The inlaws had a ZS. It was a facelift with the flakey Pecktron BCU/SCU - so had all the inevitable relay faults that that system suffers with (should have kept with the good old Lucas stuff - never goes wrong).

Our 75 was brilliant, but the passenger front door lock, shared with the FL1, did its lazy not-lock/un-locking thing, and the VIZ motors were probably on the way out when we traded it in.

Both cars were brilliant in their own ways, although the ZS really needed to be extensively updated to be competitive in the Focus/Golf sector. But now would be a terrific track weapon :)
 
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.
 
fitted these new babies on 225/70/16, for 60ish quid a corner it's a steal! Made in Japan

upload_2019-11-27_18-2-23.png
 
Oil and filter change, LED side lights, EGR blank and finally figured out where my noise is coming from, front vcu carrier bearing and a massive hole in the back box, ordered a stainless one from muddy mods, thermostat is still waiting to go in
 

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rob_bell said:
The inlaws had a ZS. It was a facelift with the flakey Pecktron BCU/SCU - so had all the inevitable relay faults that that system suffers with (should have kept with the good old Lucas stuff - never goes wrong).
Click to expand...
I had my ZS 180 for 22 months, and did 20K miles in it. I had the X Power performance option fitted, which really made her fly. I've still not driven a NA engined vehicle which goes to the redline as easily as my ZS 180. The engine was a peach, it was unfortunate that the dealer I got it from failed to PDI it correctly, as a missed rubbing PS pipe cause loads of issues, after the mess of PS fluid was cleaned up.:mad:
rob_bell said:
Both cars were brilliant in their own ways, although the ZS really needed to be extensively updated to be competitive in the Focus/Golf sector. But now would be a terrific track weapon
Click to expand...

Yes. The early 90s Honda Civic interior was looking rather old by 2005, when the ZS was finally killed off.

The ZS was an awesome performing vehicle, with outstanding handling, for what was essentially a 10 year old Honda design, in which the MG engineers transformed the dull Rover 45, into something far more exciting to drive.

I still miss mine, even though I moved it on almost 15 years ago now.:(
 
Nick the greek said:
Oil and filter change, LED side lights, EGR blank and finally figured out where my noise is coming from, front vcu carrier bearing and a massive hole in the back box, ordered a stainless one from muddy mods, thermostat is still waiting to go in
Click to expand...
Any issues with the egr blank, or difference at all? some report misfire and issues after egr manoeuvre.
 
PRO said:
Any issues with the egr blank, or difference at all? some report misfire and issues after egr manoeuvre.
Click to expand...
I haven't noticed any big difference really, I think the soot and cobwebs got blown out when I did the silicone hoses and crankcase filter, I'll give it an Italian tune up once the thermostat is done and its keeping temp, I've had to pull the fuse on the fbh because it never manages to warm the car.
 
rob_bell said:
Today, I've been trying out some bumper cleaning products. My grey plastic bumpers had gone nearly white (see in photos below). I want to try a few products before taking the "nuclear option" with one that contains a dye (the one that @andyfreelandy used looks very good!)

Previously I have used Autoglym "Bumper and Vinyl Care" which wasn't too difficult to appy, but came off with the first rain.

This week, boys 'n gals, McGuires "Ultimate Black" (circa 11 quid from Halfrauds, a couple of quid cheaper from Amazon):

View attachment 194398
View attachment 194399
View attachment 194400

Much harder to apply (I used a plastic brush to get the product evenly applied to the textured plastic), but the bumpers were still a nice dark grey colour despite overnight dampness :)

Will feed back...
Click to expand...
Two weeks in, and to my surprise, despite the inclement weather, the bumpers are still dark grey. Interestingly, water beads up on the polish, which is possibly what's protecting it. As things stand, it is a 10000% better than the Autoglym product.

Let's see how it looks in a months' time :)
 
Nodge68 said:
Ouch. I must admit that I do prefer the reasonable insurance cost of the FL1. :)
Click to expand...
Both the FL1 and FL2 were about the same at £680. Dropped £200 instantly when buying a house and no more problems with fitting a roof rails and roof rack.
 
Alibro said:
I guess being an auld fart has some advantages after all. :p
Click to expand...
True, but I've never paid more than £200 to insure a Freelander, and I have driving them for about 15 years. My first FL1 was a 1.8 XEi Hardback on an X plate, which was just 5 years old when I bought it. So that was about 15 years ago, and I still paid under £200 for insurance, even when I was in my mid 30s. Maybe it's a postcode thing? :)
 
I think I'm a target for higher insurance. All insurance companies and brokers seem to target me. Buying a house sooner would have dropped the price by a 3rd sooner. They take into account all sorts of things like post code, job and use of vehicle etc. After reading something on ere last year i went man last year getting quotes. All that is logged against you and handed to insurers who keep said data. My insurer admiral had all the quotes they answered as a result of me entering requests on confused dot com, when i logged into my account on their website. That got me thinking that insurers were more willing to do battle on price between each other as they knew i was looking about. Roof rails and roof rack i wanted to fit were no longer a problem. Spoiler and tints all factory fitted not a problem anymore. Previously they were. Even mud guards were a problem if i or the main dealer fitted them. If LR did it on the track during build it weren't a problem. Not anymore. This year i have too much on to have time to do lots of quotes so i did a few tests to judge the typical market values then let it auto renew as it was about the lowest already.
 
Hippo said:
I think I'm a target for higher insurance. All insurance companies and brokers seem to target me. Buying a house sooner would have dropped the price by a 3rd sooner. They take into account all sorts of things like post code, job and use of vehicle etc. After reading something on ere last year i went man last year getting quotes. All that is logged against you and handed to insurers who keep said data. My insurer admiral had all the quotes they answered as a result of me entering requests on confused dot com, when i logged into my account on their website. That got me thinking that insurers were more willing to do battle on price between each other as they knew i was looking about. Roof rails and roof rack i wanted to fit were no longer a problem. Spoiler and tints all factory fitted not a problem anymore. Previously they were. Even mud guards were a problem if i or the main dealer fitted them. If LR did it on the track during build it weren't a problem. Not anymore. This year i have too much on to have time to do lots of quotes so i did a few tests to judge the typical market values then let it auto renew as it was about the lowest already.
Click to expand...
I believe there is a sweet spot for looking around 25 to 30 days before it is due to get the best price. Leave until a day before it's due and they rub their hands together.
 
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