Well the grey dolphin saga continues..
I thought I would try and get it MOT'd this week, so got it up to the house no problem, it started straight up. Then I rang around for an MOT date and the earliest I could get was mid March!
Then the lass at Longstaffs said if I brought it straight around, they would get it done that night, this was at 4:30.. So I quickly fitted the battery clamp, went to start it, and would it start, no it would not!!!
After an age of cranking it finally picked up and ran, so I took off to a petrol station to put more diesel in to see if a full tank would help. Filled it up, and of course it wouldn't start again omg. So I called around to Longstaffs and told them I wouldn't be bothering, but thanks anyway. I was there long enough for the head mechanic to make disparaging remarks about the noises it was making, cheeky sod!
When I got home, I noticed that the fuel gauge wasn't working, something else to sort!
So today, to start off with an easy win, I decided to clean the starter motor earth, as I've never done it, and it is a common issue.
All you have to do is take out the passenger side headlight, and you can reach down and access the 13mm bolt marked in blue on the photo. It didn't look particularly bad, but still worth a good clean up and refit.
Once that was done I tried starting it, and nope, not wanting to start!
So next job, have another look at the sender. I cleaned this before and it seemed to make a big difference, but I was a bit wary of stripping it down completely because some bits looked very delicate. This time I thought, well you've got nothing to lose, so crack on lad.
The bits I had been reluctant to remove were actually easy enough to get off, and there was still plenty of black stuff to clean up. Then when I popped the bit with the rubber seals out, a 8mm diameter glob of crap fell out!
With it all super clean, I put it back together and double checked the connections for the gauge, then reinstalled it. I tried to start it and it was reluctant, but eventually picked up. This is probably not too surprising considering the sender has just been out, so I tried it about an hour later and it started straight up, which was promising. The fuel gauge was working again too!
It's always tricky to know if you have fixed an intermittent fault, but I am hopeful.