What have you done to your car today?

[andy_mk3]

Do you pay yourself? how does that work

Last place I worked I did them in my lunch break and it still cost me £40 Place I'm at now doesn't do MOTs, I kept doing a few at my old place to keep my status active but I am thinking of giving it up as it's a lot of hassle I could do without these days, having way more fun working on things like this

 

[norm]

Took the subframe off the Fiesta, and put a donor one back in its place so I can get it powder coated. Thinking about poly bushing the control arms and getting them powder coated too, but apparently the rivets on the ball joint are a nightmare to drill out.

Got the subframe and anti-sway bar back from the powder coaters yesterday. They did an amazing job, if anything I think they underpriced it, but they are an industrial firm doing big jobs so whether it's not much bother for them to do little pieces at the same time I don't know, either way I'm very pleased with the outcome looks like new and they coated all the hard to reach areas too.

 

[JonRGV250]

Place I'm at now doesn't do MOTs, I kept doing a few at my old place to keep my status active but I am thinking of giving it up as it's a lot of hassle I could do without these days, having way more fun working on things like this

It would seem quite a few testers are doing the same.
At my last place 3 of the testers couldn’t be bothered to do the bs yearly exam so they wouldn’t have test anymore, and my boss has been looking for a tester for the last 18 months for his other garage and can’t get one for love nor money.
Working on that Mustang certainly beats servicing grotty old Fords etc

 

[Conscript]

Fitted the OEM ducktail spoiler that Toyota said wouldn't be offered with the UK cars, until after I'd bought one from a European vendor, and then found that they would in fact be offering it as an option, and probably for less than I'd paid to buy it separately, but I'm not bitter at all

 

[andy_mk3]

It would seem quite a few testers are doing the same.
At my last place 3 of the testers couldn’t be bothered to do the bs yearly exam so they wouldn’t have test anymore, and my boss has been looking for a tester for the last 18 months for his other garage and can’t get one for love nor money.
Working on that Mustang certainly beats servicing grotty old Fords etc

Yes there is a huge shortage of testers at the moment, and it forever feels like DVSA are working against us. It sure is a lot more fun though yes Got a 1930's MG L Type in too, MK1 Escort, lots of fun stuff.

 

[JonRGV250]

Yes there is a huge shortage of testers at the moment, and it forever feels like DVSA are working against us.

You hit the nail on the head there!
We had a random visit from an inspector a couple of months ago and I got dragged over the coals for not leaving the car in the MOT bay whilst I inputted the results.
I mean, why would I, what difference does it make?
We've got a couple of techs that would like to be testers, but after seeing the hassle you get, they're like **** that.
Mini rant over.
Very glad to hear you're enjoying your work though

*starts looking for new job

 

[helpimcrap]

Audi A3 1.9TDIe. Been brilliant so far but just had a big bill (well, for me), but was all consumables...

2 new tyres on front + tracking as insides worn.
Front discs and pads. Considered doing it myself but was only £60 extra to get a garage to do it.
Done 23k since buying the car so not all bad.

New battery... It's been failing a lot recently and I kept recharging but clearly had dropped cells. Replaced that because I had a Halfords voucher and a Yuasa battery was same price as ECP. Paid £20 extra for fitting, would have done it myself but just didn't need the hassle. The battery taken off was different so after identifying the correct battery, the battery on the car was clearly a petrol car one as lower amperage and size, so new one was correct one. Amazed it lasted 2yrs TBH and it looked reasonably old so needed replacement.

Not anything broken, just consumables.

Need to replace cambelt next year...

 

[Gilbert89]

It wasn’t on the list of jobs to do today but I cracked my rear light

Grabbed the Yo-yo Zen (Foldable Stroller) from the boot in a rush and it unfolded giving my light a whack.

Something tells me this will cost a small fortune to repair/replace for such a clumsy mistake!

 

[mrk]

Ordered the new Wireless Android Auto USB dongle for the AVIN unit. Found out about it by chance through an email convo with AVIN about something else. Finally, synchronised app streaming and everything else - Was getting a bit tedious with all the app updates I was doing every time I drove the car on the Play Store direct on the stereo, so can uninstall those direct apps now and just rely on Android Auto to poll everything off my phone sat on the wireless charger bay.

The other benefit is call handling and BT auto is all done via the Android Auto dongle, so you end up with a much slicker calling system etc than the basic functionality that comes with a car or android stereo.

 

[dlockers]

Ordered the new Wireless Android Auto USB dongle for the AVIN unit. Found out about it by chance through an email convo with AVIN about something else. Finally, synchronised app streaming and everything else - Was getting a bit tedious with all the app updates I was doing every time I drove the car on the Play Store direct on the stereo, so can uninstall those direct apps now and just rely on Android Auto to poll everything off my phone sat on the wireless charger bay.

The other benefit is call handling and BT auto is all done via the Android Auto dongle, so you end up with a much slicker calling system etc than the basic functionality that comes with a car or android stereo.

Is it universal or specific to your unit?

 

[breathe3asy]

Fitted the OEM ducktail spoiler that Toyota said wouldn't be offered with the UK cars, until after I'd bought one from a European vendor, and then found that they would in fact be offering it as an option, and probably for less than I'd paid to buy it separately, but I'm not bitter at all

What Toyota is this? Looks interesting

 

[mrk]

The previous revision worked on any Android streo, you just needed to install the Auto Play app on the stereo in order for the Android Auto system to work.

 

[dlockers]

Ah ok... I'm looking for something standalone to plug into the E43 as an experiment, as the inbuilt Android Auto seems to overheat.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Wife gets home, battery needs charging. Yep, because you have a 5 minute journey with every single electronic on. Then consider that it needs an overnight charge and that she gets up at 5am and that the car will be covered in snow. That was fun. Especially on a bonus work from home day. At least the snow hadn’t frozen on.

She also comes out to see where it all connects, despite me having to disconnect it anyway

 

[ChrisD.]

Plugged the battery conditioner as I doubt the car will be moving anytime soon. Glad I did as it's on the first light so I'm guessing the battery is quite low. Last moved mid November.

 

[gc123]

Wife gets home, battery needs charging. Yep, because you have a 5 minute journey with every single electronic on. Then consider that it needs an overnight charge and that she gets up at 5am and that the car will be covered in snow. That was fun. Especially on a bonus work from home day. At least the snow hadn’t frozen on.

She also comes out to see where it all connects, despite me having to disconnect it anyway

similar with the honda been keeping it on the trickle charger for a couple of years , wife uses the car 3 times a week 2 mile journeys. so battery needs topping up regularly. then -6 the other night battery flat.....charged up with main charger and next night -2 very slow crank..non starter.
as replacement car coming at weekend decided to start selling the vehicles so yesterday lunchtime facebook .honda goes on . 3 hours later price agreed and paid in cash, fethching today. last night -minus again guy comes to pick honda up..blasted thing starts first time grrrrrrrrrr.

 

[gc123]

and again now carless mondeo put up 11pm last night and sold today.....replacement coming end of week guess its a good job daughter not far away just trying to sort bank transfer out now as its trade grrrr.

 

[Conscript]

What Toyota is this? Looks interesting

GR86.

Another thing I've done to it today...emptied the screenwash out and replaced it. The factory fill from Toyota was so weak that despite not particularly cold temperatures on Sunday (maybe -2 at most?), that when I left to head to my parents at about 7am, it had frozen solid. It took over an hour and a half to get there and still hadn't thawed by the time I arrived. 100 miles of primarily slushy, grimy motorway driving with no way to wash the screen wasn't particularly fun.

 

[Gilbert89]

Funnily enough - Topped up screenwash in both cars with a stronger mix since the temperatures have dropped drastically.

Still not over cracking my rear light yesterday but called to enquire how much a replacement would be… £194.20 (Cheaper than I expected but still feel rubbish about the whole thing)

Annoying how VW are unwilling to provide part numbers since I have found the equivalent OEM Version on eBay for £81 but concerned with potential compatibility issues despite “Looking” identical.

 

[Ad_Augendae]

but apparently the rivets on the ball joint are a nightmare to drill out.

I did just that in the summer on mine, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I did the full control arm last year and found that to be more of a pain.
This week I discovered the rear upper coil spring (Welded to Chassis) bracket rotted out. Can't find anybody to rebuild or do it yet. It's looking like car heaven
Nice job on the sub frame by the way!