The gear box had a 3rd/4th synchro spring fail about six months ago. The symptoms were immediately recognisable, having suffered the same failure in 2004, that resulting gearbox rebuild triggering the rebuild of the whole vehicle. The symptoms then were the complete jamming of the synchro unit, locking out 3rd and 4th. This time around, […]
Shopping Around – Insurance
We have an expensive December in this household – not only Christmas, but the insurance for all the cars and the MoTs and road tax for the 90.  At least the 109 is tax exempt… The advice is always to shop around for insurance, and boy is it good advice.  The 90 cost about £350 […]
Wiper Over-sweep Fix and New Thermostat
Ever since the big rebuild, the 109’s wipers have over-swept the screen when wet, especially at speeds of over 40 mph. Â This not only damaged the paint of the wind screen frame, but also wrecked the wiper blades and made a loud noise on each over-run. Â In the past I have tried several rectifications, including […]
Heated WIndscreens and Side Demisting
Last winter’s driving wasn’t a great deal of fun. I had plenty of freezing fog to deal with on my early drive to work, and scraping the windscreen at 0400 while trying to avoid waking the neighbours is bad enough, but to have to do so every fifty yards until the engine warms up is […]
Head Gasket Failure
It never rains, but it pours. Â After just a week of driving about with the gear box behaving nicely, the engine coolant started pressurising. Â Even after allowing the engine to cool or having left it several days unused, the coolant expansion tank remained pressurised unless the cap was removed. Â There was no contamination of oil […]
Social