Bulb (12v 5 w) ok visually and electrically. Supply feed is only reading 2.7v. All other lights working correctly. Assume fuses are therefore ok. At least its the off side front so reasonably accessible. Any ideas please ? I'm stumped. Thanks, James. Read more

My car heater has turned limp and is know Luke warm, one side is cooler than the other side- though even the warm side is not super hot as it used to be. I will give the cooling system a flush to see if that helps. Car warms up fine, temp need le is at 90 on the highway and oil tea says 90 degrees as wel - so no duff thermostatl. A/C works fine as well. Saw a video on YouTube that suggest that these cars may have a duff temp sensor behind the side vents on both sides of the car - though video was for a mark 6 with climatronic. Mine is mark 7 and does not have climate control.

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Hello Guys!
Well, it’s been 10yrs or so since I last posted here and I’ve been doing other things, as they say.

I thought I’d give a final update on the Punto van, that I heavily greased with Castrol C L grease.

( sorry about the formatting- I’m using an iPhone to post now)

I sold the van on at 13yrs and the grease was still protecting the black subframes 10 yrs after the second application. I was amazed at the persistence of this grease, and it seemed impervious to the general low pressure road spray received by the central subframes.
( I never pressure washed under the van)

But the end result was a 13yr old van with a literally pristine underframe and sump.
As I wrote here many years ago, the sump was greased every year with high temperature grease.

This van was super reliable and cost - from memory- around £200 over all those years in total repair parts.
As for me, my interest in vehicles waned a little in the last few years of the van’s life with us.
I still serviced it myself fully, but as I undertook a lot of long distance air travel in retirement, I became less and less concerned about the van.

Now here’s something from my youth all those decades ago!
I remember meeting a man who, seeing my obvious dedication to the ‘vehicle of the time’
told me “ the car is here to serve you. and not you the car”
Of course, being the car enthusiast I was, I laughed at that, and continued serving the car as though, perhaps it was on an alter in some mysterious realm where touching it up with a Halfords paint tin, actually came before dinner...

I’d sort of ‘automatically’ moved on from that in the last days of the van, as though it were some intrinsic survival mechanism- perhaps generated by these somewhat oldish bones being subjected to cold flagstones.
I set a cut off point at 70yrs, for self car servicing, that is.
And bought a new car, which, honestly I’ve no more interest in than the washing machine...
Oh, well I’m interested in that lol, but truly I’ve moved on and just drive it. Let a garage service it ( yes, really) and only wash it about every three months.

I’ve reached the point where ‘the car serves me’ and not me it...
Not that that’s any better of course- I've just lost interest in cars.

There have been so many other things taking my interest instead, six trips to Darwin, for example where I’ve been photographing and filming wildlife at Fogg Dam, and crocodiles on the Adelaide river.

But, that’s another story, as they say;-)

I’m going to post this now, without spellcheck or even proofreading- I used to post on a tiny EE pc - wow, 10yrs is a long time!

Best
ex ‘oilrag’ Read more

I have managed to damage the front wing of my car, basically the front wing is more or less destroyed back to the wheel arch. If you take a line from the nearside headlight to the wheel arch most of that is destroyed. The wheel must have been impacted too because the tyre is now flat

It actually only happened about 0.5 miles from my home in the pouring rain so I drove back home after only a cursory look, and it did not feel too bad to drive - it is only looking at it in clearer light that I can see just how severe the damage was.... Read more

Reserve via the online portal and get 3 years servicing free.

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