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

[mickthemaverick]

Only a suggestion Zel and it depends entirely on your relationship with neighbours, but when we had a similar problem I negotiated a bridging arrangement with our neighbour, to use their wifi for the intervening period. I happily paid them £10 a week for as long as it took and we were able to maintain our internet based work during the three weeks it took and the neighbour's went out for dinner on the unexpected income!! Just a thought!!

[Zelandeth]

Only a suggestion Zel and it depends entirely on your relationship with neighbours, but when we had a similar problem I negotiated a bridging arrangement with our neighbour, to use their wifi for the intervening period. I happily paid them £10 a week for as long as it took and we were able to maintain our internet based work during the three weeks it took and the neighbour's went out for dinner on the unexpected income!! Just a thought!!

Sadly being in a detached house means we can only just about, occasionally see the occasional blip of any wireless networks other than our own.

[Zelandeth]

After disappearing for a few weeks the charging issue on the Jag has reappeared.



The alternator is still producing power, albeit vastly reduced and is relative to engine speed. I've noticed over the last couple of weeks that the cut in point has been sitting unusually high, at about 1500rpm. Anywhere below that it would sit off charge. No slipping belt this time, it's actually an internal issue.

New alternator time methinks. It's probably a regulator issue (don't think it's a sticky brush like I had on the Saab as the ignition light on the dash is behaving normally), but given how much of a pain access is (I'm assuming it's not really any better from underneath) I'm disinclined to mess around swapping parts. Even if it costs me an extra £150 or so I'd rather just fit a new one. Otherwise Murphy's Law ensures a bearing will self destruct in six months time requiring me to pull it out again. Once it's done it's done. I could potentially overhaul the old one on the bench and sell it on later to recoup some of the cost maybe. Though given what a pain selling anything is these days it'll be far more likely to disappear onto a shelf in the garage as a standby spare.

Oh, and rear tyres definitely need to happen. They seem absolutely fine in the dry, but are utterly lethal in the wet. Had the first instance yesterday of it *properly* trying to go sideways on me while pulling out of a junction, even though I was barely touching the throttle. She's a heavy old girl with a lot of momentum when that happens! It was all managed tidily and without any real drama, but really does hit home quite how much respect you need to treat a car like this with. All it takes is a millisecond of carelessness in the wet to end up in a lot of trouble. Especially bearing in mind that on a damp road, in a straight line if you're on more than about 2/3rds throttle she will light up both rear wheels when the gearbox drops from 1st to 2nd - at about 60mph, which is a somewhat alarming moment to discover you have wheelspin. So I very deliberately ease off momentarily at about 40 to encourage the box to make that change in a less dynamically unpredictable manner. There are moments when an LSD is a liability rather than an aid. I've been pleasantly surprised by the ones that went on the front recently, so may well just stick with those again. I'd still *like* to get a proper set of 215/70s on there, but just can't justify the price given our current situation.

[Armidillo]

At least swapping front and rear tyres might be safer than the current situation - assuming the understeer on a wet road is manageable, which it should be given a sensitive foot on the throttle .

[CitroJim]

Gosh Zel, what a terrible tangled tale of gross ineptitude Quite honestly, words fail me

And Sky's attitude is just abysmal...

I hope there is something you can do to give you a decent service in the interim... Is there no ISP that might give you a short-term contract to see you over until Cityfibre can do the job?

[Zelandeth]

Based on our prior dealings with them the attitude of Sky doesn't surprise me in the slightest. They are the most willfully obstructive company I have ever had to deal with. Well that's not true actually, that award goes to BT I think. It's a close run thing though.

Biggest issue with getting another provider in to plug the gap is that there's a 7-14 day switchover period involved in getting the service switched over on the line. That's pretty much entirely down to OpenReach apparently rather than the provider in question. By that point it's barely worth bothering with.

[bobins]

The 7-14 day switchover seems to be an entirely random feature. I've known one person get put onto Plusnet/John Lewis about 3 days after they first applied, whilst another has had to wait weeks due to Openreach being somewhat crap.

[Zelandeth]

Right, we have finally managed to get - after another several hours on the phone - Sky to co-operate.

Cost us through the nose, but it's done now. We will be writing a very firmly worded formal letter of complaint to Vodafone in due course. If we'd not been able to get Sky to play ball we'd have had at least one person stuck having to commue to London...or if we were a family with kids, what would they have done? Especially given they're all using Teams I think which is about the worst resource hog I've ever seen!

Had to go out today to pick up some things for a friend who is still fully shielding, a couple of prescriptions for us and some dog food.

With the Jag not currently charging its battery, the van being out of MOT and the Xantia currently stinking of diesel to the extent it makes me feel ill after about ten minutes, there was only one obvious choice.



Not hard to spot which one there is mine is it?



No summer only show queens in this house.

Glad to report that the ignition system seems entirely happy with the newly relocated condenser. I knew there was absolutely no reason it wouldn't have worked, but nevertheless it's nice when the laws of physics actually co-operate.

Was absolutely staggered with how busy everywhere was today...Ridiculous.

[CitroJim]

Pleased at least something is sorted with the Internet Zel

Was absolutely staggered with how busy everywhere was today...Ridiculous.

So you've noticed too! It's a funny old lockdown and people just don't seem to care They should have a word with my daughter, working where she does, she'll tell them how it really is...

Why does the Xantia stink of diesel? I must have missed something...

[Zelandeth]

Why does the Xantia stink of diesel? I must have missed something...

That's courtesy of the brand new fuel can I was picking up fuel for the heater in the van in tipping over (because it's a daft tall narrow shape) and leaking. So there's about two litres of diesel soaked into the boot carpet.

It'll need to come out and be attacked with detergent and the pressure washer I reckon...but that needs to wait until warmer weather!

[Hell Razor5543]

You might (if you can put up with the change of smell) want to use a citrus based detergent on that carpet. My Mum (who, when required, does a basic servicing on her narrow head Perkins engine) found that hand washes with a strong orange component got rid of the smell of diesel from her hands. I have some in the back of my car for that reason. I would much rather have my hands smell of oranges than of diesel.

[CitroJim]

Why does the Xantia stink of diesel? I must have missed something...

That's courtesy of the brand new fuel can I was picking up fuel for the heater in the van in tipping over (because it's a daft tall narrow shape) and leaking. So there's about two litres of diesel soaked into the boot carpet.

It'll need to come out and be attacked with detergent and the pressure washer I reckon...but that needs to wait until warmer weather!

Oh dear Zel

You might (if you can put up with the change of smell) want to use a citrus based detergent on that carpet. My Mum (who, when required, does a basic servicing on her narrow head Perkins engine) found that hand washes with a strong orange component got rid of the smell of diesel from her hands. I have some in the back of my car for that reason. I would much rather have my hands smell of oranges than of diesel.

Good tip James I hate the smell of diesel - and by extension things like Plus-Gas and WD-40 - so will try some... Agreed, I've no problem smelling like an orange

[Zelandeth]

You might (if you can put up with the change of smell) want to use a citrus based detergent on that carpet. My Mum (who, when required, does a basic servicing on her narrow head Perkins engine) found that hand washes with a strong orange component got rid of the smell of diesel from her hands. I have some in the back of my car for that reason. I would much rather have my hands smell of oranges than of diesel.

Think we're a bit beyond that here. Given that there's about a third of a five litre can soaked in there it'll need to come out to be dealt with. Definitely something to keep in mind though.

[Zelandeth]

Oops. I did it again.

I have GOT to stop rummaging around on eBay at 4am when I can't sleep.

[daviemck2006]

Oops. I did it again.



I have GOT to stop rummaging around on eBay at 4am when I can't sleep.

That's when I end up buying another car!!!!