Snow joke

The winter weather arrived today and all the drivers decide to show how crap they are. It's 17:10 and all the frozen roads are blocked by ineptly-driven cars. I'm going out myself now, and I may be some time.

Cool kids

Taking the kids to school the heater wasn't working and there was steam coming out of the grille. Inspection at home revealed a split hose between the water pump and header tank - one of the few not renewed last year. I had a spare.

All the pots

Started on six this morning. Lovely. Today's CD: Pulp, Different Class.

Washing off the salt

Bright sunshine convinced me it was a good day to wash all the salt off the car and restore the shine. The emergence of the hose and bucket had its usual effect on the sun and I finished wiping the brightwork with a GT85-soaked cloth just as the rain started.

Secured the door handle and dried all the HT leads and gave them a blast with WD-40.

I'm away, not the cat

I'm away in Switzerland so the father-in-law is in charge of the Jaguar. He tells me it started on only five cylinders again this morning but cleared when it warmed up.

Blue haze

Can you overfill the dashpots on SU carbs? It's such a satisfying job, squirting oil into those big alloy receptacles, even though I'm never quite sure what it does. Anyway, filled 'em to the brim on Sunday and every time I started the engine, there was a slight blue smoke haze from the exhausts. It quickly cleared and now it's gone altogether.

Great day out at Lance McCormack's Romance of Rust workshop in Ealing and then on to the Ace Cafe.

32.7litres of fuel filled it up after 102 miles. That's 14mpg round town/six mile commute. Gulp!

Cool music

Today's CD: The Jam, Beat Surrender.

32 today!

Happy 32nd birthday LAB 320K. After spending £12.99 on a new, more powerful washer pump, I discovered it was probably everything but the pump that was at fault. The non-return valve in the tank was sticking, the pipes were badly-routed and the joints were leaking. But I'd put the new pump in by the time I discovered all this. The resulting blast of screenwash is astonishing.

Also astonishing was the fact that I needed to add 1.5litres of Miller's Classic 20/50 semi-synthetic oil to bring it up to the mark and the coolant was low by about a litre. Time for a consumption check – everything topped-up nice at 196,111 miles.

Went for a run and just got to thinking how well it was all going when the door handle came off in my hand.

Fuel consumption test

156-mile round trip to the Autosport Show at the NEC. Good show. Put 42litres of Optimax in at Thrapston on way out and used left tank for a fuel check: 19.7litres in at Thrapston on return 109 miles later = 25mpg, assuming odometer is accurate. Juddering at 70mph, wheel balance? Screen washer packed up; tried to suck out blockage. Halfords Apple fragrance tastes dreadful.

Early start

Reluctant start at 06:50 (me and the car) but at least it was on six cylinders straight away. Sat until the temp gauge moved and the exhausts had created their own weather system. Battery gauge showing -ve charge, needs a good run. Today's CD: Ten Summoner's Tales by Sting.

The Fens

Drove the family out to Whaplode Drove. Blimey, it's like Nebraska out there; straight roads and big skies. Fellow journalist Gary Inman, out for a ride on his motorbike, spotted the Jaguar from miles away and gave us a wave. Collected wife's little Rover from servicing at WH Brand and enquired about trade-in price. Maybe not yet. Jaguar behaved perfectly. 28 miles. Total recorded mileage: 195,879.

New Year niggles list:

Leaking offside rear quarterlight; headlight switch worn-out; occasional dragging clutch (improved after adjustment and replaced return spring); rust bubbles on nearside front wing; vacuum leak in heating system at air vent; cooling fan fluid coupling worn out; pulls to left under heavy braking; wheel balance vibration at 70mph.


Most recent 2003 fixes: massive adjustment of tracking to correct 'dead' steering and prepare for new Dunlop SP Sports; Dunlops fitted (£147 each) with immediate improvement in ride quality - firmer; starting only on five cylinders remedied by six new NGK BP5ES (v-notched electrode) spark plugs (£2.05 each).


You can click here for a brief summary of my ownership of the car, some previous history and a more detailed specification.