The Voices

Day off tomorrow so going to have another go at the hose ! Getting the 'bottom' clamp on is the problem but I have a few ideas to try, so fingers crossed !

I will feel more confident with the Michelins fitted, mainly because Sue will be the main day to day driver. Tyres are due to arrive by 12th September, hopefully by then I will have a car that I can drive !

Steve, I would look at the overall condition and evidence of servicing and repairs rather than low mileage. For example, you might find the lowest mileage, most expensive 2002 STR but most of the components would still be 14 years old. In the case of things like rubber hoses, I can't say with any certainty that it is mileage, age or the number of 'heat cycles' that the hose has been through that cause the failure ? My personal theory is that, generally, the manufacturer irons out more of the problems as the model life of a car continues, so buy the newest that I can for the budget. My 'budget' high mileage STR stands me at less than half the price of the similar age cars on Autotrader. Some of those cars are still on 80k+ miles, which might be low mileage on a 2006 registered vehicle but for me does not justify the extra expense. Who knows, I might have spent the extra and still had some teething troubles and the associated expense ?

No problem Russ, worse case would have been to order a set of each type and return the ones that didn't fit.

Just wanted to conclude this thread. I finally gave in to paranoia and purchased a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport 4's based on the excellent reviews. £158 each online with free UK delivery, will get them fitted at work.

Hi Steve, The DSC is a reasonable safety net, but in the words of Star Treks' Scotty, 'you cannae change the laws of physics !' The 'valley pipe' is a coolant pipe located in the 'v' of the engine, under the supercharger. They are prone to failure at 100k miles or so, the pipe itself is reasonably cheap but the labour involved, including removal and refitting the supercharger, is quite expensive. Dealer prices can easily be upwards of £1,000 to replace the pipe.

Gave in and ordered a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport 4's. Bought them online from 'Tyres Outlet', £158.36 per tyre with free UK delivery. http://www.tyres-outlet.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl The weird thing is that they appear to be part of 'mytyres' but prices are lower (about £10 per tyre in this case !)

Thanks for the info regarding the Nexens, I am not usually a brand snob but just paranoid about getting the best wet weather grip on the back of the car. My 3rd 325i came to a very sticky end out of a damp roundabout (exited backwards at about 50mph) and been driving AWD Imprezas since 2002 so going back to a 'quick' RWD car is a bit nerve wracking !

Hi Steve, flat bed collection is my last resort. The other option is to kidnap Andy and make him fix it by the roadside ! I will need to tow his 'Snap On' toolbox behind the car however !

47, but still don't know what I want to be when I grow up !

Hi Russ, glad all going well. At the moment a 2CV is faster than my STR ! I had to drive the Impreza on Wednesday so that Sue could use my XE. It was a lot of fun for a while but not for any great distance, very uncomfortable and rattles a lot ! Mind you, the roads were damp and all four wheels getting 'squirrelly' under power is awesome.

It is the kind of car where one major failure can write it off but I knew that when I bought it. My next day off is Wednesday so will probably leave it until then to mess about with the annoying hose. I just want to get it driveable so that I can get it to my mechanic, he can replace the other hoses and thermostat and bleed the system.

I used to work on old Fords, you could practically climb into the engine bay and walk around it ! The problem is that the hose is not very flexible and getting any type of clamp into place is proving to be difficult. If I try to re-use the 'spring' type clamp, access is very poor to hold the clip open to slide it down the hose. Next idea was to use a 'jubilee' type hose clip but then I can't seem to get access to the nut to tighten it up. Not really in the mood to mess with it after work, I leave at 7.30am and get back around 7.30pm, so by the time I have eaten and got changed it is not worth bothering.

Happy motoring !

New hoses have arrived, I am severely stressed out attempting to fit the short hose from the thermostat housing. There is just no room to work and the hose is so short that it is very difficult to bend it into place. Given up to it for today to avoid taking the sledge hammer to the car. I would like to get hold of the guy that decided on this design and cut his fingers off with a set of bolt cutters !

Whatever Mitsubishi say, this chicken is rubbery ! Another refugee from the old jokes home !

The Mitsubishi Typhoid ! Has a certain ring to it ? I personally think that the Colt Starion was meant to be 'Stallion' but problems with pronunciation perhaps ?

Or typhoid !

New hoses should arrive tomorrow, I will need to fit at least the split one myself to get the car mobile.

Glad you got something sorted !

Steve, here is what I do to bring Sue around to my way of thinking. I utilise a subtle blend of psychology and extreme stupidity. When I wanted to buy the first Impreza, I spent weeks talking about buying a Nissan Skyline R33 GTR until she was fed up of hearing about them. The Impreza then seemed like a 'sensible' alternative. Just start looking at something like a cheap Maserati or other similar monumental money pit (pretty much anything Italian) If you manage to make a convincing job of the deception, the S-Type R will look like a rational purchase ! Or If you like a bit of danger and excitement in a relationship, casually walk in one afternoon and whilst discussing your day at work, drop in 'oh, by the way, I bought another car today' Better than the New Years Eve fireworks ! Or so the crash team told me when I came round in A and E.

Thanks Steve ! If you want a proper read, check out my 'epic' thread on Scoobynet, entitled 'Help, killed the scoob' It tells the story of one mans heroic struggle against an evil, tyranical Japanese overlord, powered by two lawnmower engines bolted together ! Or alternatively, me managing to get myself into all sorts of bother building Subaru engines ?

We refer to that as 'Jaguar precision adjustment tool number 3' Often seen being used on 'reluctant' brake discs to aid removal. I have a 14lb sledge in the garage if the thing puts up a struggle !

It is a battle of wills, what did I expect on a 156k, 10 year old, 400bhp V8 ! Absolute pain in the a**e to work on as everything is in the way. Very frustrating, as I am usually pretty good at being a 'roadside mechanic' (or should the more grand title be a 'thoroughfare technician' ?) The bank holiday hasn't helped either.......................................................................... Very lucky that we have a 'spare' car to use so no real pressure to sort this out in a rush.

I tried to remove the hose to 'pop' it back into shape but it was an absolute b***ard of a job to get to the clips. The new tool I purchased for removing spring type hose clips is great when you have a lot of room around the clip but no use in tight spaces. I battled for ages to get it back on and refilled the coolant, changed the expansion tank cap for a spare one I had (as an experiment to see if any difference) Managed to get my new OBD2 gadget working with the 'Torque' app on my tablet so that I could monitor coolant temperature. Took the car for a run once the temperature gauge was up the half way mark, figures ranged between 94 and 98 degrees on a mixture of motorway and 30mph stuff. Got back and had a look at the hoses and they seemed to be 'normal' rather than compressed once the engine was turned off. At this point I was think 'result, faulty pressure cap'................................................. Until I spotted the coolant leak under the car ! Think I have managed to split the hose when removing and refitting it ! Coolant is not flooding out and the temperature reading I was getting using the app is within normal parameters as far as I can tell. Hopefully no damage done but need to work out how to sort the problem so that Andy can sort the replacement hoses (leave it to a professional !)