The "Today I did something to my car" thread

vectra

challengemaster wrote: »

It'll be sitting better than the fecking snapped rear spring it's on at the minute anyway!

/edit - thinking about spacers next, 10mm each side on the front, 18-20 on the rear, should have it sitting nicely stanced

What is it you drive again??

Ardennes1944

ehem...a 2005 320cd (e46)

vectra

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

ehem...a 2005 320cd (e46)

Ah yes.. (I must be getting old) LOL

W.Shakes-Beer

Well I bet all you Eibach heads about 3months ago :P

Before:


Then:



After:

L-M

So bloody cold out. Four cups of tea and I'l go out and loosen the sump nut, three more cups and I might just change the filter.

I would do a "how to" but I'm fairly sure my hands are gonna fall off me from the cold.

vectra

Limerick man wrote: »

So bloody cold out. Four cups of tea and I'l go out and loosen the sump nut, three more cups and I might just change the filter.

I would do a "how to" but I'm fairly sure my hands are gonna fall off me from the cold.

LOL
Let the engine run for 5 minutes first.. You would have warm air rising for you to warm your hands while hanging around

@ W.Shakes Beer
That Astra is looking good now.

L-M

vectra wrote: »

LOL
Let the engine run for 5 minutes first.. You would have warm air rising for you to warm your hands while hanging around

Just back from a 30 min trip, so it's good and warm. Buutt now it's snowing, so that fupps that :pac:

vectra

Limerick man wrote: »

Just back from a 30 min trip, so it's good and warm. Buutt now it's snowing, so that fupps that :pac:

oooohhh..!! :P

L-M

vectra wrote: »

oooohhh..!! :P

Could take one of the cars out of the shed but that means taking out the leaf blower and drying it afterwards... Might just drive out the road and park the car accidentally up on a friends lift, lol.

vectra

Limerick man wrote: »

Could take one of the cars out of the shed but that means taking out the leaf blower and drying it afterwards... Might just drive out the road and park the car accidentally up on a friends lift, lol.

Or you could leave it till tomorrow :pac:

L-M

vectra wrote: »

Or you could leave it till tomorrow :pac:

Too late



I'm fairly sure I've lost my sump nut in the stones though. Probably needed a new one anyway, lol.

E39MSport

Limerick man wrote: »

Could take one of the cars out of the shed but that means taking out the leaf blower and drying it afterwards... Might just drive out the road and park the car accidentally up on a friends lift, lol.

A friend with 'lifts' and all the rest .....

L-M

E39MSport wrote: »

A friend with 'lifts' and all the rest .....

?

If you're noticing that I don't have a lift, Ennis is "out the road" for me.

New sump nut for €1.58 from Hogans plus vat.

E39MSport

Limerick man wrote: »

?

If you're noticing that I don't have a lift, Ennis is "out the road" for me.

New sump nut for €1.58 from Hogans plus vat.

Sorry. Typing for no reason... Placebo lyric, sort of.

I have drainage stones like that on my drive and they are a cnut for losing things in and using the trolley jack :mad:

L-M

E39MSport wrote: »

Sorry. Typing for no reason... Placebo lyric, sort of.

I have drainage stones like that on my drive and they are a cnut for losing things in and using the trolley jack :mad:

Yeah, we've them at the front and down along the side of the house, dragging the jack out is an absolute pain, and trying to get the axle stands to settle in.

But anyway, was given the wrong oil filter, so had to go back in and get the right one, changed the fuel filter too. Nice and serviced now.

vectra

Limerick man wrote: »

Yeah, we've them at the front and down along the side of the house, dragging the jack out is an absolute pain, and trying to get the axle stands to settle in.

But anyway, was given the wrong oil filter, so had to go back in and get the right one, changed the fuel filter too. Nice and serviced now.

Anti freeze put in?

L-M

vectra wrote: »

Anti freeze put in?

Put it in a few weeks ago, I must get a tester and check it. I have half a bottle of it left there I might just throw it in.

Fiona

E46 318ci 2004 - how quickly should it run out of coolant? Did the levels only a short while ago and Saturday night the light came on whilst on my way home. Its was empty so topped it up with some coolant and water. Expansion tank has been replaced on it before. Radiator was also replaced as it was busted by a stone. This is not normal i think something has a leak somewhere. Discovered my air bag light is on also intermittently. Passenger seat occupancy sensor was replaced two years ago by Murphy and Gunn cost me a fortune. Oh and nct in two months typical! Can that light be switched off for my nct?

L-M

Try getting the light switched off and see will it stay off by chance.

Did you replace the expansion bottle with a genuine one?

vectra

Limerick man wrote: »

Put it in a few weeks ago, I must get a tester and check it. I have half a bottle of it left there I might just throw it in.

Could they check that at an auto factors? I need to get the Toledo checked

L-M

vectra wrote: »

Could they check that at an auto factors? I need to get the Toledo checked

Halfords sell the once off testers for 5 or 6 euro IIRC, most garages should have one, I can't imagine they'd charge too much to dip it and check it.

Fiona

Limerick man wrote: »

Try getting the light switched off and see will it stay off by chance.

Did you replace the expansion bottle with a genuine one?

Light comes on for about a minute normally when car started up from what i can see. He mainly drives the car and has selective vision so i only get half the information on all the issues. The light not on permanently. Yet. Expansion tank was genuine bmw replacement the radiator was spurious. Is that how you spell that word?!

L-M

mrs crilly wrote: »

Light comes on for about a minute normally when car started up from what i can see. He mainly drives the car and has selective vision so i only get half the information on all the issues. The light not on permanently. Yet. Expansion tank was genuine bmw replacement the radiator was spurious. Is that how you spell that word?!

Indeed, no when i changed the tank on a 320ci I was told to stay away from spurious ones.

Any coffee colour oil on the end of the dip stick?

Fiona

Limerick man wrote: »

Indeed, no when i changed the tank on a 320ci I was told to stay away from spurious ones.

Any coffee colour oil on the end of the dip stick?

There wasnt any the last time i checked but i wasnt checking on Saturday. It was half three in the morning and i was in the back arse of Kilcullen in the pissings of rain the coolant was all that was getting done. A mate was in the car and he telling me apparently i could drive until the dial on the right went into the red.....

vectra

vectra wrote: »

Could they check that at an auto factors?.............

The one i worked in used to

JJJJNR

Priced a hybrid turbo for my 2.0 tdi anyone go down route here, would like some advice.

Top Dog

Kept her between the ditches



Snow this morning made a welcome change from the black ice & frost yesterday morning :eek:

Ardennes1944

where in cork were you!?

Top Dog

Kanturk - but the above photo was taken about 3 miles the Cork side of Nadd - right at the top of the hill.

Ardennes1944

never even heard of Nadd had to google map it

Top Dog

Trust me - you could drive through it and not realise it! Consists of 2 houses, a pub & an abandoned garage.

Rich11

Rich11 wrote: »

Right,

serviced my car the other day, done the front break pads, discs good, no damage, topped up break fluid, didnt over fill.
driving into work today, had to break suddenly at the traffic lights, like i always do, lol, anyway once i stop hand break light come on

anyway put handbreak on/off a few times, same with the peddle, still on.... the car stops as normal, peddle didnt sink ect. fluid still at max.

moved off and it went.

Going home tonight, driving around a corner, lil fast, it comes on again, when it came on my foot wasnt on the peddle, so what did i f**king do wrong....

By the way its an astra

Thanks

Brought car to my local machanic, told him, he said sounds like the master cylinder:eek:, f**k s**t B****x, any way said leave it with him and hed have a look at it, went back the next day expecting the worst, but...... could'nt find a thing wrong! but since the other day the handbreak light hasnt come on when stopping:), he said just a small fault + didnt charge me:D

-Corkie-

Top Dog wrote: »

Trust me - you could drive through it and not realise it! Consists of 2 houses, a pub & an abandoned garage.

I knew I recognised the background..:)

I am living on the other side of Lyre.

vectra

JJJJNR wrote: »

Priced a hybrid turbo for my 2.0 tdi anyone go down route here, would like some advice.

Head over to vagdrivers and talk to the OP of this thread. Knows his stuff

250+ BHP

EPM

vectra wrote: »

Head over to vagdrivers and talk to the OP of this thread. Knows his stuff

250+ BHP

He knows my car intimately at this stage:D

vectra

EPM wrote: »

He knows my car intimately at this stage:D

Yup.
He is the only one left touch my car as well :pac:

langdang

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

never even heard of Nadd had to google map it

never made it to Naddstock? You missed out man....

MetzgerMeister

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

never even heard of Nadd had to google map it

That's a pain in the nadds!

the merchant

It started when I took this pic for the "revs at 75mph thread" and I noticed that the temp guage was way too low. Cabin heat was pretty poor too.



So after some expert diagnosis(google), I concluded that the EGR thermostat was a likely culprit. Apparently the exhaust gases get cooled before they get to the EGR/manifold as they would melt the plastic manifold. This exhaust gas cooler has it's own thermostat which I picked up today from Joe Duffy's €49.



It just took 10mins to fit this part and I knew that the old one was faulty because I was able to blow through it when cold whereas are the new one was closed when cold. Took the car for a 5min spin and got lovely heat and a much healthier temp guage position.

Big Nasty

Good diagnosis - temp guage on them should stay bang on dead in the middle.

the merchant

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Good diagnosis - temp guage on them should stay bang on dead in the middle.

Cheers, I'll keep my eye on it though as its sitting closer to the 1 o'clock position when at full temp.

E39MSport

Could be time for a cooling system rebuild with that mileage and the dial at 1 o'clock.

dar83

I managed to give my clutch a nice big grind this morning.

Had just filled the car up and the soles of my shoes were wet. Was filtering onto the N32, going from 2nd to 3rd when my foot slipped off the clutch...

In better news (once she forgives me) I may fit some new heating control knobs later, see if they make an improvement or not on the standard ones.

dgt

Decided to change my plugs

Plenum has to come off to access the rear bank


They were due a change


Gave the tb a quick clean


The plenum got a similar wipe over


Running much better

eringobragh

Nothing too exciting but got the NGK Iridium sparks for the MR2 - going in this weekend hopefully

dgt

Is this spark plug porn... :pac:

Double the fun

the merchant

E39MSport wrote: »

Could be time for a cooling system rebuild with that mileage and the dial at 1 o'clock.

I brought it for a nice long spin yesterday which included motorway and city traffic. Temp guage stayed at 12 o clock the whole time. If you look at the guage from the left it looks like it's at 1 o clock but front on it's straight up. Misleading really.

Does anyone actually replace the entire cooling system as preventitive maintenance? Seems like overkill to me.

E39MSport

Some do. I had water pump replaced and hoses/rad inspected when the swirl flaps were done. Too critical to avoid and relatively cheap given the possible damage.

no1beemerfan

the merchant wrote: »

.....
Does anyone actually replace the entire cooling system as preventitive maintenance? Seems like overkill to me.

On my '97 laguna I've only ever replaced the thermostat when the car was 7 years old and had to replace the radiator at 8 years old as got hit by a stone. I replace the coolent evey two years though which is bound to help.

R.O.R

Washed the new car as we are off to Cork tomorrow for a wedding. By jebus it's cold out there :eek:





Handy having the washer and all the bits needed out the back of the office. Soft brush, but I'll probably still get slated.





Feeling now coming back in to my fingers......