Click mechanic

[T i m]

Folding cycle in the boot. Back home in no time. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Can you not simply get a minicab or ride sharing driver to pick you up and take you back later on?

Probably safer than a covid infested bus and a freezing bus stop. Or are we saying you need somebody to actually drive the car? I don't know your situation. The difficulty is who is insured to drive it I suppose. Brian

[Andy Burns]

Not fancying taxis etc at the moment

Not many passengers on buses at the moment, more personal space.

[Fred]

Doesn?t help with aerosols.

[Tim Lamb]

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

Too many low bridges for double deckers here:-)

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[Tim Lamb]

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

You won't see me driving in North London shortly!

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[Tim Lamb]

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

Halfords and Kwik-Fit both wanted advance sight of the vehicle. When I was looking for the parts to d-i-y diesel Fiesta silencers seemed unobtainable here and I bought from Autodoc in Berlin. It may only be available complete with front pipe here.

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[Tim Lamb]

I wonder if they might accept a gift wrapped silencer in payment:-) Folding bike best but I don't have one.

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[Tim Lamb]

In message <rt7ps7$mef$ [e-mail], "Brian Gaff (Sofa)" [e-mail]> writes

All these things are possible. I have a back up car so I could take it off the road while the NHS get around to vaccinating us gerries. Meanwhile the knee is improving...

A really exciting move might be to invite a Ford agent to look at it!

[Paul]

There are a variety of service options available to you today.

There is a guy up the street from me, who runs a service similar to this one. Mostly, he does flat tyres.

That would be sufficient to fit a muffler.

Engine +---- a little easier to do \ | your neighbour could do this one Cat v \_____ resonator ___ resonator ___ muffler ___X (the end)

^ +--------- flanges can rust and need heat to remove bolts Don't ask the mobile mechanic to do this one. You don't want to watch how they remove these.

If you go to a third party exhaust shop, one of the sins they can commit, is fitting the wrong resonator to the car. If you replace a resonator with a straight pipe, the car will lack acceleration. You will no longer feel safe merging into traffic if that happens. The wrong muffler is less likely to do as much harm. If you need to get a resonator, get it at a dealership.

You might also want to examine the exhaust hangers. Those are the rubber ovals that hold onto the pegs welded to the exhaust pieces. When the exhaust fell off my car, I had to replace three of those. Two snapped ones. One rotten one. I had to drive 40km on the bicycle to pick up the parts :-) It's the usual thing - nobody carries stock, and I wanted the things toot sweet.

To fit an exhaust hanger, use dry graphite powder to work off the old one, and work on the new one. No, don't spray WD40 on those. The graphite leaves the vicinity very quickly and won't "perma-lube" the thing such that it falls apart later. If you needed to take it off three months from now, you'll need a fresh load of graphite.

With a little luck, even an incompetent mobile mechanic can do a muffler lump.

Paul

[Tim Lamb]

Early days yet Paul. Having failed on the d-i-y attempt I am exploring the alternatives.

It is a diesel so simply front pipe and silencer. The pipe is sound so I hoped to just fit the replacement box. Sadly one hanger is in the wrong place and the connecting pipe is too long. I could weld on a different hanger but the shortened front pipe will be too small to clamp and get a gas tight fit.

Trade it for an electric trolley has crossed my mind:-)

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[Scion]

Doesn't that just mean two while-u-wait trips, one to discover what's needed and the other to fit?

[Tim Lamb]

Yes. I have been contemplating adapting the supplied silencer. It would mean shortening the connection to the front pipe, fabricating and welding on a new hanger in the correct position. I doubt my welding skills/tackle are sufficient:-(

Current thinking is to lay the vehicle up until things settle down a bit.

[Robin]

Oh yes. Though I'd be cautious about the urgency a trader would give to a booking, not from an established customer, that is just for an estimate.

[Andrew]

20 mile round trip to visit a Lidl for me. Or 34 mile round trip to an Aldi. Sainsbury and Tesco 10 minutes walk away.

[Andrew]

Replacing part of an exhaust that has been on the car for 10+ years can be a nightmare. Sometimes it is easier to do the whole lot, apart from CAT. One local private-owner tyre+exhaust business has decided to stop doing exhausts because he says getting the correct parts is bad enough, then getting it to fit without any 'blowing' is hit and miss. Now he just does tyres.

[T i m]

<snip>

And why I am generally happy to buy-local when it comes to anything like that (expensive to return).

I just bought a new battery for daughters 407 and could have got the one I chose 'online' and delivered 10 cheaper (in ~£80) than going to get the same locally. I bought local because *IF* I have to claim on the 5yr warranty, the cost and inconvenience of getting the battery back to the back of beyond would be way more than the £10.

When my mate ran the garage at the top of the road, he would often get the part off or at least visible before ordering a replacement (especially on exhausts) and when the delivery guy turned up with it, offer it up there and them and so could sent it straight back, if it didn't fit.

I have had that done to me before when having to take a company car to the likes of Quick Fit. They remove the exhaust / tyre *then* find they don't have a replacement. I now know that if I'm anywhere like that, I warn them of the consequences of disabling my vehicle for the lack of the right replacement part (even if it only takes a couple of hours for them to get the right part from another branch).

Now you know what the current part looks like, could you not get another part ordered and sell the wrong one somewhere? A 'non cat' exhaust component for a Fiesta can't be worth even taking it back off the axle stands can it?

Or see how much the other pipework might be that matches that box as sometimes different brands / versions / years just put the joints in different places but would still mate up with the manifold?

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News]

If you've got the vehicle up in the air already, take some pics or ask them how they'd recognise what to order?

[Dave Plowman (News]

I can perhaps understand that with an exhaust, but tyre? A tyre's details are easily seen. By anyone.

[Tim Lamb]

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

Back on the ground. The professionals refused (Swift) to just fit the silencer because *they are not equipped to cut the front pipe*.

Were the series 5 duratorq models made in Spain?

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