I don't like moving the Punto near the front door last night so I could clean it today, only to wake up to it (and everything else) covered in a light dusting of snow.

I'll wait a couple of hours and if it hasn't melted, I'll just get Henry and do it anyway.  I wouldn't even mind so much if I had awoken to a thick layer of dense frozen snow, but it is this light fluffy stuff I absolutely hate, as it is POINTLESS.  Either give us proper winter weather or nothing.

Can you not gather up snowballs? Or make a snow angel? Or a snowman?

7 minutes ago, Ianb said:

Can you not gather up snowballs? Or make a snow angel? Or a snowman?

Nope, I'd rather stay inside with a stiff drink, which is what I may end up doing...  The car can always be cleaned tomorrow...

Sad times :( Snow must always be played with... Actually I pride myself on being a complete idiot.. I'm the sort of person that will end up having to buy someone a new piece of glass for their green house around snow...

...and I still play with lego...

#nevergrowup

3 hours ago, jmurray01 said:

That isn't good!  This is the most common season for alternators to fail if they were already worn out - given that you are using your headlights 99% of the time, along with the heater and wipers. 

Didn't you have a battery issue a few weeks ago and mentioned buying a Bosch S4?  Could it now be that the weak/dead battery was caused by the alt rather than just a poor battery?

Or, of course, the poor battery a few weeks ago could have precipitated the alternator's death.

Of all the alternators I've had fail, all of them have been in the winter, when as you say most of your electrics ancillaries, are being used

Yes, I did indeed.

The alternator test I did then, having rejuvenated the old battery with my Ctek charger, did have questionable output, in the sense it was adequate to get by, but needed keeping an eye on it.  So, I knew the alternator was on it's way out. 

As I was trying to get back before everything died, having switched everything off, in an attempt to save my last bit of battery reserve (apart from the headlights and wipers - it was raining) :which as it turned out, I didn't quite make.  I did notice that the Kleen Freaks glass cleaner and rain repellent that I got from Keiran, was repelling the rain enough to do the return journey with wipers just on occasional wipe on it's lowest infrequent setting

Had hoped my mate with the Pajero was going to be free today, so we could tow the Focus into the drive, but he's at one of his club mower meets (he races lawn mowers, in all weathers!), the drive is a 20% gradient up to the garage. Of course, I can't tow it all the way to the top, because the tow vehicle would end up stuck in front of it, but I can get it off the road on to the wider part (3 cars width).

 

 

3 hours ago, jmurray01 said:

I don't like moving the Punto near the front door last night so I could clean it today, only to wake up to it (and everything else) covered in a light dusting of snow.

I'll wait a couple of hours and if it hasn't melted, I'll just get Henry and do it anyway.  I wouldn't even mind so much if I had awoken to a thick layer of dense frozen snow, but it is this light fluffy stuff I absolutely hate, as it is POINTLESS.  Either give us proper winter weather or nothing.

Henry the vacuum?  Would a George be better with his wet and dry capabilities?

3 hours ago, Ianb said:

Can you not gather up snowballs? Or make a snow angel? Or a snowman?

Although snow is a rare in the south, what does Pret make of it?

Brandy was very reluctant to walk on it when we had some in 2009, cats weren't fussed at all, even though they'd never encountered it before either

Dropping a metal deflector clip down the gap behind the handbrake in my fiesta! 

1 hour ago, GMX said:

Of all the alternators I've had fail, all of them have been in the winter, when as you say most of your electrics ancillaries, are being used

Yes, I did indeed.

The alternator test I did then, having rejuvenated the old battery with my Ctek charger, did have questionable output, in the sense it was adequate to get by, but needed keeping an eye on it.  So, I knew the alternator was on it's way out. 

As I was trying to get back before everything died, having switched everything off, in an attempt to save my last bit of battery reserve (apart from the headlights and wipers - it was raining) :which as it turned out, I didn't quite make.  I did notice that the Kleen Freaks glass cleaner and rain repellent that I got from Keiran, was repelling the rain enough to do the return journey with wipers just on occasional wipe on it's lowest infrequent setting

Had hoped my mate with the Pajero was going to be free today, so we could tow the Focus into the drive, but he's at one of his club mower meets (he races lawn mowers, in all weathers!), the drive is a 20% gradient up to the garage. Of course, I can't tow it all the way to the top, because the tow vehicle would end up stuck in front of it, but I can get it off the road on to the wider part (3 cars width).

 

 

That's the problem with modern cars, all the electrical equipment which even at its most minimal settings can kill a battery very quickly if the alternator is not working.

I think the alternator in our Primera could be on its way out, as although I've not done a voltage check (yet), if the headlamps are on and you then turn on the heater or rear-demist the lights dim and idle drops momentarily.  Mind you, with 202,500 miles on the clock the alternator has lived a lot longer than it would be expected to, considering most of these cars are retired by 150,000 miles.

1 hour ago, GMX said:

Henry the vacuum?  Would a George be better with his wet and dry capabilities?

Although snow is a rare in the south, what does Pret make of it?

Brandy was very reluctant to walk on it when we had some in 2009, cats weren't fussed at all, even though they'd never encountered it before either

Probably, but I don't own a George!  I've decided to leave it (especially as the rain and winds have gotten substantially worse) and will hopefully get it done tomorrow morning before we have to go out. 

I want to start using that car for 99% of the journeys as it uses a lot less fuel than the Nissan, but whilst it is still dirty inside I am reluctant to be in it.  Therefore, I need a couple of hours to wash it all down and give the seats and carpets a good vacuuming.

Wouldn't vacuuming wet stuff with a Henry destroy it? Probably a dumb question...

i would think so you need a wet and dry vacuum

50 minutes ago, Incontro said:

Wouldn't vacuuming wet stuff with a Henry destroy it? Probably a dumb question...

I wouldn't be vacuuming wet stuff, just having the vacuum itself exposed to a wet ground and rain.  Still not ideal, but not overly dangerous.

Ghana, pret doesn't mind snow, she could take it or leave it, it just makes it harder for her to walk and she ends up with balls of ice forming on her chest and leg hair... So I guess she's fine to start with then struggles....

On 29/01/2016 at 2:14 PM, jace1969 said:

One word will sum it up that I HATE ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,CANCER.............

I cannot not even describe the hatred I have for that disease. 

Oh joy 

Without the help of my mate and his Pajero to tow the Focus into the drive.  I thought I could possibly do it with the Astra, that still hasn't been collected. Running back and forth between the cars, steering the Focus and powering further up in the Astra the next metre and so on.

Not so, the Astra didn't want to start and flattened it's own battery, trying.   It's only been standing a fortnight since I last moved it back and forth, it's battery was fine as I had it trickling all the while. 

I've reached an impasse at the moment.  My Ctek charger is reconditioning and then recharging the Astra battery, at least it's a lot faster than my Clarke smart charger. (10A as opposed to 4A)  Although, this now meant I couldn't use it as a power supply get the DTCs from the Focus.

However, using Brandy's leisure battery to give the Focus 12v source, I was able to connect my ELM327 and diagnostic laptop - rather a lot a DTCs  and a nice long log to anylise

It does say on the leisure battery that it's dual purpose.  However, the CCA is insufficient for the Astra and the wrong type of technology for the Focus.  I guess it's dual purpose for petrol engines only.

3 hours ago, Cookey09 said:

Dropping a metal deflector clip down the gap behind the handbrake in my fiesta! 

Get your girlfriend/wife/female friend to have a go, they have smaller hands and thinner arms than us.  Women can reach into the tightest of places unhindered

1 hour ago, jmurray01 said:

I wouldn't be vacuuming wet stuff, just having the vacuum itself exposed to a wet ground and rain.  Still not ideal, but not overly dangerous.

Have you got a 40-50L trug or builder's bucket to hand, or even the grass collector off a cylinder lawn mower will do at a push.  Invert over the top of Henry to keep him dry.  At this moment, my extension reel is wearing a 40L inverted trug, as it's powering the Ctek charger for the Astra battery, rain is forecast later

3 minutes ago, GMX said:

Oh joy 

Without the help of my mate and his Pajero to tow the Focus into the drive.  I thought I could possibly do it with the Astra, that still hasn't been collected. Running back and forth between the cars, steering the Focus and powering further up in the Astra the next metre and so on.

Not so, the Astra didn't want to start and flattened it's own battery, trying.   It's only been standing a fortnight since I last moved it back and forth, it's battery was fine as I had it trickling all the while. 

I've reached an impasse at the moment.  My Ctek charger is reconditioning and then recharging the Astra battery, at least it's a lot faster than my Clarke smart charger. (10A as opposed to 4A)  Although, this now meant I couldn't use it as a power supply get the DTCs from the Focus.

However, using Brandy's leisure battery to give the Focus 12v source, I was able to connect my ELM327 and diagnostic laptop - rather a lot a DTCs  and a nice long log to anylise

It does say on the leisure battery that it's dual purpose.  However, the CCA is insufficient for the Astra and the wrong type of technology for the Focus.  I guess it's dual purpose for petrol engines only.

Get your girlfriend/wife/female friend to have a go, they have smaller hands and thinner arms than us.  Women can reach into the tightest of places unhindered

Have you got a 40-50L trug or builder's bucket to hand, or even the grass collector off a cylinder lawn mower will do at a push.  Invert over the top of Henry to keep him dry.  At this moment, my extension reel is wearing a 40L inverted trug, as it's powering the Ctek charger for the Astra battery, rain is forecast later

Why didn't you just put the Astra's battery in the Focus (whilst it still had charge), fire the Focus up and drive it onto the driveway under its own power?  Alternatively, charge the Focus' battery up and move it tomorrow when it has charged overnight.

1 minute ago, jmurray01 said:

Why didn't you just put the Astra's battery in the Focus (whilst it still had charge), fire the Focus up and drive it onto the driveway under its own power?  Alternatively, charge the Focus' battery up and move it tomorrow when it has charged overnight.

That would have made far more sense

I clearly had a momentary lapse of reasoning before going outside

If i had bought a booster pack, which I almost did: but didn't last time Machine Mart had one of it's VAT free days, I could started and moved both cars buy now.  Woodworking tools were bought instead

6 minutes ago, GMX said:

That would have made far more sense

I clearly had a momentary lapse of reasoning before going outside

If i had bought a booster pack, which I almost did: but didn't last time Machine Mart had one of it's VAT free days, I could started and moved both cars buy now.  Woodworking tools were bought instead

Yeah, a booster pack would have been my other suggestion, but I didn't want to be insolent!

Haha, Jamie rubbing salt in wounds!!

They used come round every time a new catalogue was out, now they're more frequent.

Along with spring compressor and the impact driver that Dez was recommending, I shall definitely get this on next VAT free day.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/jump-start-4000/

I have enough woodworking stuff, for the moment

 

1 minute ago, GMX said:

They used come round every time a new catalogue was out, now they're more frequent.

Along with spring compressor and the impact driver that Dez was recommending, I shall definitely get this on next VAT free day.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/jump-start-4000/

I have enough woodworking stuff, for the moment

 

That looks good.  I just have a cheap booster, but it would probably do the job should the Nissan's battery fail.  At least - I hope it would...

4 hours ago, jmurray01 said:

I wouldn't be vacuuming wet stuff, just having the vacuum itself exposed to a wet ground and rain.  Still not ideal, but not overly dangerous.

Ahh ok, misinterpreted your original post, just me being a thicko :)

8 hours ago, Ianb said:

Sad times :( Snow must always be played with... Actually I pride myself on being a complete idiot.. I'm the sort of person that will end up having to buy someone a new piece of glass for their green house around snow...

...and I still play with lego...

#nevergrowup

100% agree with you, I'm forever moaning at the other half to buy me Technic for my birthday etc.  But she won't & as for snow, my daughter doesn't like it as it usually means she's going to get pelted with snowballs, same for the dog hahahahaha

Look at the Nilfisk T20 guys.. I use it outside in the rain haha

It's also wet/dry so you'll be able to vac the snow up! Just don't scratch your paint.

www.yorkshiredetailing.co.uk - approved resellers of the Highest quality Detailing & Valeting supplies

Wickes have a Wet & Dry vac for £30 at the moment.

It's not bad for the price!! Admittedly, the standard filter set up is a bit fiddly...but you can get a 2-in-1 wet & dry filter for about £15. I just couldn't be bothered with that lol

The tools aren't fantastic - but with a standard 35mm hose on it...you can get accessories fairly cheap on t'interweb.