New season of Car SOS ads show a metro 6R4..... I can get behind that sort of restoration, nothing like a completely bat sh@t crazy old lady shopping car.

AndyRKett said:

New season of Car SOS ads show a metro 6R4..... I can get behind that sort of restoration, nothing like a completely bat sh@t crazy old lady shopping car.

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Just set my recording 20 minutes ago..

Despite my absolute hatred of Tim Shaws fake blags..

StevenRB45 said:

Just set my recording 20 minutes ago..

Despite my absolute hatred of Tim Shaws fake blags..

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I think they have become so fake now it’s almost a joke that’s become a joke in itself.

“Oh hear he goes what rubbish are they making up this time”

The best one being when he distracted someone at a wheel refurb company and snuck in and refurbished a whole set of wheels while no one was looking, not even pretending to be real

I did run into both tim and fuzz at the london motorshow which was in the now nightingale hospital a couple of years back they where stood out talking and giving autographs, both very nice guys in person. I do have a picture somewhere. They had a car SOS stand.

I get they are mainly for entertainment value/filler...as filming the car restoration in detail is difficult and complicated so the less of that the better for the production company. Hence why wheeler dealers cut it right back and lost Ed as a result.

I suppose otherwise it would just be a member of the production crew phoning up several small companies related to car restoration and asking if they would provide reduced cost services in exchange for screen time on national television. Might get a little boring after a few episodes.

AndyRKett said:

You’re probably right, trying to work out if it’s a male or female bird, I wondered if it was female was it defending a nest it has somewhere, somewhere that’s in view of that side of the car.

It’s not just the wingmirror it’s attacking, I did catch it sat on the ground jumping up at the front bumper of the golf and also because the golf has door handles that are like a loop it sits on the door handle like a perch and pecks at the body work above the handle, so I’m gonna try covering the mirror but I don’t think that will stop it.

Maybe for the time being just don’t park there ?

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The male Blackbird in springtime is black with yellow beak. Female is much the same but a more boring brown.

Maybe trap a cloth in the door to hang over the offending reflection.

DaveMcT said:

The male Blackbird in springtime is black with yellow beak. Female is much the same but a more boring brown.

Maybe trap a cloth in the door to hang over the offending reflection.

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Male blackbirds - usually very black plumage and yellow beaks whereas the females are same size and confirmation but very brown and drab in comparison - are very confrontational and territorial at this time of year. We seem to have quite a lot of Blackbirds around us, which is lovely because they sing a lot especially in the mornings, and there are some really vigorous confrontations taking place with lots of fluttering of wings and birds chasing each other around. It always amuses me how the "girls" seem to just sit back and watch the "entertainment" as if they are thinking "Silly Boys"!

StevenRB45 said:

Just set my recording 20 minutes ago..

Despite my absolute hatred of Tim Shaws fake blags..

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Yup, technically quite an interesting program to watch and I quite like Fuzz but Tim does himself no honours with all the patently fake shenanigans he gets up to and the overly familiar way he approaches the service providers. I make a game out of trying to identify the ones he's truly known for years and are genuine friends and the ones who are, sometimes very obviously, not.

Presenters can absolutely make or break the show can't they? Although I find Tim's antics just slightly annoying There is another Motor sporting program which is so "wrecked" for me by the presenter that I just don't watch it any more. Which is a shame because other presenters on the same program make a very reasonable job of things.

I loved the Fuzz Townsend Stanley knife method for changing a cam belt. Only snag is it wont let you change the water pump though you can use zip ties to allow the tensioner to be swapped out.

What made me smile today? The Chief Engineer at work had to admit that I, a lowly Field Mechanic with about fifty years experience, was right and he was wrong. And he had to do it in front of the CEO.


It was actually more of a smirk.

Ive had vehicles like that..

I know someone who drove an 1.8 Toyota vvti (celiac) about 2000 miles with the oil light on (no oil pressure) before it eventually over heated, it was the over heating that caused the head gasket to warp and damaged the head but the engine hadn’t seized just got overly toasty.

varesecrazy said:

Ive had vehicles like that..

I know someone who drove an 1.8 Toyota vvti (celiac) about 2000 miles with the oil light on (no oil pressure) before it eventually over heated, it was the over heating that caused the head gasket to warp and damaged the head but the engine hadn’t seized just got overly toasty.

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That thread is definitely very odd, to be hiring a lawyer and asking a judge for a specialist review when there is no known damage just a concern about a different grade of oil being recommended for the same engine but either euro5 or euro6 when the car in question. Was build well before euro 6 regulations but they’ve decided it’s a euro6 car....
I think that owner could be in for a personal legal bill higher than the car is worth all for what?

Excited to do my brakes this weekend for the first time on a different car to my first Panda. Watched a thousand how-to videos on various Citroens that I expect are identical.


Next weekends job will be to fully decontaminate, clean, polish and ceramic wax the car again just around half a year following the first treatment in August last year. Thankfully there'll be an indoor centrally heated garage to really spend the time and get it right.


Plenty to be staying busy during the last few weeks of lockdown, ready for better days and road trips to the coat and Belfast direction.

Just had a wee shower of snow here. Not lying but large flakes

Drove to Tesco for fuel at 06:20

Glanced across at a RangeRover..
Wondering how it was in the Carpark that has the barrier dropped overnight

Just I pass it I think..
Thats weird.. the Registration plate is
AF 04 JUST LIKE OUR OLD PANDA..

get my fuel.. expecting the RR to be gone..
Still there..
The plates 3 last digits are the same.. just jumbled.. Weird

The panda attended an FF meet in that carpark 10 years ago

varesecrazy said:

Drove to Tesco for fuel at 06:20

Glanced across at a RangeRover..
Wondering how it was in the Carpark that has the barrier dropped overnight

Just I pass it I think..
Thats weird.. the Registration plate is
AF 04 JUST LIKE OUR OLD PANDA..

get my fuel.. expecting the RR to be gone..
Still there..
The plates 3 last digits are the same.. just jumbled.. Weird

The panda attended an FF meet in that carpark 10 years ago

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Totally unrelated but you reminded me about a very good condition old 1970s (I think it was an old S plate) beige, because what 70s car wasn’t beige, Range Rover 3 door with matching beige steel wheels driving past asda, definitely one for those who appreciate an old BL classic that all looked very cared for an bearing in mind I it was 7:30am on a Tuesday makes me wonder if it’s being dailied

jimboy said:

Just had a wee shower of snow here. Not lying but large flakes

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No snow for us Jim but pretty chilly, a few showers and a bit windy.

My Older Boy's Punto has been due a service for some time (only does about 4,000 miles a year though) but I've not been able to get it down here because of Covid restrictions. So it went in for it's MOT "blind" without any preparation. To my absolute amazement it got a clear pass! The tester did say to him, when he collected it, that he needed to do something quickly about the sump. In fact I've been meaning to do something about that sump, which looks a bit like the surface of the moon, for over a year now but, as someone on here recently said, I've been waiting for good weather! Anyway, with a service badly needed, the sump well past when it should have been replaced and the baltic weather I asked Kenny what he might charge to do it and then I'll do the service. "We do a lot of those" said he. In fact they keep the sumps in stock because it's such a common job! He quoted me a very reasonable price to supply and fit with me supplying the oil and a filter. The job turned out to be a bit of a sod with seized exhaust fittings etc - as might be expected - so I'm glad I got him to do it. He didn't make any extra charge for the added "agro" either.

So this morning I rang him to see how it was going "All ready for you, come and get it" So I took my walk down to Leith today and went round by the wee Honda Garage to pay for him doing the caliper on my daughter in law's Jazz about 10 days ago. (posted somewhere else about that) He still hasn't made up the bill, I'm to ring him next week! Then on through to the trading estate where Kenny's garage is at the foot of Leith Walk. True to his word the car was sitting outside ready to go. Having settled the bill I took a roundabout route along the sea front and up through the houses to get some running on it before returning home and getting my "garage clothes" on.

A good look underneath revealed no obvious leaks, good! Then I did a wee inspection service, brake pads, then spin the wheels and give them a "woggle", Air filter off and blow out the breather pipe which had a little "mayo" in it, but wasn't blocked. Dismantle air filter housing and check the filter. It was new last year so now about 15 months old and it'll go through to next year just fine. (it'll have done about 9 to 11 thousand miles by then) Check tyre pressures, etc. etc. As this car has air con it has a two speed radiator cooling fan and to get the slower speed it "chucks" a big resistor in series with the fan supply. Then I remembered the cooling fan resistor was U/S and I've been meaning to change it ever since I found it was done in last service, I've had a new one sitting in my spares box for nearly a year! Having changed it I was hoping that now the radiator fan was working as it should that the air con might suddenly wake up, but no, it must need recharging, maybe it's leaking too badly now with not having been run in ages? In fact I don't think he'll bother spending the money as he's lived with it like this for probably 2 years at least. You can see the corrosion on the old resistor pack here:



It's not at all surprising it goes like this as it lives in the radiator surround, just under the radiator expansion tank, which it probably needs to do as it needs plenty of cooling air, but it's also getting sprayed with water and salt etc from the car in front.

Finally I climbed past the rear seats and triggered the boot lock from inside - only just found out you can do this and it's easy - The rear hatch very recently stopped working. Pressing the boot badge or working the remote does nothing. My bets are on a break in the wiring where it transitions from the body to the hatch through that flexi rubber boot. I started peeling back the rubber boot but at that moment the rain set in with a vengeance so I pushed it back into it's hole and went inside for a cuppa. Maybe I'll have another go tomorrow as he's not coming to pick the car up 'till Sunday when we are going to have a distanced family meeting for Mother's day, as the regs now allow us too. Or maybe I'll just show him how to trigger the lock manually? He's, relatively, young and fit (ex Marine) so won't have any problem with that! Then I'll have another look in the summer!

Anyway, in the meantime The Punto is having a "sleepover" with Becky our Panda:



After my cup of tea I went back into the garage to clean and tidy up my tools when I spotted the old thermostat from Becky - our Panda - on my workbench. I was about to chuck it in my scrap bucket, to go to the recycling next time I'm going, when I noticed how much corrosion there was on the "spout" where the hose fits on:



This was the original fitment thermostat and I've no reason to believe it's been run without antifreeze, so why so corroded? The inside of the hose had to be scraped out before I could refit it. Then I thought I wonder what the rubber seal is like so I dismantled it and guess what? no rubber seal!



But hey, the condition of the inside of the casting looks pretty good doesn't it? If the rest of the inside of the water jacket looks like that I'll be well pleased. Come to think of it the inside of the end of the block looked nice and clean when I was cleaning the mating face up for the new thermostat - happy day! Every Panda thermostat I've done has a rubber sealing ring under the head of the moving element and often it's badly perished when the thermostat has failed. If you look here at the new "original birth" one I fitted you can see the black rim of the seal under the head of the moving element:



Compare here with the old one before I dismantled it:



I've always thought this seal being perished was the main reason why these thermostats fail - but not in this case obviously. The spring was still really strong and in good order so it must have been the wax capsule on this one?

So I've had a pretty interesting day. Nice walk this morning and an afternoon "tinkering" with the Punto - and not having to settle the bill for the Honda yet! In fact there's more to the Punto sump story, but I've kept it simple or I'd still be at this 'till bedtime!

varesecrazy said:

Drove to Tesco for fuel at 06:20

Glanced across at a RangeRover..
Wondering how it was in the Carpark that has the barrier dropped overnight

Just I pass it I think..
Thats weird.. the Registration plate is
AF 04 JUST LIKE OUR OLD PANDA..

get my fuel.. expecting the RR to be gone..
Still there..
The plates 3 last digits are the same.. just jumbled.. Weird

The panda attended an FF meet in that carpark 10 years ago

Click to expand...

This made me think of an incident when I worked in the DAF garage doing car sales. Two DAF33 saloons going out on the same day. All the registration "stuff" done and new plates sitting on my desk waiting to be fitted - a job I often did. On this occasion I was having a very busy day with two demos one after another so the boss got the apprentice to fit the plates. Later in the day both customers came in and collected their new cars and I went home feeling I'd had a good day. Next morning one of the customers parked up on the hard standing in front of the showroom and invited me to walk round the car with him. I was expecting, maybe, a complaint about a paintwork scratch or similar - although I'd never have let a car go out with anything like that - but no, I couldn't see anything. Go round again he said, I still couldn't see anything, the car looked perfect! It's the number he said. I walked round again and still couldn't see it, The customer burst out laughing, "well neither could I he said, it was the wife who noticed it". I bet you're all well ahead of me now? Yes, two sets of number plates with just one digit difference. The apprentice had fitted both front number plates with the one number and both rears with the other, very embarrassing but luckily both customers saw the funny side. Thank goodness a policeman didn't notice before we got them switched over!

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

This made me think of an incident when I worked in the DAF garage doing car sales. Two DAF33 saloons going out on the same day. All the registration "stuff" done and new plates sitting on my desk waiting to be fitted - a job I often did. On this occasion I was having a very busy day with two demos one after another so the boss got the apprentice to fit the plates. Later in the day both customers came in and collected their new cars and I went home feeling I'd had a good day. Next morning one of the customers parked up on the hard standing in front of the showroom and invited me to walk round the car with him. I was expecting, maybe, a complaint about a paintwork scratch or similar - although I'd never have let a car go out with anything like that - but no, I couldn't see anything. Go round again he said, I still couldn't see anything, the car looked perfect! It's the number he said. I walked round again and still couldn't see it, The customer burst out laughing, "well neither could I he said, it was the wife who noticed it". I bet you're all well ahead of me now? Yes, two sets of number plates with just one digit difference. The apprentice had fitted both front number plates with the one number and both rears with the other, very embarrassing but luckily both customers saw the funny side. Thank goodness a policeman didn't notice before we got them switched over!

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Two similar stories. Back from when I worked in a large Rover dealer in Dorset.
A pile of about twenty pairs of new plates was waiting for fitment to new cars for Aug 1st. (For the younger contingent, the reg used to change on Aug 1st then) The pile fell over. Later, after all plates fitted, there was a nice line of cars, all with a rear plate belonging to the car before it. Thankfully noticed before any left.

One day, got a call from a policeman, walking the beat in Beaminster. (For Jock, a small West Dorset village, where the Numatic factory was originally) He'd been wandering around the market square, when a call over the radio said be on the lookout for a stolen BMW. He was puzzled as he was looking at an Allegor with the same reg number. Plate on the rear matched the tax disc (remember those), but front plate had two of the three numbers transposed.
His call to us was, if the lady drove over, could we fit a new correct front plate? Of course. Car was 5 years old. We were the original selling dealer of course.

When driver training, part of the vehicle check we do is to ensure front and rear plates match. Used to check tax discs too. Have found quite a few mismatches over the years.

My uncle had a similar thing with his polo.

However he was effectively given a ringer, had the same plates as another car for 12 months.

It wasn't until the 1st service on booking in when the garage asked him why he was booking the car in again as it as according to their records someone else serviced it the previous week that it was discovered.

portland_bill said:

Two similar stories. Back from when I worked in a large Rover dealer in Dorset.
A pile of about twenty pairs of new plates was waiting for fitment to new cars for Aug 1st.

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20 cars all going out on the new reg day would have been wonderful for us. Maybe a dozen was good going!

Interesting about the Numatic Factory though, I'm continuing to be mightily impressed by "Norman" (our name for our new vacuum - yes I know we are very "sad")