Anyway pics are on the way.
Edit: pics here:
Journey up there. I knew it was going to be ominous for the weather when it started snowing on the way up through the Midlands:
I got to Glasgow fine and visited a few of my friends there and then the morning I was due to leave for Perth to visit a friend there, the starter decided to play up, ie:not turn the car over. There was a large clunk which I thought was the starter jammed and trying to turn over, but later I found it was different.
I called the AA who were less than useless. If he'd checked properly then he would have found the real problem, but he couldn't fix it and bump started the car (which I'd already done several times before trying to free the starter).
Anyway, on the lookout for a starter I phoned my friend who said there was a main dealer in Perth where maybe I could order one if need be (time being of the essence I didn't have time to hunt round scrappys). I phoned them up and lo and behold they had one lying on the shelf which had been gathering dust for years. The guy was only too glad to be rid of it.
The list price was over 150 once the dreaded VAT was included (I didn't have my VOC card on me so no discount), but 100 notes and the starter was mine. I left the car running at the dealers and then proceeded to Halfords to buy tools to change the starter (Sod's law the car goes wrong just when you have no tools or equipment to even diagnose never mind fix it)
Just enough to do the job.
Shiny factory reconditioned starter, next best thing to brand new
Manky old starter.
When I fitted the new starter the same thing happened, just a loud clunk. So I then found the real problem when I held the key and saw a puff of smoke from a resistance build up, which was the positive lead from the battery to the starter had become loose from its screw terminal. Because it was the screw connection rather than the main stump connection the lights on the dash didn't dim and the clunk was the solenoid energising and the gear engaging because there was just enough voltage to do that. I tightened that up and it started up beautifully. If only the AA man had bothered his arse and used his multimeter......I confirmed the old starter was fine by connecting it to my booster pack. Incidentally the old starter had to go back to the dealer because it was an exchange part.
Vids of the problem, another thing to add to the 'don't do' list, although I have got an effectively brand new starter so that's one less thing to worry about. (Ignore the rev counter flicking up, that's a symptom of me not using a coaxial cable to connect the ignition output from the Renix to the Megasquirt controller.)
Vid 1:
No start in Glasgow
Vid 2:
No start after fitting new starter in Halfords car park
Vid 3:
After finding the real problem
Incidentally the positive clamp that was screwed onto the positive lead has been replaced with a crimped one so the problems shouldn't happen again.
Anyway, that drama on I continued my journey into Perth and stayed with my friend for a couple of days.
Perth:
The view from my friend's window:
OK visiting friends part over I continued north to Aviemore:
The weather had caused a miscalculation because the freak weather had caused it to be peak season. Here's the view from my B&B's window of the snow that I woke up to. Sorry for the blurring.
I decided to go up the Cairngorm mountain whilst I was there, never mind the blizzard conditions: First I drove through the Glenmore Forest:
And then up the road to the mountain resort.
I went up the new-ish railway that they've built to try and draw the tourists in through the summer when the skiing isn't there, but during the winter its used to ferry the skiers to the top easily. They've called it a funicular railway. I don't know why because it seems to me to be like a cable car on rails:
This is what it was like once I got up there. Perishing and couldn't see a damn thing.
So after a hot chocolate in the cafe and deciding the fog wasn't going to clear for the whole day. I decided to go back down.
This is what the cars looked like after sitting for only a couple of hours
I then continued up to Inverness, but on the way I popped into Grantown-On-Spey. The River Spey:
Then onto Inverness:
I then decided I had to see whether there was a monster in the Loch or indeed if another 'Nessy' could be found
Driving right round the Loch was an experience, down the Eastern side its all single track road with passing places and a lot of blind corners
Then onto Aberdeen where I had planned to stay the night, but there's so much construction work going on at the moment that all the B&B's and even the hotels were fully booked
I had to cut short that and drove onto Dundee.
I did manage to find a place to stay there and had a walk round the Uni which is completely different to Glasgow because it has much more of a Campus feel and all the buildings are pretty much in a huge block rather than spread out.
Anyway. I decided on the way home that I just HAD to go through Edinburgh to find out what the lovely Scottish Executive had squandered all my money on. The new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood. I wonder if the builders have finally fixed everything and moved out;)
