Stridey

Funnily enough Derek , I had my red alternator light come on last Wednesday night, on a run, just for a short time, then got dimmer, then did it again a few minutes later, but not constant. Made more obvious by it being night time. I checked the alternator belt tension and it was on the upper end of being loose, so I adjusted the bracket by leverage on the alternator and engine block, and tightened up. Your bump may just have given the alternator a little movement, that needs tightening up? As an aside I have a digital voltmeter on the passenger side knee panel, so I can closely monitor charging state. I find this really useful, others have put in a USB socket that has a digital volt meter built in, which is a neat solution, but my placement means I can see it from the driving position. It told me the alternator was charging when need be. The red dash light will tell you when the alt isn’t charging at all.

Update. Went in garage and closed door so I could see lights in reflection easily . As luck would have it I turned the key and the rear lights only lit up, telling me the fault was currently (no pun intended) operative. Thought I’d check switch first. Merely turning it on and off turned the lights off correctly. So, removed switch, cleaned tangs, put dialectic grease on plug and re-assembled. Checked lights on key and they remained off until switched on. Diagnosis, loose connection on plug. Does the switch have any earth on the fixing tangs? I figured perhaps not as some have carbon dash? Anyway I double checked and re twanged the fixing tangs too. Job jobbed. For now.

Rear lights, not brake or indicators... 95 Crossflow.

evidently I have flickering rear lights. Intermittent. difficult for me to check unless I’m followed, but what sort of fault finding route should I check for?

On that note, I’ve recently loaded Satnav (Sygic) to an old Android phone, my much loved Sony Xperia. Just removed the sim, using WiFi mode to load the app. Long battery life (for a mobile) My old Tom Tom just wasn’t cutting it any more. And I’m pretty sure it’s GPS positioning is quicker, though in non mobile mode it’s not able to utilise cell towers as well. Although you could add a speed only app, Sygic does also display current speed and road speed limits quite clearly.

Always nice to see others about on a perfect day... the black one was a perfect surprise at a junction, hope everyone was having as much fun as me!

Mine was fitted passenger side scuttle. It’s tucked away out of sight, and good position for wore to Sat Nav or charging a phone tucked into a Softbits tunnel bag. I would think other places would be the knee panel (plenty of room behind those) or I have see them fitted on rear bulkhead between seats. When ch is Wher I have a net for storage of bits and bobs on occasion Mine is wired direct to battery with fuse, so does not turn off on cutoff switch.

I used a bolt and skateboard truck bushings and washers which are more urethaney and reboundey than rubber ones. And a tip for adjust height of the bracket is to use it as a jacking point.

Ordered PC680 yesterday from Demontweeks, arrived today, 11 ish. Standard delivery. That’s Tayna level of delivery time, so looking good so far.

Thanks Paul, I was thinking of calling Tayna but needed to do an order early today as I thought I’d be too busy later. I thought the same on Taynas price, but their reputation was so good I was more worried about the quality of other suppliers, but feel confident with Demon Tweeks. .

Thanks rhauri, is actually just ordered the Odessy PC680 through Demontweeks as I know they are a reliable supplier (and on the discount list of the club). i had the battery on trickle since Sunday but on attempted startup this morning it was showing 11.5v and no dice when starting. Decided to replace like for like but was tempted with the Varly Red Top, I’ll maybe try that next time. Im lucky that I have a use for nearly dead batteries so it’s not totally wasted money. Will report back. Hopefully in a few years!

Perhaps I should have made it clearer, after a deep drain I managed jump start the car, been on a good 1hr long drive, started fine then back home another hour. I have a voltmeter so I know alte4nator is working. its just if I leave it two days it is not starting well, if at all. A quick charge is enough to get started. i just don’t feel it is retaining a good charge, if that makes sense.

OK, I need to replace an Odyssey PC680, but getting confused. Battery was inadvertently drained, from which I believe full recovery is impossible... The pictures I see online show a red cased version and a black version at various retailers, prices ranging from circa £110 to a whopping £199 from my (and many here) supplier Tayna. Ive also read that cranking spec changed in the last couple of years? ...so I’m worried about buying cheap, either a lower spec model than I want or different to what many owners have fitted and are happy with. Ive seen mention on other forums a Varley ‘Red Top’ 25 that would fit in my cage, and various Enduroline of similar choices. ive read all. JKs links and ‘current thoughts’ from blatchat on what’s needed but again I’m worried this is working with old info. I do have a cutoff switch, trickle charger, car is used often, street driving, no track. Fettled 150bhp Crossflow. Luckily I live on top of a hill which is useful for jumpstarts!

I liked the ohm test notes/pic. The spread seemed a fair bit on the old ones, but nothing really really out of sync, perhaps the .2 one? Anyway, the new ones seem close in range. Looks like your getting there with your other discoveries in the cap. Just the process of removing leads and replacing is giving you a feel of how they should clasp as they locate on the plugs, all good knowledge for the future.

Plenty of YouTube vids about checking leads. you need to measure resistance, and simple maths with the lengths. You can then see if a wire is out of spec, I found it satisfying to identify my prob, of course yours may be different. My system was a bit custom, as I had electronic ignition, luckily a kind chap at my local motor factors worked out a Ford Fiesta set up would work by looking at the plugs on both ends. I then got a custom set made up by formula power : http://www.formulapower.com/ for about £40. Quality items without paying for a brand name, (Magnacore and the like) and made with the right angle plugs I wanted. I then put the longest one from the Fiesta set (£9) in my boot as a spare, figuring should I ever need a set on a trip (unlikely) I could replace one, or get a whole set from a Ford dealer. Good luck!

It may be worth checking your leads. You can do this with a multimeter and a ruler and a simple calculation to check resistance. Assuming your leads are different lengths. i suggest this as one of my leads had a break in it. Heat would expand it so it manifested itself as a cylinder down at start up.

It’s a pretty thing and I saw them when shown at Goodwood and were selling fast. I thought they were expensive or what they were, but my friend who works in fashion wasn’t concerned by price, wasn’t interested that a standard sprint was way cheaper, but more by the ‘limited edition’ factor. Sounds like good marketing by Caterham. Here on blatchat we are preaching to the converted, many like tinkering and in my own case I went for a retro look, including getting my stanchions and frame metal polished and adding chrome wipers and vintage ‘bits’... many people don’t have either the knowledge, vision, time, to do this to a used car but do have a chequebook. Also many people want turnkey new reliability. I feel strong prices for Supersprints mean strong prices throughout the second hand market. As I say, pretty thing, nicely styled by Caterham, and fun, which is what ownership is all about.

oh, that’s a random one. I got mine a while ago, can’t remeber which seller. Similar ones are on amazon

I recently added one of these to my kit, a very large mouthed adjustable spanner. It’s actually quite ‘stubby’ but light weight. Perfect for clutch cable nuts and other bits. replaced a number of spanners.

It’s taken a while for me to get my Crossflow to a point where I feel temp is controllable, it would overheat in static traffic. Initially I fitted a bigger fan. It helped. Especially as an oil cooler had been fitted in front of the rad, blocking it somewhat. Then I experimented with different thermostats, having checked the old one in a saucepan with a thermometer. I figure over time the rad gets more inefficient and modern traffic doesn’t help. I also fitted a bypass from a TX4 taxi to the heater, as I felt this would prevent heat soak from the heater into the cabin a bit. However, after a shunt my rad was replaced with a new one it’s been even better. Lastly, I have a fan overrride switch and wired a light on the dash (between the speedo and tach) to show when the fan is running. This is a great tell tale as you can see if the fan is cutting in and out, also the override lets you anticipate a need for the fan, if you feel your going to hit traffic.

I do recommend at least covering the rear wire plug area. My 7 cut out suddenly a few times and work out it was a short at the alternator end. I bought a plug/cover. Your alternator should have a spring clip to clip the plug in, if not you can get these for pennies. As for waterproofing the alternator, I’ll be interested too, It is vulnerable down there.

Mine had a Vecta. It started playing up, randomly, so replaced with another system. The fitter took the Vecta off for me and fitted an Autowatch system. No key, just a key dongle that needs to be near a wire wrapped around the keyhole. I think these systems have a shelf life....

The new rocker switches are ever so slightly more rounded than older ones, but look similar in photos, if that’s important to you... ( not so much of a mis match to bother me in the least)... you car may well already have the smoother ones already. But as said, easy to remove and replace.

Blue, near a roundabout, A 7 XVX (?).... made me wish I was in mine!

Firstly they get you to contact off eBay, so no protection there. First warning bell. Will want paying via Western Union. Account is scammers, not uShip. Any mention of working on an oil rig?