The new news 24 thread

[stuboy]

11 hours ago, PicantoJon said:

Got the start date for my PTS training yesterday so figured it was about time to hand my notice in at my current place. 

Shame it was done electronically so I couldn't draw a cock and balls on the thing... 

pts? who with?

[PicantoJon]

3 minutes ago, stuboy said:

pts? who with?

Personal track safety, though it is being combined with a few other tickets like track induction and a couple of ones to do with electrified lines. It's booked for two weeks in Warrington. Once that's done I'll be working for a Network Rail contractor. 

[dozeydustman]

Friend of my wife has asked if I can fix her daughter-in-law’s car which ‘catastrophically’ failed the MoT on an insecure seat belt mounting and corrosion, along with needing an exhaust.

All I know at the moment it’s a 60-plate Citroen of some description with about 92k. SL60HPU is the registration.

I don’t have welding gear (in any case my welding is terrible) so I can’t get it back on the road, but if someone on here wants some pictures for possible spears and reapers I can get them.

[SiC]

Replaced the Haldex fluid in the Quattro system of the TT last night. I couldn't find any history in the paperwork so presumably it's never been done in 136k miles?
It wasn't a bad job in the end. Filter is a pain to undo but not the worst job in the world. Took about an hour and half including jacking it up and repairing the undertray that the mounts snapped off.

These are the bits I bought. Cost just over £50 including the tool.


I really ought to buy a low profile jack. Mine is too high to clear the exhaust and get under the diff carrier. I tried doing one side at a time but the car is stuff enough that the whole thing lifted. Put it on ramps but it was all sketchy as fuck lowering it.


I put axle stands (£5 for the pair from Amazon at the time 🫠) underneath the suspension to give some emergency fall arrest protection.


Haldex plug is just in front of the (rusty) diff carrier.


Filter (purple arrow) is hidden but accessible with the special tool.


The old filter didn't look too bad to be honest.


Fluid itself was dirty but smelt fine (i.e. not burnt)



The new filter needed assembling. No real information online about this but after pulling apart the old one, I figured it fits like this together.


Refilling involves going through the drain hole and quickly putting the plug in after. I had the new plug all ready but when I went to pick it up, it fell off my socket. Then the tube fell out of the Haldex and started draining.
I quickly did what any man does faced with a leaking hole and plugged it with my finger.

Started it up and checked for leaks. Could hear the Haldex pump whirring away happy. Dropped it off the ramps as I realised it probably wouldn't clear then if I drove off.

Went for a drive and it all seemed happy.

The rear scraping when turning tight (e.g. out of a car park) has gone. But then it only did that when the fluid was cold anyway.

I've got another tube of oil coming (it was supposed to be here already) so I'll do another fluid change in a thousand miles or so once this lot has circulated around.

To be honest I reckon the filter is not an essential thing to change. It's a maintenance item every 40k on these earlier Haldex units (20k for the oil) but later it became a "for life" filter. If this is the original filter then it looked absolutely fine. I mean if the friction plates in the Haldex are starting to wear and clog the filter, there are bigger issues in the Haldex than the filter. As it's a sealed system, there shouldn't be contaminates getting in (unlike for example engine oil).
 

[Pete-M]

Fitted a Bluetooth gadget to the Škoda. 

It replaces the CD changer but allows streaming and handsfree calling without replacing the head unit, and it's clever enough that the steering wheel controls work for skipping tracks / answering calls etc. 

Škoda doesn't have phone buttons on the steering wheel, but if listening to BT audio and someone calls just press "fast forward / next track" and it answers, press "rewind / previous" to hang up. 

Works with some BMW / Volvo / Mini / Rover stuff as well. 

Sound quality decent and it deals with phone calls well. 

Decent buy at £65 if you have a suitable car with a stereo / Nav you don't want to change. 

Took about an hour to fit. 5 min to connect, the rest of the time routing wires and finding somewhere for the emulator box to live and running the mic wiring. 

Emulator has mini SD card / Aux / USB options, but as I never use those I just fitted the emulator behind the head unit. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125695721430?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=8f3JNLk1Qz2&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=TXtpwOKASy2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[SiC]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

I couldn't find any history in the paperwork so presumably it's never been done in 136k miles?

Someone mentioned on Facebook that the original filters are metal. As mine is plastic, it's definitely has been done at some point in its life. But I have no paperwork for when it was last done. At least the fluid was in pretty good shape.

Going through the paperwork history I found the spark plugs were definitely done at 97k. It's on 136k so should still have plenty of life left in them. Might have even been replaced sooner but no receipts after 2015.

Despite the lack of paperwork to say so, I think it's been serviced regularly. The air filter was very clean when I got the car. Clean enough to not even warrant changing it. Sump wasn't even badly sludged either. 

[Weird Car]

4 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

Friend of my wife has asked if I can fix her daughter-in-law’s car which ‘catastrophically’ failed the MoT on an insecure seat belt mounting and corrosion, along with needing an exhaust.

All I know at the moment it’s a 60-plate Citroen of some description with about 92k. SL60HPU is the registration.

I don’t have welding gear (in any case my welding is terrible) so I can’t get it back on the road, but if someone on here wants some pictures for possible spears and reapers I can get them.

If she’s after a car to replace hers  my Getz is still here and local to you

[dozeydustman]

2 hours ago, Weird Car said:

If she’s after a car to replace hers  my Getz is still here and local to you

I’ll ask her. Many thanks

[Lankytim]

A couple of charity shop books that’ll go on the book shelf and never get read👍

[artdjones]

8 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

Friend of my wife has asked if I can fix her daughter-in-law’s car which ‘catastrophically’ failed the MoT on an insecure seat belt mounting and corrosion, along with needing an exhaust.

All I know at the moment it’s a 60-plate Citroen of some description with about 92k. SL60HPU is the registration.

I don’t have welding gear (in any case my welding is terrible) so I can’t get it back on the road, but if someone on here wants some pictures for possible spears and reapers I can get them.

Sounds like 2 sill patches and a back box.

[dozeydustman]

1 minute ago, artdjones said:

Sounds like 2 sill patches and a back box.

I did say it’s probably worth getting it repaired but the friend’s DIL wants shot of it. She’s trying Philip Schofield WBAC and CTB first but I reckon they’d offer buttons.

[Pete-M]

5 hours ago, Nyphur said:

 

At £3.90 its certainly a more budget solution... I haven't thought to try the buttons on the stereo to see if they do anything actually, I doubt they do which is probably why your solution is a bit more pro.

More budget solutions are certainly available, it's just I wanted this to be invisible (other than the mic) and to work as close to factree as possible. 

Which it does. 

I've got a few of those Bluetooth radio tuner things, but this just seemed to be a nice solution. 

[beko1987]

I've had a few aux jack Bluetooth cheapo things before and they've always been shit in the end somehow. You just can't beat a nice hardwired kit! 

I've dragged the same pioneer stereo between 6 or 7 cars now! Bought the steering wheel adapters when needed a few times but haven't bothered for the Xsara as its easily reachable anyway, and I always found the steering wheel controls shit for navigating between folders on a usb... 

Has a proper nice parrot module built into it too so the calls are always spot on, I just run the mic to by the rear view mirror/got fancy with the lag2 and wired it's built in mic from it's original victoriana era hands free system to a scrap 2.5mm cable I made scrap by chopping the other end off to do it 👌

[Jazoli]

1 minute ago, Nyphur said:

Yeah agreed. The item I fitted isn't an aux jack. It connects directly into the aux input on the back of the head unit. So is a "nice hard wired kit", it just didn't cost £60+

I had to fit similar in my Volt, all singing all dancing car without BT streaming, they work really well, daughter has the same in her i20 which works equally as well.

[Pete-M]

4 minutes ago, Nyphur said:

Yeah agreed. The item I fitted isn't an aux jack. It connects directly into the aux input on the back of the head unit. So is a "nice hard wired kit", it just didn't cost £60+

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/1005004250555590.html

You didn't actually post a link initially, so we were guessing. 

 

The Škoda doesn't have an aux jack as such. This little box does add an aux, an SD, USB and Bluetooth. 

 

 

[JJ0063]

I’ve nearly finished my latest project..

 

Mrs JJ wanted something like this from Etsy but I thought it looked silly expensive for what’s in reality some old scaffold boards attached to some legs. 

So I went to our local reclaim place, got 3 scaffold boards for £16, a set of legs from Facebook for £10 and we already had some wood stain from doing the campervan.

 

Just need to let the first coat dry and give it one more for luck but for someone who is fucking useless at DIY, im pretty chuffed. 
 

It’s only going to be for the lizards vivarium to sit on with the dog crates underneath so mostly hidden, but for £26 all in its ideal!

 

[Pete-M]

9 minutes ago, Nyphur said:

 So that/the ffwd button being used to answer a call etc is probably where the extra £60 odd goes 

That's exactly where it goes. I do a lot of miles and I've got used to having Bluetooth for the phone, it's the first thing I fit to all my cars.  Music streaming is something else I like to have, but I like everything to feel like it has always been there. 

 

Your solution is a good one, I'll consider doing that to my Mercedes, that has factory nav and the phone is via a Bluetooth puck in the factory cradle.  So I can use the nav unit to dial etc. It's too old for streaming, so I play tunes via the aux function in that. Your fix would work in that as I can Bluetooth to that for audio, and to the puck for calls. 

[beko1987]

59 minutes ago, Nyphur said:

Yeah I edited it to add the link afterwards, my mistake

I've had a couple of Skoda's now and they both had the wiring diagram for the head unit stuck onto it with a label. Both showered an aux in whether the car had one or not - hence the little plug on the Bluetooth unit to suit. They seem to do a shit load of different head units throughout the Skoda range though so I'm sure there are lots of differences in connectivity.

I'm pretty sure the item I bought wouldn't support the microphones for calls, it certainly didn't come with them. So that/the ffwd button being used to answer a call etc is probably where the extra £60 odd goes 👍

Wow I didn't even know things like that existed, that is cool! 

I have memories of these things, had one in the xantia and it was that which made me treat myself on bonus month for the pioneer £180ish iirc but it wasn't very old back then) 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204346761176?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=dbeiCsUQT32&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QOvj0cTJQtq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Probably even shitter than that as it was a few years ago now! 

[brownnova]

Last day at the old job yesterday (after 15 years there). Had to clear my office, which meant taking my lovely display of old car ads down… 

Nothing to do with my job… but I’ve enjoyed having them face my desk. I have printed fresh copies ready for the new job’s office… 

[Merryck]

1 hour ago, JJ0063 said:

a set of legs from Facebook for £10

That's a proper bargain there. I made a little jig for making up hairpin legs so I could make some stools. It wasn't a massive job, but I wouldn't be selling individual legs for less than a tenner, let alone a whole set!

[JJ0063]

3 minutes ago, Merryck said:

That's a proper bargain there. I made a little jig for making up hairpin legs so I could make some stools. It wasn't a massive job, but I wouldn't be selling individual legs for less than a tenner, let alone a whole set!

Yeah they were £32 on amazon for a set, just thought before I ordered them id check marketplace and these were listed just a few mins away!

[Weird Car]

1 hour ago, JJ0063 said:

I’ve nearly finished my latest project..

 

Mrs JJ wanted something like this from Etsy but I thought it looked silly expensive for what’s in reality some old scaffold boards attached to some legs. 

So I went to our local reclaim place, got 3 scaffold boards for £16, a set of legs from Facebook for £10 and we already had some wood stain from doing the campervan.

 

Just need to let the first coat dry and give it one more for luck but for someone who is fucking useless at DIY, im pretty chuffed. 
 

It’s only going to be for the lizards vivarium to sit on with the dog crates underneath so mostly hidden, but for £26 all in its ideal!

 

Nice job that!

looks as good as the “proper” one if not better.

[Pete-M]

9 hours ago, SiC said:

Replaced the Haldex fluid in the Quattro system

I need to do this to my Golf V6. Handy write-up. Ta! 

 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, JJ0063 said:

It’s only going to be for the lizards vivarium to sit on with the dog crates underneath so mostly hidden, but for £26 all in its ideal!

That's why they sell them, £150 a pop mark up.

[RoverFolkUs]

A couple of pathetic mileometer moments this evening.. I do wonder what my life has come to when I somewhat excitedly asked my mate to get his phone out and take a picture so I can post it to a beige corner of the internet 😂

(Obligatory service light being ignored 😂)

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, brownnova said:

Last day at the old job yesterday (after 15 years there). 

Isn't this BIG news? Freed from teaching? What next?

[stuboy]

still not cured the exhaust banging on the mondeo

1 more go tommorow

[brownnova]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Isn't this BIG news? Freed from teaching? What next?

Just moving school for a promotion, not free just yet… 

[stuboy]

I may of found out why there banging in the rear of the mondeo.. watch the droplink and subframe... has my shock gone..and closing the gap..

https://youtu.be/Y4Nd4A_PcBo

[richardmorris]

Another exotic outside today.