Car D.I.Y.

[fossyant]

My old tank is 12 and never had so much as an advisory.

Psst It's a LR, I'm surprised it's still going

 

[Drago]

It's an XC90. Once you've owned a few LR's you'll never go back (to LR's!)

 

[Deleted member 26715]

My old tank is 12 and never had so much as an advisory.

Our 2007 Rav4 is the same,

 

[cosmicbike]

It's an XC90. Once you've owned a few LR's you'll never go back (to LR's!)

I've owned 2, and I'd gladly have another. (XC90's that is, never had a LR)

 

[Drago]

Having said that, my XC90 is throwing up a "Volvo On Call Service Required" message. I've scanned it with the V2 and it's the back up batteries in the built in car phone (remember them?) There are 2 at £70 each, or a whole new unit from Volvo at £400 plus fitting.

At those prices I won't be fiddling with it. Hell, the car phone still works fine, not that I ever use it, and pressing the button on the end of the stalk clears the message until the ignition comes on again so I'm going to live with it. But that's the first fault in 142,000 miles.

 

[MrGrumpy]

MOT passed , so that’s it for another year .

 

[fossyant]

Good deed of the day done. My brother called last night to see if I could look at his Kuga as the front and rear wash wasn't working. Fortunately the motor was spinning but no water coming through.

Blasted some hot water into the tank but that didn't make much difference. So..

Off with the wheel and about 15 clips to enable me to pull the wheel arch liner out of the way. Removed both pumps then pulled out the rubber washer on the tank. Larger pump (for headlamps) had no filter, but the smaller pump had a tiny filter on the rubber washer. It was gunked up.

All cleaned and reassembled the car. Took just over an hour.

Saved my brother a lengthy garage visit. Only down side, his car was bloody filthy, which in turn left me filthy.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

WIring anybody?

 

[rockyroller]

Daughter is driving 200 miles, in the rain, thru 3 states, to visit boyfriend for the US Thanksgiving. I can't talk her out of it. gotta give her car (which is registered to me) the once-over before she leaves Thursday am. jeez, kids these days ... I never tortured my parents like this ... cough, cough (but this year, she might be killing us when she gets home, due to the covid)

 

[rockyroller]

WIring anybody?

reminds me of an old MG, a girlfriend's father was renovating. he said "take some pics of the wiring so I know what to do, when I re-wire it". she & I broke up before he ever renovated it. I was lucky on at least 1 count

 

[fossyant]

Two new suspension bushings arrived today for my son's Fabia. Only taken over a week...

Son made a start but we ran into a block with the strut top bolt. It needed a recessed 21mm spanner and an allen key to stop it spinning. Did antwhere have a 21mm spanner, no.

I opted to get him an early Xmas present, a cordless impact driver. That whizzed off both top nuts without any bother. He will use it though.

After a fair bit of banging my son finally freed the struts from the lower arm. I let him do all the crawling under the car.

Next issue, another 21mm recessed socket that wouldn't undo as the suspension strut span with it. Tried a few local places and couldn't find a 21mm spanner.

Back home, ordered a spanner from ebay.

Thought I'd give them one last go with the driver. Used a strap wrench from my bike box (for undoing air cans on the FS MTB) to hold the inner strut whilst whizzed the driver. PS used spring compressors first.

Bingo, off.

The side that failed had a noticeable clunk when you wriggled the rubber bushing. On disassembly, I noticed a washer that wasn't on the good side. Someone had bodged a repair to get through the previous MOTs (car is new shape Fabia 2015).

Replaced both bushings. Ready to go back together after work tomorrow.

Hmm my son's 'I'm doing it myself to save money' has cost me £240 for two ten pound parts. Well I could have paid it to a garage, and we now have a few extra tools instead.

My son has a trial day at a local car tuners tomorrow (interview today) with the hope he might get an apprenticeship with them. This will suit him as he loves fiddling with cars and is quite 'techy'. He's been out of work a few months, and filling in with Domino's delivery.

 

[fossyant]

My son finished his trial day at the 'car tuners' and they said 'see you at 9am tomorrow'. Hopefully they like him ? I've worked for big companies where you get all sorts of employment contracts, so maybe this means he has a good chance at a job for a small business. He was mucking in with suspension upgrades, various 'tuning' re-maps, etc etc, and he was running arround closing up the shutters this evening when I collected him - possibly a good sign. He's buzzing though.

Extra tools collected today so my son set about re-assembling the front suspension (after work at about 7.30pm under lights). Front passenger side was a doddle, drivers side not, as the drive shaft is longer and at a shallow angle, so the sub frame was about 2 inches too high to get the strut back in (how we got it out ?). We both ran through various solutions with jacking up the strut, spring clamping, and eventually got it up enough to get the sub frame to slot in, just. Pig of a job - had it been my car, and my age - garage.

I was struggling crouching for so long. He's 20 and was determined. I'd suggested I would pay 2 weeks ago - it's actually cost me more in tools, but it's also given him great experience for his new job.

Anyway, it's done.

He messaged the 'boss' at the new place and he's said they have a MOT partner that can re-test the car (it's over the 10 days free re-test as the £6 part took so long - we did both sides so £20 incl post) so he can drive in to work tomorrow (local) and it will get tested.

I can see why my father (who was a really good car/bus/truck fitter) stopped doing his car's in his 50's (and my car) and went building planes for British Aerospace - it's not fun getting out from under a car (with my back).

 

[MrGrumpy]

My son finished his trial day at the 'car tuners' and they said 'see you at 9am tomorrow'. Hopefully they like him ? I've worked for big companies where you get all sorts of employment contracts, so maybe this means he has a good chance at a job for a small business. He was mucking in with suspension upgrades, various 'tuning' re-maps, etc etc, and he was running arround closing up the shutters this evening when I collected him - possibly a good sign. He's buzzing though.

Extra tools collected today so my son set about re-assembling the front suspension (after work at about 7.30pm under lights). Front passenger side was a doddle, drivers side not, as the drive shaft is longer and at a shallow angle, so the sub frame was about 2 inches too high to get the strut back in (how we got it out ?). We both ran through various solutions with jacking up the strut, spring clamping, and eventually got it up enough to get the sub frame to slot in, just. Pig of a job - had it been my car, and my age - garage.

I was struggling crouching for so long. He's 20 and was determined. I'd suggested I would pay 2 weeks ago - it's actually cost me more in tools, but it's also given him great experience for his new job.

Anyway, it's done.

He messaged the 'boss' at the new place and he's said they have a MOT partner that can re-test the car (it's over the 10 days free re-test as the £6 part took so long - we did both sides so £20 incl post) so he can drive in to work tomorrow (local) and it will get tested.

I can see why my father (who was a really good car/bus/truck fitter) stopped doing his car's in his 50's (and my car) and went building planes for British Aerospace - it's not fun getting out from under a car (with my back).

I’ve all but given up working on my cars these days. I help out my boys where I can and advise etc. I enjoyed working on cars , they were simpler but nowadays they seem harder. An example fuel filter housing is located underneath my car just in front of the fuel tank !! A serviceable part I mean wtf. Anyway it’s on the blink and needs swapped out. £100 part and an hours labour at the garage It’s a no brainer getting someone else to do it !

 

[screenman]

Two new suspension bushings arrived today for my son's Fabia. Only taken over a week...

Son made a start but we ran into a block with the strut top bolt. It needed a recessed 21mm spanner and an allen key to stop it spinning. Did antwhere have a 21mm spanner, no.

I opted to get him an early Xmas present, a cordless impact driver. That whizzed off both top nuts without any bother. He will use it though.

After a fair bit of banging my son finally freed the struts from the lower arm. I let him do all the crawling under the car.

Next issue, another 21mm recessed socket that wouldn't undo as the suspension strut span with it. Tried a few local places and couldn't find a 21mm spanner.

Back home, ordered a spanner from ebay.

Thought I'd give them one last go with the driver. Used a strap wrench from my bike box (for undoing air cans on the FS MTB) to hold the inner strut whilst whizzed the driver. PS used spring compressors first.

Bingo, off.

The side that failed had a noticeable clunk when you wriggled the rubber bushing. On disassembly, I noticed a washer that wasn't on the good side. Someone had bodged a repair to get through the previous MOTs (car is new shape Fabia 2015).

Replaced both bushings. Ready to go back together after work tomorrow.

Hmm my son's 'I'm doing it myself to save money' has cost me £240 for two ten pound parts. Well I could have paid it to a garage, and we now have a few extra tools instead.

My son has a trial day at a local car tuners tomorrow (interview today) with the hope he might get an apprenticeship with them. This will suit him as he loves fiddling with cars and is quite 'techy'. He's been out of work a few months, and filling in with Domino's delivery.

Crack the nut before compressing the spring, so not remove it completely of course until the spring is compressed.

 

[Pale Rider]

All this talk of MoTs reminds me of a tip I heard years ago.

MoT an older car in June, even if it means losing a few months of the previous one.

If you need to get out and get under, you can at least do it in the better weather.