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

[van ordinaire]

I remember when "CORGI" came out, my parents knew a plumber (who, of course became a "central heating engineer" overnight) & he said you just had to pay your subscription - & you could plaster their logo all over your stationary & vans.

Back when, for a quiet life, I paid for BG to do an annual "service", in preparation I had to remove the case from the boiler, because the 1st time the man couldn't do it, because it was to tight a fit in the cupboard - the when I came home it was covered with all sorts of "dangerous - do not use" warnings.

[CitroJim]

when I came home it was covered with all sorts of "dangerous - do not use" warnings.

I had that happen once when my almost new system failed at a time when I was very ill and totally unable to do for myself anything... I called BG who immediately condemned it on sight, covered it in those notices and left me, very ill and freezing cold, without any care, compassion or anything...

I was fuming and horrified that the BG man was so callous as to leave me stranded in such a situation... I had to get the bloody thing working - it was only a water leak due to a badly fitted pipe fitting (again! - a recurring topic here!) - so I had no choice but to hunt down any old plumber who'd do the fix quickly...

The installations transgressions were so minor the BG man could have fixed them in ten minutes...

BG can go swivel for ever now as far as I'm concerned. Looking after your world? Are they buggery

Nowadays I'm fit enough to do all my own repairs again now and have. Still not fixed the installation transgressions yet

[RichardW]

BG's answer to any boiler related question seems to be "Can't get any parts for it, quote for a new one £3500"!!

[daviemck2006]

They did similar to me. I smelt gas so phoned for help. BG man came, looked at the boiler and said there's a leak there, I have to shut off your gas supply, which he did then left me in winter with no heat. I didn't want to touch it, I don't do electric or gas very well, took me 2 days to get a heating engineer who put the gas back on and one 1/2 turn of a spanner stopped the leak and charged me 85 quid for it. To say I was annoyed was an understatement.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[CitroJim]

Must be the cushiest job in the world being a BG engineer

You just drive around all day condemning systems and leaving people chilled in the worst possible way...

[myglaren]

at the previous to last service they were going to condemn my cooker as it had no knobs on - the heat ruins them and they are £13 each so £78 a set.
Me and Bob (son) just turned the axles (for want of a better word) with our fingers, easy enough except for the oven where we had a dedicated pair of pliers.

They said it was dangerous

Bob was the only one at home at the time and told him where he could stick his condemned notice and showed him the door.

[Zelandeth]

Well picked up a thermocouple off Amazon today (should be with us tomorrow), so that can be kept in the spares drawer in case it fails.

I've tried innumerable times to get an engineer in to service the system over the last couple of years, and so far I've failed. Results I've had have been no response to the request for a quote, response of "that's not worth my getting out the van for" and just failing to turn up.

To say it's frustrating would be an understatement.

That dome nut I was looking for finally arrived today!

So was finally able to get things connected up and start the testing of the fuel injection stuff.

Initial signs are good. The pump works just fine, and the pressure regulator seems to be perfectly happy with the slightly more powerful pump. We did initially have fuel spraying out of the connection on the fuel filter which was rapidly tracked to a perished O-ring. Will get those all replaced as a matter of course.

Also good to see that the pump seems quite happy to be fed from a hose rather than suspended in the tank.

Finished off for the evening just as I was starting to run out of daylight by giving the injection assembly a good clean, so that bit is ready to go on now.

Actually looking like I might be able to make a proper start on this project next week!

[Zelandeth]

Well I decided to give the previous Cherokee I was looking at a miss. Primarily because I couldn't get any really useful information out of the seller. I asked about the state of the previous welding done (I think every one of the last six or so MOTs had an initial failure due to corrosion), and the only response I got was "there's no rot, all done for the mot." The fact that I could see several areas of either filler or primer on the photos scattered all over the thing suggested otherwise. It was also I reckon priced rather optimistically.

Of course, the world being what it is - I've almost immediately found another one! Nicely low mileage at 113K, no recorded MOT failures for corrosion (all braking/tyre related it looks like), just rough *enough* around the edges cosmetically, a full new set of tyres, and an asking price of £750 rather than a grand, which sounds more likely to be able to haggle down to a sensible number.

It is in Bristol though...

[CitroJim]

Excellent! better luck with the second Chrokee Zel.

Bristol is not far Cars from down that way tend to be good - the deeper into Somerset you go the better they seem to be.

[Zelandeth]

Think I've just got a predisposition against Bristol because the first few times I had to get there were back in the days when I didn't drive down here and couldn't afford the train (still can't usually!) so generally got around by coach. Getting to Bristol by coach is a pain.

Used to take me very nearly as long to do the 90 odd miles between here and Bristol as it did to get from Aberdeen to here!

I'm sure when driving yourself things are a bit simpler...Need to look at a map this afternoon I think.

[CitroJim]

A34/M4 Zel, couldn't be easier... What part of Bristol is it?

[Zelandeth]

A34/M4 Zel, couldn't be easier... What part of Bristol is it?

BS36 postcode area apparently. Out and about just now, but will take a look at a map when back home.

[CitroJim]

That's well outside of Bristol Zel and on 'our' side of it too...

Not far from Yate by the looks of it...

[Zelandeth]

Doesn't look too hard to get to really, just a quick hop from the M4 really.

The wind this afternoon revealed how well sealed a couple of our (few) remaining old windows weren't. They've been screwed shut since about two years ago as they really don't need to open. So I attacked them today with some silicone sealant - no more draughts over there and it's noticeable immediately how much quieter the room is now. They will be getting replaced before the end of the year anyway so I'm not going to worry too much about how well lasting my repair is. On that subject as a complete random aside, I'll happily put a recommendation in for DG Solutions if you're needing any glazing work done. We've had about 2/3rds of our windows and all the exterior doors switched out now, and both the product that's been fitted and the service offered has been absolutely top notch. No connection by the way other than as a very satisfied customer!

EDIT: Have dropped the seller of the Cherokee a message asking when suits to go take a look at it. Fingers crossed they'll get back sooner rather than later, and also hoping the weekend would suit as I can probably borrow one of my housemates to give me a lift then. If I can't, so be it, I'll just drive down - even though I have to say that the Lada isn't exactly...the most relaxed of motorway cruisers. ...That's half the reason I want something like the Jeep. I refer back to my earlier "High velocity squidgy leather sofa" analogy. High velocity, equipped with cruise control, soft suspension and decent sound insulation too.

Much as I do love the Lada, she's really happier trundling along at 50 or so than storming along at 70 on the motorway. She'll do it, don't get me wrong...but by that point thanks to gear ratios from the 60s, you're turning somewhere in the region of 4000rpm, the wind noise is already deafening you, the exhaust is at that point in the rev band making is presence very clearly known, and basically everything in the car which can find a way to make noise does so (even if by all rights it shouldn't be able to). The inch or so of dead zone in the straight ahead position inherent to the steering does occasionally become tiresome on a motorway as well, though generally only if you're dealing with a gusty sidewind or dodgy surface. Otherwise you just get into a sort of rhythm with it and stop noticing after a while. I realised a week or so back actually that I'd really stopped noticing that, the tendency to "squirm" when braking (which I found downright terrifying when I first got it), and aside from when parking, the general weight of the steering.

[Zelandeth]

Ah well, so much for that plan. Someone's gone and beaten me to it. Have told the seller to keep me in mind at least in case they turn out to be time wasters.

It was priced to sell to be fair.