and today i have mostly been...

[OllieNZ]

Gutted the under bonnet electric center today, gave it a good clean (removed the mouse nest) and inspected everything. No further damage found thankfully. Located the coolant temp sensor, reseated the connection for good measure and performed a bsi reset. Fingers crossed the temp sensor now seems to be behaving itself. Tracked the fuel sender wiring from the bsi to the sender, no physical defects apparent. After further research it seems possible that it may be a glitch in the matrix. Apparently the bsi stores the last known fuel quantity and compares it on startup, if it doesn't like what it's seeing it defaults the tank to empty and adding a sufficient quantity of fuel will cause it to reset itself.... f@#$ng computers

[Welly]

Well done Ollie, pesky mouse eh? hopefully your electrics will be reliable now.

Bloody rodents seem to serve no purpose in life other than to destroy things and make a bloody mess. Kill them all I say!

[OllieNZ]

hopefully your electrics will be as reliable as a french car electrics ever get.

Ftfy ;)

Cheers Welly,
One of our cats is attempting to rid the world a nest at a time and likes to leave the evidence on our front door mat

[steve_earwig]

Pfft, it's all Siemens (AG) and (Robert) Bosch (GmbH) so not French at all really, more kind of German. The "French electrics are crap" thing gets right up my hooter to be honest. When I was a lad it was Italian electrics that had a bad name, I'm not sure if all has been forgiven now or the rest of the cars are so crap the electrics are the least of their problems

[OllieNZ]

Pfft, it's all Siemens (AG) and (Robert) Bosch (GmbH) so not French at all really, more kind of German. The "French electrics are crap" thing gets right up my hooter to be honest. When I was a lad it was Italian electrics that had a bad name, I'm not sure if all has been forgiven now or the rest of the cars are so crap the electrics are the least of their problems

You're not wrong.
One of my friends back in New Zealand owned an old series landrover with lucas electrics. He used to refer to lucas as the prince of darkness due to the propensity for the headlights to cease working at random

[steve_earwig]

Joe Lucas, Prince of Darkness, it's an old biker saying

[406Break]

Finally got the new-old bumper on

[406Break]

Small leak me thinks...


And bought a set of winter tires Bridgestone Noranza 001

[steve_earwig]

Are you loosing coolant? There's (small admittedly) chance the drain from the air con's blocked.

I thought you were bemoaning the fact you had a puncture in your new tyres but... feck me, they're studded

[Doggy]

The condensate drain should come out over the exhaust, but if it's blocked......
Failing that:
Sunroof drains, (if you have a sunroof)?
Blocked drain holes in driver's door?
Sill filing with water?

[406Break]

I've noticed a very very small coolant loss. Also seems that the engine radiator bottom connector(partly metal with a o-ring and fixing clip) leaks.
But on the inside it seems that its coming from the inner core. Seepage and darkened area on the floor mat look that way(moisture climbs up near gas pedal).

No sunroof. Occasional leaks from outer mirrors and from speaker holes but not this time.

And yea, I prefer studded to studless tires. In Estonia we have many country roads with really packed snow(almost ice) and actual ice. So studded seems to hold better.

[Welly]

...well since the clocks went back.....GETTING BLINDED BY BRAKE LIGHTS

Dear All Motorists,

When sitting in a line of traffic in the dark; apply hand-brake and lift your fat stinking foot off the brake pedal and rest it. That way the furious man in the Volvo behind you with his hand shading his eyes might get home just a little less stressed.

Many thanks in anticipation*

Welly.

[Doggy]

You just have to mellow out a bit. I share your frustration but the stop light brigade don't wind me up as much as the parked-with-headlights-on and fog light cohorts.

I have however almost managed to ignore them and only rarely blast past at the head of a truly awesome un-particle filtered smoke screen.

I might* have considered* a set of those 4500 lumen LED bulbz for the main beamz: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2PCS-Nighteye ... SwHoFXuxDS

[Welly]

I've been trialing a new tactic for the front-fog brigade; when I see one approaching I then switch mine on too (not flash them just put them on permanent).

This I surmised would engage the brain of the fogger and make them think "hey that reminds me I have my fog lights switched on just like that goof in the Volvo" maybe I should turn them off now.

No, this does not happen. The fogger who presumably the night before heard that it could be slightly misty on the weather forecast sails on happy in the knowledge he's 'schooled' me into using my fogs for the safety of all mankind.

Also noted is a MARKED increase in badly fitted bulbs with a Bat-Signal type aim.

[dirtydirtydiesel]

Also noted is a MARKED increase in badly fitted bulbs with a Bat-Signal type aim.

You can thank the muppets at halfruads for that