Your fleet running reports

[Foz]

No I was again that might be the ideal solution if the cayenne doesn’t stay.

The 3.0V6 Q7’s make very good tow cars tbh

[DeskJockey]

Ah. That makes sense.

[Delphi]

Managed to get a few small jobs done on the Porsche.

Replaced the bonnet gas struts and they weren't holding the bonnet up properly any more and the previous owner had installed the previous ones upside down.

Cleaned one of the front ground points and attacked the passenger side floor carpet with a drill brush and carpet shampoo. It came up really well which gives me hope for cleaning the rest of the interior.

I bought some LED interior light bulbs to replace the incandescent ones, but the interior lights aren't working, so I can't be sure of the orientation. Glove box light is done though and it's a huge improvement. Did some fault finding and I think it's a bad/corroded connection on the CE panel which I think is also causing the interior hatch release to not work. I'm going to tackle that on Wednesday along with the fan controller.

The aircon has never worked and as it wasn't at the top of my list of priorities, I've just ignored it. To replace the fan controller, I need to run a cable from the the compressor to connect to the override so that the fans push cool air through the condenser. I thought I'd have a look as a pre-install check for cable routing. Turns out the compressor belt is missing, which probably means the clutch is knackered and probably means a new compressor. Bugger.

[Simon]

What year is the Yeti Si, I've forgotten, and what do you mean getting 'carplay enabled'? Is it available in all later cars or do you need a certain head unit etc?

The wife's Yeti is a pre-facelift and I'm pretty sure Carplay wasn't available. It wasn't even optioned with Bluetooth, which I'm happy enough about, as it's one less distraction for her as a relatively new driver.

It’s late 2016; I think only the last couple of model years could have CarPlay enabled on the head unit. Skoda dealers can do it for about £150; despite the fact it’s no doubt a generic VAG head unit I can’t find any way to do it myself. I’ve found an aftermarket chap who can do it for £100 (the proper way, not with an add-on device) but I’m going to use him mainly because the main dealer messed me around, not for the cost saving.

And does that then have Android Auto too?

I have the week off so this morning have just done the front anti-roll bar drop-links on Deb's Yeti. They were the only advisory item from the MOT last July so I thought I'd get them done whilst I had a clear few days and decent enough weather.

Compared to working on the old Mondeos a couple of years ago, the Yeti was an absolute pleasure to work on. Despite being nearly 8 years old now the nuts weren't over torque'd, or rusty, and they spun off the thread easily enough. It took longer to put the wheels off/on to be honest. Also replaced the door seal on the rear N/S door - the one that's a quarter radius just on the front of the wheel arch, as the old one had long fallen off. Both cars just desperately need a clean now.

[Sundayjumper]

The 3.0V6 Q7’s make very good tow cars tbh

The 3.0 will be nowhere near powerful enough to keep me happy.

I won't be having another Q7. The MMI did my head in and apart from the engine being pretty awesome there wasn't anything that particularly endeared me to it. I've bonded far far better with the Cayenne.

[DeskJockey]

The 3.0V6 Q7’s make very good tow cars tbh

The 3.0 will be nowhere near powerful enough to keep me happy.

I won't be having another Q7. The MMI did my head in and apart from the engine being pretty awesome there wasn't anything that particularly endeared me to it. I've bonded far far better with the Cayenne.

So the solution is to swap a V12 TDi into the Cayenne, right?

[Beany]

Still waiting for this spring.

Update from the GLS "Delay in delivery due to customs clearance. We are waiting for the tracking update."

Apparently customs is hard for an international courier...



Edit: If we assume an average walking speed of 5km/hr, and the depot being 1390km from me, then walking 10 hrs a day it could be taken from there to me in 28 days on foot.

It's been 22 days so far since I ordered the spring.

Lets see if GLS can beat someone just carrying the fucking thing!

The spring has been delivered (my neighbour has taken it).

So, 26 days. Nice.

[Jobbo]

And does that then have Android Auto too?

Apparently so: https://www.vw-retrofit.co.uk/product/m ... eat-skoda/

[V8Granite]

New fronts on the Audi and an alignment, it was toeing in a bit too much but otherwise was ok. Another set of Pilot Sports on the front but if it eats through them in 5k like the last set I’ll try something different next. It only has 180hp to deal with so it’s not the wife doing full throttle launches .

ML now has new air springs on the front, the difference is very noticeable. So even an air spring loses its ride quality after a while too.

An expensive month for cars, bar a gearbox oil change on the ML next month that should be them set for the year.

Dave!

[JonMad]

...nothing could get it turning over.

Clarificarion: it was turning over absolutely fine, but not firing at all, not even a cough.

Opened bag of new fuses. Tried turning ignition on with one coil pack in at a time.

The third one blew the fuse.

Replaced with spare coil pack. Fuse no longer blows.

Fitted 4th coil pack. Car started up straight away.

I may replace the remaining two old coil pack and keep a third as a spare.

[Sundayjumper]

I bloody well said coil pack last week !! D'oh.

The interesting lesson here though is that a dead short in a coil pack blew the fuse and shut down all four coil packs but didn't trigger any error codes. But unplugging a coil pack DID trigger an error code.

Stupid cars. I hate cars.

[JonMad]

And after a motorway blast to charge the battery up a bit, my Halfords trickle charger is still throwing the same error after a few seconds of being connected up as it was yesterday, after we spent most of the day trying to get the car to start. I suspect the charger may be knackered but I know the battery is a bit dodgy in that it won’t hold charge for more than a couple of weeks. Will try the charger on another car to see if I get the same error.

Replacement battery: £60
Replacement battery charger: £39

[Delphi]

Replacement battery charger: £39

Apparently, Lidl have a deal on some CTek chargers for £30

[Carlos]

Replacement battery charger: £39

Apparently, Lidl have a deal on some CTek chargers for £30

Yep. They were there the weekend and actual CTek rather than rebranded.

[Mito Man]

I set up BMW ISTA on an old laptop and managed to get way more codes out of the car. Half the modules were amber coloured but I think it's just from having a knackered old battery. Ordered another parking sensor. ABS problem seems to be down to the rear axle brake pad wear sensor. Which is weird because the rear pads have only done 1000 miles since being changed. I reckon a bastard mouse has nibbled the wire, need to remove the wheels to have a clear look. Even more weirdly the M5 has the same warning light as of the weekend according to my dad so maybe the mice are planning an assassination after he laced the garage with rat poison last month

Also I thought I was being a bit overly sensitive with my olfactory senses but I was certain that the 6 series never let in bad smelling fumes before when driving through tunnels or behind an old diesel. So I changed the pollen filters to fancy charcoal ones at the beginning of the year but same thing. ISTA says the AUC sensor is kaput which I never heard of before. Apparently its the auto recirculation sensor so my nose was correct. I shall do a Beany on it in the hope that it works correctly once again otherwise order a new one.

[Beany]

So I changed the pollen filters to fancy charcoal ones at the beginning of the year but same thing. ISTA says the AUC sensor is kaput which I never heard of before. Apparently its the auto recirculation sensor so my nose was correct. I shall do a Beany on it in the hope that it works correctly once again otherwise order a new one.

Wot, you're going to order a simple part and have it take near a month to arrive?

I assume if you manually recirc the smells go away, yeah?

[Mito Man]

No I’m going to clean the fuck out of like you do to your maf

[JonMad]

Replacement battery charger: £39

Apparently, Lidl have a deal on some CTek chargers for £30

Yep. They were there the weekend and actual CTek rather than rebranded.

So they do. And despite being priced up on the shelf at £59.99 (with 15% off), they do indeed come up as £29.99 at the till.

2021-04-27 14.00.41 copy.jpg (230.17 KiB) Viewed 1227 times

New battery cost avoided. Old charger didn't work on the known-good Yeti battery so that's in the bin.

[Beany]

No I’m going to clean the fuck out of like you do to your maf

That would make more sense

[Mito Man]

No I’m going to clean the fuck out of like you do to your maf

That would make more sense

Upon further investigation it’s a moulded square box with 2 holes inside - can’t really get in without dremeling it apart which would probably kill it anyway.

Anyway I’m driving it to my indie tomorrow because it was consuming 1 litre of oil every 50 miles. Then I realised that it’s all leaking out the bottom somewhere. (My parking spot is so saturated with oil that I can’t tell new leaks anymore...)

I did remove the undertray to have a look but couldn’t tell much as the whole engine is soaked in oil.

I have had a quick sit in the Tesla S as the 3 is having further repairs after they found water ingress in the wiring harness. It’s a really nice car, the interior is all wood, metal, leather (pleather?) and alcuntara. Quietest car I’ve ever been in and probably the softest riding one too. Proper comfortable barge. It is massively wide though, and sitting inside it feels more like the ride height of a small suv. The new one must be a cracking car.