Today I mostly .....

[Zelandeth]

Today involved a lot of running around in circles while also trying to get the Lada ready for tomorrow.

By 1500 or so I finally actually managed to get to the car.

[] Steering box oil topped up, check. Still sodding awkward.

[] Gearbox oil checked - didn't need any.

[] Diff oil checked - didn't need any (despite having looked like it leaks like a sieve since I got the car, it's never used a drop).

[] Screen was topped up.

[] Engine oil checked.

[] Clutch fluid checked.

[] Brake fluid checked.

[] About 30 litres of LHM and goodness only knows how many bits and pieces removed from the boot - and dumped in the Xantia instead.

Having been on daily duties for the last couple of weeks the car was generally a bit grubby, not in a condition I really wanted to hand it over in.



Not having time to give it a proper clean myself today (especially as I was rapidly running out of daylight by that point) I decided to run round to one of the hand car washes need us which I actually trust. Sadly I discovered they're closed on Tuesdays...so reverted back to the one just round the corner from us.

This it turned out was a mistake. Despite me telling them no less than four times NOT to spray TFR all over the car...they did anyway.

So I wound up with a car which was no longer shiny and was covered in splotchy marks. They were very apologetic and then spent half an hour frantically hand polishing it, which made it slightly less dull but still covered in splotches. Not amused.



That's the third time they've done that now...suffice to say I won't be darkening their door again. Ever. I usually try to do this sort of thing myself...but if I don't have time it will be Magic Hand over by Tongwell who will get my business. They have never failed to follow my instructions - and in fact the first time I was there specific said to me before I even got to the front of the queue that they wouldn't be using any of the stronger chemicals because it would dull my paintwork.

At least they didn't do a bad job of the interior.







Next step: digging all the bits of Lada out the garage and from out back.

Couple of things I've not been able to find and I'll need to send on later, but the vast majority of things are now in the car.





So she's about as ready as she's going to be. 0800 tomorrow we'll be fuelling up then heading north.



I'll miss this car, I know that.

What's going to replace it I wonder...

[Zelandeth]

Today was new car collection day. My destination was roughly 160 miles away, so a nice little run without being too much of a slog.

First order of business was of course fuelling up, for the last time. I'll miss the comedy lack of damping of this gauge. With half a tank the reading could vary between off-scale full or having the warning light on depending on which direction you were turning.



Breakfast was then consumed and we set off. Did take a quick break to grab a drink at Norton Canes Services, and took the opportunity to snap a last photo of the Lada sticking out like a sore thumb in a modern car park.



Little bit later and we found ourselves in an unassuming little back street, where I had a lovely chat with a gent I know from one of the other forums I'm on and handed him the keys to my Lada. Oh, and goodness only knows how many spares that I crammed into the back of it yesterday.



I will definitely miss that car, it definitely will be up there on the list of favourites.

I drove away in something rather different though...in many ways...many, many ways.



Which rather narrows things down doesn't it?

Yep...I've gone and taken leave of my senses!



There were a couple of points of concern. The first was that she hasn't had a decent run in forever, had been sitting in a damp garage for the last three months, and was running on fumes. Thanks to the first few points she was running on what sounded like about seven and a half cylinders. I had a feeling though that she would clear up once warmed up properly and able to clear her throat so to speak.

First step though was to very carefully limp to a fuel station as economically as possible and fuel up.

Turns out I probably wasn't running on fumes as the gauge appears to be a little on the pessimistic side.



My theory that we were facing a combination of fouled up plugs and a damp ignition system seemed to be on the money, as after ten or fifteen minutes once we got onto the motorway she smoothed out. Obviously I'll need to see if that remains so when next started up from cold...but I reckon she'll be fine. Ignition system service will definitely be on the to do list anyhow though.

Back home a few hours and 180 miles later, she was running really sweet.



I also made a quick run round to our local Shell fuell station to throw some V-Power fuel in. Running the numbers from the trip home showed an economy figure of 18.7MPG. Given she was running horribly for a portion of that and we had a fair bit of stop start traffic on the M1 that's actually better than I expected. If I can keep my average in the high teens I'll be very happy...though around here I'm not expecting it! MK is just murder on fuel economy, and there's really not much you can do about it.

Safely home.



Fun fact: Photographing a black car after dark is really hard.

The important details.





Original stereo still fitted which is nice to see, though the speakers have been upgraded at some point.



The lamp which provides illumination of everything aside from the instruments, trip computer and gear selector via fibre optics is obviously in need of replacement as it barely manages to provide a feeble glow - though they're not the most effective at the best of times.

Dash lighting is just fine at least.



Speaking of the instruments...I was surprised to see that the indicator lamp on the dash for the rear window demister is green...know that was quite common back in the 60s and 70s, but surprised to see it on a car from 1985 in green rather than amber.



For all they have their drawbacks it's hard to deny that Jaguar used to make some incredibly inviting interiors...



Also it has to be noted that I love the camera on this phone. That was taken completely freehand.

Observations.

[] Drives far, far better than expected for a 30+ year old Jag which has actually been used rather than pampered every day of its life. Absolutely no knocks or clonks from anywhere in the suspension etc.

[] Judder when braking (noted by former keeper), suspect a flat on the brake discs from when the car was standing around a couple of years back.

[] Electric mirrors refuse to adjust (noted by former keeper), suspect dirty switch contacts.

[] Air conditioning disabled (noted by former keeper) due to the clutch on the compressor pulley failing.

[] Veneer on most of the interior wood needs refinishing (been wanting to try to do that for years!).

[] Cruise control doesn't work.

[] Windscreen wiper blades need replacing as a matter of urgency.

[] Interior is a bit musty courtesy of spending months in a damp garage.

[] Exhaust was knocking against the underbody when we started out, but it cut it out once the misfire sorted itself out.

[] Tyres aren't the best.

[] Needs a thorough clean inside and out.

Very happy. Very, very happy.

Really looking forward to getting stuck into things tomorrow and getting to see if properly in daylight and get to know the car a bit better.

I'd originally been planning this to be a way to scratch the itch for a Jag which has been there since I spent a while driving the dark green one here.





Not really intending it to become a long term resident...however can already see it getting under my skin.

It just feels exceedingly special...

[Andrew353w]

What an amazing car! My wife briefly owned one many years ago and described it as "somewhat thirsty" to put it mildly! Smooth, silent, comfortable, effortless and FAST were a few other epithets she used, too! Although you noted 18.1 M.P.G., I reckon a service and careful driving should put it on the right side of 20. Looking forward to the story............

[Aaron]

When i was much younger the xjs was my dream car.
BR green with cream leather.

I could probably afford one now, but with family and a caravan it might not be the most practical.

[Zelandeth]

Got my insurance sorted out this morning, a whole £10 a year more than the Lada. Not going to complain there.

Didn't actually get a huge amount done today car wise between having to spend a huge chunk of time in the morning mopping all of the downstairs floors as one of the dogs had thrown up during the night and then walked in it about a thousand times. Lovely. Then in the afternoon after about half an hour the heavens opened.

Wasn't a total loss though, did get a couple of things done.

Yesterday the clock being wrong was driving me round the twist. I am somewhat autistic and have borderline OCD where things like that are concerned. After far more random jabbing of buttons than it really should have taken (eventually doing exactly the same thing I'm sure I tried twice yesterday!) I got it sorted.



For future reference, you hold down reset while pressing the buttons with the secondary markings for hours and minutes. Still surprises me that the lights in the actual buttons of the trip computer are incandescent lamps, figured they would be green LEDs, even this far back.

Conditioning the leather was next up. It was definitely in dire need of it. Usually with this stuff you apply it, wait ten minutes then buff off any excess. That step wasn't really necessary as it virtually all absorbed immediately. I'll basically keep repeating this daily until it stops drinking the stuff!

Gave the plastics a quick wipe down too, then cleaned the windows so I could actually see out of it. They had acquired that horrible grey film that cars in storage always seem to which made driving at night downright unnerving.

While the seats and door cards in particular still need a deep clean, it looks a lot better. I'm prioritising preservation of the condition of the leather over making it pretty at this stage.



It's definitely an "occasional" four seater, though is far better than the Audi TT my housemate currently has in which it is honestly impossible to fit a human being more than three years old in the back seat. I have a hilarious photo of my husband trying to fit in the back of the one he had a couple of years ago. Biggest challenge with the rear seat in the XJ-S is actually getting out! My back doesn't bend especially well and my spine is taller than the door aperture is tall! So I sort of have to reverse out on hands and knees...not graceful! Thankfully it's not so bad from in the front.

While I was outside I was able to shuffle cars around a bit and confirm that there is *just* enough space to get the Jag actually on the drive behind the van and still open the garage door. Long car is long. This was of course an excuse to grab a couple of extra photos in actual daylight.

This was before I moved the van the last 6" or so forward, but I can actually get it in without the tail end sticking out of the drive. Seeing this on the drive I have a feeling will take a long while to get old...even when it's bleeding me dry through repair and fuel costs.





That will look so much better for a really thorough polish and wax I think.

Last task I got to today was grabbing a fresh set of windscreen wiper blades to replace the ones on the car which were beyond useless. Much better now.



Being able to see where you're going is a bonus. Speaking of that, I've put three dessicant packs in the car today to hopefully draw some of the moisture out of the interior. I don't *think* I have a water ingress issue, more it's just sat for the last three months in a garage with a known damp issue. Hopefully that will clear up pretty quick.

I was very pleased when I went to run out to grab a few things today that she started first touch, running on all cylinders. So yesterday's poor running does appear to be a result of disuse, damp and stale fuel.

I enjoy a few of the details of this car which while feeling somewhat futuristic in some aspects, show the age of the design. For instance the light on the dash to indicate a fault logged by the fuel injection system clearly predates the common symbol for the "check engine" light we're used to these days...and it would be tricky to fit some text like that into the tiny 1/2" square warning lights...so the "lightning bolt" signifying an electronic issue is used instead.



Silly little things like that interest me far more than they probably should.

Hopefully the weather might be better tomorrow so I can at least get a few decent photos! So far I've only managed in the dark, drizzle or poorly parked in a supermarket car park. I need to do better.

[Neil Chowney]

May the Lord shine benevolently upon thy electrics. These can be absolute shockers for wiring and electrical issues.

Still electrics are your thing .

I've heard that the connectors in the looms are the source of much grief.

A lovely car though, I had a XJ8 4.0 which was awesome.

[Zelandeth]

I have since been advised that the lightning bolt symbol is actually an overvoltage warning light...not something I've seen on other cars, but a pretty sensible thing to have.

Had precisely zero time to do anything practical today. I did manage to snap a few better photos while on the way home from running a couple of errands though, and grabbed a couple of videos while en route. Was getting tired of not having any decent shots to show anyone of such a good looking car.

Here we go. This car park is very useful for this purpose - even if the sun being so low was a little awkward.



Quite the menacing front end to see in your mirrors chasing you down...



Though realistically...this is what you'll most likely see. Briefly, before it disappears into the distance anyway.











Will obviously have to retake these once she's been properly polished and waxed.

The photos do flatter the car a bit, she's a ten footer really. There's been a respray done at some point which is neither fantastic nor terrible. There are a few imperfections (mainly some runs in awkward areas).

Here are a few random closer photos, showing areas where I seem to recall rot being an issue on some cars.

Offside front wing.


Offside rear wheel arch. This has been dubbed back, treated with Vactan and then drowned in Dinitrol or similar by the previous keeper with the aim of stopping it from rusting any worse until it could be tackled properly. Can't really fault the logic there.


Rear screen surround. Could see this being an utter nightmare to sort it there was any serious rust here. Thankfully doesn't seem to be much beyond a few spots.


This is one of the areas of less than perfect paint. Not sure if there's a rust bubble under here or if it's been a reaction with the original paint. It's solid and not crunchy at least.


Couple of tiny blemishes by the screen surround.


Nearside front wing.


Nearside door handle needs some help.


Nearside rear arch is pretty much identical to the offside one.


Wheels have a couple of small blemishes but are in astonishingly good shape to be honest.


So she's no concourse winner, but is absolutely presentable I think and will clean up lovely with a bit of elbow grease.

Sounds healthy enough and drives well though.

When collected from the previous owner she was obviously struggling a bit, running on about seven and a half cylinders. How about now? Well see for yourself.





Aside from the brake judder, not too bad at all.

[Zelandeth]

Figured it was time to stop cowering in fear and actually open the bonnet again.

No huge surprises to be honest (and it is just as terrifyingly complicated as I remembered). Hasn't used any detectable amount of oil or coolant on the trip home or driving around yesterday which is nice to see.

Quite a lot of surface corrosion on everything which fits given that the car has barely been used for a not insignificant number of years. Oh, and the air conditioning belt is not fitted as we were already aware.





Slightly intrigued by the little red anodised cylinder by the nearside brace.



In the absence of anything to suggest the contrary I'm guessing this is either a filter/silencer or a check valve attached to a vent line of some description as there doesn't seem to be anything nearby which could connect to it. Guessing the original unit died of old age. At the very least this one will get painted black as it currently looks daft.

Looks like the distributor cap will be "fun" to change.



The HT leads at least seem to be relatively recent - based on how supple they feel anyway. Even though it will be an utter pig to get to, I'll probably change the cap sooner than later as it's the sort of thing I usually do as a matter of course on any new car.

The throttles definitely need balancing I reckon. Just based on how much air it feels like is being pulled through each of the air intakes it feels like the left bank is doing far more work than the right.

One fault I had noticed right back when collecting it was that I only had one functioning reversing light and that looked very dim. Quick examination revealed a dead 21W lamp in one side and a 5W one in the working light...explains why it was so feeble. Nice easy fix.



Helped by Jaguar having used stainless steel fasteners on the light clusters...oh how I wish Saab did...

Oh, and for the record, the engine isn't running in the above photo, it's just in reverse with the of ignition on...I don't trust the handbrake enough to get out with the car in gear and engine running.

While in the area of the rear of the car, I'd noticed that the courtesy lights in the boot didn't work. Turned out they were both disconnected. Reconnecting them restored full functionality.



Confirmed they're switching off (and staying off) by sticking my phone in there and recording video while I closed and then generally messed around with the bootlid. The photo makes them look brighter than they really are though, they're a bit feeble to be honest. For practical reasons these lights may have warm white LEDs fitted in due course to increase their output to useful levels.

The oil pressure gauge sender was investigated while I had the bonnet open (I still love the opening/closing action and the way the latches pull the bonnet closed when you reset the handle). No part numbers I can see on it.



According to the former keepers this was ordered correctly based on the chassis number...and they're reasonably confident that the issue is with the instrument panel. So this will require further investigation.

The other issue which has come up requiring actual immediate attention (electrical, no surprises there!) is that yesterday afternoon the previously dead illumination for the tape slot on the stereo suddenly sprang back to life. However it then resolutely refused to go out again, being totally unaffected by anything else. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and decided to see if it would go out after a while on its own. Did it?



That will be a no then. The red LED is fine, that's the immobiliser fob detector and is allowed to be blinking away. So for tonight I've pulled one of the battery leads. On the plus side this takes five seconds to do because it's in the boot. I'll try to investigate that tomorrow. Hopefully it's not a serious problem with the head unit (which otherwise seems to function perfectly) and can be easily resolved.

[Zelandeth]

First task for today was to check the throttle balance.

The throttle actuation rods were waaaay out of whack, meaning that the throttle pulley was resting a good 1/2" off the closed throttle stop. This was due to the left one. The right one is currently seized in its bushing but has been left soaking in Plusgas so I'll give it another poke in the future. At least with my foot off the throttle the throttle position sensor will be seeing that the throttle is actually closed now.

When I checked everything at rest after that was adjusted, we had 4% CO on the left bank and 0.5% CO on the right.

After adjusting the stop screws I was able to get things stable at 1% on the right and 1.2% on the left. I was kind of hoping I could aim for 1.5% (smack in the middle of the 1-2% quoted in the handbook), but I couldn't open the driver's side up any further without opening the throttle itself because I couldn't adjust the actuating rod on that side.

Right:



Left:


It's a lot closer to correct than it was. The car smelled very obviously rich before, it doesn't now so it seems I've done something right. Idle is very obviously smoother too.

Next up was some detective work to figure out why the lighting in the stereo was refusing to go out.

Pulling it out of the dash revealed clear evidence that someone has been in here before.



Have to wonder if this was more recently when the speakers were changed or if it was back when the head unit was replaced back in 1988.



Helpfully the handbook for the head unit contains a clear wiring diagram which made the detective work a lot easier.



Didn't take more than a couple of minutes to track down that someone had connected what should be the permanent live for the memory backup to the line which should be connected to the dash lighting circuit. That will be why it was always lit up then. Goodness only knows how long it's been like that.

At first I couldn't actually find the wire for this, but after groping around blindly for several minutes I found this.



...Which when tested turned out to have 12V present on it when the headlights were turned on. That will be the illumination feed then.

Having connected this to the appropriate terminal, tested it and stuffed it back into the dash it initially didn't work. Well it did but I couldn't receive anything because the terminal for the power antenna had been pulled out. Second time round, having more carefully routed the wiring bundle we had better luck.

Headlights off:



Headlights on:



It's hard to tell from the photo, but the display is dimmed when the lights are on. Sadly the bulbs which should provide lighting to the buttons on the stereo have burned out, so I'll need to conduct some microsurgery to sort that at some point in the future. For now though it has solved the problem with it refusing to switch fully off. Do wonder how long this has been causing issues with battery drain...

The four screws which were meant to secure the cage for the head unit to the dash were also missing...so someone didn't take much care when they were in here last.

Feels like a reasonably productive afternoon.

[Tom.]

Top fix with the radio live feed, I'm guessing that's got to be one of the top listed reasons (battery drain) why I need to swap my XJS . Lets hope any other issues it may have are that easy to fix. Lovely car, I think you done really well this type of car can be a financial disaster for anyone without electrical and mechanical knowledge............ I think the right person got their hands on the right car.

[Zelandeth]

this type of car can be a financial disaster for anyone without electrical and mechanical knowledge............ I think the right person got their hands on the right car.

Oh I don't doubt for a minute the thing will have me tearing my hair out and my debit card smouldering.

Let's not even talk about fuel economy...

[Zelandeth]

Let's have a look at the non functional full throttle kickdown.

Having done a bit of research I discovered that the kickdown system is meant to be triggered by a microswitch on the throttle cable right next to the throttle cable tower.

The way it works is that when the throttle itself hits the stop at full travel, if you press the pedal further it then pulls the sheath of the cable back against a strong spring, which then acts against a microswitch.

This relies on the cable being pretty much perfectly adjusted to get sufficient travel to activate the switch...and sure enough mine wasn't even close. It's a quick and easy thing to adjust though (probably the only easy to access adjustment in the whole engine bay!), so was a quick matter to correct that.

Sadly it hasn't apparently resolved the issue, though I've yet to confirm the switch itself is working (they're apparently not particularly reliable) as the meter was making a bid for freedom the moment I let go of it because of the wind. I gave up when the bonnet blew shut on me for the second time.

If that switch is working, there's a deeper issue...but I'm not going to worry too much about it just now. It really doesn't affect the driveability of the car (the normal "mild" kickdown feature works fine, it's just the "kick in the pants" mode that is acting up). On a car with more mild power availability it might be more of a headache.

Something a bit less involved needing looked at is the state of the wood trim. It's the first thing people notice in the car.







The wood itself actually looks to be in good nick. It's just the lacquer layer that's peeling off - not unlike a Dante Red Citroen!

I've never dealt with anything like this but have a rough plan of attack in mind. The bit I'm expecting to be the biggest headache by far is physically detaching the bits of trim from the car so I can work on them.

Probably the trickiest bit with regards to the actual wood I reckon will be getting the remains of the old lacquer off. I'm not expecting it to just peel off nicely, and will probably have to get some paint stripper involved. I don't think sanding is an option as I reckon because it's patchy it would leave high and low spots...also I don't know how thick the veneer is and really don't want to risk rubbing through it.

Once I've got rid of the old manky lacquer it should be pretty simple I think. Quick coat of stain to give it some colour, a skim over with some really gentle sandpaper to key the surface, then a load of light coats of clear coat. I believe polyurethane varnish is normally used commercially...though part of me is wondering if normal automotive clear coat could be used? Both because it removes the requirement for brush painting (which I hate) and I have it in stock in the garage.

Open to suggestions from folks who actually know what they're doing there as this is a bit of a new challenge for me...is the first car I've had with actual wood trim for one thing!

I mentioned a couple of days ago that the lights in the boot which I had revived were pretty pathetic. Having a rummage through the box of "misc automotive bulbs" this morning I came across a couple of 5W LED festoon lamps which I'd stuffed in there a couple of years ago. They're a horrible 6000K bluish colour, which is why I had just stuffed them in the box and forgotten. However for a boot light I'm not so bothered about the colour temperature as it's purely practical.

With the first one in the difference in brightness is immediately obvious! The one on the left is barely even visible.



Reckon that will be a bit more useful when digging things out in the dead of night.



Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be slightly less ridiculous and I can get a couple more things done.

The brake judder should soon be sorted as a set of discs has been ordered. Was braced for eye watering prices but they weren't too bad, can't remember exactly what the number was, but I think the pair of discs and pads was around £100. Was bracing for several times that. Will be nice to get that done as it's really the only thing that's really obviously amiss from the driver's seat to be honest.

[Zelandeth]

This really is a car which encourages you to go the long way to get places.

Like home to the charity shop over at Kiln Farm I check in on semi regularly as they usually have a good selection of vinyl that's mostly £0.50 apiece...a trip that's about four or five miles...but I ended up going via Buckingham, just because I could. Still didn't want to get out when I got there!

The windscreen washers have decided to pack in today. I'm guessing as with most cars of this age this is due to slime growing in the bottom of the washer bottle. It's easily accessible though so no problem. I'll pull it out tomorrow and give it a really good clean, then blow all the lines back through with compressed air. Sure it will be absolutely fine once that's done.

One modification I am definitely going to do is the deletion of the 15 minute "warm up timer" system. What this does is that if the coolant temperature is below 45C (measured by its own sensor to the rear of the right hand coolant manifold), for the first fifteen minutes it disables the vacuum advance system and retards the timing. This makes the engine less efficient, producing more heat and helping it heat up more quickly. It also means that for the first fifteen minutes it absolutely massacres your fuel economy. You'll be lucky to see the instantaneous MPG figure make it into double digits until this has timed out.

Given there is 5.3 litres of quite highly tuned V12 producing heat, it'll warm up in a perfectly reasonable amount of time, even though the engine weighs something ridiculous... there's really no need to deliberately make the thing use more petrol than it needs to!

Luckily this system can be disabled really simply by unplugging the appropriate temperature sensor. The associated hardware can also be removed to help improve space in what's possibly the most cluttered engine bay ever designed (I'm not sure designed is the right word..."happened" seems more accurate), though that's not strictly necessary.

Speaking of heating, the heater is something which needs help. Pretty certain that the tube has come adrift from the duct used to sample the cabin air temperature (or the thermistor value has drifted) as the only way to get any appreciable heat out of it is to set it to the demist mode. Bit of explanation needed here for those who have never used the heater in one of these. When it's set to anything other than demist the temperature is dialled in to a set value between 65 and 85F. There's no "as hot or cold as possible" setting. Which is fine and good when the system is correctly sampling the cabin...but a pain when it's not. The demist mode overrides this and just chucks out as much heat as possible, with the blowers set to maximum. It's also worth noting that there's no air distribution control like on most cars. So the only way to get air into the windscreen is to set it to demist...which puts the blower on full! I reckon that will be less of an issue once the air conditioning has been sorted as the cabin will then always be dehumidified...however it's currently a pain to keep it demisted - though the fact it's never stopped raining since I picked the car up hasn't probably helped. When it's set to demist you should get as much heat as possible, full power to both blower motors and air distribution set to 90% to the windscreen, 10% to the floor level vents. However the air coming out of the lower vents is never warm. So reckon there's an air distribution issue there. That's a job for another day though, I'm not pulling the dashboard apart yet.

Hard to believe I've done nearly 400 miles in it already! Wonder how many years of its previous life that would account for...

[Zelandeth]

450 miles in.

MPG on the last tank? Uuuuum...10.98MPG. Yeah, economy isn't her strong suit. That warmup timer needs to get in the sea and we'll see how much that helps. The trip computer is far more accurate than most modern ones seem to be. At least I can track it properly now... previously I was having issues there as I hadn't been able to get the tripometer to reset and the counter on the trip computer was getting wiped as I was disconnecting the battery overnight prior to sorting the stereo wiring issue.

Been busy most of today, so aside from briefly introducing a local friend to the Jag (yep, they were as surprised as I was to see it in my fleet!), I've not had a chance to do much with cars. Weather has been distinctly miserable anyway and not really conducive to working on cars.

However on departing the house to run one of many errands I was presented with this:



The way the lamp failure system works in the Jag is that if an appropriate amount of current flows through the lamp, a bimetallic switch in closes after 10-20 seconds after the respective lighting circuit is turned on to tell the system that the lamp is good, at which point the indicator on the dash goes out. If it doesn't detect this "lamp good" signal, the indicator stays lit.

In this case examination revealed that a number plate light was indeed out. Simply tapping the fitting restored it to operation though rather than the lamp needing replaced. So I'll add "clean number plate light contacts" to the to do list.

Good, because I could have done without standing in the pouring rain sorting that!

[Zelandeth]

Made a quick run out of town today, partly for a change of scenery and partly as it's an excuse to drive on slightly nicer roads.

This has definitely improved my average fuel consumption from the previous 11mpg, but is still "far from frugal."



I think one of my jobs for this weekend will be getting stuck into the distributor and making sure the vacuum advance system is working properly. Apparently the old grease dries up and causes the system to lock up. The obvious consequences of this being an engine that's down on power and horrific fuel economy. The former is quite hard to detect given the abundance of torque available from this power unit!

This also has a huge impact on the exhaust gas temperature which really isn't great for the exhaust valves, which is something we want to rectify sooner than later I think given my reading seems to suggest that these engines dropping valve seats isn't unknown if the heads get unduly hot.

Now, to figure out how to get at the distributor without having to remove the cruise control assembly and half of the fuel injection system...

The "Hey, that's a lovely looking car...wait...that's *my* car!" reaction when walking back to it in car parks definitely has hasn't worn off yet.





Managed to get it a very quick blast over at the jet wash today (hoping to do it by hand at the weekend so mainly wanted to get the moss out of the window seals etc), get the impression this won't come up bad with a bit of work.



At least I've got rid of the huge greasy hand print I left on the bonnet a few days ago now.