What did you do today?

[LynehamHerc]

I thought that you worked for yourself?

[Eddie Honda]

I can't understand how something so small can start a car though.

It's witchcraft!

[paulplom]

Baxi sent it. I get points to spend every boiler I fit.
Took three boilers to get it.

[paulplom]

I can't understand how something so small can start a car though.

It's witchcraft!

Posh phone charger if it doesn't.

[SiC]

How to charge a modern car. Battery is in the boot btw...
You need to do this through the specified terminals so it can track the amount of coulombs going back into the pack.

Got a warning yesterday that the battery was low on charge so it was shutting down non essential systems. Noticed that it's starting to struggle now, especially as it's not getting used as much and for shorter journeys. The battery is original at nearly 11 years old and ~200k so it's done well. However at £200+ for a battery, I'm in no rush to change it until the car really starts whining even more. Ideally change it when lockdown eases and then the new one won't get as many discharge cycles into it.
PXL_20210227_103314183.jpg

My V50 has a setup like that as it's got stop start on it. I've had some success hammering the caps out of the sealed AGM battery and pouring in a bit of de-ionised water. I haven't had to jump it once since I did it.

Yeah this has stop start too. The cars starts everytime, but I have noticed recently that the stop/start doesn't. There is a battery level screen in the main computer and it's started reading off maximum. Usually it's reading 100% even if it has discharged a bit. At the moment it has been dipping to ~60%. So I know the pack isn't getting a charge.

Stop start systems tracks how much energy has come out and gone in. So it knows not to stop the engine at the lights, if it can't reliably restart.

Likewise if it's been sat around, it knows to shutdown systems progressively to ensure the best chance of starting again. Then when started, keep non essential systems shutdown (Radio, interior lights, etc) until the car has had enough charge back in.

Progress*

...Vs a 90s/00s Jag where you get a whole cacophony of random warning lights, gearbox limp mode and non starts when the battery is flat/weak. I'd much rather have the car tell me directly that something is up, than having to plug in diagnostic tools/go to a garage/dead on the drive in the morning.

[PhilA]

Genuinely starting to worry about coming back to the car one day to find the cat missing. Especially if lockdown eases, I start going back into the office and park my car at the train station.

What, down the secluded, narrow wooded road right next to the builder's merchants and the pub? Nah, certainly not

[SubPar]

I seem to have actually, shock horror, fixed a couple of things on the cars.

First, I sorted the driver's door handle on the Saab 9000. The exterior handle on these hooks over a big vertical metal tab inside the door, and pulls it outwards to release the catch. It seems to be a very common problem where over time said tab bends ever so slightly outwards. This means you end up pulling the door handle all the way out as far as it goes and it still doesn't pull the tab far enough.

Whip off the door card and the external handle, push the tab back in with the handle end of my ratchet, whip it all back together and now the door opens with just a mere suggestion of pulling the exterior handle. Lovely.

Then I drowned the BMW 316's bonnet catches in silicone lube, working them back and forth. Now the bonnet closes properly again without fucking about for 5 minutes with a screwdriver.

After all that excitement I went out for an essential* journey in the Saab to buy some booze. I definitely didn't leave the Aberdeen City boundary and sit in a layby staring at the offshore wind turbines while enjoying the sunshine. Not at all, officer.

Hell, even the sunroof and the boot struts behaved themselves on the Saab too! Must be the nice weather. 13 Celsius up here today.

[Nibblet]

Hrrummpphhh.
Bloody Datsun broke down on me again today; needed to move it out of the garage to get some clobber out to go on eBay so I thought I'd warm it up and go for a quick spin around the block. Stopped dead on a 1:4 hill...
Cue a pair of very helpful neighbours, a tow rope and a pull up the hill and back to it's lair, greatly embarrasing but also made a couple of new acquaintances!
The points appear kinda 'sticky', reluctant to snap back shut from the open position. I swapped the old points back in, roughly set the gap and started straight off.
Both sets of points, to me anyway seem kinda stiff around where they pivot (there is a nylon bushing), the new one was.....LUCAS and the old appears also to be.
I also thought back to the previous fail, a couple of weeks ago and remembered the bright yellow sparking around the points when she was turned over- perhaps the condensor is on it's way out- will change tomorrow and see what the result is.
At any rate I didn't like either of those sets of points; they both seemed at intervals to hang up and refuse to snap shut when the cam lobe of the distributor had passed.
Fucking LUCAS shite; if postage from the States was reasonable I'd bag a load of decent Jap parts, plenty still floating about over there.

[Nibblet]

I seem to have actually, shock horror, fixed a couple of things on the cars.

First, I sorted the driver's door handle on the Saab 9000. The exterior handle on these hooks over a big vertical metal tab inside the door, and pulls it outwards to release the catch. It seems to be a very common problem where over time said tab bends ever so slightly outwards. This means you end up pulling the door handle all the way out as far as it goes and it still doesn't pull the tab far enough.

Whip off the door card and the external handle, push the tab back in with the handle end of my ratchet, whip it all back together and now the door opens with just a mere suggestion of pulling the exterior handle. Lovely.

Then I drowned the BMW 316's bonnet catches in silicone lube, working them back and forth. Now the bonnet closes properly again without fucking about for 5 minutes with a screwdriver.

After all that excitement I went out for an essential* journey in the Saab to buy some booze. I definitely didn't leave the Aberdeen City boundary and sit in a layby staring at the offshore wind turbines while enjoying the sunshine. Not at all, officer.

Hell, even the sunroof and the boot struts behaved themselves on the Saab too! Must be the nice weather. 13 Celsius up here today.

Need to compare notes as I have the CSE that Vantman used to own; on the whole it's been most reliable, belying the nearly 200k miles on the clock. Just this last few weeks the central locking has played up a little, refusing to budge the front door locks- cold I guess. It's getting on 30 yrs old so I can forgive a few foibles; they are, in my opinion about the best luxury car you could buy at that time, perhaps until the LS400 appeared.

[paulplom]

I've been offered this for £1300 off a mate. I'm going to look tomorrow. Is there anything specific to look for?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... tory_share