The Dark Wob

Christ. That's far more care than I do with any of my cars. Boxster has done 8k since it was last serviced two years ago. Supposed to be changed every year.
Admittedly they revised it to every two years on the facelift without changing much else. Also 9 litres of oil, so going to take a bit longer to get dirty and contaminated. Plus not had the time to get around to sorting it.

Life is too short to baby modern engines like that. My first car was a Clio II 1.2 16v that I had brand new. After I passed my driving test the car was reading 2k miles. Being a youthful idiot, I literally changed gear everytime at the redline. I sold the car at 23k miles two years later. Then went through two other owners and was scrapped at 16 yes old with 135k on the clock. So can't have done too much damage.

mercrocker wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 1:20 pm Change mine every 3000. Comes out clean....Mrs R is however under strict instructions to never turn the car off until the temp gauge is normal and the heater is blowing hot. She sometimes does what I consider to be injuriously short distances at times, otherwise.

Bought a hideously expensive litre of top up oil (can't remember what the grade is but as per Ford) and haven't opened it yet....

He used to commute Weston S Mare to Swansea a few days a week- during that time he said the oil came out moderate at a 4000 change.

Sitting about a lot then short trips to the post office and a few a little further afield mean even though it does get warm I'm pretty sure the oil doesn't get hot so dirties itself quickly.

Under my warning he also religiously cleans inside the arches, under the sills and up around the back of the lights when he washes the car.

It'll be the least rusty, least smoky Mazda 3 in the UK.

I do the arches thing, as well. Seems the least I can do.....I also run a finger of grease around inside the flanges too (yes, yes, calm down at the back).
When I got my 190E it was obviously extremely well looked after but you could have grown spuds in the wheelarches.

Yup. That seems to be their weak points.

Regularly washed and regularly oil changed, seeing the utterly hanging ones for sale shows they can tolerate a fair bit of abuse.

My mother says she likes the car. The dog does too. In their Audi A4 the dog would chuck up her guts in the first five miles, routinely.
The 3 she loves and sits looking out of the window happily. The dog too.

Oil cooler kit has arrived for the BGT. Should be fitting it later but too damn hot.


Also treated the Focus to new wipers. I was going to go £7.50 eBay no named special but decided I'll hate that decision when it rains next. So went with Bosch. Except I got them a bit cheaper as they were already opened.


Passenger side wiper blade is a bit low and catching the trim.



Anyone got experience of air con vacuum pumps? Tempted to get one so I can DIY fix air conditioning systems by evacuating them and seeing if it holds a pressure.
No doubt I'll be fixing many systems over my automotive fiddling DIY career.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174266537423

Plus one on Bosch wipers - the Focus screen is a hideous over-large modern raked greenhouse thing and inferior blades will definitely be rued come winter.....

The original were Ford branded but if you looked closely they had the Bosch logo on them. Given it was serviced at a local garage for the last 9+ years, I would imagine they're quite old! Except they haven't split so maybe they are a bit newer. Streaky and squealy so worth doing.

Vacuum pump also useful for casting resin parts.

I wouldn't bother with the vacuum pump as you can get into all sorts of bother messing around with R134. I am not sure how they get away with those kits as it is illegal to release R134 into the atmosphere so you need a machine to collect the old refrigerant before you can vacuum. You are also supposed to be qualified to handle the gas, fucking stupid course cost me £200. You really need to do a lot of them to make it worthwhile the last 12kg bottle cost me £175 and you are lucky if you can get all the 12kg out of them as they lose it over time once opened. The hoses that you find on ebay are also a complete load of shit and you will struggle to find decent adaptors. Proper hoses are about £130 each plus fittings. Bloody machine has cost me a fortune and probably still hasn't paid for itself.

The R12 handling course is even more fun.