Boot light keeps blowing fuse

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Perhaps one day you'll actually read a post you're replying to? Fat chance.

[T i m]

Quite.

I was just going from the observation that many people that have taken their cars to my friends garage have stated (or he has observed) that they are still bearing the factory fitted battery when the vehicle was then quite old (as confirmed by the markings, vehicle reg and the battery date code etc).

The only ever new car I've had was my company Sierra and in spite of many stop / starts (I lived near to work, came home for lunch when not on site and used it for lights when camping etc), I seem to remember it lasting a good few years from new. I think I fitted the biggest battery the tray would take when it needed replacing because 1) It wasn't my money and 2) I wasn't using it typically (re the camping etc) and was often towing (so had an extra pair of lamps on it).

Cheers, T i m

[Chris J Dixon]

When I inherited my Dad's Austin 1800, in many ways it was a step up from my Beetle, but it was quite old, and the gears became troublesome, some were unselectable with a cold engine. Much tinkering with the cable linkage had no effect.

The fix came serendipitously when I put in a different multigrade engine oil, as it also lubricates the gearbox.

My dad had it re sprayed in "Rover" brown. Its sills still rusted through, so jacking was a bit tricky. Very heavy steering - multi storey car parks were a trial.

Then there was the time it was sitting down on the offside, so I asked them to pump up the suspension. Turned out the engine mount had failed, and its downward progress had been arrested by the shearing off of a pipe stub on the main hydrolastic unit :-(

When I came to trade it in, the battery terminals were a bit dodgy, and it wouldn't turn over when I tried to start it for the salesman to value. I lifted the bonnet and pushed the solenoid, a handy facility in simpler times, and it burst into life. Salesman bemused - turned out he had only just taken the job, previously being a golf pro, and clearly knew less about cars than I did about golf.

Chris

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Later cars had a rod gearchange. In some ways a retrograde step as that developed lots of 'slop' with age. And of course cable changes are very common these days.

[bert]

In article [e-mail]>, "Dave Plowman (News)" [e-mail]> writes

Only needs to be allowed to go flat once. Battery on wife's car has already lasted 6 years, Defender lasted 9. Replacement lasted less than 12 months as it was allowed to go flat. Replaced by Halfords FOC.