Mystery Solved

Brown stuff is glue, not rust.

Generally, my 18 year-old MX5 is reliable.

There have been exceptions.

 The fuel pump died in September last year, and on that occasion the car failed to proceed.

That happened at home, so I wasn't inconvenienced very much.

I was however inconvenienced when it refused to start about a month ago, after I'd left it for half an hour with the parking lights on.

The RACQ got me going, but given that the system (when the patrolman checked it) was good in terms of generating capacity, the reason for the tired battery was a mystery.

Since then, I've taken the precaution of charging it up every now and again, when I begin to suspect it's on the way out. You can always detect a slowing down of the cranking rate.

Last week I had occasion to remove the lining covering the interior of the boot.

I found something very surprising which explained the dozy battery.

Mounted on the driver's side rear of the boot wall was an object, complete with flashing red and blue lights, with a label affixed which read - "Auto Saver Systems".

It is supposed to protect against corrosion. Apparently it works, as there is no rust anywhere on the car. The brown colouration you can see on the pic is glue, not rust.

I've decided that I might as well leave it there.

I can monitor the battery state, and use my you-beaut auto charger to keep it reliable.

Charger - all new tech is tiny.

It was good to get to the bottom of the problem.

Staying Toasty

The cable is tucked away out of sight, and it's removable (velcro).

One of the issues that came with my MX5 was a non-functioning heater.

The previous owner explained that the condenser had developed a leak and fixing it would involve removing the dashboard. The cheapest quote was over $1000, so he decided he could do without the heater, and the hoses were looped to take it out of the cooling system.

In sunny Brisbane, where the car originated, the lack of a heater was not a problem, but it does occasionally get pretty chilly in Toowoomba. Also, I am inclined to head out for a recreational fang early in the morning when the frost is on the ground.

A solution lay in the purchase and installation of a cabin heater (see pic).

I decided to plumb it into the circuit for the rear window demister, which would remove the necessity to plug it into the cigarette lighter socket, already in use with the dashcam.

My friendly auto sparkie installed the plug for not much money, but I still think he’s a bit confused by the whole deal.

The plug.

It works a treat, although does make a soft whirring sound which annoys my bride somewhat.

In any case, it warms the cabin in a minute (literally) so the noise doesn’t last long.

You also don’t have to wait for the engine to warm up. The heater cost $30.