cliaz.net » Astra

Final exam! so my car breaks down…

Klaus Jones — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:18:57 +0000

Had my final exam on Tuesday (the 11th), wasn’t too bad. Unlike the majority of my exams, this one was extremely vague in the sense that you didn’t know what was going to be on the exam. Did alright, but will probably be a case of hit or miss for the marks methinks.
At least for the project worth 60% of the unit I got 90%, so I’ve already passed.

After the exam a uni mate Jesse and I swung past a BWS to grab some beers for his bro. Within 5 minutes of driving off though, the car started making weird noises and smelling. Pulling over, could smell that something had burnt in the engine bay, and the car was refusing to start.

Gave Holden a call, got the RACV to come out, said the same thing…get it towed. So far this had been working smoothly and efficiently. At 6:30 we put in the tow truck request. We sat there on the side of the road, drinking the beers we just bought (ugh Corona’s without lemon/lime) waiting for 90 minutes for this dude to rock up. The only consolation we had was ringing Holden back and chatting up the service chicks…awesome.

Once the tow truck finally arrived, and towed us a whole 1k or so up to Penfold Holden in Burwood, gave Devin a ring and he came and picked us up. Ended the whole escapade by playing the new Guitar Hero World Tour thingie for most of the night, so it turned out all right.

Turns out the ignition barrel (pretty much the ignition switch) had melted in the heat, and gotten stuckin the ‘on’ position…meaning the starter motor was kicking over for 5 minutes constantly while driving. 1 dead starter motor, one dead ignition barrel. Lucky no wiring got damaged I spose…

Damn cars

Klaus Jones — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:43:50 +0000

For some reason the car I’m currently driving (a Holden Astra – see here for why) wasn’t working this morning. And of course I was already leaving late to go to work. Not good. Only other option?
Ride, cause I just cbf trying to jump the car, and it was parked at the bottom of a dip so good luck roll-starting it.

So, 50 min later (12k ride k go) I rock up at work, maggoted cause the ride is up hill both ways! And of course I forgot to take food with me, so gotta wait till knockoff to get a feed. Fun day! At least tonight I’ll get to ride back cruisily and enjoy the sun a bit.

Farewell Bluebird

Klaus Jones — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 03:17:06 +0000

After only 8 months (or so) of driving a nice powerful turbo’d Bluebird (import, so turbo was stock- did do some modifications to it though), I decided I’d had enough and sold it. Main reason is was that the waste gate on the turbo was sticking open, so all the compression was bleeding straight out, and an estimated cost to fix was $1600 – or higher

So, sold it to a couple of Box Hill-ians who knew jack all about cars, and were happy that it had mags, a sub, and a blowoff valve. They called on on Thurs, came to see it on Friday, bought it in cash today (Sunday). Because of the rapidity of the sale, no time to organise a RWC…they didn’t even care! Poor bastards. Still, it got me this, so I’m happy.

In any case, looking for some form of 4 door cab with tub (go Hilux) to act as my mode of transport, and of course a dirtbike to go on the back.

In the meantime, driving an Astra…sigh