Wednesday, April 26, 2006

FOR SALE: 2 x Technics 1210's

I have, for sale, a set of Technics 1210 turntables in very good condition.

These were purchased 3 years ago brand new, and have rarely been used over the last 2 years. They come complete with lid's & ortofon cartridges as shown in the pictures below.




[more pictures here]

Looking for £450 ovno for these.

Based in Croydon, Surrey. e-mail me if your interested!

It goes from bad to worse!

Sooo, on friday, i picked the car up. Seemed ok!.. Saturday, we helped my girlies dad move from Croydon to Eastbourne. Car behaved well,although i wasn't racing it or anything. I did notice however, that when i pulled away, sometimes the clutch would judder. But i thought nothing more of it, and didn't want to scare the passangers into thinking that there was a problem.

Forgot about it on Sunday, but the problem kinda re-appeared on Monday. So monday night, i got home from work and decided to inspect the driveshaft gaiter which the mechanic had done. Looked fine to me. So stood up, locked the car and walked away. A quick glance back to the car to make sure the indicators had gone off, and i realised a big puddle under the car, and it was getting bigger by the second!... Doh!

Went back and opened the bonnet to be met with a radiator pipe with a huge spray of water coming from it!... Nice! Now if you have read my blog, you should know that i had a similar problem almost a year ago now with a different pipe!

Never-the-less, the pipe needed replacing. Now seeing as the mechanic had done a decent job on the head gasket, i gave him a call. Bearing in mind it was at 6pm on monday, and the car was booked in on Tuesday morning at 9! Not bad i thought.

So Tuesday comes, i drop the keys off, and head towards the train station (again). At 11am, i phoned the mechanic to find out what the progress is. he said he couldn't find a problem!.. So i told him where it was coming from and to go have another look.

I Phoned him up at 2 to find out what was happening with the car. He said he had fuond the leak, and ordered the new part. He'd be picking it up at 4, and then i could have the car at 6! I was told to phone back around half 4, 5pm to find out how much it'd cost!

So 4.30 comes, i was about to leave to get the train and thought i'd better make sure it was done. Phoned hte mechanic, and he told me he didn't have a chance to pick up the part, and the car wouldn't be ready until today!... AARGHH!

So in the last 2 weeks(ish), i've had the car 3 days... That aint good at all!

Oh, and the other problem. Saturday night, "H" went out to meet some old school friends. 1am, she phoned up to be picked up. I got halfway to the club when i got a flat tyre.. So had to lock the car (and leave it at the side of the road) and walk to where she was as i didn't want her standing around alone waiting for me.

The car's gone from bad to worse. Im hoping this is the last of the problems, but i've got half an idea that it wont be! im mean't to be going to suffolk this weekend. I hope the car behaves itself!

Monday, April 24, 2006

I've got the car back!..Wooo

Well, as my last post mentioned, with a bit of luck, i'd be picking up the car on Friday, and indeed i did! Damn it feels good to be driving again! And since friday, i've done around 150miles which has been quite fun!.. But still had a few problems though!

Saturday, my girlie & i helped her dad move to Eastbourne, which is around 50 miles from where we live. So we loaded up the van and drove down there. i followed behind the van and drove sensibly so as to run the engine in so i dont wreck it with the new bits on it. Had no trouble getting down there, but i was always looking under the car for leaks. I must of been imagining it (or unlucky) but whereever i parked, there always seemed to be a few drops under the car until i got home from Eastbourne. I will have a proper look at the engine today though!

Also, Saturday night, "H" went out with her old school pals. She phoned me at 1am asking to be picked up, so i jumped in the car, and drove into town to pick her up. It's about 5 mins away, if that. Anyway, got halfway there, and i could feel the car pulling to the right. Now it had not done this earlier whilst driving to eastbourne, so it meant only one thing, a flat tyre! D'oh!. Being 1am, and not an entirely safe neighbour hood, i thought i'd drive to the club, pick "H" up, and drive back, and then change the tyre in the morning as it didn't 'feel' that flat. But after turning a corner, i realised the tyre was completly flat, DAMN!

So pulled over to the side of the road, and called "H" telling her that i had a flat tyre. Now i wasn't going to leave her waiting, or standing alone for too long in town, so i locked the car, and ran down to where she was. We walked back to the car so i could change the tyre.

It's all done now (obviously), but this is the 3rd flat tyre i've had in as many weeks, and it always seems to be the same corner of the car that's going down, however, it's not the same tyre. My first thought was that someone was sabotaging(sp?) the car. But thinking about it, my first flat was in Suffolk, the second one was driving home on the A12, and the last one was at Home. So it's not that. I doubt anything is catching inside the wheel to flatten it, but i'll definatly have a look later on when i get the flat tyre replaced!...

Since ive got the car back though, i've realised i do love the car, i love the way it drives, the way it handles, and the way it feels on the roads, and it'd certainly be a shame to get rid of the car. It's a difficult decision, but maybe one that will have to be made sooner or later :(

Friday, April 21, 2006

Nearly done...

Well i have constantly been on the phone to the mechanic, and if all goes to plan, im picking up the car tonight!!!..

The Mechanic first off, set about looking into a water leak i never knew i had. This turned out to be coming from the inlet manifold and he sorted that out. he said he looked into this as it could be causing the head gasket problems, but once it was done, the problems were still there. So they set about changing the head gasket. Upon removal of the head, they noticed that the gasket was indeed knackered, and had a breach between the water ways & the cylinder. Not good! So the gasket was replaced and the head was sent off to be skimmed.

When i phoned them yesterday afternoon (hoping the car would be ready), he said the head was back and all was well. But the car wouldn't be ready until friday morning (today), because obviously, it all needs to be put back together, and then driven round the houses to sort it all out!!!..

So i shall be leaving work early and head back into Croydon to get the car.. Wooo.. I cant wait!

I've also got the guy to fix my leaking CV gaiter, so in theory, the car should be pretty much sorted now!.. I told him i had the MOT coming up and was there any problem's he's spotted that i should be aware of, and he said no, the car looked pretty good now that the work has been done!

I Cant wait!!!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The Car's gone...

... to the garage this morning! Hopefully it'll be ready soon! I phoned up a load of places last week to see if there was a garage close by to where i live which could do the head gasket as soon as possible, and this garage said they could take it in today and hopefully be ready by thursday morning!.. Fingers crossed! Let's hope it's not too expensive!

I know it may sound stupid, but im missing the car already, and REALLY cant wait to get it back! Getting the train to work this morning was a nightmare, and took me well over an hour! Had to go from East Croydon Station upto London bridge, and then back out to where i work! Was hassle considering i can do the drive in 20 mins on a good day!

Roll on thursday!... Oh, and the mechanic will also look at my leaking CV Joint!

Will post more news when i get it!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Oooh, it's mucky!

Last night, i went round to my dad's again to try and flush the water system, to try and pre-long the engine till next tuesday when the head gasket get's fixed.

I took some pictures of the gunk coming outta the engine.. it doesn't look nice! Here's the pictures


The water filler cap.


The crap coming outta the radiator.


The basin under the car full of the sludge!

Hopefully the engine will hold out till tuesday!.. Finger's crossed!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Double whammy!

I Took the car into the garage today to get some welding done which has been pending for over 6 months! an hour or so after taking it in, the mechanic phoned up and told me he had done the welding and also fixed my exhaust as it was blowing loudly and annoying him!.. Wooo... So for £40, i got 2 problems fixed! Back of the net!

I did have some quotes from various garages about the exhaust. They told me that the catalytic converter was worn and needed replacing... one garage wanted over £300 for it. Turn's out it was just a loose connection, and needed to be tightened up!

Also, i've booked my car in to a local garage to get the head gasket done. It's going in next tuesday so fingers crossed, it shouldn't take too long and once it's out, most of the bad problem's would have been rectified, and it'll only be smaller problems which will need attention!

Shall post back with any new news!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

And... to top it off...

Just got my tyre, and whilst there, i asked the fella why there would be oil/grease around the inside of the rim. He had a look and told me that the driver's side CV joint has worn, and is leaking grease!

F'in fantastic! :(

Woah, it's been a long time!

Yup, its been a very long time since i last posted here, but to tell you the truth, there's not much going on!

I've still got the 106, it's still got problems. Here's the story from the last 5 day's...

THURSDAY
I notice i've run out of ciggarettes, so i decide to drive down to the local shop and get some. we were in suffolk at the time, and the local shop was a mile away. So i drove down there, got my ciggies, and drove back. Whilst driving back, i notice that the car's pulling to the right. Thought this was slightly strange, so when i got home, i checked the tyres, and sure enough, one was flat! D'oh!

Oh, and i also noticed that my right hand indicator isn't working!!!

FRIDAY
Friday morning consisted of me changing the flat tyre for the spare. The spare appeared to be mildly flat too! Damnit! So i pumped it up and drove down to the local "Rapid-fit" garage to get it replaced. 3 Hours later (3 damn hours!!!) they had managed to fix the flat tyre, put a brand new tyre on the passanger side, and ignore the mildly flat drivers side tyre! After a brief conversation with the bloke, he went off, and checked the drivers side tyre before telling me it was fine and it had no holes or leaks!... Fair enough, so i drove away £40 lighter.

SATURDAY
We were going to drive back to London today, so i decided to do the usual checks. Looked at the tyres, the looked fine. Checked the engine, it was ok. Oil was a little low, but it was alright. Brake fluid was fine. Last check was the water. Now you may recall i had trouble with the radiator a few months back! The water level on saturday was fine, but it had a brown oily water substance congealed around the cap!. Nice. This would indicate a head gasket on it's way out! Cost to fix would be around £400! OUCH!

So anyway, decided to drive home. It was me, my girlie, and her sister in the car. Driving down the motorway, i was in the fast lane overtaking a car when i felt the steering wheel start juddering. I thought "this aint right", and sure enough, 30 seconds later, my front drivers side tyre (AGAIN!!!) was flat, and i was still doing 70mph down the fast lane.. So after battling to get onto the hard shoulder, i had to change the tyre which isn't much fun when there are huge trucks racing by my ear at 70!!

SUNDAY
Decided to leave the car today! too much trouble!

MONDAY
Driving home from work, i pull into my driveway to hear a funny whirring noise coming from the engine. After closer inspection, it turns out my alternator could be knackered!... Not MORE problems!

So, to sum it all up, the past 5 days have produced:

1) flat tyre
2) Indicator
3) Worn Head Gasket
4) ANOTHER flat tyre
5) Dodgy alternator

Oh the fun of running a Peugeot!!! So now, im off to get another tyre for the car. Tomorrow, the car's booked in to a local garage to get the hand brake pivot welded. They will also inspect the passanger side front suspension as it's creaking like a be-atch!...

Oh, and i know where the exhaust is blowing from now :D!

Onwards, and downwards?!