DIY Car Maintenance with function over finesse!!

[MattBLancs]

Oh, t'other thing mentioned: I believe some "smart" alternators do already stop charging briefly when you put your foot down - so that side of things might already be covered Mick

[MattBLancs]

Weird looking water cooled BMW alternator:
https://ebay.us/m/QvOU82

More conventional looking Renault water cooled alternator
https://ebay.us/m/CvixyU

Interesting - never seen one of these before, Audi V10 (Lamborghini engine, rs6??) water cooled alternator, pretty cheap £43!
https://ebay.us/m/29X4dL
It seems they're common as muck, here's another at £99
https://ebay.us/m/Eiw5h3

[mickthemaverick]

After my early morning success at the MOT Centre I decided to give the Subaru a full service having had all the parts delivered over the last few days. So not too much to do as I replaced the brakes a couple of months ago and fitted the new battery. So today it was just Air, Cabin and oil filters with an oil change. The old oil was pretty clean so I dipped a tissue in it for the colour:

MTMO

Pretty pleased with that together with the crystal clear coolant I drained a couple of months ago when I replaced the radiator and hoses as previously posted. The engine is clearly very clean and I put that down to regualar oil changes with Shell 5-30 and continuous use of Shell V-Power. The car is running smoother than ever now that I have replaced all the running gear, battery, cooling system, and belts etc. Here's to a hopefully trouble free winter!!

[MattBLancs]

Weird looking water cooled BMW alternator:
https://ebay.us/m/QvOU82

More conventional looking Renault water cooled alternator
https://ebay.us/m/CvixyU

Interesting - never seen one of these before, Audi V10 (Lamborghini engine, rs6??) water cooled alternator, pretty cheap £43!
https://ebay.us/m/29X4dL
It seems they're common as muck, here's another at £99
https://ebay.us/m/Eiw5h3

There's been a development on this idea....

[Paul-R]

Which is?...

[MattBLancs]

Which is?...

Sorry for the delay, persuading my sons it's time to go up for bed slowed down my posting!

viewtopic.php?p=851230#p851230

[mickthemaverick]

This morning I decided to try and resolve the coolant leak on the MX3 which has been getting worse!! So the first job was to remove the exhaust heat shield and the under engine cover, 11 x 10mm bolts in all no issues:

The two covers off the car.

Next it was under the car and examine the bottom hose pipe connector:

Nasty!!

Time to put my new drainage tray into service and drain the system:

Nice and shiny - not for long!

Once drained I removed the hose connector and immediately saw that the 'O' ring had perished and was looking very sad. The gasket was fine and the housing just needed a clean:

Gasket and 'O' ring with the housing

So from there it was a simple matter to clean and reassemble the connector, then refill the cooling system and stand back to watch my newly assembled joint dripping profusely! Grrrrr!!

At that point my hands were too mucky to take any more pictures so after I took it all apart again, fitted two 'O' rings, reassembled and then bound the whole thing with self amalgamating tape, I refilled it and then with no leaks went through my cooling system bleeding process and called it done.

During that work the postman had delivered the new wipers I ordered following the MOT, so I completed the days work by fitting all three new wipers and then tucking the car back under its cover ready for a weekend run with, hopefully, no more overheating issues to worry about!!

[CitroJim]

Oh gosh Mick, that was a bit of a game Pleased it's all now sorted and happy again

It's good to see the drainer bowl spout has a cap on it... Wish mine had one to avoid drips from the spout when hung up...

[mickthemaverick]

My friend in Elstree has been trying to sell her Nissan X-Trail for some time with no success so she asked for my help. It was MOT'd earlier this year and passed with advisories for rear brakes, nearside front ball joint and minor engine oil leak.

MOT result

As any prospective buyer has access to the MOT history I felt that the advisories may well be putting people off as the ad has had 89 views and only one enquiry. That enquiry wanted at least £750 off because of the issues on the MOT so we decided to lash out £280 to get all the parts and sort them all.

So yesterday I started to prepare it for a new attempt to sell it by replacing the rear discs and pads. It turned out to be a pain because the caliper pistons have to be wound back, not just pressed. They have three notches at 120 degree intervals around the perimeter to fit the tool into. Unfortunately my tool only has 2 peg adapters so it was a messy job involving keeping pressure on the piston while tapping it round a few mil at a time. It took almost 30 mins each to get them back.

So here are the pics:

As it was

Almost done for

New pads in

Offside done

Nearside done

I then added some of the above pics to the ad to see if that gives potential buyers confidence. You can see the revised ad here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326767785906

Now waiting for the control arm to arrive and then I'll get the front up, send the wheels for new tyres, replace the control arm and investigate the oil residue, which I have a feeling is the result of spillage from the last oil filter change!!

[bobins]

I've got one of the brake rewind kits - it'll do both clockwise and anti-clockwise winding, and whilst I accept people say you don't need them and you can get creative to wind the pistons back in...... it don't 'alf make life easy having the kit

[mickthemaverick]

Indeed it does but I only had two prong adapters so a new 3 prong is on the way as I type!!

[bobins]

Here's a little diversion for anyone playing along at home......
And most importantly - you've only got 5 seconds to answer it

If you had a driver's side caliper and the piston wound in clockwise, and then you mounted that self same caliper on the passenger side - so it'd be the wrong way up on the wrong side..... would it still wind in clockwise ?

The clock is ticking......

.....time's up

[CitroJim]

Took me longer than 5 seconds to read that Bobins! Game over

Good work Mick and all best with the sale

[mickthemaverick]

Back to Elstree to finish the work on the X-Trail today. I jacked up the front to remove both wheels and disconnect both drop links. That allows moving the antiroll bar away from the control arm mounting to give access to the bolts. Then out with the impact gun and remove the two bracket bolts, the back bush bolt and the balljoint clampbolt. On this arm I also had to remove the leveling sensor and then tap out the arm. New one installed with a bit of jack help amd everything back together.
Meawhile the wheels had been taken for a pair of new tyres to be fitted which went back on. Lastly I had to remove the engine undercover to investigate the 'oil residue' advisory on the MOT.
I suspected the residue was the result of a mishap when removing the oil filter at the last service and so it proved to be. Both engine and gearbox were clean undeneath so just cleaned the undertray and refitted it:

Old arm

New arm

underneath

Gearbox

Nearside tyre

Offside tyre

So relisted with all MOT advisories taken care of and now just need a buyer!!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326817809232

[MattBLancs]

Here's a little diversion for anyone playing along at home......
And most importantly - you've only got 5 seconds to answer it

If you had a driver's side caliper and the piston wound in clockwise, and then you mounted that self same caliper on the passenger side - so it'd be the wrong way up on the wrong side..... would it still wind in clockwise ?

The clock is ticking......

.....time's up

Trick question, if you mounted the same caliper on the other side, then the bleed nipple would be on the bottom!