Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Zelandeth]

Have I mentioned that I hate the tree by our driveway?

Poor car.

[Stickyfinger]

Did you move to Morroco ?

[Zelandeth]

Sadly not!

...At least I think sadly. Not sure to be honest!

This evening I had a chance to look at the Lambda sensor on the Lada - it's definitely stuffed. Both the sensing element and heater are totally open circuit. Will get a new ordered at the weekend then see where we are.

[Zelandeth]

New lambda sensor for the Lada has now been ordered. Will hopefully get it this week, then *hopefully* be far closer to an MOT.

Fell over the undertray for it today (I came off worse than it did when I stood on it), which has reminded me that I need to refit it.

Citroen undertray: a flappy bit of plastic.

Lada undertray: pressed bit of metal that's thick enough you could probably jack the car up by it!

[Zelandeth]

In preparation for hopefully mad activity on the Invacar front coming up soon I have started unburying it.

Also got it off the axle stands as it will need to come out the garage once work starts.

I then set about trying to get it started. While it had been running fairly well, that stopped a while back when it managed to suck a load of horrible slime out of the bottom of the temporary fuel tank I'd been using.

While I'd cleaned the carb out, I'm an idiot and totally forgot about the fuel pump and the line between it and the carb - so it of course went and pulled some more horrible crud through as soon as I tried to start it. Idiot.

I did, after something of a battle - which included a proper backfire that probably scared our neighbours half to death - I did get it going. However it won't rev at all despite idling happy as anything. I'll get the carb apart for another clean once it's cooled down again.

Hopefully big updates regarding this little car soon.

[Zelandeth]

Okay...

New oxygen sensor fitted to the Lada.

Exactly the same fault remains.

Couldn't just have a *simple* fault could I?

So... let's do some detective work.

Simplest rule of electrical or electronic trouble shooting: Thy shalt check voltages. Helpfully the documentation tells me exactly what to expect on every pin of the ECU.

Everything is bang on what it should be for the most part.

The throttle position sensor signal is a little out of spec at the extremes of its travel - but not hugely surprised on a sensor of this age.

The odd one though is the ground point for the oxygen sensor...sitting at 1.51V with relation to chassis. Okay... something funky is going on here.

Some detective work to do tomorrow I think. There's something odd going on here - and as soon as I figure out what the heck that is I'll have this thing sorted.

[Zelandeth]

Emissions test results from when the oxygen sensor shenanigans started:

Emissions test results from this morning's MOT retest:

Think that speaks for itself really. Engine itself hasn't been touched, cat hasn't been touched (and is original still), just a dodgy oxygen sensor and dead ECU - which I suspect may have been killed by its previous owner trying to fix this very problem.

I reckon for a "dirty old Lada" that's not a bad result.

[Zelandeth]

The Activa has been earning it's keep today, making use of the demountable tow bar, helping me get rid of goodness only knows how much garden waste.

Useful thing to have. Also, that trailer is a heck of a lot better mannered than the last couple that sort of size that I towed around. Only gripe is that it's totally invisible from in the car...forget trying to reverse with it.

Have already managed to shift more this afternoon than via the garden bin in the last few months - hoping that I'll be more or less caught up by this time tomorrow.

[Zelandeth]

So went to take the Lada out for a test run having wired up the speed sensor. Got one tick out of the indicators then they died again.

So back to base, and out with the instrument panel again. On the plus side, that involves removing two screws and unfastening the speedo cable. Takes about 45 seconds. Now I'd thoroughly sorted the connector block onto the flasher unit, so was sure that wasn't the issue. However squeezing the unit itself would make the indicators start and stop flashing. Gotcha.

Pulled it out and whipped the cover off. Sure enough, a plethora of dry joints greeted me. Two minutes with the soldering iron and some decent solder sorted that out. Stuffed the unit back in and sure enough correct operation seems to have been restored.

How's this for a flasher unit from 1993?

Also seem to no longer be getting a check engine light flagged every time I coast for more than five seconds, and the lack of pops and bangs from the exhaust tells me that the deceleration fuel cut is now working - so we appear to have a valid signal from the sensor. Hopefully no more random error code 24 faults will be stored (think I'd erroneously remembered it as code 43 - I was working on a memory from 2006...) now.

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

One day I'll work out how to solder. It bugs me that I'm so bad at something that should be so simple.
Notice that one of the group pics of the Xant (and probably you somewhere) appear in the new edition of PC.

Far easier to unhook a trailer of that size (similar size to mine) than attempt to reverse it anyway; I can just see mine and its harder than you'd expect

[Zelandeth]

Argh!

One of my favourite commercial vehicles is the humble Merc 209/309d van. In fact, it's probably my favourite. Many fond memories of childhood, and they just feel "right" to drive somehow.

Just been offered a Merc 309d based camper. Current MOT, 56K miles, looks in decent enough shape, for a ridiculously good price even before haggling. Interior has been partly dismantled as the original owner wanted to upgrade the services, but never actually got started properly. Everything is still there though, just needs screwing back together.

It's something way up my "I want" list, it's roadworthy, it's cheap for what it is... however no room at the inn..argh!

[Zelandeth]

When one Invacar just isn't enough...get another one!

The doors etc are with it, we just removed them to make it easier to get into and out of the van. It does however lack any drive train.

Luckily however, my current one has a working engine and drive system - so the plan is to make one good one out of the two.

The body is extremely scruffy, but is pretty much all there. It will take a while to get it repaired to a "pretty" standard, but patching it up to satisfy the standards of roadworthiness shouldn't be too hard.

[Zelandeth]

Unsurprisingly I spent a couple of hours fiddling around with the new Invacar today. To save confusion, they will be henceforth referred to by their abbreviated registration numbers. KPL being the one I've had for a while with a mostly missing body but seemingly happy drivetrain, TPA being the new arrival.

This is how she looked early this afternoon just after I'd blasted her with the pressure washer and reattached the doors.

This evening just before I packed up for the evening this is how she looked.

In reality little has changed, but it somehow looks somewhat more recognisable as almost looking like a tiny car again rather than something that's a totally lost cause.

I'll maybe do a better write-up on my assessment today when I'm at an actual computer. The basic summary though is that my shopping list so far consists of a bunch of glass fibre mat and resin, a set of brake wheel cylinders, a brake master cylinder (not even bothering faffing with them as they're so cheap and this thing has single circuit brakes), some tyres and a fuel tank.

The last item is a bit of an annoyance as it was one of the big items I've been missing. Sadly the one in here is rotten. This is due to the front service cover having been cracked in half and letting rain in. This has pooled on top of the tank (there's a lip round the edge) and rusted through it. It's tiny and simple enough, so hoping won't be too expensive to have replicated - the original is fine as a template at least, and I've already got a brand new set of brackets and mounting straps in stock.

The good thing is that there's enough car here now that I can look at it and just make up a sane to do list - whereas looking at KPL just kind of left me baffled as there were so many things just outright missing or hacked beyond recognition.

I also raised the point that I've possibly been offered a decent deal on a camper with the rest of the family...they were far more interested than I'd expected - so I'll probably look into it in more depth actually. I've wanted an old 2/300 series Mercedes for darn near as long as the Lada (I was a *strange* kid...), so it having a camper on the back is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

It would likely mean a fleet member would need to move on though if it did work out and looked to be a keeper... question would be Lada or Activa? I honestly don't know. Probably Activa...but that's a problem to figure out for another day. It's a resource that the whole family could benefit from so I'm willing to make some sacrifice...and in this day an old Mercedes 209d is every inch as much a proper classic as anything else I own.

...And c'mon...look at that cab...

That is what a van cab should look like. I find the warning lights on the instrument panel particularly pleasing somehow as well... possibly because they're so alien when compared to the stuff you see these days.

Don't know whether it will come to anything, especially as I've not even seen it in person yet...but I'll keep you updated.

[bobins]

Unsurprisingly I spent a couple of hours fiddling around with the new Invacar today.

I'll maybe do a better write-up on my assessment today when I'm at an actual computer. The basic summary though is that my shopping list so far consists of.............. and a fuel tank.

The last item is a bit of an annoyance as it was one of the big items I've been missing. Sadly the one in here is rotten. This is due to the front service cover having been cracked in half and letting rain in. This has pooled on top of the tank (there's a lip round the edge) and rusted through it. It's tiny and simple enough, so hoping won't be too expensive to have replicated - the original is fine as a template at least, and I've already got a brand new set of brackets and mounting straps in stock.

Was the fuel tank purpose made for the Invacar, or does it look like something from a parts bin from a small plant manufacturer or similar ?

[Zelandeth]

Was the fuel tank purpose made for the Invacar, or does it look like something from a parts bin from a small plant manufacturer or similar ?

I'm honestly not sure...the whole car generally is a perfect example of how much you can achieve by parts bin raiding...so wouldn't surprise me if it was "borrowed" from something else.