The wrong starter(s)

I never did get outside before it started snowing 

So, I bought a new starter motor off t’Interweb and it arrived all nice and shiny, but it was only when I came to fit it that I realised it was missing a little spade connector on the solenoid.  Turns out that though it was advertised as being for the Capri amongst a great many others, it’s actually a Sierra item … but by this time it was far too late to send it back for a refund.

Nah worries, I thought – I’ll bob down to GS Escorts and get one as then it’ll definitely be right.  Well, maybe he was having an off day, but I just went there for a starter and not to be patronised (and overcharged as it turns out)  I simply commented that it looked rather different to the one on the car and was basically told I was imagining it … or my car must be an auto!

Anyhoo, so that we can all see what I’m ranting on about, the shiny starter on the left is for totally the wrong car, the grubby one in the middle is the one that came off the car and the one on the right is the latest replacement.

With the replacement starter on, a quick turn of the key caused the engine to … well, do bugger all if I’m honest.  The car had been sitting on the drive so long that there wasn’t a drop of life in the battery and even attaching the defibrillator wasn’t enough to get it turned over. An overnight charge on the battery, though, and it fired up first time and has been tickety-boo ever since 

After getting distracted by stuff going on in “the real world” the MOT had expired in October, so a new ticket was needed if I was to stop this hunk of metal being just an oversized garden ornament. Unfortunately, as the garage is still “temporarily” full of other stuff I had to work out on the cold, windy driveway , but I gave the car a basic checkover and then just thought “sod it, what’s the worst that can happen?” and put it in for the test.

As nice as the MOT tester was about the car, the spiteful little man (only joking ) still failed it on the flimsy basis that one of the front wheels had a bit of a wobble on it and the handbrake wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding. 

What’s most annoying is that the wobble coming from a loose joint within the steering rack itself, and I’d only replaced that just over a year ago.  To see if I could get away without needing to replace the rack, I snipped off the cable ties on the gaitor and tried tightening up the nut, but even though I managed to get it the best part of a full turn around, there was still play in the joint. So off came the rack …

Turns out that steering racks are now considered a consumable item and that no new ones have been made in any great numbers since the late eighties, they just keep reconditioning the old ones.  To be sure, I’ve made a diary note to check it all again in eleven months so that I can get it replaced under warranty if it’s as short-lived as the last one.

On the upside, however; the Powerflex bushes on the steering rack looked as fresh as the day I’d put them on 

Adjusting the handbrake was a new one on me and the description in the Haynes is a vague mish-mash of ‘old type’, ‘later type’ and ‘refer to supplement’  Once I got under the car though, it was all self-evident; handbrake off, pull the cable taught by holding onto the threaded sleeve and wind the black knob up the thread until there’s just a little slack.

The handbrake’s now fully on at the fifth notch, rather than when the lever’s pointing at the sky. As you might be able to see, I took about an inch of slack out of the cable, so maybe they had a point 

I’ll drop it back down to the test centre in the morning, as it only needs a partial re-test on the bits that failed, and see if the man from the Ministry says “yes”.