Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

dgt

Aaaaaaaand the garage antics ain't over yet. This evening was back breakingly good :cool:

Block in. Needs dismantling....


Clean the block face up with a sharp blade


Halfway there....


Pump has to come off. Slacken out the locking bolts and main bolt, then insert a big (modified) chisel....


Smack with a hammer and job done


Don't lose the woodruff key....


Someone was bauld and had this pump advanced to fook (huge gap at the top), no it wasn't me :pac:


Out with the pump anyway, I want my own one in... feckin armour on this adds to the weight a fair bit! :eek:


Yaaaaay I can have my wax stat again!

Lastly sump off


And a while later, we have clean faces on each


Plenty to do still, but first a crate of ol speckly :cool:

advertsfox

Typical I have a photo to share right after dgt shows us a whole damn engine he's taking apart :P

Eh... I changed the cabin filter, the nut was a b**tard to get to. My jasus the mank of it (and the weight compared to the new one).

corkgsxr

advertsfox wrote: »

Typical I have a photo to share right after dgt shows us a whole damn engine he's taking apart :P

Eh... I changed the cabin filter, the nut was a b**tard to get to. My jasus the mank of it (and the weight compared to the new one).

Made me laugh though. They'd be in awful condition.

MetzgerMeister

It mightn't be as bad as you think! What a lot of people seem to forget is that there's usually 2 types of cabin filter you can get - a normal one like the new one above and an activated charcoal one which is black/grey from new.

Most cars come from the factory with the activated charcoal version and then when you go to replace it, you have to specify you want that again or you'll just get the normal one and you'll think the old one is disgustingly toxic looking.

Now, I'm not saying that your old one was charcoal, it could indeed be rotten!

Just something to keep in mind

rizzee

Feckin battery light came on this morning when the engine is cold, with the p/s being stiff ontil the car goes above 5mph then it loosens up?? Revs are going up and down, even cutting itself out sometimes! Been looking up on this, either the p/s pump or alternator going... Last thing I need before I head out of the country for a few days!! Car will be parked up til next weekend when i've money to get it sorted, whatever it is. Ah Fiats.

advertsfox

rizzee wrote: »

Feckin battery light came on this morning when the engine is cold, with the p/s being stiff ontil the car goes above 5mph then it loosens up?? Revs are going up and down, even cutting itself out sometimes! Been looking up on this, either the p/s pump or alternator going... Last thing I need before I head out of the country for a few days!! Car will be parked up til next weekend when i've money to get it sorted, whatever it is. Ah Fiats.

Won't be a pump for the steering dude, GP steering is an electric motor Have you tested the battery? They can be flaky in cold weather on their own - let alone if it's currently running on low voltage. After you should look into the alternator as well. Have you noticed any flickering with the headlights?

rex-x

dgt wrote: »

Arise from hibernation!!! :cool:


Time to clean the head properly. With a sharp blade. Half done

Skim that head or you will regret it later, especially if you are fiddling with the pump

rizzee

@OSI - I'll check it out, thanks.

@advertsfox , the car had a new battery when I bought it 4 months ago

advertsfox

rizzee wrote: »

@advertsfox , the car had a new battery when I bought it 4 months ago

Bang of alternator off this one dude, battery light is a good indication of it. Similar threads online too, this chap below went through the same issues (with idle, steering and PS not working until the speed get's up a bit) and had his replaced. Hopefully they won't cost too much. Quickly checked eBay and working used are going from €50. Link!

http://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/223119-battery-light-power-steering-works-above-2mph-but-not-when-stationary-2.html

http://www.fiatforum.com/tech-talk/333508-battery-light-dashboard-powersteering-not-working.html

rizzee

advertsfox wrote: »

Bang of alternator off this one dude, battery light is a good indication of it. Similar threads online too, this chap below went through the same issues (with idle, steering and PS not working until the speed get's up a bit) and had his replaced. Hopefully they won't cost too much. Quickly checked eBay and working used are going from €50. Link!

http://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/223119-battery-light-power-steering-works-above-2mph-but-not-when-stationary-2.html

http://www.fiatforum.com/tech-talk/333508-battery-light-dashboard-powersteering-not-working.html

Cheers mate!! Yeah, went through the FiatForum myself too, will have to leave it ontil next week to sort out unfortunately, can't be dipping into the holiday money for now Will keep you updated!

dgt

rizzee wrote: »

Feckin battery light came on this morning when the engine is cold, with the p/s being stiff ontil the car goes above 5mph then it loosens up?? Revs are going up and down, even cutting itself out sometimes! Been looking up on this, either the p/s pump or alternator going... Last thing I need before I head out of the country for a few days!! Car will be parked up til next weekend when i've money to get it sorted, whatever it is. Ah Fiats.

Sounds like a dodgy battery/power supply (alternator perhaps?) to me, happened with my old Sporting, same symptoms

rex-x wrote: »

Skim that head or you will regret it later, especially if you are fiddling with the pump

I'm going to take my chances with this one, I went over it with a straight edge and feeler gauge from end to end, between cylinders (horizontally and vertically) and diagonally. No gaps or warps. If it goes it goes

HG wasn't gone on this one just burned a lot of oil due to worn stem seals. The valves came out very easy and the seals were rock hard.....

I'll be rebuilding the Xantia engine anyway, hope to source out a HDi oil pump, rods and a NAD cam for it

MetzgerMeister

I put in a new air filter, microfilter and microfilter housing last night. Now the mircrofilter is actually fully secure the way it should be rather than flapping about a bit due to broken-off clips! The car is now fully serviced for another year

By the way lads, Aldi have a set that contains a mangetic bowl, telescopic magnet with a light built in and a telescopic mirror. Very handy when you're removing screws/bolts from anywhere around the engine bay. One of my pet hates is taking out/replacing screws around the engine bay as they do have a tendency to fall :mad:

challengemaster

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

By the way lads, Aldi have a set that contains a mangetic bowl,

Tis a handy thing to have alright. The only thing I'll say about it is, if you give it a good slap or drop it, the minimal amount of glue they used on the magnetic base will fail. Not that much of a problem, as its the base thats magnetic so the two parts stick together anyway. Just a little bit annoying.

GvidoR

Dark evenings and rain are annoying me. No time to work on the car.

CianRyan

GvidoR wrote: »

Dark evenings and rain are annoying me. No time to work on the car.

Dark?
I've been getting home in daylight the past few days, it's great!

advertsfox

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

It mightn't be as bad as you think! What a lot of people seem to forget is that there's usually 2 types of cabin filter you can get - a normal one like the new one above and an activated charcoal one which is black/grey from new.

Most cars come from the factory with the activated charcoal version and then when you go to replace it, you have to specify you want that again or you'll just get the normal one and you'll think the old one is disgustingly toxic looking.

Now, I'm not saying that your old one was charcoal, it could indeed be rotten!

Just something to keep in mind

Good to know, thank you This had me interested so I had to dig it out and see and looks like it actually was white before hand :eek:

GvidoR

CianRyan wrote: »

Dark?
I've been getting home in daylight the past few days, it's great!

You get home quite early then.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

GvidoR wrote: »

You get home quite early then.

Yeah when I'm in work it is dark when i leave and dark when i get back.

dgt

GvidoR wrote: »

Dark evenings and rain are annoying me. No time to work on the car.

Working regurarly in pissy wet conditions and from after my breakfast to midnight (often till about 1am)

No excuses :pac:

Mister Man

Two of my cars got a bit of lovin' today! First time I've managed to get around to doing something in a good while now. Can work in the dark as I've no garage
Gave the VW Golf a full service, which is was crying out for. Running like new now! Delighted I got around to doing it!
Got one of the Parrot CK-3100's for a decent price today, and fitted that into the MG ZR. Works perfectly. Very happy with it. Can finally answer the phone when I'm driving!

bmstuff

Octavia rear view camera and double din radio installation.




Rooting the camera wires







Handsfree mic installed








Rear view camera in action



Phone screen cloning in action. Works well, clicks fine and precisely main use is navigation with Google Maps.

Kaiser D

I think I need something like that in my Legend, the onboard screen is stuck in Japanese.

Gavman84

I changed the pollen filter in the Accord today so hopefully it will help with the foggy windows the whole time! Looks like not been changed ever old v new in the pic shows its manky enough!! Iv also booked the car in for a detail in a few weeks!:D

Atlantic Dawn

Gavman84 wrote: »

I changed the pollen filter in the Accord today so hopefully it will help with the foggy windows the whole time! Looks like not been changed ever old v new in the pic shows its manky enough!! Iv also booked the car in for a detail in a few weeks!:D

Yes it's suprising how much manky air they filter out of the cabin, the old looks like the lungs of a 60 a day smoker.

toastedpickles

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Yes it's suprising how much manky air they filter out of the cabin, the old looks like the lungs of a 60 a day smoker.

I'm not looking forward to taking mine out so :pac:

Gavman84

Ya my car is 09 and I say never changed so 4 or 5 years of work done by it! See how it goes during week definitely seems to have helped.

Paddy@CIRL

I actually meant to write this months ago, but kept getting sidetracked and pretty much forgot about it. A post by MM on here reminded me, so decided to sit down and put this belated update together. Coincides nicely with bmstuff's post above!



Anyone who knows me or who has followed any upgrades I've made to my E90, will know I'm not the sort to just dive in. When choosing any modification, I take my time to research every option available and weigh up the pros and cons of each. As I've slowly tried to build something I'm proud to call my own, one of the main niggles that always annoyed me was that my 2006 E90 was a non-iDrive model. I did research how much it would cost to retrofit iDrive, including installing a new dashboard but decided that it wasn't worth the expense or effort involved.

So, my attention turned to what double-din navigation units were on the market. Pretty much everything I tried left me underwhelmed. The GUIs were clunky, the specifications were poor, the design a little bit too much Max Power. I wanted something easy to use, subtle to look at, just something a little bit more BMW if you get me.

During a rare lunch break at Players Classic in Goodwood last year, I got talking to some of the guys from Kenwood UK who told me to check out their range of double-din and all-in-one DNX units. I was impressed, in particular by their DNX7230DAB which featured a 7" touchscreen, Garmin navigation, DAB, CD, DVD, SD, iPod and a host of customisable features, right down to the colour of the backlighting on the buttons.

The summer is the busiest time of year in my area of work, so I spent most of it sending e-mails back & forth, myself asking a thousand questions and Kenwood replying with a thousand answers. Towards the end of the summer, I took the plunge and ordered the DNX7230 along with the fitting kit and fascia adapter for a 2006 E90. Having built up a nice relationship with Kenwood, they invited me to their HQ in Watford so they could fit it and talk me through the unit's features.



First thing was to remove the OEM Professional radio and heater controls. I would be the first to concede defeat at any sort of wiring, but Keith (from Kenwood) made it all look so easy and talked me through the process.



Before we got ahead of ourselves, Keith chose to install the DAB antenna first. Removing the 'Airbag' plastic badge allows access to the screws which hold the A-pillar trim in place.



With the antenna affixed to the windscreen, we ran the wire down the inside of the A-pillar, behind the dash (accessed by removing the end pieces of plastic from the dashboard) behind the glovebox and into void where the head unit would eventually sit.



We repeated the process on the driver's side with the microphone for the handsfree. Keith told me that as their microphone is directional, fitting it into the OEM microphone location would result in poorer call quality (as the OEM location points down at the centre console, where this is pointed directly at my face).



Wiring it in was straight forward. With a constant live sourced from the car's battery wire behind the glovebox (the constant live leading to the unit has its own in-line fuse) the car's original plugs were inserted into a Connects 2 adapter box, with the plugs from the Kenwood plugged into the other side of said box. A Kenwood patch lead was used to retain MFSW controls.



It was then time to check all functions and operations before refitting the heater controls and the fascia adapter.



The Connects 2 fascia adapter is finished in the same material as other plastics in the cabin, a really nice touch.



Previously, an install like this (essentially anything involving wires) would have scared the life out of me. Maybe it was Keith's expertise, but everything just looked so straightforward. Still, if you're like me I would recommend a pro-installer.



I've been running it for a couple of months now, and really couldn't be happier. There's a big difference in sound quality over the OEM Professional radio and the level of options at hand really allow you to customise this precisely to your preference is staggering. From the tilt angle of the screen (which can be set different when the unit is off) to custom backgrounds, from seemingly endless equaliser settings to the elegant method you can switch between navigation and your music or radio. On my iPhone 5, I can even call up Siri by pressing and holding the 'TEL' button on the unit, with Siri talking back to me over the car's speakers.



In case you were wondering, you can still adjust and reset all the OBC settings (consumption, avg, speed, trip, time, date, etc.) through the steering wheel stalk and screen between the speedometer and rev counter.)



I probably still have only scratched the surface, as everyday I seem to learn something new but I'm confident that I made a good decision here. I've lost no functionality over stock and gained so much. Who needs iDrive?

vectra

Super looking job.

GvidoR

Wow, everything looks like it's done professionally, even the pictures.

bmstuff

Nice on Paddy was just it free?