Car troubles

So the car saga continues. Just when I think I've gotit sorted, something else rears its ugly head. While I'm still trying sort the rear wheel hub, 3 attempts later and still no joy!, there is now another matter that needs attention.

The passenger headlight has been a struggle to get right, as the beam has been way off but I got it sorted. I lined it all up using the garage door and was pretty happy with it and the garage said they would fine tune it for me, mostly out of sympathy i think. Great, apart from one minor issue, its a left hand driver headlight! So, I had to source and fit a RHD unit, which isn't as easy as it sounds.

Fitting a headlight.

As you can see, fitting requires stripping off the bumper. Fairly simple, just long winded and a pain. Managed to clean and polish the drivers headlight, so that's nice and clear now. 

The car should have been back in for its mot retest but the new hub, brand spanking new instead of second d hand, was supposed to arrive by UPS48 on Tuesday, but didn't turn up till Thursday, so more like UPS96. This meant the garage didn't have time to dealwith the car before we headed off on holiday, so the cars back sitting on the drive, not good.

Hopefully it will all be sorted as soon as I get home. I'm really looking forward to having her back in the road!

Car update........que the disappointment

Well, I was hoping to have some good news to share, however, things didn't quite go according to plan. The car was in for its long overdue retest yesterday and I was secretly hopeful that it would pass. It didn't.

Fail points.

Not all is lost though, as the list is now down from 9 to 2. Yes, most of its been fixed, although in fixing some bits, new issues have arisen, but we'll get to that in a bit. Firstly, we'll deal with the failures, which are the headlight and hub. Now the headlight is going to be a pain, as the inner part, the reflective bit, has come loose and its this that seems to be causing the problem. I need to figure a way of propping this up and fixing it in to position or get a new headlight unit. The former should be cheap and cheerful bodge work, the latter, the proper way. For the moment ill be bodging it, somehow. The second point is the hub and this should be easy, as I have all the parts I need in the garage and now I've done it once already. I don't know what went wrong last time and don't really care right now, I just want to fix it. Hopefully I'll get some time at the weekend to do everything. Oh, and point three, the tyres, they've been changed, not sure why they did it after the MoT but they did, so ignore that one.

Advisories page 1

Advisories page 2

The list of advisories is still long, but again, some of it can be ignored. The main ones are 8, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 19. The powersteering seepage is annoying but not a problem, I will have to track it down at some point, but not now. The tire has been done along with the valve, so that's pointless. The discs being rusty is because the cars been sat for weeks with no mot, so is to be expected! As for the rusty underside, its a 13 year old car, its gonna be a bit rusty in places as it hasn't been taken care of properly. The spongy peddles because the brakes haven't been bled properly, as I couldn't undo the front bleed nipples. 

As for the rest, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15 and 16, these are problems I intend to fix over the summer. The head light clouding is not much of a problem and I've already got the kit of ebay and I'm Not worried about the pads, their consumables, so they will need replacing every so often anyway. This also leads back to the hand brake travel, now pads will have an impact on that but ultimately the cable will need replacing as I think its stretched. Fixing the various exhaust mounts shouldn't be too hard, but with a non-standard exhaust it might be trickier than expected. The only two items that I'm really worried about are the CV gaiters, as this will require disassembling most of the front hub assembly to change properly, not a 5 minute job. However, I'm confident I can do it, and if it does of wrong or take me ages, well its not the end of the world.

The only other items on the list are the brake pipe, which I have replacements for but am going to hold off a little longer as they are still fine, just getting old. Ill have another check before the next MoT. The final point is the SIRS warning light. This could just be the bulb and a simple fix or it could be a major issue with the system. My view is its the bulb, as a major issue would cause the bulb to light up constantly, not dissapear off on holiday. It doesn't seem to be an issue for the MoT which is good!

So more issues to fix and a deadline for good measure. I've got all the bits I need this time round, so hopefully it will be plain sailing! Oh the joys of owning an old banner! And to think, I'd quite like that mgf thats sitting up the road on bricks! As much as I would love to buy it, if I did I think the next post on here would be my obituary! 

MOT

Well, I took my car for its yearly MOT test the other day, and yeah, not good. I was expecting a few advisories to come up, but nothing like this! A failure on 9 points!

Sorry for the picture, but for some reason my phone keeps putting it this way round not matter what I do!

Ok, so its not as bad as it first sounds. 2 for the hand brake and 3 for the fuel filler. I've got reconditioned rear calipers and hubs on route (with Hermes somewhere) and I'm in the process of sourcing a new fuel neck. That should solve 5 problems. A new tyre, new locking pin and tightening up a bolt are simple. The head light couldbe because the lense is dodgy and needs cleaning and polishing. I think that it should all be rather easy, just need to get the bits to do it all.

And then there is the whole raft of advisories to deal with!

Yes, that really does reach 21.

Again, nothing to serious. Brake discs are mostly due to lack of use, especially the rears, as the calipers are shot. A perished tyre, that'll be replaced with the other for an axle pair. That will also sort the valve issue. The rear beari21.will be sorted with new hubs (with the calipers somewhere). The exhaust mounts can be replaced easily, and are probably due replacement and the power steering issue is because I haven't cleaned it all up properly when I did the power steering gaiter change.

The only items that worry me are the CV gaiters. These are going to be more difficult to replace, but not impossible, however, I think I will replace both the inner and outer gaiters at the same time ( although I've yet to check the inner ones) so that I dint have to repeat the process again.

So all in all not so bad, just annoying and it will take some time to correct. Hopefully the car will be back on the road in no time.

Oh, and the rear handles and locks are playing up again! (New handles with hubs and calipers somewhere)