19 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

At this rate I might have my wishbone bushes on before you 

 

More than likely.

 

My back is a bit knackered so it almost rules out doing the job myself. Which means outsourcing to the garage I trust, and although I get mates rates on labour, it's still going to cost me a fair amount. I can't justify it at the moment but will see how I get on further down the line.

 

21 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

Do drop links and arb bushes together and rule them out. Your shocks even though they're low mileage are still quite old so no chance they're working at their best.

 

It definitely would help. I wouldn't be surprised if the shocks were OEM as most things were on the car. Everything seems to want to die at the same given interval. It would be nice if it was a little more spaced out frankly.

Stirling via Callander, Bannockburn, Larbert, Falkirk, and Cumbernauld...

 

Lapped it up well, besides a random "wobble of death" around 65-75mph, especially on accelerating. Currently going about the car ticking off things that could be wrong. So far my tyre pressures are okay but still to check balancing weights haven't went their holidays. Could be thinking about the console bushes, or whatever the weird clunk from the front driver's side is - could be drop links, or the CV joint or something odd. May also see about getting the balancing redone and the tracking checked.

 

In the meantime, hae a photiegraph that I taken to remember where I parked.

 

Edited 12 April, 20224 yr by AnnoyingPentium

Change the wheels front to back and go for a spin, then you'll know if its a wheel out of balance straight away.

When I swapped tyres back to front on my monte it suddenly shook like crazy above 80, sure enough one of the wheels had lost some weights. 

 

Big changes in the world of my little Fabia...

 

First on the list... rust... I was pressure washing the car, went to do the sill and all the paint came off at a million miles an hour. I was gutted at first.

 

 

 

I do see a benefit here as it allowed me to drown that area in Hammerite's Kurust and then slap a dollop of Flamenco Red touch-up pen paint on it. In terms of s***e paintwork, I've also developed another bout of lacquer peel under the other headlight. Again, could get it done properly, or I'll wait till the bumper is really bad then swap it for another one.

 

 

Aye, it's effing hideous, but it should keep that little bit at bay, or make me feel better about it. I've said that if it gets to 20 years old then I'll look at getting it sorted professionally since it'll be a "classic" by then, allegedly. That's quite a daunting thought...  It definitely deserves a bit more love as I'd hate to see it turn into a right rotten banger, so more on that much, much later.

 

Next thing that was on my list was to finally pull a finger out my backside and sort the air conditioning out because it didn't work. At all. Which is bad in summer. DAMHIK.

 

So in it went to Auld Arnie Shark today (since my Mum gets staff discount) to get the air conditioning serviced and re-gassed. Believe me, it's like a bloody fridge now. Never want to leave the car anymore!  I'm very pleased, they've also cleaned it inside and out along with I reckon they've been spraying some lubricant on the console bushes or something as they're not as bad as they were when I dropped the car off. It doesn't feel as much like a rickety auld shed now, it feels a lot newer, like a nearly 62,000 mile car should, instead of feeling like a rolling death trap.

 

Finally, I'll bring this post to a close with another modification that I've completed, as what else could I be doing at 19:30 at night?! I've always preferred the pre-facelift rear lights for the Fabia and ever since one of my rear lights got a right nasty scratch then I thought it was worth my while to swap both lights for some pre-facelift lights in a decent condition. So I present to you all, the car as it is now, with the pre-facelift lights.

 

 

 

I'm still trying to hunt down a decent condition parcel shelf with the netting underneath, the little pop-out DIN cubby from the Elegance, and some other bits and bobs. I must make a list again of the bits I'd like.

Well that's a new one on me...

 

 

Is that the stoneguard come away completely and made its way there? Item 6?

floating caliper brake; brake caliper housing; bra... - Fabia(FAB) [EUROPA 2006 year] (7zap.com)

3 minutes ago, Pete_Ex-Wino said:

Is that the stoneguard come away completely and made its way there? Item 6?

floating caliper brake; brake caliper housing; bra... - Fabia(FAB) [EUROPA 2006 year] (7zap.com)

 

It is indeed. I heard a crunch and then a hell of a clatter as it bounced it's way off the alloy at 60mph. That photo and video was taken when I'd stopped.

 

I limped it round to the garage and it came free very easily when pulled slightly.

Edited 25 April, 20224 yr by AnnoyingPentium

5 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

then a hell of a clatter

I bet!

The screws may be fun to remove, as at least one of them is quite hidden behind the drive flange/hub ISTR. Hard to get tools on.

The screw heads have typically corroded to unrecognisable shapes.

Maybe just leave it off rather than replace?  That way it's already fixed. 

Just now, Pete_Ex-Wino said:

Maybe just leave it off rather than replace?  That way it's already fixed. 

 

Oh true! Might whip the other one off as well to save this aggro another time over. 

 

I knew they were in a bad way when I replaced the discs and pads last year but I wasn't expecting it to fall off.

 

I think it's damaged my alloy (on the inside, mind you) but it's the scabby one anyway which is getting whipped off soon since I've ordered a replacement online.

Lasted a long time that heatshield! The ones on my monte were hanging when they were changed. Atleast the damage isnt too bad!

3 minutes ago, DieselMonte said:

Lasted a long time that heatshield! The ones on my monte were hanging when they were changed. Atleast the damage isnt too bad!

 

Yep! Reckon it's been on there since new. It was a bit badger's arse when I changed the discs but that was still a shock. 😂

Front alloy was getting a bit scabby on the side of the now-missing heatshield, plus it's pretty wobbly, thinking it's buckled. But £50 later... plus this let's me have an alloy spare.

 

 

 

Edited 26 April, 20224 yr by AnnoyingPentium

I somehow managed to miss the updates here since last Thursday. Been some fun and games for you, Ryan ☹️ I see you now have the same rear lights as me 😁

Edited 26 April, 20224 yr by TMB

6 minutes ago, TMB said:

I somehow managed to miss the updates here since last Thursday. Been some fun and games for you, Ryan ☹️

 

It's been... interesting. I'm currently pushing the car beyond what it's been used to as I bought it with 52k-ish miles and it's now edging towards 62k. It's been my daily all through winter too which hasn't helped. In the past two and a half weeks it's also covered over 900 miles.

 

I'm beginning to doubt my relay theory as I've noticed the revs aren't dropping quite right anymore, plus TMS told me to go to Ingram Skoda for the relay. It's not the pedal as I can pull it back and there's no change. Thinking a split hose (will check tomorrow) or something to do with the throttle body.

 

9 minutes ago, TMB said:

I see you now have the same rear lights as me 😁

 

Oh yes. I've always preferred the older style lights so I swapped a pair on. Had to buy them separately though since I couldn't get a pair without spending more than I did separately.

Squeaky clean.

 

 

I have also had a little more lacquer peel appear on the mirror that didn't get repaired. I might give Sharpie a ring and see if he'd be willing to do the driver's side mirror, but I'll wait till its worse I reckon, to get my moneys worth.

 

 

Still got the weird cutting out but haven't prodded about yet. I've just not had the time.

I don't want to speak too soon as we always know what happens when I do speak too soon. However...,

 

 

Changed ye olde spark plugs on the car. They were NGKs and looked as though they'd been done before. So I can sleep better knowing the previous owners weren't mechanical sadists, just had complete disregard for the bodywork of the damned thing. Anyway, I digress.

 

Also taped up the frayed wires of the pre-cat lambda. It was one of those things that I looked at and said audibly 'ach it'll be fine'... naw, Ryan, naw it willnae be fine at aw. It's a small fortune (at least to me) to replace it, so I've taped it up with Poundland's "finest" "insulating" "adhesive" tape, as can be seen in my 'Intermittent Witchcraft' thread of confused screaming.

 

I still think it's a bit gutless compared to normal and it's still clinging onto the revs below 2k. Howandever, it doesn't become an inconvenience when caught at the lights at the Whitletts Roundabout where there's a hill start with anti-slip that is the deciding factor as to whether you'll get through the lights or not, and trying to accelerate with a switched off engine is quite a task, you know.  

 

Also, it's story time on how my Fabia has now done more "off-roading" than most people with crossovers have.

 

Some lambs had escaped from a field along a farm road I was walking down, and the farmer (who I know) is based down the even smaller road in the first photograph...

 

 

It gets very bumpy further on but the car handled it great. Here it is afterwards as well, t'is a wee champ.

 

I bet you'd been going around there shouting ''mint sauce'' and that's what made the lambs escape

1 minute ago, TMB said:

I bet you'd been going around there shouting ''mint sauce'' and that's what made the lambs escape

I had been trying to walk past them to get back to the car to go down the farm road and they kept running on till they were nearly back in the village, Lee. I eventually had to try and sprint past the wee sods so that they'd run the other way.

10 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

there's a hill start with anti-slip

Can you not just press the ASR button and turn it off?

1 hour ago, KenONeill said:

Can you not just press the ASR button and turn it off?

 

The car doesn't have ASR, that was an option IIRC. The road surface itself has that anti-slip/skid stuff on it. Just got some blank dash switches.

 

Basically, if you're coming out of Ayr past Arnold Clark Toyota and Peugeot then if you're not on this anti-skid stuff then you're not getting through the lights as they change very quickly.

 

Edited 15 May, 20224 yr by AnnoyingPentium
Felt like it.

7 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

The road surface itself has that anti-slip/skid stuff on it.

Ah, it read like you had ASR and it was cutting the power.

33 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Ah, it read like you had ASR and it was cutting the power.

 

Ah I see, that'll be a **** up on my part.

 

I've not got the budget for ASR, that's reserved for your "posh" Fabia owners.

Fed up of having to update your car's navigation unit, or run out of signal? Behold, the solution to all your problems...

 

 

A Bakelite compass and a dod of blue-tack.

You need to get onto JML with that idea. I can just see it now ''Introducing the new JML Wayfinder, works without that bothersome electricity!''