I mentioned last week about the annoying whistles made by at least one car around here. Above is what I think is causing it – the latest gimmick. I’m not impressed.

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I finally called the RAC about a battery for the Honda this morning, making sure to mention that I thought I might have a warranty claim. I found the last time the battery was replaced – 9 March last year, so less than a year’s use.

He arrived in about an hour and when I told him the battery looks as if it’s sulfated and I want to claim warranty, he said to make a warranty claim, the battery has to be fully charged up. Huh?? But that’s the point, I can’t charge it. I don’t understand this.

Anyway, he got his Li-Ion big battery pack and connected it across my battery, i.e. dumping charge into my battery. Slowly the current and voltage crept up over about a five minute period, so my battery was taking a charge. Then he got me to start the car. Wunderbar, it started and ran. He then disconnected his power pack and we let it run for another five minutes. Then we connected my own Century battery smart charger and bingo, it started taking a charge again. Now I just have to leave it on charge for 24 – 36 hours and check that it stays charged.

If it doesn’t hold the charge, then he said to call them back and they will assess any warranty claim. (But if it hasn’t held the charge, doesn’t that disqualify the warranty claim?? I don’t understand this. What good is a warranty if anything and everything cancels it out?) Anyway, it looks as if this might fix things.

Next, when the car started (I mean the Honda MDX), it made a terrible screeching noise. “Belt?”, I said. “No, power steering”, he said. Fluid looks a bit low. But it has to be Honda fluid, he said. You can’t use normal fluid. What’s the difference? So that will have to wait until I can get the Honda fluid.

Next I got him to look at the Pug engine and its cold coolant “problem”. He had a good look and said the fan is not running, so it’s not that. The engine sounds great, although he said it seems to be idling a bit roughly. I mentioned that it runs a bit lumpy when I’m starting off and he said one of the injectors might be faulty. If that is the case and I can hope for smoother running, that would be terrific, because that’s one of the bad points I’ve found since owning the car – lumpy at low speed.

Then I mentioned the boot problem. He had a look and a good feel of the rubber sleeveed wiring connecting the boot lid to the body. Aha! About the middle, you can feel a break in the wires. So it is that. I’ve just got to set to and get the wires exposed, then rejoin them.

What a crap thing, Mr Peugeot. This is a very widespread problem. The web is full of video clips and talk of this problem. Why hasn’t there been a factory fix for it? Maybe there has been.

So I don’t have to look for blown fuses after all, or a faulty switch behind the button. I spent quite a while trying to get the fuses out in the glove box panel but I couldn’t get the little tool to grip on, dammit! Now I don’t have to.

So along with a fair bit of engine and car cleaning, it’s been quite a productive morning.

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PS: I’ve just googled “Honda power steering fluid” and it shows that Penrite HPSO (Honda Power Steering Oil) is listed, and it’s in stock at my local Supercheap Auto for $26.99 for 1L. Guess where I’m going this afternoon.