... doesn't directly affect the pub, because it runs on FlaskBB, which uses Python.

However there is a different security issue affecting the software that the server itself runs on, which the hosting provider is going to patch. This looks to be quite a pig of a job, which I'm sure we're all familiar with, and so at some point over the next week the forum is going to be down for a couple of hours.

If I find out when, I'll update this post. But yeah, if the site's down for a bit, it's "meant to be like that".

Great when they work, eh?

So Imgur have blocked users in the UK from accessing their site, have done for a while.

Miah reminded me the other day that I'd mentioned something about putting some mitigation in place. I have a couple of things in mind, either:

a) modify posts containing imgur links to point through a third-party proxy

b) download photos from imgur and host them locally where possible

Or I guess c) some combination of the above.

Both would require the content of your posts to be edited to change the link, which obviously I'd do with a script, damned if I'm doing every single one of them by hand over and over.

A further refinement would be to devise some sort of plugin for the forum that would just sort this automagically in the background, which would involve upgrading the forum software, which would involve me taking a bit of time to actually package up the updated software.

Thoughts, anyone?

I would move rather than sell mine...

I've had an intermittent massive drain for a while - every so often, no real pattern to it, I'll go out to the car and it'll be sitting about 9 volts. I figured it was the usual battery drain issue but unplugging the keyfob receiver didn't make any difference.

Yesterday morning was a lovely bright morning and reasonably cool, and wouldn't you know it, the battery was flat, down to 7 volts. I opened the bonnet to jump start it, and realised that the battery was warm to the touch (it's not a great battery, it's one I was using with a solar panel to play with inverters, but I thought I'd swap it just to see).

Not only was the battery warm but the alternator was warm. Nothing else under the bonnet was, and the last time it had been driven was about 6 hours previously so while it wasn't exactly ice cold it wasn't residual heat. There was a hell of an "inductive-looking" spark when I put the jump leads on too.

I replaced the alternator recently, but it was doing this before - I changed it because the voltage was swinging up and down quite a bit and have the old one sitting in my shed waiting to be rebuilt.

Later on yesterday after it had been sitting outside work all day, even with the sun shining on it the alternator was cold.

So, why would it be doing this? RAVE says that it senses voltage on pin 15 of the BECM which is what I'd think of as the D+ terminal, but does that get powered by the BECM when you turn the ignition on? Could this be something like a relay in the BECM sticking on?

I haven't got a power board kicking about to check but I bet it's the sort of thing that Marty knows... ;-)

Put one of the two new rear air bags on, probably need to do the valve block O rings too.

Steam gennied the engine bay, removing lots of oily crud that I got all over myself changing the starter motor. This is in preparation for fitting new oil pump and filter O rings, and a speedysleeve on the crank pulley.

Realised that the belt tensioner is on the way out. The dash lamps seem to be flickering bright and dim although surprisingly steadily, and the tensioner is twitching which makes me wonder if it's sticking occasionally. Listening with a big long screwdriver the bearing is making a hell of a noise!

Do Thors have the same purge canister valve that GEMS ones do? Because that makes a fast tapping sound that is worryingly like a dropped liner, once the engine warms up and only at idle.

I've got to get my windscreen done quite soon so I'm planning on saving the clips as best I can, and having my neighbour who's something of a 3D printer wizard make me some up.

Well yes, that's what I wondered about, would those devastating 20bhp extra that the 4.6 brings make that much of a difference?

And so I bought a 2-pin, and if it breaks hopefully it won't do that before I learn how to rebuild the 4-pin.

A while ago I swapped the whole rear axle in my 4.6 with one off a breaker. Although the nose bearing wasn't actually allowing the input shaft to flap about like the one I took off, it did have a bit of play and the diff emitted quite a lot glitter when I dropped the oil out.

A few thousand miles later and while it hasn't really got any louder, it also hasn't got any quieter, so I'm thinking about just changing the diff out. However, it looks like 2-pin rear diffs are far cheaper than 4-pin ones, which were fitted to the 4.6es with traction control.

Now opinion seems to vary on how much of a difference this makes. Ashcrofts want to sell you a 4-pin and seem very keen that people don't run 2-pin diffs. On other forums opinion seems split between "yes a 2-pin will break as soon as you pull away gently on dry tarmac" to "never seen one break yet and I tow artics through wet sand for fun". The "it'll break instantly" posts do seem correlated with people who post pics of their Landies with massive tyres and mud up to the headlights.

So I turn it over to the sensible crowd. Does it actually make that much of a difference?

The brake light switch and cruise control switch are two separate things, with the latter having the "vacuum dump" valve in it as well. It's well hidden behind the air duct and its main failure mode seems to be that the plastic tangs holding it in place get brittle and it falls off the bracket.

At least that's what happened on both of mine.

If you jack up one front wheel, then with the handbrake on and the gearbox in neutral you ought to be able to turn the wheel very slowly against the viscous coupling.

If you can't turn it at all, the viscous coupling is seized and this will wreak all sorts of mayhem upon your front axle.

After all that, I was in bed with some horrible bug and missed it :-/

So I have a normal account that I try to do all my posts with and an admin account I try not to do my posts with, for "separation of concerns".

But I'm not always all that good at remembering to log out and back in.

I installed the first version of the software and set up the first user (me) at around 11pm on the 29th of December 2015, with a test user an hour or so later (the late great Suzie the cat). There must have been a couple more, and then at 8am the next morning Gilbertd rocked up and created an account. He's posted roughly ten times as much as I have over the years!

He was then followed by a bunch of refugees from The Other Site, and here we are nearly ten years later.

So, I don't know, zoom call and crack a beer at 23:06 on the 29th, anyone?

Lpgc wrote:

Thanks Gilbert. I very nearly didn't make a public thread on this subject, was going to mention it to you in a PM (for the benefit of others Gilbert and I talk boats in PMs). But the thought occurred that at least the ZDDP aspect would be relevant here too (Rover V8's have flat tappets?) and I knew you'd see and reply to this thread anyway :)

Do you want a public subforum set up for that? It's no bother...

Today I haven't done anything to my Rangie because I've been coping with things being down because of AWS shitting its leg off.

None of the rrpub services were affected, because they're all hosted by Bitfolk in London Docklands, and while the database backups are AWS they are a) not essential to the site actually running, and b) hosted in AWS eu-central-1 which wasn't affected.

So, rangerovers.pub continues to clatter and rattle its way along the Information Superhighway at its own pace, leaving its little oily drops occasionally, but still working as well as it ever did.

If you want to invite some over, by all means do!

Gilbertd wrote:

I wonder if it would be worth us adding L320 and L322 to here, we'd get an influx of new members once word got around. Considering Gilbertd got a lifetime ban from there for sending PM's to members suggesting they migrate over, I'm not sure how long I would last as Admin......

I wouldn't object but I wouldn't want to step on https://www.fullfatrr.com/ 's toes. I guess it's a different environment, the pub ;-)

I am happy to say that I have no plans to bring in any "Artificial Intelligence" to the pub. I've got enough analogue stupidity for everyone!

I was just going to take the front wing off to clean all the crud out of the rust traps and underseal the panel, and give myself a ton of room to work ;-) Good shout on tying the steering wheel. I guess some bungies will hold it in place against the pedals or something.