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Dan302's new car


Dan302

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31 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Very unlikely it would still be running on the original fuel filter - most garages will replace the original clip with something improvised or a jubilee clip. They do get neglected though and frequently along with the in pump filter, bring about the demise of the fuel pump. Never had the fuel unions break though unless someone had been at them with pliers before? 

Quite possibly re the pliers! That car was 8 years old with 80k on. Filter was a Motorcraft part which looked like it could be original to the car but I wonder if someone tried to get it off and failed, weakening one of the pipes in the process.

I did one on my brother's ST170, 7 years old with 67k miles at the time. The filter was a decent third party item so wasn't original. The clamp bolt had been replaced with a cable tie - not a bad idea, but the pipes were so well stuck on the filter. I had a real mare getting them off. No idea why as everything looked fine when eventually released. I had a tantrum and promised myself there and then that I wouldn't do another Focus filter :D

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6 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Official procedure is to pull the fuel pump fuse, let the engine die out (if it’ll start at all) thus reducing the fuel system pressure. 

I'm still likely to cock it up, get petrol in my face, break the fuel pipes and just general be a massive oaf ?

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You can feel the inside apex from the outside, it sits inboard of the sills, a good feel of it will determine if it’s crunchy. I’d just give the mounts a prod with a blunt screwdriver, you will be able to tell if the rust is through or not. Also check in front of the fuel filter at the tail end of the floor, the mastic breaks and let’s water in with predictable results. Easy enough to check the boot floor to arch tubs, pull back the carpet that goes on the inner arch all the way round to the seatbelt mounts. Strictly speaking it would be a fail on the test corrosion here as it’s within the 30cm prescribed area round the suspension mounts. But in practice it’s hidden by the inside trim and the felt liner on the inside of the arch so seeing as it’s hidden it can’t be failed as such if he can’t see it, it could only be advised if there was a suggestion it might be corroded from what the tester can see. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Going to pop it back to the garage in the morning, I know the pads need to bed into the discs but but the pedal travel is massive before anything happens, it wasn't like that before. Feels almost like the piston retracts too far back so the pedals travelling about twice as far as normal before the pads contact the disc. Does that make sense? I don't think I've explained it too well.

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And more importantly he stuck it up on the lift so I could have a nose about underneath, no oil leaks ? and it's all nice and solid looking, even the rear trailing arm mounts, surface rust on the subframe but all looks solid. The only mention of rust in any of the MOT history is the 50p size hole I had welded on the sill last year. I haven't dared have the rear arch liners off yet though.........

He also showed me how to get the smashed fog lamp off so I can fit the new one.

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  • 1 month later...

Finally got round to replacing the smashed front fog light. I started by unscrewing what I though was holding it in but ended up being the adjustment screw.

I then removed the surround trim.......which obviously I snapped.

I then found the actual screw, removed the unit and swapped the backing frame over to the new unit and fitted it.

New trim pieces on are £15 on eBay so the broken one has gone back on, it's not really noticeable, also I couldn't get the adjustment screw to go back in. I don't use the lights anyway I just wanted it to look tidier than having a smashed one. 

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