Car D.I.Y.

[Pinno718]

I was relieved when our Evri delivery of a replacement headlight levelling switch for our Ford arrived. I quickly fitted it and then became very deflated because it didn't cure the fault . There is a 'peg' which is turned between 0 and 4 to ensure oncoming vehicle drivers aren't dazzled - setting it at 4 if there are passengers in the rear seats lowers the beam. I was confident it was the switch because when I removed it to examine the part number, I heard the movement motors move briefly. Wiggling the connector and wire couldn't replicate the situation again. As the new switch didn't cure it, I took most of the front bumper fixings off to move the bumper enough to extract the headlight and get to its connector. Multi-meter on the connector proved the circuit was working as required. With the motor/actuator prised apar,t it was possible to manually wind the moving parts to one extreme, and the motor would wind it one way but not the other. So new headlight levelling motors are the next purchase! Oh-the joys of modern motor repairs without the assistance of Haynes manuals of old. Still I count myself lucky it wasn't a wiring loom fault!

Cortina's had headlight adjust?!

 

[raleighnut]

Cortina's had headlight adjust?!

Yep, depended on how many slabs in the boot.................worked on the Capri too

 

[Wheelspinner]

*Chuckle*

 

[Fastpedaller]

Cortina's had headlight adjust?!

Who said it was a Cortins - It's a ka+

 

[CXRAndy]

Wahoooo. Citroën dealer rang me, airbags are in stock for the C3 recall.

They will be doing my Cambelt job on the same day

 

[fossyant]

Wahoooo. Citroën dealer rang me, airbags are in stock for the C3 recall.

They will be doing my Cambelt job on the same day

Phew

 

[Pinno718]

Waxed the car. It's been a while.

 

[fossyant]

Shoved my head under the van and squirted some Buzzweld lano undercoat on the suspension components. Ideally I need to pop the wheels off. Great stuff, goes on very lightly and it's clear. Drys hard and is very water repellant.

 

[Drago]

The Buzzweld stuff is good value as well.

 

[CXRAndy]

Wahoooo. Citroën dealer rang me, airbags are in stock for the C3 recall.

They will be doing my Cambelt job on the same day

Cambelt (wetbelt) done, cheaper than I thought, £100 less than quoted.

Airbags done too, VOSA notified car has had recall done. The dealer told me the MOT test centres will be notified which vehicle have and have not been done, it will not be an MOT fail, but a advisory.

So the car could blow your head off, but its just an advisory!

 

[Bristolian]

A few weeks ago I replaced one of the headlight units on my Mercedes E220 - see elsewhere in this thread - because the indicator had failed and they're not repairable

Anyway, a couple of days ago I drove at night for the first time since the fitting and noticed that the new light needed adjusting as the beam pattern didn't match the other light. For once (and maybe the only time) MB have actually made this quite easy with 6mm hex headed screws for both vertical and horizontal adjustment. There is a very detailed description of how to do this in the WIS online but that relies on having access to MB's computer systems so (with the help of a couple of YT videos) I came up with a do-it-yourself method instead.

Firstly I parked the car facing my garage doors with dipped beams on. Using strips of electrical tape I marked the vertical and horizontal centres of the old light and where the new light should be. I then used the horizontal adjustment screw on the new light to set the correct distance between the two vertical centre-lines. Only the new light had to be adjusted as I knew the other one was in the correct place.

To adjust the height of the new light I first set the headlights to "Right Hand Traffic" in the dashboard menu. This is the setting you should use when driving on the Continent and it changes the shape of the beam to be flat, rather than having upticks at the left as UK lights do. I then brought up the new light to match the old one before setting the headlights back to "Left Hand Traffic" and watched as the lights then did their power-on dance and returned to the correct UK pattern.

A short drive gave me the chance to check the alignment and operation of both dipped and main beams confirming my adjustment was correct. All-in-all the adjustment process took less than ten minutes from start to finish and saved more than £100 at the local dealer - job done

 

[Fastpedaller]

More on my headlight adjusters.... . To recap.. The new switch unit didn't change matters at all, and after removing the bumper and one headlight unit to find the circuit seemed to be ok, new motors were ordered. In the meantime the RH motor started to work again! , but the left didn't. £34 for the two motors from Ebay (same as Peugeot ones, for our Ford Ka+) I wasn't too bothered, as if I achieve a fix, it will still be a lot cheaper than someone else fixing it. Today both original motors didn't move - I replaced them with the new motors and success! I'm not surprised it's an MOT failure item, but I am surprised it's a major which could instantly put the car off the road - It's not brakes or suspension, and there are many cars (dare I say from a certain European manufacturer) which seem designed to blind oncoming traffic drivers with 'blue tint LED's'

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I’ve recently found a few bits in the shed

A still sealed Clarke socket-set
(I still have my Draper set, that was a 15th birthday present!)

I can’t recall buying it, so someone either gave to me, or it was a prize from something?
It wasn’t the f-in-l’s, as all of his tools are kept separately

These were his though

Draper, plus a selection of ‘chisels’

I don’t have a compressor, but daughters b/f tells me, he has one that he doesn’t use!
No idea on tank-size, or CFM

Then again, now he’s bought a Defender 110 (TDCi), he might need it!! (& the above socket-set?)

 

[Drago]

The service on the van delayed by a few weeks thanks to my health woes. Not a problem as I'm no.t allowed to drive for a month.

Once I'm feeling more chipper I'll get to it and document the job. I'll do some lano' spraying while I'm under there.

 

[cyberknight]

erm this might need a bit of buffing out , mrs ck has a bit of an accident today .