Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

Diabhalta

well, I destroyed my multimeter when opened the door to have a look at the fuses diagram ... the interior light came on and that was it... It was a cheap crappy multimeter from china for a tenner anyway.

I did 2/3 of the fuses and rest of them were heated seats and stuff I don't have in the car. There was a drop when I pulled out the dash fuse but that was the interior clock and also a very tiny drop when I pulled out the central locking fuse.

I will get some better/proper multimeter and do the test again but I don't think there is a parasitic draw. And even if there would be some bulb on overnight it shouldn't use all the power from the battery. It's a big battery so it should keep the bulb turned on for like 20 hrs.

Hal1

Halfords do a basic multimeter for €9 or something. I would start checking earth points and cleaning them up. If you have a manual like haynes it will make finding them easier. Bad earths can cause a whole world of pain when trying to diagnose electrical issues.

Foxhole Norman

My alternator decided it didn't want to live on this planet anymore today, managed to nurse the car from Blarney to Maryborough Hill with almost every light flashing at me and the gearbox in limp mode, very fun trip :rolleyes:

Swapped the alternator from the estate and all good!

Donor De-Alternatored



Dropped into the saloon



About 2 hours to take both apart and put back together, not too bad a job.

Special Circumstances

Well, took a bit longer than I had hoped but finally got my gearbox and rear diff oil changed.
Picked up 5L of Millers CRX 75W90 NT (bling bling) from EARS motorsports in Mallow a while back. Great to deal with over the phone by the way, thumbs up.


Anyway. There are no pics, my phone and cameras are perfectly fine without the distinctive "cat wee and rotten onions" buzz of gearbox oil.

Rear diff... opening was a bit of an issue, apparently the temperature sensor is made of bakelite or something. Oil was pretty black, no lumps or fuzz in it though. Just a small amount of "graphite paste" stuff on the magnet. Filling was slow.

Gear box.. opening was fine, no problem. Again, just some smooth grey paste no chunks or fuzz on magnet. Fluid murky but not terrible looking. Fill was a pain. Intercooler off, fluid burping up through funnel. Sooooo slow. Spilled some. (Think it smells bad when it's fresh? Wait till it burns!!!)

Intercooler put up some resistance to getting back on (grrrr ).


As for the results, yeah the fresh oil is noticeable. Need a few more runs from cold to confirm.

It says "competition use" on it... should I notify my insurance I wonder....

Special Circumstances

So much nicer to drive now. Somebody else could probably sit in and drive it now without noticing anything. Before there was a bit of a knack to dealing with it cold, detour through neutral to get to second from first kinda stuff, and there was a bit of waarrrhnnnngg on overrun.

The whiff of sulphur as the last of the spill burns off is adding a certain diabolical twist to my day :-)

blade1

Today I done some thing stupid to my car!
I was tucking a wire for a microphone along the pillar and there was a bit sticking out at the bottom.
Pushed it in with a flat head screwdriver and crack!!
FFS!!!
How much is a windscreen for an A4?

Alanstrainor

Does your insurance cover it? I'd imagine it wont be cheap out of pocket.

blade1

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Does your insurance cover it? I'd imagine it wont be cheap out of pocket.

Not covered.
I remember paying €180 for one an IS200 around 7 years ago.

blade1

Just got a price there.
€170.

On another note.. could someone recommend someone between Cork and Waterford that could pin point a clunk on full lock I have.
Gone to about 10 different places and sick of it at this stage.

Last crowd told me it was fixed only for it to clunk turning in my drive when I got home.

CianRyan

blade1 wrote: »

Just got a price there.
€170.

On another note.. could someone recommend someone between Cork and Waterford that could pin point a clunk on full lock I have.
Gone to about 10 different places and sick of it at this stage.

Last crowd told me it was fixed only for it to clunk turning in my drive when I got home.

CV joint?
Steering rack?
Bottom ball joint?
Is it a constant knocking while moving or just when you hit full lock?

blade1

CianRyan wrote: »

CV joint?
Steering rack?
Bottom ball joint?
Is it a constant knocking while moving or just when you hit full lock?

Drive forward on a hill,put into reverse,lock steering.
As I reverse, it gives one loud clunk.

Also if I drive up onto a kerb with the wheels turned to the right,then lock to the left.
As I come off the kerb it gives one load clunk.
Pretty much everything has been changed in the last few years and it flew through the nct recently.
I even said it to the lad in the nct centre and fair play to him, he brought me in and we were both under the car trying to figure it out.

Personally I have a hunch that it's the subframe, where along the seam is crimped.
I have a feeling it moves when the load is put on it.
Either that or something to do with the steering rack.

Hal1

I'd a very similar problem with mine and it was hard to replicate on demand for the mechanic to hear. On mine it was anti roll bar bushes on the front badly worn, drivers side drive shaft worn outer bearings.

blade1

Trust me, it's not a bushe.
Also drives have been replaced, all arms,drop links,roll bar bushings,shocks replaced,tie rods etc.

Hal1

Might be worth checking or replacing the sub frame bolts. If they have stretched that might explain the clunking sounds.

blade1

Hal1 wrote: »

Might be worth checking or replacing the sub frame bolts. If they have stretched that might explain the clunking sounds.

Looked into that alright.
Seems to to be more of an issue with a3's and golfs I think.
I have read on a couple of Audi forums about guys having to weld the seam of the subframe over a clunk.
I'm just not sure if that's my issue yet.

eringobragh

....Coolant Change Contd

Toyota Thermostat arrived during week



Interesting observation - Kuzeh make the Toyota OEM thermostats (confirmed on other boards)

I pulled a Kuzeh out of the car which leads me to 2 theories

1) Blueprint rebox Kuzeh thermostats

2) The mechanic that done the coolant chnage last wasn't bothered changing out the stat I gave him





Thermostat in



Coolant bleed - about 1.5 hours to get all in - took nearly all the 8 litres it lost - tested fan kicking in on rad , etc

Success


While car is up on the stands I changed out the drop links to solved the knocking on passenger left rear



First side took 15 mins



...thanks to this beast of a yoke.....available on amazon for £66



Old one was pretty tired and leaking at bottom boot



I dont know what happened with this side but I noticed it had fresher nut on the end of it that was easily shifted

Look what the last butcher done to it - its lasted 6 years as I haven't touched these since I owned here




The other side (working one) wasn't so easy

The nuts cracked off handy enough with the impact gun but the allen key centre jst crumbled



Got a vice grips and plumbers pliers in there behind and shifted it eventually albeit about 45 mins later -



New one in torqued to 49nm



Old ones for the skip

Intial opinions assuming the ones below are genuine toyota parts the blueprint appear to be vastly superior quality wise to what came out



Blue print using a 17mm nut vs Toyotas 14mm FYI :cool:

Cheensbo

Nice work! Please keep the updates coming

How much was the stat from Mr. T?

Fitting the same stat on my 3sgte this evening if I can pick it up in time, hopefully I won't have to drain, bleed or refill as the housing is higher than the rad & pipes.

Handy hint for drop links: don't bother with the sockets, go straight for the grinder and cut em off. Saves lots of time and cursing.

Special Circumstances

eringobragh wrote: »

The other side (working one) wasn't so easy

The nuts cracked off handy enough with the impact gun but the allen key centre jst crumbled


Got a vice grips and plumbers pliers in there behind and shifted it eventually albeit about 45 mins later -

http://i.imgur.com/wIA9DJ4.jpg

Allen key bit rounded out on me the last time too.. dremel, fibre cutting disc, extension lead, shower of sparks later and you're golden.
I don't have a grinder and wouldn't really need one but the dremel has helped me out on loads of things.

eringobragh

Cheensbo wrote: »

Nice work! Please keep the updates coming

How much was the stat from Mr. T?

Fitting the same stat on my 3sgte this evening if I can pick it up in time, hopefully I won't have to drain, bleed or refill as the housing is higher than the rad & pipes.

Handy hint for drop links: don't bother with the sockets, go straight for the grinder and cut em off. Saves lots of time and cursing.

Yeah heard that - first side came off so easy I should have thrown in towel on order side

Got it from ebay for €25 all in delivered via parcel motel - pretty sure its €60 with gasket from MrT if I remember correctly

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=252601340217

You wont have to drain but if your coolants more than 5 years old its probably a good opportunity to change it out hence why I just done the stat while id the coolant dropped

Cheensbo

Feck, 60e, shoulda done some more research before I ordered it, but then again ordered it just before COB yesterday and it's there already!

Ah the coolant is only a few months old, and it's toyota red so rather than waiting for it to come across the water I'm just gonna leave it in.

joujoujou

eringobragh wrote: »

[...]


The other side (working one) wasn't so easy

The nuts cracked off handy enough with the impact gun but the allen key centre jst crumbled

[...]

Got a vice grips and plumbers pliers in there behind and shifted it eventually albeit about 45 mins later -

[...]

Angle grinder would help you reduce that significantly.

Hal1

Yep, it's the first tool I look for when doing those. It's a waste of time bothering with allen keys and you risk injuring yourself with them anyway :P.

joujoujou

Well, simple job, finally not so simple.

Brakes began squeaking. Worn pads, obviously. Ran out of money recently, so decided to put already used pads for a while (new discs and pads will hopefully arrive next week). Driver's side - no issues. Passenger's side - problem. Slide pin seized, so one pad still like new, other one well worn.



The quickest (I THOUGHT) option was to replace the whole caliper mounting, as I've spare one in the shed. Ended up digging up in there for more than 6 hours! Found what I needed eventually, obviously in the very least expected place.

Summary: the job - 2 hours. Looking for parts - 6 hours. One afternoon lost.

shietpilot

When I was replacing the flywheel I noticed the gearbox torque mount is pretty shot. I ordered a new mount on eBay on Sunday and it arrived today (from all the way in Estonia)! DHL is fast I must say.

Fitted it today, quick and easy job except for manouvering the mount into the sub frame without removing the catalytic converter (cat is supported using the torque mount if that makes sense).

I was surprised how much difference it made! The engine used to rock the chassis quite a bit especially on start-up or shut down. They do an awful lot of work since they are supposed to soak any movement in the engine during changes in RPM. Good fix for an odd €25 and 20 minutes of my time

Slideways

EGR clean on the 'cruiser today. Took about 6 hours with coffee breaks and a stuck manifold

First job, drop the air out of the front tyres to make is easier for short arse to reach haha




Someone previously added a blanking plate with a hole to stop it throwing a code. Obviously useless...



Manifold out ready for cleaning




And its back together adding to the depletion of the ozone layer

Special Circumstances

No namby pamby interior designer plastic engine covers to beautify that engine bay!

Slideways

Special Circumstances wrote: »

No namby pamby interior designer plastic engine covers to beautify that engine bay!

There is nothing namby pamby about that yoke. Keep fit windows, lean across and and push the button down central locking :pac:

Cheensbo

Slideways wrote: »

There is nothing namby pamby about that yoke. Keep fit windows, lean across and and push the button down central locking :pac:

"Sit in the centre and lock it" locking :pac:

Those utes are so class I'm very jealous, that v8 d4d engine is the dogs bolox - some roar off it - have you considered some straight pipes? ,

The farmers I worked with in qld didn't have much time for them though - too many electrics they say - all of them still rocking the 1hd 4.2, non turbo.

blade1

blade1 wrote: »

Today I done some thing stupid to my car!
I was tucking a wire for a microphone along the pillar and there was a bit sticking out at the bottom.
Pushed it in with a flat head screwdriver and crack!!
FFS!!!
How much is a windscreen for an A4?

Got screen replaced

nd

Spent about 20 minutes yesterday (in just the spot in the picture) trying to get embedded brake dust off of alloys, with a dish washing brush and washing up liquid..



got maybe 70% of it off in that time.

Saw this stuff in the press


and said I'd give it a try( sprinkled a bit of the powder on the wet dish washing brush).

It worked brilliantly! Got 99% of the dust off in maybe 30 seconds.



I got it in the pound shop in the parkway shopping center in Limerick. You can probably get it in most pound shops.