What have you done to your car today?

MrRockliffe said:
Just had someone force me into cones on the motorway. Overtaking me on the M6 in 50 average limit, just pulled over into me and my lane. Swerved to avoid as couldn’t brake with a lorry up my backside.

Damage to front bumper, bonnet and left side of the car.

Car didn’t stop, police called and they’re going to respond.

Still got 4 hours of my journey back from Scotland to go. Fuming with the guy - he made no effort to stop at all, completely oblivious.
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It was your wife yesterday?
 
kona786 said:
Who was driving. But I assume you meant her anyway. Any pics of the damage?
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Ah it was my other half, as explained in this post.


I posted the above message within about 40 minutes of the incident occurring and it was quicker to write me than “my other half”, and hence why I shortened the rest of the post without mentioning the person. Still in shock at the time.



Didn’t think anyone would be pedantic enough to pick it apart



For clarity, I was in the car and my other half driving.







 
AC diagnostic as 3 months after getting the high pressure hose replaced I've started to lose AC again indicating another fault. Went to Hawke Motosport in Romsey who specialise in AC among other things and he found the low pressure hose itself has a micro crack(s) where it rubs against the heat shield and only the nitrogen test indicated to that. Knew I should have got both hoses at the same time months ago lol.

Used AC leak stop for now so I have working AC until the inspection 2 is booked in for a couple months time and I get the new hose ordered ready for the service.

So all in all over the last 24 months:

- New hedgehog
- New AC compressor + expansion valve + evaporator + drier
- New condenser
- New high pressure hose
- New low pressure hose

What's next bingo card still being populated....
 
Yeah hydrogen/nitrogen mixture or whatever it was, kinda pleased it was the low pressure hose too. Not sure how much I can take of things needing replacing that require the car to be taken to bits at this stage.
 
mrk said:
AC diagnostic as 3 months after getting the high pressure hose replaced I've started to lose AC again indicating another fault. Went to Hawke Motosport in Romsey who specialise in AC among other things and he found the low pressure hose itself has a micro crack(s) where it rubs against the heat shield and only the nitrogen test indicated to that. Knew I should have got both hoses at the same time months ago lol.

Used AC leak stop for now so I have working AC until the inspection 2 is booked in for a couple months time and I get the new hose ordered ready for the service.

So all in all over the last 24 months:

- New hedgehog
- New AC compressor + expansion valve + evaporator + drier
- New condenser
- New high pressure hose
- New low pressure hose

What's next bingo card still being populated....
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I had similar bingo on my Saab 9-5 last year. It is annoying having to give the car to a garage but I understand also because the gas is nasty stuff. The "AC Specialists" ended up replacing the compressor, expansion valve and new condenser. At least a year on my Climate is still nice and cool.
 
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Track wheels and tyres on for the MOT tomorrow as I wasn’t aware it needed new fronts, I don’t get told anything by the Mrs’s. New tyres on order for the weekend, and these have new tyres so it’ll be fine.

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GSXRMovistar said:
Spent an hour figuring out how I'm going to repair a headlight housing on the Elise (broken mounting brackets) as it seems replacements if you can get them are now £800 upwards. Seems to be a common issue that can be fixed with some metal brackets and a little epoxy adhesive or sikaflex, so that's my task for tomorrow.
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Forgot to follow up on this, brackets were made and fitted; Not in the photo but I refitted them to the housings with some Tigerseal which should lessen the vibrations. The have been installed and I've racked up around 150 miles of spirted driving around country B roads and all seems to have stayed in place! :D

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Last weekend I also adjusted the suspension on the car (Nitron Street Series 2), it was a little too hard, dialled it back so still very stiff but slightly more forgiving on the local roads. Plus I now know how its set so easy enough to adjust either way depending on what I'm doing.
 
My parents went on a eurotrip in the BMW and it had thrown some errors and alarm was going crazy... 2 garages abroad failed to pinpoint the fault. I did some diagnostics after they returned and after 30 minutes determined the battery is shot, tried to rescue it with CTEK MXS10, unfortunately no luck so ordered a new battery. I called BMW to see how much it would cost, been quoted £285 for battery and £120 for coding it in.

I managed to get a 95Ah 850A compatible 019 AGM battery for £129 and since I've ISTA there's no additional charges.

Manufacture specific software is superior to aftermarket stuff from my own experience, its a lot easier to pinpoint a fault. Below is a screenshot of doing some testing after the battery was on charge for 12h+.
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I recently posted about brakes change on a Mazda and the costs, its disgusting how dealerships take advantage of people... I suppose that's how they stay in business? :rolleyes:
 
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Installed new Autobeam LED sequential indicators on my 2011 Focus MK3 wing mirrors to replace the old filament bulb type as they were looking dull and the plastic had yellowed with age. Love them and they look much more modern :) .Had a choice of black, clear and white, white for me looked the best as my car is mars red with silver covers on the mirrors so it looked a bit more OEM, nice and easy 10 minute upgrade.
 
The initial problem with the alarm wasn't solved by the battery, annoyingly on Friday it started going off again... This time there were only 3 error codes vs 6 which showed before, progress! :p

I narrowed it down to the connection between FZD and the Siren, started from the known fault place which is the Siren. Bought a siren from a 2018 F20 (the sirens are interchangeable on the F Series, doesn't matter what part number you get!), swapped it over and managed to clear one code (DE8C5E) in particular. Before it would comeback straight after the faults were cleared with ISTA. I suppose the siren is the culprit behind killing the battery, apparently they drain the battery even when the car is locked and enters sleep mode...

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No much info online about this for the F series, found one more person who has been trying to solve this issue. BTW It's a real pain to get that bracket out, I sprayed a considerable amount of GT85 in there. I test drove the car, after the test drive I did another scan and no fault codes! :cool: New Battery £129+£15 for the siren, dealership route would have cost me £846. :eek:
 
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Found a hole in the sill end and MOT due in 2 weeks. Very tempted to buy a welder and have a go. But for now... Messaged a couple of local welders for a quote.

First response is 200+VAT which is more than anticipated. See how things look tomorrow, I'm not sure I have time to learn and finish a weld in one weekend.
 
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