo again soon.

Car made it down to the coast absolutely fine FWIW. Although only 27mpg and I think it’s running rich; the tailpipes are very sooty.

Decent enough prices that, I'm sure the F20 ones were reported as being about double that!

Running rich could be metering - IE counting or missing air past the airflow meter. That said I'm not that up on turbo metering, I'd guess you'd be looking for....

ho ho....

A boost leak! ( (c) Domster3000 )

Sounds like you've got an excuse to buy a smoke tester though, check the seals of the intake system after the MAFs.

(the E46 did the same, misfire codes and drinking heavily - and it turned out to be a cracked/perished intake boot, but I'm not sure how forced induction would affect that)

[integrale_evo]

Welp, my Amazon bushes turned up.

Or should I say bush, because instead of a set of four I got one customer services say yes, definitely should be a set of four. Can they send me three more? No.

So I have to send back the one and get a refund - they did say I could keep it with an £11 discount

I have already ordered another set from them due for delivery tomorrow. I’m expecting another single one, but they’re £100 cheaper on Amazon than elsewhere so it’s a risk I’m willing to take…

As we now have a bit more daylight and it wasn’t freezing cold, I drained the coolant and stuck my my twin carb inlet on the Alfa to see what space I have for a throttle linkage.

IMG_8315.jpeg (308.22 KiB) Viewed 304 times

[Rich B]

i took the Lotus out for a quick spin to see how it had faired over the winter. Aside from a little mould on the seatbelts (i’ve ordered a dehumidifier bag) and a few new paint bumps on the spoiler (i’ll probably get a few bits resprayed this year) it was ok. it started and drove beautifully! Even on a 5 minute spin it was so much of an event after driving a van all year!

[Beany]

I have washed the car. Obviously it's still raining so it still looks a bit wet and sad, it just doesn't have a layer of traffic film from being parked on the road.

I'm sure it'll return soon enough, but as the weather gets less shit there'll be less reason to leave it.

This critical update is now over.

[jamcg]

I have washed the car. Obviously it's still raining so it still looks a bit wet and sad, it just doesn't have a layer of traffic film from being parked on the road.

I'm sure it'll return soon enough, but as the weather gets less shit there'll be less reason to leave it.

This critical update is now over.

I’m currently wondering how manky the focus needs to be before I wash it. Currently starting to look desperate. Probably should do it……

[DeskJockey]

The layer of grime on both cars hide the sad state of their paintwork.

Zoe will come up nice with a machine polish and buff. If I do that it'll also need new window rubbers. It is a maybe.

On the Galaxy it will just highlight how much work it needs. It just isn't worth the money to do.

Front O/S wing, full side below the roof rail, and rear panel behind the fourth window needs a respray.

All door edges have chips, there's a ding in the N/S rear door, front O/S lower trim needs to be replaced, boot lid needs polishing, there are two dings in the roof, one in the bonnet, and the list goes on.

And if I went to all that trouble then the brightwork needs doing, the windows are scratched, wheels need a refurb, and then we're on to interior stuff.

Mechanically it is fine, and that's how it'll stay. On a good day it might be worth £3k, not worth spending the same again on it.

[integrale_evo]

Well, I took a chance, ordered another set of bushes from Amazon.

Today a boxed set of four turned up it was worth the chance as they’re £135 on Amazon, £230 direct from the manufacturer on eBay. Just hope they don’t muck about refunding for the single one.

Merc - had a wash. The mot ran out last week, it was booked in for a test the other week but we both forgot with the throttle pedal / limp mode dramas.

Mito, gearbox had been making some odd noises, some grumbling when taking up drive, some whining in the higher gears. As it’s now done 100k I thought I’d treat it to its first gearbox oil change. The oil that came out was obviously used, but not awful. No nasties on the drain plug. However the dog bone mount on the back of the gearbox which stops the power unit swinging back / forward was completely dead, the centre just dropped out, the metal of the surround was rubbing on the subframe.

I bought a powerflex poly insert ages ago as they’re move a fair bit from the factory. Turns out it’s not compatible with the version in my car I trimmed it down and made it work to hold the bush together - it’s enclosed in the subframe so if my fix fails it can’t go anywhere or be any worse than it was before.

IMG_8341.jpeg (335.05 KiB) Viewed 209 times

After a test run it seems ok. Washed it too.

And washed the compact.

Was even able to spend some time outside in a T shirt! Lovely!

[Beany]

I bought a wiper blade, and fitted it. The drivers wiper was starting to fray a bit - not enough to affect wiping but it wouldn't have been long.

Annoyingly, the 'aero wing' on the old Bosch broke it's clips when I was trying to swap it, so no totally tekkers downforce on the drivers wiper any more.

I'm sure I'll live.

Also gave the screen a quick clay mitt wipe, a clean, and a ceramic spray coating, because why not.

[speedingfine]

...likely an M-tax heavy part of the running gear.

Surprisingly a lot of the parts are shared with all the non-M V8s, so e.g. using OEM Bosch, coils are < £25 each, spark plugs < £10 each, even a whole set of four lambda sensors will just squeak under £200 next time there's a good promo code. The car's done 120k miles and these things are consumables really, so I'm very tempted to replace the lot for peace of mind.

We're heading down to the coast to visit my parents tonight. I'm feeling brave.

Hope the trip goes well, the car looks stonking, and quite the deal (even with the breakdown )

[Sundayjumper]

Hope the trip goes well, the car looks stonking, and quite the deal (even with the breakdown )

We're waiting

I'm so glad you asked !

Friday. I checked the oil before setting off, knowing that these cars often consume a bit (and are even expected to, to an extent), and was glad I did as it was right on the min mark. It's not unusual for modern cars to not have a dipstick, but it is unusual that you measure the oil level while the engine is warm & idling, via a menu in the iDrive. It's not a dry sump though, just a complicated wet sump. Topped up a litre of oil and off we went. The car seemed to drive totally fine. I was a bit paranoid still and had my code reader plugged in the whole time, with my wife holding my phone and checking for error codes every ten mins or so. None appeared.

Had a curry and went to bed.

Saturday. Dropped my parents off in town to do some shopping; 15 mile round trip. Noticed some smoke from the exhaust a couple of times. Checked oil level back at the house and it was back down to minimum. After a total of 85 miles I decided to have a poke around the engine bay. Poked a few things. Poked a vent pipe that runs from the cam cover to the intake and it snapped right off Well, that's fcuked it. Once it had fallen off it was obvious it was also split at the manifold joint. In for a penny etc, I prodded the other side as well (slightly harder, tbf) and that broke too. I removed them and ended up with this:

IMG_6847(1).JPEG (320.41 KiB) Viewed 102 times

Very curiously, one of them was missing its o-ring, and was clearly more oily. This is the end that connects to the cam cover. It doesn't vent directly from inside the cam cover though, there's a whole further arrangement inside. Both hoses date marked Nov 2012, which is also curious, as the car's build date was Nov 2013. They've been replaced once before, probably early on, using old stock ?

IMG_6832(1).jpeg (154.99 KiB) Viewed 102 times

So my hope right now is that when changing the coils, one or both hoses were accidentally bumped and being old and brittle and barely hanging on, that finished them off and with no vacuum control the car started drinking its own oil. Recent enough that the seller was genuinely oblivious. By now it was 4pm and parts departments were closed so my Dad offered to let us borrow his car - Merc E350 estate - to get home, and I'd collect the M5 later in the week once I'd got the new hoses.

We set off home early evening, grumpy that I'd broken my new toy already. Brakes on the Merc were shit. Heavy, long travel before anything happened, vibration from speed and a bit of a grinding feeling. Went to bed.