What have you done to your car today?

I don't particularly like working on other peoples cars let alone my own (it pays the bills), but the plugs have been in the ST for 80K and on boost it was misfiring all over the place and was getting undriveable, so..

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Much better, now just need to find the motivation to swap out the cambelt :(
 
Yaayuh! said:
I think I broke it…

Parked in the sun all day and on the way back from work, initiated an overtake and the car flagged up that it’s overheating and to slow down and/or change up.

Since this occurred, there’s a slight lack of power and judder on acceleration, even when just reversing.

Any ideas?
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Coil pack on cyl 2 had enough it seems. Absolutely stank. Going to replace them all and all the plugs too.

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Edit: Ordered Hitachi coils and NGK plugs. 6 of each :( lol

edit: @Raymond Lin Have you experienced this? Seems to be a common fault of Volvos of this era. "Slow down or change up" message with power loss and misfire 9/10 means that a coil has gone pop. If you haven't just a heads up, i'd change your coils next time you do plugs if they haven't ever been changed.
 
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mrk said:
Cleaned out my crevices.


And then I cleaned out my headlamps ahaaa!


Before / After:
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Also this highlighted that even though the lenses look clear, they are not and are littered with micro craters from stones and dust from over the years. I last replaced the lenses in 2016:

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Approved.
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This was one of the best bits about the E46 - removable headlight lenses. You can't underestimate just how much a pair of headlight lenses makes the whole front of the car look so much newer. It's so annoying that 99% of cars all have headlight units which are glued shut.

For the price of the E46 lenses I wouldn't even bother getting out the polish - just replace them every few years
 
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Gaygle said:
This was one of the best bits about the E46 - removable headlight lenses. You can't underestimate just how much a pair of headlight lenses makes the whole front of the car look so much newer. It's so annoying that 99% of cars all have headlight units which are glued shut.

For the price of the E46 lenses I wouldn't even bother getting out the polish - just replace them every few years
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Only on pre-facelift cars tho. Mine's a facelift and the lenses are glued on :(
 
Yeah my gasket was replaced in 2016 too with the new lens, the old one got brittle and the gasket is rather well placed right into the crevice to lock it all in once the clips holding the lens are fully secured.

There are still holes in the housing though for condensation to escape and allow some air through as I found a spider in the housing recently which this cleaning adventure allowed me to vacate. Just like the indicator lenses, condensation air channels have to be there too.
 
mrk said:
Yeah my gasket was replaced in 2016 too with the new lens, the old one got brittle and the gasket is rather well placed right into the crevice to lock it all in once the clips holding the lens are fully secured.
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the lower picture with removed exterior lense was from when you did it in 2016 though ? when you released whole unit to get access to lense clips underneath
otherwise, like mine the first two recent pictures seem to have some slime beneath your recently cleaned lenses -
I have a thin blunt knife I recently tried for the first time(pushing a cloth in), in the 7 or so years since the whole unit was last removed and I could get full access.
 
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No, all of the pictures above are from the other day. There is no slime on the after photo, there isn't on the first one either that's just gunky dust that's accumulated over time on the exterior underside where the headlamp washer trim slots in and dust builds up against the underside of the lens cover which you can see through the lens as it's clear.
 
Either eurocarparts/gsf for OEM quality, or you could go to the manufacture parts department and ask if they have any parts you need.
There is also eBay that have sellers selling OEM quality as well.
Or you can get aftermarket parts to replace a OEM quality part?
 
What brand? BMW have their own eBay store and Cotswolds do offer Facebook group discounts if you mention the group.

Buypartsbuy also add to the ecp/cp4l list etc.
 
Completely depends on the item and where it's coming from AUTODOC have UK stock too but typically from Germany.

I ordered my heater control valve on the 13th and it's being delivered today from Germany by Evri.

All recent orders from them have arrived within 5-7 working days.
 
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Battery voltage was 11.2v not long after driving the car after I was checking/clearing some ABS codes (need a new sensor some time yay) so just swapped it. Old one was only 330cca, this one is more beefy at 450.

 
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Heater control valve, typically referred to as the aux water pump which is bs because there is no pump inside whatsoever, just 2 solenoids opening or closing passthrough for coolant activated by a 12v trigger.

The gasket inside perishes over time causing them to stick open or closed and not actuate causing an aux water "pump" error code to register. I'll probably find the gaskets online and then refurbish the original and sell it as a genuine refurb for a lot more :D
 
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Not really something done to a car but I got this set of coffee table books today, weigh a ton:



Looking forward to it, cost an arm and a leg, title is "A Quiet Greatness"
 
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