I thought I would cheer myself up with a Ricer gag...



:devil:

Whoo hoo!

I have a warning light on my dash.

Oh it's just brake pads.

I was hoping to use my diagnosticmebob.

My 3,000 mile old brake pads.

My guess was the plug was wet or loose but...



...the sensor wire has corroded off. Just as well I had some spare pads in my shed.

Another victim of the salt gritted roads...



...my 5,000 mile old exhaust mount. But we knew that already.

I'm glad I didn't paint the calipers. Red with green stuff pads would have clashed.

I have yet another puncture. That's four in a month. Two malicious, one A47 pothole and this one looks to be a screw I picked up from work.

Karma for doing the exhaust hanger and brake pads during my lunch break I guess.

I hate after market LED sidelights, DRL's and HiD's in cars too old to have them. It's very "Council" when you see a 90's car lit up like a Coca Cola Festive truck and there are few things more irritating than poorly maintained, poorly aimed, dirty lens'd, cheap, nasty, made in China HiD's with the wrong reflectors headed toward you in fog or spray. Yes you think your 1998 Fiesta looks cool but you can not see where you are going properly and everyone else thinks you're a twunt who should be chemically castrated before you take a dump in the gene pool.

Rear lights can be just as gruesome if you aspire to own a visible from the Moon spec' brake light like the current crop of Cree LED cars on the market and have so many extra brake lights your alternator belt slips every time you think about touching the middle pedal. And don't get me started on the inconsiderate automatic owners who sit with their foot on the brake pedal at lights and junctions because doing a hill start with a handbrake without dazzling other road users would take an extra half a second of their lives.

Sorry in a bit of a mood about my tyre.

Discretion yet an upgrade for safety (and not to mention my drivers side pink cluster issue) sake I can live with. I know how to use my hand brake and the only reason I would consider owning an automatic is if I woke one morning with one leg and no balls.

Time for some shopping to cheer me up.

These to replace my tail light bulbs...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172417470557?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

...and these Audi spec' brake light bulbs.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311452377422?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=610500128928&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

All arrived the next day fitted and ready to not annoy people.







As a bonus because the Cree brake light bulbs use less power the high level brake light is brighter (no doubt too bright and will need replacing soon).

:devil:

Twunt: that's such a great insult, lol!

i tried some LEDs in the rear, and found that, while perhaps technicaly brighter, the optics of the rear cluster (marea weekend at least) were designed for a certified bulb, and that the light spread was completely wrong. On top of that, the LEDs didn't consume enough energy and so i got bulb failure notices every time i braked, not to mention the indicators which blinked at double speed. Alongside that, the LED festoons consumed so little, that the internal lights stayed on for an eternity once the car had been parked and the door closed.
The options were to keep them and spend even more time fitting resistors, negating any energy economy, or put the old bulbs back in, shrug my shoulders and stick with just the HIDs.
I ended up taking them out.

puntofan01 said:

Twunt: that's such a great insult, lol!

Click to expand...

An amalgamation of two words forum algorithms pick up and censor. I came up with the idea on another forum about a year ago and it caught on pretty quick. It's first recorded use was back in 2003 so I can't take all the credit.

These are newer no fault bulbs. I wouldn't go LED indicator for much the same reason as side lights. They look naff.

The beam pattern was a concern but the brake lights are if anything more efficient now.

The most reliable modern car I have ever owned has let me down twice in two days.

Yesterday on the M6 the wiper linkage decided the didn't need to be connected to the motor any more.

I had to drive three miles in the rain with no wipers to leave the motorway, find a lay by, take the trim off and fix that.

Today there are no indicators or hazard lights.

The bulbs work off the alarm activation and deactivation, no blown fuses and it has taken me an hour to locate and replace the relays with no effect. Completely dead.

It would be a shame to write off such a great car for the sake of an electrical issue but with no indicators or hazard lights it is criminally unsafe.

It was the indicator flasher relay. It was also the new one. I forgot...


"Rule 136: Just because a part is new, it doesn't mean it's any good".


...yep the new relay was a dud and one I found in the deepest recess of my shed (I think it from my old Alfa GTV) works perfectly.



I am however more than a little concerned. The most reliable modern car I have ever owned has had two issues two days in a row. I'm taking my RX8 for MOT tomorrow. I think I'll take a fire extinguisher just in case. :devil:

a little story to keep your spirits up. My Wifes troubles over the last TWO weeks:
breakdown 1: straight out of the MOT test station the car wont start. embarrased tester said it was fine during the test and when he parked it in from of the test centre, turned out to be the lift pump. Xsara picasso it was a £400 drop the tank job.
breakdown 2: numpty husband didn't tighten the sump plug enough after the oil change, luckily it only went half a mile with no oil :/
breakdown 3: radiator hose split and sprayed coolant everywhere.
breakdown 4 (car sharing with a collegue): complete loss of brakes after a brake hose split
breakdown 5 (again with her work mate after the brakes had been fixed): battery contact failed, connection popped off the terminal while driving, car just cut out while climbing the hill home.
all this in the last 2 weeks. xsara picasso and a MK1 clio.
feel any better? happy fiating

Sounds quite typical. No offense but that's why we drive Fiats and nothing French built.

You say that, but my parents are on their 4th Renault, lol!

The continuation of my wiper linkage saga.



I've taken the wiper mechanism off the car as it failed again on the way home. You can see where the missing spring clip goes on the end. I fixed this before with a cable tie and it lasted four hundred miles.



Replaced the cable tie with a Jubilee clip until I can find either the right clip or a replacement mechanism.

The clip touched the top of the bulkhead and it was annoying from the start so I have placed a couple of washers under the front mount so it's spaced clear and silent again.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172129978688?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The Punto GT club to the rescue.

"Hey, I've got some new shoes on and suddenly everything's alright"...



I've fitted my Bangle Grinder Coupe wheels with new Toyo Proxes as they didn't sell and one of the tyres on the flower petal wheels had a flat spot.



This is what happens when you buy tyres from a Ginetta racer.

oooh, i bet that was fun at motorway speeds.

franglais said:

oooh, i bet that was fun at motorway speeds.

Click to expand...

Kept my female passengers entertained.

Good news...



...the clip arrived and my wipers now squeak again.

Bad news...



...I noticed a crack in the windscreen starting below the plastic trim. I may need a new screen for the track day on March 24th. :bang:

As well as commuting my Bravo has been a van again today taking the old flower petal wheels to Leicester and a ramp to my friends house now he is wheelchair bound with Cancer I made a ramp for him to get in and out of his home easier.

I had just finished paying for my Petrol yesterday morning when I heard a "crunch!" closely followed by my alarm going off.

A 2016 Land Rover Discovery had driven into the back of my Bravo.

As I left the shop part of the station the Land Rover operator was backing up. Thinking he was about to bolt I canceled the alarm and made him aware of my presence.

He got out and suggested it was my fault because I had parked a little further forward of the pump and demanded my insurance details.

I asked if he was on drugs, had been drinking or had forgotten his glasses as it was the only way he could have missed a bright yellow car parks on a very, very well lit forecourt.



I then turned my attention to the new damage to the back of my car.

A slight crease in the tailgate and mark on my bumper.

I won't be bothering with a claim as it would be more than enough to write the old girl off but the Land Rover needed a new drivers side fog light/DRL, the bumper was pushed back into the wheel arch, headlight moved in and the bonnet gap was twice as high on the drivers side as it was on the passenger side (but that could be standard).

Glad it wasn't a proper Land Rover it would have been a lot worse.

No word from my insurers yet and no ticket from Leicester where someone had turned a 30/40 sign round so I was doing close to forty when I went past a speed camera.

Phew.

In other news the I caught the little scrote who has been spiking my driveway since Christmas. If you follow the "Grumpy" thread you'll know I've had nails and other sharp object left under my wheels since a minor incident up the road from my house.

I've had more punctures in the last six months than ten years and attributed it to someone I had potentially upset on the road. The joy of yellow cars in a grey world eh?

Turned out to be a kid at my nephews school who would argue with him and take it out on my property.

I caught him in the act this morning, took him home for domestic justice and had a jolly good time of it. Mum was apologetic, Dad was territorial and scrote was dealt with.

Hopefully that's the end of it but I will be checking my tyres before I go anywhere for a while yet.

I took my daily driver Bravo HLX on track Friday and had a great time.

https://www.facebook.com/Franks-Charity-Track-Day-Club-FCTDC-428361030599756/?fref=ts

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frankhall/33503268001/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frankhall/33475499272/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frankhall/33246389590/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frankhall/32816200003/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frankhall/32816206533/

The car performed really well considering the only modifications were decent tyres on terrible heavy wheels and green stuff pads that could cook the discs after six laps. :hehe:

I was the slowest thing there and did my best to keep out of the way but by the end I was having so much fun I didn't care about times and trap speeds. So much so I forgot to turn my camera on for the last two sessions.

A really great day and it's money going to a good cause.

https://www.facebook.com/Franks-Charity-Track-Day-Club-FCTDC-428361030599756/?fref=ts