and for a bit of role reversal

That's the Duchess towing my Jeep! The guys in the garage had a good chuckle about a P38 being the one at the front of the rope. I'm not sure if I was offended or not!
Ah well. The Jeep suffered a sudden and rather dramatic loss of ATF which I'm hoping is just one of the trans cooler lines letting go.

Congratulations!
It's that unreliable BMW engine y'see....

Hahaha!
Well the speed limit is 4mph so I guess it's banned by implication.

Why thank you Mr Orange :)

Yep, split tailgate. Also heated memory sports seats, which along with the manual 'box meant life was tough for the adjuster when he tried to rip us off with the usual "comparable cars on the market" BS. I'm sure he made out like a bandit though, I wanted to keep the wreck and flog the bits to BMW project builders but the Police had had it towed to a secure pound and the insurance company just would not release it. They declared it Cat-B because it was twisted.

Roof bars are bloody handy if you ever need to get out of a car quickly and you're not actually Bo or Luke Duke :)

The shitcan was a Corsa driven by a Pensioner on the phone. She'd already taken the corner off a VW Polo (completely separated the rear wheel and suspension) and kept her foot hard down as she panic braked with the wrong pedal. She hit us with a closing speed betwen 50 and 70mph as I was just about stopped at the time due to the concertina effect caused by the police car in the layby up ahead. The impact was fierce enough to launch the (factory) stereo out of the dash. Stupid cow. She was still yacking on the phone as they strapped her into the backboard. I didn't go and ask her if she was OK.

Sorry if I've already told you all this.. I'm still pissed off! That car was a beaut.

Sloth wrote:

A 6 speed 540i? Nice. Getting a bit rare those now! And the boxes go for silly money.

Yes, it was a nice motor until:

Remember kids, don't use your mobile when driving!

Gilbertd wrote:

42hp diesel? What's the use in that, you'd never be able to ski behind it?

Sadly that sort of thing is frowned at on the canals...

Our boat has skin tanks for radiators :) but it's only a 42hp diesel so there isn't much heat to dissapate in comparison!

I had that engine (M62TUB44) in a 5 series touring for a while. With a six speed box it made a nice car.

Not wanting to be a dick but... Vogue not Vouge :)
sorry, the OCD kicked in halfway through your post.

So are we meeting on Saturday? one night then Sunday till lunch?

Well they should be smooth all the time, you just get a bit more kick when the air is colder and denser.

She had a new rad about 6 months ago so hopefully it'll come apart again if that's it. I need to clean it all off and find the actual source of the leaks. There's quite a lot of oil underneath the front, that's for sure.

I was using one of those combined drip tray/oil container things. It turns out the sump plug on this car is about an inch long so I had started turning it with my fingers before it popped out. Of course, the oil was nice and hot so I dropped the damn thing and it went straight into the can. By the time I'd got it out the washer was gone, either in the drip tray thing (no access via the holes which are only about 15mm) or into one of the old milk cartons I used when sieving the oil for the sump plug.
I'm special, me.

After spending rather too long rolling around underneath the Duchess today, I've noticed a lot of leaks. The oil cooler lines don't look too clever and the throttle body heater plate is definitely due replacement. Yay.

I just changed the oil on The Duchess. Too late I saw that she has a copper washer for the sump plug (unlike my Jeep). 31p from Paddocks. OK...
£6 postage!!!!
So after the inevitable loss of the old sump washer, I'm running without a washer at all. I suspect this will be a rather short lasting oil change :(

I think the push button starter sold it :rolleyes:

Should have bought him a welder :)

Maybe 😀

I'm guessing this is your first child then?

I think the blend motors are possible without taking the dash out if you're double jointed. It's the heater matrix which is definitely dash-out time. Mine was leaking so we (well, Marty) did the whole lot at once.

Is it too late to suggest a "Wading Switch" so you can be sure your fan is still next time you cross the raging rapids of the West Country?