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How to end a great weekend . . . .NOT!


Munch

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After a great weekend at the NEC, it was time to pack up and drive home and if we're all honest with ourselves, every time you have a bit of a drive in front of you in an old car your thoughts turn to actually getting there! Well halfway home we stop off at a service station and could I get my car started. The key just wouldn't turn. We tried and tried but had to give up and call for recovery. The recovery guy tried to what I can only describe as bodge it but in the end I asked for a tow. These days they don't tow you home, but offer you a courtesy car and a promise of bringing your car back within 3 days. I wasn't happy leaving my car but he said if you want a tow now he could only take me so far and would then have to drop me off at another service station and leave me to get picked up by another recovery firm. It was already past 10pm by this point and I still had an hour and a half to get home, so if I took that option who knows what time I would have got home. I took the courtesy car and got home virtually bang on midnight. I have already been contacted by the recovery firm and we have arranged for Wednesday to have my car dropped off. I have to say they have given me a great service.

Ray kept saying about taking my car up on a trailer, maybe next time I should listen to him!

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1 hour ago, notenoughtime said:

What a shame ! Sounds like they have done there best which is always a bonus 

you should have removed the barrel from the dash and hot wired it lol or run a positive to the coil and jumped the starter to late now though! 

Says a lot for the modern day technician, need to plug a machine in to tell them what to do 🤔🤔🤔

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Which recovery firm was that Munch?

My Corsair disgraced itself for the first time in the 4 years I've had it on the road and not at the most convenient time either. I'd made the decision to trailer it to the NEC  partly as we were not stopping, just leaving the car on display stand all weekend and coming back Sunday to drive it home, so it would have meant driving two cars on the Thursday.  The Corsair started ok to get it on the trailer, it started to get it off. We unloaded up in car park N10 what seemed a fair way away. It also started when i drove it down to get to the correct hall. It was filthy from the journey there, so i I washed it down outside the hall. Got called into the hall, do you think it would start?? would it hell. Appeared to be either battery or the starter motor itself. Managed to get a bump start so it could get in the hall. I only had the trailer hired for the Thursday, so when it came to home time on Sunday, the lads on the stand bumped it again and I had a fraught journey home trying not to stall it anywhere!!  We had to fill up with petrol from cans as I dare not turn it off. I do have AA recovery but i didn't really want to be messing about with them if I could avoid it. The starter has blown basically was the issue.

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On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 07:15, notenoughtime said:

What a shame ! Sounds like they have done there best which is always a bonus 

you should have removed the barrel from the dash and hot wired it lol or run a positive to the coil and jumped the starter to late now though! 

I did remove the barrel from the dash. We could get it to turn over but not fire. It just wouldn't spark.

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On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 07:15, notenoughtime said:

What a shame ! Sounds like they have done there best which is always a bonus 

you should have removed the barrel from the dash and hot wired it lol or run a positive to the coil and jumped the starter to late now though! 

You'll have to teach me how to do that one, that could come in useful in the future. 

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On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 14:17, Kenbex522 said:

Which recovery firm was that Munch?

My Corsair disgraced itself for the first time in the 4 years I've had it on the road and not at the most convenient time either. I'd made the decision to trailer it to the NEC  partly as we were not stopping, just leaving the car on display stand all weekend and coming back Sunday to drive it home, so it would have meant driving two cars on the Thursday.  The Corsair started ok to get it on the trailer, it started to get it off. We unloaded up in car park N10 what seemed a fair way away. It also started when i drove it down to get to the correct hall. It was filthy from the journey there, so i I washed it down outside the hall. Got called into the hall, do you think it would start?? would it hell. Appeared to be either battery or the starter motor itself. Managed to get a bump start so it could get in the hall. I only had the trailer hired for the Thursday, so when it came to home time on Sunday, the lads on the stand bumped it again and I had a fraught journey home trying not to stall it anywhere!!  We had to fill up with petrol from cans as I dare not turn it off. I do have AA recovery but i didn't really want to be messing about with them if I could avoid it. The starter has blown basically was the issue.

I took out breakdown recovery with my insurance company, Lancaster, but the firm that came out was CGM. As luck would have it they were based on the north bound service station opposite where I was and there was a bridge over the motorway so they had access to both north and southbound.

You were lucky to have made that decision to trailer your car up. It's a real downer when your car won't start and squeaky bum time all the way home for you in case you stalled it. Still, it adds to the fun of driving a classic car!! That's what they say anyway, but tbh it doesn't feel that way when your car isn't behaving itself.

At least it's an easy fix, similar to mine.

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On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 18:26, Andymk2cortina said:

Bad luck.

One wire to the coil from the battery and a push your away

Old skool hot wire plus all your lights work too.

Modern recocery guys not a clue.

Glad your getting it sorted and home safe 

As I said to Not Enough Time, I do need to learn that, the only problem with that is my battery is in the boot. 

I did have to smile at the recovery guy at one point. He said after hitching me up to be towed, knowing that my ignition wasn't working, can you put your lights on!😂

I got my car back on Wednesday as promised in the same condition as I left it except a bit dirtier.

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