Stuff you have fixed today

[8ob]

A few days have passed so I declare "IT" fixed.

"IT" being the ex wifes car, a touchy subject at best as Wife 2.0 is understandably not very keen on any of my endeavours helping out The Batty Old Harpy Wife 1.0.

The car is a Ford Fiesta 1.4 diesel (May be a 1.6 but I dont really care), serviced since new by a dealership but has had an ever increasing tendancy to refuse to start or simply throw a dashboard sht-fit and pretend to be possesed by malevolent spirits that the dealership want to fix by installing a new car
My middle son lives with her as she is still and always will be his mother, so for an easy life he has been googling how to mend a wonky Fiesta.

The fix he decided on was to disconnect the battery and connect it back up.
This worked for a bit, then it didnt any more and the next level was "clean the battery terminals" which had him beaten.

It transpired he was trying to undo the captive nut for the negative battery lead and it was reluctant to undo, with it being welded in place.
I showed him the error of his ways, undid the offending bolt instead and was about to walk away when I spotted the fault the dealershi(tp) had been ignoring for years.

The battery ground point relies entirely on the bolt having a good connection.
Why ?
The ring terminal from the battery lead is plain metal both sides.
One side touches the bolt which goes into a captive nut exposed to the elements and was rusty into its threads.
The other side of this terminal is clamped to the bracket where the captive nut lives.
The bracket has primer, several coats of metallic paint and a good top-coat of gloss keeping half the earth-point from actually working.
A minutes work at most had the offending paint removed with a flat bladed screwdriver then a quick hit of emery paper had ths part of the negative contact point paint free and shiny.

The car now starts every time and has been exorcised.

Without pictures it was only a dream or possibly a nightmare

Bob

 

[8ob]

Do you recommend led tubes, or standard fluorescents?

What's the price difference, and light difference, and longlevity?

Sat on the fence with this one Mat, the heat generated from the ones failing probably eat into any energy savings and they are more expensive to replace. The mancave has been brimmed with gear for the extension for a couple of years so not had much use, they are way short on the claimed life expectancy and I have already changed as many as this under warranty. Not cheapies off the bay of thieves either, they are from a local wholesaler.

Bob

 

[JMS1972]

Sat on the fence with this one Mat, the heat generated from the ones failing probably eat into any energy savings and they are more expensive to replace. The mancave has been brimmed with gear for the extension for a couple of years so not had much use, they are way short on the claimed life expectancy and I have already changed as many as this under warranty. Not cheapies off the bay of thieves either, they are from a local wholesaler.

Bob

Not sure if they would work in your setup but I really like the 600mm square led panels designed to retro fit office lighting.

You get a really nice diffuse light and they are cheap as chips. The only failure I've had was the power supply on one of them. Which is external so can be replaced.

 

[dobbslc]

I've had the RCD at home tripping for a week or so but couldn't find what was causing it, eventually remembered about the Draper sump pump in the garden so tested that and found it was a dead short to earth. As it was only 8 months old I took it back to Toolstation for a refund which they gave me without question
I ordered a new Lowera pump from Anchor Pumps after getting some advice on what to buy and it arrived in less than 24 hours! Very impressive.

It's smaller than the old one so I had to adjust my bracket down a bit (pic before I moved it)
It seems to work fine in this crappy weather!
As a bonus it came with 10 m of HO7 rubber flex which I don't need so I now have 9 m to use for fixing my belt sander

 

[dobbslc]

Another candidate for the fix it don't throw it school of thought,

Mr Henry didn't work any more so my son's girlfriend brought him home from her work as the boss said just get a new one.
The plug had been trodden on and bent the pins, one new plug and he works
After going on a Henry diet Iast year I'm now back up to 4...

 

[8ob]

Not sure if they would work in your setup but I really like the 600mm square led panels designed to retro fit office lighting.

You get a really nice diffuse light and they are cheap as chips. The only failure I've had was the power supply on one of them. Which is external so can be replaced.

They wouldn't work here because of the curve of the nissen hut. I know what you mean though because they have just fitted them in a place where we were working, no shadows and the equivalent of daylight, very impressive

Bob

 

[Edward Teach]

Hopefully this will pass it's Mot in the morning,
Its been off the road since 2017
Stripped and rebuilt the front calipers the other week,
This weekend has been,
Front fork seals,
Rear caliper strip and rebuild,
Fit new battery,
Adjust gear shift and rear brake pedal to suit my riding boots,
Clean and lube chain,
Fit other unmarked standard exhaust muffler,
Repair stator wire connector/oil wicking problem,
Fit other unmarked fuel tank cover,
Fit other right fairing 'wing'
Fit new Michelin Road 5 front and rear tyres - 190/55/17 - 120/70/17
The old tyres only had 250 miles on them, but are 4 and 5 years old, and I will not ride tyres older than 3 years
Fit other left mirror,
Fit other right mirror glass,
Fit other 'black' rear hugger
Fit original clutch lever,
Repair and fit front indicators,
Repair headlight flash/pass function,
Cleaned it within an inch of its life, it was minging.

Kawasaki ZX12-R - A2 - 2001

 

[Wedg1e]

Hopefully this will pass it's Mot in the morning,
Its been off the road since 2017
Stripped and rebuilt the front calipers the other week,
This weekend has been,
Front fork seals,
Rear caliper strip and rebuild,
Fit new battery,
Adjust gear shift and rear brake pedal to suit my riding boots,
Clean and lube chain,
Fit other unmarked standard exhaust muffler,
Repair stator wire connector/oil wicking problem,
Fit other unmarked fuel tank cover,
Fit other right fairing 'wing'
Fit new Michelin Road 5 front and rear tyres - 190/55/17 - 120/70/17
The old tyres only had 250 miles on them, but are 4 and 5 years old, and I will not ride tyres older than 3 years
Fit other left mirror,
Fit other right mirror glass,
Fit other 'black' rear hugger
Fit original clutch lever,
Repair and fit front indicators,
Repair headlight flash/pass function,
Cleaned it within an inch of its life, it was minging.

Kawasaki ZX12-R - A2 - 2001

View attachment 298756

Road 5s... pukka

 

[northwest]

I fixed this today. No after pic, I forgot. It did happen though, used a bit of Inconel 6something or other rod, I was well impressed with myself.



On with the Tig, tiny puddle started, quick dab of the rod, don't move keep the heat on then let it go but still hold still. Worked a treat.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Hopefully this will pass it's Mot in the morning,

And??

 

[GafferTapeKing]

Without pictures it was only a dream or possibly a nightmare

Bob

Pictures ?
Are you certain ?

Or did you mean the Ford rather than my Ex ?

 

[GafferTapeKing]

I appreciate the advantages of leds, but without exception, they don't seem to last.

I've a traditional fluorescent, in the back shed, 16 watt, single tube, it's been on for four years, never turned off and has outlived every led bulb I've ever bought.

If you have an interest in the electronics behind these things and how they fail I can highly recommend a youtube channel call bigclive.
He tears down electronics and holds no punches on any strengths or more commonly weaknesses in consumer electronics.

Case study in point, a close look at one of those plug in nightlights that used to have a tungsten bulb fitted.
Now available with an LED bulb, does the new LED one use less or more power than the tungsten one ?

 

[Dave-sparks]

Do you recommend led tubes, or standard fluorescents?

What's the price difference, and light difference, and longlevity?

As with anything else you get what you pay for.

If you get a good quality LED light fitting from a reputable manufacturer then it will give you many years of reliable service.

A decent LED fitting will cost you more than the conventional fitting it is replacing, however it will also last a lot longer and give a more useful light output.

 

[Barking Mat]

As with anything else you get what you pay for.

If you get a good quality LED light fitting from a reputable manufacturer then it will give you many years of reliable service.

A decent LED fitting will cost you more than the conventional fitting it is replacing, however it will also last a lot longer and give a more useful light output.

Any recommendations ? Please.

 

[Barking Mat]

If you have an interest in the electronics behind these things and how they fail I can highly recommend a youtube channel call bigclive.
He tears down electronics and holds no punches on any strengths or more commonly weaknesses in consumer electronics.

Case study in point, a close look at one of those plug in nightlights that used to have a tungsten bulb fitted.
Now available with an LED bulb, does the new LED one use less or more power than the tungsten one ?

I'll look into this tomorrow, too late now.

Is this the LED driver boards, in question?

 

[Edward Teach]

And??

Yes it passed its fitness test,
And, the 100 mile road test
I forgot how fast it was, bloody hell

 

[Dave-sparks]

Any recommendations ? Please.

I use Ansell for LED batten fittings and round bulkheads.

Ansell Lighting

Robust non-corrosive batten ideal for industrial applications and ancillary areas Ultra slim IP65 LED NCF linear High efficiency up to 161 Lm/W Unique base design caters for multiple installation methods Installer friendly embedded features aid accurate and fast installation for any application...

www.anselluk.com

Products

 

[Wallace]

This came to me for an Mot with the options of repair, scrap or buy. Failed the Mot so I decided to buy it.

(Server will not let me upload photos of the welding they are too large.)

 

[Windy Miller]

This came to me for an Mot with the options of repair, scrap or buy. Failed the Mot so I decided to buy it.

View attachment 298983

Is that a C class or an E class? I had a very scruffy W reg E320 a few years back the same colour as that. Fabulous car - so comfy and surprisingly fast too. I'd like another one actually

 

[Wallace]

Is that a C class or an E class? I had a very scruffy W reg E320 a few years back the same colour as that. Fabulous car - so comfy and surprisingly fast too. I'd like another one actually

E320 CDI diesel 2004 with Designo interior. I am really starting to like it, it's like a comfy van with that load space. Thus us an S211, yours was probably an S210? Still cannot get my head round the S211 being the Wagon and W211 the Saloon!