10 minutes ago, Lynn67 said:

Did you use to hate getting the paraffin wax off the new cars that used to be a pain. I used to get the cars for the mechanics to do the PDIs on. Then they would pass them back to the valets to get ready for the new owners. 

 

Yes absolutely. I used to have to de-wax them before they were passed on to the cleaners in the cleaning bay. It was a horrible job in cold weather as you got covered in steam cleaner spray. Haha. I remember the red/orange coloured de-waxing chemical that would make the fingers of rubber gloves drop off if you put your gloved hand in it I had quite a few cars rejected because the wax was a real bugger to get completely off. Had to have another go at getting off the missed bits. I also used to fit the number plates to new cars. We had to drill holes in brand-new metal bumpers and Fiesta tailgates! Had to do occasional stock checks in the compound too, which involved writing all the chassis numbers down.

Edited 24 May, 20188 yr by TMB

Yep that wasn't a nice job in the winter time used to dry the skin on your hands out so they would split and sting like hell.

Yeah it did. I remember a lot of mix-ups with keys too. They were crap regarding organisation where I worked.

Just now, TMB said:

Yeah it did. I remember a lot of mix-ups with keys too. They were crap regarding organisation where I worked.

We used to have three colour plastic key rings for new, second hand, and transits/chassis cabs and i used to have to put all the vehicle information on that and there used to betwo copies of the paperwork so that we always knew what was in stock but when it  was quite i used to go do a check on what we had. My biggest problem  was when i was out one of the others would have to sort out cars if another transfer driver came and somehow they had put the wrong stereos in some of the cars that went outeven though i had to write chassis number and car info on the stereos so that was fun for to sort out.

Haha, it was all good fun.

 

Regarding the keys - we used plastic key tags with numbers that slotted into them. Then we used to put a sticker with the matching number on the steering wheel. Sometimes the numbers would fall out of the key rings. It was a poor system.

Edited 24 May, 20188 yr by TMB

Yep it was good fun and a good laugh. The best one had to be the young man who couldn't have been no more than 17 the rental section employed to clean their cars and he had a separate cleaning bay and he came to our bay after advise and when we saw the car we all laughed as he had obviously put too much cleaning fluid through the steam cleaner onto a red car which obviously back then was a soft colour and it was all streaked.  So we had to inform him of which cars were a soft colour and use a weaker mix on after telling that he was going to have to T cut the whole car. I did feel sorry for him. 

Aww, poor sod

 

 

1 minute ago, TMB said:

Aww, poor sod

 

 

Thank god that isn't the case anymore as my skoda would of faded in the sun being a red one.

13 hours ago, Lynn67 said:

Hi yes I put Seal it in and it did work to begin with but the leak has got worse so unfortunately rad needs replacing now.  

 

Make sure the systems is drained and flushed to get rid of the seal - if you have air in the system it can block other things , such as the heater matrix ( I speak from previous bitter experience!)

 

Also make sure you also replace the "O" rings connecting the radiator - these can be a leak point post radiator replacement. Also depending on the fan sensor be careful not to overtighten!

 

I've just had to replace the rad on my Octavia I which was a pain in the ar$£ . As the car is 17 years old two of the mount bolts and one of the fan bolts seized/snapped and on the new rad a couple of the plastic mounts were in a slightly different spot. Managed to sort , filled with good G12 coolant. The metal frame that the radiator was attached to had become somewhat rusty (not seriously) so I rustproofed whilst the rad was removed.

 

When the old rad was removed you could see the pink/purple stains either side of the radiator core.

 

It's been great since.

 

 

Edited 24 May, 20188 yr by bigjohn

11 minutes ago, Lynn67 said:

Thank god that isn't the case anymore as my skoda would of faded in the sun being a red one.

 

Older red Vauxhalls in particular seem bad for turning pink.

 

Edited 24 May, 20188 yr by TMB

1 minute ago, bigjohn said:

 

Make sure the systems is drained and flushed to get rid of the seal - if you have air in the system it can block other things , such as the heater matrix ( I speak from previous bitter experience!)

 

Also make sure you also replace the "O" rings connecting the radiator - these can be a leak point post radiator replecement. Also depending on the fan sensor be careful not to overtighten!

 

I've just had to replace the rad on my Octavia I which was a pain in the ar$£ . As the car is 17 years old two of the mount bolts and one of the fan bolts seized/snapped and on the new rad a couple of the plastic mounts were in a slightly different spot. Managed to sort , filled with good G12 coolant. The metal frame that the radiator was attached to had become somewhat rusty (not seriously) so I rustproofed whilst ithe rad was removed.

 

When the old rad was removed you could see the pink/purple stains either side of the radiator core.

 

It's been great since.

 

 

Thanks for that. yes i have ordered the coolant flush, G12, thermostat, ECT sensor, header tank and rad. mechanic friend is  going to come over and help so that's good news as he won't cost me as much as a garage. i guess they don't supply the "O" rings with the rad then. 

Just now, Lynn67 said:

 i guess they don't supply the "O" rings with the rad then. 

 

Sometimes yes, sometimes no

 

 

 

Just now, bigjohn said:

 

Sometimes yes, sometimes no

 

 

 

Hopefully it should be here tomorrow so i will check to see if they have supplied them or not.

10 minutes ago, Lynn67 said:

Hopefully it should be here tomorrow so i will check to see if they have supplied them or not.

 

If not - they are actually quite cheap from the dealer! ( I know I had to buy a pair)

 

 

 

Edited 24 May, 20188 yr by bigjohn

13 minutes ago, bigjohn said:

 

If not - they are actually quite cheap from the dealer!

 

 

If  there aren't any i guess a vw garage will have them. Hopefully mine won't be quite such a pain in the a*** as rad was only changed a couple of years ago.

Edited 24 May, 20188 yr by Lynn67

"Straight red" is still a bad colour for fading and matting in a coastal environment.

23 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

"Straight red" is still a bad colour for fading and matting in a coastal environment.

Really mine is doing well then as I live about 5 miles from the coast

Mind it's usually in the garage when I home so that protects it and the headlights.

Ah nostalgia - I bought one of the first 1.6 Ghia Escorts with a 5 speed box new, it even had the 175/70 tyre option to improve its looks Titan Blue it was, 7 months later I was even brave enough, after much worrying about it, fitted a proper Ford rear wiper kit, very stressful drilling a big hole in the tailgate of your first bought new car as the position needed to be spot on so that the motor frame could get fixed to where it was meant to!  I seem to remember the actual marking out on masking tape took about 2 hours, then I slept on it and attacked the metal work with a hole cutter - or maybe some drills the next day. 

Orions, yes I bought a couple new, both 1.6 Ghia Injections, the second one had lost some of the X3i bits like front spoiler and proper seats, but it did have that cheap and cheery Stop Control System that worked of the drive shaft speeds, the kit that Ford and Fiat shared before ABS became cheaper for smaller cars.

Erica/Erika, I think that the front callipers that were first fitted to these cars also took on that name - well maybe unofficially.  My wife has a friend called Erica - and she is nice! Right, end of off topic from me.

 

14 hours ago, bigjohn said:

 

Sometimes yes, sometimes no

 

 

 

This one didn't supply the "O" rings so mechanic friend is getting a couple of them today.

1 hour ago, Lynn67 said:

This one didn't supply the "O" rings so mechanic friend is getting a couple of them today.

 

Don't be tempted to replace without renewing them even if they look OK - you'll probably get a leak either straight away or a year or so later

45 minutes ago, bigjohn said:

 

Don't be tempted to replace without renewing them even if they look OK - you'll probably get a leak either straight away or a year or so later

Friend got them this afternoon. Should be doing the rad tomorrow.

Update. Spent yesterday afternoon dismantling the front of the car. old rad off new one on.Mechanic friend James checked the head gasket to make sure that was ok. Flushed the system. Took thermostat out unfortunately mine turned out to the other one. James dropped it into container with hot water in to see if it opened up and it didn't, it didn't very good when it was removed so looks like that wasn't working, so left  that out for now right thermostat ordered. New header tank on no more warning light and alarm going off as soon as you start the car. Car all back together apart from under tray. Took about two and a half to three hours to do. James did say if the thermostat wasn't working then that could have caused the rad to spring a leak. He also said i was lucky that it hadn't done any damage to the engine.  I've got to adjust headlights still and give them a good clean as going cloudy again. I was told by the small family run garage i take my car to for MOTs and repairs when Jame's is to busy to do it that if you clean the headlights up as good as you can get them that if you put K2 lacquer on them it will protect them from the UV ? 

Thank you everyone for your help and advise really appreciate that.

It's not an AUB engine then if it's that type of thermostat.

30 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

It's not an AUB engine then if it's that type of thermostat.

On the service book it says AUB code though.

18 minutes ago, Lynn67 said:

On the service book it says AUB code though.

 

Weird, I know the BBZ has the metal capsule type and I have an AUB which has the plastic cartridge type. Go figure.