Oh Well ...

[bob12]

... Christmas and the New Year are over, and I trust you all had as greater time as I did with my daughter and the grandchildren over here from Queenstown, NZ for 5 weeks (drove me BONKERS at times, but nice) .... sent them off this evening from Heathrow, and I am now 'relarkin' as I am f'in shattered!!

Oh .... the daughter has been driving the 745 for 5 weeks ... until last Monday when they were scheduled to go to Harry Potter World. Doing my pre-trip checks (as I wasn't going!), and bugxxx me the header tank was empty!! Having belted up the M3 and back the day before!

The water pump top 'O' ring had been weeping slightly for a year or so but nothing untoward!! When I started the car it was slightly more than a weep. So the Honda emergency back-up was called in for the trip.

As I couldn't be arsed to get out in the cold to do all the necessarys I immediately phoned the local guy (Joe) I use to 'do' it. Topped the header up and took the car in to him and a day later he had put in a new pump and at the same time replaced the cam belt and tensioners etc (although not that critical due to their relatively 'new' age).

Funny thing is that for many years I have had the occasional 'screaming' noise when letting the clutch in on take off. It happened when I was driving with Joe. I had always thought that it was a slipping clutch, but oh no, it's the spigot bearing on the back of the crankshaft where the gearbox joins the engine. It can make that noise for years and be OK .. when I need a new clutch it's an easy job to replace

That's all for now, Bob.