Falcon's Bargain Basement Motoring

[MattBLancs]

Just watched the video, yep that metal cover is daft! Is there some sort of grommet missing or did they really have a raw sheet steel edge dancing about against the loom!?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Just watched the video, yep that metal cover is daft! Is there some sort of grommet missing or did they really have a raw sheet steel edge dancing about against the loom!?

For the problem being "notorious" as I describe I think not. Yet another example in automotive electrics in general and not only "French" electrics of lack of basic securing and protection of wiring installations and wiring terminations. My red leaf was immobilised by a poor electrical termination to a vital connector known as a B24 which has a series of weedy wires carryring 12V supply /Ground/CAN Communication to various components inside the traction battery box including the Battery Controller (ecu) One corroded and broken 12V supply wire caused by abrasion from the hard plastic trunking immobilised the entire car.



Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Well in a try this try that try the other approach I have ordered a MAP sensor from Parts in Motion. As a blast from the past it is LUCAS branded, under £20. I thought I would look at what Eurocarparts had to offer some time since I have shopped there. Bearing in mind these are churned out in China for about £2.50 a piece, ECP were offering to sell the famous Starline Brand at not much short of £100. Surely they are going to remain on the shelf forever at that price, or do some folk actually put them in their basket and buy them!

GSF want £40 for a Hella one, and £125 for a Bosch. Parts in motion have the Bosch at £35.

Neil

[bobins]

........ECP were offering to sell the famous Starline Brand at not much short of £100. Surely they are going to remain on the shelf forever at that price, or do some folk actually put them in their basket and buy them!


Neil

The local garage that repairs the unwitting member of the public's car will be quite happy to charge them the full retail price of the ECP parts that they've just fitted to their car to keep them going It's a bit like the builders who get their building materials from the local builder's merchants - they don't have much interest in getting 'a good price' for them as they're only going to pass the cost onto the householder anyway

[MattBLancs]

I'm not sure what's happened to Euro Car Parts (and sister company CarParts4Less), I used to use them quite regularly, they used to be pretty competitive and normally had a "cheap as possible" and "decent make" option for most things.
But their prices are far from competitive nowadays and their choice of brands seem to have reduced too.

[myglaren]

I read somewhere that they also owned GSF and another parts supplier but can't see anything other than that they own Andrew Page.

[bobins]

They did own GSF for a while, but the competition and markets lot told them to get rid of GSF, and the original founder of ECP then bought into GSF and now part-owns it.

I tend to keep car parts I want saved in my watchlist on ebay and then I play the waiting game until an offer comes along.

[MattBLancs]

They did own GSF for a while, but the competition and markets lot told them to get rid of GSF, and the original founder of ECP then bought into GSF and now part-owns it.

Interesting, didn't know that!
GSF seemed uncompetitive for a while (to the extent I gave up looking on their site for a while) but recently are giving good prices some times. Suspect that'd align with the movements in ownership!

I tend to keep car parts I want saved in my watchlist on ebay and then I play the waiting game until an offer comes along.

Yep me too!
eBay Watch list,
Autodoc Wish list
And occasionally I'll put links in my blog on here of stuff I'm considering.

eBay seems commonly to trigger "this item you've shown an interest in, here's a special price" - for some items the actual if adding to Watch List triggers it, for others just viewing the item seems to set it off

[CitroJim]

One time I bought an oil filter from Halfrauds and they sourced it (and a whole load of other ordered-in spares) from the ECP branch just down the road...

Maybe they have some connection with them too?

[NewcastleFalcon]

If the problem is on the fuel side as I suspect, the trail starts at the tank.

The pump is inside the tank, that pump is responsible for pressurising the fuel. This component is described by the oracle that is autodoc as the fuel pump valve/fuel pressure regulator. A cheap as chips bit and they carry them as spares so presumably from time to time they fail.
On first acquisition of the car back in 2017 it had spent some months maybe even years sitting surplus to requirements under a tree. Plenty of time for whatever petrol was in the tank to fester. Of course the car has done 40,000 miles since, but may still carry some crud in its lower reaches.

Never inspected either the pick up or the in tank pump.

Next in line there is an external fuel filter mounted to the rear of the car. Not changed that pretty much since the early days of ownership..

The fuel line/lines are new enough.

Next the Fuel rail

Next the injectors

Thats about it on the fuel supply side!

Neil

[MattBLancs]

One time I bought an oil filter from Halfrauds and they sourced it (and a whole load of other ordered-in spares) from the ECP branch just down the road...

Maybe they have some connection with them too?

Yes, my understanding is there is a link there.
EDIT Yep! https://www.catmag.co.uk/article/euro-c ... rtnership/

To use Halfords on occasion (with Trade Card) - do rate their lifetime warranty tools too, broken bits swapped without quibbles

[CitroJim]

Oh yes, I fully agree about their tools Matt and whilst most of the rest of the organisation has succumbed to tat and bling their tools seem to continue being of good quality...

Long may it last.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Much as a wordy description can be useful there is nothing like a picture or a diagram for a bit of clarity. of the nitty gritty.

Click and it gets bigger!

I think due to its positioning that what was previously described as a Fuel Filter External to the tank and slung underneath the clio at the rear is decribed on the diagram as a fuel vapour recirculation tank.

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

A useful diagram Neil, I still wonder if my earlier suggestion may be a possibility re intermittant loss of fuel pressure. A pinhole in the vapour pipe may also cause an occasional blip in manifold/rail pressure?

[Stickyfinger]

Neil

Wire by Lurrkeee LooKas ?