10th Sep 2009, 14:49

Original poster here once more. I guess nobody will read this unless I add various dodgy words to it so search engines pick up on them, but I felt I had to write what could be the last entry.

In Jan 2005 the car passed another MOT, after having yet another Lambda sensor. I think the MOT garage probably failed it on emissions so that they could make some easy money. The price of not having local knowledge I guess.

So, the car ran for 2005, but then we did not need it after 2005, and the exhaust back box had fallen off yet again, so it sat on the drive, having been SORNed.

Now in 2009 I decided it was time to get it back on the road. Well, the real reason is so that we can use it as a scrappage vehicle. The things I had to fix were:

Exhaust - new centre section / back box.

Wiper arm - the spring had broken so sourced another from the local scrappy.

Battery - previous battery had given up the ghost through lack of use.

Brakes - lots of air in the brakes meant that there was nothing there. I bled them with nice new fluid - the old fluid was really dirty and well past its sell-by date.

Oil filter - the previous one had rusted (!) and started to squirt oil out when I was testing the car.

Oil - well - kinda needed after as the filter was changed.

Air filter - just because.

Inlet manifold to sensor pipe - the rubber on this pipe had broken up - I cut the pipe an inch down and re-attached it.

Headlight plug - one of the spade connector was shot, so I bought a nice new H4 plug and replaced it.

Headlights - both bulbs had blown on the dip

Washer squirters - needed a clean. I left them overnight in some scale-away to clean them up and they now squirt fluid to their hearts content.

It went for an MOT in September, and only failed on two items - a flexible brake hose with a slight leak and the fuel filter not being secure.

I now have a current MOT on the vehicle.

Driving it to/from the garage reminded me how much fun I used to have in this car. I've had it for almost 15 years and its the first almost new car I owned. It's currently saying 106000ish miles, although as it was stuck on 99999 for a couple of years, it's probably really about 125000 miles.

I made a Facebook comment about getting it back on the road, and the amount of people who responded with 'I remember that car' and similar comments was amazing.

So, the next step is to get tax on it, then apply for it to be scrapped so we can get a new car. It will be a terrible day when they come along and remove it to be taken apart.

Mk1 Punto - a true classic.