What have you done to your car today?

mrk

mrk

Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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South Coast
Haha, you BMW drivers are getting nervous. You might have to read the manual to find out how the indicators work ;)


JB Weld was a good shout, it's now stronger than out of the factory :D

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Deleted member 66701

D

Deleted member 66701

Been chasing a low rpm / high load misfire on the engine for a couple of weeks. Multiple tuning runs and lots of data logs later kind of made it better but still there. I'd pulled the plugs at the beginning but they looked fine. Decided to change them anyway now I've tried everything else. 8 quid later, misfire gone and now pulling like a train again.

Grrr, I hate engines sometimes.
 
Associate
Joined
11 May 2004
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1,468
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Curitiba
Didn't realise BMW's diagnostic fees were that pricey, an hour's charge at £198!

I have extended warranty so that should cover things hopefully.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jul 2011
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36,339
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In acme's chair.
Why? 1UZ will happily run on stock NGK coppers.

When they came with platinums from factory and Toyota recommend platinums or iridiums, I'd rather not put coppers in, especially given their comparatively short lifespan and how awkward the job is.

Bear in mind also that when I put in the new plugs I picked up around 7MPG. The old plugs were in horrible condition (NGK R Platinums) but the car still ran absolutely fine... So just because it will run on cheapo coppers doesn't mean you should put them in it. It might seem to be running fine but it probably won't be happy about it...

I used Denso IK20 Iridiums.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Oct 2002
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26,808
Location
Boston, Lincolnshire
Yeah when they came with platinum from factory and Toyota recommend platinum or iridium, I'd rather not put coppers in.

Bear in mind also that when I put in the new plugs I picked up around 7MPG. The old plugs were in horrible condition (NGK R Platinums) but the car still ran absolutely fine... So just because it will run on cheapo coppers doesn't mean you should put them in it.

They are recommended due to service intervals. Coppers are actually better conductors of electricity. Most big build 2JZ and 3SGTE build use them. Turbo'ed 1UZ use them almost exclusively. I run in both my Saab and Celica. Just change them out 1 in every 3 oil changes.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jul 2011
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36,339
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In acme's chair.
Replaced the Achilles winter tyres on the front of the Celsior with Michelin summer tyres. Also went a size wider so now 225 40 18 front and rear, but the rear is 0 5J wider so it looks a bit off.

Will put 235 40 18's on the back after I've worn them down a bit more.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2004
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10,581
Location
Kent
After 6 years, finally got around to upgrading the head unit. I nearly did this a coupe of years ago, I was looking at one of the Chinese Android units - but I wasn't keen on their speed and UI. I preferred the offerings from the likes of the more established headunit makers, but they were every expensive. A combination of that, and the fact that I stopped driving the car daily mean't that spending big money on one wasn't. However, a second hand Pioneer AVH-X5800DAB came up for sale on the owner's club forum earlier this week, so I nabbed it.

Looks and responds much better than the stock unit, has better functionality (DAB and Spotify built in which connects to the phone), connects faster and (so far) it also seems to have improved on the sound quality. I could barely hear the first few minute or so of Hey Now by London Grammar before....it seems the speakers just didn't have the bass response. Sounds much better with this unit (although to be fair, I've not driven the car yet).

Before:
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After:
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I've got a DAB aerial arriving, hopefully tomorrow, so I need to take it apart and fit that, but so far, very pleased.
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Apr 2004
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19,807
@Conscript, a neater option may have been an aerial splitter. Have you seen them? I didn't want a DAB aerial stuck to my windscreen so bought a cheap powered splitter from Amazon which works brilliantly.

Basically, you connect the FM aerial into it and get FM and DAB outputs to connect to the different tuners on the headunit.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2004
Posts
10,581
Location
Kent
@Conscript, a neater option may have been an aerial splitter. Have you seen them? I didn't want a DAB aerial stuck to my windscreen so bought a cheap powered splitter from Amazon which works brilliantly.

Basically, you connect the FM aerial into it and get FM and DAB outputs to connect to the different tuners on the headunit.

I'd seen these, but I think there's some issues using the stock aerial with them. I know some owners have used them fine, but had had to change the physical aerial - neater, but it means dropping the headlining and I can't be bothered, to be frank :p
I will see how I get on with a windscreen fitted aerial first - it was only £15 quid, so if I upgrade it later, no huge loss.
 
Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
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37,491
Location
Leafy Cheshire
@Conscript, a neater option may have been an aerial splitter. Have you seen them? I didn't want a DAB aerial stuck to my windscreen so bought a cheap powered splitter from Amazon which works brilliantly.

Basically, you connect the FM aerial into it and get FM and DAB outputs to connect to the different tuners on the headunit.

Which splitter did you use? I’ve only had bad luck thus far with aftermarket DAB.
 
Tea Drinker
Don
Joined
13 Apr 2010
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18,416
Location
Sunny Sussex
Kwik Fit looked at the mini this morning they had fitted the pads in the wrong pairs, there's a pad for behind the disc and in front, they had fitted both behinds to one side.

Give them their due the only way to tell was a lug on the back of the pad that locates it in the piston of the caliper, if you have them back to front the lug pushes the pad closer to the disc by 1 or 2mm.

Anyway they are now changing discs and pads and apologising.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jul 2011
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36,339
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In acme's chair.
Are there any transmitter gadgets that can do bluetooth/usb to analogue TV frequencies for video playback? I guess not cos the frequencies were re used for something else weren't they?

Just wondering if there's any way to make use of the TV in my car. :p
 
Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
Posts
37,491
Location
Leafy Cheshire
Are there any transmitter gadgets that can do bluetooth/usb to analogue TV frequencies for video playback? I guess not cos the frequencies were re used for something else weren't they?

Just wondering if there's any way to make use of the TV in my car. :p
Perhaps you could do something with an RF modulator and composite or component in from something like a Raspberry Pi? Modulators can be had for £30 or so.

You could even use something like NavIT on the Pi (or use OpenAuto like I have) to display navigation or Android Auto to the in car display!

You'd have to get creative with input, perhaps my modding a keyboard to have custom dashmount buttons or use the GPIO pins for control input (I looked into repurposing an Audi MMI controller for this, it's not too hard), or if you get lucky you might find a USB resistive touch overlay in the size of the built in display.
 
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