MGB GT fettling

[Scruffy Bodger]

Fucking thing was flat again just. Strange this time as the interior lights stayed on dimly when I got in the car and didn't switch off. Maybe down to the battery being in such a low state tho? It's back on charge for the night. I was hoping that'd sort it so hadn't measured the draw across the fuse, so much for that idea, I'll have another look tomorrow.

[Scruffy Bodger]

My V50 didn't pass the MOT earlier. Major fail "Offside side light inoperative"

It's headlight out job to change it so they left it for me to do. Piece of piss 5 second job to remove the lamp but the sidelight bulb is buried inside the unit. I hadn't got any needle nose pliers 6" long so had to hook it out with a really thin long screwdriver, what a fuck on. I replaced the running light on that side too while I was at it.

Other than that advisories are all 2 tyres close to the limit and brake disks worn all round so it'll get abused a bit more yet!

[paulplom]

Always a relief when they pass.

[Scruffy Bodger]

Absolutely. I was expecting it to fail on the emissions tbh. I always clear the exhaust before the test for diesel, so that may have helped? Before it warmed up fully and lost power I revved it to the redline 4 or 5 times. There's now a great big sooty stain on the road outside the house as I've been driving it like a granny to keep it at the current 34mpg.

The other V50 is frying my fucking nappa. I need to do a bit of an update on that to keep track of what I've done.

[Scruffy Bodger]

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After weeks of fucking around with the neighbours V50 I may have made some headway? It was taking anywhere from 1 to 5 days to randomly flatten the battery.
The fuse tester idea was changed as it was too much bother to use. I extended the leads by 6' so I could put it inline with the battery and read it comfortably in the car. Pulling every fuse however taught me nothing of the problem
It takes a few minutes of settling down every time to draw less power. This isn't helped by the passenger door light I couldn't easily disable the door switch on so the fuse got left out.
Disabling the alarm seemed to knock out the central locking on the plipper too or so I thought, next day, flat battery, CUNT!
Dunno why but at one point I pressed the central locking button, it still worked...
After standing in the street many times in the dark with people wandering by thinking what is that nutter up to this time I finally caught the fucker out
It didnt deadlock properly after 15 seconds or so. A soft click instead of a clunk sound and I caught sight of the indicator dimly flash, this time it didn't go to sleep properly, drawing well over an amp constant!
The next day I got a can of WD40 and straw and blathered all the locks and handles including bonnet as best i could. I shut and opened every one 25 times in succession to see if that helped. This car sits a lot, may only gets used once or twice a week if that.

That was nearly 2 weeks ago I think? Fingers and toes still crossed but still hoping it's sorted. Random gremlins FFS. So was it just a sticky actuator stopping the alarm/ecm not going to sleep/dormant mode? Time will tell...

[Scruffy Bodger]

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I finally ordered a part for my twatting thing. 10 quid got me a genuine Pierburg boost actuator valve, the cheapest Volvo one listed was 25 quid but one for a Blingo....
It throws all sorts of codes but still no ecu light lately. For some strange reason pulling the pipe off the actuator even after hours sat releases the actuator to its full extent so I wondered if the valve was leaking a slight amount of vacuum? It arrived yesterday so fitted it yesterday afternoon. After driving it like a granny for 40 miles or so same as the last 12 months it's shown a fair improvement in economy. It was at 34mpg before I reset the trip.
Something still isn't right tho. Power at cold start is virtually non existent but now when it warms up it nearly drives normally. Or as far as I know as its never driven normally in all the time I've had it
Maybe the ecu will learn over time or I need to disconnect the battery. Who knows?!
It's repaid me by an airbag fault that won't fuck off or clear this afternoon

[paulplom]

Some cars just love to fight. 34mpg is shocking even 48 isn't too good from a modern diesel.
I got between 37 and 40mpg from my last 2010 transit. I bought my new one with the same engine and box and struggle to get fucking 30mpg. I presume due to tighter emission control.
That's fucking progress for you.

[Scruffy Bodger]

This one's definitely one of them. Totally agree on the progress bit. My 25 year old 405 will do over 50mpg on a run if going steady. Your van certainly sounds like things are going backwards

It's a pity about the V50, it's not a bad car otherwise, eats up the miles and comfy enough on a run but Volvos definitely aren't what they were like when they were boxes on wheels.

[Scruffy Bodger]

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I did battle with a GP100 today that hadn't been running for over 10 years. 48 hours on an old skool battery charger and the battery held some life, only the brake light works tho, even the horn only makes a click sound, can't be arsed to get into all that. The air filter is totally FUBAR and has turned to mush.

Spark plug at first looked fine but no sign of firing with fuel in the barrel. More of a problem was the fuel pissing out the carb. One 3mm hex dome cap head would NOT give up the fight, fucking twatting thing so I had to resort to drilling it. No amount of hitting with a screwdriver end would sort the float so it had to come apart. A 30 mile round trip got me a new plug and access to a compressor. I'd found the thing wouldn't even fire with the carb off and a spray of Lynx deodorant direct into its orifice so a new plug it was.

It turned out the float needle retainer had a fucked o ring. None handy the right size so a smaller, fatter one was stretched to sort of fit. A vice was then used to squeeze it home very carefully. This ended up sort of shaving the o ring, pulled it back out before it got to the point of being irretrievable, removed the excess and then pushed it fully home. A good blowing out and some wet and dry/wire wool on a few bits and it was off back home to try again.

New plug in, Africa sprayed, instant firing Carb back on, sweet FA More Lynx several times and start to get a bit longer run and a bit more throttle. 4th attempt, proper revs and a steady tickover, result

Who's bright idea was it to mount the carb on the side of the engine behind a cover with the inevitable steel into ally corrosion problems?

[christine]

The bright idea was John Duffey's...1922 patent