It was a big day for Kilo Golf Alpha, who would be hauling us North 400 miles to Yorkshire, via the Western Lake District. The plan was a week off work for some familial house-sitting and - as the house comes with garage - some solid time spent tinkering.
There were complications pulling out of a supermarket where we'd stocked up with supplies for the journey. Steering suddenly became very stiff as I reversed out of parking space and needed some serious wrenching to get the wheel around. I should have stopped there and examined things, but the steering lightened up almost immediately, so we headed on our blissful way with a tankful of petrol.
I hadn't realised that the stiffness was caused by the wiring loom to the new alternator getting wrapped around the steering column. The wrenching action pulled both leads out of their connections and left us without charge. The red light which should have told us there was no charge didn't, because the cable which powers it had been wrenched out of the alternator...
We drove merrily unawares up the M25 and M6, with no noticeable problems. Weather was foul though, and we had lights, wipers and heater going full blast. Eventually - some 200 miles in - the wipers started getting slower and slower, so the heater and light came off, but the wipers still slowed.
We pulled in at the next services where I found the dangling wires. Some emergency electrical squeezing got everything back together but the battery was totally drained. A passer-by noticed our plight, offered his very kind assistance and with a shove got us going again.
After another hour we needed to stop for petrol, but the fast motorway run had charged the battery and all was well. Many thanks to our unknown friend whose help was very, very much appreciated.
Showing posts with label breakdown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breakdown. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Oh, Mr. Harry - 1 February 2007
Not quite a month since the clutch had been fixed, we had a minor issue with KGA on Thursday 1st February
It was a complicated day. We had tickets to the recording of Harry Hill's TV Burp, courtesy of TV Recordings, which necessitated much planning and several cars. In brief, we left KGA at work, watched the excellent recording and then headed home via work to pick up KGA.
The engine started reluctantly. Then stalled. Then started reluctantly. Etc. Blaming a flat battery, we did some jump-starting with the trusty Rover. No dice there, so eventually we called the AA.
They arrived quickly and diagnosed a dodgy fuel filter. A previous owner had fitted an inline filter which was heavily clogged, and the AA man recommended a new filter and new fuel lines to boot. He cleared the carb and to get me home, and with a job for the weekend.
Seemingly inline filters come in "large" or "small". KGA went for large, although it was a tight fit and the extra lengths on each side of the filter had to be trimmed. To complicate things further, the Amazon takes different sizes of fuel line coming into the pump and going out, so after fixing it looked like this:
With that done the engine sounded smoother and we were off again.
It was a complicated day. We had tickets to the recording of Harry Hill's TV Burp, courtesy of TV Recordings, which necessitated much planning and several cars. In brief, we left KGA at work, watched the excellent recording and then headed home via work to pick up KGA.
The engine started reluctantly. Then stalled. Then started reluctantly. Etc. Blaming a flat battery, we did some jump-starting with the trusty Rover. No dice there, so eventually we called the AA.
They arrived quickly and diagnosed a dodgy fuel filter. A previous owner had fitted an inline filter which was heavily clogged, and the AA man recommended a new filter and new fuel lines to boot. He cleared the carb and to get me home, and with a job for the weekend.
Seemingly inline filters come in "large" or "small". KGA went for large, although it was a tight fit and the extra lengths on each side of the filter had to be trimmed. To complicate things further, the Amazon takes different sizes of fuel line coming into the pump and going out, so after fixing it looked like this:
With that done the engine sounded smoother and we were off again.
What, no Gears? - 8 January 2007
KGA had been my daily drive for a few months before we had our first problem. Driving home from work one night it became difficult to engage gears. Trying to drive to work the next day and there were no gears to be had.
Temporarily the Rover was brought out of retirement until the issue could be fixed, while KGA languished in the local car park, awaiting attention.
Inspection found the clutch master cylinder filled with a murky dark-brown liquid which was presumably once clutch fluid. I drained it and replenished with fresh, but depressing the clutch pedal didn't effect any movement in the slave cylinder.
A replacement master cylinder (original spec, new Girling part) came courtesy of the fast and efficient PowerTrack limited (who also supply brake parts). The Haynes manual was accurate if brief on the removal of the "brake pedal to pushrod clevis pin", which is found here:
The new cylinder came devoid of thrust rod, so this was removed from the old one and the new cylinder fitted:
Filled with fluid and with some hearty bleeding, the new cylinder worked perfectly. KGA was back on the road in time for work on Monday.
Temporarily the Rover was brought out of retirement until the issue could be fixed, while KGA languished in the local car park, awaiting attention.
Inspection found the clutch master cylinder filled with a murky dark-brown liquid which was presumably once clutch fluid. I drained it and replenished with fresh, but depressing the clutch pedal didn't effect any movement in the slave cylinder.
A replacement master cylinder (original spec, new Girling part) came courtesy of the fast and efficient PowerTrack limited (who also supply brake parts). The Haynes manual was accurate if brief on the removal of the "brake pedal to pushrod clevis pin", which is found here:
The new cylinder came devoid of thrust rod, so this was removed from the old one and the new cylinder fitted:
Filled with fluid and with some hearty bleeding, the new cylinder worked perfectly. KGA was back on the road in time for work on Monday.
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