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226

General Car Chat / Things I have learnt this week about my car

« on: 15 September 2010, 17:21:46 »

Newer is not necessarily better!

If you have low coolant warning and it only loses a little go hunt it down anyway, when it decides to turn into a lot it WILL be at the most inconvenient time/place.

Even with a massive leak you can abuse the V6 engine to un-thought of levels and it will still run.
Take the pi$$ and it will give up on you.

Stripping it down to oil cooler level is a breeze.
VX need a kick in the nads for making the injector riser so tight to get out.

The ABS ECU is not only as bad as people say to get out, it's worse.
VX need a kick in the nads for placing it there, 6 screws and 2 connectors should be a 10 min job.

People who change these things for a living don't get paid enough!!

This post has been brought to you by 5 hours of ABS ECU removal, you think of all sorts of things as you curse away.

227

General Car Chat / Re: Auto Omega

« on: 15 September 2010, 20:19:03 »

Or this fleabay MV6, don't know why they labeled it elite

228

General Car Chat / I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

« on: 14 September 2010, 15:06:28 »

You may or may not be watching the saga of my cooked CDX estate but today I swapped my CDX and Elite around and took the Elite for an MOT. I know the ABS ECU has gone but i'm also expecting to fail on shocks, cats and some niggly things.

30 mins ago I drove out with a failure on the ABS and advise on front tyres......... I also discovered that it drives significantly better than the estate ever has. I just cant believe I have wasted so much money on the estate (purchase and parts) when I should have trusted 'old faithful' to just keep on plugging with minimal work.

I guess if you have to look for a plus side, very soon I will be a 'real' mig owners with a shed full of spare parts!

229

General Car Chat / Re: oh.... the joys of omega ownership

« on: 13 September 2010, 00:40:42 »

I find the Laguna comment interesting, a good few years back my old company stopped the VX only policy and let the reps choose any 'exec' car up to a price point. Two out of 10 chose Laguna because they had better spec to price ratio than the other options (including migs), one guy had a few problems including a new gearbox and diff. The other guy declared it the worst car he had ever drove, he had the box done twice, the diff done 3 times, numerous ancillaries replaced and the real kicker he had the equivalent of a blocked breather but it pushed the gas into the car. They only found the problem when it went in with dash problems and the mechanic happened to pick up on it, he had driven it like it for months without realising, it answered why he was getting huge frequent headaches.... At next renewal all Renaults had left the list.

And even so called top marques have problems, my daughter has a BMW made John Cooper Works Mini, 40k on it and the timing chain failed as did the entire entertainment system, luckily both under warranty as the system was a £3k replacement. It now has the same chain rattle again and BMW are trying to wriggle out of replacing it as it's only a 'little noise'.

230

General Car Chat / Re: Owned the longest?

« on: 27 August 2010, 11:16:03 »

Had my Elite since 2002, 2 years old with 40k on it, now at 97k. Currently sat on my drive awaiting major tlc after a period where I couldn't afford to service it properly    End of Sept I start the work though, can't wait to get back in it and offload this bucket of crap facelift estate I have!!

231

General Car Chat / Re: Handbrakes and robbing b***ard mechanics!!

« on: 03 September 2010, 21:46:25 »

well done Teebee told ya you could do it without dropping the exhaust just a bit difficult getting under the propshaft at the front. congrats 

Luckily all my heat shield bolts came off easily, I also worked out that once you have the front shields off you can get away with only removing the bolts on the n/s rear shield and just gently pull down the o/s shield to work behind it. In fact getting the heat shield bolts back on was probably the hardest bit!

232

General Car Chat / Re: Handbrakes and robbing b***ard mechanics!!

« on: 03 September 2010, 21:40:23 »

where in Slough are you? - used to live in Slough (Cippenham) moved up to Lincs 2 yrs ago..... i dont half miss the smell of mmmmmmm ...MARS !! and the planes!!
I'm down quite often as my son lives in Holyport - mebbe bump into you sometime 

I live in sunny Cippenham, conveniently located to catch the M4, flight path and sewage farm, I pray for mars bars smell!

233

General Car Chat / Re: Handbrakes and robbing b***ard mechanics!!

« on: 01 September 2010, 19:03:57 »

you've also given yourself a serious dose of well being & happiness which is priceless!

When do the aching arms stop and when does that kick in 

234

General Car Chat / Handbrakes and robbing b***ard mechanics!!

« on: 01 September 2010, 17:17:25 »

So, after YET another weekend of pre-MOT work my MOT actually expired yesterday. The only thing left was a stuck handbrake cable that I really didn't think I could do (I can't jack the car up high enough to slide under nowadays  ). I've found a cable at a factors for 20 quid and start ringing round the mechanics I know and a few tyre companies that also do brakes.

Two hours later i've come to the conclusion that the credit crunch is a myth, all i'm hearing is 'booked up solid this week and next' and '70 to a 100 quid for labour' (and that's assuming no problems...)

I'm now fed up so make one final call to a relative who has some old ramps, 30 mins later it's up in the air. 3 hours later the new cable is on and adjusted, all done while rolling around on my back inhaling various bits of exhaust rust, a further hour later i'm driving out with my new MOT

Now, what to treat myself with using the 70 quid i've just saved 

235

General Car Chat / Re: Steering link arm - help & advice please

« on: 01 September 2010, 22:35:49 »

Oh I don't disagree about using quality parts in critical areas but then again I won't buy stuff like that from ebay, all my past receipts say GM, Allparts or Eurocarparts. They might cost a little more and it might be the same part as ebay but i'm buying from a large chain supplying the trade who I assume don't want to lose reputation for selling dodgy gear. (I could of course be totally wrong but who knows)

236

General Car Chat / Re: Steering link arm - help & advice please

« on: 01 September 2010, 19:58:48 »

They don't actually mention Lemforder on the ad so i'd be surprised that they've gone to the effort of sending a forgery when they could have sent anything in any box.

237

General Car Chat / Re: Direct line can stick it up there A##

« on: 27 August 2010, 11:07:20 »

Zurich via an independent broker here, my policy went up 60 quid last year, tried the comparison sites best like for like was only 30 quid cheaper so I stuck with the broker I know.

Two weeks later I get my direct debit documents, it has dropped 40 quid, he found a discount scheme he could apply for me. That's how to build loyalty 

238

General Car Chat / Re: I've remembered why I gave up self maintaining!!

« on: 22 August 2010, 23:17:39 »

Self maintaining?

You'll go blind if you keep that up, you know...

I might but I wont know due to the amount of crap that fell on my face!

239

General Car Chat / Re: I've remembered why I gave up self maintaining!!

« on: 22 August 2010, 23:16:41 »

Just remember, it's Character Building!

I'm going to return to letting other people build my character 

240

General Car Chat / I've remembered why I gave up self maintaining!!

« on: 22 August 2010, 21:19:16 »

Did the front struts and droplinks yesterday, my local Eurocarparts won't take telephone CC orders to get parts shipped in so up at 8.00 to pay at the counter for 12pm delivery. Get started and realise my 22mm spanner is missing so I cant use the spring compresser and I dont have a 24mm for the top bolt, get stitched up 18 quid by Halfords for the pair! Removal and reinstall goes well, total of 4 hours for both half of which seems like it was spent on the compressors Both arms now aching....

Today I think it's an 'easy' job, the handbrake shoes. All of the strip down is fine apart from getting the drum off, slacken handbrake cable - check, back off star adjuster - nope it's locked solid, plusgas through the hole, wait, still solid. Break out 2*4 and hammer and smash away, I lost track of time but I was on it for over 3 hours. I managed to free the hub from the shoes quite quickly but because I couldn't back off the adjuster they were catching on a rust lip and kept bouncing back into place. I ended up having to pull the only section I could grab by the caliper and wedge small items into the wheel nut holes between between the drum and the hub and then forcibly rotate the hub to wedge another bit. When it finally releases I discover the lower mechanism is also solid so probably not freeing the shoes off fully.

Rebuild is fine apart from........... those damn twist springs!! They aren't the easiest thing to apply at anytime but doing it through an inspection hole counts as cruel and unusual punishment  Oddly I found the first one most difficult, probably because everything could move, luckily I had a brainstorm and realised that you could angle the shoe enough to fit the spring from the side of the hub.

So 7 hours later every part of my body aches, I reek of oil after 2 showers one of which was in swarfega  and I still have the other side to do 

How you mobile guys do this day in day out is beyond me.........