Car D.I.Y.

[Tom B]

Decided to get a few jobs done on the Mrs' 'Onda Jazz, last Thursday its due MOT and it probably would be fine, but it needed a bit of post winter love.

Took the car to the parents house as they're equipped with a garage, drive, tools and are likely to provide lunch, copious tea and childminding.

I was rather cock-a-hoop that I'd ordered all the bits and it wouldn't take long.

1. Replace rear wiper arm the was broken a couple of years ago in an aldi carpark interface issue. I'd been meaning to do it for ages but couldn't get the pressed off nut off the shaft. I'd ordered some little whizzer disks for the Dremel which made short work of the nut. I then found the replacement arm was the incorrect model and a fraction too long. - Fail 1

2. Strip and clean the rear brakes - I noticed that one side wasn't keeping its track on the disk as shiney as the other side. The rear calliper's are a bit naff on this car and the handbrake isn't the best so it always benefits from a strip and clean to get it to the required MOT efficiency. Stripped the first side off expecting the pads to be fine, but found the pads wedge shaped. Further examination found one of the calliper slides to be seized into the carrier. It was only removed with brute force heat and ignorance it was rusty and damaged where the Old man had clobbered it while "helping". This is where it all went wrong!

Zipped off to the local motor factors to buy a replacement slide kit and some pads, returned 90 mins later to find that the slides in the kit didn't fit. With school home time looming for the first born, borrowed the old mans car and went back to the factors, only to find they had nothing to fit and the computer said no.

The following morning drove around various other parts suppliers to find nothing in stock so ended up having to order one from Honda for £23! And it wouldn't arrive until Monday.

FF to Monday

Part collected and back to the job at hand, within 3 hours, I'd put the RNS back together with new pads, stripped cleaned and reassembled the ROS, replaced the pads on the front, having checked the disks had life in them. I dropped the oil, replaced the filters and a few missing clips, put a big jubilee clip around a rattling heat shield, adjusted the handbrake, I then polished the headlights and lubed the boot catch.

Drove home, and realised I'd left the house keys at the parents house.

Oh hum - 3 days to do 3 or so hours work!

 

[rogerzilla]

I upgraded the speakers in the Jimny doors using the Suzuki 10cm to 13cm adaptor kit. Unfortunately only certain speakers fit the adaptor rings, and they're not really good ones. I had to use £20 Pioneers when I'd already bought £60 Rockford Fosgates. When is a 13cm speaker not a 13cm speaker? Ask Suzuki.

 

[CXRAndy]

I upgraded the speakers in the Jimny doors using the Suzuki 10cm to 13cm adaptor kit. Unfortunately only certain speakers fit the adaptor rings, and they're not really good ones. I had to use £20 Pioneers when I'd already bought £60 Rockford Fosgates. When is a 13cm speaker not a 13cm speaker? Ask Suzuki.

Better of buying better quality higher op speakers and quality head unit/amp.

The speakers need to be air sealed in a surround of some sort to get the best performance. Cars are usually a compromise of location and performance. Unless you buy a high end factory fitted/designed system

 

[rockyroller]

how about this for a dry dipstick?

got it oiled up

that's Mom's car not mine. but still ppl we need to team up better. I was checking it last Fall before her fall but then brother in law started driving it & was in charge since September. says he got the oil changed in November. did he check it after or since?

 

[november4]

I changed out a DPF and it was painless, just a few bolts and easy to get to, and not too expensive, well the pattern part from ebay was £500 and honda were looking at multiplying that x4!

All new tyres, one pair were 6 years and the other 4 years old and all were still legal, have had good luck with michelin, but the grip and ride with all new is noticable

Car went through the MOT okay. Hurray!!!

I do plan to spend a summers day or two lying underneath it with a wire brush and wire wheel getting caked in rust. I really wish I had applied extra protection when it was new, salts a drag

 

[tyred]

I replaced the two rear springs in my Yaris this evening. Very simple task.

 

[Jameshow]

I changed out a DPF and it was painless, just a few bolts and easy to get to, and not too expensive, well the pattern part from ebay was £500 and honda were looking at multiplying that x4!

All new tyres, one pair were 6 years and the other 4 years old and all were still legal, have had good luck with michelin, but the grip and ride with all new is noticable

Car went through the MOT okay. Hurray!!!

I do plan to spend a summers day or two lying underneath it with a wire brush and wire wheel getting caked in rust. I really wish I had applied extra protection when it was new, salts a drag

Try doing that on a transit! I need to do the whole underside!! Jet wash first and then rust converter and then underseal.

 

[rockyroller]

not a DIY for me but got Mom's check engine light fixed after many months. really have idea why my BIL has such disrespect for my Mother's car. it was filthy inside & out & he was apparently incapable of taking it somewhere to get this taken care of. really pissed my Mother off

but it was interesting talking to the shop owner that helped us. we didn't even have an appointment on a Saturday! drove by just in case I could get lucky or leave it for them to look past during the week. they took it in right away, read the code & discussed our options. wonder his database was. he looked up the code which list all the potential issues/parts in order of likelihood. for example in over 4,000 occurrences the P1135 code was the air fuel ratio sensor. in 84 occurrences it was the mass airflow sensor. so we decided to try the air fuel ratio sensor first & that took care of it! made my Mother so happy

spent another cpl hrs cleaning her car inside & out. someone had spilled coffee or chocolate milk all over the car, front driver footwell, center console, front passenger footwell & all over the rear too, both rear footwells & the hump between. what the heck was going on?! & they made absolutely no effort to clean it up. & all floor areas were covered in dirt & pine needles. really disgraceful. also cleaned up all the bird droppings & other weird miscellaneous exterior grunge, then gave it an exterior wash. not to pat myself on the back too much but it looks darn good now! which should be the norm for Mom's car

side note there was a little DIY 2 nites ago when I disconnected the battery to clear the CEL to see if adding oil to the proper level might have had something to do w/ the CEL. w/o a code reader, hey you never know ... reconnecting it made the car forget its air / fuel trim? so had to look that up & do a certain procedure to get the ECU to relearn the idle settings

 

[rockyroller]

my car has a cpl small front air dam type trim pieces. they are called "spats". I ripped one off while riding off-road. getting it re-attached was a chore but finally found some rivets & I think they grabbed all 3 layers of plastic. we'll see how long it lasts

 

[Tom B]

Are they plastic rivets?

I think I would have decided the splats were optional extras.

 

[rockyroller]

Are they plastic rivets?

I think I would have decided the splats were optional extras.

no, aluminum I think. yeah don't know why we have "spats". I guess some designer somewhere, thought they would do something? or look a certain way? dunno really. I could have riveted the parts together, front bumper & right front wheel well cover, w/o the spat. but I had it so figured I'd try to keep it on

 

[gbb]

no, aluminum I think. yeah don't know why we have "spats". I guess some designer somewhere, thought they would do something? or look a certain way? dunno really. I could have riveted the parts together, front bumper & right front wheel well cover, w/o the spat. but I had it so figured I'd try to keep it on

Normal rivets will (imo or experience) have a smallish contact area at the back where the rivet compresses. These with 'spats' I'd have thought would have a greater surface area at the back, better for plastics. Less mechanical strength perhaps, but better suited for more fragile materials.

 

[rockyroller]

Normal rivets will (imo or experience) have a smallish contact area at the back where the rivet compresses. These with 'spats' I'd have thought would have a greater surface area at the back, better for plastics. Less mechanical strength perhaps, but better suited for more fragile materials.

yeah & the fastener replacements have been a challenge to figure out. I previously tried small traditional rivets & tape, but I pulled that loose, on the beach, in January. I've learned that the fasteners on my car were inconsistent (bought it used) like someone had previously done a replacement, on the side that would get ripped off. I think the other side, are the originals from the factory & that seems to be holding up fine. wouldn't mind using a nylon bolt, nut & washer, but there's no access to other side. hence the rivets. there are other fasteners that can be used but I didn't have any luck with some that I bought, so I went to the big folding rivet, due to other DIYers suggestions

would love to sneak a tiny camera in there to see if in fact they are installed as I hope

 

[DRM]

how about this for a dry dipstick?
View attachment 728193
got it oiled up
View attachment 728322
that's Mom's car not mine. but still ppl we need to team up better. I was checking it last Fall before her fall but then brother in law started driving it & was in charge since September. says he got the oil changed in November. did he check it after or since?

Not really trying, many years ago was at a site in Bradford doing a repair on an electric reach fork truck, driver of their LPG powered counterbalance truck drives across and says "this things making a funny noise, listen" at which point he floors the accelerator then lets go the knocking and banging was from the engine was horrendous as the revs dropped off, on checking it the dipstick was bone dry, the engine took 4 litres of oil, the engines in these things would take just over 4 litres for an oil & filter change! most surprising of all was that it saw out the last 3 years of the hire contract with no engine wear faults at all.

 

[rockyroller]

Not really trying, many years ago was at a site in Bradford doing a repair on an electric reach fork truck, driver of their LPG powered counterbalance truck drives across and says "this things making a funny noise, listen" at which point he floors the accelerator then lets go the knocking and banging was from the engine was horrendous as the revs dropped off, on checking it the dipstick was bone dry, the engine took 4 litres of oil, the engines in these things would take just over 4 litres for an oil & filter change! most surprising of all was that it saw out the last 3 years of the hire contract with no engine wear faults at all.

Wow that’s good!

this one took 2 quarts. used a mix of whatever I could find in my parents garage & my car. it shud just get a fresh oil change. a few of the quarts I was scrounging thru looked quite old. was glad there was at least some wetness way down at the tip. I had started it briefly to see what the warning lights were that my Mother was curious about. it didn’t sound great & sounded noticeably better after getting more oil. she forgot that there are warning lights for the parking brake & seatbelt