Bentley Turbo R - My Passion
Discussion
WG it is such a shame that we live nigh on 300 miles away from each other or I would gladly swing by with Hatty often.
I always disconnect the battery via the switch when I park Hatty up in the garage. I need to rethink this as it looks like I am missing out on the occasion.
Brian came round today to tick some more boxes off.
When you open the boot for the first time in a while there is a faint whiff of something but there is no sign of a fuel leak anywhere at present. We will just keep a watchful eye on this.
As I said in a previous post. One of the additional radiator cooling fans had packed up so Brian brought two replacements over today and fitted them along with a new temperature sender unit. Not that we were sure that the old one had failed, but just as a precaution anyway.
We also replaced the batteries in the seat ecu's. Probably just in time as the drivers side one had just started to leak acid onto the board. Had to pop down to my local accesory shop to buy a soldering iron. Brian had forgot that we were changing the batteries.
So for the moment Hatty is in fine fettle. All issues be it mechanical or electrical have been dealt with apart from the corrosion on the bodywork. We are almost into September and with bad weather looming ahead the bodywork can wait until next year.
Brian has said this to me before. It is always a pleasure working on your cars as you always attend to every issue however minor. It will be in remarkable condition when it goes to it next owner. I have told him before that Hatty will stay with me for as long as I am still on this planet. She is not going anywhere.
I always disconnect the battery via the switch when I park Hatty up in the garage. I need to rethink this as it looks like I am missing out on the occasion.
Brian came round today to tick some more boxes off.
When you open the boot for the first time in a while there is a faint whiff of something but there is no sign of a fuel leak anywhere at present. We will just keep a watchful eye on this.
As I said in a previous post. One of the additional radiator cooling fans had packed up so Brian brought two replacements over today and fitted them along with a new temperature sender unit. Not that we were sure that the old one had failed, but just as a precaution anyway.
We also replaced the batteries in the seat ecu's. Probably just in time as the drivers side one had just started to leak acid onto the board. Had to pop down to my local accesory shop to buy a soldering iron. Brian had forgot that we were changing the batteries.
So for the moment Hatty is in fine fettle. All issues be it mechanical or electrical have been dealt with apart from the corrosion on the bodywork. We are almost into September and with bad weather looming ahead the bodywork can wait until next year.
Brian has said this to me before. It is always a pleasure working on your cars as you always attend to every issue however minor. It will be in remarkable condition when it goes to it next owner. I have told him before that Hatty will stay with me for as long as I am still on this planet. She is not going anywhere.
Byteme said:
graemel said:
I always disconnect the battery via the switch when I park Hatty up in the garage.
I would try and avoid that if possible. If you have power in the garage you'll be far better off with a charger intended to be permanently connected to maintain a full chargeRobinSherwood said:
Some cars came with a trickle charger and if so there is a round 3 pin socket on the right hand side of the boot, my Silver Spur II has one. It didn't come with the charger, it must have been lost along the way but it didn't take long to find a genuine replacement on eBay.
It would have been extremely unsusual for your car to have had this fitted prior to registration. Battery discharge was a problem Crewe never got to grips with, they did however offer after-market solutions such as your trickle charger and an additional battery kit.graemel said:
Which model would you guys recommend. CTek ?
I've previously used Delran's "Battery Tender Plus" however I'm not sure they're worth the money. I used to look after a large collection of exotica and maintaining batteries was a nightmare. Out of fifty Battery Tenders I bought I can only think of one failure over nearly ten years and that was probably because it had been dropped. I quickly stopped using them on cars because battery accessibility was often an issue and the garages looked a mess with wires/chargers everywhere and sometimes a car was needed instantly. In the end I just used the Battery Tenders on the motor cycles that were never used at short notice and implemented a regular charging regime for the cars.
I'm sure there are better products but whatever you use be sure to leave it outside the car, extending the leads as necessary. I would add an a fused external socket perhaps behind the spare wheel flap.
The CTek is pretty good, you can wire in the connector neatly under the wooden battery cover on a semi permanent basis and then just leave the connector poking out at the edge of the boot carpet on the far right, really easy to just plug it in then and the boot will shut on the cable.
No substitute for regular use though, once a week or three, these cars do not like to sit unused. That way the battery stays healthy and the car isn't sitting on its arse like an old Citroen and taking ages for the hydraulics light to go off too as it lifts its derrière (as per the other posts recently). Although the light goes out fairly rapidly on mine, even if stood for a while.
Good to hear that Waffa is OK and that Hatty has obviously gone to a really good home.
No substitute for regular use though, once a week or three, these cars do not like to sit unused. That way the battery stays healthy and the car isn't sitting on its arse like an old Citroen and taking ages for the hydraulics light to go off too as it lifts its derrière (as per the other posts recently). Although the light goes out fairly rapidly on mine, even if stood for a while.
Good to hear that Waffa is OK and that Hatty has obviously gone to a really good home.
Edited by Balmoral on Monday 1st September 18:48
Balmoral said:
That way the battery stays healthy and the car isn't sitting on its arse like an old Citroen and taking ages for the hydraulics light to go off too as it lifts its derrière (as per the other posts recently). Although the light goes out fairly rapidly on mine, even if stood for a while.
The older Shadow series sat on their springs so would only sink under the influence of added weight at which point the height control would activate. SZ cars were supported by both the rear coil springs and the pressurised gas spring/strut assembly. Unlike the Citroen a minimum pressure valve was added to hold pressure and stop the car from sinking quickly.Edited by Balmoral on Monday 1st September 18:48
SZ cars do drop to the point that only the coils springs are effective at the rear but any huge drop over a week of non use indicates a problem.
Edited by Byteme on Monday 1st September 23:51
Many thanks for the tips guys. I've ordered a CTek MXS 5.0 test and charge. That should do the job. Good point on extending the cables for the unit to sit outside of the boot area. Excuse my ignorance but do I need to buy a special grade of electrical cable to do this.
Warren you are absolutely right on using these cars regularly. I try and use Hatty at least once every weekend. Next weekend I am taking a neighbours bride to the registry office and then onto the reception. I must refrain from spooling the turbo up. I took the bridegroom out for a spin last weekend. He's driven some fairly quick cars and was a little bit wide eyed and open mouthed with the performance. Transient boost kit. I owe you a good few beers for that one mate
Even when Hatty has stood for a bit over winter I've never seen the suspension warning light. The back end has only slightly dropped and retains her composure very quickly so that is a good sign.
Warren you are absolutely right on using these cars regularly. I try and use Hatty at least once every weekend. Next weekend I am taking a neighbours bride to the registry office and then onto the reception. I must refrain from spooling the turbo up. I took the bridegroom out for a spin last weekend. He's driven some fairly quick cars and was a little bit wide eyed and open mouthed with the performance. Transient boost kit. I owe you a good few beers for that one mate
Even when Hatty has stood for a bit over winter I've never seen the suspension warning light. The back end has only slightly dropped and retains her composure very quickly so that is a good sign.
Edited by graemel on Monday 1st September 23:50
The best cable would probably be very fine multi-standed with silicone insulation, expensive and only necessary if constantly moved. Apart from that any PVC cable that matches the charger gauage will be OK.
All of these chargers generate heat, hence my suggestion keeping them outside of the car.
All of these chargers generate heat, hence my suggestion keeping them outside of the car.
Edited by Byteme on Tuesday 2nd September 00:13
Byteme said:
The fans are normally quiet considering the huge volume of air they pass, it may be worth making sure nothing is fouling the rubber mounted motors or their external housings. SZ cars have no pollen filters so the fan drum can accumulate crud that can throw the fan out of balance.
Thanks for the advice Byteme, she's going into the garage Thursday so I will have them investigategraemel said:
Many thanks GMan.
CTek installed and all working fine
Maintaining a charge is a far better option than repeatedly "shocking" the fragile ECUs when all cars of this period suffered failures due to spikes.CTek installed and all working fine
I would once again suggest that (perhaps) 37p worth of the cheapest Chinese components, labour and postal charges may be best kept well outside Hattie.
Byteme said:
Maintaining a charge is a far better option than repeatedly "shocking" the fragile ECUs when all cars of this period suffered failures due to spikes.
I would once again suggest that (perhaps) 37p worth of the cheapest Chinese components, labour and postal charges may be best kept well outside Hattie.
Much appreciated. Thankfully the power lead is more than long enough to rest the unit on the garage floor without having to extend the cable to do so.I would once again suggest that (perhaps) 37p worth of the cheapest Chinese components, labour and postal charges may be best kept well outside Hattie.
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