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LondonRascal

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1 hour ago, LondonRascal said:

£38.00 - two new head light bulbs.  I found out the car has projector lights, but not Bi-Xenon. Since the headlight light output is pretty 'yellow' it would be good to upgrade to a white output. However, in order to fit the bulbs I need to remove the front wheels, then get in and remove the font wheel-arch liners..To then reach up to get to the back of the headlight cluster and be able to replace. I thought about this a little and having thought will take the easy option and put up with the current lights and take the two new bulbs back for a refund since they have not been opened.

The only issue with this car is even if it is a bit chilly and dull, you can't really help but let the roof down - once the blower motor has had a chance to 'get going' the heater is amazing, plus you can turn on the 'air scarf' which blows very hot air from behind you over your neck and back.

In order to get to the blower motor on this car you need first to remove the cover on the passenger side that hides the battery. Next, remove the battery and the battery holder. Once that is done you will see the top of the blower box assembly, but the next part requires removing the trim under the glove box and reaching up and undoing several other fasteners, to get the blower motor assembly out and get to the sqiral cage motor assembly. The real issue is a lot of the fasteners on the car are Torx so a whole set needs to be bought with extenders to reach into these areas.

That said, I will take the advice and see if I can get enough of the covers off to at least get access to get a straw in and some lubricant. This has been looked at by Mercedes - but the previous owner opted not to replace, clearly their lucubration has failed but the estimate on the works order I have was more than £400.00 just for the part. I've seen you can buy them from Euro Car Parts for a couple of hundred pounds.

Insurance Companies

I had great times yesterday trying to sort out insurance - not for the Mercedes, for the BMW.  All I wanted to do was increase the millage allowance.  I had made the mistake (and hands up for this you can all judge me if you so wish) but when I sold the 7 Series and bought the X5 I contact the Brokers who I had used to get my insurance to cover the new car. However, I was not asked about and did not think to tell them that between insuring the 7 series and buying the X5 my License had changed from a provisional to a full.  Anyway long story short today this was all found out during the phone conversation.  So I am thoroughly chastised over the phone for being 'such a fool' and  thus now they knew this my Insurance would be  voided. They worked out the new cost would rise to £1,843.26.  Now my Insurance is with Premium Choice, but I was talking to their Broker XS, so I got in touch directly with Premium Choice and spoke to a far more polite chap who did not have a go at me and accepted I should have told them but had not and they would accept this as an honest mistake. They agreed to remove the endorsement, accept an emailed copy of my full license and charge me £190.00 administration fee instead.  Phew!

Next up, I have been insuring the SLK with 'Day Insure' and buying 5 days cover at a time, this has been working out to £199.95 - while handy if you borrow a car, since you can insure form 1 hour to 28 days, it is like buying a TV from BrightHouse. You pay way over the odds. So after much searching about the cheapest I found was Quote Me Happy - but they were underwritten by Aviva so I went away from the compare sites and got a direct quote from Aviva, on a pay monthly - cancel any time - basis of £111.00 per month. This has no interest added, so if I do sell the car I can call up and end the cover - if I do not then it will simple mean paying the total years premium of £1,332.00. 

The interesting thing is with Aviva my excess is £450.00 - with Premium Choice for the BMW it is £3,000.00. I am going to stick with Premium Choice, drive safe and collect my first years no claims then I suspect transfer over to Aviva with a multi-car policy and have a hell of a lot less worry about the cost of excess and perhaps too, a cheaper premium. So I have learnt something, am now full compliant and saved a little too.

 

 

 

It might be an idea to look at Admiral Multi Car, they gave me a great deal when I bought the Merc. I have business use on the Honda, plus it is modified so not many mainstream companies will cover it at all. When I cam to renew it last year I did the normal trawl of comparison sites and chose Admiral, quite by chance, as not quite the cheapest, but the best deal i could find from a recognosed company. Then three months later I bought the Merc and had to repeat the process, but this time with no No Claims of course. Quotes were coming in between 900 - 1200. I tried admirals website just by chance and they automatically quoted me a mmulticar policy which cost £414.00 for twelve months cover on the Merc, plus and additional three months on the Honda to bring the renewal dates together. 

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I doubt that Robin is old enough, but we have both cars insured with Saga. It's said ( and it's true) that an insurance policy is only as good as your claims experience.

Some years back we were hit by a Romanian registered lorry, who's driver was also from that country. The lorry's insurers denied all knowledge and thus liability, as did his employers.  The issue went on for some time, but Saga not only got my 'excess' back, but since we had renewed in the meantime, they refunded spontaneously the difference in premium that I had paid due to the unresolved incident.

I am a member of 'GEM'  and they offer an uninsured loss recovery service . I contacted them when things appeared to be a trifle slow an they said that they would be happy to take on my case, but that they would not be able to better Saga's efforts. They described them as the terriers of the insurance industry :default_biggrin:

https://www.motoringassist.com/

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On the topic of Insurance - for years both my wife & i had company cars as our daily drivers (mainly due to fact we both worked for a large vehicle rental company for 15 years or so) - so we never needed to worry about insurance etc.  Having then been made redundant 3 or so years ago - and finding ourselves working in a completely different sector - we then had to source our own cars & of course insure them.  We had our house policy with Aviva and just went to them - so easy to do (especially online) - quotes were comparable to others - and they also were great at accepting 10 years plus of no claims on our 'work' insurance policy - employer kindly provided a letter stating our driving history with a company car.  Have had to make a couple of non fault claims over the last year - but all sorted quickly (last one i did all online - including uploading all photos of damage - was approved same day - including hire car booking & body shop phoned me next day (as was a Sunday) to sort collection of the car - cannot fault the service at all...

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I also insure with Admiral and used their Multi car option when we had two cars and like others have been with them for a few years.

I am in the process of changing my car from a Saab 93 Convertible to a Audi A3 Convertible, which is a good 10 years younger, so have had been in touch with the insurance company.

Regards

Alan

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4 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

I thought about this a little and having thought will take the easy option and put up with the current lights and take the two new bulbs back for a refund since they have not been opened.

or pay the small charge that halfords charge to fit the bulbs and let them have the hassle.

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yes thats  the sort of thing.

we have been brainwashed into thinking wd 40 is a cure all, WD stands for water dispersant, and yes it does a good job in the short term, but a long term lubricant it is not. it does penetrate and ease rusted bolts, but a proper penetrating oil will do it a lot quicker and with a lot less swearing, I once soaked a bolt in wd 40 overnight - in the morning still no joy, I went out and bought a proper penetrating oil, quick spray, went away, had a coffee and when I came back the nut came off sweet as anything.

if you want a can of stuff that does a general reasonable job for a lot of applications then wd 40 is your tool, but if you want a specific lubricating function, the dedicated sprays for that purpose do the job a lot better.

https://lifehacker.com/when-should-i-not-use-wd-40-5891936

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a6064/wd-40-vs-the-world-of-lubricants/

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51 minutes ago, grendel said:

or pay the small charge that halfords charge to fit the bulbs and let them have the hassle.

I'm not a fan of that. Personally I wouldn't let a Halfords employee touch my car.

Headlight covers and the bulb carriers tend to have various clips etc that are easily broken if you're not being careful. I can't really see a Halfords guy saying that he's very sorry and he's broken the clip that keeps the cover on (and rainwater out) or the one that stops the bulb rattling about in the housing and will order you a new one up from the main dealer.

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Halfords bulb replacement is a nightmare.  On my Touareg they didn't have a clue how to do it,  one and a half hours,  3 people and a broken clip later they looked in the handbook and then googled it.  After all that they didn't have the right bulbs.  Complete muppets.

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2 hours ago, psychicsurveyor said:

Halfords bulb replacement is a nightmare.  On my Touareg they didn't have a clue how to do it,  one and a half hours,  3 people and a broken clip later they looked in the handbook and then googled it.  After all that they didn't have the right bulbs.  Complete muppets.

Ditto, when I took my Octavia for a front indicator bulb they said they had to remove the whole front bumper assembly and that labour was chargeable! I bought just the bulb and had a quick look at the handbook and discovered a lever that clearly Halfords were unaware of that allowed the whole lighting unit to slide out and replacement of the bulb was a doddle!

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What's up with the Car Manufacturers Bulb changing should be easy as it's a consumable part. Cars of yesterday one or two screws to undo and it was done, We have gone backward as the Bulb is most likely to fail on a cold wet night and you want to spend the least time replacing it as possible! I had a company Vauxhall once that you had to take out the Battery to replace the headlamp bulb Crazy!!

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34 minutes ago, Thiswan said:

What's up with the Car Manufacturers Bulb changing should be easy as it's a consumable part. Cars of yesterday one or two screws to undo and it was done, We have gone backward as the Bulb is most likely to fail on a cold wet night and you want to spend the least time replacing it as possible! I had a company Vauxhall once that you had to take out the Battery to replace the headlamp bulb Crazy!!

Cars are being packaged with LED lighting in mind and have been for a few years - Unfortunately the short term drawback is that early production and lower-spec models have halogen lighting and so there has to be a (clumsy) workaround for changing bulbs.

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A girl at work had the MG version of the Rover 75, the nearside headlight bulb had gone. To remove it there are access panels in the wheel arches, but this invoves removing the front wheel. So cr jacked up wheel remove, likewise access panel, I manages to remove the bulb. 

The issue was trying to get the new bulb back in, after well over an hour I looked up on the internet people having the same issue. The advice given was drop off the front valance/bumper completely, now you had access to the bolts that held the headlamp cluster in place, it was then a easy job to replace bulb, another half hour to put everything back. 

To change the bulb took over 3 hours to replace. The joys of motoring jet again.

Regards

Alan

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I once owned a V6 Diesel Renault Espace, Mk IV. Changing a headlamp bulb? Easy ....if you have a two post lift and 3 hours to spare. You had to drop the front of the engine, or rather detatch it from it's mounts and lift the car six inches to gain access.

The rear bank glow plugs were even worse, engine removal required. Somebody should have told Renault that just because the lump physically fits in the engine bay doesn't mean it actually "fits".

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Bit late now but thought I would mention it, to change the N/S bulb on an MG ZT/75, turn the steering wheel hard lock to the O/S, pop open the inspection cover in the inner wheel arch, remove the rubber headlight back bung, unplug the bulb, remove the bulb, open the bonnet then while having one hand with the new bulb in position, you can look over the wing down to the back of the cluster, fit the new bulb , refit the rest back in reverse procedure. In all takes about 3 mins a side. 

It gets harder on some newer cars that’s for sure. 

Cheers 

Paul 

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Lots to update....

1 hour ago, BroadAmbition said:

£190.00 administration fee

Do you mean £19:00 and not £190:00?  I hope so because £190:00 - Chuffin 'eck - That's excessive innit?  I don't think I have ever had to pay any sort of admin fee with regards to motor insurance

Griff

No it was £190.00 - this is what happens when you have to scrap the bottom of the barrel so to speak when you have a decent car and are a new driver - its a case of bend over and take it for the time being..

12 hours ago, oldgregg said:

I'm not a fan of that. Personally I wouldn't let a Halfords employee touch my car.

Headlight covers and the bulb carriers tend to have various clips etc that are easily broken if you're not being careful. I can't really see a Halfords guy saying that he's very sorry and he's broken the clip that keeps the cover on (and rainwater out) or the one that stops the bulb rattling about in the housing and will order you a new one up from the main dealer.

Took the car back to Halfords to get a refund on the bulbs, they were not happy and offered to 'give it a go' to fit them. It was at this point the chap noticed my nearside entire headlamp unit is broken and is being held in with hope and good luck. Despite this and me saying that if we put the wheel to right lock and undid two 10mm fasteners and remove the inner wheel arch liner he should be able to reach up and get to the light unit. This he did, but was stopped by a wiring loom - loose that should not be - stopping access. All put back together and more reasons found why this is not going to be a keeper.

The Blower Motor

So, this morning the blower motor made an very weird new noise and duly completely stopped working. I then spent a couple of hours taking the battery out, and trying to get to the blower unit. This I did, and it was filthy. I don't think the cabin air filter has ever been changed and the motor assembly was thick with black grime. Anyway, I oiled the motor shaft and got it to spin, but you can tell it really is toast. The bearings and I think the actual motor are just shot. All back together and it is spinning again all being unhappily.

Tomorrow is the service, once this is done it needs to get me to London on Saturday. Once that is sorted and I get the V5C in the post I am going to be spending zero pounds extra on the car and looking to get rid. It is a lovely car, tonight I went for a spin with the top down through the countryside, to Wroxham, then Horning and Ludham as the sun was setting. You just would not really do that and come back having achieved nothing but still smiling.  I just wish the car had less issues as it would be a keeper then or sure.

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On ‎29‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 00:07, Pumpmedic said:

Problem you have now is when the new buyer say`s "You`ve only just brought it so why are you selling?"

Robin's reply will be, come car or boat, I always seem to be on the receiving end of an invoice! :default_biggrin:

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Got the SLK back - and good news I don't need to do much to it. The front disc's are getting close to the minimum tolerances Mercedes specify, but they should be fine for a good while - and their is in fact plenty of life in the pads - I was told the front pads can;t have been changed that long back, and are original MB parts too.

I did however need a new battery - the current one, under load dropped to just shy of 11v. That is as good as makes no odds a dead battery. It now starts a lot more freely so clearly was something that was on the way out for some time. Now there was one issue that cropped up, and that is with the transmission.  I had a surprise when Shiela called to say she was half an hour way from Norwich so having picked up the car a change of plan was in order so went back to the station collected here and  we headed out for a drive to Great Yarmouth.  Now you can call it a 'hairdressers car' all you like, but I was not expecting the admiration as we drove down the 'strip' with the top down in Yarmouth, an entire teenage and twenty something generation simply do not see anything other than 'wow that is cool' and 'give it some revs mate' - having collected a Corsa and a Fiesta (all 1.3l of power but no silencers) it was fun to see what 268HP is like away from the lights - the result, we won.

We then headed all the way down to the far end of the beach, where the homes stop and a holiday park is, parked up and went for a stroll along the beach. Got back to the car, started it up and drove off - I then had a play with the manual gear changes and then at the next set of lights it refused to do anything. No drive, no reverse. Back through the gears up and down and then it clunked into drive. My face dropped, of all the things! It then held first for way too long, we pulled over and I stopped the engine - restarted and it was and has since been fine.

I have no idea if it is something up with the transmission, but if it was it would do it more often, slip, clunk, play up - late shift, early shift - do something weird. But has not at all. It could be waiting to go bang, or it could be the computer has been upset as it had no power applied for a time while the battery was changed, it could be me playing with the 'flappy paddles' and using the car in manual mode. Anyway, I was all up for chucking the damn thing away at that point but since I have actually warmed to it. In fact it got even more silly when we parked up and i could not get the ignition key out, try as I might it just would not release. Even the dashboard had a message telling me 'Release Key" and I am shouting at the car akin to John Cleese to give me the bloody keys back. Then I noticed the gearbox was in neutral, not park - yep you need to have it in park to be allowed to take the ignition key out! Oh I did laugh....

So I have had a go at oiling the blower motor, and that has helped but it appears the entire motor assembly has dropped a few millilitres and the base of the cage fan is physically rubbing on the enclosure. It therefore needs a new fan, also the AC compressor is getting more whiny and I dare not use the air conditioning as it makes it worse - so that needs doing. So I think to myself, well you know what Rob, you could have more issues - you could part exchange this, spend another £5,000+ for the same car with £20,000 less miles on it for the same year (or a year younger) and not be guaranteed to have a fault free car. Or I could spend way less than this and have the two issues fixed - have nice cold air and a silent blower motor. I think I know which one I am going to follow.

Meantime, the farce with the BMW continues. The garage have completed work on the car but cannot let me collect it until he warranty company pay their share - which they say they have - but the garage has not received any cleared funds in their account. So now the garage and warranty company are very unhappy with each other and I am stuck between them - who knows when the cash will arrive, and when I can then get the car back.

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