Stuff you have fixed today

[Barking Mat]

Sleep on it, it seems to work some how
Oh don't forget a few Pelforth blonde to help you along...

That was the solution. I realised the problem was the gearbox wasn't aligned, so today between the trolley jack under the motor and the engine hoist on the gearbox, I got a couple of bolts in place, played with the gap top and bottom, tightened the bolts, and it all slid in, much to my relief, think I'll stick to boats in future.

 

[OJCar]

spinning rotules

I'm glad you've managed to fix your car.

But what is a rotules ?

WWW suggests rotule = kneecap
Even with my dodgy knees my kneecaps don't rotate !
(hyperextend yes rotate no ).

Are rotules Ball Joints ?
Sometimes you have to use a lever against the steering arm to force the ball joint into the taper as you do the nut up.

 

[Barking Mat]

I'm glad you've managed to fix your car.

But what is a rotules ?

WWW suggests rotule = kneecap
Even with my dodgy knees my kneecaps don't rotate !
(hyperextend yes rotate no ).

Are rotules Ball Joints ?
Sometimes you have to use a lever against the steering arm to force the ball joint into the taper as you do the nut up.

Yes, ball joints, that makes sense, thought it was a general word.

 

[OJCar]

Yes, ball joints, that makes sense, thought it was a general word.

Probably is a general word in France.
But then they also call spark plugs bougie
Which I think of as a type of dance ...

 

[m_c]

I'm getting fed up looking at yellow parts.

JCB front axle is now completely removed. Thought I could get away with just dropping it enough to change the main pivot bushings, but that thought didn't last long.
I did discover why the main pivot is worn so much. The remote grease hose is burst, and what I thought was just a build up of dirt and oil from the weeping oil cooler, was mostly a pile of grease.
Once I realised the hose was burst, I just stuck the grinder through it to get the axle off, but I need to figure out how it mounts to the chassis leg, and how to access it :/

Main bushes took a fair bit of heat and hammering to extract.

Also realised why one of the power steering hoses was seemingly randomly hooked over the pivot pin

Little bit manipulation involving a lever and a bit plate offcut to remove the additional bend it had gained

And a final quick zap with the MIG to reattach it-

Also got the bush and seals changed in the inboard end.-

Didn't get any photos of the axle, as it was dark by the time I got it dragged out, but I can't get it back on until I find another 3-4mm worth of shims for the main pivot.
I was going to machine one up, but four 1.5mm shims are under a tenner, so not worth the effort and it's still needing other parts ordered.

 

[badabec]

Probably is a general word in France.
But then they also call spark plugs bougie
Which I think of as a type of dance ...

A bougie is also used for urethral dilation. The come in increasing diameters, a bit like Allen keys. That would make your eye water.
Bougies were also made from medicated wax in an attempt to treat infections.

 

[Farside]

But then they also call spark plugs bougie

I wonder if there's a motor factor in France called Bougie Wonderland.

 

[6ply]

AAA rechargeable batteries dead.

Had plenty of rechargeable AA.

Inconspicuous modification. Never gets used anyway.

 

[OJCar]

AAA rechargeable batteries dead.

Had plenty of rechargeable AA.

Inconspicuous modification. Never gets used anyway.

View attachment 432667View attachment 432668

Such a subtle modification,
I would never have noticed if you had not pointed it out ...

 

[dobbslc]

I replaced the tiny LiPo battery in my Energizer head torch tonight. It stopped working unless it was plugged in charging so I guessed it was the battery at fault.
A new one ordered from eBay for about £7 that's 600ma rather than the old 500ma one, hopefully it'll be ok.

A quick solder job on the two wires as I didn't want to risk melting the PCB heating it directly.
It works!


The old one swollen and split, it looks like it got wet

 

[Smouser]

Today our heating packed in. I thought it was a bit too cold in the house and when I checked on the thermostat it was 9 degrees in our house.

The boiler, a Glow Worm 24hxi did not fire up and the fan was fluctuating.

I thought it could be the pump because that was not running either.
I tried the obligatory normal fix of hitting it softly with a hammer in case it got 'frozen' with limescale, sediment or whatever else that normally lurks in central heating pipes.

First 'fix' was unsuccessful.

My second attempted fix involved checking if there was a voltage output to the pump when I had the heating demand on.

No voltage output to the pump. I didn't want to mess around in there too much, if wires pulled out of their connection points I would have had no clue where they were supposed to go.

Because there was no voltage going to the pump I assumed that the pump was likely good and the problem was either with the control or the boiler itself.

I powered cycled the boiler a couple of times and the boiler then threw a F12 error and a red LED light.

An F12 error on Glow Worm boiler = Connection fault between main printed circuit board (PCB) and display PCB.

Off with the boiler's cover!

I unplugged the connections and replugged them to see if it would cure the problem.

No luck.

A few years ago, after we had our smart electricity meter installed, the boiler did not want to come back on after the power was turned back on.
The display was dead and I heard a ticking noise.
I came across a very helpful post on a forum that said:

"Dead. No display and fuse is in tact. A faint ticking noise can be heard and may eventually power up after a while:
The switch mode power supply (adjacent to the fuse) is not starting up. This is caused by a faulty electrolytic capacitor C805 situated at the bottom of the PCB near to the fuse. This is a 47uF @ 50v.
It may also be worth replacing C813 (100uf @ 25v) on the power supply secondary at the same time. This is situated at the bottom of the PCB to the left of the small transformer.
You may experience the above fault after recycling the power for service or after a power cut."

As it was not winter at that time we didn't need heating and the hot water could be heated via electricity I thought I would try the suggested fix.
I ordered all the required capacitors (a selection box on Amazon Prime) and some 470UF from RS components. The Amazon capacitors arrived the next day (on a weekend) but the RS component capacitors only arrived the following week.

I replaced all the capacitors which had the correct values out of the selection box and the board fired up!

Today I remembered that I did not change all the capacitors the last time (because the RS component ones arrived the following week after I had the board working again) and thought it would be worth pulling the board again.
On closer inspection, I identified a capacitor that looked a little suspect.

The left capacitor looked a little 'bulged'. Worth a try to replace them. Especially as a new board is £226.99 from Screwfix
Refurbished boards can be purchased for much less though.

I have a Chinese multimeter that can measure capacitance (probably not too accurately).
I measured a new 470UF capacitor and got a reading of 530UF. A little bit more than the expected 10% tolerance.

I removed the two old capacitors and then measured their values.

Capacitor 1 = 90UF
Capacitor 2 = 2.4UF

Way off the 470UF value they were supposed to be.

I replaced them with new ones and tried the board in the boiler.

Success!!! Green light and the boiler fired right up!

The Glow Worm is glowing once more!!

I am super chuffed with myself that I dodged the call-out, diagnoses and part costs by not having to get a heating engineer to fix our heating.

 

[JOEPRO]

Today our heating packed in. I thought it was a bit too cold in the house and when I checked on the thermostat it was 9 degrees in our house.

The boiler, a Glow Worm 24hxi did not fire up and the fan was fluctuating.

I thought it could be the pump because that was not running either.
I tried the obligatory normal fix of hitting it softly with a hammer in case it got 'frozen' with limescale, sediment or whatever else that normally lurks in central heating pipes.

View attachment 432886

First 'fix' was unsuccessful.

My second attempted fix involved checking if there was a voltage output to the pump when I had the heating demand on.

View attachment 432887

No voltage output to the pump. I didn't want to mess around in there too much, if wires pulled out of their connection points I would have had no clue where they were supposed to go.

Because there was no voltage going to the pump I assumed that the pump was likely good and the problem was either with the control or the boiler itself.

I powered cycled the boiler a couple of times and the boiler then threw a F12 error and a red LED light.

An F12 error on Glow Worm boiler = Connection fault between main printed circuit board (PCB) and display PCB.

Off with the boiler's cover!

View attachment 432888

I unplugged the connections and replugged them to see if it would cure the problem.

No luck.

A few years ago, after we had our smart electricity meter installed, the boiler did not want to come back on after the power was turned back on.
The display was dead and I heard a ticking noise.
I came across a very helpful post on a forum that said:

"Dead. No display and fuse is in tact. A faint ticking noise can be heard and may eventually power up after a while:
The switch mode power supply (adjacent to the fuse) is not starting up. This is caused by a faulty electrolytic capacitor C805 situated at the bottom of the PCB near to the fuse. This is a 47uF @ 50v.
It may also be worth replacing C813 (100uf @ 25v) on the power supply secondary at the same time. This is situated at the bottom of the PCB to the left of the small transformer.
You may experience the above fault after recycling the power for service or after a power cut."

As it was not winter at that time we didn't need heating and the hot water could be heated via electricity I thought I would try the suggested fix.
I ordered all the required capacitors (a selection box on Amazon Prime) and some 470UF from RS components. The Amazon capacitors arrived the next day (on a weekend) but the RS component capacitors only arrived the following week.

View attachment 432910

I replaced all the capacitors which had the correct values out of the selection box and the board fired up!

Today I remembered that I did not change all the capacitors the last time (because the RS component ones arrived the following week after I had the board working again) and thought it would be worth pulling the board again.
On closer inspection, I identified a capacitor that looked a little suspect.

View attachment 432900

The left capacitor looked a little 'bulged'. Worth a try to replace them. Especially as a new board is £226.99 from Screwfix
Refurbished boards can be purchased for much less though.

I have a Chinese multimeter that can measure capacitance (probably not too accurately).
I measured a new 470UF capacitor and got a reading of 530UF. A little bit more than the expected 10% tolerance.

View attachment 432901

I removed the two old capacitors and then measured their values.

View attachment 432906

Capacitor 1 = 90UF
Capacitor 2 = 2.4UF

Way off the 470UF value they were supposed to be.

I replaced them with new ones and tried the board in the boiler.

View attachment 432912

Success!!! Green light and the boiler fired right up!

The Glow Worm is glowing once more!!

I am super chuffed with myself that I dodged the call-out, diagnoses and part costs by not having to get a heating engineer to fix our heating.

Very good diag and repair!

A heating engineer would not have checked all of that and instead throw new parts at it!

 

[Seadog]

Very good diag and repair!

A heating engineer would not have checked all of that and instead throw new parts at it!

Or just said "You need a new boiler."

 

[m_c]

Last pair of gas heating "engineers" I witnessed couldn't even manage to wire up the mechanical timer on a brand new boiler, as they were struggling to understand the wiring diagram.

 

[6ply]

@Smouser congratulations on the fix. Did you remember to discharge the capacitors before testing?

 

[Smouser]

@Smouser congratulations on the fix. Did you remember to discharge the capacitors before testing?

Thank you.

I touched the two legs together with one of the test probes from the multimeter, not sure if that counts as discharging?
If not, then no.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Or just said "You need a new boiler."

Need a new capacitor. Always. always change all capacitors and only then call your expensive doctor

 

[brightspark]

Today our heating packed in. I thought it was a bit too cold in the house and when I checked on the thermostat it was 9 degrees in our house.

The boiler, a Glow Worm 24hxi did not fire up and the fan was fluctuating.

I thought it could be the pump because that was not running either.
I tried the obligatory normal fix of hitting it softly with a hammer in case it got 'frozen' with limescale, sediment or whatever else that normally lurks in central heating pipes.

View attachment 432886

First 'fix' was unsuccessful.

My second attempted fix involved checking if there was a voltage output to the pump when I had the heating demand on.

View attachment 432887

No voltage output to the pump. I didn't want to mess around in there too much, if wires pulled out of their connection points I would have had no clue where they were supposed to go.

Because there was no voltage going to the pump I assumed that the pump was likely good and the problem was either with the control or the boiler itself.

I powered cycled the boiler a couple of times and the boiler then threw a F12 error and a red LED light.

An F12 error on Glow Worm boiler = Connection fault between main printed circuit board (PCB) and display PCB.

Off with the boiler's cover!

View attachment 432888

I unplugged the connections and replugged them to see if it would cure the problem.

No luck.

A few years ago, after we had our smart electricity meter installed, the boiler did not want to come back on after the power was turned back on.
The display was dead and I heard a ticking noise.
I came across a very helpful post on a forum that said:

"Dead. No display and fuse is in tact. A faint ticking noise can be heard and may eventually power up after a while:
The switch mode power supply (adjacent to the fuse) is not starting up. This is caused by a faulty electrolytic capacitor C805 situated at the bottom of the PCB near to the fuse. This is a 47uF @ 50v.
It may also be worth replacing C813 (100uf @ 25v) on the power supply secondary at the same time. This is situated at the bottom of the PCB to the left of the small transformer.
You may experience the above fault after recycling the power for service or after a power cut."

As it was not winter at that time we didn't need heating and the hot water could be heated via electricity I thought I would try the suggested fix.
I ordered all the required capacitors (a selection box on Amazon Prime) and some 470UF from RS components. The Amazon capacitors arrived the next day (on a weekend) but the RS component capacitors only arrived the following week.

View attachment 432910

I replaced all the capacitors which had the correct values out of the selection box and the board fired up!

Today I remembered that I did not change all the capacitors the last time (because the RS component ones arrived the following week after I had the board working again) and thought it would be worth pulling the board again.
On closer inspection, I identified a capacitor that looked a little suspect.

View attachment 432900

The left capacitor looked a little 'bulged'. Worth a try to replace them. Especially as a new board is £226.99 from Screwfix
Refurbished boards can be purchased for much less though.

I have a Chinese multimeter that can measure capacitance (probably not too accurately).
I measured a new 470UF capacitor and got a reading of 530UF. A little bit more than the expected 10% tolerance.

View attachment 432901

I removed the two old capacitors and then measured their values.

View attachment 432906

Capacitor 1 = 90UF
Capacitor 2 = 2.4UF

Way off the 470UF value they were supposed to be.

I replaced them with new ones and tried the board in the boiler.

View attachment 432912

Success!!! Green light and the boiler fired right up!

The Glow Worm is glowing once more!!

I am super chuffed with myself that I dodged the call-out, diagnoses and part costs by not having to get a heating engineer to fix our heating.

god who wired that 10 way wiring center up wot a mess

 

[Smouser]

god who wired that 10 way wiring center up wot a mess

A 'new build' property in 2008 (we bought it in 2015).
Persimmon Homes was the original builder....

See why I said I did not want any cables to pull out of the places they are connected to.
No way will I be able to figure out where all the wires are supposed to go. There are some stripped unused cables too to add to the confusion.

We have two heating zones and two thermostats/controllers which probably adds to all the cables in there.

I guess the builders/contractors thought it looked ok with the cover on. Out of sight, out of mind. Another successful bodge job.

 

[RichardM]

@Smouser Result. I replaced the water pump yesterday as the old one was getting a bit noisy and taking a time to get hot water to the lounge rad.

Your wiring centre looks loads worse than ours and ours is going to be "sorted" out in summer when I can rewire it at leisure.