What have you done to your car today?

Noticed another rattle from the engine bay, pulled the airbox out and noticed that the two leads going from the pas xenon ballast were tapping against the case of the Eventuri at idle rpm.

Tucked those in nicely, gave that general area a wipe down as it was a bit dusty and job's a good'n.

Now, back to watching Bosch :D
 
Noticed when I've washed mine how water pools at the base of the rear window. And I mean pools - it's like an inch deep.

Anyways, had looked and couldn't see any drainage holes so just assumed 'meh design'. That was until I was taking some shopping out today and noticed a few small stones in the seal. There under 1 of them was a drain slot. Turns out there's 3 but they are really shallow and just fill up with crap really easily. Very meh design!
 
Took the GT86 for a blast over Emley Moor and down the Woodhead Pass, nice clear roads for a Sunday.

CmVQsgL.jpg
 
Popped up to the first RWYB of the year at Santa Pod.

Way to cold and damp to run any sort of times, couldn't get below 13.9s with a 2.3second 60ft, somewhat pap compared to the 13.4 and 1.85 60ft. Does mean the potential is there to get into the 12.xx region with some decent weather
 
Went to check the tyre pressures on the M3, only to realise that I needed to remove the low profile usb car charger from the accessory socket.. not so easy, I ended up using a plastic trim removal tool to gently lever it out..

So I modelled and 3D printer a little gadget to allow me to remove the low profile usb charger.. 10 minuted of modelling, an hour to print..

Just two semi-circular bits..
A0Jatzt.jpg


With an elastic band just allow it to easily go over the Aukey charger and you can pull it out with ease..
7tI3uUR.jpg
 
Simple but pretty damn cool :) Those things are tricky to remove otherwise.

Today I serviced the S-Max. Oil, oil filter, pollen filter and air filter changed. The pollen filters on those things are absolutely ridiculous to get to. It's in the passenger footwell but you have to remove the fuse box to get to it which is on a hinge. Even when the fuse box tray is unhooked you can barely see what you're doing so it's an absolute nightmare. I presume it would be much easier on the LHD models but Ford couldn't be bothered to make any changes for RHD ones.
 
Flushed the power steering fluid system with 1 litre of fresh CHF11 fluid.

The slight whine I was getting when parking with large steering input has gone.

The dark liquid is what 113k mile old power steering fluid looks like. The fresh stuff is clear green. I'm going to up the ratio of fresh to old by putting another litre in later in the week.

eElFKWIh.jpg
 
Have you noticed the power steering fluid level dropping?

Whining noises can be from air getting into the system, or low fluid levels, so potentially a leak?
 
The fluid level hasn't dropped in my ownership. I did drive in a circle in both directions in between the three fills of the reservoir. Maybe that got rid of air in the system.
 
Decided to check the head bolts today as some people find them loose after 150k, particularly at the gearbox end. (claims of finger tight on bolt #10) Fortunately mine seem fine.

I discovered when removing the cam cover that the gasket had past it's best as there was oil practically dripping off the bolts. It explains the rather oily state of the nearside front corner. Luckily I'd ordered a new gasket a few months ago.
gallery_44179_303_155801.jpg


Cam cover off revealed nice golden oily bits with no crud or excessive oil varnish. The timing end does seem to have moderate deposits but nothing too significant.
gallery_44179_303_462146.jpg


Chain is still nice and tight, running true with little sign of wear to the sprockets/links. Guides looked ok too. All said, pretty good for 22 years old with 190k on it.
gallery_44179_303_257636.jpg
 
grudas said:
yup going gun metal :) also ordered a set of eagle f1's :o



haha ;)

yeah they do look easy to clean, current CSL's are not bad either tbf.
Click to expand...


Got a set of Woolies wheels and they*fit in the gaps perfectly. No small*gaps that are a pain to*clean on them.
 
Kei said:
Decided to check the head bolts today as some people find them loose after 150k, particularly at the gearbox end. (claims of finger tight on bolt #10) Fortunately mine seem fine.

I discovered when removing the cam cover that the gasket had past it's best as there was oil practically dripping off the bolts. It explains the rather oily state of the nearside front corner. Luckily I'd ordered a new gasket a few months ago.

<SNIP>
Click to expand...

The head bolts definitely are common. When I took mine to bits at 114k the 2 gearbox end bolts were barely finger tight :o

Proper good old engines though, a friend of mine is running a GT30 on one with well over 200k miles with the original chain and everything, running well in excess of 400bhp. Mine's currently sat in the shed awaiting a rebuild :D
 
andy_mk3 said:
The head bolts definitely are common. When I took mine to bits at 114k the 2 gearbox end bolts were barely finger tight :o

Proper good old engines though, a friend of mine is running a GT30 on one with well over 200k miles with the original chain and everything, running well in excess of 400bhp. Mine's currently sat in the shed awaiting a rebuild :D
Click to expand...
Mine were tight enough that I'd need a breaker bar to undo them. This one won't ever be seeing something quite as big as a GT30. At best a GT2860 but so far the T25 that's on it is doing a good job at stage 3. Just need to loose the heatplate from the inlet manifold and I should see about 275hp crank power.
 
Took a look at the rear wiper motor of my MK5 Fiesta as it doesn't want to move. It makes a noise like it wants to move, but just doesn't unless you manually move it. I checked earth connections on the hinges as I know this is a common problem with this model, all seem to be fine. I think it just needs a motor replacement.
 
Went at a single segment of a rear door with some T-Cut, and made it lovely and red again. 30 minutes later it had gone back to pink... :( :p

Red t-cut is a con, it just stains the paint and then fades. :p
 
Last edited:
Tripperuk said:
Took a look at the rear wiper motor of my MK5 Fiesta as it doesn't want to move. It makes a noise like it wants to move, but just doesn't unless you manually move it. I checked earth connections on the hinges as I know this is a common problem with this model, all seem to be fine. I think it just needs a motor replacement.
Click to expand...

I had this issue when I owned a MK5 Fiesta years ago, just a loud buzzing sound and the wiper wouldn't move. Getting one off a scrapped car at a breakers seemed to be the cheapest and easiest solution.
 
Acme said:
Went at a single segment of a rear door with some T-Cut, and made it lovely and red again. 30 minutes later it had gone back to pink... :( :p

Red t-cut is a con, it just stains the paint and then fades. :p
Click to expand...

You're doing it wrong.

I returned a pink Renault 5 back to brilliant red and it stayed that way many years ago, cut it back properly and treat it, it'll stay looking good...unless you crash the car.

I'm sure these days there are better ways of getting the colour back anyway.
 
nath247 said:
I had this issue when I owned a MK5 Fiesta years ago, just a loud buzzing sound and the wiper wouldn't move. Getting one off a scrapped car at a breakers seemed to be the cheapest and easiest solution.
Click to expand...

Didn't think about going to a breakers, was just gonna order a used one from ebay! Thanks for the suggestion :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom