Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

shietpilot

Replaced the 2 drop links on the XC90 today. A 30 minute job turned into an hour and a bit! Took ages to loosen the nuts and they were having none of it. Snapped 2 Torx heads in the process (from the Halfords Advanced socket set) but eventually got them off. Absolute pain.....

wotzgoingon

shietpilot wrote: »

Replaced the 2 drop links on the XC90 today. A 30 minute job turned into an hour and a bit! Took ages to loosen the nuts and they were having none of it. Snapped 2 Torx heads in the process (from the Halfords Advanced socket set) but eventually got them off. Absolute pain.....

A trick a guy in a motor factors told me is grind off the nut on drop links and when you are replacing them as they do be well stuck on there .

shietpilot

wotzgoingon wrote: »

A trick a guy in a motor factors told me is grind off the nut on drop links and when you are replacing them as they do be well stuck on there .

My grinder is dead so that would be impossible :pac: I wonder how it will go with Halfords replacing those 2 torx bits though, they better not start moaning about me mistreating them

YbFocus

Should be no problem, I burst two 1/2" drive sockets before, walked out of the shop after 5 mins with my new replacements, no quibble!

job seeker

Whoops forgot to post this here..

Got the alloy fitted.. A great day for the parish! :pac:


Bit a' farming, before a lock a' spuds!

fmcato

I keep making adjustments to my Megane mk2. Changed the windshield wipers. Used cheap rubber ones from Bölk, they are silent! Awesome for the price.

Also changed the cabin filter. The old one has the Renault logo... could it be the one that came with the car back in 2004? Looking at the before and after, it is not a crazy idea...

goo. gl/photos/fHf6pHAUBNkjnBGZ9

Interslice

fmcato wrote: »

I keep making adjustments to my Megane mk2. Changed the windshield wipers. Used cheap rubber ones from Bölk, they are silent! Awesome for the price.

Also changed the cabin filter. The old one has the Renault logo... could it be the one that came with the car back in 2004? Looking at the before and after, it is not a crazy idea...

goo. gl/photos/fHf6pHAUBNkjnBGZ9

Not unusual to pull out original pollen filters. Also yours is a bit of an arse to change. You won't be able to post photos until you've made 50 posts unfortunately..

CIP4

All the filters in my car are Renault none of them are original. Chances are for the first few years of its life the car was serviced in a main dealer so would of got Renault filters. But it still may well be in it a long time I suppose it's possible it's original but unlikely.

Interslice

The aul focus is need of some tlc and some nct. Got new wheels with tyres for it, stuck new rear pads and discs on and threw in a new fuel filter.

Missed it!


New wheels made a huge improvement to how it looks and drives. Little 185/65/14 tyres were too small for the car. Alright on a 1 litre polo or something.


As TP used to say, on to bidness :pac:







many belts of a hammer.. It was fairly attached to this set of pads and discs! Much of the same on the other side. Had to heat one of the discs to get it off. after many belts it was only bending..







... much wire wheeling and brushing, greasing painting and cups of tea later..




Stuck it through the NCT tonight. Failed on a broken coil spring and a corroded rear brake pipe.. handbrake imbalance although the normal brake imbalance was good. They aren't really bedded in yet a bit of head scratching to be done there... and also failure to produce the horn :pac:

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly

Interslice wrote: »

failure to produce the horn :pac:

I had that problem too!:(:pac:
Pulled the airbag off and found that the contacts weren't contacting. Just had to bend them a bit.

Interslice

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly wrote: »

I had that problem too!:(:pac:
Pulled the airbag off and found that the contacts weren't contacting. Just had to bend them a bit.

It was working last week! I can here the relay clicking behind the glove box so i reckon its just the connectors to or the horn itself that fecked. Could be just caked in concrete like the rest of the underside of the car.

fmcato

Interslice wrote: »

Not unusual to pull out original pollen filters. Also yours is a bit of an arse to change. You won't be able to post photos until you've made 50 posts unfortunately..

If you are interested in the photo you can just copy the link into the URL bar and erase the space after "goo.", then hit enter.

The filter was not hard to change at all. Only, you must make sure it is either flexible or can be broken in segments so you can bend it when placing it in the hole next to the clutch pedal. I bought a Mann filter in Mister Auto that had no plastic casing, so it was flexible all right.

CIP4 wrote: »

All the filters in my car are Renault none of them are original. Chances are for the first few years of its life the car was serviced in a main dealer so would of got Renault filters. But it still may well be in it a long time I suppose it's possible it's original but unlikely.

You are right, according to the service book it was serviced in main dealers as recently as last year. But it is hard to believe the filter is only a year old! You can see it is black, collapsed with leaves and smelled damp.

After changing the filter the air through the fans is more intense and does not carry any smell. It will also probably defog the windshield much better next time it rains. Glad I made such an easy and cheap change.

CIP4

fmcato wrote: »

You are right, according to the service book it was serviced in main dealers as recently as last year. But it is hard to believe the filter is only a year old! You can see it is black, collapsed with leaves and smelled damp.

After changing the filter the air through the fans is more intense and does not carry any smell. It will also probably defog the windshield much better next time it rains. Glad I made such an easy and cheap change.

Looking at the picture it looks to be in it a few years at least alright it's dirty enough. But just to note that filter would have always been a blackish colour as it would be an activated carbon pollen filter that would be fitted by Renault not a plain white one so it didn't turn black. Basically with pollen/ cabin filters you have two choices a cheaper standard (white) filter and an activated carbon filter (black/grey) which is more expensive. However activated carbon is one of the most porous materials out there so it captures a certain amount of the odour coming into the cabin.

The fact the old one was damp and dirty would mean the air resistance would be increased meaning less air would get into the car and it would also fog up easier. But it shouldn't be damp so you must have water / coolant ingress somewhere.

fmcato

CIP4 wrote: »

Looking at the picture it looks to be in it a few years at least alright it's dirty enough. But just to note that filter would have always been a blackish colour as it would be an activated carbon pollen filter that would be fitted by Renault not a plain white one so it didn't turn black. Basically with pollen/ cabin filters you have two choices a cheaper standard (white) filter and an activated carbon filter (black/grey) which is more expensive. However activated carbon is one of the most porous materials out there so it captures a certain amount of the odour coming into the cabin.

The fact the old one was damp and dirty would mean the air resistance would be increased meaning less air would get into the car and it would also fog up easier. But it shouldn't be damp so you must have water / coolant ingress somewhere.

Thanks for the info. Thankfully it only smelled like damp, but it was not (completely dry when feeling it). Perhaps an alarming way to describe the odour!

I also remember the car fogging up a lot when it was cold and rainy... hope the improvement is radical!

Interslice

Speaking of manky filters. Forgot to upload this pic of the the old fuel filter. Smoother to drive now, especially in traffic. Lifting off the accelerator doesn't pull on the engine.

LawlessBoy

Modification more so then maintenance. Picked these up today. The arch gap on my Passat needs to be sorted out though before they are going to be fitted permanently. They also need a good clean, polish and to be sealed.


My friend also test fit them to his audi to see how they would look.


EDIT: Sorry about the image sizes! Theyre from my phone!

job seeker

They are class alloys! well wear!

LawlessBoy

job seeker wrote: »

There class alloys! well wear!

Thanks got them for a steal. They do need a good polish though! Not fitting them to the car until its lowered though that arch gap would make me ill.

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly

Those wheels are woeful. Absolutely gash.

shietpilot

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly wrote: »

Those wheels are woeful. Absolutely gash.

Those kind of wheels seem to be pretty popular in the VAG scene. Not something I'd be interested in myself but each to their own :P

Performance mods is where it's at

Special Circumstances

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly wrote: »

Those wheels are woeful. Absolutely gash.

I dunno... A few more subtle mods and those wheels could really set a VAG off nicely.

LawlessBoy

Roger Mellie Man on the Telly wrote: »

Those wheels are woeful. Absolutely gash.

Each to their own

LawlessBoy

shietpilot wrote: »

Performance mods is where it's at

Performance mods arent as cheap :pac::pac:

Stallingrad

Jaysus Lawless, I thought that was a wind up with those wheels! They are they ugliest alloys I've ever seen. Each to their own but sometimes you need top be saved from yourself!

Hal1

I think they might look alright if resprayed black.

LawlessBoy

We can just call them marmite haha

JohnBoy26

Imagine hitting a pot hole with those :eek:

CorkMan_

On Wednesday I tackled a problem my father was having with his 2006 320i. A while ago it went into limp mode and upon BMW scanning it we were told it was a problem with the Valvetronic Motor. They reset the error and the car was fine for a good while. It then went into limp mode again so someone else suggested taking out the two solenoids for the camshafts and cleaning them but they were perfect. So got a new Valvetronic Motor unit from BMW and I put in it. Straight forward to do.

Didn't take a pic of engine bay before I started but it looked like this - albeit a lot dustier!






Clean engine for 183k miles



New unit in



More or less back together, put new gaskets on too.



Once all back together, reconnet the battery and then put the ignition on but don't start the car. Leave it for a minute. Repeat 4 or 5 times and then start the car, this is for the ecu to relearn the new unit etc.

Car definitely has more pick up now and is running perfectly. An independant garage wanted 500 to change it. We got the new unit and new gaskets (all BMW oem) for 285 so a decent enough saving imo.

Voodoomelon

^^Great work! I never noticed the valvetronic motor lying on it's side like that on the four cylinder engine, it sticks head first into the bank on the V8s.


So I dropped the S-Type in for its NCT an hour ago, the moment of truth...


Fail! But it was expected to in some shape or form.
Front tyre can be swapped for the spare, easy fix. Didn't see the rusty brake line, but not too expensive.

The ball joint is fairly clear cut, but the tester didn't mark what ball joint it was.

Once can only assume it's the last picture, the drop link ball joint?

shietpilot

No better hangover cure than servicing the car. Did the 4th oil change this year :pac: