My car doesn't like the wet!
Discussion
My car lives outside, under a cover most of the time so has suffered a fair bit from the wet weather over the last week or so. I got in it on Friday, after it had been standing all week, and the car was soaking wet outside (under the cover), and it was damp inside too - there was even heavy condensation running down the inside of the windscreen, and everything felt slightly damp to touch in the cabin.
I started her up, and the LCD display was showing me a load of rubbish - it was just random dots which flickered. I figured it was probably due to the damp, so switched on the aircon and turned the heating on full, and drove over to my girlfriend's place, which was about 30 minutes away. During the drive, the dash continued to display rubbish, however the cabin appeared to be drying out. When I arrived, I switched the ignition off and back on again, and the dash started working again perfectly. Phew.
Then today, I got back after a nice drive with trackdemon and tamago, and when I got back and openend the driver's door, the window opened half way as normal, paused, then opened another 2 inches! When I locked the car, the window closed part of the way, but left 2 inches open. Opening the passenger door and closing the driver's window with the dial worked, and once I'd done that it worked perfectly again!
Strange!
I started her up, and the LCD display was showing me a load of rubbish - it was just random dots which flickered. I figured it was probably due to the damp, so switched on the aircon and turned the heating on full, and drove over to my girlfriend's place, which was about 30 minutes away. During the drive, the dash continued to display rubbish, however the cabin appeared to be drying out. When I arrived, I switched the ignition off and back on again, and the dash started working again perfectly. Phew.
Then today, I got back after a nice drive with trackdemon and tamago, and when I got back and openend the driver's door, the window opened half way as normal, paused, then opened another 2 inches! When I locked the car, the window closed part of the way, but left 2 inches open. Opening the passenger door and closing the driver's window with the dial worked, and once I'd done that it worked perfectly again!
Strange!
Hey Ed....
As you know I had the window problem when we all went away to Santa Pod and BTaP....Castle had to remap the programme or something (all techy to me...but as an IT guy you'll understand
) and it was all fine from the 6k service.
Mine is so much smoother and running faster now
don't know if you remember that I had a rattling sound and I thought it was the engine but turns out it was the timing belt which was loose so its now running so much better.
I thought you'd bought a all weather cover...so odd the damp got into the car
Alan.
As you know I had the window problem when we all went away to Santa Pod and BTaP....Castle had to remap the programme or something (all techy to me...but as an IT guy you'll understand
) and it was all fine from the 6k service. Mine is so much smoother and running faster now
don't know if you remember that I had a rattling sound and I thought it was the engine but turns out it was the timing belt which was loose so its now running so much better. I thought you'd bought a all weather cover...so odd the damp got into the car
Alan.
Alf Essex said:
I thought you'd bought a all weather cover...so odd the damp got into the car
Yep, although I guess the problem was made worse as the car had been left outside without the cover on over most of last weekend, and with the heavy rain we had, the car had leaked a bit of water into the cockpit. The body had pretty much dried out when I put the cover back on Sunday evening, but with that much rain I guess there is a limit to how much a cover can cope with!
Glad to hear that yours is all sorted after the service - bit worrying that the timing belt was loose though!
Lucky they spotted it when they did!Alf Essex said:
Yeah don't know much about timing belts...something to do with the timing of top and bottom parts of the engine?....might be why it now feels much smoother!
Alan.
In most engines it stops valves from touching pistons, so it's bad news if it breaks or gets loose!
>> Edited by ehasler on Sunday 30th November 19:56
Alan,
Its interesting what you are saying about your timing belt being loose (well, interesting to some one who designs engines for a living, in particular timing components - thats me then!). In actual fact, its the timing chain, inside the engine front cover. I've seen the layout, and have spotted some major (ok, minor perhaps) design flaws. There are no less than 4 chains in there doing their bit, but the intermediate chain (controls the engine timing chain) doesn't seem to be tensioned very well, hence when the chain elongates (with normal wear), this will become loose and make a noise - can sound quite bad sometimes, like a gremlin trying to knock his way out. If this chain does stretch/ wear, you can loose upto 3 or 4degrees on your engine timing which will impact performance slightly.
Well, that was just incase you were wondering anyway....!
Matt
(Jaguar Engine Design Engineer)
Its interesting what you are saying about your timing belt being loose (well, interesting to some one who designs engines for a living, in particular timing components - thats me then!). In actual fact, its the timing chain, inside the engine front cover. I've seen the layout, and have spotted some major (ok, minor perhaps) design flaws. There are no less than 4 chains in there doing their bit, but the intermediate chain (controls the engine timing chain) doesn't seem to be tensioned very well, hence when the chain elongates (with normal wear), this will become loose and make a noise - can sound quite bad sometimes, like a gremlin trying to knock his way out. If this chain does stretch/ wear, you can loose upto 3 or 4degrees on your engine timing which will impact performance slightly.
Well, that was just incase you were wondering anyway....!
Matt
(Jaguar Engine Design Engineer)
ehasler said:
My car lives outside, under a cover most of the time so has suffered a fair bit from the wet weather over the last week or so. I got in it on Friday, after it had been standing all week, and the car was soaking wet outside (under the cover), and it was damp inside too - there was even heavy condensation running down the inside of the windscreen, and everything felt slightly damp to touch in the cabin.
I started her up, and the LCD display was showing me a load of rubbish - it was just random dots which flickered. I figured it was probably due to the damp, so switched on the aircon and turned the heating on full, and drove over to my girlfriend's place, which was about 30 minutes away. During the drive, the dash continued to display rubbish, however the cabin appeared to be drying out. When I arrived, I switched the ignition off and back on again, and the dash started working again perfectly. Phew.
Then today, I got back after a nice drive with trackdemon and tamago, and when I got back and openend the driver's door, the window opened half way as normal, paused, then opened another 2 inches! When I locked the car, the window closed part of the way, but left 2 inches open. Opening the passenger door and closing the driver's window with the dial worked, and once I'd done that it worked perfectly again!
Strange!
I had the same problem with damp in the Chim, have started using the moisture absorber crystals (marketed for use in caravans) from Halfords, cost about £3 or £4 I think and last a good while. Had a slight leak from the roof once in torrential rain, spent ages with cloths, etc trying to dry the carpet up. Put the moisture box in and within 2 days the carpets were bone dry, it also prevents that 'damp smell' too.
MOD500 said:
I had the same problem with damp in the Chim, have started using the moisture absorber crystals (marketed for use in caravans) from Halfords, cost about £3 or £4 I think and last a good while. Had a slight leak from the roof once in torrential rain, spent ages with cloths, etc trying to dry the carpet up. Put the moisture box in and within 2 days the carpets were bone dry, it also prevents that 'damp smell' too.
Good idea - I was thinking of getting one of these, but keep forgetting whenever I pass Halfords!
The recent wet weather caused me a different problem:
Usually mine is driven every day, but I recently left it for 2 weeks during the worst of the wet conditions (outside). Thought I'd better use it, so in I got - lots of moisture on the inside of the windscreen, but other wise no problems. Started my journey to work and noticed I had a full tank of fuel, but honestly couldn't remember filling it up, so checked the trip (which I always zero after a fill-up) it was reading 225 miles. Smelling a (TVR) rat, I pulled over and switched off, switching back on again gave me a fuel level of just 7 litres - good job I didn't trust it, or it would definitely led to a severe
Usually mine is driven every day, but I recently left it for 2 weeks during the worst of the wet conditions (outside). Thought I'd better use it, so in I got - lots of moisture on the inside of the windscreen, but other wise no problems. Started my journey to work and noticed I had a full tank of fuel, but honestly couldn't remember filling it up, so checked the trip (which I always zero after a fill-up) it was reading 225 miles. Smelling a (TVR) rat, I pulled over and switched off, switching back on again gave me a fuel level of just 7 litres - good job I didn't trust it, or it would definitely led to a severe
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