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The Car Thread


MadManMike

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On a theft related note, I once had a MK2 Golf tucked away in a council lockup, that I was borrowing bits off for my daily MK2. Went to it one day to find the padlock smashed off but seemingly nothing missing (I later realised they'd taken the key I'd hidden in there).

Fixed the lock and moved on, the following week same thing but the thieves had clearly had a closer look at the car and actually bolted the wheels on and taken it off the stands... I fixed the lock with a better one, moved on.

The following week they'd been in again to try and get the car going, they'd left a trolley jack and a load of fairly decent tools behind this time, so I took the tools, sold the car complete with the missing driveshaft that would have prevented them ever taking the thing, emptied the garage and fixed the lock knowing full well they'd be back.

I'd love to have seen their faces when they went back :)

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Car overheats, I turn it off to avoid damage. I can't turn it on again, I just get rapid clicking. I jump out to figure out what to do and notice shit loads of smoke. Opened the boot to find LOTS of smoke. Quickly emptied the car of all valuables, just in case.

All of this at one of the really busy junctions in Bristol, at rush hour.

Thankfully, some great people stopped and helped me, but she's currently parked up for the night.

No clue what the problem is, but it could be high resistance from crap connections.

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51 minutes ago, MadManMike said:

 

That's a bummer. Hope it's an easy fix.

My day was much better than that thankfully, I gave the Alfa a send off drive over Black Mountain pass. Putting it up for sale very soon, probably against my better judgement considering how excellent it has been. 

DSC_0737.JPG

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32 minutes ago, Pete.M said:

That's a bummer. Hope it's an easy fix.

My day was much better than that thankfully, I gave the Alfa a send off drive over Black Mountain pass. Putting it up for sale very soon, probably against my better judgement considering how excellent it has been. 

DSC_0737.JPG

Pre facelift? :(.. how much you after?

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Pre face-lift, with some sort of aftermarket headlights that have darker surrounds. Haven't quite finalised the price but I think I'll try for around 1200 to begin with. 156k miles. Did the timing and auxiliary belts last year. Momo leather seats, bose speakers, rain sensing wipers, semi-working air conditioning. 

DSC_0409.JPG

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OMFG, you won't believe what the problem with my car was.

A previous owner had used tiny SPEAKER WIRE as one of the main battery cables and it totally fried it. The smoke wasn't the battery, but the wire that was about 6 inches further into the car.

It was about 1/3 of the thickness of a proper earth strap.

Unbelievable. How it hasn't caught fire before now, I don't know.

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The rest looks OK.

It looks to me like the original one snapped, so they crimped in this 6" section of speaker wire. I've never needed to look down there, so haven't spotted it before. If you just looked at the battery, everything looked alright.

It's amazing that it lasted so long.

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4 hours ago, MadManMike said:

The rest looks OK.

It looks to me like the original one snapped, so they crimped in this 6" section of speaker wire. I've never needed to look down there, so haven't spotted it before. If you just looked at the battery, everything looked alright.

It's amazing that it lasted so long.

Pics required! 

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That's brilliant! It makes you wonder how some people think.

Jumping in with my latest car news...

I'm STILL trying to decide what to do next. The LC has 171k miles on it now but is still going strong. However, some rust is starting to appear around arches and the bodywork/wheels aren't in the best condition. Probably not that surprising as I'm still doing 350 miles a week.

So half of me still wants more power and the other half would like better fuel economy. This has brought me to the following options:

1. Keep the LC, do nothing until something major breaks.

2. Keep the LC, buy a hybrid turbo etc. (Would also need engine rebuild?)

3. Buy a 2.0TFSI (VRS or A3) <£4000

4. Buy a 2.0 CR (VRS or A3)

5. Quit owning 'quicker' cars/accept people overtaking me and buy something sensible.

Any opinions would be appreciated.

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Is this the first order you've placed with them? 

I used to work for an online bike shop and any first time order from a foreign country worth over £100 we would ask them to confirm some details to prevent fraudulent transactions

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1 hour ago, J.KYDD said:

Is this the first order you've placed with them? 

I used to work for an online bike shop and any first time order from a foreign country worth over £100 we would ask them to confirm some details to prevent fraudulent transactions

It was - seems that is there protocol however its not very well explained. the language barrier has now resulted in the order been cancelled and me waiting on a refund &lt;_&lt;

 

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