nta16

It was meant more in jest but those roads would not do the steering generally any favours.

Some rather conservative answers, out in the wilds of Corby they'd use grips, but at £7 a puller is easier, I'd use GT-85 instead of WD-40 as it better all round and a longer acting lubricant, with PTFE, use liberal amounts if that's your preference. https://gt85.co.uk/gt85-original/ Personally, I'd spray with GT-85 let in soak in over night, it won't wash off, go a have a few glasses of barrelled Egyptian Cream and forget about the rear wiper until the weekend and/or better weather. 😊 (ETA: the cuts and prise should be enough to break it, don't use a good screwdriver, save good tools for good work.)

Track size wheel and tyres! 😄

Those mountain roads might not help some steering parts and components.

When I first started driving 70 was a low profile tyre, cannot remember seeing 65, although I believe 60 were available but not on any cars I would see.

For those type of roads if you have not already done so you could look at smaller diameter wheels with higher ratio sidewall tyres and if speedo, odometer. readings do not matter go a size taller with wheel and tyre combination, would help with the crawling and higher speed cruising.

That diesel is loud, next time put the big rocks on top of the engine and its harmonics with shatter them to smaller pieces. 🤣

I can understand his point but it depends on what you use to clean the reservoir and that would be his worry, what you use, but as I put before if you just use lint-free cloths and fresh oil to clean the inside it will not be sparkling but it will be cleaner and no risk of any other chemical other than your PS fluid of choice. For cleaning the outside, which would be done separately so as not to contaminate the inside, anything that will not damage the reservoir material. With cleaning to do a good job you need to be methodical and thorough, if you cannot use the chemicals to do the hard work then you have to do the hard work yourself. Many are too, lazy, arrogant, macho, ego to do a good job of cleaning as they see the work as beneath them, owners and mechanics yet if you see a good tradesperson that is where they put in a lot of time and effort.

Probably another good reason not to be sitting down there in your car waiting more than seconds before driving off towards (relatively) fresh air.

Sorry my use of the question marks made the sentence confusing - I was suggesting being parked below ground for 6-7 hours the car might be warmer than sitting overnight outside. This goes back to what was suggested previously that the environment might have some effect but obviously I have no idea about that environment and the conditions.

Yes I was being too literal, after the (start of the) car has started yes the exhaust will get warm then hot, but - So surely the car is colder sitting outside overnight than after being driven and parked up for 6-7 hours in a closed car park 5 floors(?) below ground level(?).

@AGFalco your post has made me realise I've posted this video in the wrong thread, other has lots of discussion on this, but Mike will know what I mean. But it has reminded me of another subject I was going to start a thread on.

Sorry I do not follow this - but then I often misunderstand what is written (often more so if I have written it and read it back much later). For 'second' cold starts it depends on if any warmth is left from the heat soak of turning off the engine and leaving the car parked or if all the heat has thoroughly dissipated from the engine bay and the cold has returned to whether there is any warmth to be had. Always bear in mind I am not an expert in anything. Easy though to tell if any warmth remains by lifting the bonnet and carefully putting your hand in that area, you may not be as precise as the electronics but your sense of touch is probably accurate enough to tell if the area feels stone cold or a slight bit or more of warmth. Depending on how you took it apart, If you have enough of the system left you could bodge something together as an experiment if you really wanted to, any suitable and secure hose and duck tape fixings would do. Again I am not sure of the benefits of this as if you removed this system and your car was fine, or not noticeably different, with it removed until a couple of years ago then it can at worse only be to some extent a contributing factor and not the cause. If you had all the parts to hand and they all were fully working it would be easy but if you can get the parts and they are not expensive and it settles your mind to try then why not, it is your car, your money, your time, your decision, not mine or anyone else. As some Americans might say it is "different strokes for different folks" or some say over here "each to their own".

@Mikerp saw this and thought of you. -

I do remember you putting that you had disabled some flap and had recently found it had fallen but I did not realise it related to this(?). Obviously there is not hot air from the exhaust on initial cold start so bear that in mind for your longer higher idle. This might valve have been something more for emissions, I am not sure, whether it will make any difference to your issue and initial fuel consumption, again I am not sure it will. Others will know a lot more about this than me. Of course the valve does need to operate properly and fully and not be stuck at warm for your location, if stuck at cold then it is the same as it not being fitted. I possibly mentioned the manual system on a 1980s Ford we had where you manually turned the air filter inlet tube through 90 degrees to point at the exhaust for winter use and then sometime when you thought it appropriate you manually turned it back to horizontal. For carburetters you do not really want warm air. Someone may correct you on the 30c but given my record with temperatures it will not be me. 😄

Yeah I missed a bit out, I think my memory is getting as bad as my eyes - but there is an explanation, I was almost MENSA standards until last year. 🤣 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60431986

Same over here but we had home-working so even less use the annual cost per mile was even higher than usual, periods of inactivity are particularly harder on my car. Great news and not expensive considering how long they could last and if they give improvements better still.

Considering the type of city driving you do I think the fuel consumption will not be good, you will probably see more improvement on your combined driving and open road with possibly improved spirit in the performance.

Totally agree, but you can get different interpretations including what type the head (can) will be on either and it depends on previous training or locality, Kharl has confirmed his is the popular understanding. Now to confirm bolt (screw at the moment) perhaps and it's actual location.

You are on shaky ground there, I've seen debate on this before. You probably mean is there an unthreaded section at the head end (blind shank).

No do not. I am all for changing serviceable parts and other parts in a timely fashion and well before they start to play up and cause problems, or worse still stop working, but parts like that are best left until they show signs of playing up. Often now you can replace an old part that is not at its best but it is still better than some modern made brand new parts. That would be near enough for me, and perhaps your car might suit an even wider gap depending on what the programmer usually does. What figure for the cold weather starts and city stop-start short journeys would bring a smile to your face?

Perhaps you might want to put a photo up of that, taping it up might not be the permanent answer. Think of it this way, the engine as a big air pump connected through other ancient technologies to wheels to perambulate you along, you'd want a clean air filter and inlets to the engine, you are also throwing in petrol so you want the right mixture of both for best results. The cleaner and les clogged or gummed up all things are generally the better.

I was wondering about threadlock too but it all got a bit four candles as to what description and part numbers and what is actually wanted, the situation I found funny. Kharl's obviously a resourceful bloke so he'll get it sorted and make use of the help given by you chaps here. My caveat would be to cross-reference any information, parts diagrams and lists, even from manufacturers, can have errors and omissions, I'm not saying that is the case here just that it's always a possibility when looking for parts.

Sorry but 🤣 At least now you know. Try to get one exactly the same if you can, have a look at a site that gives you the information on how the bolts are measured and if there are any other fixings with the bolt reuse them or replace with same. Normally a bolt is just a bolt but 53mm isn't an everyday length and you may need the correct strength of bolt. Perhaps a photo, and any markings on it, I sure there will be bolt experts about, I am not one of them.

Yes sorry I realise that, I was just comparing the term "coil". I cannot remember you mentioning anything to suggest there is anything wrong with your coil pack and anyway it would have shown up when you were at your programmer's. I see nothing surprising given the previous issues and the short stop-start city driving. I would clean them check the gap and carefully store them until you are satisfied with you new plugs (I almost put fully satisfied but decided against it) then throw them away (or give them to someone else).