Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

Alanstrainor

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I'm going through that phase of doing any jobs I can think of at the minute, there's a bit of a rattle over bumps, I have some suspicion over the rear top mount on the drivers side. Might do some investigating this evening.

Not the top mount, all good there. Honestly I think it could be the boot liner, or jack/first aid kit/random shite in the boot. I'll empty everything and go for a drive to see tonight.

dodzy

Well....I didn't actually do it!

Just got a call from Joe Duffy - left the car in this morning for the infamous EGR Cooler recall. About 10 of us there for the same reason at the same time. All processed within the hour. Just got a call to say that the EGR cooler end is fine but they are changing the AC condenser and re-priming the system. (Another recall item he pointed out when the reg was tapped in). I mentioned that I had to get the system recharged approx 3mths ago and after 12 weeks it's effectiveness was not as good as it should have been. So new condenser going in has saved me probably the best part of €800 for OEM unit supply & fit. Happy days:)

Sound lad to deal with also. Very professional setup & a cracking showroom.

deandean

My new Michelin tyre picked up a huge Spax screw. Grrr.
I bought a tyre plug repair kit from Amazon, a good quality one with all the toys.
I pulled out the screw, reamed the hole in the tyre and plugged it with the tyre still on the car. It took ten minutes. The tyre only lost 7PSI as I made the repair!
The plug kits are brill. Saved me a half day in time, etc. And easy to use.

Tails142

Hmmmm don't know if I'd trust plugging my own tyre, I suppose if it holds it holds, but I've be thinking at least the tyre fitter has a bit of experience and knows what to look out for if there's an underlying problem.

job seeker

colm_mcm wrote: »

Great mod, really freshens them up. Might as well get the facelift rear indicators while you’re at it!

That car has turned out great.

Thanks! I think they do too! facelift rear indicators? Never heard of them! I'll look into that!

Thanks again!

t8010789

Put four new continental tyres on my car and picked up a screw within 24hrs. Do you think this can be repaired or is it too close to the sidewall?

wotzgoingon

My uneducated guess is that can be plugged. It's not that close to the side wall.

Toyotafanboi

Have you made sure it's actually punctured the tyre and not just stuck in the thread? That's some **** luck, the sticker isn't even worn off the tyre.

I wouldn't be plugging that, I doubt you'd get a garage to do it. That said, you definitely could plug it and it probably would be fine.

wotzgoingon

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I wouldn't be plugging that, I doubt you'd get a garage to do it. That said, you definitely could plug it and it probably would be fine.

Why do you say that? It's not that close to the side wall. I'd say tyre places plug tyres in that area on a regular basis.

Toyotafanboi

Just because they do (and I agree, they do), doesn't mean it's ok.

You're not to plug an area of the tyre that would flex during use like when steering or going over a kerb or a bump, imo that part of the tyre would flex in those situations, that leaves you with the risk that the plug will work loose over time.

It's definitely a borderline case although it is really on the tyre shoulder, but you'd have to err on the side of caution with these things. Is it worth the risk of standing over, if something went wrong in a blow out "please think of the children" type scenario.

t8010789

Yes, it is definitely punctured. Went out to leave for work this morning to find it as flat as a fart. I’ve googled repairing a tyre to find many videos of people doing the plug repair in a similar position on the tyre but even so I think I’m going to err on the side of caution and order a replacement. Thanks for your input ppl.

Atlantic Dawn

Also had an experience of 'daycent' tyres on the car less than 3 months and getting a puncture, meanwhile tyres on it beforehand for 3 or 4 years not a single puncture. It was like the tyre place made me a marked man and dropped screws outside the place as I drove past.

dodzy

What is it with poxy screws? How do they go from a horizontal position to an ‘erect’ position just at the millisecond you drive over them! And they embed themselves beautifully....every time :mad:

gerardk55

Not today, but over the last few month I've been doing stuff.

Back in March I said goodbye to my trusty 05 Mazda 6, which succumbed to the rusty wheel arches and after 445k kms was not worth repairing so I scrapped it.

As I live overseas with work I needed something for the weekends I'm home so bought a 07 focus from my cousin's wife, which she owned for 10 of it's 12 years for bangernomics money.

First up gave it a good de-tar and polish, then a few weeks later my brother-in-law reversed into it! So sourced a replacement wing for it, took around 2 hours start to finish, mainly locating and accessing the bolts and various panel screws. Happy enough with the alignment and colour match. Also swapped out the grill for the chrome version. Need to touch up the paint in a few places but happy enough with it. Added an Aux cable and have to get some replacement alloy caps, but reckon it's smart enough.

Interslice

t8010789 wrote: »

Put four new continental tyres on my car and picked up a screw within 24hrs. Do you think this can be repaired or is it too close to the sidewall?

Thats an easy and safe place to do a repair.

nogoodnamesleft

t8010789 wrote: »

Put four new continental tyres on my car and picked up a screw within 24hrs. Do you think this can be repaired or is it too close to the sidewall?

Doubt that can. I had a similar issue last year when I picked up 2 screws on a rear tyre with decent amount of thread left. I had a chat with the tyre fitter. If its centre thread it can be repaired provided the hole isnt too big.

But if the nail/screw is close to the shoulder of the tyre (close being approx and inch or so) it cant be due to the issue of the tyre deforming slightly as the car corners and the additional stress that would put on the repair. Obviously if the repair decided to let go it would possibly have dire consequences for the car and its occupants.

colm_mcm

job seeker wrote: »

Thanks! I think they do too! facelift rear indicators? Never heard of them! I'll look into that!

Thanks again!

These basically.

I have a double DIN radio dash kit with remote adaptor and wiring loom adaptor which I received from another boardsie, you’re welcome to it if you’re thinking of fitting a non standard headunit.

Tzardine

When I bought my MK2 Fiesta it had an XR2 steering wheel in it. I liked it but wanted to put in an original one.



I have been having a hard time finding one, as it should be a rare brown color. I managed to buy one off a guy from Facebook in the UK but the condition was not great. It looks better in the photos than it was. The top was badly worn and discoloured.



I decided to have it retrimmed in leather by Royal Steering Wheels in the UK . I also decided not to cover the whole wheel, but to leave the central section original. Probably controversial but I like the look of it.

The work is top class I have to say. I am happy with the result.

skibum

Nice job, how much did it cost?

Tzardine

skibum wrote: »

Nice job, how much did it cost?

£155. They do most wheels for that price and you pick your finish, stitching etc. They are the go-to people for steering wheel retrim.

Worth checking out their website if you are looking to have a wheel done.

http://royalsteeringwheels.com/

colm_mcm

Upgraded the front DRLs to Osram super cool something or other, hideously expensive for what they are, but the oddball H15 size doesn’t give you too much choices. Did the dipped beam and number plate lights while I was at it.

At that stage it was only right to give the old girl a hand wash and dry.
Probably spent more time on the wheels than the bodywork!

joujoujou

While changing rear brake pads 2 weeks ago, noticed fuel pipe support bracket severely corroded. Just touched it and fell off! :eek:

Ordered from Mr.T. - 30-ish euro - not bad.



Old one. No comment.



New one installed. Painted and sprayed with underbody protection treatment, just for peace of mind.



My biggest fear was a bolt holding the whole thing to a chassis - despite doing the whole job on Friday, the 13th, I was lucky enough not to break it.

nogoodnamesleft

The TT started throwing up an intermittent brake warning indication on the drivers computer so at the weekend I had a proper look. I have a copy of VCDS- lite so I was able to interrogate the car for any lasting fault codes. None were logged in the car.

On the TT there is only one sensor on the front axle (nearside) to I took the wheel off to have a proper look.






It looks like the sensor wire has become frayed due to vibration hence causing an intermittent open circuit on the sensor circuit (there should be a wiring retainer on the hub assembly but its missing). There is still plenty of inner pad left so not an urgent job. Sensor is built into the pad so will be replaced when the pads are due

MrCostington

My A4 failed the NCT due to the number plate lights not working (was an advisory before), found the problem was a broken wire where they flex between the car body and the boot lid (had similar problem with drivers door last year).

Anyway, there was no plug in the harness anywhere inside the boot so I had to cut the harness out of the car, I had the cut about half way between the back of the boot and the back of the rear seats, to ensure I had good wire to work with. Removed the harness and 4 plug from the bootlid and took it inside to solder in new wires from the plugs back to the inside of the car.

Key points was to number the wires before cutting on both sides of the cut. There was 10 wires and 5 of them were brown so essential to number. And for 6 and 9, I wrote out SIX and NINE so not to be wondering if the number was upside down or not! Other point is to make the harness much longer then needed and trim when making the final connection.

I did a test fitting first, just twisting the wires together, before soldering & heat shrinking.

Black_Knight

MrCostington wrote: »

My A4 failed the NCT due to the number plate lights not working (was an advisory before), found the problem was a broken wire where they flex between the car body and the boot lid (had similar problem with drivers door last year).

Anyway, there was no plug in the harness anywhere inside the boot so I had to cut the harness out of the car, I had the cut about half way between the back of the boot and the back of the rear seats, to ensure I had good wire to work with. Removed the harness and 4 plug from the bootlid and took it inside to solder in new wires from the plugs back to the inside of the car.

Key points was to number the wires before cutting on both sides of the cut. There was 10 wires and 5 of them were brown so essential to number. And for 6 and 9, I wrote out SIX and NINE so not to be wondering if the number was upside down or not! Other point is to make the harness much longer then needed and trim when making the final connection.

I did a test fitting first, just twisting the wires together, before soldering & heat shrinking.

I had this happen to my old Passat CC. The flexing at the boot lid arms split a couple of wires. Ended up my boot sometimes wouldn't close as a result (boot release wire kept getting set high). VW sold me a new loom for like €60. Not nearly free like your DIY job, but twas a simple swap out, and relatively cheap to be fair.

MrCostington

Black_Knight wrote: »

I had this happen to my old Passat CC. The flexing at the boot lid arms split a couple of wires. Ended up my boot sometimes wouldn't close as a result (boot release wire kept getting set high). VW sold me a new loom for like €60. Not nearly free like your DIY job, but twas a simple swap out, and relatively cheap to be fair.

That was handy. It seemed in my case the harness was one piece at least to the rear seat, no plugs within the boot so I decided to cut just the 10 wires leading to the boot lid.

Dale Parish

Did my throttle position sensors in my M5 which was a real PITA; the screws were made of crap so they strip if you look at them, and there was easily less than 1.5cm of clearance so i had to dremel them out in the end.

cletus

Didn't really do anything today, but the wife's car passed the NCT based on things I did on a different day

scannerd

Dale Parish wrote: »

Did my throttle position sensors in my M5 which was a real PITA; the screws were made of crap so they strip if you look at them, and there was easily less than 1.5cm of clearance so i had to dremel them out in the end.

Feel your pain... all this to get to TPS over the weekend (well that and lots of cleaning / maintenance), why to they make them so hard to get to, certainly makes it while i'm in there job list


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traco

Starting work on the bangernomics luxobarge uber panzer wagon for the winter weekend warrior.
Some service parts arrived, more on the way and some interior stuff happening also. Always looks worse before it gets better??