The power of the blog........after insinuating rampant telephonophobia at Cropredy spares dept on Sunday (the blog was on Sunday, not the phobia, obviously because they were closed).....lo and behold I get a call today...they have located a sender and will send it on Friday....I apologise to David.....full apology and faith restoration will follow on receipt of the temp sender on Saturday.

Did you read my blog David?

Mileage 178,457

I struggled last week to get the right temperature sender from Cropredy.... infuriating that the statement "I'll look into that and call you back" never happens to it's conclusion, I don't know whether they are trying to save their phone bill, or the guy in the parts dept has telephonophobia. Even a "can you call me back in an hour" would suffice......you just get nothing, so you ring and "Oh, I meant to call you about that" meantime 2 days have passed. So still no sender!.....anyway enough of the rant.....

Had a trip to Bury St Edmunds, I met up with an old work colleague and we had a couple of beers in the Nutshell, reputedly the smallest pub in England, it was very cosy, absolutely packed out (6 of us in there!)

Nothing to report on the car, temp still showing high, running smooth, a bit of a blow from the join between the manifold and the exhaust pipe. Filled up with petrol on the A14, the guy at the filling station abandoned his till to get a few pictures of the car "for his collection", not sure that pleased the queue at the till but it made his day.

So....here we are...the start of another week..tax increases and service cuts looming on the horizon like a perfect storm....at least we have the comfort that they will be fair and not entirely unexpected!

Week 2 of the epic temperature saga for the Jensen. Thought I'd fixed it but it's started showing hot again. I am 99% certain it is the sender unit, as the fans cut in when I'd expect them, normally when the temp is just above Normal.....but the gauge is showing just in the red.

Just need to get a right size sender unit, in the meantime it is hard to resist slapping the heating on full blast when the needle moves into the red.....the 1% doubt has a mental effect far in excess of its mathematical size, a bit of a David and Goliath tale if you get my drift (the 1% being David)

"Fix the Jensen" day today...the bits arrived from Cropredy yesterday, the sun is high in the sky and the kids have homework/revising to do....my moment has arrived.

Radiator sensor unit successfully changed, head sensor wrong size....it's too big *&@~#! I've taken the old one out and cleaned the contacts. and replaced it Filled the rad up with water and ran for 10 mins....bingo, temperature just above normal and the fans cut in, holding steady at just above normal.....success!

Hand brake pads changed......no problem.

Still to do....change the oil filter, sort the noisy alternator out and get the carpets back in place....it's too hot for all that....maybe one night next week....time to throw some chicken and prawns on the barbie and sink a few Budvars....cheers!

Well it wasn't the thermostat :-((, took it out completely and still getting a high temp.

Water pump is working, radiator is flowing. Having taken it for a test run, and there being little/no logic behind the gauge readings, I can only deduce that the temperature sender is playing up......have ordered the bits to replace.

If anyone else has any ideas, please don't hold back, let me have them. A prize of a nearly new temperature sender awaits the first one that correctly identifies the problem!