I noticed the same thing with ECP. Had an email from them to say they were doing same day delivery but when I went online to order, same day delivery wasn't an option, only click and collect or 7-9 days. Maybe I didn't get the same day option as I didn't sign in but made the order as a guest? Just stopped for some lunch then I'll be visiting Halfords as I can't do any more without brake fluid.

Despite having retired, I hung on to the letter saying I'm a key worker and have used ECP (didn't get asked for any ID though). Standing in a queue in the car park for over an hour isn't my idea of fun which is why I decided to try Halfords.

Spending my time playing with the cars so have dragged my Maserati out of the garage to recommission it. Last time I drove it at least one of the brakes was sticking on so I'm pulling all the calipers off and giving them a bit of TLC but am running out of brake fluid. My usual factors are closed so I looked on the Halfords website. I've also got a set of seals to overhaul the front calipers on the ex-plod so figured I could do them too and flush through the brake fluid. In which case I'm going to need quite a bit of DOT 4. £24.99 for 5 litres seemed pretty good so ordered it online for a click and collect. They confirmed the order by email and text but said not to go to the store until I had received a text telling me to. That was at 10 yesterday morning. Spent the day twiddling my thumbs waiting for the text, didn't arrive. Now, over 25 hours later, still no text. Anyone else tried to order stuff and had to wait days for it?

All the ones I've seen have had Wabco printed along the length of the cable. I've used 2nd hand ones in the past and not had any problems.

dave3d wrote:

Took the roof rails off ready for spraying. Quick question ... are there any drains in the roof rail channels?

Not by design, unless the weld isn't up to spec.

If you want to know what the oil pressure really is, use a capillary gauge rather than an electric one. It won't be affected by voltage, poor earths or anything like that. I've got an old Maserati with an oil pressure light and a capillary gauge, light flashes on as and when it feels like it (due to traditional Italian electrics) but the gauge always reads correctly. In fact, the only gauges that do read correctly all the time are the two that don't involve electricity, the oil pressure and turbo boost gauges.

I can see why they leaked, where's the seal that should run round under the cover? Part number is BTR8297.

Grille should be black except for the bottom strip which will be body colour. I used bumper black paint on mine and the strips under the headlights, looks so much better than faded grey.

Cork? They are rubber with steel insets where the bolts go through so you can't compress them too much. I suspect it's the same problem as with ball joint boots, they are made from a sort of vinyl these days which shrinks.

It's the permanent live supply so ordinarily it would only draw a tiny amount of current to keep the stations stored. That would have been another clue if anyone had realised, he'd got an ignition switched supply so if the radio hadn't died it would have come on but with no stations stored.

Must be a small dog, our 10 year old miniature Dachshund still jumps in and out of my car no matter what height it's at. In fact, he prefers going out in the car to going for a walk!

From Top to bottom you've got High, Standard, Motorway and Low. Normally, assuming the car is in Standard, you can only select High or Low from the rocker switch. However, if you poke the inhibit switch next to the rocker, you can then select all heights. Simplest way to stop it waking up is to pull the timer relay out. It's easiest to get to it from the rear passenger footwell. It's a tall (about twice the height of a standard relay) black one that is next to the outer seat rail. Sometimes when you try to pull it out, the base comes unclipped which actually makes it even easier as there's enough slack on the wiring to allow you to pull it out under the front of the seat.

I suppose the question now is.......

Does the oil pressure light go out and stay out?

Sounds like the radio is toast. With that disconnected does the dash now power up and the fuse remain intact?

I know you removed the DSP amp and replaced the radio but I didn't like to suggest it may be a self inflicted fault. You've just got to hope it's in the wiring along the sill shorting to ground and not have to admit you've spent 3 days looking for a problem of your own making. Although it would qualify for the My biggest cock up thread......

Right, so you have a short to ground on that Purple wire. It comes from the plug on the BeCM and then has a splice in it where it splits into a number of feeds. The ETM doesn't say where the splice is but I would suspect it may be under the plastic sill panel, most wiring from the BeCM to the rest of the car lives under there. Once it gets to the dash it then feeds the dash, the radio, clock, ignition key illumination, footwell lamps and also runs to the back to supply power to the DSP amp. I suspect the feed to the DSP amp goes across the car under the dash and then down the sill on the other side.

Nanocom should fire up as soon as it is plugged in, it doesn't need the ignition on. To connect to the BeCM, it needs to be off anyway. If you've got power, maybe you don't have a ground?

In fact, thinking about it, the cover over the sunroof had been left open on the Ascot and when I first got in it I got drenched from the drips of condensation on the inside of the sunroof glass. That would drop down straight into the switchpack.....

Pull the two connectors on the BeCM that the feed from Fuse 1 exits out of and see if the fuse still blows. If it does, the fault is within the BeCM, if it doesn't, plug the one at the rear of the BeCM back in and see if it blows then. If it doesn't the dash should now be working and the fault is within the switchpack.

The Ascot was also covered in mould inside when I started on it a few weeks ago, purely from sitting outside over the winter. Most of it simply wiped off with a damp cloth although I did need to use some proper leather cleaning stuff on the seats.

Looking at the state of that cam and followers, I'm wondering if the chirping squeaking noise wasn't them running dry for some reason?