Some may remember my tale of my hapless neighbour and his bewitched Signum diesel? Anyway he's had it sorted to the tune of nearly £3k in fuel pump etc repair work and has put it back to work.
Tonight I saw it arriving at his house on a trailer again. Almost, but not quite, afraid to ask I learn that this time it's a bit of a self-inflicted wound. He's really not very car savvy although he uses his car a lot. Seems the oil light came on today during the course of a several hundred mile business trip. He was sensible enough to top it up but not smart enough to replace the oil filler cap...Continued to drive 50 or so further miles to be flashed to stop by another driver concerned at the plumes of smoke.
What does the panel think the damage will be? New filler cap and a steam clean or worse?
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Tue 28 Jun 11 at 21:05
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He may be lucky, a little spilled oil makes a big mess and a lot of smoke.
If he is not lucky it is a good incentive to become "car savvy". :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 28 Jun 11 at 21:10
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The thing I didn't really want to suggest ( he's not surprisingly gutted ) is that the warning light may not have been the oil one at all and he's gone and lobbed another litre of oil in there. Might have blown the oil filler cap off eh?
Like I said. Oh 'eck.
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Yeah, just messy if he hasnt thrown all the oil away and wrecked the engine.
He will never get rid of the "oily" smell tho, it will percolate through the vents for the rest of its life.
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I had a near miss once in my old E46 - luckily I noticed in time...( I was wearing a very nice light brown jacket at the time - not good)
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This is the same guy I nearly sold my Mondeo to a couple of years ago. I'm glad I didn't. I couldn't have watched him do stuff like that. In fairness its new owner may well be doing it more harm but at least I don't have to see it !
I feel sorry for my neighbour though, he's a genuinely nice guy, 70 years old and still working full time involving a lot of travel. Clueless when it comes to cars.
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>> I had a near miss once in my old E46 - luckily I noticed in
>> time...( I was wearing a very nice light brown jacket at the time - not
>> good)
I have done it once. Smelt it first before it got too bad. Trouble is you are 5 miles away from where the cap last was.
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I was lucky the cap had jammed between some plumbing gubbins (and I was only a few miles from home) on the way to quite an important meeting, white shirt as well....
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I left the steel cup bit of my Thermos on the car roof only this lunchtime. Last saw it in the rearview mirror bouncing down the M6 at Shap. Must've lodged itself in the bike rack for a while. Lucky it didn't hit anything. Need a new flask now too.
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Expenses not what they used to be ?- Even iffy stretches to a cup of coffee on the motorway...!
Last edited by: Pugugly on Tue 28 Jun 11 at 21:59
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Its humph.
For coffee cup read "A packet of Marlboro"
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Nope, no fags. But I do confess to an ubercraving today. Gone now. No worries....
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Well the irony is that I'd made a flask and finished it. Nipped into the services to top it up with a Costa's finest. Took the top off to transfer the brew and left the chuffing lid on the roof.
High flyer y'know, me.
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Flash git. Was it one of those retro ones with a tartan pattern ?
Last edited by: Pugugly on Tue 28 Jun 11 at 22:04
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Was it heck. Proper stainless job. Good gear. Tartan schmartan...!
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Flask not a problem Humph. If it was a Stanley, then it had a lifetime guarantee. We sell them where I work in Settle. Various sizes. Various colours.
See you soon....
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I thought you Jox were into all that gear...I bet you wear tartan trollies !
I once left a china cereal bowl full of Tcut on the front bumper valance of my old Wuzzley 15/60..It survived a trip round town and came home safe...and still full !
Ted
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"Even iffy stretches to a cup of coffee on the motorway...! "
Must be a rich man or very good expenses!! What is it, £3.00 for decent Americano, £3.99 for a large latte? Like Humph, I'll take my flask!! Good proper, black coffee, and if you need milk and sugar to add then nip into Costa/Starbucks etc and help yourself from their stand (and take a few extra sugars for home!)!
Same with pasties, £3.49 for a Ginsters on the motorway and in Sainsbury's they are £2.00 for a twin pack. Only decent thing about the motorway stops these days is the presence of M&S, Waitrose etc where you can buy a sandwich or salad thing at a reasonable price. Without the supermarket bods a simple white bread cheese and onion sandwich is about £3.00 - daylight robbery!
And fuel at 10p a litre more than at my local Shell station? That's a good few quid on a tankfull - use Mway services for the loos and move on!
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...Even iffy stretches to a cup of coffee on the motorway...!...
Not quite as often as he used to.
As Phil says, it's around £3.50, so sometimes I will have a few gulps from my water bottle in the boot before going in, and then sit for half an hour with the laptop without spending a penny - apart from in the gents on the way out.
I like coffee with milk which does not keep either hot or well in a Thermos, so the tip about picking up a drop of milk from the service area is a good one.
To stop the coffee 'stewing', it would be better to take just hot water in the Thermos, a small jar of instant coffee, and make up the drink on the hoof.
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>> To stop the coffee 'stewing', it would be better to take just hot water in
>> the Thermos, a small jar of instant coffee, and make up the drink on the
>> hoof.
That's part of my baggage, pre heated steel thermos full of boiling water, milk in a plastic bottle with centre ice pack from the pound shop, tea bags and sweeteners.
No way will i pay anything over 30 bob for a mug of any hot drink.
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>> I like coffee with milk which does not keep either hot or well in a
>> Thermos, so the tip about picking up a drop of milk from the service area
>> is a good one.
Take a flask for the train journey everyday and like mine milky too.
Make it in a pyrex jug and after adding the milk give it 2 mins in microwave (500ml flask) plus preheat the flask. Piping hot for a couple of hours at least.
Can't do much about it stewing though.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 29 Jun 11 at 09:27
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If I'm off to an old car show, I take the usual brew kit plus a camping gas stove and a lickle keckle...A handy tip for the carriage of milk...I buy a ten pack of bottled water...about a quid.
25cl plastic bottles...always clean and fresh to put your milk in then chuck away when finished. A pack easily lasts me a year.
Ted
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>> he's had it sorted to the tune of nearly £3k in fuel pump etc repair
>> work and has put it back to work.
£3k? How much is the car worth? Damn modern diesels.
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I think he only paid about £3.5k for it earlier this year. Says he loves it when it's going.
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>> I think he only paid about £3.5k for it earlier this year. Says he loves
>> it when it's going.
>>
That's the thing with modern cars, they are great when their going well.
But a bottomless money pit when their not...
Long gone are the days of getting second-hand parts to keep the car on the road cheaply.
And of course lots more systems to go wrong.
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Had a friend who did that in an Opel Manta on a trip to Cornwall one summer - he topped up before we left, got onto the M5 and a few miles down notice the oil slick starting to spread onto the windscreen. We made a hasty stop at Taunton services, wiped the worst off the engine, and found a locking fuel cap that fitted the oil filler. No long term effects on the engine, and I don't recall the car rusting much.
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Oh 'eck - Old Navy
