Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Keeping the Audi?

Then bangernomics IMO but you have to know what you are looking at and maybe do a bit of work yourself.

Oh fuck, is the engine knocking?

Mini Cooper S?

But TBH ChasnotRobert has hit the nail on the head. Good stereo and adaptive CC is what I'd be looking for.

I’ve got the Volvo booked in for a service and diagnostics at Bridgend Volvo Specialists a week today. I’ll swing the list they give me past my pal and see what we can sort between us. I replaced the rear wiper motor on it yesterday and did the wipers. I’m pretty sure it still had the the original rear blade on there, it was Volvo branded and absolutely fucked.

I nearly shat myself though when i opened the driver’s side dash access and a fist full of fuses dropped out. It turns out there’s a holder with a spare of every fuse mounted on the inside of the little door. No warning lights and no issues up to Herefordshire last night.

Two punctures in 5km miles is pretty bad isn’t it?

This went about a mile from home.

1 Attachment

Unlucky really. Any obvious culprits?

Haven’t figured out what did it yet. Presume it’s not repairable, even if it’s in the tread, as the sidewall looks badly scuffed up by the 30m or so of total flat as I shuffled it home.

I can’t believe it. It’s the first time I had driven it in four weeks.

Fuck these things really

Are all 4 in the same shape? Replacing just one is usually not recommended - think about replacing both rear tyres or all 4. The puncture warranty thing can be handy when buying new tyres, especially if you get them from a reputable chain. Not here, but in the US I managed to get 3 tyres out of one warranty. That was worth whatever I paid for that (maybe $10 a tyre at the time)

Not that I can hear.

I did about 135 miles at Bedford (pretty decent I think), all between about 4.5 and 7k revs, I think drove to my sister's house, which was mostly motorway so constant 4k-ish revs. The whole time oil temp and pressures were fine, no sign of a problem.

I then was stopped at my sister's for about 2.5 hours, going back out to the car to drive home, when I started it up, the oil temp was about 32 degrees, so had mostly cooled down, but the oil pressure was 1.5psi. I shut it off straight away, but I have started it 2 more times just for a couple of seconds to check whether particular attempts to fix it had worked.

I checked the oil pressure sender and that was on properly, and actually a bolt from the oil pump was missing entirely, so I replaced that and checked again.

My current thinking is that either that bolt has been missing the whole time or it worked its way loose during the trackday.

If it was missing for a period at higher revs, perhaps the oil pump misaligned slightly and just wore away the teeth on the main gear. Once everything cooled down the pump is basically not doing anything at all any more and is now junk.

I don't know whether it's worth taking this engine apart, diagnosing and rebuilding, or just putting another engine in.

Once again I am unemployed and while I'd love to throw a couple of grand at an engine, put the TODA high lift cams I've got in the garage in the engine, convert to solid lifters and rev it to 8k, I need to be sensible with money.

You’re right. Comfy seat and safe are my top priority closely followed by fuel economy.

My thinking is diesel will be more economical but at the same time diesel will become very expensive to run/maintain.

My main concern is wearing the 80 out. Or it needing a lot of work to keep it going.

Have you checked the oil level? Was astonished how much my normally healthy mx5 used on a track day. Obviously ignore me if you've checked this.

Diesel is a poor choice generally and you aren't doing significant mileage. Electric/hybrid?

Salvageable?

Was ridden flat for 50m at walking pace

2 Attachments

Looks ok. I can’t see any damage to the sidewall. Get a tyre shop to have a look. Don’t forget to check the inside wall too!!

Might be too close to the edge for then to say it's safe to fix. Give it a go yourself with a lack of those slime bacon inserts. Really easy to do 👍

Got a link? Assume it’s a tubeless plug.

Assume that wouldn’t be a permanent repair?

Needs a service anyway. Could use a plug to get it going then replace the whole lot at service.

2 x >50 motorway miles p/w with a £5k budget sounds pretty diesel to me.

Dirty fuel/depreciation/sound bad/rarely fun. The fumes when I'm cycling is enough to never consider.

Yeah it's got plenty of oil in it, it's just not circulating.

I'd bet that a tyre shop will write that off so as others have said, new tyre or DIY fix.

Personally, I don't like to economise on car tyres as if it goes flat again it's a PITA and if it gives up at motorway speed it could be more than just a nuisance.

Yeah this is where I’m at on it. I’ll put sealant in it and get it to a service station and have them all or the rears replaced.

The body shop I work for take our wheels to a local tyre shop. They remove the tyres and then the wheels are sent elsewhere for refurb. It's a bit time consuming but the results are always good. We used to use a local (Reading) wheel refurb place but I think Stevie Wonder works there now. So perhaps go to a slightly less local tyre fitter and ask who they would use rather than if they do it themselves. I am not a wheel refurb expert either.

Got a link? Assume it’s a tubeless plug.
Assume that wouldn’t be a permanent repair?

Yeah one of these:
https://www.autopartcentre.uk/products/slime-20464-tyre-plug-kit

I don't have a space saver in my car and don't trust liquid sealants.

Assume that wouldn’t be a permanent repair?

Always curious about why people say this.

I've only seen it done on a motorbike tyre, but the combined pressure of a tyre, and friction between tyre and plug makes me wonder what the issue is.

All I can think it that because you usually have to enlarge the hole, if the plug moves then you'll have a bigger blow out.

But again it still seems unlikely to me, so I'd love to know the rational.