Another very productive Strawberry-shaped day...
The rattle mentioned above I thought was coming from the LH speaker area although a bit of inspection showed it wasn't...
What was interesting was the JVC speaker dated 2019. At some point this car did have a wireless in it...
I did not immediately put it back together as it would be handy for sill access later
The rattle actually turned out to be the back seat lap belt. It had been tucked away and had worked itself right down under the seat and the buckle was sliding around the floorpan and kicking up a proper racket...
The major task today was a spot of preventative rustproofing. Wheels off and a thorough clean under the wheelarches...
Before applying the rustproofing stuff:
Much to Alasdair's undoubted expected abject disapproval (he's a majority Bilt Hamber shareholder) I used Lanoguard. It seems to be well regarded and for me it has a massive and very critical advantage - it does not make me ill for days as the Bilt Hamber product does. For that reason I don't mind having to re-apply it on a regular basis...
I'm not criticising Bilt Hamber stuff at all; I know it's excellent and I'd use it for preference if it did not cause me such unhappiness.
I also obtained the kit (sprayer, probe and pot of viscous Lanoguard) at a considerable discount!
It'll be interesting to see how it holds up. I'll be keeping an eye on it and report in due course.
I checked all the sill drain holes were clear - they were
Leaving the speakers out allowed me to check the sills internally and get some Lanoguard into them. Again, unlike Bilt Hamber stuff, it doesn't stink the interior of the car out and make me feel decidedly queasy whilst driving....
Doing all this allowed me the opportunity to give the whole car a very deep and intensive check-over in every area... She's very, very sound everywhere and very, very healthy in all respects
I found just one issue
Not long ago she had a new LH driveshaft because the CV boot was split... Doing all the work today I spotted some grease on the subframe in the vicinity of this driveshaft's inner CV joint...
The boot is split
On a new driveshaft. Not good... The split can just be seen in this picture:
I have the old driveshaft (Strawberry was accompanied by a positive treasure-trove of spares when she joined me - a bit like a dowry!) so I'll see if the old shaft is good and re-bootable. Then it'll be a quick swap and all will be good...
I'm loving how Strawberry is keeping me busy...
No car work is planned tomorrow as I have the November Citroenian column to write, cooking to do and for a lot of the day I'll be spending it with a very special nearly two-year-old bundle of fun and energy
