Today I did something to my car (volume 2)

You could always sell on what you don't use.

How good does the air con work in a convertible :P.

blackbox wrote: »

Took my car to the Air Con man today (AutoAircon, Parkwest)

I've had the car for a couple of years and the air-con never worked. I'ts kind of superfluous on a convertible (MR2), but it's also kind of annoying having something that doesn't work.

Anyway, the man vacuumed the system out, leak tested it and recharged it with oil and gas. He had the proper gear. He also sterilised the ducts with ozone - not sure about that bit.

It's working perfectly now and hopefully will keep going for a while.

€45 well spent.

Brought the green 166 to the same guy and he did an excellent job. No leaks in my system and he knew what he was talking about.

Got the 159 done there three weeks ago and same result.

Money well spent indeed.


Did I mention he found no leaks on the 166?

I gave the car a much needed cleaning. The wheels got some korrosol, apc'd the panels, snowfoamed, got into all the corners, even inside the fuel cap, then 2bm rinse down, cleaned the glass and gave her the demon shine experience.

canhefixit wrote: »

Pics are GTFO

No, I don't think pics are GTFO.

I picked up an OBDll bluetooth reader for about €10 on eBay and paid €4.50 for the Torque app for Android phones, have to say i'm pretty impressed with its functionality.

Anyways, I plugged it into the S-Type to get to the bottom of the ABS lights and engine light:



It seems both rear ABS sensors are gonzo, along with the engine's top knock sensor under the intake manifold. Should have them all replaced in an afternoon, hopefully under the €100 mark for all three.

Yup, very handy! I was surprised it read the ABS codes as they're on a sub level, showed up just fine.

Diabhalta wrote: »

yeah, I suppose that compound for plastic is smoother. But I don't want to spend 20 euro just to buy a bottle and use it once. Shame there isn't a small bottle for like 7 euro available somewhere.

You could try Displex. I've used it on watches, CDs and the like, but it should work fine on car clocks. Plenty of sellers on eBay/Amazon.

Dont know would that apply here, but today done some work on colegues car - hyndai i30 , 08. He said there was shuddering when braking, he went to one local garage in Celbridge, wihout lifting car, after short test drive mechanick dignosed warped brake disk on front. But colegue didnt go ahead, he rang me, asked could i do, as he want save a bit of money too. I said ok, ill do it, .... Not really fancy do outside work, as I have plenty my own to do, he is grand guy, so ok for some small fee ill do that work.
I have picked up parts from local parts shop, and when guy came over, i asked for typical signs if warped disks, vibrating steering wheel or brake pedal while braking, but there was non of these, so i looked on that side properly, took off the wheel, and diskovered that ball joint has movement. Went to parts shop, picked up ball joint, replaced, and imagine of what .. shuddering gone.

Well done local Celbridg garage, one costumer less for definite.

Hal1 wrote: »

That's very quick off the mark the criticize a mechanics diagnoses though. They would be common symptoms of that particular problem. Without looking at the car on a ramp it would be difficult to pin point exactly what part was at fault.

I done my fuel filter today. It took me 45 minutes due to the awkward location. It's done and responds a lot better when I blip the throttle.

How to not criticize mechanic if there was no symptoms of warped brake disks. Thats just rip off, they would change brake discs and symptom would be in present, that ball joint would be " extra work to do" and charged extra, weekly wages would be gone for unneeded work done. I am not worry, as i am not going to garages fix my car, but imagine how many people who has no known mechanic who may look over, been done that way.

Mar4ix wrote: »

Well done local Celbridg garage, one costumer less for definite.

Well done to them indeed. Sounds like they could do without business like yours.

Some fella rocking up, looking for a quick, off the cuff diagnosis without making an appointment for a proper inspection.

Then when they get the "diagnosis" for free, they take the car back and get a friend who knows a bit about cars to change the parts in his back yard.

And then to add icing to the cake, you come online to slate the garage for misdiagnosing a car that you didn't offer them a proper chance to diagnose in the first place and had no intention of offering the business to.

There's only one person out of line here and it's not the garage imo.

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Well done to them indeed. Sounds like they could do without business like yours.

Some fella rocking up, looking for a quick, off the cuff diagnosis without making an appointment for a proper inspection.

Then when they get the "diagnosis" for free, they take the car back and get a friend who knows a bit about cars to change the parts in his back yard.

And then to add icing to the cake, you come online to slate the garage for misdiagnosing a car that you didn't offer them a proper chance to diagnose in the first place and had no intention of offering the business to.

There's only one person out of line here and it's not the garage imo.

There is problem with garage attitude to costumers. If they would lift the car, show and explain the problem, and quote the price, ill bet that guy wouldnt come to me.
Their oppinion been based on wrong guess, even owner before said me there is a problem with something , but not with brakes ( it was me who sent him to fix car in garage, as i said earlier i am not taking cars from outside) , by description over phone sound like a droplink or balljoint, but after missdiagnose easy diagnosed problem , there was no way to go to that garage.

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Maybe if they were given a chance to take the wheel off and inspect the problem they may have discovered the same problem as you. You are quick to criticize the garage but as you said yourself your mate wanted the job done on the cheap(which is why they went to you) so regardless of what the garage said I'd doubt if your mate would of let them do anything to the car.

I dont know to be honest why my colegue did that, he could come stright to me, save good bit of hassle going to garage, seems to be he wasnt happy with them.

The only bad design is how the rear shock is mounted, its a bitch to get the top nut on one side.
I remember doing mine and ended up cutting the shock shaft with an angle grinder.

Its the one job I remember being a pain, everything else is so easy to do.
Timing belt you can do in half an hour.
Doing the bushes in the front lower control arms is a bit of a pain, shock is a pain.
All the rest is plug and play nearly.