Never overlook the obvious!

Unread post by **Jon** » 24 Apr 2003, 17:46

I was having some problems with my ZX, the handling was odd and it didn't feel too good on the road. I set aside a day or so to go all through it.
The rear dampers were starting to get a bit ovalated at their bottom mounts so I put some new ones on. Whilst I was in that area the handbrake cables were getting a bit ragged, so fitted new ones. Also a new n/s rear wheel bearing whilst I was there.
Checked out the front of the car and found slight play in the n/s track rod end, so replaced it. There was also some slight stiffness in the steering in one direction and after a long investigation found that the lower column UJ's were a bit shot, so got a new lower column from Citroen, ouch. Then moved under the bonnet to do the timing belt as it had been on for about 50,000 miles. Found that the top engine mount was completely broken, so got a new one. This did actually cure a bad vibration I'd been getting.
Once all this work was finished, I road tested the car and found it still handled strangely. Checked it all over on the ramp end to end but nothing obviously wrong. Decided either it was the car's age or mine and decided to corner slower. That was 3 weeks ago.
At the weekend I had to drive up to London, so checked the car over, including the tyre pressures.
Guess what, the n/s rear tyre had 12 psi of air in it [:I] Pumping it back up to 32 had restored the handling completely.[:o)]

Unread post by **alan s** » 24 Apr 2003, 17:48

[:D][:p][:D][:p][:D][:p][:o)][:o)][:o)]
Oh dear!!
Alan S [}:)]

pete woods · Unread post by **pete woods** » 24 Apr 2003, 21:05

AndersDK · Unread post by **AndersDK** » 24 Apr 2003, 22:33

[:D][:D][:D] Tx Jon - I'm not alone anymore [:D][:D][:D]

allmond · Unread post by **allmond** » 25 Apr 2003, 01:21

Reminds me of a BMW 530D we had on test at work. The tiptronics wouldn't work properly, and the auto box wouldn't kick down properly. We asked BMW to fix it.
Turned out to be one low pressure tyre on the drive axle. The computer thought the car was going round a sharp bend all the time due to the different rotational speeds of the wheels and decided that the driver shouldn't be allowed to do what he wanted to do.
A few pounds of air restored full functionality.
Red faces all round!
Jamie

mg46783 · Unread post by **mg46783** » 25 Apr 2003, 04:26

Reminds me of a vehicle I had in a couple or more years ago.. A Vaux Auto and the cog/sport light was flashing indicating a fault. At the time I didnt have what I needed so I decided as I knew the guys at Vauxhall Id let them do a Tech 2 on it and the "technical lowdown"... turned out ... hardly any oil in the auto gearbox!! Talk about couldnt believe it!! Still, the customer was happy. So true the title of this topic - best of it is - its SO easy done..

Unread post by **alan s** » 25 Apr 2003, 05:15

A bit off topic I suppose, but when I still had the business operating, I got a call to a womans washing machine.
She was fuming about how it used to be her mothers & between them they had replaced the motor on 3 occasions & the timer on 5 & "this is exctly how it goes everytime!!"
It was the first time I'd seen the machine so set about trying to diagnose the problem whereupon she started to get almost abusive & accused me of trying to run the bill up. "It's done exactly this every time it's played up...it's the timer, I've seen it before; you don't need to muck around wasting time like you are!!!" I was tempted to advise her of the appropriate place to stick the washing machine which she obviously sensed as she walked off. After doing the usual basic checks, I asked where the power cord went to, as it disappeared around the back of a cupboard and she had been pulling it out & plugging it in when I had asked due to the awkward location of the power point. When I manouvered myself around into this crevice where it was located, I noticed a daggy looking double adaptor at the power point so I disconnected the adaptor & plugged the machine straight in & away it went.
When pressed, it seems the double adaptor came with the machine from her mothers because they both ran dryers & washers off the same power point. It sems in the past, when they had gone to replace the parts, the plug had been disconnected to move the machine out to gain access & when plugged back in, everything worked again for a while. When broken apart, the contacts inside were badly burnt & corroded; would have to go down as the most expensive power point in History.[:o)][:o)]
Alan S [:D]