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If anyone asks you to sort out their car woes, all you need to do is wipe your hands on an oily rag, slowly stroll over to their vehicle, do the sharp intake of breath thing, shake you head and mutter, 'I don't like the look of that, Guv, can't get the parts so easy these days, it'll cost yer!'

Becky, my car is due a service shortly. If you would like to come down and service it (bingo!), I pay very good rates.

Mandrake wrote:do the sharp intake of breath thing, shake you head and mutter, 'I don't like the look of that, Guv, can't get the parts so easy these days, it'll cost yer!'

So true!

I'm sure that could be arranged replicant, although I warn you that my services don't come cheap.

At least he will pay you Lommie - told me it was for love !

God do i feel conned now ! lol....

F x

Lady of Mystery wrote:I'm sure that could be arranged replicant, although I warn you that my services don't come cheap.

You can't be much more than the prices my mechanic charges. I will even throw in a pair of free shinpads for Dave, although I fear it is too late for him. The poor soul.

And Snuffykins, you know I love you really.

I had this again this morning. Opened up the bonnet, sprayed all the electrical looking bits, gave it a few mins then tried again (I was in a rush). Didn't work so i sprayed a little more then waited a bit longer this time before finally firing her up and it worked.

Can't be sure that it was thanks to this, but I'll see if i have this problem again. Hope not though. I didn't take the distributor off but i took one of the plugs off it and sprayed in there. The rest were holding on pretty tight.

Apologies if this is in the region of grandmas and egg sucking but the kind of weather we're getting at the moment is likely to mean more difficulties in starting. Condensation and damp overnight settles on all the wires and connections, if they're not fully tight or have become dirty and corroded then it takes far more electricity to turn the starter and fire the engine. Batteries will be in a lower state of charge through use of wipers, lights, heaters etc so all in all it's not surprising that vehicles have starting problems. When I did car maintenance classes (not quite as far back as when we had to have a chap walking in front waving a flag) we were advised to spend a Saturday morning at 3 month intervals making sure the battery was topped up to the correct level with distilled water, if necessary put it on charge to make sure it was in peak condition, the terminals had been cleaned and lightly abraded with some wet & dry paper to ensure a good connection, after refitting the terminals and connectors smeared with water repellent grease which you can get from Halfords and similar places. All wires from distributor to plugs were wiped clean of moisture and oily residue which attracts and retains water, plug tops cleaned off and again all very lightly smeared with water repellent grease or WD40. This used to take no more than an hour or so and virtually eliminated any starting difficulties for months and the battery lasted far longer.

Rather than turning the key and letting the engine turn over and over first thing, you could try just giving it a quick turn over for less than a second, turn the ignition off for 15 or 20 seconds and then try again. The first 'burst' helps to break the sticky oil film in the engine block, reduces the resistance and allows oil to splash out of the sump onto moving parts for lubrication and protection. It also means you're not draining the battery and the second attempt usually starts the car with no problems. Obviously, you don't turn lights, heaters, wipers, radios etc on until the car is running!

Mandrake wrote:lubrication and protection

Yes they are disposable aswell these days.

Just imagine how much was removed from the original version to avoid hurtling into the Innuendo Bingo thread !

(Grease nipples, Dip sticks, Vaseline, a qick wipe down......oo-er, Matron)

When men invent machines to they purposly name things so that they giggle like little boys about them? Dave offered to let me work on his big end last night (apparently it's a part of an engine).

Lady of Mystery wrote:When men invent machines to they purposly name things so that they giggle like little boys about them? Dave offered to let me work on his big end last night (apparently it's a part of an engine).

That's yer actual jargon, missus. Can't have an engine without an end where big stuff happens, can you? Stands to reason. Two sugars please, luv, ta.

etc...

Anyone who owns a car should buy the Haynes manual to go with it - it's a lifesaver and can often save you a fortune when you realise you can fix a lot of problems without resorting to a garage. Dampness in and around the HT leads is the most common cause of cars not staring. Wipe 'em down, spray 'em down with WD (the salvation of lubrication) or just buy a new set as they might be knackered...
I used to carry a hammer in order to give my starter motor a damn good thrashing every morning... seemed to do the trick...

The 'manual' we were advised to buy on that maintenance course was the Ladybird Book of The Car. Yes, the kid's book but it showed all the basics in a very easy to understand form .