Car Maintenance

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Just a heads up for anyone with a car with a turbo that they are driving more gently due to winter weather and/or less frequently due to home working. I was having to do this I had an issue with my car last week (engine management light, vehicle lacking oomph) and long story short it was the turbo actuator seizing up. My excellent mechanic loosened it up for free while burning his hand on the hot engine. No love is as strong as your love for your first honest mechanic!

He says they have been seeing a lot of this with the pandemic as cars are used less and this particular part can seize up. Advice is to make sure that once a week you activate the turbo in your car (e.g. hit 2,500 revs by driving in a lower than normal gear, say 2nd instead of 3rd), preferably on an uphill where this is easy and safe to do. This will help prevent the part from seizing up. It's a £250 fix for a replacement but if you have a disreputable mechanic they can easily charge you over £1,000, and from checking forums, this is a pretty regular occurrence.

If you are commuting via motorway etc it's unlikely you'll encounter this issue.

 

[dullonien]

I've been reaserching lately why we're not all driving hydrogen cars like we were told we would be 20 years ago. This video popped up on my feed, which despite being made by a tech channel is probably the best and most rounded answer + a good look at what the future holds for Hydrogen power.

I think the conclusion that the future includes both hydrogen and electric vehicles is a sensible one. And the ideal scenario of turning excess electricity into compressed hydrogen is a great one imo.

 

[ncurd]

Some twat clipped my driver side wing mirror boxing day (parked side of road, plenty of room for fire engine to get by unless someone else parked like a dick whilst it was left), cosmetic damage to the LED and the housing bought OEM parts myself and just manged to replace with some youtube help in less than an hour. Cost me £72.21 in parts but at least there was no labour cost.

Kinda wish they'd done more damage so I had a reason to get the fucker on his insurance with the dash cam.

 

[dullonien]

Kinda wish they'd done more damage so I had a reason to get the fucker on his insurance with the dash cam.

Don't underestimate the imact of making a claim on your insurance premium though. I believe that even protected no-claims only applies to the insurance company you're with at that time, so would have to declare claim when shopping for future deals.

Probably need quite a few hundred pounds of damage to make it worth a claim.

 

[ncurd]

Don't underestimate the imact of making a claim on your insurance premium though. I believe that even protected no-claims only applies to the insurance company you're with at that time, so would have to declare claim when shopping for future deals.

Probably need quite a few hundred pounds of damage to make it worth a claim.

Aye that's one of the reasons I didn't bother. Had that before, we have something like 18 years no claims and our insurance went up because one person went in the back of wife once for a few years as we had made a claim within 3 years.

 

[dullonien]

Aye that's one of the reasons I didn't bother. Had that before, we have something like 18 years no claims and our insurance went up because one person went in the back of wife once for a few years as we had made a claim within 3 years.

Yeah, petsonally think it's unfair. Only accidents that's your fault should affect your premium imo. Gov should put more legislation in place to protect innocent road users.

 

[dullonien]

Haven't updated this thread in a while, but still been tinkering with bits and pieces.

I've been having some issues with the DSC (dynamic stability control) again recently, the light was flashing and causing the car to judder when turning right. Been running with DSC turned off for a few weeks, but not ideal as chances are the ABS wasn't active either.

Some tests showed some abnomalies with the rear left wheel speed sensor (spikes in wheel speed when viewing thr live data), so ordered a replacement. Couldn't find any Bosch or ATE in stock anywhere in the UK, so had to order from Germany. There were cheap aftermarket sensors available on ebay, but sensors like that tend to be rubbish and don't last...

Got to replacing it today. The old one had obvious wear to the tip which is the reason for the faults. The sesor shouldn't actually touch the reluctor ring, so likelihood is there's some rust that's deformed the reluctor ring from behind. This will need looking at sometime, but involves removing the hub, disc backplate etc. For now I've spaced the new sensor about 1mm further out with a washer to hopefully stop it from wearing, but I'll have to check in a few days if that's ok. It all works as it should for now though, so happy enough.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Ford Fiesta fans on why they love their cars

As Ford announces the end of the Fiesta, keen fans sing its praises and mourn its loss.

www.bbc.co.uk

RIP. Was my first car as well.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

As much as I love the modcons, I do hate the ambiguity of everything in a car being electrical these days

Had a parking brake warning message on my car last week, got a bit worried but it all worked fine - this morning had another warning about the brakes.
Is it just muck on a sensor? Are my brakes about to fail? Who knows!
Got to take it to a garage next week for them to do their diagnostics guff to see what's the issue

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

As much as I love the modcons, I do hate the ambiguity of everything in a car being electrical these days

Had a parking brake warning message on my car last week, got a bit worried but it all worked fine - this morning had another warning about the brakes.
Is it just muck on a sensor? Are my brakes about to fail? Who knows!
Got to take it to a garage next week for them to do their diagnostics guff to see what's the issue

My dad's Skoda has proximity sensors, which are a nightmare on country roads. The car thinks it knows best and has a tendency to slam on the brakes at completely the wrong time. It's actually making things more dangerous as it's removing the predictability in how the car is going to handle.

 

[BrokenWing]

My dad's Skoda has proximity sensors, which are a nightmare on country roads. The car thinks it knows best and has a tendency to slam on the brakes at completely the wrong time. It's actually making things more dangerous as it's removing the predictability in how the car is going to handle.

Mine's the same.

Pensioner on the pavement - slam on the brakes.

Driving through roadworks which make the road single lane and as you come up to the traffic waiting in the other direction - slam on the brakes.

Parked on your drive with the brakes on, 2 feet from your garage door and your foot slips and brushes the accelerator - weirdly take OFF the brakes.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yes! Had exactly the same as well - when it snowed last years my sensors were going mental thinking I was up against a brick wall, and I've had the emergency collision system kick in when the person in front of my is turning onto a slipway, or similar, and it thinks I've just decided to smash into them for a laugh

 

[dullonien]

As much as I love the modcons, I do hate the ambiguity of everything in a car being electrical these days

Had a parking brake warning message on my car last week, got a bit worried but it all worked fine - this morning had another warning about the brakes.
Is it just muck on a sensor? Are my brakes about to fail? Who knows!
Got to take it to a garage next week for them to do their diagnostics guff to see what's the issue

I'd advise getting one of the OBDII bluetooth modules + an app like Torque on your phone. They can't read all fault codes, but can be useful to quickly check why a warning light might be illuminated.

I've got a full copy of the BMW diagnosics software (INPA) on my laptop + a cheap OBDII -> USB cable, so I can do full diagnostics, see realtime data, clear any codes etc. I know there's the equivalent available online for VAG group cars too, usually via forums. Worth exploring if you're tech savvy.

It might be that you'd still need to go to a garage to get it fixed, but might still help to understand if the issue is serious, help when booking the car in at the garage, or even allow you to know whether a garage is being honest about the fault with the car.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Definitely gonna look into that, cheers

 

[dullonien]

Man it's been a busy year with my ageing car. Had to do a ton of maintenance and some optional upgrades (not to everyone's tastes I'm sure). So, deep breath, here goes:

- late last year my car developed an exhause leak, found that it was blowing where the downpipes meet the center section, one side of the flange completely rusted where it bolts together. Options were to get a new flange welded on, or upgrade with a new s/s cat-back system. New Scorpion system it was, resonated to ensure it's not too loud/drony, but adds a lovely tone to the inline 6.



- next came my final attempt to stem my oil leak, and it was replacing the oil pan gasket. Big old job, supporting the engine from above and dropping the subframe. Well worth it though, as it's all sorted now.



- and so to earlier this year, preparing for MOT I noticed my rear brakeline bracket was corroded, so started investigating further, and oh boy, down the rabbit hole (or rust hole) I went. Uncovered all sorts off rust hidden under the fuel tank/above the rear subframe! Car was off the road for 6+ weeks as I ****** off my neighbours cutting out the rotten metal and fabricating patch panels.



Brother in law assisted in welding averything in one weekend, and I took the opportunity to weld in strengthening plates at the rear subframe mounting points which are prone to cracking on these cars. Completely refreshed everything with new bushes, brake lines, braided hoses etc. and fully painted/undersealed the rear end to prevent future corrosion. Super happy with the results.



- car still failed MOT due to omissions though , so out came the old cats, replaced with some new. Flew through the next test.

- and so, onto the final bit of work I've recently completed. For once some vanity/modding, rather than just fixing. I picked up some new wheels a good while ago, but hadn't got around to fitting them yet, so a few weeks ago I set out to get them fitted. I'm not one for taking the easy route, and I wanted some wheels with some deep polished lips... which didn't really fit at all well, waaay to wide. So out came the arch roller (no pics of this sorry) to roll/pull the arches, and I dialled in a little more camber to get them to fit. Not too keen on the amount of camber, a little aggressive for me, but it works for now until I tackle the rusty arches next year at which point I can so some more extreme arch pulling prior to paint. Here they are during a diy string alignment. Personally I love the look, but I'm sure many would be of the opinion I've ruined the car lol.



And that's it, as I said a very busy year, lots spent, but safeguarded the car for the forseable. There has been more too, things like another water pump, new radiator + hoses, front and rear camber plates/arms, refreshed shifter linkages + short throw shifter upgrade from a BMW 540i, handbrake shoes, extracting broken bleed nipples from brake callipers etc. I'm sure it'll throw another curveball at some point, but I am at a stage where I've replaced most of the bloody parts on this car + a decent chunk of the metal lol, so there can't be too much more I don't know of. Time to enjoy it for a while!

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

that car is pretty and you treat it well. Incredible work.