What have you done to your car today?

pastymuncher · 26 Feb 2021 at 10:41

What a pain in the **** modern cars are. I bought some new headlight bulbs and reverse light bulbs for my 17 plate Ford B-Max so had a look at the owners manual and went out to swap them over. First thing I noticed is that my head and tail lights are different to the ones in the manual so that was useless. With a great deal of difficulty due to the engine bay being so bloody cramped I managed to change the low beam bulbs. After much trying and cut knuckles I gave up on the high beam bulbs as I just can't get in there. Went around the rear and popped the tailgate only to find no obvious way to get to the bulbs. After much searching I found a seam in the trim and pulled a piece of the fabric back to find a small hole barely big enough to get your hand in. You have to undo this fastner by hand which has a heavy duty spring on it to remove the whole tail light. After much cursing, sore fingers and more cuts I got the damn thing undone only to find I had to go get a screwdriver to remove another cover on the light unit to get to the bulbs. Once removed I discovered that I had the wrong bulbs. The ones I had which were supposedly the correct bulbs for my car only had a single contact on the bottom while the actual ones I need should have two (so much for putting your reg number in and showing all the correct bulbs for your car :mad:

). With more cursing I put the damn thing back together again and that was a wasted 65 minutes in which I only managed to change a pair of dipped beam bulbs. What a nightmare!! I understand now why some people take their cars to a garage to have the bulbs changed. I now have to find a guide to see the easiest way to change the high beam bulbs and I suspect it's going to involve removing the headlight unti.

phil675 · 26 Feb 2021 at 11:50

Does this belt need changing? Not sure if its been done, car is at 138k

paradigm · 26 Feb 2021 at 11:53

With that much cracking and fatigue, yes, 100% change the belt.

Whatever that rusty pulley is needs changing too!

phil675 · 26 Feb 2021 at 12:36

Ah the rusty one is the water pump. Suppose its worth changing that too while I'm there.

Akagi · 26 Feb 2021 at 12:53

Mmmm my Volvo's belt looked a bit like that, it shredded itself and got spat out the bottom of the car before the replacement had arrived in the post.

andy_mk3 · 26 Feb 2021 at 12:57

phil675 said:
Ah the rusty one is the water pump. Suppose its worth changing that too while I'm there.

As long as its not leaking its probably fine. Just a steel pulley rusty it's not doing any harm.

Akagi · 26 Feb 2021 at 13:00

no idea what said:
As long as its not leaking its probably fine. Just a steel pulley rusty it's not doing any harm.

Also this. I'd leave it if its still doing its job to be honest.

phil675 · 26 Feb 2021 at 13:05

Been looking at the owners forum and they say it's not a regular item to change unless its leaking so yeah I guess I'll leave it.

ahar · 26 Feb 2021 at 13:55

pastymuncher said:
What a pain in the **** modern cars are

On a previous skoda octavia. The front passenger light bulbs were such a pain to get at that dealers charged a flat fee of £10 to change them. Labour time required, 90 minutes!

deardevildude · 26 Feb 2021 at 14:35

ahar said:
On a previous skoda octavia. The front passenger light bulbs were such a pain to get at that dealers charged a flat fee of £10 to change them. Labour time required, 90 minutes!

And that was just to change some bulbs??? Christ, glad I'm not one for modern cars.

Akagi · 26 Feb 2021 at 14:45

ahar said:
On a previous skoda octavia. The front passenger light bulbs were such a pain to get at that dealers charged a flat fee of £10 to change them. Labour time required, 90 minutes!

Think it was my Corolla where I had to take the front bumper off and take the headlights out because it was the easiest way for me to change the bulbs without finding a child to help.

pugheaven · 26 Feb 2021 at 18:02

Just listed my RX8 for sale at 9pm, 7 day auction on a popular site... christ now I have to put up with offers, emails and absolutel nonsense :-(

adam cool dude · 26 Feb 2021 at 18:11

Acme said:
Think it was my Corolla where I had to take the front bumper off and take the headlights out because it was the easiest way for me to change the bulbs without finding a child to help.

One thing I love about my Saab. The side light bulbs were in a really awkward place but they strengthened the wiring so you could push the bulb in like it was on a long stick. It is undoubtedly little things like that what caused them to go bust anyway

.

Arsonist · 26 Feb 2021 at 18:30

MX5 washed and polished ready for it's new owner to pick it up tomorrow

Sad day indeed, but alas funds are needed for a house deposit, and with a new baby, it's not getting the use it deserves. New ATS classics stuck on the passat too with all new spacers and wheel bolts all around. Quick estate run about to get the brakes 'worn in' again after 18 months of sitting / very little use and light surface rust-build up removal. Next up, either find some suitable lowering springs from another make of car, or get it into a specialist shop for custom coilies.

pugheaven · 26 Feb 2021 at 18:48

Arsonist said:
MX5 washed and polished ready for it's new owner to pick it up tomorrow Sad day indeed, but alas funds are needed for a house deposit, and with a new baby, it's not getting the use it deserves. New ATS classics stuck on the passat too with all new spacers and wheel bolts all around. Quick estate run about to get the brakes 'worn in' again after 18 months of sitting / very little use and light surface rust-build up removal. Next up, either find some suitable lowering springs from another make of car, or get it into a specialist shop for custom coilies.

I'm in similar boat mate, selling my RX8 now, simply because it's just not being used anymore and just sat there rotting away now Mazda's lol... I'll also be having a sad day but dreading the whole selling a car nonsense as you get so many freaks out there.

Arsonist · 26 Feb 2021 at 19:46

pugheaven said:
I'm in similar boat mate, selling my RX8 now, simply because it's just not being used anymore and just sat there rotting away now Mazda's lol... I'll also be having a sad day but dreading the whole selling a car nonsense as you get so many freaks out there.

I thought I'd have problems, but within an hour of listing I had 30 people message me and multiple serious buyers. I even got £400 more than my asking price as there was a bit of a demand. Spent 3 months welding in new sills and arches, so guess people want a rock solid car for summer. GL with the RX8 selling - a rotary would be my next car want (maybe behind S2000) - know someone with 2 and she loves them.

Cookeh · 26 Feb 2021 at 21:23

Acme said:
Think it was my Corolla where I had to take the front bumper off and take the headlights out because it was the easiest way for me to change the bulbs without finding a child to help.

Tosh. Both Corollas were dead easy to access. O/S slightly trickier with ABS pump there, but perfectly doable in all of a couple of minutes. Sausage fingers

Akagi · 26 Feb 2021 at 22:40

Cookeh said:
Tosh. Both Corollas were dead easy to access. O/S slightly trickier with ABS pump there, but perfectly doable in all of a couple of minutes. Sausage fingers

You have child hands though.

I think it was just the one that was an issue, the ABS pump side. Or maybe it was the indicator bulb? I don't know.

Cookeh · 27 Feb 2021 at 00:33

Let's say it was an indicator bulb. I never had to change one of those, so we can pretend it's a bumper off affair and you can save face

.

Oh, and my hands are perfectly normal. For a small child. Who's malnourished.

Akagi · 27 Feb 2021 at 00:47

Cookeh said:
Let's say it was an indicator bulb. I never had to change one of those, so we can pretend it's a bumper off affair and you can save face .

Oh, and my hands are perfectly normal. For a small child. Who's malnourished.

It might even have been the Celica. They are all starting to blur into one.