Drove diagonally over a 1-inch kerb, the sort you can go over at any speed, the other day and heard a click from the n/s front which could only be a track rod end on its way out. Because we are soon going to do a couple of thousand miles in France and Spain I took it to the garage bloke near here and they put it on the lift and did a bit of levering. There was visible movement on the n/s one and some movement with a lever on the other.
It's a one-hour job really. But it couldn't be done yesterday because the wrong track rod ends arrived. Today the more expensive proper ones turned up and they did it. I looked at the old ends. One could be moved by hand, rattled perhaps by a hand stronger than mine, and the other, although apparently still stiff, was very gritty feeling when the ball was turned. So I wasn't just faffing really.
Just hope the weeping radiator and one-speed fan (supposed to be two speed) hold out in southern Spain in August... oo-er. And that my passport manoeuvre tomorrow comes off. And that I get to Worthing in time to get the tracking fine-tuned on Saturday. God how tiring it all is.
|
Suspect I might get the rad and fan fixed. In any event, and I'm sure you will anyway, get some kind of European breakdown cover. I always scoffed at that idea but one year, my wife bought some without consulting me ( she's wilful that way sometimes ) anyway, the car broke down fairly spectacularly in Avignon one week into a 3 week trip.
Cut a long story short, our car was recovered back to Scotland and we continued and completed our holiday in a hire car and the costs of both were covered by the policy.
Have a good holiday by the way !
|
Just from looking, both rad and fan are quite expensive items. I have a rooted dislike of gunge to seal radiator leaks. But I think it's a plastic item and non-repairable (old American cars and US radiator shops were great, they would melt apart a metal radiator, rod the tubes, solder any holes in the tubes and reassemble it all with solder in about 20 minutes, for 20 dollars if you took the radiator out yourself in the street and put it back).
I'm not like that any more though. I think what I have to do is try to eliminate the airlock that is causing excessive pressure in the cooling system. You can hear it hissing a bit when you turn the car off. Wait until it's cold and open the actual radiator cap, run the engine gently and see what happens.
Sometimes I really hate cars.
|
|
When you say fan, you do mean the one cooling the radiator rather than the one for circulating cabin air? The latter is nice to have ( can always open the windae eh no? )while the former might be rather more vital.
|
>> You can hear it hissing a bit when you turn the car off.
Have you time to get a sniff test done? You wouldn't want to find out the hard way that it's a head gasket on its way.
|
|
I wouldn't sniff test him. Wears the same shoes every day y'know. ( white ones what's more )
|
>You can hear it hissing a bit when you turn the car off.
AC, if the radiator's weeping maybe that's where the hissing is coming from, and once it cools it's sucking air back into the system?
I'd get the rad and fan fixed if you don't want to risk wasting a few days of your holiday waiting for parts to be delivered and fitted by Manuel's Motors.
|
I've always assumed you had more grey matter than the average bear Sire, but now I'm beggining to wonder if I've weighed you up correctly.
Why on earth are you taking that old cronk to France & Spain at the hottest and busiest time of the year?
If you had alf a brain tovarich, you'd hire a decent car.
|
>> If you had alf a brain tovarich, you'd hire a decent car.
Heh heh... just remembering the mechanic a long way south of Naples taking the cylinder head off our hired Fiat 600 to clear a cooling system blockage in 1969 or so, with many a stylish flourish of the spanners, talking about the wine harvest the while (large quantity, poor quality I seem to remember).
I think we'll be OK. It's a fairly solid bus. But we'll get some AA cover never fear.
|
I can tell you from 11 years driving in southern Spain that it can get VERY hot, even on the coast
40C was seen on SWMBO's birthday on 4th. July one year and I was in the kitchen cooking two types of curry and a chili-con-carne! It can get hotter inland, too.
I would not risk even a slightly dodgy cooling system and really one needs working air-con in the car, too.
|
|
Better get the AA or whatever cover A.C.We want you back safely in the UK.>;)
|
|
I'm sure we could plan and execute a AC rescue mission if worse came to the worse...
|
AC. Are you crazy? A dodgy cooling system and the South of Spain? Using the AA makes life very inconvenient.
(Last month I flew Ryanair, and hired a Hertz car through Ryanair. It was cheap as anything, worked out at about £40 flat rate plus £8 per day.)
|
>> AC. Are you crazy? A dodgy cooling system and the South of Spain? Using the
>> AA makes life very inconvenient.
He's got a point. Get the 2 faults sorted out before you go, you know it makes sense.
....and depending on when it was last serviced and oil and filter change as well.
|
Oil and filter are fine and the car doesn't use much oil. Cooling system has worked fine since a single glitch a couple of months ago when the fan stopped. It runs now, on the higher of its two speeds. The a/c works and when it is on the fan runs all the time, as it is supposed to. There is slight, very slow coolant loss.
My plan is to drive as much as possible in the cool of the night, monitor the coolant level daily and avoid traffic jams.
Naturally all your warnings and strictures are worrying. But there isn't time to replace radiator and fan and the car is surely designed to run in high temperatures being Mexican made. I hope the worst won't come to the worst.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 10 Aug 12 at 10:16
|
>> and avoid traffic jams.
Hahaha. Please tell me how to do that, 'cos I haven't found out how in all my years.
>> the car is surely designed to run in high temperatures being Mexican made.
Steering wheel on the right? Made for UK market.
|
>>the car is surely designed to run in high temperatures being Mexican made<<
Was it definitely made in Mexico, Sire - they were also made in Austria.
|
>> There is slight, very slow coolant loss.
The Focus had one of those, except it wasn't that slow. A bottle of Radweld Plus from Halfords (£8) appears to have fixed it.
|
In reality if the A/C dies you'll get hot. Nothing else. People lived in Spain for years without Aircon and nobody died.
And fans can fail at any time.
Probably better to get it done if you had time, but as you don't it'll not cost any more to get fixed on a trip in Spain if it does break, than it would in Bognor, or wherever. In fact, perhaps less. Just a bit of inconvenience.
Only thing I'd be wary of would be long traffic jams in the sun.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Fri 10 Aug 12 at 16:39
|
|
Ask Lud if he'll lend you one-of his Astons for a couple of weeks.
|
|
Just take a spare radiator and a large can of water.
|
>> Just take a spare radiator and a large can of water.
>>
and the traditional top hose and some Jubilee clips and a pressure cap and and...
Need a roof box to house all the items displaced by the spare parts.
Holidays- a time to relax?
|
>>
>> Holidays- a time to relax?
>>
I agree. Taking a car with a known fault is hardly condusive to relaxation.
But if you must, I would (and have ) take a spare of the item known to be suspect.
|
Inabout1955, my late father-in-law was taking the family on holidy in Wales, in an old - even then - Austin Somerset.
At Menai Bridge the car stopped going, and he called the AA.
AA man said he thought it was a broken half shaft.
FIL said that's what he thought, and he had a spare in the boot.
Dumbfounded AA man changed it and the family went on their way.
|
|
The ones for the US and other non-European markets were made in Mexico. I thought the RHD were made in Austria by Daimler ??
|
Austria is a tad closer to €urope too, eh, its in €urope.
So I doubt Lud's PT Cruiser is Mexicano.
|
Doesn't sound at all foolhardy to me. A known fault is better than an unknown fault as long as you aren't a worrier.
And AC is alert enough not to abuse the car's vulnerabilities unduly and have an eye to the gauge (bear in mind AC they tend not to be strictly analogue days - it will either point to L, N or H if it's like the one in the Mazda).
I think I'd carry some water and Bar's Leaks though;-)
|
AC,
FFS.
If you get the damned thing hotter than you thought, either through an unexpected jam which can easily happen, or the fault gets worse...you'll end up causing the entertainment by having puffing billy at the roadside...or you'll do the head gasket.
As has been mentioned higher up the thread...holidays are for relaxing, not worrying about that crap.
I know I'm Captain Sensible and you're one of these types that would travel the world with just your bible and a load of blah...
...but....I think this time you should listen to some of your (virtual) mates.
Surely you must know an Indie who could do this and turn it around quickly?
|
|
Leave im alone Wp, I think he'll be taking the Aston now.
|
I think it will be a matter of pride to take the Cruiser. He's not going to blow the head gasket, and if he does worse things occur at sea.
People go on holiday in far worse and with far less knowledge of their car's foibles or general mechanical sympathy and knowledge.
|
|
Joking apart, my main concern is that AC is in his 70's, has a couple of health issues which he has mentioned on this forum, and will be driving through Spain at the hottest and busiest time of the year.
|
I agree Dog.Any problems with your car have it repaired now A.C.
If not you will be in trouble with Dog and me.There is no fool like a old fool.>:)
|
I am touched by those worrying about me, and cheered by those who understand that I am unlikely to melt the engine or blow the head gasket.
I have a prejudice against radweld-type gunge because in America I used a double dose of a very thick grey American gloop to seal up a small pebble hole in one of the tubes of my $300 1964 Plymouth slant six. That didn't work, but the gloop did seal a small but crucial hole in the head gasket. After I had got the radiator properly repaired, the car still overheated on long upgrades and at more than 50 on the flat. I changed the head gasket and was deliberately misled by the honcho of the local Chrysler dealer's workshop into not piercing the new gasket in a place it needed piercing to suit the engine size in my car. A real lesson that one. Couldn't be bothered to take the cylinder head off again so went gently all the way back from LA to NJ along mainly route 66. It was relaxing and economical, and perhaps saved my life (see partworn tyres thread) because two of the tyres were showing canvas when I sold the car for $150. The garage that bought it could tell straight away it hadn't been badly injured, and believed what I told them about its history in my hands. Head gasket - not a difficult job -, new or newish tyres and a tidy up and it was worth $500 in anyone's money.
But someone - forget who, sorry - said Radweld Plus had worked on a Focus, a modern car. Perhaps I will try it if the garage man doesn't say it's a no-no.
|
I have spent the whole of today going to London by train to get a new passport in a hurry. Not cheap and not without the odd glitch but it worked and I can travel.
The train was very good and only cost what it would have cost to drive (less parking and fines and the hassle of finding parking places). There's a more or less hourly service from where I live too, half-hourly at busy times. It arrived and departed more or less on time, a civilised few minutes late but no more than that, five at most.
Driving into London except in the middle of the night is very unreliable time-wise. Actually even walking there seemed a bit much. But I was in Victoria and there were many waddling, meandering tourists on narrow pavements. Running over my now rather sticky white driving shoes worn without socks with their massive suitcases on casters.
Train was good though.
|
|
BTW, if you want my number as an emergency translation service feel free to e-mail me. Forgive the presumption if you speak Spanish yourself.
|
That's very kind FMR, but I hope it won't come to that. I don't 'speak' correct Spanish but can communicate in it. I'm quite good at that stuff.
Anyway what you need when cars go pearshaped isn't the local lingo really but an international one that might be called Car. Surprising how multicultural that tongue can be, between those who speak it. And they tend to recognise each other quickly too.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 10 Aug 12 at 23:54
|
>> someone - forget who, sorry - said Radweld Plus had worked on a Focus
It was Focus. Might have known.
If you see this Focus, did it last? Were there any negative effects?
|
I used it on a Rover. My Father said I shouldn't. He said that the trouble was it hides a small fault and so you never know you've got it until it suddenly explodes into a huge fault.
I knew he was over-reacting, I even remembering chuckling to myself about how over cautious he was; about 30 seconds before the radiator dumped its contents on the M40 at 80mph about 7:00am one morning.
A small fault is like an aching body part, its a useful warning of an impending big problem. Surpressing it may not be your smartest move.
I wouldn't use it. Its the same reason I wouldn't use that stuff to block punctures in a tyre except as a very short term emergency measure.
|
More or less my general feeling MR.
But if it takes some of the pressure off for two or three thousand fairly gentle miles, it could be worth it. When we get back there will be time to find a radiator and fan and pay someone to put them in.
The local man is pretty good but not as good as my London Aussie, and he's more expensive. Second generation garagiste whose old man and brother function in a nearby small town. He's very personable, nice and polite, doesn't talk balls and doesn't overcharge, but he goes closer to it than the louche Aussie who does stuff for nothing and has to be given bottles of malt to stop you feeling mean. But going to London presents problems if you don't live there. Drat.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 11 Aug 12 at 00:17
|
Why don't you buy the stuff and take it with you then? If the trouble seems to be significantly worsening, then bung the stuff in as a last resort, nothing to lose, sort of thing. But if the difficulty gets no worse, then don't use it.
For that matter, even if you don't have time to have it fitted, buy a radiator and fan and chuck it in the boot in case. Any bloke in spain can fit it, and you'll avoid supply issues.
Although that's kind of stating the obvious, so I guess you've already considered it.
|
While you're at it Sire, you could chuck a cylinder head in the boot too, just in case the cambelt goes.
:}
|
|
And only a fool would travel any distance without a spare clutch.
|
>> While you're at it Sire, you could chuck a cylinder head in the boot too,
>> just in case the cambelt goes.
Oh, Silly me. I just assumed he'd already got one of those in his boot. Doesn't everybody?
|
|
I've decided to take a spare car. In fact two, just to be on the safe side.
|
>> I've decided to take a spare car. In fact two, just to be on the
>> safe side.
>>
Oh for the days when you could fix most things with a hammer, screwdriver, and some string.
Roadside carburettor jet clean?
On second thoughts maybe not. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 11 Aug 12 at 14:08
|
>> Roadside carburettor jet clean?
You need an airline to do it properly, so a garage forecourt is the place for that.
But you are right of course Matelot. These modern motors are cans of worms. Well they look like worms, but really they are wires. What do they all do? Not a lot of people know. And some of them don't do anything!
|
>> >> Roadside carburettor jet clean?
>>
>> You need an airline to do it properly, so a garage forecourt is the place
>> for that.
Free air!!!! Oh no sir, and we don't give change for the air machine!
|
>> we don't give change for the air machine!
You may want to make an exception in my case. For without air here, I may have to remove the carburettor and take it somewhere else. That's my car, parked diagonally between the high-octane pump and what would appear to be your only diesel pump... Ah! Thanks so much.
|
>>You may want to make an exception in my case.>>
I successfully did that to a national chain of fast fit car bodgers when my daughter phoned and said they had her car on the lift with its brakes in bits, and wanted £500 ish to fix it. When I arrived and said I would put the car back together very slowly and tie their lift up for the rest of the day they had a change of mind. All the car needed was new front pads and the handbrake adjusting.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 11 Aug 12 at 14:31
|
|
My brother could do with a spare head, he has a form of dementia called Lewy bodies disease :(
|
>>A small fault is like an aching body part, its a useful warning of an impending big >>problem. Surpressing it may not be your smartest move.
Agreed. If the thing's been leaking quietly for a while, leave it until you have time to a) do a proper job and b) address all the other things that are bound to come up as a result of having full pressure in the system for the first time in a while.
I recall fixing the leaking thermostat bypass hose on my mother-in-law's mini. A simple job, although I had to swallow my pride and use one of those awful "bellows" type ones. All done, fill system, test. Bottom hose springs a leak. Swear, aquire bottom and top hoses, drain and replace. Fill and test. Heater valve decides to leak like a sieve. Swear louder and replace heater valve. Sorted.......
.....a week later, the water pump seal blew.
|
Remember, in August that hundreds of thousands of Moroccans from all over Europe clog the main routes in the Spanish south as they head for the ferry port at Algeciras.
You can recognise them by their grossly overloaded vehicles, almost all of which will have a roof cargo covered by a blue tarpaulin!
The annual trip is not so bad as it was a few years ago as it seem that their employers are now staggering holidays somewhat.
I recall being in traffic jams on the N340 (now A7) which were so bad that the Civil Protection bods used to hand out free bottles of water to travellers!
|
Anyway, have a great trip AC. Where are you heading? Are you touring down or making a dash for a Costa?
We used to seem to have the time for such things. Back when we had the Westfield we used to just go for 3 weeks without hotel bookings and just see where we ended up. Clearly it wasn't possible to take much with us and I remember us happening upon quite a posh restaurant / hotel in the south of France who were prepared to give us dinner bed and breakfast at a reasonable rate. Sadly that night we didn't have time or really anything better to change into so found ourselves in this rather swanky restaurant in a rather fly strewn condition.
We decided to pretend to be eccentric.
|
We get the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander on Tuesday evening. It's 24 hours. Then a long, gentle drive to the hinterland above Granada. We will stop for the night 50 or 100 miles down the road and do the other 450 on Thursday. Will be staying a week in someone's house in one place, then two days in a pension a couple of hours away from there.
Back up through France 10 days later, 3 days in Paris if all goes well, back.
I'm terrified and herself is panicking. Perhaps we won't go after all.
|
|
I know you know this but do take some good music with you. French and Spanish radio stations are, well, you know...
|
You can have a lend of my Paul McCartney compilation CD if you like.
|
Thanks a million Iffers, but there won't be time to post it.
I believe Sir Ken is croaking again at the Olympics closing ceremony? Alas, we will be away.
The TV is on with the games now, some sort of new game I don't understand. Foreign chicks chucking a small football around. Just now they were playing rubbishy old rock music offensively loudly. What has happened to the world?
|
|
Gone to hell in a handball?
|
|
Got a sort of slam-dunk to it... or is that some other kind of ball?
|
>> Paul McCartney compilation CD
Actually our car cd player won't play copies, only the most legal sort of commercial CDs. You can't imagine what a pain this is to a snooty music person like me. All the best stuff I have on CD won't play in the car.
There's a cassette player too fortunately. But the tapes too get shredded and deposit their iron oxide thickly on the player heads.
It's a powerful hard life sir. Powerful hard.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 11 Aug 12 at 19:32
|
...Actually our car cd player won't play copies...
Not sure if mine will, but the CD is an official release:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_Best!
|
|
Don't be terrified A.C.Go and enjoy yourself if that is what you want to do.My missus never panicks on long trips she fall in sleep.Except a few years ago in the Dordogne France.I got lost on a small country road and set of the wrong side of the road (left) in the dark.Some cars stoped and she thought we where going to attacked by some angry French chaps.>;)
|
>>We decided to pretend to be eccentric.
pretend?
|
|
Bars Leaks is a good potion to keep in your radiator, even if it isn't leaking. The radiator on my Synergie sprang a leak just as we were hitching up the caravan to start a French holiday. I worked the car fairly hard; it had 6 people aboard, a roof box, a 16-foot caravan and only 90bhp. Bars Leaks did the necessary.
|
|
I remember from the British Leyland, or was it BMC days, that you could get a radiator sealant from dealer parts departments. It was a fibrous and cigar shaped solid and was crumbled into the radiator. I was told that the cars had it put in the radiators during build, If they remembered. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 12 Aug 12 at 12:47
|
As new to 'this' forum I must say that it is a long time since I have enjoyed a disscussion so much. It is good to see that some names from the old days are still alive and kicking.
Thank you,
Alan.
|
Have a great trip.
We strike out for Ottobeuren in the South of Germany on Sunday morning, and from there to Lake Garda on Monday morning.
Day 1 will be about 700 miles from our front door to the hotel.
Day 2 will be a rather more leisurely 230 miles after a nice breakfast at the hotel and a not too stupid o'clock start.
We wanted to get the boring motorway stuff out of the way on Day 1 and enjoy the beautiful Alpine bit fresh and awake on Day 2.
Car's still 12k off a service, tyres are good, bulb kit, beam benders, hi viz's, breathalysers, triangle and first aid kit all sorted, VE103 obtained, travel insurance sorted. I didn't bother with additional breakdown cover as the lease company advised me the first year BMW cover wants for nothing. The hotels are booked, crossings are booked. Austrian motorway vignette ordered online and arriving in the next couple of days. Getting the Euros today. Anything else can stay forgotten :-) Will check fluids and tyre pressures for the last time, and get the beam benders fitted on Saturday afternoon, get up Sunday and start driving. Can't wait.
Last edited by: DP on Mon 13 Aug 12 at 12:24
|
"Day 1 will be about 700 miles from our front door to the hotel."
That's a hell of a long drive. Hope you've packed a spare driver!
|
>> "Day 1 will be about 700 miles from our front door to the hotel."
>>
>> That's a hell of a long drive. Hope you've packed a spare driver!
>>
Of course :-) SWMBO and I will be sharing the driving.
Tunnel crossing is at 7:20, and it arrives 8:55. Then just a 600 mile motorway schlep (bar the last 10 miles) so long, but relatively undemanding, especially being a Sunday when I would expect traffic to be light.
The hotel is literally a decent bed for the night, and a brekkie the next day. We have no evening plans at all. Plan on arriving sometime early evening, grabbing a shower and a bite to eat and then some shut-eye. Big brekkie and a leisurely start next morning, and should be at our destination by early afternoon.
We did the whole lot in one hit last time, stopping only for fuel and driver changes. That was a mistake. We both recall we made it to the bottom of Germany before things got tiring, hence why we picked our stop this time. It's also about the part where the scenery gets beautiful.
|
>> "Day 1 will be about 700 miles from our front door to the hotel."
I once did Lagos to Calais in two hits on my own. Which must be something like 700miles a go.
...and I was young then. Really, really hard. And probably dangerous.
I wouldn't do it ever again, even allowing for how cars have improved since then.
|
|
We will be doIng 350 miles each with a good 1-2hr break between stints. Not to be taken lightly of course, but perfectly do-able.
|
Welcome, Alan.
Some of those "from the old days" (depending on how far back you're going) may now be masquerading under different names. Don't get me started!
And you were...?
Chris (formerly ChrisPeugeot - changed my name when I changed my car)
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 13 Aug 12 at 13:35
|
>>Chris (formerly ChrisPeugeot - changed my name when I changed my car)
Can you change your car again, please, as I tend to get you confused with Focus.
Thank you.
:)
|
>> as I tend to get you confused with Focus.
Me too :)
(don't hold your breath waiting for me to change mine BTW)
|
|
Someone said a while back that they confused me with that good ole boy from Norfolk. Can't understand why.
|
|
Focus, Focal Point and Falkirk Bairn I ocasionally mix up but a re-read and er Focus on the post soon resolve any ambiguity.
|
Got the tracking done. There was too much toe-in after the track rod end replacements and the car didn't feel quite right, a tiny bit of wander. It's perfect now. Cheap at �34.
I put a small bottle of stop-leak type gunge in the coolant on the garage man's recommendation. He didn't think it would do any harm and neither did I, on mature reflection.
A bit later the car shed a puddle of water when I stopped to see someone. But I had just been exercising the a/c which is seldom used, and it had taken a while to start delivering really cold air. I think that water had been condensed in the a/c and was running out - a/c does that I seem to remember.
So, er, fingers crossed. The jalopy is running sweetly. Butter wouldn't melt in its mouth.
Thanks to those offering advice even when they were giving me a telling off.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 24 Nov 15 at 10:31
|
Have a good faht Sire, and bring us back a some Brighton Barcelona rock will ya!
|
Anyone seen a PT Cruiser with the bonnet up near Plymouth tonight?
:-)
|
>> Anyone seen a PT Cruiser with the bonnet up near Plymouth tonight?
Unlikely, he said he was going from Portsmouth.
|
Same thing. Sarf innit?
:-)
|
>> >> Anyone seen a PT Cruiser with the bonnet up near Plymouth tonight?
>>
>> Unlikely, he said he was going from Portsmouth.
>>
Easy mistake on a SatNav :-)
|
|
Sweepstake...for how far he gets?
|
Yeah,who's taking bets?
The much-maligned jalopy got to Portsmouth, got off 24 hours later having not been tossed about in a crossing the captain said would be 'moderate to rough' in the morning but better later. He was quite right. Then it did 100 miles or so to the place we spent the night. Today it did the other 400 up onto the central Spanish plateau and up and down a lot of huge mountains and very steep hills at speeds sometimes below 60, seldom over 80, 75 being the standard dual carriageway speed limit, widely exceeded but not much by me today...
The temperature gauge didn't shift from its correct position throughout, even the last 2nd gear scrabble up a 2 mile drive that made me thank providence for doing those track rod ends. What's more the jalopy was doing what looked like decent fuel mileage until, as the outside temperature hit 104, we turned on the a/c.
It's very nice here thanks. Produces most of the world's best olive oil, much of it marketed as Italian. We are in a relation's place which exceeds all reasonable expectations.
I feel quite knackered having driven all the way. But, you know, could be worse.
|
|
Congratulations - quite a feeling of triumph I should think. Have a great time in the olive-groves, and plenty of sangria or café OLE as suits your mood.
|
>> plenty of sangria
Haven't seen any of that. What people drink in bars here is beer or more usually 'fino', an amontillado-like Montilla, 15% and having strange effects on my metabolism, which seldom has to cope with grape these days. Very palatable though and makes you drunk, and well under a euro a shot despite lovely tapas coming with it. The bar tab is one of the great pleasant surprises here.
I think the gunge stopped the radiator weep, so far so good, but haven't started the car since we got here and will check the coolant level, to the extent that one can, before going anywhere. No turbo to worry about and the head gasket is fine thanks.
I wonder how good modernish engine management is at compensating for altitude? Air is thinner at 3,000 feet and I think that is about where we are. I find gradients sometimes difficult to judge on these Spanish motorways. You think you are more or less on the flat but actually climbing a quite steep slope, and sometimes as it were vice versa - you are suddenly doing 85 instead of 75.
Our hosts have a rough Lada Niva with an alternator problem and a Mercedes estate a bit like Humph's but older, 2.2 litre diesel auto. I like it but they complain that it often needs attention and parts cost the earth.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 18 Aug 12 at 11:47
|
I wasn't joking about the track rod ends. There are a good couple of miles of extremely rough and stony, and in places improbably steep, road to where we are staying. Really a Lada Niva is the right sort of vehicle although perhaps not the ideal make. Worn track rod ends would soon be in smithereens.
We are told that we are virtually the only people ever to come here who found our way to the house. Most visitors telephone to be fetched and guided from the nearest small town, or at best the village down the hill. Wimps, tee hee.
|
|
Glad to hear the old cronk made it (and the car) let's hope the return journey is just as successful for y'all.
|
Well done, AC! You had us just a tad concerned. May your trouble-free trip continue in similar fashion.
Have a great time!
I'm heaving a sigh of relief now the last of the documents I need to take with me to France next week has just arrived in the post (travel insurance).
My own pre-trip faffing has finally ended. After much poring over the keyboard, e-mails and phone calls in not-very-good French (quel cauchemar!) we have our itinerary planned and accommodation booked. I just need to collect the euros and pack the car.
Overnight near Canterbury on Monday, 07:30 ferry Dover-Calais, overnight Tuesday in Nuits-St-Georges, two nights in Castellane, four nights in Fréjus, two nights in St-Cyr, four nights in Arles.
For the uninitiated, it's basically the southern Alps (Alpes Maritimes) plus east, central and west Provence, ending up with all the Roman stuff and possibly a trip to Avignon.
Route back: Millau viaduct, overnight in Bourges, 20:00 ferry Dunkerque-Dover. I am really looking forward to it now the stress of planning is over.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Fri 17 Aug 12 at 11:30
|
Sounds delightful, hope you both enjoy it FP.
Pat
|
I wonder whether AC sent those posts on his phone, whilst lying on his back underneath a knackered motor somewhere in South East England.
You know what he is like. Ever the deceiver.
|
I believe him. Intrepid sort I'd think. Old, but intrepid.
:-)
|
The Vitara suffered from a small leak in the radiator, noticed when I had the cambelt done a few weeks ago. We gave it a try with Radweld but a subsequent trip with the van on saw it up towards the red so I opted for a new rad when we got home.
Bu66er me !.....They had to make one...some oddball model not listed. Cost me £307.
She got a bit hot coming back from Uberlingen this week so I hotwired the fans to come on with the ignition......had all the stuff to do it in the caravan. That helped but when we stopped for lunch and took the key out, the engine kept on running.
My panic thought was turbo seals, OMG, it's eating it's lifeblood oil. It wasn't smoking, tho.
Now, how do I stop the engine...it's an auto so I can't stall it . It wasn't over-revving, just gently ticking over. I remembered that I'd dropped a soaking wet tea towel into the caravan sink so I went and got it, rolled it into a ball and stuffed it into the air intake after a second or two taken to remove the cover. The motor stopped in a second without complaint.
I left it wired up until we got home.....I thought that, as the fans continued to run with the ignition off, for a while when hot, then they might be back-feeding the ignition system. I left the engine running without the key in when I got home and cut the hotwire I'd put in...the engine stopped straight away. I think I'm going to get a plastic ball to carry under the bonnet in case of diesel runaway...I won't always have a wet towel and the Youtube fillums look a bit scary !
I'll try for a sniff test this week just in case of the head leaking a bit.
Ted
|
We are in Paris and have been for a day and a half, staying in a friend's flat up a hell of a lot of stairs just off one of the grands boulevards. The car is in the friend's permanent slot in the underground car park next door. Later I will check its fluids before we leave for a night in Normandy on the way to Dieppe tomorrow for the ferry back. But the fluids will almost certainly be OK as they have been throughout. Herself has gone to an exhibition at the Beaubourg centre, within easy walkers of here, and I am doing this in a wifi equipped sidewalk cafe.
Temperatures in southern Spain were over 100 most of the time. Here it is a more agreeable 70-90. The other main difference is that a premium beer and a soft drink here cost more than a round for six or seven people in Spain, where of course everyone also gets a nice little eatie with every drink. Petrol is also rather dear here (it wasn't in Spain).
On the way here we quite accidentally crossed the Millau bridge. Not sure it was worth the E8.50 though... I'd rather have driven past it on another road and had a proper look at it. Still, a drop in the péage ocean, what? We have spent a lot of time at over 80mph on the motorway, dodging the dodgy bunchers and mimsers and sometimes having those heart-stopping moments when you remember that they are just as c-wordish here as we are or the Germans or Spanish are, but in a different way. The Sheikh would have loved it, especially the traffic coming into Paris whose road system has been sabotaged just like London's.
I am 74 today. Herself sweetly brought me a coffee in bed.
|
|
Happy birthday A.C. Nice to be served a coffee by in bed.I agree about the Milau bridge we drove across in fog once didn't see much.Your enjoying the break that is inportant.Take car on the way back.
|
Happy Birthday AC !
Reminds me of the story of the chap in a pub he doesn't normally frequent one afternoon who having been engaged in conversation by the barman, announces that he's 62 today. Fairly generously, the other attendees at the pub all buy him a drink. He spills out eventually into the early evening with a more than cheery wave to his new found friends and says how much he has enjoyed meeting them but that unfortunately he'll not be in tomorrow because he moving to a 2-10 for the rest of the week...
|
>> moving to a 2-10 for the rest of the week...
In keeping with my advancing geriatric status, I don't get it Humph. But I'm sure it's funny. Duh...
|
It's not a very good joke but it does play better with a Scots accent... " Ahm 62 today y'know"
Oh never mind...
:-)
|
>> Still a good joke.>:)
Still trying to work it out... :(
|
|
2 to ten is the clue Focus.>:)
|
74!! - you shouldn't be driving at your age Sire.
Happy Chris Birthday.
|
|
He is kidding us on Dog.At home with a brandy being looked after by Mrs A.C.>:)
|
Oh for goodness sake !
:-)
He says "I was 6-2 today" ( as in his work shift ) That's why he's in the pub in the afternoon. The barman and the other drinkers think he says "I was 62 today" So they buy him loads of drinks and as he leaves he says "I'm on 2-10 tomorrow" !
Sheesh !
Told you it was rubbish !
|
|
That took some working out Humph>:) You and your Scottish jokes.
|
Yes of course Dutchie, one does tend to forget to make allowances for the intellectual disadvantages of those who have only ever had the, clearly dubious, benefit of an English education.
:-))
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Wed 29 Aug 12 at 14:07
|
|
Listen Humph my Dutch education was average.At times trying to use my mobile and other modern electronics I am as thick as two short planks.And my spelling! ah never mind I can't complain.>:) My kids are happy with me.
|
>> I am 74 today. Herself sweetly brought me a coffee in bed.
Pah - you're a mere youngster - ¡ Feliz Cumpleaños !
|
|
That sounds like cat food Roger>) Gefiliciteerd A.C en noch vele jaren en gezondheid.Drink een lekker borreltje en slaap goed.
|
Well, funnily enough I was in Paris today also. I think I saw you, AC, as I drove through the Bois de Boulogne. Terribly sorry I couldn't stop and offer assistance, looked like a total coolant loss as I drove past. Still, the good gendarmes were on the scene already. You didn't look happy, mind. Must have ruined your birthday.
i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa332/alanovich/2012-08-29-094.jpg
;-)
(Happy Birthday of course, and many happy returns of the day.)
|
|
Hip birthday AC - you share it with our Springer !
|
Didn't take long to turn ugly, though. Those gendarmes don't like people causing an obstruction. And, sad to say, it takes more than a hi-vis vest to placate them.
tinyurl.com/AC-gendarmes (another photo link - Picasa online this time)
Bon anniversaire, mon vieux
|
People are very kind.
Chapeau, Alanovic. Very funny.
|
Alanovic - Very funny.
WillDeBeest - what kind of scary upbringing did you have? Or have you been reading Fifty Shades?
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 5 Sep 12 at 01:38
|
Fifty shades (all three) torrented and read by her and I.
Sad to say, no positive results! ;-(
Last edited by: Roger on Thu 30 Aug 12 at 07:27
|
I have also read all 3 Fifty Shades. I don't get it. Loads of sex. Quite novel to begin with but then repetitive and unlikely moving to tedious.
Pretty rubbish story line; less complex and interesting than Dick Francis could manage.
Lousy ending.
I think the chattering classes are merely over-excited about the idea of sex in a book they can boast to their friends that they read. Although I suspect they got bored half way through book 2 like everybody else.
Its just Barbara Cartland with orgasms. (a mental image I will be trying to burn from my brain).
|
In keeping with my great age, I didn't get WdB's one, no reflection on him because I didn't get Humph's either until he had explained it three or four times.
Duh.
I didn't realise the Rastaman was even older than me. Respect.
|
We are back where we belong. There's been a lot of driving. The Cruiser hasn't missed a beat and the coolant hasn't leaked or its temperature crept over normal even at 80 or 90 in high ambient temperatures, or up huge hills come to that. Not even the air conditioning (getting a bit weak I think) made it overheat.
We were a bit squeezed for time largely owing to my passport ballsup. The thing that knackers you isn't the mileage but the detail: keys, garage cards, how to behave in Paris, that stuff. This morning we were on a cliff in Normandy half a mile from a nuclear power station. Oysters for lunch on the quay in Dieppe... But yesterday we took an important wrong tuning on the motorway and had an hour or so delay, stop-start crawl, owing to a motorway crash, red car upside down in the overtaking lane, five or six emergency vehicles around it, didn't look good. All of that meant four hours at the wheel instead of two. Then quite a lot of birthday cheer. So today, guh, bit tired.
I hate to admit it but there can be such a thing as too much road. The problem this time was that there was too much mile-munching at high speeds on the péage and not enough 60mph wafting on A roads. It isn't the miles, it's trying to squeeze them into the time. But we had a great long lollop up and down this side of Europe and hardly exchanged a cross word. She's a gem, don't know how she stands me...
|
I'm pleased you had a good time, Armel.
I may have missed something here, but why did you have to squeeze the trip into a timeslot?
|
>> squeeze the trip into a timeslot?
Work obligations in a word, hers not mine, combined with late departure caused by me.
|
So pleased it all went well for you and a belated Happy Birthday from me too.
Pat
|
>> I didn't get WdB's one
Ah... on a third glance, I do get it. Although I wouldn't really fancy being spanked even by winsome copperettes with blonde pony tails.
Actually there was just such a copperette, but with a chignon instead of a pony tail, patrolling all the cars and trucks waiting to get on the Dieppe ferry yesterday with a sniffer dog. Looking for explosives I think. Anyway she made me a bit nervous with her purposeful air, gun and occasional pause to give the dog a pedigree schmacko or something.
|
Good cover: the importance of which has been reinforced by the very recent experience of my daughter and family.
They have (why?) a 41 year old non-splitty VW campervan, purchased at considerable expense from a bloke in the West Country who'd imported it from California.
It's a tidy old thing and my SIL - a Sgt. avionics tech. with REME, has spent time fettling the electrics and fitting other bits over the last few months.
Being based in BFPO 47 (Germany), this August they set off in it, with our two grandchildren for an extended European tour.
They visited Switzerland, Northern Italy, Monaco, the South of France, Girona, (where a school friend of my daughter lives), Barcelona - knocked out by the Sagrada Famalia - then onto her and our, old haunts of Marbella, Ronda, a drive by our old Urbanisation, Gibraltar, Granada and then onto Madrid.
Leaving the outskirts of Madrid, there was a nasty noise and the engine ground to a halt, the lack of turnover indicating a bit more than a hiccup! (Possibly a dropped valve?)
Luckily, or perhaps sensibly, they are members of ADAC, the German Automobile club and their helpline sorted out overnight accommodation, a flight from Madrid to Dusseldorf via Mallorca and the relaying of poor old Aunty Liz - the van - back home.
Happily my daughter has very fluent Spanish, which certainly helped with local arrangements.
ADAC were just excellent, although it did take most of the day to organise all the elememts of the rescue.
|
>> ADAC were just excellent, although it did take most of the day to organise all the elememts of the rescue.
You remind me of what might have been, Rastaman... I didn't expect the engine to lunch itself - the cambelt is fairly young - but it can happen any time for one reason or another. We didn't get AA cover but I did buy breakdown cover for 49 quid from my usual broker. Which posted the certificate instead of emailing it as promised, so in the event of a breakdown there would have been hassle from the start.
Someone up there must not have it in for me for once. Phew!
|
I never had any breakdown cover driving home with the old VW Beetles I drove.
I was lucky I suppose never had any problems.Nobody has it in for you A.C >:) What goes round comes round.We just enjoyed a few nice days in Harrogate Yorkshire.Clean hotel and what a beautifull place I could live there.
|
>> I never had any breakdown cover driving home with the old VW Beetles I drove.
But the Beetle 1200 was the solid, everlastingly reliable car of legend. Not all VWs were as good, the bigger flat four engines being a tad weaker at the bottom end. My 411 Variant had an old starter motor that you sometimes had to hit with a hammer to jerk its brushes to within sparking distance of the commutator... having to lie in the road in the place de la République in rush hour was one of those rewarding moments.
|
|
411 Variant i have seen plenty of them about A.C.They reckoned the 1500cc flat four was the best.The 1303 had problems all the do with emission control.
|
>> 411 Variant i have seen plenty of them about A.C.
I like odd motors and it was among the oddest. It had a sort of computer running the late-mechanical fuel injection, but also had a petrol stove because the exhaust-based heating only worked at a decent speed on the road. The stove didn't work in my car, fortunately I thought. Exhaust parts cost a bomb and were hard to get, so my exhaust was a cat's cradle of wire, bits of tin, gun-gum and doubtless other ingredients now forgotten.
It sounded like a bag of nails, but so did the engine. Nevertheless it still did the 96mph it was supposed to do, its maximum and cruising speed, a bit quick for this country. And it always did 28mpg whatever speed you drove it at. No-brainer, right?
Like all rear-engine front-booted cars it carried its nose in the air unless you had a few illegal immigrants or tanks of moonshine in the boot. That could make a difference to its behaviour in crosswinds but never seemed dangerous to me.
|
>>Someone up there must not have it in for me for once. Phew!<<
The devil looks after his own, Sire.
|
|
Now then Dog A.C would scare the devil.>;)
|
I have sympathy for the devil, Dutchie.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBecM3CQVD8
|
Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste... (etc etc)
One has to admit the Stones weren't a bad band at all, even if the lead singer did dance like a girl. After all there are worse things than girls innit?
|
Wealth and taste. mmm.
You drive a Cruiser and like the 'Stones.
I see some contradictions there.
|
|
People of AC's wealth don't flaunt it. It's a security risk.
Last edited by: Kevin on Sat 1 Sep 12 at 21:55
|
>>People of AC's wealth don't flaunt it<<
I think you're confusing him with Lud, you're not the first to do that though funnily enough.
|
>> drive a Cruiser and like the 'Stones.
I like the Cruiser too although it isn't my sort of car.
But where's the contradiction? I don't see it.
|
I have to say I;ve never understood the attraction of the Rolling Stones.
I don't like their performance if I'm watching them, and I don't really like their music if I'm listening - and that's from the days when they were young - now they just make me cringe. Mind you, and I didn't really like the Beatles either and as for McCartney these days......
|
|
And I had aCruiser as a temporary replacement car after an accident in Seattle about 5 years ago. I hated the thing, really really uncomfortable.
|
Always liked the Beatles, and the Stones after they developed their evil strutting bluesy style.
Can't think what you mean about the Cruiser. Ours is fine.
|
|
Maybe I was unlucky. I remember being pleased when I saw it, because I always fancied a go in one, but then found it very harsh and rattly.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 2 Sep 12 at 02:52
|
I test drove a Cruiser and almost bought the critter a few years back, baring in mind I've owned over 40 cars & vans + test driven around 10k in the course of my work, I was expecting to hate the damn thing. I finished up really liking it and the only reason I didn't fork out some green folding stuff for it was because it was so-nice,
I would only end up worrying about leaving it parked among all the boring chariots when I go out into the real world.
|
|
Second only to the FIAT Multipla in sheer ugliness.
|
No, it's at least third Roger. you're forgetting the X6. that would make Shrek look handsome standing next to one.
:-)
|
>> No, it's at least third Roger. you're forgetting the X6. that would make Shrek look
>> handsome standing next to one.
Only if it was in bile green!
|
>> I have to say I;ve never understood the attraction of the Rolling Stones.
>> I don't like their performance if I'm watching them, and I don't really like their
>> music if I'm listening - and that's from the days when they were young -
>> now they just make me cringe.
Oh come on, any band that can produce stuff like this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-JZPmiEOI
is worthy of space on anyones Ipod.
Mind you, and I didn't really like the Beatles
>> either and as for McCartney these days......
Agreed.
|
The Beatles were rock-influenced folk and their sound was very original even if not everyone's cup of tea. They wrote some very good lyrics. The very early Stones were a bit bubblegum too, but they quickly developed a style that was genuinely evil and that 'swung'. Their records and stage performances owe a lot to session men and musicians not named in the band although their names appear on albums. They kept going for a long time too.
Paul McCartney should enjoy his retirement in a dignified fashion like Ringo.
|
There are many jostling contenders, but the Stones are certainly one of the world's great rock bands. They owe their magisterial, carp-kicking beat to Keith Richards and to Billy Preston and other session men. They are or were fabulous when they get it on.
I sometimes disparage the lead singer's dancing and thin voice, but he is a very considerable singer and performer (and lyricist I think: like the Beatles, the Stones have written a lot of good songs). One memorable performance is the song Memo from Turner in the sinister movie Performance...
|
I quite liked the Beatles in their early days before they became pretentious twits.
I also liked (and still do) The Carpenters, The Seekers, ABBA and any good traditional jazz band. The truly great singers like Sinatra, are the cream of the crop though.
The majority of modern pop music I find tasteless, unmelodious and mostly just horrid. There are a very few exceptions.
........but then I am an old buffer now.
|
|
It's all about the money Roger.Doris Day move over darling still a good song.>:)
|
I have this on CD, Dodger, lemme know if y'all would like a copy:
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=dBfptqJ2UsY
Last edited by: Dog on Sun 2 Sep 12 at 14:18
|
|
Dunno about the Rastaman, but I certainly hate it Perro. Surely you don't listen to stuff like that, or look at the light show? I'm appalled.
|
It sounded good to me 40 odd years ago Sire.
And here's an even better one:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMWg92GGI-g&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9CBuWyqYkL7n-3e4vVVxRAp
:-}
Last edited by: Dog on Sun 2 Sep 12 at 16:46
|
|
You're an education, you are Dog. Thanks for that.
|
|
I did wonder if you would like it Cc, here is the composer: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delia_Derbyshire
|
|
Good stuff. Love the University recommending a career in deaf aids. And I so want to hear Moogies Bloogies now, although it seems unlikely!
|
|
Thats appalling terrible music, even for its time.
|
First is better than the second, but even so, I enjoyed them both. Using Fantasia is a bit naughty though. I spent some time trying to decide whether it was proto-Manga or just redolent of that marvellous Soviet animated propaganda, and then it started to look like Sleeping Beauty and the penny dropped. Then I read the comments.
But that spacey atonal stuff is my kind of thing, so again, obliged, M'seur Chien.
|
|
Need to be chillin with the weed for that one Wuffles!!
|
Turn on, tune in, and drop dead out, man.
|
>> Thats appalling terrible music, even for its time.
It certainly is. But there was good stuff too at the time. There always is, somewhere.
Taste is a funny thing. One man's meat is another man's poison. Never more than in the nebulous field of popular music. One has to try not to despise those who like despicable music.
:o}
|
I've got something that would shock you all (even Cc!) it's by a very little known group called ...
Hapshash and the coloured coat featuring the human host and the heavy metal kids :)
I've actually managed to track it down on CD but, I'm keeping it all to myself, see.
:+))
|
|
Oh come on Perro. You might just as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.
|
>>Oh come on Perro. You might just as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb<<
Oh, OK then Sire: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWY8IwwGCcE
:)
|
OK then Sire: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWY8IwwGCcE
Much better! Not shocking though.
|
>> It sounded good to me 40 odd years ago Sire.
>>
>> And here's an even better one:
>>
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMWg92GGI-g&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9CBuWyqYkL7n-3e4vVVxRAp
And this sounded better 40 years ago sire
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VjPPuias1k
|
The Tull, Zero? How thick do you think we are?
What an excellent thread. Also good stuff.
|
>> What an excellent thread. Also good stuff.
Heh heh... yes.
:o}
|
>> The Tull, Zero? How thick do you think we are?
As a brick my ole fruit.
Still my most favourite "concept" album by a long way as it happens.
|
Interesting choice of concept albums. Wasn't it a spoof concept album, from memory?
I can't be reading any more wiki entries tonight to find out.
|
Pre-trip faffing - Runfer D'Hills
