My name is Robt100, and I have an addiction to Autoshite purchases.....BMW Buffing and Jaaag Updates! 11/4/25 wheel alignment woes!

[robt100]

Thought it was about time I actually get a thread going about my little collection. I warn you now, it'll probably be sporadic, or difficult to read, and full of waffle. But you know, might as well attempt it!

So, from left to right:

 

First up, the ex @wuvvum (and many other AS-ers I believe) Hundai Getz 1.5 CRDI CDX (I think someone may have fell on the keyboard naming that one), still with its little light throttle kangaroo issue which I will one day get round to sorting. Also on the to-do list are a sticky seatbelt catch and a rear brake shoe adjustment...if its possible.

In the middle, the ex @Pat Earrings VW  Polo 1.9td Sport, seen here undergoing the starting stages of the rear caliper change. A great daily car, but the caliper issue along with the new sill for the MOT put SWMBO off driving it (mad woman!).

Finally on the right, the ex @DirtyDaily XJR, which is still on the to-do list to get an MOT on almost 12months after I bought it😬 currently stuck on a rounded bolt on the ABS sensor, and a slight exhaust blow which might be manifold based causing a rich running emissions fail. Aim is to get this running in the next 8 weeks so I can use it for a relative's wedding!

Oh, and trying to sneak into the photo on the right is the only non Autoshite vehicle I own, my old VW Caddy, usually carrying 500kg of water in the back and currently clocking over onto 308,000 miles.

So, yes, I will try and add more when I can (hopefully some of the caliper change saga) but I won't promise anything!

[DirtyDaily]

I do miss my XJRs. I'll have to have one again some day.
Looking forward to that one finally being back on the road.

[N Dentressangle]

Brilliant - 3 cars, none of which are actually working properly 🤣😉

This is the kind of spirit we need 😎

[Morris 63]

That's a seriously impressive addiction you've admitted to there - well played!  

[robt100]

So, this weekend was new rear brakes for the Polo. Yes, made sure I had the whole weekend because I've worked on brakes before 🤣

First up, getting it in the air in-situ, which was interesting given its a gravel drive with rather large 'stones', so a bit of digging was required to have stable axle stands. Still wasn't too sure about it, so some bricks and planks shoved under the rear beam just in case! This was done last weekend and can be seen in the image at the start of this thread. Next up, the dreaded bit, how many ugga duggas have all the bolts been done up by? The result... everything at correct tightness and easy to undo!...well almost everything. After giving the bolts for the guide pins and brake hose a loosen, time for the brake disc screw...oh..



Seems someone had decided the only option was to drill it out previously. Saves a job I guess?
Everything else was pretty straightforward, passenger side done first as this was still working. Though I found the handbrake lever wasn't fully returning on application, which would explain why the handbrake was getting longer and longer. Only issue was for some reason with the new calipers (probably down to a cheap casting) you couldn't fit the top caliper bolt after the brake hose was attached as the very edge of the bolt fouled it 🫣 So had to take of the brake banjo bolt, pop the caliper bolt in and THEN reattach the brake banjo bolt. Thankfully I remembered this on the drivers side and things went a lot smoother. As I'm here by myself this weekend and no access to an eazi-bleed kit, bleeding the brakes will have to wait till thursday when the Mrs is home.


 

 

The finished article-ish. As you might spot, I bodge with style, an old Axeminster rug is my go-to working floor 🤣

The offending Caliper

Brake pads still had a reasonable amount of meat on them, maybe 50% worn...if you can see it through the blur..




Drivers side was a little easier knowning what might trip me up from the other side. That caliper was definitely shot, handbrake mechanism only moved via purcussive adjustment. And once the caliper was off, it took a screwdriver and a hammer to get the pads out. Sadly the securing screw for the disk rounded just by looking at it, so now both sides match🙈 But everything seems to be running as it should. Gave the handbrake a little adjustment to get it in the ballpark, and will get that all sorted one everything has been bled up. Then its back up for sale again, I think. SWMBO is still in two minds which one she wants to drive. I think the Getz is her first 'budget brand' car, she has been a bit used to good german and japanese quality and I think its putting her off. So we will see how things go.

Also gave the Jag a quick visual once over to check its all ok, hoping to get it off to get sorted for the MOT imminently. Still love how this thing looks inside:

 

 

[mat777]

Nicely done! I do love those XJRs (and XJs in general), just never been in a position of simultaneous money and usage scenarios to buy one.... 

 

[robt100]

Well, the XJR has been sent off to @Jikovron to work his magic.

The good news for the trip there, the ABS fault seems to have fixed itself! Well, I say fixed itself, whilst under there last I cleaned up the ABS ring, that seems to have sorted it but might as well change the sensor whilst we are sorting out the rounded bolt. Other good news, it drove nicely and returned 23mpg on a gentle drive.

The not so good news, the engine light is still on with restricted performance. And the car is doing its usual 'pick a fault' trick whilst driving, this time it was the dreaded "Air suspension fault" I blame @eddyramrod for selling his and leaving me with the only XJR on AS to pick up all the faults 😅. Then to top it off the right hand side repeater bulb gave up half way through the journey leaving me with a fast indicator and ANOTHER error warning on the dash...... got a nasty feeling this car may be the end of me. But it is rather nice to drive 😇

[eddyramrod]

TBF, mine isn't/wasn't an R... but it's still on here!  The new owner joined immediately.  All that aside, I sympathise totally.  FWIW!

[robt100]

2 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

TBF, mine isn't/wasn't an R... but it's still on here!  The new owner joined immediately.  All that aside, I sympathise totally.  FWIW!

Thanks! 😅
To be fair, the car still sat even, didnt (and has never) dropped. and drove fine, so not sure what the issue was. Its getting all the earths on the slam panel re-done anyway so that may help things.

[robt100]

Well there may be some future changes afoot...

Before I joined Autoshite, the total family 'collection' of vehicles consisted of 2 vehicles, combined 3200cc and 200bhp.
2 years later, its soon to be 3 vehicles, 9100cc and around 750bhp....oh and about 730,000 miles!! You lot are a bad influence, thank you so much! 😅

[robt100]

Well, another change has happened. Yesterday after a trundle down to the very classy South Mimms Services, I have picked up @bramz7's 525d, and a very nice steer it is, Hadn't realised how much I had missed having a large estate! As per the for sale thread, managed 47mpg on the way back, and eaked out 58.8mpg on the 10mile trip from the petrol station back to the in-laws.

Today was spent giving the inside a bit of a basic clean, and trying to fathom out the tempremental starting not sensing the clutch. Tried taking the lower trim panel off to have a good look, but with just a few tools borrowed from the father-in-law, and the realisation that other panels need to come off first, I threw in the towel on that idea and just poked a torch through the hole in the panel to see if I could see anything....

First off, it looks like it has the pre-LCI pedal setup as I couldn't see the hall sensor for the clutch pedal, but could see what looks like the end of a plunger to the right of the pedal. More worryingly, when pressing the pedal I think I have found the issue for not sensing the pedal press.... The top of the pedal where it hinges is popping out of its plastic holder/bracket on the left hand side. Which would explain why it cant push the plunger as the pedal is shifted at a 10 or so degree angle. So the next job is to work out if it is a case of just re-securing it or adding a washer, or if its time to go looking for hen's teeth in the form of a manual gearbox pedal assembly from a breaker/scrap car. Answers on a postcard please!

[robt100]

On the cleaning side of things, I gave it a good vacuum inside as best I could with the hoover available which had a rediculusly short hose so couldn't really reach the middle of the car very well😂

Then I did a bit of leather cleaning with the small amount of cleaner I had left.
Before:

 

And After:

 

 

Just 90% of the car to go! Seats came up reasonably ok too, certainly not looking like it has done 245k for sure.

 

 

 

[robt100]

Since picking the car up on Saturday, it has been from South Mimms to Ely, Ely to Southend, then back to Ely, and then home to Retford-ish. About 350 miles all in, average of 45mpg so far, even with stints of being at full capacity of passengers, and a trip back involving a weeks worth of holiday packing, a cat and 10 2.5m long logs (the latter 3 all at the same time 🤣).

Only issue has been getting it to register starting with the clutch depressed, and the clutch fully returning to position. After a bit of research it sounds like the bar/pin holding the clutch pedal in has worked loose and the retaining clip broken, so after waking up today with a major headache and a lot of muscle pain in my neck and shoulders, I decided to best thing to do was skip work and crawl into the footwell of the BMW...

After getting the lower trim panel off, you can see how much play was in the clutch, when being depressed it is running the clutch cylinder so off centre the piston is running down the edge of the bore guide. Located where the pin is and had a feel around (ooer!) and descovered that the 150mm long pin was probably in the acutal pedal hinge by 5mm, 10mm at best. Another journey and I think the clutch pedal would have just fallen out. Managed to push it in enough to stabilise the pedal a bit more, but cant seem to angle the pedal to get it back in the hole on the other side. Looks like it will be a pedal out job, which also means disconnecting the brake pedal and piston! 🥴

After this little bit of bodgery, thought id check the starting (oh, also took off the hall sensor for the clutch, gave it a wipe and put it back just in case)......


....starts nice and easy now! In the meantime, will have to leave the lower trim off to give the pedal pin an occasional manual re-seating until I can get the time and parts to fix it. Thanks to BMW making the assembly the pedals attach to out of nylon, you have to get the correct corresponding BMW part unless you like excess wear.......that'll be somewhere in the £60 mark please!😭

[robt100]

Decided to attack the boot carpet with the last bit of upholstery cleaner I had. There were a few wet/oil stains and a ring where the spare alloy has sat in the boot for 10 years....

Has come up quite nice! Even got rid of a rust stain above the handle for the first aid compartment. Now I just need to buy another bottle to do the carpets!

[robt100]

Finally finished giving the car a 'foundation' clean. Missed a few bits that aren't critical but given almost everything a good clean apart from maybe the top of the backs of the seats. Took a good 3 hours though!
Next job is the outside 😬

[robt100]

A few more shots of the clean insides, thought it best to take them to remember it by, because I doubt it'll ever get this clean again 🤣

 

[robt100]

Todays job: The clutch pin!

@bramz7 had mentioned the car was a pig to start as it wouldn't sense that the clutch was depressed. Can confirm, it was a total pain! Initally thought it'd be a faulty hall sensor as that seems a common problem.
The lever also was very loose, could wobble it about 1 inch laterally by the end of the pedal. 😬 At that point it started to suggest the clutch pin had failed, sure enough, once the bottom dash panel was off and I managed to squeeze my hand up to the top of the pedal, the pin was probably only in by about 5-10mm! Managed to manually push it back most of the way, but it never clicked back in place and still wobbled... sorted the poor starting problem though!

That was until the pin worked its way loose again 2 days later 🙈

So, onto trying to fix it...
The only video I had seen and instructions I could find suggested needing to take out the whole pedal assembly, including brake pedal, to be able to remove and refit the pin. I could understand why too, I have circled its location in the image below:




Yup, somewhere up in that void is the pedal pin that I had to keep reaching up to push in! The circle is actually highlighting the brake pin, the clutch pin is a further 3 inches up, but I couldn't get the camera angle on it😅

So, I disconnected the clutch cylinder from the pedal, and the brake from the piston too. At this point the clutch pedal felt very loose, and on the off chance I took a risk and pulled the old pin out to see if it could clear the space available....
Success!! So the whole pedal box didn't need to come out, just the ability to fold your hands in half whilst doing the limbo facing the wrong way in the footwell...


Well, seems obvious what may be the problem with the old one:



When fumbling around trying to put the new one in, the missing 'teeth' fired out the far side of the pedal housing, so must have just snapped due to fatigue. Have added a bit of grease to the new pin (which made it even more fun to try and handle and push into the correct place!) to hopefully slow down any wear. Took it for a test drive and all is good, no more pedal wobble and first time starting!


Also had a headlight bulb blow the other day, so fitted some super-duper ones instead. Brightness is better, but it looks like the aim is set a fraction too low to get a decent throw from the headlight. The user manual suggests the touring should only need to run the adjuster on the dash at 0, or 1 if its really, REALLY weighed down at the back. So reckon I can pop them up a little and then tweak it with the adjuster if I've overdone it.

On less great news, always two steps forward and one back.... the seat memory isn't saving/working. M button lights up and goes out when you press a button, but when you then press the buttons it reverts to whatever was in there from log ago ( @motorpunk just wondered if this happened after the keys were de-coded or if you've had it before in your long ownership? And a side note, are you or the good wife somewhere in the 5'2" to 5'4" range? As that would explain the seat setting😆 )

[motorpunk]

Seating. Nah I’m taller than that. Don’t you press M then hold 1 or 2 for a few seconds to memorise the position? TBF I doubt I ever moved the seat, although the missus must have at some point. Have a nosey and see what the manual says?

Fantastic to see it looking so clean. It was always a workhorse to me and I went to some grotty shitholes at times so great to see it being loved. There’s a weird paint mark above the OS rear door where one of my kids put their hand on it on a very hot day when they had suncream on. I never polished it out as it reminded me of happy times (they’re all grown up now). 

Retford isn’t far from me. I’d like a nosey someday if you’re passing. Thanks for the updates!
 

[robt100]

51 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

Seating. Nah I’m taller than that. Don’t you press M then hold 1 or 2 for a few seconds to memorise the position? TBF I doubt I ever moved the seat, although the missus must have at some point. Have a nosey and see what the manual says?

Fantastic to see it looking so clean. It was always a workhorse to me and I went to some grotty shitholes at times so great to see it being loved. There’s a weird paint mark above the OS rear door where one of my kids put their hand on it on a very hot day when they had suncream on. I never polished it out as it reminded me of happy times (they’re all grown up now). 

Retford isn’t far from me. I’d like a nosey someday if you’re passing. Thanks for the updates!
 

Manual just says press the buttons. Though I read somwhere that the memory is alos linked to the key, so I reckon the disabling of the fobs has maybe affected it.

As for grotty shitholes....I could tell from one wipe of the parcel shelf, never seen a cloth so black😅🙈. Ah yes, spotted the suncream print, as far as I know, even polish doesn't get it off.....but I shall give it a try once I get a free day and nice weather to give it a proper polish and protect.

And you're more than welcome to pop over and reminisce some time...if my Mrs lets you, she likes the car a lot and has become unexpectedly protective of it 🤣

 

[robt100]

Finally got chance to give the outside a quick wash today. Nothing fancy, just a sample sachet of a wash n wax in a bucket, as I've realised I only have car shampoo without any protection in it 🤣

Came out alright, though the paint feels somewhere between 800-1200 grit sandpaper 🙈 Going to look a lot nicer without the swirlmarks and a good decontamination. I must admit I do like the red metallic flake in the paintwork, really makes the paint pop when its clean.

Due to my driveway spending most of the day in the shade, have a poorly lit shot of a clean car, along with one of the sparkles up close!

[robt100]

Well, today its the turn of the Jaaag to have a story to tell. It has been left in the expert hands of resident AS engineering expert @Jikovron to get it sorted for the MOT.

Todays job, find out why the EML is on due to out of range HEGO sensors and the blowing sound on the exhaust.



Well, that gap might do it! 🫣 

The threads are FUBAR, soit couldn't tighten any more, it was nowhere near making a seal. At this point you have 2 options, it comes out easy, or sod's law means it snaps in an awkward way hand has to be drilled out. Which isn't much fun when you realise that the location from the ground isn't as easy as it looks here.....




That connection is somewhere up there infront of the catalytic converter. Just a few ancillaries in the way as well for good measure!


So how did it go??



SUCCESS!! Oh, wait.....what are those bits on the left?😬





Well, almost all of it came out. Sadly there is a tiny bit stuck in the manifold. So the plan is to drill that out, and then use some bolts to clamp the exhaust back together. That should then hopefully fix the EML and exhaust blow (and give me back a few bhp.....not that it wasn't fast enough already!) then it is just a case of bleeding the brakes through, new aux and supercharger belts, and then, HOPEFULLY, an MOT pass! Which will also be about 12months since its original MOT that I took it for (and failed) after picking it up from @DirtyDaily . Hoping it will all go well and I can waft to Croft for the first round of the 750mc Vee championship.

[Kringle]

Top work 👌 I'm kicking myself for not buying that BMW every time I see it.

[robt100]

1 hour ago, Kringle said:

Top work 👌 I'm kicking myself for not buying that BMW every time I see it.

What happened to never buying another diesel? 🙈

[Kringle]

10 hours ago, robt100 said:

What happened to never buying another diesel? 🙈

*Flashbacks*

Right car, right job! For my 9mile commute a 1.6 petrol is bob on, but this would be much better for a weekend of towing. Mrs robt100 

[robt100]

More progress has been made on the Jaaag. Brakes have been inspected and bled, so now I have...brakes! Just waiting on the belts to turn up now then we are almost at MOT time.

On the other side of the coin, my wife came home yesterday in the BMW and started a sentance that sent dread, "I was driving the car and when I pressed the clutch there was a click noise like plastic breaking, then it kept squeaking......." Yup, thats right, the £20 clutch pin has already broken! Looking at the damage I think I must have not quite got it in 100% and it didnt latch in place. So now I have to order ANOTHER one and take the whole pedal box out 😭. It doesn't help that the lower dash is about 1inch too low to easily get my arm under without almost breaking a bone or joint. Just checking it and putting it back in today has done something to my shoulder, and I've got a long window cleaning day tomorrow 😬 May need an ambulance by the end of the week🤣

[DirtyDaily]

Cant wait to see the jaguar terrorise the streets again

[robt100]

5 hours ago, DirtyDaily said:

Cant wait to see the jaguar terrorise the streets again

Me neither....just need to find a replacement tow bar for it to terrorise the local tip too 🤣

[robt100]

The Bmw has been quite...wandery in a straight line so took it for a wheel alignment check......




Well, thats not good 🙈!

Annoyingly they "tried" working on it (the poor guy had a socket set with a ratchet handle about 6 inches long and one open ended spanner...) and couldn't get anything to budge. Suggested I'd be better off going to a main dealer as "they wont cost much more"...yeah right! Then may have accidently hinted mid-sentance that it is also because they are busy and want to go home as its friday. Don't worry about my 1hr round trip to get it done, you just worry about going home early matey🙄

So, can anyone recommend a decent 4 wheel alignment place that will actually do camber and toe? Anywhere from Doncaster to Newark and Lincoln to Mansfield is within range👍