Motors - who would have them.....

Now, our 806 threw a fanbelt, Saturday last week. Not something complex you might think. Historically, cars have a pulley on the engine a pulley on the water pump with a fan attached (it's why it used to be called a fan belt) and another on the generator which used to be able to move to take up any free play.

So Sunday, management was diverted to Halfords from her "Sunday market" to buy what used to be a "fan belt" but which has now been promoted to an "ancillary drive transmission belt" and taken a huge price rise along the way. Monday morning: the spanners came out and the bonnet was opened.

A bewildering array of pulleys were more easily accessed after I jacked the blessed thing up and removed the front wheel: "gosh, this is easy to work on" I didn't say.

One pulley each for engine, alternator, water pump, power steering and aircon.

For good measure there was one for manual preload or it should have been according to the manual I have. OK, the manual is not actually for an 806 but the Xantia was made in France too so it can't be that different can it?

Having tried a number of different routes and routings none of them looking remotely likely to cause the fan belt to be tight, with the manual adjuster that was supposed to be in the engine room somewhere remaining in complete hiding, I decided that all cars are b*******s, but particularly if they are an 806.

With the resident Francophone engineer having gone for a foreign holiday, well OK he went to Manchester, I was forced to drive the 7 seater Discovery for a week. At such times that the Xantia was not available.

This revisiting of V8 window open driving delight was somewhat lessened by the re acquaintance with land rover handling.

I am not sure I remember my range rover being this much of a boat.

It reality it seems to behave itself well enough in an act of faith on every corner kind of way and tightens the line with gentle power on in an eyes closed sort of way. There has been the odd tight bend where crazy body roll, off road tyres, looming parapet of bridge over deep water have combined to induce touching religious fervour in the passenger seat.

As ever of course there is more, tomorrow it has to do the school run. Not a problem, well, Ok, maybe: you see Mr Taliesin has been much given to driving the thing round our fields and the holes he has dug in them.

This in turn has placed a bit of a strain, especially as the zorst system has been there before in someone else's hands and has a home made central pipe which the man himself has removed on lumps of mud 3 times in 3 days.

First time Daddy rolled under the truck (Tallie being in work and the kids needing to go to the cinema that afternoon) loosened a few zorst clamps jiggled it about a bit and tightened them back up again.

Next time of course the man himself did it and, well who knows what happened next, but he didn't just drop the pipe but wrapped it round the back axle at the same time for good measure.

Soooooo I am off to do the school run of the morrow in a V8 Disco with precious little in the way of silencing.

The real live dragster sound will bellow all round the county.

I know I know - it's a tough job, but I'll do my beast.....

R