Simon's new Xantia V6 and Leaf blog

[Mandrake]

Cheeky blighters. I ordered Brembo discs and because they didn't list Brembo pads (or Bosch for that matter) I ordered a Blue Print pad set as I liked the look of their design in the pictures...

I completed the order and it said thank you for ordering Brembo discs and Stark brake pad set. Huh ?! I immediately checked in the previous orders section and sure enough it said Stark brake pad set, which was one of the other brands I was comparing but NOT what I ordered.

I then received my order confirmation email but this said Blue Print pad set, despite being the same order number! Totally confused I tried to contact them, no phone number (except fax) available so emailed to ask what was going on and got this reply:

Dear Simon,
thank you for your email!

For our customers benefit, in order to assure the fastest order delivery, our special services have selected a product, with same technical characteristics as the part selected by you, which is ready for fast dispatch. In your case was selected STARK brand. Despite the higher cost of replacement part, we left the price unchanged.

STARK is a young German manufacturer of high quality spare parts, which is confirmed by three years of warranty for its products.

If you still do not agree with the replacement to STARK, please let us know in response to this email and we will rectify the changes in order.

While awaiting a response, we remain at your disposal.
In case you have any other questions, feel free to contact us.

Am I the only one who finds this a bit cheeky ? There was nothing on the website saying there was a delay or lack of availability of what I asked for, I literally put one brand in the basket, completed the transaction and was thanked for my order ordering some other brand I didn't ask for... if it had warned me my favoured brand were out of stock and offered to supply a different brand but gave me the option to opt out or cancel the transaction I wouldn't have minded. But first I saw of the change was after I'd completed the payment, which I don't think is on, especially when the email confirmation listed the brand I asked for but was now not going to receive.

Naturally I emailed back and said no thank you, please just send what I ordered! I have nothing against Stark one way or the other (I've never heard of them) and they may well be a good brand for all I know but it's not what I asked for...

I normally use Mr Auto for parts like this but they don't stock any Ion parts at all so I'm forced to go a bit further afield when ordering parts for it and I had previously ordered wiper blades from these guys.

Buyer beware.

[RichardW]

That tyre will pass - 1.6mm min across the central 3/4, outside can be bald and it will pass (as long as the cords are not visible. Looks like it's running too much toe in however!!

Most aftermarket discs seem to rust much faster then OE originals -but aren't these ridiculously expensive for the ION? If you're selling it anyway, stick what ever known name you can find at reasonable price....there's no come back on private sales.

Edit. OE discs £150. Each

1.6mm over 75% of the tread width is the rule, the tyre should pass but will get an advisory, the tyre also looks to have been run slightly underinflated.

Nah, I was right...

The primary grooves of the tread pattern must be at least 1.6mm deep within the central three-quarters of the breadth of tread and around the entire outer circumference of the tyre (see diagram 1).

Either side of the central three-quarters of the tyre can be devoid of tread (‘bald’).

[Mandrake]

This is what I have, Simon - exactly the same one...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/indicator-gaug ... 186&sr=8-3
Very sensitive and adjustable for awkward angles. Magnetic grip very powerful.

That dial gauge has arrived already and I have to say for £20 it seems very well made! What do you sit the magnetic base on to get a good steady measurement ?

The next question though, is what is considered to be acceptable or unacceptable run-out for the outside of a brake disc in fractions of a millimetre ?

[Mandrake]

A couple of useful articles here with some good information and advice:

http://www.brakeworld.co.uk/pdf/tb1.pdf

http://www.rdabrakes.com.au/page/TB01.aspx

I'm glad I have a dial gauge this time to verify the run out of the disc to ensure there isn't a problem with how they've been fitted.

[white exec]

I usually try to clamp the magnetic base on to part of the hub which is really solid - eg the hub casting/caliper mount (caliper usually removed or swung away, when fitting new discs).

Tolerable run-out? Maybe 0.1mm at periphery of disc. I usually try all four/five disc positions if the first one doesn't show up as zero or tiny . . . then use the best one.

Important to scrupulously clean the hub face mating surface, and bolt down with all four wheel nuts/studs, or at least three if a 5-bolt jobbie.

[Mandrake]

Important to scrupulously clean the hub face mating surface, and bolt down with all four wheel nuts/studs, or at least three if a 5-bolt jobbie.

I'm wondering if I didn't clean the surfaces well enough last time - without a dial gauge to actually check the runout of the disk after mating with the hub I would have no way to know as 0.1mm wouldn't be visible by eye, especially when I have to turn the hub by hand as the car is RWD...

Those articles suggest that even 0.1mm may be too much run out.

I snapped a couple of quick pictures of the state of the current discs - keeping in mind they were brand new 2 years ago.

Left:

Right:

As can be seen, the left disc has an almost constant layer of surface rust in winter/wet weather which never seems to goes away with use even when I go out of my way to drop the car into neutral (disabling regen) and use the brakes. The right disc isn't quite as rusty on the surface but I can see there is a lot of exploded rust on the lip at the edge which varies around the disc - and I believe it's this right disc that the vibration is coming from.

Quite frustrating that I replaced the original (?) discs 2 years ago for exactly the same problems, (pervasive rusting and vibration due to rust run out) and the replacements are nearly as bad now, and on top of that the pads were never a good fit in the pad carriers.

I'm hoping the new discs and pads are better quality and/or a better fit, and I will go the extra mile to carefully fit them and ensure the measured run out is adequately low. If I can I'll also measure the runout of the hub itself to make sure there isn't a problem there.

[white exec]

You could also use the dial gauge to check the hub mating surface for run-out.
Might help eliminate possibilities.

[Mandrake]

You could also use the dial gauge to check the hub mating surface for run-out.
Might help nail things down.

Yeah that's what I meant - I'll run the dial gauge on the disc mounting flange on the hub while the disc is off as well, just to double check it isn't bent. With the potholes up here anything is possible!

[white exec]

Sorry, Simon, didn't clock your last paragraph!
C.

[bobins]

I'm still wondering if your vibration is in fact both front wheels being mildly out of balance. I get the same phenomenon with my pick-up truck. I'm aware of a slight imbalance some of the time, but on occasions it'll get quite bad, then it'll fade out again. The bad vibration will occur during/after going 'round a bend, and it will similarly fade out after cornering. My thoughts being that both front wheels are mildly out of balance, but they occasionally get 'in phase' (or should that be out of phase ?) and set up a harmonic that causes very bad vibration. In an ideal world, I'd stop when the vibration is bad, jack up one front wheel, rotate it 180°, then continue on the journey to see if it's calmed down.
It's worth noting that a lot of the older, less sophisticated, wheel balancing machines actually need 2 to 3 goes to get the balancing correct - as in: spin the wheel up, place the weights where indicated, repeat and correct, repeat and correct. An indicated 5 gramme imbalance is often ignored, but on your little wheels that might be quite important. Ideally, you'd be able to ask the tyre fitter to repeat their balancing process and/or demount and remount the wheel on the balancer....... but asking them to do that might be akin to questioning their competence, parentage, and sexual prowess

[Zelandeth]

Worth making sure they mount the tyre with the red dot opposite the valve too (the red dot indicates the heaviest part of the tyre, yellow the lightest I believe). That can vastly reduce the amount of weights needed to balance the wheel.

A lot of tyre fitters these days don't seem to know (or care) about this.

That "wiggling" sensation says alignment and or an out of round tyre to me. When was the car last on a four wheel alignment rig?

[white exec]

Just to say again, when wheels are balanced - even if machine gives an "all clear" >>0<<, it's worth taking a shuftie under the hood to see how true the tyre is spinning. Ovality and shimmy can be 'balanced out', but will still leave the tyre not properly circular. Just ask to see the tyre twirled with the cover up. After all, you're paying for the goods!

[Mandrake]

Well it never rains but pours... It appears that the onboard charger in my Ion has failed.

I plugged it in to charge on Friday night at about 25% charge, didn't use the car on Saturday and then went to use the car this morning and discovered it was only at 70% charge instead of 100% and had two warning lights on the dashboard - low 12 volt system voltage and also the high voltage warning light. The car is still able to drive. (short distances)

A quick check under the bonnet with a multimeter while the car was turned on and in READY mode confirmed my fears - the 12v battery was only 11.9 volts instead of 14.4 volts and therefore isn't being charged when the car is on as it should be.

And unfortunately this has now become a common problem for the i-Miev and twins! Over on myimiev.com there are over 20 reports of failed onboard charger and/or dc/dc converter in the last couple of years, rising a couple every month, and I have been following the discussion thread for this for the last year or so crossing my fingers it didn't happen to me, but now it has. When I first bought my Ion 3 years ago there had been no reported failures like this yet.

There are many variations on this fault, some relatively easily repaired and some not repairable, with repair success on myimev.com being about 50% so far. In short, a 20 amp high voltage fuse inside the motor control unit blows, this disconnects the on board charger from the traction battery. As a result the car cannot be charged, at least not over AC.

It also prevents the 12v battery being charged because the dc/dc converter which steps the 360 volts down to 12 volts to charge it also resides in the onboard charger unit, and also relies on power coming back from the traction battery through the same fuse to charge the 12v battery.

So while the car can still drive, without the 12v battery being topped up you wouldn't get far before the ECU's and ancillaries (including power steering, vacuum pump, high voltage contactors etc) drained the 12v battery.

Fault codes in Diagbox are:

OBC
02 - Charge fault (traction battery disconnected)
43 - Fault - electrical current too high in the inverter

When I first checked fault codes only code 43 was present, fault 02 didn't appear until after I attempted to charge the car.

BMU
P1A4B - Battery cells fault

EV_ECU
P1B31 - Brake fluid pressure sensor fault
P0A09 - Converter fault
P1A12 - Vehicle charging fault
P1A2F - Fault in the functioning of the cells of the traction battery

(I believe the low "brake fluid pressure sensor" and cells of the traction battery codes are bogus side effects from the real problem)

Of course something else has to fail to blow the fuse - and that's where the fault paths from one car to another start to diverge. One common fault is two 1000pF 600 volt capacitors that are directly across the 360 volt HV supply go shorted and crack or explode from the heat generated - taking out the 20 amp fuse with them.

In this case the two capacitors and the fuse can be replaced and the problem is fixed - this is the best case scenario and what I'm hoping for. Annoyingly the fuse and capacitors are in different units with the fuse in the MCU (right hand box under the boot) and capacitors in the onboard charger. (left hand box) and removing them requires not just disconnecting electrical cables but disconnecting and draining the coolant system which is some kind of glycol coolant mix which will need filling and bleeding later.

If the capacitors are not the cause of the short circuit then the diagnosis and repair gets a lot more difficult, and there are many which have not been successfully repaired. A second hand replacement onboard charger is around £2000, so would write off the car should it be needed.

Annoyingly Mitubishi USA have recently admitted to a "durability issue" (hah!) with the capacitors in the onboard charger, and are now providing warranty replacement for out of warranty onboard chargers which fail in this manner. (Blown 20 amp fuse)

Unsurprisingly Mitsubishi / Citroen / Peugeot have made no such admission in the EU/UK so will not do a free out of warranty replacement even though the charger design is identical to the USA version and will have the same defective capacitors.

To add insult to injury the car is due its MOT in under 4 weeks and if I can't get it fixed before then then I'll have no choice but to let the MOT lapse until it can be fixed and MOT'ed.

What do I do in this eventuality ? Do I need to apply for SORN immediately after the MOT expires or is there a reasonable grace period to get it retested ? How can I legally get the car to the MOT station after the MOT has expired ?

We were in the process of actively looking for a 30kWh Nissan Leaf to replace it, and possibly using the Ion as part trade (or at the very least selling it afterwads to help pay some of the cost of the Leaf) so the timing of this is a double blow, especially if it is not repairable and ends up having to be sold for scrap value.

In short, I really need to be able to fix this, and cheaply.

[Skull]

Simon the SORN should be sent as soon as you stop using on the road or insurance lapses.

MoT is the least of your worries by the sound of it and can be driven legally to and from an MoT station for testing purposes - just make sure it is recorded as PRE-BOOKED (one day insurance is a good choice if the vehicle fate is unknown).

https://www.dayinsure.com/

https://www.tempcover.com/

[NewcastleFalcon]

Good luck with your fixing, you obviously start with a stack of knowledge, all helps, and fixing it will obviously be a result for yourself and help others too.

Is there anyone out there who will do charger repairs? I have watched one vid on you tube of diagnosis of a fault which was traced to an individual PCB component within the on-board charger which was replaced and fixed the problem.

Can a more "generic" charger be used in place of the OEM Charger on the Ion/C-zero etc. The ev conversion world utilises chargers from many sources.

This cropped up on the internet when I put in On-Board EV Charger, and they are based in Cramlington Northumberland. Plenty examples also from China of "on-board ev battery chargers".

https://avidtp.com/product/onboard-charger/

Random thoughts. Good luck with the fix.

Regards Neil