Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 15]

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Etypephil said:

cornershop said:

I think a clean engine bay could be quite easily created spending £20 at hand wash place - just before you sell - doesn’t mean it’s been kept in that condition.

A clean engine bay does not guarantee good maintenance, but a scummy one does guarantee that it has been slipshod.
Nothing about used car buying is certain, but door, bonnet and boot shuts, engine bay etc condition are almost as much an indicator of a car's previous life as decent tyres, everything working, a history folder complete with parts / work invoices in date order, fasteners which aren't missing / butchered, and a clean tidy seller, with a clean tidy home / sales site.

I'm not sure I agree with this. Take my old shed/Corolla....I never cleaned the engine bay, boot shuts etc....yet it was maintained exactly as it should have been. I always kept the E65 looking very tidy, yet still leaked....

[anonymous-user]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I'm not sure I agree with this. Take my old shed/Corolla....I never cleaned the engine bay, boot shuts etc....yet it was maintained exactly as it should have been. I always kept the E65 looking very tidy, yet still leaked....

I concur. My cars are perfectly maintained without a thought to costs, but I don't go spraying liquids around under the bonnet just to make it prettier, and consider under bonnet cleaning both a bit strange and somewhat risky.

In fact I'd probably avoid a car that has regularly had a hosepipe taken to areas full of ECUs, connectors, actuators, and sensors that were never intended to be soaked with water. Corroding connectors are never fun to deal with.

[TurboHatchback]

stickleback123 said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I'm not sure I agree with this. Take my old shed/Corolla....I never cleaned the engine bay, boot shuts etc....yet it was maintained exactly as it should have been. I always kept the E65 looking very tidy, yet still leaked....

I concur. My cars are perfectly maintained without a thought to costs, but I don't go spraying liquids around under the bonnet just to make it prettier, and consider under bonnet cleaning both a bit strange and somewhat risky.

In fact I'd probably avoid a car that has regularly had a hosepipe taken to areas full of ECUs, connectors, actuators, and sensors that were never intended to be soaked with water. Corroding connectors are never fun to deal with.

Likewise, I have never and will never clean an engine bay yet I keep my cars maintained fastidiously. I see 'detailed' engine bays as mostly likely a sign of leaks that the seller is trying to conceal.

[Etypephil]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I'm not sure I agree with this. Take my old shed/Corolla....I never cleaned the engine bay, boot shuts etc....yet it was maintained exactly as it should have been. I always kept the E65 looking very tidy, yet still leaked....

A Corolla is a shed; that's different, and it seems that whatever one does with an E65, it will be troublesome.

stickleback123 said:

I concur. My cars are perfectly maintained without a thought to costs, but I don't go spraying liquids around under the bonnet just to make it prettier, and consider under bonnet cleaning both a bit strange and somewhat risky.

In fact I'd probably avoid a car that has regularly had a hosepipe taken to areas full of ECUs, connectors, actuators, and sensors that were never intended to be soaked with water. Corroding connectors are never fun to deal with.

Nothing needs to be sprayed or hosed, and it's not about making things pretty, a rag wiped over periodically is all it takes when carrying out underbonnet checks, the action of doing so forces one to scrutinise hoses, clips, connectors etc, helping to identify faults before things fail, in the same way that washing the bodywork highlights every imperfection.

Edit

TurboHatchback said:

Likewise, I have never and will never clean an engine bay yet I keep my cars maintained fastidiously. I see 'detailed' engine bays as mostly likely a sign of leaks that the seller is trying to conceal.

Detailing is not the same as just keeping it clean and pleasant to work on.

Edited by Etypephil on Tuesday 19th November 13:21

[Speed addicted]

stickleback123 said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I'm not sure I agree with this. Take my old shed/Corolla....I never cleaned the engine bay, boot shuts etc....yet it was maintained exactly as it should have been. I always kept the E65 looking very tidy, yet still leaked....

I concur. My cars are perfectly maintained without a thought to costs, but I don't go spraying liquids around under the bonnet just to make it prettier, and consider under bonnet cleaning both a bit strange and somewhat risky.

In fact I'd probably avoid a car that has regularly had a hosepipe taken to areas full of ECUs, connectors, actuators, and sensors that were never intended to be soaked with water. Corroding connectors are never fun to deal with.

I tend to keep under the bonnet clean. When I got the current car I snowfoamed under there as it was a bit manky, then agitated with a brush before using a low pressure wash to rinse. After that it got a spraying with Scottoiler 365 to give it a layer of protection.

I also made sure the scuttle drains were cleared of leaves and crap.

Everything under the bonnet is sealed against water ingress because you get spray kicked up when driving in the rain. Also removing the layers of grime should slow corrosion as there’s less trapped moisture., in the same way as washing the rest of the car.

I may however have low level ocd so things like that annoy me.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

I probably won't be cleaning the engine bay on the Lexus, yet I will maintain it

[TurboHatchback]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I probably won't be cleaning the engine bay on the Lexus, yet I will maintain it

To be fair it's just a big plastic cover on those so would take literally 5 seconds to wipe with a sponge. I still wouldn't bother either.

[Prinny]

TurboHatchback said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I probably won't be cleaning the engine bay on the Lexus, yet I will maintain it

To be fair it's just a big plastic cover on those so would take literally 5 seconds to wipe with a sponge. I still wouldn't bother either.

Catching up, congrats T-Ross. After the slow start, the history & the ‘man’ confirming spends makes it sound like you’ve got a good-un.

As far as cleaning under-bonnet, if yours looks like the 600 then you’ve no excuse.



Personally, I try to keep things semi-reasonable, but then, when you have an engine under there, and not some plastic shroud, there’s more of a reason to do it... Admittedly, still can’t see much.





In other news, SL2 is landed, customs paperwork all stamped & posted, just now awaiting the call to collect. Watch this space.

[Krikkit]

The S85 and N73 are great-looking engines. Particularly the former with its mad setup.

I also have the same socket set as you, inherited from who-knows-where, did they come free with £20 of Shell in 1995 did they?

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Mine does indeed look like the Lexus photo above. I used to keep the engine bay clean on the E38 and E65, maybe I'll dabble with it on the Lexus

It doesn't have a proper engine....it's missing 4 cylinders for that, but it's more than a 4 cylinder, at least, which is only 1/3 of a proper engine

I must say I am enjoying the Lexus. It is just a nice place to be. The only thing I need to look at is seeing if I can adjust the instrument cluster brightness between night and day. At the moment, both are the same (bright) so it's harder to tell if your lights are on (well, save the green tell-tale lamp on the dash I guess!). I know how to adjust it, but I'm not sure if it can be changed so there is 1 level for day time and another for night time. I would assume it can be done, just haven't bothered looking into it yet!

[ajguk]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I must say I am enjoying the Lexus. It is just a nice place to be.

Just realised you are also E65Ross! I wanted to ask if you don't mind, how are you finding the mpg on the 460 - and is the tank 80+ litres? I'm trying to justify one to myself.....

[Speed addicted]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Mine does indeed look like the Lexus photo above. I used to keep the engine bay clean on the E38 and E65, maybe I'll dabble with it on the Lexus

It doesn't have a proper engine....it's missing 4 cylinders for that, but it's more than a 4 cylinder, at least, which is only 1/3 of a proper engine

I must say I am enjoying the Lexus. It is just a nice place to be. The only thing I need to look at is seeing if I can adjust the instrument cluster brightness between night and day. At the moment, both are the same (bright) so it's harder to tell if your lights are on (well, save the green tell-tale lamp on the dash I guess!). I know how to adjust it, but I'm not sure if it can be changed so there is 1 level for day time and another for night time. I would assume it can be done, just haven't bothered looking into it yet!

Is the nav screen also the same brightness or does it change with the lights?
I’ve ended up switching the one in the bmw off on dark roads because I find it distracting,

[cornershop]

The 400 has an auto-dimmable dash lighting option in the settings (sensor near the windscreen), so would expect the 460 to.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

ajguk said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I must say I am enjoying the Lexus. It is just a nice place to be.

Just realised you are also E65Ross! I wanted to ask if you don't mind, how are you finding the mpg on the 460 - and is the tank 80+ litres? I'm trying to justify one to myself.....

The tank is 84 litres. I haven't really looked into the mpg too much but I expect mid 20s on a run at outside lane motorway speeds and mid teens on cold starts around town. As said earlier in the thread, if ever you find yourself near Portsmouth and fancy seeing what one is like then drop me a line.

Speed addicted said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Mine does indeed look like the Lexus photo above. I used to keep the engine bay clean on the E38 and E65, maybe I'll dabble with it on the Lexus

It doesn't have a proper engine....it's missing 4 cylinders for that, but it's more than a 4 cylinder, at least, which is only 1/3 of a proper engine

I must say I am enjoying the Lexus. It is just a nice place to be. The only thing I need to look at is seeing if I can adjust the instrument cluster brightness between night and day. At the moment, both are the same (bright) so it's harder to tell if your lights are on (well, save the green tell-tale lamp on the dash I guess!). I know how to adjust it, but I'm not sure if it can be changed so there is 1 level for day time and another for night time. I would assume it can be done, just haven't bothered looking into it yet!

Is the nav screen also the same brightness or does it change with the lights?
I’ve ended up switching the one in the bmw off on dark roads because I find it distracting,

I think the brightness is the same, but it can easily be dimmed.

Someone at work earlier asked if it was a Mercedes....I was so tempted to put an Alan Partridge voice on and say "no, it's a Lexus, which is the Japanese Mercedes" but I thought better of it.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

cornershop said:

The 400 has an auto-dimmable dash lighting option in the settings (sensor near the windscreen), so would expect the 460 to.

I haven't really had the chance to look. I'll have a read of the manual when I get the chance.

[Speed addicted]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

I think the brightness is the same, but it can easily be dimmed.

Someone at work earlier asked if it was a Mercedes....I was so tempted to put an Alan Partridge voice on and say "no, it's a Lexus, which is the Japanese Mercedes" but I thought better of it.

That’s one of the moments where they either get the joke and have a laugh with you or there’s a really uncomfortable silence and they tell everyone else that you’re a nutter.

Best to stay quiet!

[Slow]

Can’t say I have ever cleaned under the bonnet. I don’t see the point? Unless you sit at car shows with it open it is pointless imo.

[RicksAlfas]

Slow said:

Can’t say I have ever cleaned under the bonnet. I don’t see the point? Unless you sit at car shows with it open it is pointless imo.

But it's only a two minute job to have a quick wipe around the scuttle and slam panel and pull any leaves out of the drains, so why not? We're not talking a two day "detail".

[W00DY]

I'm not usually one for cleaning engine bays (although if something comes off it goes back on clean, but I had the battery tray out of the Probe because I managed to lose a wireless earphone beneath it and there was a strange amount of mud beneath it, damp and sitting by the inner wheel arch so I was glad to clean it out before it started making holes.

[anonymous-user]

All this Lexus talk has made a most refreshing change from dreary slow old 4 banger Mercs with flat paint and scratchy seats, I must say

I would like to get a good look at an LS460 at a barge meet; if I was in a position to squander more money I'd have bmthnick's. My kids would wet themselves with excitement at those buttons in the rear.