What have you done to your car today?

@Acme Seriously, start doing jobs yourself, especially considering you are trying to fix this lemon up as cheaply as possible. The garage you are using must be terrible too :/

It will also mean that come the time for you to get shafted again, you might have the necessary skills to get you out of yet another hole without worrying yourself to death all over the forums first ;)
 
This wasn't a garage, it was a "favour" by a friend of a friend. :(

Still charging garage rates but could do it immediately, and on a Saturday...

I'm now trying to source the correct shock so he can put the right one on...
 
This is better than Eastenders.

If I were you,I would skip all trades, private sales and friend of a friend, go to a proper garage for work.

You get what you pay for.
 
Last edited:
ACME sounds like me 10 years ago, I'm not proud of myself. :D

Why are you rushing round to get it done?

LOL @ the "mechanics" fitting that spring, were they annoyed to be working a Saturday as a favor with the wrong parts?

I don't read know what to suggest, all my advice sounds sarcastic when I read it back :p

I guess you can't learn experience quickly.

Just remember that it's only a car.
And we all know this won't stop you buying and selling cars, just take more care next time.
 
Presumably sitting like that will damage the springs? (the springs in each pic are, unbelievably, the same...)

I've told them to put it on axle stands to take the load off of it until it can be put right but I haven't had a response...

I also haven't had a response from the person who sent me the wrong shock so that he can send me the right one...

I am getting very very agitated about this situation, I'm powerless to do anything until people stop ignoring me/get round to checking their phones...
 
Finally traced a knock from the steering, the culprit was a bolt on the steering column set 5nm lower torque than it should...

Replaced with a new bolt with thread lock, problem gone!
 
Acme said:
I see you bought the Porsche I was eyeing up for myself :p
Click to expand...

Cat C so knew it had problems - checked by Porsche and they were pretty useless tbh lol.

little things need doing - drives straight and *touch wood* good engine. These are little finicky things that if I wasn't a perfectionist wouldn't bother me in the slightest tbh.

And the brake switch was a part I replaced and apparently just 'happens' to most cars lol.
 
Raymond Lin said:
This is better than Eastenders.

If I were you,I would skip all trades, private sales and friend of a friend, go to a proper garage for work.

You get what you pay for.
Click to expand...

This - sorry Acme but they sound like chancers with no real clue of working on cars. Surely if the bit they took off is noticeably different they'd say hang on....

A garage local to me told me the power steering pump had gone on my Focus (£200+)- cue me getting ready to scrap the car. But I had a proper look at it myself and it was coming from a sensor - Ford only part (£50) but changed that and fixed it fine. These were guys I trusted to work on my Porsche because I couldn't find a Porsche dealer I trusted or could afford. Found one now though so I'll be using them for major bits as after having a chat they seem like genuine guys.
 
acemastr said:
I have to say, swapping the engine would be a seriously intense project, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Take it off the road, buy an engine, refresh it so you know it's at a good starting place then put it in. You'll feel a huge sense of accomplishment and you'll know it's in good shape.
Click to expand...
Actually, on a relatively old fashioned RWD car like the MX-5, changing the engine is not that difficult really. The first engine change I did was with a similarly inexperienced mate, we did a swap on a Sierra. Started at 10:30 finished at 5:00. The most tedious part was getting the exhaust manifold off.
Honestly there isn't a huge gulf between the Sierra and the MX-5. With an engine hoist I'm confident I could easily do a straight swap in less than a day.

Acme, watch a few episodes of Roadkill to boost your confidence, then drink a can of MTFU and get on with it. You're on a road to nowhere sending these old sheds to garages and paying "mates" garage rates for work. Get stuck in.
 
acme just get a cheap set of coilovers for 250 or so! they wont be amazing but IMO will be better than old shocks.

on a different note, fitted cruise to my z4 coupe! what a PITA.

all done now but I do not want to do it again.
 
Its OK, the guy who sent me the wrong shock has sent me the right one free of charge including fast postage, arranged to have the correct shock put on etc. Will be fine... :p

Also MX5Nutz tell me that quite a lot of MK1/2's burn a lot of oil and one of the knowledgeable guys on there recommended that I try a thicker ester synthetic based oil which should minimise the amount it burns... So at his recommendation I bought the most expensive oil I've ever bought. Gulf Competition 15W50 Ester Synthetic. :eek:

Fingers crossed it makes a difference... Not a solution but y'know!
 
So...I've been busy diagnosing this boost leak I think my car has, but doesn't seem like it has.

Symptoms: wooshing/hissing noise. Seems to come from the airbox pipe that connects to the turbo. Excess black smoke when flooring it from 1.5krpm which didn't occur before.

Got my friend to rev while I squeezed the airbox pipe and the noise sort of stopped. The pipe I was squeezing is a hard rubber plastic sort.

So far; using torque pro. Boost is holding from 2k to 4k rpm at 22.3psi MAP Sensor values. I'm 100% certain it used to be 24.7psi.

It does seem down on power. As it used to boost very hard.

So I started with all the vacuum pipes, they were fine. Though torque used to report vaccum at idle at 0.4hgc or whatever it is. Now it's at 0.7hgc. I do not know whether it's worse or what.

Sprayed fairy liquid on all pipes, revved and watched for bubble, saw none.

Checked the turbo pipe to intercooler pipe and that has no splits.

Checked the actuator rod by manually moving it and also sucking on the vaccum line that runs to it. All fine. Sucked on all of the lines to be fair and blew to see if it was a vaccum leak, all seemed fine. Checked the n75 valve that's fine.

Bottom passengers side intercooler hose sort of checked with the stupid tray that's on the bottom of the car, hard to do but manageable. No traces of oil residue or anything so don't think it's that. But I will have to take the tray off to make sure.

Drivers side not done as ill have to undo the undertray but I'm thinking it is that or the pipe that goes to the egr. As sometimes I hear a coughing sound when revving the car from that side. Very similar sound as to when my egr pipe split on the mondeo I had.

Took it to a friends mechanic for an opinion. He said "turbos dying mate new turbo time." Though no police siren noise or anything. He said the hissing noise is because of play on the shaft of the turbo. I checked this and it had slight play side to side but very very minimal. I checked for a chipped blade etc but everything looked normal to me.

No blue smoke at all from the car.

So my values were being read from the MAP sensor I will read from the MAF to see what it's doing.

Pd170 VAG BMN engine.

Not sure where to go from here.

Any advice or opinions welcome.
 
Washed, polished and got two coats of wax on the not ideal paintwork.

Got my puncture fixed and got the car looking normal again.

Had the ABS/TC light on for a while now. Even when I had fixed a cut wire with a block connector. Checked all my wheel speed sensors until I got to the one that I had put a block connector on. It didn't have a block connector.

Stripped the wires back a bit more and twisted them together. Went to solder, after going to buy solder, but couldn't find the damn soldering iron. Will finish that off properly when I find it.

Test drove it and the ABS/TC light was still on. Sat in it for a while with two cats contemplating how we can't afford to pay £64+vat for Diagnostic's on Monday, £50 odd for an MOT before the 29th and £45 odd for a second hand abs pump.

Drove to Asda via a road I could take it up to 70mph, light was still on. When I came back out the light was out! Glad I only have to pay for an MOT tomorrow.

Good side vs bad side. Not sure if you can see the dodgy back bumper, broken side skirt and dent in the door on the left.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom