Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

colm_mcm

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don't think you installed them very well....

Standard where I live.

GvidoR

colm_mcm wrote: »

I don't think you installed them very well....

These are proper clear ones. :pac:

pablo128

GvidoR wrote: »

These are proper clear ones. :pac:

The earth connector on the plug for the rear lights needs to be cleaned up with sandpaper, and closed up a bit so it makes a better connection. A common problem.

GvidoR

pablo128 wrote: »

The earth connector on the plug for the rear lights needs to be cleaned up with sandpaper, and closed up a bit so it makes a better connection. A common problem.

Hmm. They work fine now, I checked all the lights/bulbs. Should I clean up the connection anyway?

obezyana

GvidoR wrote: »

Hmm. They work fine now, I checked all the lights/bulbs. Should I clean up the connection anyway?

I would clean them anyway. I had the same issue, after i cleaned them the lights worked with zero issues.

robbiew

My steering wheel was getting worn and tatty, so i bought a cover from aliexpress and fitted it today, took about 2 hours from start to fin,
Very comfy and less slippage :P

Alanstrainor

Save your money up and get these guys to re-do your wheel properly.

http://royalsteeringwheels.com/

It's not that expensive, and the workmanship is amazing. Although the poor euro to sterling rate will work against you unfortunately. But the work will look OEM, and fantastic.

Not a fan of that cover you put on

robbiew

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Save your money up and get these guys to re-do your wheel properly.

http://royalsteeringwheels.com/

It's not that expensive, and the workmanship is amazing. Although the poor euro to sterling rate will work against you unfortunately. But the work will look OEM, and fantastic.

Not a fan of that cover you put on

If i can get the money together, id like to get the mk6 gti wheel, but for now i'm happy enough, my wheels are the next project though, to get a decent refurbish.

robbiew

OSI wrote: »

Are they the diamond cut Monzas? If so there's no point in getting them refurbed. Most places won't do them, and any I've seen refurbed have turn to crap in no time.

Nah they're the original 18" bbs ch.. it's a 06 grey mk5 3 door gti... i would like the bbs LM's but only thing is the originals are seriously out of my price range, and even though reps are looking tempting, i'll stick with the oems for now..

GvidoR

I would usually go from chrome to black, but I did the opposite today. Seems like it was sanded down by someone before.

Before


After


Not quite the OEM look I was hoping for but for €2.99 can, I can't really complain.

the merchant

Last Thursday while on the M7 to a meeting in Shannon my E39 525d developed a pretty heavy misfire. I pulled into J14 services, called George Dalton's garage and spoke to Tadhg (GD was on holliers). He said that if the car could make it there they'd take a look right away so I hobbled along the motorway and sure enough as soon as I arrived they checked it over.

Their scan pointed to a misfire on cylinder 2 so they checked the connection, cleaned it up and bingo, away I went to my meeting in Shannon and back to Dublin without a hiccup. Result. In fairness GD's guys were great - they diagnosed the issue and did what they could to get me back on the road.

That evening I got back into the car and the misfire was back :-(. I pulled the engine covers off and "wiggled" the connection to injector 2 and could replicate the issue. I remembered Ed China having to replace a injector loom on a M57 engine in a Range Rover once so over the weekend I got a loom on adverts from a 530d for €30, fitted it this evening and it's running sweet one again.

I do love a cheap fix to a potentially expensive problem.

The offending article...

YbFocus

Gotta love the cheap fixes

howyegettinon1

Fixed my rain sensor!!
The adhisive pad was put on arse ways by the previous owner. So did a DIY job with some clean silicone.
Got all the info from here great post!! http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=615032

Ded_Zebra

Can't for the life of me work out what that picture is of but fair play to ya!

colm_mcm

He's done an X-ray of it to make sure it's properly stuck.


(Or click the link)

dr.fuzzenstein

Had a look at my Cmax fanbelt today is it was making a horrible metal on metal squealing sound. Found out the nut holding the idler in had come lose and the whole thing was spinning round and about to come off, what a nice mess that would have made.



Took it apart, gave it a clean, lots of grease, put it back together again and no more noise like a pig getting knifed to death.
Interesting Ford Fact:
In order to release the fanbelt tension, you need to insert a screw into a hole in the tensioner and tighten it. That will cause the belt to go slack. I was scratching my head about that for 2 hours before finding one teeny, tiny little reference online.

edit:

here it is:



Insert screw where the arrow is shown, this will force the tensioner idler downwards and release the belt. Damned clever those chaps!
If you're ever doing this, you have to jack up the car, take off the wheel, remove the wheel arch liner and drop the lower engine cover. Not great, but could be worse.


Further edit:
Took the exhaust out of the MX5 and brought it to a friend to get welded. The mechanic who welded it in in the first place must have used a rod welder instead of a MIG. It was only tacked and the welds that where there were nothing but pigeonsh*t. Car sounded like a bag of spanners.
Now it's all lovely and welded with no gas escaping, the car is unrecognizable to what it was before. No pics, because I couldn't be arsed.

I will attempt a decoking by spraying water into the inlet, I will keep you updated with pictures and sound of resulting success or huge explosion.
This could be a new thing on boards, waterboarding your engine.

Foxhole Norman

Did the front pads with the brother earlier today, replaced the old one's with Hella Pagid's.



The old :eek:

Noccy_Mondy

Bright trousers and working on cars never go well!

dr.fuzzenstein

Sure there was another 10k left on those pads.

cletus

Halfords Pro range ftw

Foxhole Norman

cletus wrote: »

Halfords Pro range ftw

The brother works in P.R Reilly's so gets stuff discounted, tis handy out!

dr.fuzzenstein

Well, the CMax is still squealing a little, so I had to order the idler, nothing to report there, it will look exactly the same as the post above.
Meanwhile!
Something I did to her car:

(I wouldn't dare post this on the detailing forum, I'm sure every single thing I did was wrong)
Gave her a good soak with the garden hose and the broke out the car shampoo bought in Lidl years and years ago (tells you how often I was my cars), bucket and microfiber glove, gave it a good soap and a scrub and afterwards went to work with the turps and a cloth to get rid of the tar. The turps did this surprisingly well. After that a T-Cut (mention this on detailing and you'll get tarred and feathered), because the paint is 15 years old and covered in grime and scratches, it was time for drastic measures.
Looks great from a distance! :pac::D (just don't look too close):P

Noccy_Mondy

Aghhhh tyre shine man!!!

Would finish it off.

dr.fuzzenstein

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

Aghhhh tyre shine man!!!

Would finish it off.

I hate that sh*t, makes the tires look like they're hard, solid plastic.
Besides, today was only body. The hood and interior are still filthy. Still needs a shampoo and valet. Really cleaning a car inside out takes feckin' days.

nd

The inside of the alloys need a bit of a scrub too

dr.fuzzenstein

nd wrote: »

The inside of the alloys need a bit of a scrub too

The alloys need a refurb, they are peeling and leaking air. Anyone got any suggestions for someone in the Limerick region?
The hood just needs replacing. But with new wheels and hood, this could be a nice car. But getting a good hood on a budget is hard, will have to consider fitting it myself, but that job looks like a nightmare.
I should have posted a before picture, it looked like utter sh*t, yes, even worse than those pics.

Sh1tbag OToole

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

I hate that sh*t, makes the tires look like they're hard, solid plastic.
Besides, today was only body. The hood and interior are still filthy. Still needs a shampoo and valet. Really cleaning a car inside out takes feckin' days.

never seen the point in that stuff meself. I got a part worn tyre there a while back for a spare and there was some gunk on it that rubs off onto yer hands fierce easy, dunno if it's the same but equally pointless. Is it the UV light that turns the tyres grey or something else?

nd

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

The alloys need a refurb, they are peeling and leaking air. Anyone got any suggestions for someone in the Limerick region?
The hood just needs replacing. But with new wheels and hood, this could be a nice car. But getting a good hood on a budget is hard, will have to consider fitting it myself, but that job looks like a nightmare.
I should have posted a before picture, it looked like utter sh*t, yes, even worse than those pics.

I know the sign over right price tyres in Kilmallock says they do alloy repairs but I've no experience of using them.

ps the tyre treatment from lidl (or aldi can't remember which one) works really well if you clean the tyre well before hand. It makes the tyre just look more black, not plasticy.

MetzgerMeister

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

The alloys need a refurb, they are peeling and leaking air. Anyone got any suggestions for someone in the Limerick region?
The hood just needs replacing. But with new wheels and hood, this could be a nice car. But getting a good hood on a budget is hard, will have to consider fitting it myself, but that job looks like a nightmare.
I should have posted a before picture, it looked like utter sh*t, yes, even worse than those pics.

Wheel Doctor in Tipperary Town might be a good place for you. He's the only one I know around this area who does that anyway. Otherwise I would suggest Wheel Wizards in Finglas.

dr.fuzzenstein

http://www.wheelfix.ie/wheel-refurbishing/

Anyone know this crowd?