Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

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I’ve been working on the Smart today. Gavster has sold his one, and will be taking ownership of this one when he gets back from his month of “working” in Italy.

Today was re-bleeding the brakes again and stripping the front suspension to replace ball joints & top mounts.

It was all a bit of a rusty mess The ball joints were proper fcuked and the ns spring was snapped near the top, such that it was pressing into the turret instead of sitting nicely in the retainer.

I may have mangled one of the ABS sensors. Oops. This didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. Just buy a new one, right ? Nope. For reasons best known to Smart / Mercedes, that probably involve saving 50p per car, IT’S ALL ONE ABS LOOM. There’s no plug to detach the sensors. Fcuk.

Not my photo:

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Hopefully there’s a compatible sensor from another car I can splice in.

[Sundayjumper]

I've been researching Range Rover suspension. Two things:

1) The front strut / air spring is all one piece. It's possible for the damper to be leaking without any outward signs because the oil will just sit inside the air chamber. The only way to check, and it'll only be apparent if it's really bad, is to take the shocks off, tip them upside down, and see if oil comes out of the air fitting.

2) A surprising thing but I read it in a couple of places - getting the alignment done can improve the ride. I don't know how that works but a couple of people seemingly posting from experience said the nausea-inducing wobbly-boat driving experience was dramatically improved after getting the alignment spot-on.

[IanF]

With all your cars SJ, maybe buying a simple geo kit would be worthwhile?

[mik]

Does the FFRR have to be put into a specific mode for the geo? “The forum” used the get very excited about the need for the Disco3/4 suspension to be in “precision” mode during geo. I had a garage with a Hunter system do a 4-wheel setup on the Disco4 and checked this with them - they insisted they did so but I had no way of checking…,

[Sundayjumper]

With all your cars SJ, maybe buying a simple geo kit would be worthwhile?

I have a Trackace - http://www.trackace.co.uk/ - which is very handy and has saved me quite a lot over the years but it only does toe. Camber/ caster is more involved and often inter-dependent, so that adjusting one affects the other. Not impossible DIY but quite a faff. The pro kit will give a live readout as you tweak. You’re right though, I should investigate, maybe there’s solutions I’m not aware of.

[Sundayjumper]

Does the FFRR have to be put into a specific mode for the geo? “The forum” used the get very excited about the need for the Disco3/4 suspension to be in “precision” mode during geo. I had a garage with a Hunter system do a 4-wheel setup on the Disco4 and checked this with them - they insisted they did so but I had no way of checking…,

I’ve seen it mentioned, yeah, it’s a lock-out mode to stop the system adjusting the height or messing with the ARBs while you’re adjusting the tracking. I’m not sure it could make a huge difference. And seems to be activated by simply leaving the boot open.

[IanF]

[V8Granite]

Does the FFRR have to be put into a specific mode for the geo? “The forum” used the get very excited about the need for the Disco3/4 suspension to be in “precision” mode during geo. I had a garage with a Hunter system do a 4-wheel setup on the Disco4 and checked this with them - they insisted they did so but I had no way of checking…,

I’ve seen it mentioned, yeah, it’s a lock-out mode to stop the system adjusting the height or messing with the ARBs while you’re adjusting the tracking. I’m not sure it could make a huge difference. And seems to be activated by simply leaving the boot open.

Trust me it makes a bloody huge difference if it is even slightly like the ML. When I had it checked not long after buying it was done in sport, weights in the seats and engine running so it new the height and kept it there. Ignition off and it can settle but only down, never lifting. During it after every adjustment the steering was moved lock to lock and wheel re-centred each time. I wear all 4 tyres perfectly equal.
Even down to the headlight aim. With the ignition on it knows where the suspension is, if it’s adjusted mechanically with the ignition on and then off, it’s sets a new zero. When the boot or a door is open the air suspension won’t operate so I’ve had at least half my MOTs where the headlight aim is adjusted as a favour, then I’ve had to redo it when I get home.

The ML system is not even close to how clever the system in the RR is so it’s worth checking exactly how they do it in the factory.

Dave!

[Sundayjumper]

Front brakes done. When I was under the car the other week I noticed the discs had quite a lip on the inside. Far more than the outside curiously but the same left & right.

Measured both at ~30.4mm vs 31mm as the stated minimum & 34mm for new ones. Yeah. They needed doing. Pads were about half worn.

The discs are big old things - 380mm and 15kg each ! Calipers are 6-pot Brembos and quite surprisingly light.

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I’ve also splashed out on new front shocks/springs. The awful soggy wobbly seasickness-inducing ride could be down to knackered shocks. I’ve been spoiled in the past by German cars that will run to 100k++ miles no problem; I’ve seen it suggested 80k is as much as you can expect on a RR and mine is way past that. A £600 gamble when I’m still not loving the car yet I hope it helps.

[Jobbo]

I was reading that, confused as to why a Smart required 6-pot calipers at first The hazards of looking at the top of the page then the most recent post...

[Jobbo]

Some mpg records this week:
- Today I am sitting at the Porsche dealership while they service the Macan. I managed 32mpg on the way here. I think that is better than my heavy right footed wife has ever achieved.
- On Monday I got 58.5mpg average on my way home from work in the S6. Which puts a high of 32mpg into context for the Macan.

[V8Granite]

What engine is in the Macan ?

That S6 economy is ridiculous and impressive.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

The Macan is a T - the 4-cyl Golf GTI engine with 265bhp.
Regularly see 50+mpg out of the S6 now though long term average is about 44-45mpg. Those DPF regen journeys where it barely beats 30mpg hit the overall figure.

[Zonda_]

The Macan is a T - the 4-cyl Golf GTI engine with 265bhp.
Regularly see 50+mpg out of the S6 now though long term average is about 44-45mpg. Those DPF regen journeys where it barely beats 30mpg hit the overall figure.

What engine is the S6? My 330e is only averaging 52mpg!

[Jobbo]

V6 TDI with about 350bhp.

[Zonda_]

V6 TDI with about 350bhp.

Ah, I had it in my head that the S’s were all petrols.

[Mito Man]

Bought a load of stuff for the Defender one of which was a full stainless steel nut and bolt package for the entire car. I don’t know if it’s a terrible idea due to dissimilar metals but I’m smearing everything in a crap load of anti seize.
Not much progress for 2 hours!

Few broken bolts so far. Think if I left it any longer it would have been quite a nightmare.

Naturally as I remove all the bits of trim I’m adding more insulation, painting everything where I can, replacing the trim clips so hopefully it will be more solid when done.

[Jimexpl]

M.o.t on the 325ti and I’m £650 lighter.
The handbrake was poor, suspension knocking and an air leak on the intake somewhere - all items that my local London garage has failed to fix despite numerous visits, so I dropped it at a place in Leicester that I’ve used for 25 years.

He sent me this photo saying it’s all done - I’ll find out when I have time to collect it.

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Picked up some third row seats from a Discovery Sport that I’m hoping to make work in the back of my Land Rover hybrid for the kids, assuming I find the time to complete it!

[Jimexpl]

Bought a load of stuff for the Defender one of which was a full stainless steel nut and bolt package for the entire car. I don’t know if it’s a terrible idea due to dissimilar metals but I’m smearing everything in a crap load of anti seize.
Not much progress for 2 hours!

Few broken bolts so far. Think if I left it any longer it would have been quite a nightmare.

Naturally as I remove all the bits of trim I’m adding more insulation, painting everything where I can, replacing the trim clips so hopefully it will be more solid when done.

What year is yours? I’ve swapped about 80% out on my 2011 Defender and none broke but a few were pretty tired. I happened to have two supposedly complete bolt kits but still didn’t have the correct length bolts for the 2nd row door hinges!

[Sundayjumper]

M.o.t on the 325ti and I’m £650 lighter.
The handbrake was poor, suspension knocking and an air leak on the intake somewhere - all items that my local London garage has failed to fix despite numerous visits,

BMW handbrakes are always marginal at best, and made worse by people “fixing” them by repeatedly tightening the cable at the handle rather than properly adjusting the brake itself.

Wishbones will wear out and start knocking. Usually the big bush at the end - the “lollipop” - or maybe the ball joint in the middle. Either way it’s not rocket science. It’s a very simple setup.

If your London place couldn’t figure out either of those, I’m not surprised they couldn’t find the air leak as tbf that is potentially a needle-in-haystack job.

Glad it’s sorted. I still slightly miss my E46 Compact, it was a great car.