and today i have mostly been...

[Welly]

Those locking washers are cool, and so simple. Interesting stuff all this.

Doggy will be in his Speedo's by now; scaring all the locals

[PeterN]

I still use that principle, the older I get the longer breaker bar I have to buy.

Peter

If you haven't already got one, I'd recommend an electric impact gun. One of the older guys at work (70) still does most of his own spannering and he'd never considered one (impact guns are a big no no on aircraft) until his car mechanic son gave him one of his old ones. He couldn't believe how much easier it made things for him. Still tightens everything by hand but raves about how much it takes the struggle out of even the simplest of jobs.

Coincidentally my son has just bought me one, its mains powered as they develop a lot more torque, problem is its heavy and I'm 78, I still find it easier to use the breaker bar. We are just about to embark on some MOT work on his 406 Coupe so he will be doing the donkey work and me the technical bit. If I get something really tight I will use it but otherwise I will stick to the breaker bar - my joints are a bit clapped out.

Peter

[Doggy]

Doggy will be in his Speedo's by now; scaring all the locals

Perish the thought. I is back from my first ever visit to that there Algarve - I like it.
Lovely climate, 27 -30 degrees fresh Atlantic breeze, no humidity or insects, good food, nearly everyone speaks English and we don't seem to have pissed them off yet.

Hired one of those C1 things, 3 cylinders of grumpy awfulness c/w "Shift Indicator", (which I only noticed coz it advised changing down on the mildest of motorway uphill bits). I won't be in the queue for one of them.
This flavour of metric driving was "interesting" - between their non-existent road markings, acceptance that pulling out in front of people is OK so long as it doesn't occasion an emergency stop and my favourite - a set of traffic lights where the greens don't work, it was nice to drive back from East Midlands in some semblance of sanity....

[Welly]

Excellent! I tend to favour swimming shorts if I'm near a beach however the last time I used them the integral 'safety netting' appeared to be perished. Must get some new ones.

You say that about driving abroad but in my experience of driving in Spain/Germany (and Portugal once) I've never seen the stupid and selfish driving you get here in the UK. On the whole it seems to work quite well in yewrope and everyone gets where they need to without much fuss.

Not driven in Paris yet though

My 'today' news is that the outer CV boot has sh*t itself on the Volvo and spaffed all its grease everywhere. No problem I thought I'll ring the Volvo gen-you-win parts place I use with my friendly* forum* discount (25%) and order a new boot.

£88.00 later it's arriving tomorrow well actually you have to buy both inner + outer boots now with the proper metal clips and grease.

General advice = CV boot >Genuine only
Aftermarket boot > not good.

[steve_earwig]

Do you have to change both boots at the same time (remove one to get to the other) or is the only thing available a kit that does it all? Seems a bit shady if it is. OEM schmoem, you could probably get the same quality from a factor if you're careful.

Many years ago I put one of those superglue jobs on my Astra, I'd just moved into a flat and didn't have any facilities to do it properly and figured it'd last long enough to get me out a hole. It lasted about a year and I only changed it 'cos it was bugging me...

You say that about driving abroad but in my experience of driving in Spain/Germany (and Portugal once) I've never seen the stupid and selfish driving you get here in the UK. On the whole it seems to work quite well in yewrope and everyone gets where they need to without much fuss.

Pfft, you should come here, I had 3 near death experiences when I went to collect Max from t'hospital in Zagreb.

I tend to favour swimming shorts if I'm near a beach

I tend to favour going home. Too hot, too many tourists, too expensive, nothing to do but lie on a beach or swim in the sea. It's ok for a few hours but after that I'd rather be gardening.

And today I have mostly been...

changing the pressure reducing valve (regulator) on the mains water here. It wasn't leaking or owt but the boiler was making weird noises from the valves and the flow seemed a bit off - 4.5 bars static, 2 bars dynamic - which seemed a bit weak to me but I wasn't sure. However I was in there today fixing 2 of the 3 stopcocks ( ) and I gave it a test: adjuster no longer functions and doesn't act as a valve, hmm. So I had a look in t' shop and they had one almost identical by the same manufacturer (Honeywell) for 300Kn (35 quid-ish). "That'll save a lot of grief if it's the same length" I thought

It was 7mm longer.

This all goes through the bottom of a manhole in the garden here. From the street there's one cock, the meter, another cock, a t-piece with a hose fitting, yet another cock, then the regulator. I was trying to squeeze it all up by redoing joints but I only made a few mm, enough to get the regulator in but not both seals. In the end I made a thin one out of gasket material, squeezed it in, screwed it all together and, to my amazement, it didn't leak.

Static 4.5 bars, dynamic 4 bars. No silly noises either.

I've wanged it down to 4 bar which seems plenty.

I've no idea how many times I've clambered in and out that damn manhole today but my legs and back are definitely registering a protest

[OllieNZ]

Been having a fun* week with the 807.....
It had a short MOT, no worries given the purchase price. Needed rear discs 'n' pads and the lower wishbone ball joints. Again no worries, had a quick look while it was on the MOT ramp nothing overly difficult or expensive.
Got it home and then the fun* commenced.....
Peugeot in their infinite wisdom* have decided to make the ball joints part of the wishbone so you have to replace the lot and they're not cheap (unlike ball joints).
Ordered a new set and went to fit the first one. Wrestled the old one out and the new one in on the L/H side only to find the front bolts were like a dogs d*ck in a bucket and the ball joint stud couldn't be persuaded into the hub.
Wrestle the new one out again, whip out the verniers and measure new vs old. New one had the front bolts up sized from M12 to M14 and the ball joint stud had gone from 16mm to 19mm. Double checked the part and yup fits 2006 807 2.2hdi (more on this later). An upgrade at some point? damn gotta make it fit then. Cue several hours of filing, drilling and reaming (not the fun kind) while laid flat on my back. 2 new M14 bolts for the front attachment points and more wrestling later in and done Phew!!!! And then I remembered I still had to do the other side, that went a bit quicker but I did manage to set a new PB by shearing off a seized M12 grade 10.9 bolt while laid flat on my back with nothing to brace against . As a result of all the hub wrestling I lost an un-quantifiable amount of gearbox oil so had to do a gearbox oil change.

The rear brakes were a non event in comparison.

While I was engaging in the fun* of the wishbones I decided to take the opportunity to get the ECU away for it's re-map, received it back and refitted it. Went to take it for it's MOT retest this morning and cranking but no start, unable to get my diag tools to communicate with it . Returned ECU to the re-mapper to take a look at it.

On the wishbone front it seems 2006 was a change-over point for some stuff, maybe coinciding with the introduction of the new Expert/Boxer vans? According to some sources the wishbone has never changed and others they changed from 06-07 with the 170bhp 2.2hdi model.

[Doggy]

My daughter had an 03-plate 807 2.2 HDi, (I have the wishbone tee-shirt too).
To cut a very long story short, I lost the fight with all the gremlins that beast could summon when feeling cantankerous.....
I fixed the dodgy airbags, then the ABS, then the self leveling witchcraft for the xenons....
Then the alternator, battery connections, EML and Aunty Pollution rite of passage...
Then the airbags and ABS again....
Then the fuel leaks, intermittent sidelights, interior mood lighting, (worked when it felt like it).
Then both front & rear wipers...
Then the airbags and ABS again....
Plus the effects of her clouting the scenery and so on. Eventually, she decided to bin it. We flogged it quick.

I sincerely hope yours works out OK. It seemed a decent package, if it behaved itself.

[Welly]

Been having a fun* week with the 807.....

That all sounds horrid, can you imagine the bill from a garage?

Well done though and glad you got the mechanicals done, hope the ECU is ok.

[OllieNZ]

My daughter had an 03-plate 807 2.2 HDi, (I have the wishbone tee-shirt too).
To cut a very long story short, I lost the fight with all the gremlins that beast could summon when feeling cantankerous.....
I fixed the dodgy airbags, then the ABS, then the self leveling witchcraft for the xenons....
Then the alternator, battery connections, EML and Aunty Pollution rite of passage...
Then the airbags and ABS again....
Then the fuel leaks, intermittent sidelights, interior mood lighting, (worked when it felt like it).
Then both front & rear wipers...
Then the airbags and ABS again....
Plus the effects of her clouting the scenery and so on. Eventually, she decided to bin it. We flogged it quick.

I sincerely hope yours works out OK. It seemed a decent package, if it behaved itself.

Cheers Doggy.
Hopefully the ECU is not the beginning of the gremlins (even if it is self inflicted). A 2003 would have been very early in the production run so fingers crossed Peugeot worked out some of the wrinkles by 2006. It will be a shame if it doesn't work out because as you say they're pretty well specced.
I wonder how long it will be before t'wife decides to remodel the scenery with it.....

[steve_earwig]

After a few near-misses on the road today I thought it was about time I checked the dash cam was still working after I changed the battery about a month back. I also had a play with movie maker and uploaded it for your "entertainment"
BvE8CdkpS-0

[Doggy]

Decent video quality there.

My experience of metric roundabouts has convinced me that johnny foreigner just isn't on the same wavelength, (even in France or Germany).
The recognised technique seems to be just go round the outside and keep turning left until you reach your exit.
Doesn't seem to faze them even if you're lost and need to do an extra lap.
Try to do it 'properly' and it confuses the hell out of them.

[PeterN]

You'r driving on the wrong side of the road, that's the problem. When we used to go to Holland in the '70s traffic was permitted to drive straight out of a side road if he was on your right, quite a number did to claim on your insurance, I think they have changed it now.

Peter

[steve_earwig]

I heard they had the same thing in France (but I may be confused there). That happens to me so much on roundabouts I'm starting to wonder if they have completely different rules for them. I've been asking tw'fe if she can get me a copy of the Croatian highway code for about 10 years now...

Decent video quality there.

Really? I thought it was pretty crap, it's even lost a lot of detail after 2 file conversions.

I occasionally see people doing it right on roundabouts but the predominant trend is no indication whatsoever, often starting in a completely inappropriate lane to boot.

[piglet]

What camera is it, and how is it powered?

Roundabouts

Vehicles on a roundabout ( sens giratoire or rond-point) usually have priority and not those entering it, who are faced with a ‘Give Way’ sign (‘ Cédez le passage’ or ‘ Vous n’avez pas la priorité’). While it used to be that drivers on the roundabout at times had to give way to vehicles entering the roundabout, this has slowly changed, and almost all roundabouts give priority to the vehicles on the roundabout. British drivers should note that traffic flows anti-clockwise round round­abouts and not clockwise.

[steve_earwig]

Mini 0801 (about 5 models old now), powered by a voltage dropper stuffed down the back of the dash which is plugged into the seat heater feed (which it aint got).

There are indeed give way signs at the entrances to that roundabout. Come to think of it, there is a roundabout in Zagreb with "give way" signs actually on the roundabout, plus dotted lines too, but it's the only one like that I've "enjoyed" here.