What is happening

[vyon]

Congratulations SpaceCowboy. And congratulations to the mother too.

In other news, my son, with his partner and sons, Tama and Rumi, have made it safely from Canada to Budapest. I've yet to hear whether he's staying in his father's house in Buda or somewhere else.

[mara]

Congratulations !

[mawra]

Congrats Spacecowboy.

Fun week, not. Tahoe won't start. Has gas, not the battery, or starter. Getting it towed Monday. Wich means 1 car. Sister works 12-8. Kibby works 4-11:30ish. I'm taking sister to work. Hanging around town until Kibby goes in at 4. Then waiting until sister gets off, taking her home. Coming back up town to get Kibby.
My sister has to be at work at 5am Sat or she would stay up town. Luckily Kibby's off on Sat. Sister's off Sunday. Monday will be repete of today. Hopefully it won't take much to get Tahoe fixed.
Not sure we're going to pay for it, if it's much.

[Priscilla]

I hope it does not take much to fix the Tahoe. It always seems to be something with cars and other mechanical things. Good luck!

[granath]

Originally Posted by mawra

Congrats Spacecowboy.

Fun week, not. Tahoe won't start. Has gas, not the battery, or starter. Getting it towed Monday. Wich means 1 car. Sister works 12-8. Kibby works 4-11:30ish. I'm taking sister to work. Hanging around town until Kibby goes in at 4. Then waiting until sister gets off, taking her home. Coming back up town to get Kibby.
My sister has to be at work at 5am Sat or she would stay up town. Luckily Kibby's off on Sat. Sister's off Sunday. Monday will be repete of today. Hopefully it won't take much to get Tahoe fixed.
Not sure we're going to pay for it, if it's much.

Good luck with getting your car troubles sorted. I hope it's something simple and inexpensive. I'm just so glad that my husband's a decent amateur mechanic, or we could never afford to run our 4 old cars, including a 1988 Volvo 740 my husband inherited from his grandfather.

[mawra]

One can but hope car problem is something cheap.

[Zelandeth]

Assuming it was running fine when parked up and is cranking over normally my money would be on either the crankshaft/camshaft position sensors having packed up. Without those the ECU doesn't know where in the rotation the engine is so neither the fuel injectors nor ignition* will fire. If that's the case it shouldn't be a massive issue to get sorted.

Obviously based on a "won't start" fault description from the other side of the planet I could be miles off, but that would be my first port of call.

*Ignition may still work depending on the setup, GM seemed to like sticking with a mechanical ignition distributor in the US way layer than most other companies elsewhere in the world had moved to fully electronic systems.

[Zelandeth]

Managed to actually catch the alternator on the Jag in its non charging state today which is brilliant as it let me check a couple of things.

Most notably that I have confirmed that when it's acting up I have no ignition light. So either the brushes are worn or sticking - or both. Whacking it with the handle from my trolly jack made it work again.

I *think* I can change the brush pack without having to remove the whole alternator from the car. Reckon with the offside air filter and backing plate off I should be just about able to get to it. This is great news as it suggests the alternator itself is sound.

With it having been an intermittent fault before it had always rectified itself before I got to a point I could stop so I wasn't sure what was going on, but the alternator has always been a bit weak - hopefully a new set of brushes will sort it.

[Zelandeth]

Having managed to fall off my bike in a moment of stupidity a couple of days ago, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that I've cracked rather than bruised at least one of my ribs. I am *really* sore.

Had quite a few errands to run today, injured or not.

Did a bit of experimentation and wound up figuring out pretty quickly which car was the least uncomfortable to drive (not going to say it was painless, but it was by far the least painful!).



TPA to the rescue. About 50 miles of driving today, bit around town, bit out in the dual carriageway, all taken in her stride.

The whole "it gets better with every mile" thing is a terrible cliche...but I'd be lying it that didn't seem to be the case with this little car. Not sure if some of that is just me getting more used to and comfortable with the car or if it's actually true.

Never fails to make me smile every time I drive her that's for sure.

She needs a wash now though, she's collecting quite the coating of bugs on the nose now.

[SpaceCowboy]

Thank you to everyone for the congratulations. I've been at my sister's house since Sunday and have been over to see little Miss Alice and she is so tiny and precious. I would share pictures but I have promised Katy that I would not post any on the internet. I made sure that any that I had took with me holding her would have me in them since I don't post my picture on the internet for any reason.

Originally Posted by mara

Congratulations !

[mawra]

Got our Tahoa running again. It was the battery. Also the fuel injection system, whatever it's called, needed maintenance. 400 dollars & still need several lights prepared, before it will pass inspection.

[Priscilla]

Inspection? We have emission tests here, I think it is every other year after a vehicle reaches a certain age. We don't have any inspection that includes lights? Can you put in new bulbs yourselves (assuming that is all that is needed). Jeff does that. He also put a new battery join our "old" car a few weeks ago. I'm assuming the major part of that $400 went to the fuel injection repair? Also, "labor" is never cheap!

[granath]

I hope everyone in the US is having a great 4th of July!

[Priscilla]

Thanks. It is cold and damp so it will probably be a calm and quiet day.

[mawra]

In Virgina inspections include, lights, tires, breaks,windshield wipers, horn, exhaust, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember.

Most of the time if breaks, tires & lights are working you get a pass, unless the exhaust is real bad. There are asses out there that will fail you just so you spend money for repairs. I always go to a place that does inspections, and don't do much in car repairs. I also never get what fails fixed there. I let them know ahead of time not to fix things. If you fail you have 14 days to get fixed.

Hubby can change the lights himself, most all of them need replacing.

[P'ter]

In UK ANNUAL tests include all the above plus rear wiper, exhaust emission levels and whether the windows are cracked.

[mawra]

Here it differs by state.

[Zelandeth]

Originally Posted by P'ter

In UK ANNUAL tests include all the above plus rear wiper, exhaust emission levels and whether the windows are cracked.

Never mind cracked...a chip or scratch in the driver's line of sight is a fail - as is anything like an air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror. As is basically any structural rust (essentially any that's within a foot of any area deemed to be structural). Other things that will fail you will be any excessive wear to suspension, doors which don't open properly from inside/out, worn seatbelts, oil leaks, any significant corrosion or degredation of brake lines, incorrect headlight aim, any sharp edges on the bodywork, damage to the wing mirrors, any damage to the number plates which might affect their legibility (including to ANPR cameras)...the testing manual is quite extensive!

[vyon]

Meanwhile it's the car's suspension that's failed for my sister's Warrant of Fitness. And that needs fixing before we make the 500k trip over our central mountains to next weekend's family reunion in Tauranga.

[Zelandeth]

New oil pressure switch has been fitted to TPA.



Sadly this hasn't fixed the oil leak (well, it's helped) as precisely as I expected it seems to be coming from the crankshaft oil seal. It's not a major leak though so honestly I'm not worrying too much about it.

I had to run over to Northampton today to drop a couple of things off. That's about 25 miles each way from here...obvious choice of transportation.



This little car never fails to make me smile. Really does far better on the open road than she has any right to.

We did have the first failure of the year though - albeit a minor one. This happened when I pulled the door closed.



I think the solution to this is basically going to be to pull it out and smear a shedload of Sikaflex into the join between the inner and outer door skins where they overlap. This issue dates back to the stinking great hole in the inner door skin above the latch.

That panel takes quite a beating as it's the only thing the door pull is attached to and this door takes quite a slam to close.

Not going to complain really, as failures go this is a minor inconvenience. Held me up all of 30 seconds while I coerced the two bits of door back into their respective places.


There is definitely news on the fleet as a whole though... namely that someone has spoken up who wants the Jag. My former flatmate back up north who has long had a Jag obsession. Keeping the car "in the family" so to speak would make me exceedingly happy. This won't be happening immediately as they need to move a car on first, but it's the start of a plan.

If I can make this work...we might have some changes soon.

[Mausey]

I haven't had any lucky getting into Simons site either. I sent a message last week and so far no reply. I know the kids do keep him busy but I do miss the place.

Blasted pandemic played havoc with all my volunteering. Library closed, Ladies Hospital Auxiliary shut down, Agricultural Society shut down, Roundhouse Society shut down. Thankfully all restrictions where I am have been lifted and things are slowly getting back to normal. We'll have a fair in August, hopefully some events at the roundhouse and a huge rummage sale in Oct. Despite being closed the roundhouse society was able to get some repairs done to the building and have our fingers crossed for visitors over the summer.

[Priscilla]

I'm glad to hear some things are getting back to normal. My state has lifted most mask mandates but I continue to wear one in stores. I would say that 3/4 of the people I see in stores no longer wear them. Oddly enough it seems that 30 & 40 year olds are more likely to still wear them and "elderly" people barely shuffling along are not. Even if they are vaccinated I would not take the chance with the more contagious variants.

[Zelandeth]

Originally Posted by Priscilla

I'm glad to hear some things are getting back to normal. My state has lifted most mask mandates but I continue to wear one in stores. I would say that 3/4 of the people I see in stores no longer wear them. Oddly enough it seems that 30 & 40 year olds are more likely to still wear them and "elderly" people barely shuffling along are not. Even if they are vaccinated I would not take the chance with the more contagious variants.

Yeah, places are dropping restrictions here left right and centre, they're talking about removing them all soon - despite the numbers and the advisors all showing this is a bad idea. Will be a long while yet before I ditch the mask.

-- -- --

TPA was out and about again today.



Uneventful trip, though between running later than I'd planned and trying to outrun some very ominous looking weather I decided it was about time we tested something out - how would she handle the motorway?

Answer? Absolutely fine. Thrums along quite happily at 60, and the smoother road surface makes it seem positively relaxed compared to the A45 on the way out.

Didn't find I got blown around too much, only vehicle which required any actual correction for was a coach which did shove me a bit to one side...but not badly so. Only directional annoyance was there being a seam for several miles right in the lane where I really wanted my front wheel to be! Eventually realised that there's actually a lot of lane to play with when you're in such a small car...so just moved a foot or so to the left.

Being absolutely honest she holds speed at 60 better than the van. Doesn't feel intimidating at all which is nice. While I'd done these speeds before this was by far the longest I'd ever held her at 60 so I was keeping a careful eye on the temperature - didn't budge from 155-165C, so absolutely no worries there - nice to see given that cruising at speed wasn't ever really on the requirements list when she was designed.

I'd always been quite hesitant to take her on the motorway and had taken twice as long to get a few places because of that, but honestly I've zero worry about using it again...only proviso is I wouldn't want to try it on a windy day...that would probably be terrifying.

She will definitely do 70, but it does feel you're making her work though. 60 though feels well within her comfort range - well 62 is what I'll probably actually use when not in a 60mph average speed trap - so I'll basically wait till I spot a coach going my way and just slot in behind them. It's not a major issue though to buzz up to 70 to overtake a lorry...or dawdling Prius though which is nice to know.

If I do ever embark on my round country trip knowing that motorways aren't terrifying will definitely be a bonus as trying to avoid them entirely during that would be a real pain.

This little car keeps surprising me. I expected the motorway test not to be a huge deal but I was really surprised at the ease she dispatched the test!


Regarding the new purchase I've come up with a plan of attack. The one known mechanical issue it has currently is a brake caliper which - occasionally - sticks. Probably be fine...but having quite a long drive home I'd rather keep Murphy's Law at bay. I've decided that I'm going to order a new caliper (well probably two actually as if one is playing up the other will probably cause issues in the future), and depending on the type of fitting, possibly the flexible lines as well. With that, a decent selection of fittings and some brake line so if we need to we can just change it. Our first stopover point will be roughly an hour from the collection point so hopefully that will give us a decent bead on how the car is behaving. I'd rather not change a caliper in a car park, but if we need to we will be equipped to do so!

PS. I've been wearing this thing two days now.



I am utterly fed up with it already!

[Mausey]

Masks are still mandatory on all public transit, buses, taxis etc and all provincial buildings. Stores can ask you wear a mask and can deny service if you don't comply but where I am everything is open. We've only 675 cases in a population of over 4 million so we're doing okay so far.

[Priscilla]

That is a very low number of cases! We continue to wear our masks even though stores have mostly dropped the requirement. All our family has been vaccinated but we are still being very cautious.

[Zelandeth]

Over the weekend we were helping a friend move out of their house (not moving, but they're having a wholesale renovation done) so didn't have much opportunity to do anything - and am now quite broken from the physical work involved... especially as I went into it already with a duff wrist and cracked ribs!

I was very, very glad to hand this modern mess back on Monday morning.









Horrible, horrible thing to drive. Though it has reminded me that I keep meaning to get a set of wide angle blind spot mirrors for my van as they are really nice to have.

Never driven a modern Transit I didn't hate. Really would like to try an 80s one to see how it compares to my Merc one day. Far prefer a proper old Merc T1 a modern Sprinter, but I'd take a Sprinter over this thing any day of the week.

Main things that drove me round the bend:

[] Horrible heavy, clunky gearchange (keeping in mind I've a knackered left wrist just now).

[] Dash is way too high which makes the front end blind spots twice the size they should be. I've never felt like I actually needed front end parking sensors on a van before!

[] Brakes are simultaneously spongey as all hell *and* basically have zero progression... they're on or off. This is made twenty million times worse because the pedal is so far up off the floor that you can't rest your heel on the floor and operate it...so you have to hover your foot on it like the clutch.

It is basically impossible it move smoothly at low speeds...which you do a lot of in a van. That brake pedal is one of the daftest bits of design I have ever come across.

[] Touch screen. Yes, everyone wants inbuilt sat nav these days...fair enough. However this one really ticks me off because it has essentially no off button. There is a button which will (after three presses) blank it...but it immediately springs back to life every time you restart it, change the blower speed, switch anything on/off, open a door or someone walks close enough to the front of the van at a crossing to trigger the parking sensors. It then doesn't go back to sleep...you have to manually turn it off again. Oh...and it's black text on a white background - even at night. Thanks Ford...great design.

[] Why are there no grab handles to help you climb into the cab? My spine would really have appreciated that...

[] The 3000rpm rev limit in first gear is sheer insanity. I just stopped using first gear because it made getting out into a busy junction or roundabout safely near impossible.

Rental van specs still make me scratch my head. Remote central locking, full Bluetooth connectivity etc, sat nav, heated front windscreen, auto folding electric mirrors, cruise control, but no air conditioning! C'mon guys it's 2021... wouldn't surprise me if they'd specifically deleted that...

Oh, and the synco on 3rd gear was crunchy...with 4700 miles on the clock! That doesn't instill much confidence.

Anyhow, I'm pretty much knackered and reckon it will be a good few days before I'm back to my usual levels of productivity. I did manage half an hour in the garage yesterday...well about 15 minutes actually before my body made it abundantly clear that it wasn't amused at the idea!

I've started on the 2000 mile checkup on TPA. We're within 150 miles now and it's no biggie if there's a few miles between things.

First check was on the spark plugs. These have been in there since I first started reviving the engine in KPL.

Nearside:



Offside:



Nothing concerning there I feel. Gap was still perfect so they were put straight back in - will have another look in another thousand miles.

It looks like the collection mission for the new arrival will be happening this weekend, most likely driving up on Friday afternoon and coming back on the Saturday as that's just when my lift is available.

[Zelandeth]

Why yes, I did just do a Costco run by Invacar.



Only a small one admittedly and 95% of it for other people, but nevertheless I'm sure a lot of people would have thought I was crazy.



Granted, I think a lot of people think I'm crazy for driving it at all!

[GinnyStar]

Hey everyone I've been gone for a few years and just got a working computer and help to navigate it. Since I was here last I have gone from mostly blind to fully blind and require assistance to navigate the internet until I can get my text to speech program ironed out.

Does anyone know what happened to the NKT bulletin board? I cannot seem to access it. Thank you!

Zen Hugs

[SpaceCowboy]

The NKT went from the paid board to a free board on someones server to missing in action and even the moderators like me have no clue if it will ever be restored. Welcome back.

Originally Posted by GinnyStar

Hey everyone I've been gone for a few years and just got a working computer and help to navigate it. Since I was here last I have gone from mostly blind to fully blind and require assistance to navigate the internet until I can get my text to speech program ironed out.

Does anyone know what happened to the NKT bulletin board? I cannot seem to access it. Thank you!

Zen Hugs

[GinnyStar]

Thanks for the update, with my new/old help I was able to get here,. T-Storms are here, but I am groundinged. so I should safe. I have a lot to tell you, have most omost of the folks, from the Old NKT are here?

I was tellintgmy staff about a few game related gams to Pern, show him the 40 Years of Pern, he liked, found out a few more fos that might like to read about Anne McCaffrey, and here other co-writers of her worlds,. . By the way he wqas the one to type myy first post,
He was the one to type the first post back,, back, and I am typing this one

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Zelandeth

Why yes, I did just do a Costco run by Invacar.



Only a small one admittedly and 95% of it for other people, but nevertheless I'm sure a lot of people would have thought I was crazy.



Granted, I think a lot of people think I'm crazy for driving it at all!

I'm sure they do, but at today's fuel prices you can make 2 or 3 runs and still not use as much fuel as a regular-size car would use for one run to the same places.

So... Crazy like a fox, right?

[mawra]

Glad to see you, Ginnystar.

Tahoe finally got inspected, & passed on first try. Still need to get it switched from Mom's name to Hubby's. When I tried, I was told that my sister had to it, because she's the exector of Mom's will. She made an appt. Her & Hubby's went to DMV only to be told she didn't have an appt. So still driving with expired taxes.

After only a couple of months at Olive Garden Kibby was told that since she was hired for salad, but was working Cook line, wich is more stress & more hazardous, she deserved a 1 an hour more raise.

[Priscilla]

That is excellent news for Kibby. Good for her!

Is there a way to get an email appointment at the DMV? I am guessing this first appointment was made by phone so even though you knew it existed they obviously did not. With an email confirmation you'd have some proof. I'm not sure what happens if you get caught with expired tags. Hopefully you get the vehicle transferred before that happens.

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Priscilla

That is excellent news for Kibby. Good for her!

Is there a way to get an email appointment at the DMV? I am guessing this first appointment was made by phone so even though you knew it existed they obviously did not. With an email confirmation you'd have some proof. I'm not sure what happens if you get caught with expired tags. Hopefully you get the vehicle transferred before that happens.

That varies from state to state. Here in Missouri, it would most likely be a "fix" ticket, one with no fine attached as long as you remedied the problem within the specified time, usually 10 days.

Also here, the penalty charge for past due date registration is $5. I know because my wife's car lost the engine and sat undrivable for over 3 months. Couldn't drive it without a working engine, obviously, so couldn't go get inspected, so couldn't get the tags renewed. When the engine was replaced and we got things caught up, the late fee was $5. Missouri is pretty understanding about the concept that Sh-er-tuff happens. Yeah, shtuff happens.

[Cheryl]

Originally Posted by GinnyStar

Hey everyone I've been gone for a few years and just got a working computer and help to navigate it. Since I was here last I have gone from mostly blind to fully blind and require assistance to navigate the internet until I can get my text to speech program ironed out.

Hi Ginny, welcome back! I'm sorry to hear you've lost the last of your vision, but glad you have helpers as you work out technology issues to be able to navigate on your own.

[mawra]

My sister didn't know they would email her confirmation of her DMV appointment. Here they've been lax about expired tags and stuff. But our tags have out since Dec. So if we get a ticket we deserve it.

[GinnyStar]

PS this GinnyStar by my self: I had help with the last post, I feel foGinnyStar here! I am having a little trouble finding the keyboard shortcuts for quoting and posting with my new software.. I am so used to using a mouse not the keyboard command shortcuts, its more keystrokes then i am used too. When i get a chance, I will most more on this and what i have been doing once i find the new thread command and give you guys a brief update as to what I have been up too.

Opps Still looking for those shortcuts via the keysstrocks not the mouse, that why this is going to be broken up. I hand help tyhTyping it up. and end in the minddle of it. Lucky its did do something bad.

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by Cheryl

Hi Ginny, welcome back! I'm sorry to hear you've lost the last of your vision, but glad you have helpers as you work out technology issues to be able to navigate on your own.

Yes and no, still trying to find out what has happen in the real world of as is related to Anne McCaffrey, like Is Robin Wood gon? Still having a bit of a problem, geting around the Thread, system is not set up right yet. Also Still need to transfer over my bookmarks, favoravets from the old laptop to the new one, I lmy supoort person retirtired this year. :sad: medical reason. More of a ST fan themn anee but we could related with the ATWodP and SoP don't if I got that right or not. So if someone can help me ould translating me I would be greateful, Not beingable to see if making my tytyping and spelling even worst then I would like. PS I need to trteach my my sotware how to say for it thing you make hardset with ref RoP I think .

[Allen]

Originally Posted by mawra

My sister didn't know they would email her confirmation of her DMV appointment. Here they've been lax about expired tags and stuff. But our tags have out since Dec. So if we get a ticket we deserve it.

It's been quite a while back, but I used to see a car being driven in Rolla Mo. with tags about 2 or 3 YEARS out of date; I remember seeing it every once in a while over the span of about a year. It was an older Cadillac, almost "vintage" age, so that's why I spotted it in the first place; it really stood out in the crowd, so to speak.

P.S.
Welcome back Ginny! It's so good to hear from you again, after all this time. I'm glad to know your spirit remains undaunted by the challenges thrown at you. Stay strong!

[Zelandeth]

Originally Posted by mawra

Glad to see you, Ginnystar.
After only a couple of months at Olive Garden Kibby was told that since she was hired for salad, but was working Cook line, wich is more stress & more hazardous, she deserved a 1 an hour more raise.

Great to hear there's recognition there that she's due a raise for working a different position. Definitely sounds a world apart from where she was before!