The Little Run About Thread

[fossyant]

Mini vans were pretty cool though !!!.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Mini vans were pretty cool though !!!.

My dad had a Diahatsu 55 wide van. 2 or 3 cylinder 550cc under the seat.
I'd borrow it for weekends, thrash down to Newquay with surfboards atop and sleep in the back. Got hit by a bread van at 5am once...that woke us up!
Loadsa fun....

 

[fossyant]

The Aygo is now 'cool' - just in time ! Offer on at ATS via Groupon (needs to be booked on-line) - Air Con re-gas for £38.99. Just had the Aygo done. No oil or gas in it pre re-gas. Now all running tickety boo, and we have cold air coming out, just in time for this mini heatwave. I'd been holding off until there was an offer, as we didn't know if there was a fault with the system (possibly costly). All seems fine and pressure test passed.

Whilst there, ordered two new tyres for the rear. The front's will be replaced before winter.

 

[fossyant]

Air Con still working fine after a week, so fingers crossed, no leaks, and it was just that the previous owner didn't do much more than drive the car - see earlier posts about the front discs and pads.

Two new Avon ZT7's fitted for the grand sum of £103 on the rear. Front's will be done before winter. Bought it a USB powered Aux input bluetooth device for streaming music from phones - our new phones don't have 3.5mm outputs and the in-car 'radio' only has an aux input.

 

[fossyant]

The air con has lasted about 4 weeks so a small leak rather than component failure. Got a DIY leak repair and refill kit to use as reviews positive for leaks like mine. That's waiting back at home.

I took the car down to Wales to the caravan for last 10 days. It seems to be sipping fuel as we've done days out in it rather than the Qashqai (which is here as MrsF is staying a bit longer). Daughter has had a couple of goes driving it, but she really needs an instructor which we are waiting for a slot.

I'd have filled up again in my car, this seems to be going and going on £40 of fuel.

 

[I like Skol]

The air con has lasted about 4 weeks so a small leak rather than component failure.

I would have expected a 4 week leak (presumably 4 weeks from refill to not giving any cooling?) To be picked up by the leak check prior to refill, provided they actually bothered to do this rather than evacuate the system and refill so they could take your money.

 

[fossyant]

It passed a leak test, but the main thing was to check it worked as we didn't know. Lots of A/C issues are caused by lack of use so we've no history of the car. We use A/C full time on the other two cars.

So kit arrived and leak stop applied. Was enough gas in the leak stop to get a decent pressure and a/c kicked in and working. Not used the refill can yet as the pressure gauge was in the middle of the 'correct' range around 35 PSI.

Will see how this goes before any further work.

 

[fossyant]

Leak found (fingers crossed). Poking about in the engine (we've another issue) and I could see some of the dye on the high pressure pipe of the a/c. Looked closely and could see bubbling where the sensor bolts onto the high pressure pipe. Quick nip up with spanners and it's sorted.

The car has been going flat overnight on the last few days. New battery bought. Same happened. Hmm parasitic draw somewhere. So off we set, poking about, and can hear a tiny buzz coming from the engine bay - more investigation, fuse pulling - still there ? I then notice that the alternator is rather warm to touch and the 'buzz' can be felt.

I'm assuming a failed diode and the current is flowing back into the alternator. New Denso unit ordered and I'll collect shortly.

 

[fossyant]

All fixed. Told my spanner monkey to fix it (son) . Car started fine earlier, and no buzz from the engine when powered off. Bumper off job, which is easy on an Aygo, about 7 bolts

 

[fossyant]

No further issues with the Aygo, and the aircon has remained fully gassed and is working fine - I'd never have a car without it now, especially today. Did a 6 month oil change on it last week - had new oil when we bought it, but I suspect it wasn't a new filter. ECP for discount, and got some Shell Helix synthetic and a Bosch filter for £25. Still no sign of getting driving lessons for daughter - all booked up.

We drove it down to Wales and back last week - the other cars had no fuel in, and I'd just put £40 in it. The gauge only moved 1 bar for the 130 mile round trip - I must check out what it's doing to a tank, but it sees a petrol station once in a blue moon.

 

[DCLane]

Still no sign of getting driving lessons for daughter - all booked up.

We used these for son no. 2: https://intensivedrivingcourses-bennetts.co.uk/

They tackled the practical test using a cancellation service, then found the instructor based around that test and had it all done in a week. The total cost was around £850 for the test plus 22 hours' of lessons.

We'd have still been waiting for the past year if we had tried to do it the 'traditional' way.

 

[fossyant]

The little Aygo has just passed the MOT test with no advisories - whoop. Dropped it off at 8:15 and they'd done it by 9:45 - checked on line and have seen the certificate - they haven't phoned me yet !

Couple of jobs on it recently - keep getting a 'boing' noise when coming off the accelerator at low speeds. Finally found it last night.

The car had a full exhaust, including cat and manifold earlier in the year. The fitters had re-used bent bolts to secure the pipe to the cat so as the engine/manifold moved, the spring on the bolt was at a stupid angle so made a noise. Unfortunately, it was made of cheese and the bolt head snapped off last night. So one bolt holding pipe on, but it's secure - it's not come up as an issue on the MOT but I'll get it fixed.

Whilst doing this job, I took the bumper off as the same 'exhaust' garage hadn't refitted the support bracket for the cat - it's a small bracket that secures the cat/manifold to the lower part of the engine, and stops the cat flexing too much - common issue on city bugs and it an crack the welds if allowed to continue.

Daughter is now having lessons and has been doing a little practice in the Aygo at weekends.

 

[I like Skol]

I've been fixing my son's rust bucket car this week....

That front panel was supposed to be attached!

It is now

 

[I like Skol]

Luckily we have a set-up that is a cross between Welderup and Scrapheap Challenge

 

[fossyant]

I've been fixing my son's rust bucket car this week....

View attachment 662022

That front panel was supposed to be attached!

It is now

Looks frighting when the front is off a car. The Aygo has about 8 screws that hold on the front bumper - off it just pops.