Yes, the cone makes sure it seats properly and doesn't go in lopsided. The O ring won't seal if it isn't flat into the hole.

The most likely cause is the cable is sticking and after you have opened the door it isn't returning fully. Whether the cable has been kinked so it binds but if you pull it all the way back and let it spring back, that is moving it enough to fully return. It isn't likely to be the latch or it would do the same if you open it from the outside handle. You need the door card off (again, hopefully you haven't fitted your new shedder yet) and then operate the interior handle few times while watching the horseshoe shaped lever that the cable is attached to and making sure that returns fully.

I don't think they are lead, more likely Mazak aka Monkey Metal.

It's been discontinued but it is only an IP67 rated, SPDT microswitch so as long as you get one the correct size, any old switch will do the job. RS and CPC have plenty to choose from.

The ones for a LHD car are no good to you. The passenger side, your driver's side, only has one microswitch so won't work in a P38. The LH one, driver's side on a LHD car would work in your passenger door though. RHD diver's ones are available at around half the price of a P38 latch from https://www.ukmgparts.com/product/mgf-mgf14-exterior-bodyshell-panels/door-lock-rh-mgf-tf-rhd-fqj102262pma. This one has the 6+1 plug used on a pre-99 car so the plug would need to be changed to the 8 way plug (with only 7 wires used) to fit a later car.

I bought a job lot of 13 for £120. Worked my way through some of them, one had a duff driver pack, one had NRVs that were completely shot but by cannibalising one I've got 2 rebuilt and tested ones at the moment. I bought some cheap pressure gauges and lengths of hose so can pressurise them from the dead, but now rebuilt, compressor that the seller chucked in with them, open each valve in turn with a gauge on each output and confirm it holds pressure. They seem to go for around £100-120 for rebuilt and fully tested ones but I've seen ones that are an unknown quantity for up to £80.

So that's 5 already, you'd best get him on to it.

and Thule roof bars. I've got a set of those that I put on if I need to carry a ladder, the rest of the time they stay off as they howl horribly at anything over 50mph.....

Very true, going from occasional contributor to part time employee almost. Not that it matters as the search function on this site works so people can still find it.

My experience with the TBH is that they will leak on the GEMS but all that is needed is a new gasket with a bit of Hylomar. I did mine about 5 years ago, didn't have a gasket so made one from gasket paper and it hasn't leaked since. However, just about every Thor I have looked at has had the tell tale crystalline deposits on it and on the rocker cover beneath it. Maybe they are more prone to leaking?

Yes you can. When you turn the ignition switch to position 3, it provides a ground to the BeCM. If the BeCM has received a valid unlock code, it allows that ground through to the starter relay. By linking the two pins it allows the ground to go directly, bypassing the BeCM, but it won't make any difference if the original wiring is left attached or not.

That makes more sense, yours is the same as all the others. You can lock with the key and unlock with the fob with no problems just not the other way round.

I would think it is the actual manifold that has split at the flexi section and not just the gasket.

That would be extremely useful. I've got two dead door latches sitting on my bench and an intermittent one in the Ascot that need something doing with them.

It must have split completely to make as much noise as it was. Have they taken it off and definitely confirmed it?

I've experienced icing years ago on an old carb equipped car with a non-standard air filter so it didn't have the intake tube that you were supposed to position so it drew air in from next to the exhaust manifold in winter. It would start fine, idle OK, set off and die within a couple of hundred yards. Opening the bonnet and looking down the , the 'mouth' of the carb was full of ice. That would only happen when cold, but not necessarily below freezing, and damp (foggy). As the air is accelerated through the venturi, it is cooled which, if there is a lot of moisture in the air, will condense on the cold metal and freeze.

Whether or not we need it in the UK will depend on a lot of things. Yes we get cold weather (I once read that around 3 degrees would be optimum for it to happen), we also get a lot of moisture but there is less of a venturi in an injection throttle body than in a carb where the accelerated air is used to draw the fuel in from the jets in that venturi. It will also depend on how you drive the car. If you start it then run it at idle for a minute or so (while waiting for the 3 Amigos to go out, or just reversing from a driveway for instance) before setting off, there will be enough heat around it that it won't happen. Start the engine and immediately set off down the road and it is far more likely.

How did we go from ABS to throttle body heaters in one thread?

Just connect a wire between the two, you can leave the existing wiring connected.

When mine did it many years ago, it was only in hot weather and I put it down to thermal expansion. Now, the keyswitch on the Ascot drivers door doesn't work but only in cold weather so there is definitely a temperature element. A combination of wear and fine tolerances I suspect.

KCR wrote:

Did I mention that I dislike very much the paternalistic Nanny State zero risc attitude which seems to be fancy ourdays? rant over

So do I but having seen what some people were doing I can understand the problem.....

Looking at the diagram, I would say all you would need to do is put a jumper between pin 6 of C257 and pin 2 of C113, both White/Red wires. That will connect position 3 of the ignition switch directly to the starter relay rather than via the BeCM.

I'd love to know what your Missus does to the car Bolt, even mine, who can usually break most things, hasn't been able to break mine or the Ascot when she's been using that. Are there any other signs that it is (should be) immobilised? I assume the message still pops up on the dash, does it time out and go away or does it stay there?

We used to have similar places here but most, if not all, have closed. When my local one was closing I was told it was because of insurance requirements. They would have had to have at least one mechanic for every customer just to make sure nobody did anything stupid, injured themselves, then claimed that the company had allowed them to do something stupid.