Car D.I.Y.

[DRM]

Aye, I wouldn't be happy with any vehicle without getting it in the air annually for at least a visual inspection.

Me too, at least with this van the mileage is such that it’s in for a service a every 11 months

 

[CXRAndy]

Here is a video of Ford Ranger wet belt swap, pretty much the same procedure for ford Transits and other wet belt systems. Complicated by steering removal. Bonus footage and technique to cleanDPF with liquid cleaner.
I would say ORileys mobile mechanic is the number one DPF specialist in the UK


View: https://youtu.be/y_wSn5ZLWCc?si=eP8CUThLnXwD_hXf

 

[november4]

Brakes bled using a cheap check valve thing, picking my days now for weather or not

 

[CXRAndy]

I've decided to do a brake job on my Tesla when it comes back from the body shop. I will change all the rotors and pads, clean, lubricate the slide pins. Flush and bleed the system. First brake job on a car with 105k miles

 

[Drago]

Guide pins. The man at the parts counter will titter behind your back if you call them slide pins.

 

[CXRAndy]

Fortunately I ordered all the Brembo parts online, so he can't chuckle

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Wednesday 13th

Nothing much
Just tyre-pressures/fluids on the ‘free Costa’ & my Kodiaq
Plus l changed the moisture-trap in mine, & added one to the Corsa, as l got home from work, on Monday, & all its windows were full of condensation
A warm day, heating the air in it up, & then a rapidly falling temperature caused it

The one in the Kodiaq has done its job!

i realise that some readers would be thinking "use the air-con", the Corsa doesn't have it, my Kodiaq does
BUT........ it can sometimes be 5 or 6 days, between using either car, so getting the moisture out of the air seems to make sense

 

[CXRAndy]

I use silica gel cat litter. Cheap from Amazon. Buy or steal the wife's winter tights/stockings, tie off one end, put around 700g in twist and double wrap, then toe off other end. I have 4 per car, we don't get internal condensation even in winter

 

[Fastpedaller]

Here's a weird one - I didn't know whether to put it here or somewhere else.
I fitted a dash cam to my Wife's car a couple of weeks ago ('twas only £10 from our local motor store) - It's a 'Proofcam' and there's no website for backup any more - I guess that's why it's cheap. Anyway it's a great purchase except when my Wife pressed the present on the DAB radio it would only tune in to one of them. Yesterday I found DAB radio is set an 50Hz in Europe (incl UK) and that's recommended for dashcams, so I changed it from the 60Hz setting I'd selected to 50Hz. She was pleased it worked........ Until she came home from work and announced it only works on our drive! Can anyone shed any light on this? TIA

 

[Drago]

Try a ferrite choke on the dashcam power lead.

 

[Fastpedaller]

Try a ferrite choke on the dashcam power lead.

It's got one (unless it's non-functioning - it's made in China). Is it a magnet? if so I can at least check if it's magnetic?
The car is a Ford Ka + (the 5 door Ka 2016 on). Looking at the handbook, none of the audio systems shown are like the one in the car. The handbook has been a bit useless with anything so far. A friend has the same model and their 12V accessory socket isn't live - we checked the correct fuse as per handbook and it's ok, and no fuses seem to be blown. We even removed the fuse on our car and the 12V socket was still live. (Are Indian electrics worse than Italian?)

 

[raleighnut]

(Are Indian electrics worse than Italian?)

There's that famous quote from The Duke Of Edinborough when touring a factory with some dodgy wiring "Did an Indian do that"

 

[Drago]

It's got one (unless it's non-functioning - it's made in China). Is it a magnet? if so I can at least check if it's magnetic?
The car is a Ford Ka + (the 5 door Ka 2016 on). Looking at the handbook, none of the audio systems shown are like the one in the car. The handbook has been a bit useless with anything so far. A friend has the same model and their 12V accessory socket isn't live - we checked the correct fuse as per handbook and it's ok, and no fuses seem to be blown. We even removed the fuse on our car and the 12V socket was still live. (Are Indian electrics worse than Italian?)

It could simply be that as a cheapo brand it's radiating all sorts of spurious emissions that are interfering with the DAB.

 

[Fastpedaller]

It could simply be that as a cheapo brand it's radiating all sorts of spurious emissions that are interfering with the DAB.

I was just thinking a few minutes ago ...... the power unit supplied with it plugged directly into the 12V outlet. I also got a dashcam fitting kit from Ebay so I could hard wire it - maybe that's the issue? The original power unit didn't have a ferrite choke, the hardwire kit that is now fitted does have a ferrite choke. But why is it ok on our drive, both before she left for work and when she returned? Almost as if it's using our WiFi signal, but looking online suggests DAB doesn't use WiFi.

 

[Fastpedaller]

I was just thinking a few minutes ago ...... the power unit supplied with it plugged directly into the 12V outlet. I also got a dashcam fitting kit from Ebay so I could hard wire it - maybe that's the issue? The original power unit didn't have a ferrite choke, the hardwire kit that is now fitted does have a ferrite choke. But why is it ok on our drive, both before she left for work and when she returned? Almost as if it's using our WiFi signal, but looking online suggests DAB doesn't use WiFi.

Wife left her mobile phone (linked to car) on 4G roaming on the way to work and the radio still didn't work. the whole thing is a mystery unless our driveway is a DAB signal hotspot