Freda has been sitting unused behind the house for the last year and a bit. I need an MOT so she needed a bit of work before I was willing to move her.
Small oil leak so topped it up - can't get the sump plug out as my socket set is incomplete, or I would have done a complete flush and change. Will get the garage to do it anyway as part of the full service.
Expansion tank empty, so ran some water through, flushed it and topped it back up with antifreeze.
Back seats had been folded for the year, so put them back and found the seat bases and backs were covered in a thick layer of mold. Scrubbed it off with warm soapy water, scrubbed it again once clean, then used a can of Poundland valet spray cleaner foam stuff on each seat. Looks as good as new now.
Reconnected the battery and took it for a drive up and down the lane behind the house to check if the doors and wheels would fall off and had some problems.
- Huge crunch/bang/thump as the car moved for the first time in over 12 months. Hopefully just seized brakes breaking free. Did a few emergency stops and it stops on a sixpence. No grinding noise from the wheels apart from that first thump.
- Lots of white smoke from the exhaust
- Decent amount of white smoke from under the bonnet when revving the engine
It looks like quite a bit of oil on the heatsink thing next to the alternator, so I'm hoping that's the cause of the smoke. Anything else I should look for in that regard?
When I parked up the car for the last time it was on a slight slope, facing downhill. It had also been serviced about a week before, so all the fluids were up to the right levels.
Last MOT had advisories for front wishbones on both side - corrosion, and also front brake pipes - slight corrosion, so have some on order from Rimmer's.
MOT booked in for Monday. Hopefully it will pass when the new wishbones and brake pipes are fitted.
While the tyres look brand new and are visually good enough for the Mot test, I'll change them once it gets tested. Can't afford it before the test...
Can anyone recommend some good cheap tyres which don't scream when on tarmac? And I do mean cheap, I recently lost my job, so everything is being done on a very low budget.