To Brighton and back

Well, it was a glorious trip we took to Brighton for a work conference. It was a little intimidating driving the motorway part but apart from that it was great. The Golf drove wonderfully and we had a great time with the roof down all the time.

We did not return unscathed however. When we filled up at the petrol station I found a pool of petrol under the car. It appears that the fuel filler pipe has rusted through. This means we have to be very careful when filling the car with fuel. A new part has been ordered but with all the Bank Holidays happening at the minute it's not yet been delivered. I am hoping it will arrive this week so that I can spend the day of the Royal Wedding under the car fixing it and avoid having  to watch any of it on TV!

Driving it home last night however has introduced a new problem - the exhaust is blowing. Badly. Now this is a different situation. The fuel filler pipe is £40, the exhaust, potentially is a whole lot more. I haven't had chance to look underneath yet but I am expecting the worst. I knew it wasn't going to last long but the timing for it to go when then Tax is due is unfortunate, I think it may have to come off the road for a month or two while I get the funds together to cover all of these costs.

I'm hoping for a rainy May.

Sunday, Lovely Sunday

One Sunday earlier this month we had a drive out to Exeter. It was fiercely cold and the heater motor is still not working so there was little warmth to be had. Regardless, we had the  roof down.

What a fantastic experience it was. We chose the old road to Exeter rather that blasting along the boring dual-carriageway so we had very little traffic around us and sweeping corners and impressive views over Dartmoor and Mid Devon on either side. One thing we didn't have to worry about was the engine overheating, thanks to the weather. Last time the car was out it was getting hot if it worked hard or if it was moving under about 50. It is possible that the radiator needs flushing so that's one thing more for the list.

Jump forward another weekend and I have replaced the indicator relay - I asked for one in Halfords in Exeter and got a very blank look from the young boy at the counter. I walked out without one! I went to the local motor factors in the week and got one with no bother. My son actually replaced it, having had to take out 2 or 3 others until he found the one that was for the indicators. The handbook lists the fuses and their circuits but not the relays. We also replaced the lamp in the boot but that is refusing to light so I need to check there is power in that circuit. Next we had a look at the heater fan. Rather misleadingly I had been told it came out from inside, behind the dash. After taking the centre console out and seeing that it wasn't there for the removing I resigned myself to having to take it to a garage. I moved on to taking a look at the full-beam headlight alignment. They've been out of whack, pointing to a piece of road about 20 feet in front of the car, and its just a case of twiddling a couple of screw in the from of the grille for each light and hey presto. Screws twiddled, now I need it to go dark and try out my newly aligned spotlights.