Rather unexpected A6 purchase...

MoT yesterday, all passed with two advisories... front brake pipes and lower arm bushes so not too bad.

Given my LED sidelights were strobing at last years MoT I thought it best to change them for this years! I'm a bit fed up with LED's as they never seem to last very long. So I bought these, allegedly the "whitest" halogen bulb there is.



I'm not convinced they're very white.....



They look ok though and in honesty if my sidelights don't match my headlights I can live with that at my age

(I'm not sure the colour of my 4300k HID's are truly represented in this photo...)

It's annoying that I don't get on here anywhere near as much as I used to! That's life, hey ho.

October 2017 since my last update!

Anyway, the car is ticking on ok - 192k now. Went straight through the last MoT and the winter wheels are now on. Will the Yokohama V902's ever wear?!

I had a new alternator in Sept, and my mechanic (who's late father I bought the car from) suggested a new gearbox. It was notching when I shifted into 3rd when I bought it 70k ago and it's not improved and does it into 2nd too sometimes now. £500 on ebay.de gets you a reconditioned box but with clutch, DMF and labour it's probably the best part of a £1500 bill. And apart from a smoother gear change what do I gain? And knowing my luck I'd spend that and it would self destruct the following week. So I decided not to.

Apart from that new wipers all round (why do I wait so long to change the blades? 50% off at ECP) and new front pads that's been about it.

The microswitch is playing up in the drivers door latch again so sometimes the car doesn't know when the door is open. Annoying that the interior light doesn't come on, even more annoying when it self locks with the keys in!

I'm hoping the £25 ebay special latch's will come with the switch and I can do an easy swap.

dandam said:

Do you still have the blinds fitted ? Do you find they are ok ?
I was going to get the rear windows tinted on my c5 but seen a few favourable reports on these, so was considering getting a set.
Every little helps, especially straight after Christmas

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Yes I still have them, they're holding up well and don't rattle or anything. I'd recommend them.

Samuel c5 Q said:

I changed the gearbox oil which took the notchyness into second gear out if it. What about bushes or linkages getting worn?

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It's had new oil and also the linkage adjusting but it didn't help unfortunately.

Summer wheels on today, and a decent wash has cheered me up a bit.

Had to dry out the offside headlight again, I don't really know how the water gets in... maybe through the grommet for the HID's.I might look into sourcing another headlight. They need a buff up as they're starting to fade again too.

200k is approaching!

A damp rear footwell carpet is my main current concern - see HERE - any help gratefully received!

quattrojames said:

Summer wheels on today, and a decent wash has cheered me up a bit.

Had to dry out the offside headlight again, I don't really know how the water gets in... maybe through the grommet for the HID's.I might look into sourcing another headlight. They need a buff up as they're starting to fade again too.

200k is approaching!

A damp rear footwell carpet is my main current concern - see HERE - any help gratefully received!

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Same wheel swap and wash day one year later. Little has changed!

I have a new pair of headlights, wiper mechanism and door blades and a few other bits purchased. I will collect post-lockdown etc.

I sorted the wet carpet. The pollen filter housing was cracked. I'd like to get another one but they're £50 on ebay plus probably £50 for the scuttle panel trim so I haven't bothered. A generous dose of silicon seems to have sorted the pollen filter housing. The bolts had rusted off anyway so probably little point in replacing it as it will need gluing in again anyway.

202k and counting! Getting good MPG these days

God it's been ages....

216k and still going strong, I'm sure loads has been done since my last update, but the most recent has been complete new timing gear and swapped out a couple of aux/AC pulleys which were squeaking. Get 42 MPG reliably for my local motoring, 45 on a run.

My winter tyres, (Yoko V905's) are under 2.5/3mm now so have gone. They've been weeping air the last couple of years so after the tyres came off I rubbed down and repainted the inner rim where the bead sits which I hope will help. They're currently drying in the kitchen

I planned to give the 16" wheels a refurb over the summer but time got the better of me there unfortunately.

I used BlackCircles for only the second time in my life and have a fitting appointment at ATS on Saturday morning for 4 new V906's. I've also got a vibration issue I'm struggling to solve so I'm going to take the spacers off (8mm front 15mm rear) too and just run the 16's as it left the factory. I hope it doesn't look too bad! One of my 18's is buckled so I need to get the tyre off and get that sorted over the winter and then maybe get the rest balanced and refitted in the spring.

I'm still tempted to do a mini-refurb on the body work, my front wings look rubbish so I might get a pair of pre-painted ones from Lothian Auto Parts (£264) and give it a decent machine polish to tidy it up. Then I need to think whether I refurb either the 16" wheels or the 18" wheels or do I just bimble on cost effectively! I've had a replacement pair of headlights in the garage for the last two years!

Any one into their C5's should watch this video, respect to the guy.

quattrojames said:

I'm sorry about the loss of all my pictures! They've all been binned off Photobucket for some reason, currently unexplained....

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8 years later and I'm still ****** seething about it