Car D.I.Y.

[Pale Rider]

Check the fridge for the key

Ho-ho.

The sodding key will be in here somewhere because the car was parked in the back yard when I mislaid it.

 

[Illaveago]

I washed both our cars yesterday when it was raining . It saves having to wash the suds off .
I got the garage to do the MOT on our car when I bought it in the end of June . The first MOT would have been due in October .

 

[Pale Rider]

I washed both our cars yesterday when it was raining . It saves having to wash the suds off .

I do that for the same reason.

Our respective neighbours probably think we are nuts.

 

[Illaveago]

I do that for the same reason.

Our respective neighbours probably think we are nuts.

We are using less water. Just one bucket of shampoo water and no pre or post washing .

Mind you trying to chamois it off is a bit difficult !

 

[Pale Rider]

We are using less water. Just one bucket of shampoo water and no pre or post washing .

Mind you trying to chamois it off is a bit difficult !

I find speed is the key there, just wring the chamois out quickly as I go along.

 

[figbat]

I also wash in the rain. Rain water is generally soft and we live in a hard water area so letting the rain rinse off the car means no water marks. Unless of course there’s one of those Sahara winds that drops dust on everything,

 

[Profpointy]

I also wash in the rain. Rain water is generally soft and we live in a hard water area so letting the rain rinse off the car means no water marks. Unless of course there’s one of those Sahara winds that drops dust on everything,

I too wash my car in the rain. Well, strictly speaking, the rain washes the car all by itself

 

[gbb]

Son couldn't get the nuts or gasket (wire mesh type) so I cut the nuts off the old backbox and reused the gasket with assembly paste then assembled.

Turn car on, blowing. Not from the backbox joint, but the mid silencer. The jiggling had opened up a gap. Currently sealed and curing, but I guess its a new mid section, hence why you usually replace both. Oh well.

While exhausts seem much better quality than years ago, i long since gave up just replacing an odd section, just do the lot. There have been several cars where i replaced the back box....only to have the middle or front box fail a few weeks later.
The combination of the stress the old box takes while bludgeoning everything apart...plus the increase in pressure the new section subjects the old sections to, sees the old parts off in a lot of cases (as described by an exhaust fitter years ago)

 

[Gunk]

I washed both our cars yesterday when it was raining . It saves having to wash the suds off .
I got the garage to do the MOT on our car when I bought it in the end of June . The first MOT would have been due in October .

I hate to admit this but I don't think I've washed a car myself for at least 5 years. I Hoover them out myself about once every 6 weeks or when they start to smell! and have them washed at local hand car wash about every 6 weeks.

Bikes and motorcycles however, I do enjoy cleaning and detailing.

 

[Drago]

I'm dreading the day the exhaust starts to go on my XC. Its the original pipework and still pretty decent, but its the quad pipe version unique to that ttim level and a new one is a grand for the parts.

Conversely, MIJ near Birmingham will made a near replica of the original in stainless for £640 fitted, so I think that's where my cash would go.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Well the RH arrived a couple of weeks ago, but it's on it's way to a new home tomorrow.

 

[tyred]

I changed oil and filter on the 205. Noticed fan belt was slightly loose so tightened that. Topped up windscreen washer. Made small tweaks to exhaust mounting bracket as the exhaust occasionally knocked on bodywork when taking off.

The heater resistor pack for the Skoda had arrived in the post so I fitted that. Managed to drop one one of the screws holding the passenger side airbag into the nether regions of the dashboard but they're M6 so easy to replace using a spare from my jar of random nuts and bolts. Incredible to think that a garage said this car wasn't worth fixing. I've only spent 30 or 40 notes on bits and pieces and applied a bit of ingenuity to repair the gear linkage rather than buy the part. It's ready for the road now whenever I need it. I will never fall in love with it but I can't find any rust, engine and gearbox are good and I expect it would give years of service. It's the 1.2 3 cylinder motor so should be economical too although no ball of fire. Amazing what people throw away.

 

[Drago]

What they meant to say was, "we can't make a profit put of fixing it for you."

 

[cosmicbike]

Felt like new car day yesterday. Grace, the 27 year old Volvo 240 estate, has been running rough since bought her in January. Logical fault finding has slowly been leading to replacing engine control parts, none of which cost the earth, and if no change then I have spares. I tested the Mass Airflow Sensor back in March and it was all good, so didn't change (new is very expensive). After chaning the crank position sensor last week I disconnected the MAF and she ran well, but very rich, so picked up a used good MAF on ebay. Chucked it in last night and she is like a new car, perfect 800rpm idle, excellent pickup and super smooth. Happy days

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Middle of the F1, got a call from the son, have a look on the net he says & see if the BMW 3.0L diesel auxiliary belt does the water pump, never mind as I start to look, yes it does the temperature has just shot up, so I missed the 2nd half of the race as I had to get in the truck & go recover him. He was due at work at 4pm we got there at 4:20pm so not too bad.