Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

YbFocus

CianRyan wrote: »

Not a whole 740i!
You wouldn't even get a front wing for that.

My thinking exactly! A proper pro spec spray on that car would be minimum 1k.

GvidoR

CianRyan wrote: »

Not a whole 740i!
You wouldn't even get a front wing for that.

I have no idea what car he has. I never said you can buy a 740i for 350 euro either... Well maybe you can... one that's turned into a little cube.

dar83

You and your whole cars for peanuts... :pac:

There's one thing buying a 'car' for let's say €350, there's a whole other thing spending that money on doing something to a nice car that may improve it.

I don't mean this is a nasty way, but some day you'll see.

dgt

GvidoR wrote: »

I have no idea what car he has. I never said you can buy a 740i for 350 euro either... Well maybe you can... one that's turned into a little cube.

Plenty to learn my boy. You're not looking hard enough

GvidoR

Yes, yes I understand there is a difference between a Nissan Micra and a Audi S4.

I'm just saying how it's strange that some things that make up 1% or less of the car cost more than 100% of another car. Getting a car re-sprayed for example will cost a fortune but there are other ways to save money. For example you could wrap it yourself, have it glossy or matt, whatever and it will be very good too and much cheaper. It's more fun doing things yourself anyway and more rewarding especially when you save lots of money. I don't know if I need to repeat myself or not, but everyone is different, I am not pushing anyone to do anything they don't want. You want to get it resprayed? Respray it. Just an example, don't take anything too seriously.

joujoujou

Car's been checked prior to NCT (due on sunday, 16th of March).

Headlights adjusted - OK.

Brakes checked - OK.

Suspension checked - OK.

Winter tyres dumped, summer setup on alloys in. New front tyres on. Rear ones to be changed soon (2.5mm of tread left).

colm_mcm

New back discs and pads. old ones were in tatters

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Today I did something to.... my superb.
Well, to be more precise, I didn't.

It failed the NCT.

Nothing major, just headlight alignment off. Still an irritant thpugh

YbFocus

Ah sickening man, at least though it has a great bill of health otherwise
All ripe for 12k

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Aye that's the plan.:)
I'll have to drop her off somewhere to get the headlight allignment done, can't do that one meself- feckin' typical.

YbFocus

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Aye that's the plan.:)
I'll have to drop her off somewhere to get the headlight allignment done, can't do that one meself- feckin' typical.

Why?

A bit of level ground and a wall.

That's how I've done all mine!

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Never done it myself, stupid question, how do I know when it is aligned correctly?
I thought I would have to bring it somewhere, with [redneck voice] one o' them there fancy machinin' yokes [/redneck]

YbFocus

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Never done it myself, stupid question, how do I know when it is aligned correctly?
I thought I would have to bring it somewhere, with [redneck voice] one o' them there fancy machinin' yokes [/redneck]

I always make sure the car is straight for the wall and on level ground.
Then I adjust the lights so the beam is ever so slightly lower than the actual lights on the car and equally so left.
You'll know as you drive it just after if they're correct.

It's always got me by the tests, even adjusted lately for the nightbreakers

CiniO

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Never done it myself, stupid question, how do I know when it is aligned correctly?
I thought I would have to bring it somewhere, with [redneck voice] one o' them there fancy machinin' yokes [/redneck]

Usually you should have a sticker with percentage value under the bonnet showing correct lights adjustment.
Some cars have 1%. Some 1.3%. Some slight different value.
For NCT purposes, light must be adjusted between 0.5% and 2%, but surely it's best to adjust it to manufacturer specific value.

1% means that your dipped lights beam must go down by 1cm per every 1 meter away from the car.

So what you need to do is measure the height of your lights directly by the car. Say f.e. it's 70cm from the ground.
Then you measure the height of the beam from some distance in front of the car.
1 meter away from the car it should be 69cm.
10 meters away - 60cm.
20 meters away - 20cm.
That's all assuming 1% value.
If you car says 1.3% f.e, then
1 meter from the car beam should be at 68.7cm height.
10 meters from the car - 57cm.
20 meters from the car - 44cm.

Hope I described it clearly.

That's the way I always adjust my lights. Never failed NCT with it.

I'm not sure about horizontal setting (left and right). Never touched mine, and was always fine.

Bpmull

YbFocus wrote: »

I always make sure the car is straight for the wall and on level ground.
Then I adjust the lights so the beam is ever so slightly lower than the actual lights on the car and equally so left.
You'll know as you drive it just after if they're correct.

It's always got me by the tests, even adjusted lately for the nightbreakers

Is there normally a screw on the top of the light to adjust the dipped beam ? How close does the front of the car need to be to the wall I'd imagine that would effect that ? Octavia ones are a bit high not a lot but a bit.

YbFocus

Bpmull wrote: »

Is there normally a screw on the top of the light to adjust the dipped beam ? How close does the front of the car need to be to the wall I'd imagine that would effect that ? Octavia ones are a bit high not a lot but a bit.

In or around a metre bp, let them down just a touch and bring it for a quick spin you'll instantly know.
There should be 2 adjusters, usually either a flathead Screwdriver or an Allen key type setup.

One does left right, the other up down. You'll know instantly anyways

Cleveland Hot Pocket

YbFocus wrote: »

In or around a metre bp, let them down just a touch and bring it for a quick spin you'll instantly know.
There should be 2 adjusters, usually either a flathead Screwdriver or an Allen key type setup.

One does left right, the other up down. You'll know instantly anyways

Cheers YB, I'll have to give it a try during the week. Hate payin' for stuff when I can do it myself.

YbFocus

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Cheers YB, I'll have to give it a try during the week. Hate payin' for stuff when I can do it myself.

No hassle man, if I was closer to you I'd call over!

Pops_20

Already posted in the Audio sub-forum but here it goes anyway.

The rear speakers in the Astra have not worked since I got the car, so I decided to take apart the door today and see what was going on.



Door card is tricky enough to get off if you've never done it before, like me.



The speaker came out easily enough. After some work with the multimeter, I found out that the wiring should be ok, as there is a current flowing through when the radio is turned on. I thought it must have been the speaker at fault so started putting the door back together. I shorted the speaker (connected to the wire) to the door through the multimeter by accident and it started working. I thought this was a bit strange but hoped for the best and put the speaker back in the door. Turned radio off and on again and the speakers stopped working again.

Here's the wiring connector.




There are some drain holes at the bottom of the door, I presume to let moisture out? I presume water can get in here as well, which could be causing the problems?




Going to leave the door cards and speakers off until I can figure this one out...

pred racer

YbFocus wrote: »

No hassle man, if I was closer to you I'd call over!

You can do it for him tomorrow :pac:

Cleveland Hot Pocket

pred racer wrote: »

You can do it for him tomorrow :pac:

Jaysus I wouldn't bring the superb to a meet :eek:
Hate the sight of it, barely enough power to drag itself along.

I'll be in the datsun tomorrrow

Cheers for the offer all the same YBFocus

pred racer

@pops_20

If the speaker worked when you connected one wire to the door then you are missing the earth/ground for the speaker.
Wire them to another ground(I.e the door)

Edit: if you connect the wrong wire to ground there is a good chance you will blow the output amp in your stereo

YbFocus

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Jaysus I wouldn't bring the superb to a meet :eek:
Hate the sight of it, barely enough power to drag itself along.

I'll be in the datsun tomorrrow

Cheers for the offer all the same YBFocus

No hassle man

Pops_20

pred racer wrote: »

@pops_20

If the speaker worked when you connected one wire to the door then you are missing the earth/ground for the speaker.
Wire them to another ground(I.e the door)

Edit: if you connect the wrong wire to ground there is a good chance you will blow the output amp in your stereo

Yes, but I didn't have to ground it off the door for it to work! I grounded it off an unpainted part of the door, there was a small spark, speaker worked, removed the ground and multimeter altogether, speaker still worked!

pred racer

Pops_20 wrote: »

Yes, but I didn't have to ground it off the door for it to work! I grounded it off an unpainted part of the door, there was a small spark, speaker worked, removed the ground and multimeter altogether, speaker still worked!

Let me get this straight, it worked when connected to ground through the multimeter?

Pops_20

pred racer wrote: »

Let me get this straight, it worked when connected to ground through the multimeter?

Yes, and continued to work once the Multimeter positive and negative probes were removed altogether. Obviously the wiring connector from the audio unit was also attached. I even screwed the speaker back into the door. It worked up until I turned off the radio and turned it back on again.

pred racer

Pops_20 wrote: »

Yes, and continued to work once the Multimeter positive and negative probes were removed altogether. Obviously the wiring connector from the audio unit was also attached. I even screwed the speaker back into the door. It worked up until I turned off the radio and turned it back on again.

Were you in continuity (resistance) mode or voltage or current mode on the multimeter when this happened?
I'm still going with a dodgy ground, the other options are too wieird.

Pops_20

The multimeter was in current mode. Yes I agree it is a bit strange. No physical changes were made to the wiring, unless when the multimeter was used to ground the positive wire to the door of the car, it pulled a large current and altered the soldered connection or something? I just don't know.

pred racer

Pops_20 wrote: »

The multimeter was in current mode. Yes I agree it is a bit strange. No physical changes were made to the wiring, unless when the multimeter was used to ground the positive wire to the door of the car, it pulled a large current and altered the soldered connection or something? I just don't know.

When you measured current the multimeter became the connection to ground.
Current checks are done in series (voltage and resistance in parallel)
So, disconnect the speaker and measure the continuity of both the wires to a bare bolt or bit of un painted metal. One of them should read essentially 0.
If it doesn't (which I'm pretty sure it won't) check which wire is the 'live' by doing a DC voltage check between each wire and ground ( bare bolt again) with the stereo on. One will have voltage on it (not much) and the other none. This is the common and is normally connected to ground.

GvidoR

Swearing at my car for having bolts in such awkward places.