Stuff you have fixed today

[jmp49]

Did last few jobs on Astra, a leak from the washer bottle which has been annoying me dripping on me at annoying moments when I'm under it on the ramp turned out to be at the fitting as it came out the washer pump. Moulded pipe a funny shape with a 90 bend on it and corrigated pipe, so more awkward to replace with a generic bit of hose on it. So put some heat shrink around the outside of it where it was sloppy and shrank it tight in position.

Also thought the engine oil leak was from the dipstick tube/sump, on inspection it was sitting too high and not fully home which meant the oil level was above the sump gasket surface etc so I remade the bracket and a new O ring, and cleaned it all off and took it for its CT/MOT at a place about 25 miles away. Really happy then that it passed with minor notes on light underbody corrosion on the front subframe and bodyshell, and front fog light alignment too high which he tweaked in the bay to fix, so that's it, full test valid for 2 years, no contra visit for minor advisories, really good result.
Brought it home, lifted it on the ramp, and after 50 miles there's still some engine oil from somewhere though not enough to be noticable on the dipstick etc, just makes a mess. So I've cleaned it off again and dosed the engine oil with UV tracer because if I know its not right its not right, and we'll take it out and put a few more km on it, and then back on the ramp for the UV torch with funny sunglasses treatment this weekend.
I have my wife's car to service for her trip to the UK, then compound polish the paint and reassemble daughters car after respray and provided nobody breaks anything else, I may just get time to work on my landrover & workshop projects again. I cant grumble too much as the wife's car will be bringing back a winch fairlead, a new rear x member and shackles/polybush set for my 101 chassis rebuild.

 

[dobbslc]

dosed the engine oil with UV tracer

I didn't know you could do that! Do you have a link to a product?

 

[Melvyn Best]

You can also get the tracer for coolant leaks , our local motor factors sell it, think it might be “Ring” that produce it?

 

[jmp49]

I've got the tracer and used it in climate control leaks, and the coolant version is great too but I only recently found the engine oil version so this is its first test.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ERRECOM-Brilliant-Engine-Detector-bottle/dp/B0CRZFR2R3?

You need a suitable uv source torch and I have some polarising glasses to make it stand out more, then it looks like alien blood under the light. You only use a tiny amount to dose something, so a bottle goes a long way.
There's other brands too, just thats the one I know and have used.

 

[bricol]

Typical. Oil leak tracing stuff a day after I hope I've fixed one that's been plaguing my Lancia for a long time. I've had the engine out more than once to check seals etc, Replaced gaskets, seals, carefully flattened sump flanges etc . . and it still wanted to coat one front wishbone in oil.

I fianlly discovered a tiny crack in the oil temp sender in the threaded part of the body - it seals on a tapered seat under the hex on the body, the thread being entirely inside the stat housing for the oil - but as most of the front of the engine was cover, it's been a while tracking it down. Crack opening as it was tightened in, so not sealing properly, and under full cold start oil pressure, obviously opened more.

~Fingers crossed, several journeys later, the front of the engine is still oil free.

 

[jmp49]

Typical. Oil leak tracing stuff a day after I hope I've fixed one that's been plaguing my Lancia for a long time. I've had the engine out more than once to check seals etc, Replaced gaskets, seals, carefully flattened sump flanges etc . . and it still wanted to coat one front wishbone in oil.

I fianlly discovered a tiny crack in the oil temp sender in the threaded part of the body - it seals on a tapered seat under the hex on the body, the thread being entirely inside the stat housing for the oil - but as most of the front of the engine was cover, it's been a while tracking it down. Crack opening as it was tightened in, so not sealing properly, and under full cold start oil pressure, obviously opened more.

~Fingers crossed, several journeys later, the front of the engine is still oil free.

Think this one is the oil pressure sensor. Looks like its coming from crank seal or camseals and running down and being flung about by the belt. I took some pics to show while doing it as it might be of interest.

Then the shiny light (hard to get on phone camera, its much easier to see in real life, those bigger blobs glow a bit too).

You can see its running down the front of the block from the gallery sensor area, then being blown round the end of the sump and aircon compressor before dripping off onto part of the undertray. Both the belts are dry under uv light and the belt housing too. Waiting for lad to get out of bed now at 1.30pm after a late night gaming to see if he wants me to swap the sensor which means accessory belt off and aircon compressor off its mounts, which now will putting the car out of action for today, or he wants to use it and leave it till next weekend to fix.

 

[jmp49]

Think this one is the oil pressure sensor. Looks like its coming from crank seal or camseals and running down and being flung about by the belt. I took some pics to show while doing it as it might be of interest.


Then the shiny light (hard to get on phone camera, its much easier to see in real life, those bigger blobs glow a bit too).

You can see its running down the front of the block from the gallery sensor area, then being blown round the end of the sump and aircon compressor before dripping off onto part of the undertray. Both the belts are dry under uv light and the belt housing too. Waiting for lad to get out of bed now at 1.30pm after a late night gaming to see if he wants me to swap the sensor which means accessory belt off and aircon compressor off its mounts, which now will putting the car out of action for today, or he wants to use it and leave it till next weekend to fix.

It was indeed the oil pressure sensor glowing merrily in the last photo. Once the heat shield was peeled back the wire to the sensor was soaked with engine oil & inside the sensor side of the connector so had failed internally and was leaking out the wire connection when hot. Just been out on a decent run with lad driving after doing the deed and its dry underneath.

 

[Mick Annick]

Also thought the engine oil leak was from the dipstick tube/sump, on inspection it was sitting too high and not fully home which meant the oil level was above the sump gasket surface etc so I remade the bracket and a new O ring, and cleaned it all off and took it for its CT/MOT at a place about 25 miles away. Really happy then that it passed with minor notes on light underbody corrosion on the front subframe and bodyshell, and front fog light alignment too high which he tweaked in the bay to fix, so that's it, full test valid for 2 years, no contra visit for minor advisories, really good result.

I take it they tell you if a contra visit is needed? My guy said it’s all good despite three advisories - Ripage, tyre wear and play in the steering. I don’t agree with the play in steering but as he said it was nickel and it was off the ramp and outside when he told me I didn’t argue.

 

[qwakers]

todays job.... its only been waiting 5+ years... can't rush these things.

a bit of shuttering, a bit of concreting, and a lot of block laying....

 

[jmp49]

I take it they tell you if a contra visit is needed? My guy said it’s all good despite three advisories - Ripage, tyre wear and play in the steering. I don’t agree with the play in steering but as he said it was nickel and it was off the ramp and outside when he told me I didn’t argue.

Yes, but normally I just ask them if its good as we do the paperwork and they tell me. plus if its not a full pass the ct (controle technique = french MOT for the others) is only valid for 2 months, so if you dont go back in that timeframe its a full test again. If you get the 2 year pass (5 if its a classic!) then its all good. Unless its classified as a commercial, in which case it has to go every year for emissions (like my defender/90, because it has no rear windows its the commercial van type category so has to pass emissions every year). If its a classic & >3.5t it doesnt even have to go for a CT.
Theres critical, major & minor. Critical is total refusal on a safety item take it straight to garage and dont drive it apart from that, major is you have 2 months to fix it and can legally drive it around like that & they just retest those items for the contra visit, and minor is just things they noticed while they were looking about that might be a issue at some point in the future that are just notes (so same as advisories in english). To sell a car(bike now too sadly) you have to have a full ct under 6 months old with only minor status faults, or if you have major issues it has to have been ct'd within 2 months. When you sell a car, you generally give the CT paperwork to the buyer so they can read about any little faults noted at CT time.
If you dont have a ct that meets these conditions, the buyer can't register the vehicle in their name on the system, and that's what happened here, due to the typo in the name while ANTS were sorting out their record, it aged over the 6 month limit and had to go for a new CT to be able to be claimed.
We went to do the paperwork finally today, and the whole of the gov ANTS system was offline to claim the cg (v5) and pay the tax on the logbook changes (which on this little car is about 200e + 30e processing fee and it goes up with more engine power...), so we have to go back on Monday anyway. If you dont have a cg in your name at sale time, it kills the value as it is difficult for any buyer to re-register it in their name unless they are a professional, in which case they are allowed to do what they want and buy and sell without a valid CT. Because you know, dodgy geezers with a satchel in a mcdonalds parking lot are so much more trustworthy than a normal citizen.
I could write a whole post about some of the downright dangerous things we saw on cars being sold by professionals with day old mot's when we were hunting a car which resulted in us buying this Astra, which was a private sale, but turned out to be yet another professional committing fraud and faking someone elses signature to hide it.

 

[qwakers]

todays job.... its only been waiting 5+ years... can't rush these things.

a bit of shuttering, a bit of concreting, and a lot of block laying....

And a bit more....



Plus a load more purchased.

 

[JOEPRO]

The shark cordless hoover. Any time I go to use it, it's blocked and she "never noticed anything". Except it's roaring it's head off and lifting nothing so how would you not notice ffs??

Stripped it apart and washed out the filthy filters etc so it should be ready for abuse again in a day or two when all dries out.

 

[jmp49]

Finally the Astra has left the chat and is parked at son's Uni 100 miles away without incident, so I can just change the oil and filters on wife's clio4 and take it easy afterwards. Of course Renault put the diesel filter behind the plastic wheelarch liner inside the front arch and inside some steel housing, because theyre Renault, grab the wheel to take it off and put my fingers in some disgusting black ooze round the back as the driveshaft boot on the year old halfshaft has failed and spread moly over everything.
Fortunately had a stretchy universal boot for emergencies anticipating needing it for one of the kids car's and so on it went. Yeah its probably not as good long term as a oem style one, but equally I dont have to spend hours fighting off the joint to fit it either.

 

[Gregb23]

Fixed the post basher, managed to break the handles around 20 posts in, one handle broke off and the other cracked round the weld.
Supplier was apologetic and sorted a refund. So welded the handles back for a free tool! Really rough welding so no photos but will hopefully do the job.

 

[Porkypine]

Fixed the post basher, managed to break the handles around 20 posts in, one handle broke off and the other cracked round the weld.
Supplier was apologetic and sorted a refund. So welded the handles back for a free tool! Really rough welding so no photos but will hopefully do the job.

The bought ones I've seen are total rubbish, I made one from 5'' pipe and handles bent from gas barrel, big lump of plate on the top, I defy anyone to break it

 

[OJCar]

Reversing light kept blowing fuses.

Poxy mice.

So I ensured the Passenger Management Control Module was activated...

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

My friends new (to him) Kia Rio.

Was making an unpleasant beeping noise when driven over 5MPH.

The Dealership couldn't fit him in until Monday, and when he spoke to Kwik-Fit and Halfords Autocenter, they both tried to diagnose it before saying it was clearly an electrical fault, and they wouldn't know where to begin.


The issue: He had accidentally pulled the bonnet release catch when opening the fuel flap at the petrol station, and the beeper was a warning that the bonnet wasn't latched.


I can forgive my mate for not realising as he would be the first to admit he's not remotely mechanically minded...

But for the service team at the dealership to not suggest checking that, and two mechanics to physically inspect the car and miss it seems pretty damn poor.

Anyway it gave his missus a good laugh when I "diagnosed" the issue and pronounced it fixed.

 

[Melvyn Best]

The Dealership couldn't fit him in until Monday, and when he spoke to Kwik-Fit and Halfords Autocenter, they both tried to diagnose it before saying it was clearly an electrical fault, and they wouldn't know where to begin.



But for the service team at the dealership to not suggest checking that, and two mechanics to physically inspect the car and miss it seems pretty damn poor.

You can’t get thicker than a kwik-fit fitter!

 

[bricol]

You can’t get thicker than a kwik-fit fitter!

Although much like anywhere, I've found good and bad - one manager ran a Sierra Cosworth - good to deal with for tyres for my Lancia integrale.

A subsequent one tried to tell me I needed new rear trailing arms for the same car as they were bent . . . yep, the locating links were bent exactly as much as Lancia intended them.

 

[DAPPH]

You can’t get thicker than a kwik-fit fitter!

Having a Motability car for me I have to get the tyres checked by Kwik-fit under the hire contract .
One day coming back from London the low pressure alarm went off whilst I was 16 miles east of Swansea , called the RAC who turned up two hours later & said I've checked the pressures , they are OK it just needed resetting ..

It came on again nine miles later , I drove to the nearest KF & asked them to check the tyres , had a two hour wait on a cold uncomfortable wooden chair . Then was told it's been sorted all tyres at 35 psi RHF was low at 30 , drove home.

The next morning the alarm came on as I was going back to Swansea to collect my daughter ,, went to the nearest KF. An hours wait , told it all OK all tyres at 34 psi .
A day later on the way to Carmarthen the alarm came on again as I was about a mile away from that KF .
Drove in " Certainly would you like a cup of tea we won't be long " .

I'd barely finished the tea when it was pronounced OK . I aske what the pressures were ,, " Well it's no wonder it was difficult to steer when braking , RHF 32 LHF 38 RHR 33 and 28 psi . Now all set to 36 psi as per the sticker on the door post

The manager said it's not the first time he's heard of such things happening in both the Swansea units ,, advising me to tell Motability and he'd back up what I said .