Imhotep's ever changing fleet - MG ZS180, Toyota GT86 - Why am I not allowed working AC?!

[Imhotep]

52 minutes ago, R Lutz said:

The first time I really studied the GT86 was at the Paris Salon, in I guess, 2012. It was probably at Geneva that year, but I'd have been worse for wear. Anyway, I remember being completely in awe of it. Years later I was looking that them again, this time at Geneva Salon and a fairly well known motoring journalist (who'd had more than their fair share of Subaru freebies) put me off them. Now they just seem to be all Barried or Chavved. I'd still love one though.

They do have a few issues, and most of them being barried is one of them. The other is the rod knock issue that seems to plague all Subarus, but I can remedy this with a sump baffle (and I will be doing so!), but yes, it took a while to find an unmodified one (and even my one had aftermarket wheels). Then this one fell into my lap, thankfully it’s had the valve spring recall done and I can see it’s been very regularly serviced. Only real issues I have I was aware of, which is for some reason it was painted partly red and then back to black (your guess is as good as mine for that one), and the key fob buttons don’t work whatsoever. Nothing I can’t resolve thankfully, and I’ll take a well serviced one with a few faults for how little I paid. 

[R Lutz]

Is 'rod-knock' issues not a result of track driving and oil starvation? 

[Imhotep]

1 hour ago, R Lutz said:

Is 'rod-knock' issues not a result of track driving and oil starvation? 

Basically driving like a dick with low oil aye, but you never know how a second hand car has been driven. I don’t tend to drive mine too hard since it’s used for commutes but a baffle isn’t expensive and I’d like the peace of mind. 

[Imhotep]

This arrived today:

 

It’s a Mishimoto sound generator removal kit. A GT86 has a noise generator that throws engine noise into the cabin. That’s great when I’m driving it like I stole it on a track, however mine spends most of its time doing 15mph between Birmingham and Oldbury, so it gets grating. So I pulled it all out and fitted the CNC part:

 

Has made the jubilee clip look a bit unsightly but it’ll do for now until I can get a smaller one. 
 

Pulled all the pipe work out and plugged the firewall side with the spare 12v cover as per @mintwth suggested. I do want a more elegant solution to that though so I’ll likely see if I can find something else e.g. a rear wiper bung from a base model Peugeot 106 and see if that fits (they look about the same size). Engine bay also has a bit more room for activities now:

 

Now I can enjoy the music of my teenage years, that time when I had hope and drive, in peace:

[Imhotep]

MG has had an unburnt fuel smell from the back for a while now. These do suffer with the tanks failing however mine had a brand new fuel tank a few years ago. I did check anyway and every joint is dry. No petrol anywhere.

I did ask elsewhere if I was missing anything. It was suggested to me do a live data check to see what the car thinks the ambient air temperature is. Sadly, while my OBD reader can’t do this, it did show me it has a fault code:

P0141 should bring an EML on but it hasn’t in this case (EML works fine, the code reader even detects the EML is being off). That’s the post cat lambda sensor. This’ll explain two (maybe three) things, why my oil stank of fuel, and why the car stinks of fuel, and it may also explain why the car turns for two seconds or so before firing. £48 from DMGRS. Will get this sorted ASAP and see if the fuel economy improves.

[Imhotep]

Been away a bit with login issues. A bit has happened while I’ve been away. 
 

First of all I ordered a new lambda sensor for the ZS. Looked at it and decided the garage can change that. It looks like the original one, and the bolts on the exhaust I need to undo to drop it down slightly for access don’t look too clever either, and frankly I’ve fell out of love with it a bit at the moment so hopefully it’ll come back once remedied. However looking at the jacking points on it hasn’t helped reignite my enthusiasm, sadly:

(Not sure why they’re upside down, maybe it wanted to be Australian).

That’s as far as I’ve got with the ZS at the moment. It does need some love but I’ve just lost all the mojo at present, I’ve contemplated selling it again to someone that’ll look after it, even though I think I’d regret it if I did.

Now the Toyota. This HAS had some love as my mojo has been reignited for this car. I found a cheap XTrons unit on FB marketplace. It’s from a Toyota Vellfire but it’s mostly the same. Stock head unit looks like this:

So I needed something similar and the XTrons is vaguely similar which is good enough. Anyhow I removed the old radio, but the radio in this car doesn’t have a cage. It sits quite far back and is bolted in:

 

So I unbolted the brackets, however they do not fit on the XTrons as it has one mounting peg that doesn’t line up:

 

Mounts for aftermarket radios for the GT86 are (ready for this?) £80. For a bracket. No. Out come the tin snips:

Okay, so one of the bolts doesn’t fit in the side of the radio any more but honestly it’s sturdy, and still bolts to the car fine anyway:

And there we are, one stock looking Apple CarPlay compatible radio, with a CD player!

 

This has the unexpected side effect of having a much better amplifier than the stock Toyota system so the mediocre ICE now sounds great. I’m still considering getting the Toyota option ICE upgrade, but we shall see.

Also last week I decided to see if the AC would gas up, and I’m pleased to say it has! So at least the Toyota will have working AC this summer (hopefully). 
 

Also @Heidel_Kakao and I did the diff oil to see if it would stop the grinding noise. Happily the diff is okay, sadly it was not the issue. Likely wheel bearings, they’re next. 
 

So more work done on Toyota this time oddly, but I’m really just not too fussy about the MG at the moment. I might make some effort and go and get the AC mended and the O2 sensor replaced and see if the love comes back. If it doesn’t I’ll likely dabble in sales again but who knows?

[Imhotep]

So what’s happened now?

O2 sensor has been swapped on ZS. No noticeable difference but it does seem to be using slightly less fuel. However that brings me to the next point - it STILL reeks of unburned fuel around the back of the car. Everything is clean and dry, and it only smells when running. I’m wondering if there’s a breather blocked, or if the carbon canister is full. Answers on a postcard for that one please… Did a scan of the sensors to check everything was reading normal after the sensor was changed. Looks okay however I’ve been told the throttle position is a bit high for a warm engine, and to check for vac leaks or my IACV. As the latter doesn’t work properly anyway that’ll be my starting point:

I’ve still got to repair the air conditioning on it, however money is a tad tight atm. Maybe next month. 
 

And speaking of air conditioning… The Toyota’s has failed again. Out comes the UV torch. This wasn’t very easy as the GT86 really doesn’t hold much AC gas. Had a look, and managed to find the high pressure line covered in oil and a bit of a UV reaction…

Fairly sure it’ll be that. So new high pressure line needed too, annoying as I had the low pressure one done as that had a hole in it!

Discovered I don’t need an estate car either while doing a clearance after the builders came to repair the flat:

 

During said clearance I found an under seat subwoofer and all the associated wiring. I may sell this, I may fit into the MG if I can do it without cutting any wiring apart:

 

MG also got new coil packs because it needed some as I was borrowing @Heidel_Kakao’s and Mrs Imhotep wants to learn car things for some reason, so I had her change all the coil packs (including the rear bank!) she now wants to learn how to do an oil service so I guess I’m not taking the Toyota to the garage this time around…

[alcyonecorporation]

Imhotep came to see me and we went for a bit of drive in the local area, before he changed the Japan Racing wheels, eh. 
We took in the infamous Crowland corkscrew, which is the crap Fenland equivalent of Laguna Seca's most famous elevation change. 

Anyway, these are from Stowgate.