99: Wednesday 6th January 2010

I've been off sick for the last couple of days. I did try a couple of drives back and forward up and down my drive. First attempt and I heard a crackling noise from the rear batteries and some horrible gurgling noises from the PAS pump. I checked the batteries and found one to be just 10v. Closer inspection found a split in the case, so this battery was dead. I changed the connections so only 9 batteries were in circuit and the driving was much better, but because the voltage was now much lower, the controller started complaining about low battery level and was cutting out, this was to be expected. I spent some time on-line chasing up the parts I needed. I can get a replacement battery as the recyclers still had some, cool. I need to call them again to arrange delivery etc. The DC-DC converter; I contacted the on-line store where I got it from and they suggested I contact the manufacturers tech support. I did this and they have agreed to replace the unit, but can only ship to a USA address. I contacted the on-line store again and gave them the contact name at the manufacturer and they will get it and ship it to me. I got some power steering fluid for the PAS pump and it took nearly a whole litre to top it up. I checked underneath the car and found a leak in the cooler pipe at the front of the car. That's another job to fix. I was wrong about the heater control and it works exactly as expected, but where the fan was not running and I was switching it on and off, I misread what was happening. I checked the controls and found them to be o.k., but there is no heat coming from this or it is such a small amount that it is not enough to de-mist the screen. It is possible that the overheat has tripped, but it won't go back. I will need to strip the interior out again at some point and fix this. I contacted the Zapi controller supplier and asked if I can run the controller at a lower voltage to do some proper test drives. They explained how to do this with the programmer. I need to get a good charge in the 12v battery to run the PAS pump and I should be able to have proper test drive. hopefully more than just a few yards. I got confirmation from China that they had the money for my new vacuum switch for the brakes and this has been dispatched. Two of the gearbox bolts were too long and I had ordered some new ones and they have now arrived, so now all the bolts can be fitted. So there is the basic snag list. Nothing impossible or too expensive to fix. I am going to try some spring assisters in the rear springs as it is sitting really low. These are cheap, so if this does not work then it is no big loss and I will go for new heavy duty springs. So I have not achieved anything in particular in the last couple of days, but a number of actions in place so I can progress as the parts arrive.