Paul Matthews wrote:
Ed Sirett wrote:

Light bulb moment. The real fault was not a lack of primary flow but
lack of primary water. Also the gauge is F****d and low pressure switch
has failed in the OK state. That's TWO faults simultaneously - that
defies Clarke's dictum which says there is only one fault unless you add
another one whilst fixing the first one.

I find that often there are many faults, and it is only when something actually
stops that people notice there is something wrong.

I then go theough and find and rectify each issue one after the other..,

Absolutely my experience of car mechanics as well. 'The brakes are
pulling a bit' translates to

"I've got a car with worn disks,no pads at all left, and a pair of
corroded brake pipes and a couople of leaking cylinders, and someone's
whacked the kerb which has bent a wheel and buggered up the lower
wishbone and pulled the rack sideways, and the suspension bushes have a
fair amount of slop in them as well."

Later on I bought an old Jaguar XJS..it always felt a bit squirelly in
the corners..and was prone to high oil consumption..But I dutifully got
it MOTed after a year,. and serviced, and nothing was said..the next MOT
came and I took it somewhere else..'You have a totally wrecked kingpin:
This car has been in a major smash I reckon'.

Not with me it hadn't. But I went over, and sure enough the suspension
adjustment to get the wheel straight was totally all up one end, and the
kingpin was ****ed. "Ive had it two years and it passed an MOT
like that" I dont think they believed me.

A year later it blew a radiator hose in a big way, and I managed to
limp it back filling with water every garage to another guy who had done
a good job on an oil leak.

"well your radiator is blocked. Looks like its been filled with some
sealant gunk. We always flush radiators when we do cooling problems.
Yours is shagged, sir" We recored it, and the oil consumption dropped ny
70%.

The car, I decided, *had* been in a major smash, and had just been
repaired enough to sell. It WAS cheap.

Sadly it eventually rusted. The cost of the repairs I had done was less
than the difference between the asking price and the normal resale
value. Odd ain't it?

On the other hand, it gavew me one of the worst headaches I have ever
had tracing one faulty. A fuse kept blowing. I looked at the circuit
diagram. identified the wires, and removed everything off the far end.
Still a dead short. I checked against the chassis - unhooked the chassis
connections. Still a dead short No earthing on either wire...I
dismantled half the car and still could not find the problem. I looked
at te curcuit diagfram ahgain. Ther weas a su[rressor diode shown.
Perhaps that was it. I dismatlded evebnmore dashboard and transmission
tunnel. No joy. In deperation I phoned an autoelectyrician 'can yiou
hget it over here?

Well with no power brakes (that was what had blown) and the dashboard
hanging off and the gearbox exposed along with half the propshaft, the
answer was 'I'll try'

He spent 4 hours, replaced the diode (up somewhere behind a bit of
dahsboard I hadn't removed IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WIRING LOOM) and bingo!
Back in action.

Had he ever known that diode to go 'No, never: didn't know it existed,
no idea what it does'

No amount of expoereince would have helped that one, and apart from the
ability to read a circuit diagram and the basic idea that it is JUST
possible for a diode to blow short circuit rather then open circuit,
nothing more than a ruthless dedication to 'eliminating the impossible,
till whatever is left must be the truth' was sufficient.

Nowe rthe inlaws have presented me with a Mira Realm gold plated shower
mixer. 'Plumber says its £500 for a new one: Can it be fixed". Quick
google showed parts are available so 'yes. but don't hold your breath'

If I charged my time it would be £800 probably...still I have more time
than they have money..