Dave's shonkers - continuing electroshite

[loserone]

Hope you don't end up dying your battery 

[320touring]

On 27/08/2024 at 20:15, Dave_Q said:

Had another go at the front end including using para cord to tie the bumper up, slightly better.

I'm having a rare stop at a public charger and taking the opportunity to do some HOT MATHS.

These are the scores on the doors according to the car, since purchase.

I was getting closer to 4.1mpkwh average but have done a few motorway trips which bring it down.

Of those 159 kWh, 56 were from podpoint at a total cost of £14.91.

Adding a rough 10% on for charging losses beings the total to about 175kWh so 119kWh on home chargers.

I have mostly managed to charge on the overnight rate of 8.5p, a couple of times I had to charge on the day rate but these were balanced out by a couple of free charges at my girlfriends house.

So assuming an average of 8.5p a unit that's £10.11.

Total cost for the 624 miles then is £25.02.

624 miles in the Golf at 25mpg would have been £159.

So we are up about £134, or the car has 12% paid for itself in 4 weeks.

FAQs:

No, this doesn't include battery lease cost as the useless fuckers obviously still haven't managed to send me anything.

No, I don't have a @320touring style minute-by-minute spreadsheet of charging rates, wind directions and flavours of amps from different providers, so the above guesswork is the best I got.

Thems some good figures - I'm still on 22p/unit although my smart meter was fitted today.

Contemplating doing exciting* efficiency tests aoon

[bangernomics]

Are going to chuck a preventative few bits on or see what they find when they fill it? How much is a dryer/condenser for these?

[Dave_Q]

The main condenser is about £100. 

TBH I am hoping to just use them to pinpoint a leak if there is one, rather than going Parts Darts. 

The condenser is deffo a bit bent tho.

[Erebus]

If you've got an ATS near you it's a bit cheaper there with the Groupon voucher:

https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/ats-euromaster-7

[Dave_Q]

Just now, Erebus said:

If you've got an ATS near you it's a bit cheaper there with the Groupon voucher:

https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/ats-euromaster-7

I got this in my email today but their T&C exclude hybrids and EVs.

[Erebus]

3 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

I got this in my email today but their T&C exclude hybrids and EVs.

That's a shame.  Do EVs and hybrids take more gas because it's used for cooling batteries or motors?

[Dave_Q]

1 minute ago, Erebus said:

That's a shame.  Do EVs and hybrids take more gas because it's used for cooling batteries or motors?

In this case yes, I don't know about others though. 

This takes 1000g of gas, I think more like 400-700g is normal?

I can't see any reason why ATS's machine wouldn't work on this car so assume they are trying to protect against the cost of too much gas.

[Dave_Q]

It's a fail, they can tell me it's got no gas in and not holding a vacuum but apparently their machine isn't capable of leak testing. 

They said I should get it leak tested somewhere else then bring it back? Now deliberating whether to do that or get one of those cans and some dye and do it myself.

[Cavcraft]

Was it £135 for them to tell you they can't do it and it needs leak testing, and if so (assuming you can fix whatever the leak is) does that include the refill when sorted? I did hear certain gases were more than others, but Hi-Q did mine for £35 a couple of years ago on an old car.

Not sure how much the testing kits are, but ECP have/had one and you could buy some sort of 1990's rave type funky yellow sunglasses to see the UV, or whatever they do.

 

[Dave_Q]

13 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

Was it £135 for them to tell you they can't do it and it needs leak testing, and if so (assuming you can fix whatever the leak is) does that include the refill when sorted? I did hear certain gases were more than others, but Hi-Q did mine for £35 a couple of years ago on an old car.

Not sure how much the testing kits are, but ECP have/had one and you could buy some sort of 1990's rave type funky yellow sunglasses to see the UV, or whatever they do.

 

No they didn't charge me, they will refund me if I don't take it back. 

The price is so high because it's the new R1234YF gas.

[angle]

5 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

In this case yes, I don't know about others though. 

This takes 1000g of gas, I think more like 400-700g is normal?

I can't see any reason why ATS's machine wouldn't work on this car so assume they are trying to protect against the cost of too much gas.

Yeah,  when I used the Groupon recently with a C4 Picasso they were at pains to tell me it only just covered the cost of the gas and all they would do was to regas it - 'if all the gas comes straight back out because you have a leak that's not our problem'

[Kiltox]

EV/hybrids use different oil I’m told. 

Zoe uses fucktons of gas because it’s used for heating as well as cooling. Other EVs have more normal sized systems. 

[Dave_Q]

I think any of these fast fit places are very variable, Ultrawomble said he had had a place put the dye in and do a proper leak test but the guy at this place said he could only test for vacuum and refill, and if he put any gas in he would have to charge me.

They were pretty chilled about letting me take it away and refunding me if I don't bring it back, and I wasn't there long so didn't waste too much time.

[wuvvum]

I had one of those ATS Groupon vouchers, I took the Merc in and they said it was leaking and didn't attempt to gas it up - they didn't redeem the voucher either so I was able to get a refund on that.

They also said that they can't do leak detection though, which surprised me somewhat given that my local village garage can do it fine.

[Dave_Q]

I can get a can of R1234* gas and some dye for about £50 in total so might just give it a go as I'm likely to spend that getting a man to do it.

I wonder if using R134 gas for the leak detection would be OK? It's just going to leak out anyway, surely it shouldn't damage anything?

[loserone]

Who was it on here using propane?

[wuvvum]

Isn't it technically illegal to add refrigerant gas to a system you know to be leaking?  Garages usually use nitrogen for pressure testing.

[Dave_Q]

11 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Isn't it technically illegal to add refrigerant gas to a system you know to be leaking?  Garages usually use nitrogen for pressure testing.

I imagine you're right. I'll get some quotes before firing off into the ozone layer

[IronStar]

One of the very rare car-related occasions I’m happy I’m here and not there is Aircon. A bit over 35€ gets you a regas, uv dye and ac compressor oil in at a very reputable place if machine says yes. If machine says no, they diagnose it for you, tell you what’s wrong, and offer to replace it for you if they have a part in stock or send you away to fix it if they don’t. It was around 25€ before the price went up last year.

[Landy Mann]

On 08/08/2024 at 15:07, Dave_Q said:

 

The indicators I haven't noticed as especially offensive but that could also be relative to the general racket of the whine and my music.

Using the button to the left of the speedometer changes the graphics and the indicator noise if you've not found it. Think there may only be two indicator tones but multiple graphics 

[Kiltox]

It’ll be the condenser that’s leaking, especially if it’s bent. 

[Dave_Q]

1 minute ago, Kiltox said:

It’ll be the condenser that’s leaking, especially if it’s bent. 

Stop it with your sense talking.

Found this local mobile guy at £30 for a pressure test but you're probably right that I need to replace the condenser before bothering.

https://www.horizonautoglazing.co.uk/air-conditioning-service-huddersfield/

[wuvvum]

30 minutes ago, IronStar said:

One of the very rare car-related occasions I’m happy I’m here and not there is Aircon. A bit over 35€ gets you a regas, uv dye and ac compressor oil in at a very reputable place if machine says yes. If machine says no, they diagnose it for you, tell you what’s wrong, and offer to replace it for you if they have a part in stock or send you away to fix it if they don’t. It was around 25€ before the price went up last year.

I mean my local garage did a pressure test on the Rover, found the source of the leak (high pressure port), replaced the faulty bit and regassed the system for less than £40, so it is possible to find reasonable prices here if you know where to look.  (The gas has since leaked out due to a dodgy condenser, but the garage did warn me it looked a bit battered - they couldn't check it fully because it's bolted to the radiator.)

[Dave_Q]

Had another look and the condenser is actually well bent, so ordered a new one for £106.

[Dave_Q]

Made a start on this ready for the condenser turning up at some point.

First things first, it's the coolant radiator that's bigly bent:

The condenser I managed to wangle out, and it's maybe slightly bent but not too bad. Not in the first flush of youth though.

Not sure now whether to stick the new one on anyway or put it back together and get it pressure/leak tested with the old one? As it could easily be leaking from somewhere else instead/as well.

I think I will order a coolant radiator as I'm not happy about putting it back on now I've seen it. There are dire warnings about needing to disconnect the HV to do it as the coolant cools the motor? I reckon I will use some clamps to avoid draining the rest of the system and see how I go. It's not a major issue to disconnect the HV though.

[Dave_Q]

£64.59 for a new Denso (same as OE) rad with an eBay discount code.

From a ratch round Google, the dark staining on the left hand side of the condenser is evidence of a leak so will just go with the new one when it turns up.

[Dave_Q]

While it's off the road I am also doing something about the minging interior.

I've read that some Renault seat covers can be machine washed. Don't think these are actually one of them, but it's happening anyway.

The rears came off the foam OK, just attached with zips and a few hog rings.

The fronts, the back rests don't seem to want to come off easily but the bases do. They are not possible to detach from the foam, so the foam has been crammed into the machine.

Delicates, 30 degrees, 600rpm spin speed.

Will report back.

[bigfella2]

I did the same with some Berlingo seats recently, it had been used as a plasterers van and was minging, came out like brand new. Was labour intensive, but worth it.

[wuvvum]

4 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

It's not a major issue to disconnect the HV th... 

FTFY.