Colin Lindsay

Well I tried to keep it in-house, but that's the way it goes.... Local electrician came today, reckons the unit is on the way out as it's heating the wiring so much that the connector block melted and neutral / earth were making contact. The end switch blows for an earth fault; the other individual breakers go if it's a power surge. New immersion heater planned for tomorrow. BTW he only charged me £20 to strip it all down and rebuild so he's good value. And a little edit for today: the washing machine has started blowing the trip. Replaced the socket, 12" extension lead plug, 12" extension lead, washing machine plug and finally the washing machine itself, and the last cured it so far. Four hours later I'm knackered.

And posts a photo! cue the limerick: "there was a young man of Devizes whose balls were of different sizes one was so small It was no ball at all but the other one won several prizes."

Didn't they used to offer a battery for life? (lifetime of the car replacement warranty) Has that stopped now?

Do any of the major supplies have remanufactured ones? Pricey I'm sure, but it would be nice to know they were available. I must go and have a quick search... Yep they're available - first I checked was Rimmers at just over £105... it's good to know as I haven't checked the state of my spares.

I thought that was only me? The centre console of my car is full of odd washers and bolts that I pick up when outdoors. Some of my best tools are things I've found in the middle of the road when driving, and I remember reversing about 200 yards to pick up a good pair of pliers from the road centre one day...

I think it would be more of a case of: put it on a transporter, drive home via the ferry, and see what remains by the time you reach home... And re Badwolf: every time I sell a part, I need the self-same part within weeks, so I have a garage full of odd bits that I never need, as I never sell the spare one....

On the top photo I think the axle should protrude further out of the nut than pictured; I don't think it's being sufficiently gripped by the nyloc and an MOT tester once gave me an advisory on the same thing. I went out to photograph mine for comparison and found that mine are different lengths too, so I was head-scratching for a minute until I realised the nuts are different depths.

Been offered too many cars recently and am actually having to turn some of them down... I'm starting to feel like a Pokemon player... gotta catch them all!

I had a 1973 Scimitar on which the autobox failed, so having cash in those days bought a recon unit plus torque converter. My local mechanic had a lot of head scratching over it, and when nothing appeared to line up he cut brackets, rewelded halfshafts, chopped the chassis and all sorts of other things over a six-month period (It was in his garage for longer!) THEN he admitted defeat and couldn't get the car to drive at all. It turned out that the car had a type 65 and I had bought a type 35 on the advice of the retailer as the most common box on the SE5a and when nothing would fit, the mechanic decided that he would bloody well make it fit. I had the car for two years during which time I drove it twice, spent a fortune on it and sold it as a non-runner for £1200 less than I had paid. I never trusted automatics for years until I had a T5 Volvo and it restored my faith in pedal-less driving.

I'll not be the one to phone up about it, I'll probably end up buying it.

Oh Lord not THOSE two boxes...35 and 65... ruined a Reliant Scimitar I had years ago and I've cringed ever since when I hear the names...

Just a query while we're on the subject: if the whole idea of the exhaust system is to get burned gases out of the engine as quickly as possible - and given that the tailpipe is a considerable distance from the engine - has anyone ever come up with a kind of suction device to actively suck exhaust gases away? It's the sort of thing you'd see in old ads in 1950s / 60s motoring magazines so was just wondering...

I've checked Dave's profile and it says 1970 Herald convertible, so a replacement should be readily available.

The last ones I obtained were reskinned USA frames from Chic Doig but I've just realised that was 16 years ago.... I don't know if anyone currently sells remanufactured frames, but the skins probably all come from the same manufacturer like so many other parts. The frames are the important bit; repair sections for the lower areas are probably still available if you know a good bodyworker.

And how does this relate to a Mini engine, which is sideways?

Light has dawned on marble head. The switch points downward, the contacts are held open by the pedal at rest, and when it is pressed downwards, the plunger moves out and makes contact. I kept picturing it as a switch that was pressed IN by the pedal moving downwards - no idea why as I've replaced more than a few in my time - therefore Paul's post confused me as a pedal at rest would, in my mind's eye with the backward fitting, be off the plunger completely. Make allowances for advancing years and a slowing brain, please....

In case you don't die would be more useful, then you could claim the money back again. No point wasting it...

Closest to the radiator in our cars. If not, my cars have been running backwards all these years....

Now I'm feeling embarrassed at having two competent electricians on the forum but having to call in a third local man to sort my wiring problems out... this geography thing is a bit annoying at times.

Well, funeral plan and over-fifty life insurance ads. "What's that? You still haven't claimed missold PPI? Don't you know the time is running out?" Which brings us back to funeral plan ads again.

Good man and well done; while we're on the subject: my immersion heater blows the entire row of trip switches everytime I turn it on, not just the one it's connected through although that would be bad enough. Want to call over and have a look?

Makes a change from funeral plan adverts.

BUT: never weld it in place!! Even a blob of weld causes all sorts of problems.

A squirt of spray grease will tell you if that's the problem.

If those other lights are flickering that's an earth issue; some current is earthing via their circuit as it can't find any other route; if the hazard lights are dim rather than full power then something is shorting out and the power is going straight to earth rather than through the lights; and I'd guess there's definitely a short on the near-side indicator circuit hence the burning and the blown fuses. You'll need to check the entire length of the wiring, from switch to relay to light, and identify the short - even wiggling the wires about can identify the section that's causing the problem.