The Dark Wob

Great to see a Qashqai.

A few miles done yesterday, some great roads and bits to see. Some Roman remains killed a few minutes. We started off in Cadiz/Tavira which is helpfully missing off the left corner of the map, nipped over the border for some cheaper juice and a vignette on the way back in, North to Alcoutim on the old road, West to Cachopo then South back to Tavira. The view from the cafe in Alcoutim wasn't bad, the grilled Sea bass just as good and the waitress topped the lot, fucking gorgeous! Some of their money round here is still made from cork. The trees are still stripped by hand every 9 years apparently. They are quite a sight when there are loads to see and the evening sun really brings out the colours, not that my photos show that

The Volvo finally packed up tonight, tried to nurse it home but failed. Christmas tree dash, thick fog, multiple warning messages, lost the power steering 25 miles from home in the dark in thick fog for the majority of it. I turned the stereo off, heater, kept it on dipped beam and got within 10 miles of my destination. Headlamps like candles in the end, speedo went, then dash went out so I pulled over as it was slowing to a crawl. A few hundred yards on I'd have been out of signal anyway and in the middle of some nasty bends to be stuck on with no lights.


CLINT to the rescue! He dropped me a battery off and after a quick jump start I was away as fast as the conditions would allow. Same scenario 2 miles from home, lost the dash coming up the High Street and made it home by the skin of my teeth
No loose or majorly hot connections under the bonnet that I could find, I'll pull the fuse box thingy again and check that over and then drop a volt meter on it and see if I can confirm that the alternator has shit itself.

I bought a battery/alternator test thingy for a whole £30 a few years ago. It has paid for itself several times over as when I buy a banger I now habitually test the battery and alternator and usually it’ll show an amount (of normal) degradation which is a good thing to know about when you’re looking for some cheap motoring short term and not a knackered battery/alternator. A new battery would constitute a fifth of the value of some of the wob I’ve run the last couple of years.


Less annoying tag line.

I had to buy a new one for the 190E to get it to the auctioneers. I swapped it with the van in the car park so at least the van had the new battery but it still pissed me off. Now the Cowley is grizzling for one but it's not getting it. Van is going into storage this month so it can have that one. Four cars, three batteries will work for me. Bloody things.

Bangernomics wrote: ↑Sun Nov 08, 2020 10:52 pm I bought a battery/alternator test thingy for a whole £30 a few years ago. It has paid for itself several times over as when I buy a banger I now habitually test the battery and alternator and usually it’ll show an amount (of normal) degradation which is a good thing to know about when you’re looking for some cheap motoring short term and not a knackered battery/alternator. A new battery would constitute a fifth of the value of some of the wob I’ve run the last couple of years.


Less annoying tag line.

What sort of tester do you mean, any chance of a photo or a link? When I first had the car I checked the battery voltage and it was 14 plus volts while running and seemed all good there. It was however sat for a significant amount of time at one point and the battery went flat. My mates Aldi modern charger refused to put anything into it. I tried my old skool one and it'll draw so much current the thermal trip out cuts in on the charger. I tested it with my mates ancient battery resistive amp meter and it topped it out. Poor old thing was still maxing out when I put on charge last night outside.

I think a new battery for one of these is about 175 quid as it's got stop start on it. There's another 12 volt battery on the car somewhere apparently, maybe that's shit itself and is causing battery drain?

I may just cut my losses with it and try one of those car take back firms as CLINT suggested last night? It polishes up OK apart from the lacquer peel on the wheels and the interior isn't trashed.

mercrocker wrote: ↑Sun Nov 08, 2020 11:18 pm I had to buy a new one for the 190E to get it to the auctioneers. I swapped it with the van in the car park so at least the van had the new battery but it still pissed me off. Now the Cowley is grizzling for one but it's not getting it. Van is going into storage this month so it can have that one. Four cars, three batteries will work for me. Bloody things.

Sometimes you've got to do these things. You're not alone in swapping batteries on here I'm sure! Just think yourself lucky it isn't like this Volvo one.

Aye....I don't even include the wife's Focus in my battery circle. Too new and too easy to fuck up!

You can trick the smart chargers iirc when your battery is too low. Connect a good battery to your old one with jump leads and the charger will work.

paulplom wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 3:48 pm You can trick the smart chargers iirc when your battery is too low. Connect a good battery to your old one with jump leads and the charger will work.

I suspect that would work. The battery was reading something stupid like 7.5 volts so it wouldn't attempt to start a charge. Old skool FTW in that situation!
There's a funeral over the road tomorrow for my old History teacher so I'd better get it moved in the morning or something tells me I'll get moaned at for it being where it is. It's starting to look tidier but rain stopped play.