#23 – The Thermostat thats gone lazy

Back to the Pug 406 2Litre Estate

Owners were complaining lack of engine temperature, noticing badly on short runs, compared to how it used to be, even on a longer run, it never got up to the middle of the gauge (90 degree in this case) where it used to sit

So at this point there is only 1 culprit that usually causes a lack of temperature to occur, the thermostat
It sounds like the thermostat has gone lazy and failing to regulate the coolant flow by opening or closing the flow, or it was in the stuck open position

Since the vehicle didn’t overheat, it certainly wasn’t in the stuck closed position

So i left the vehicle running, till the coolant fan kicked in and out, the gauge sitting at the happy point of 90 degree’s and didn’t move till, i started to drive the vehicle on the main roads.

Soon as i was driving along at 30mph, it had already dropped to roughly 80degree’s
Moved onto a dual carriageway, and the temperature dropped to 70degree’s while at 70mph

Classic symptoms of thermostat gone lazy, instead of reducing the flow as the temperature of the coolant drops, it stays at the same place, resulting in excessive cooling. He stated the vehicle hasn’t had a thermostat changed in his ownership

So getting 15 years without issue is not bad going 🙂

Since the cooling system was to be opened up, the owner stated he’s like the vehicles coolant changing as well. Since it hasn’t been changed in a while.

Locating the radiator hose vs the drain cock, as the cock would be much slower at draining AND flushing the system

Popping the spring off – and let the coolant drain out, refit and refill with water, open bleed valves and wait till water gush’s out. Run the engine to allow the coolant to flow. After some mixing, drop the coolant again and repeat.

Swapping the stat is a case of air-box removal, 1 clamp and 2x bolts

The facing needs a clean before refitting

The thermostat didn’t require are gasket sealer or paper seals, as the thermostat has a flush fit seal that seals the thermostat to the block, a gentle nip on the 2 bolts to ensure there secure
Refit and secure the parts all back in

The bottom hose had some large scabby rust, a quick sandpaper removed that, before refitting bottom hose

Refilling using a plastic bottle with a DIY Masking tape seal

Ensuring the coolant flows air free out the 2 bleeder valves and the heater set to hot

Once refilled, run the engine up-to temperature to allow the coolant to flow and to ensure no trapped air or overheating issues by waiting for the cooling fan to kick in and out

A quick spin up and down the road, confirmed the temperature gauge is sitting happily at 90degree’s with no movement and fan kicking in to regulate the temperature

Final check once the vehicle has cooled to top up the coolant level to max (bottom of the inner neck)

And to check the strength of the anti-freeze mix, showing a strong mix protecting down to about -40 Degree Celsius

#22 – The Banging Instructors car

Meet the Instructors Car belonging to my other half’s family

The 2010 – Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCI – or what ever ford like to call there diesels 🙂
With 116,000 miles! (its 5 years old meaning its averaging around 23thousand a year)

The car is literally on the road from early morning to late at night
Been an driving instructor, been off the road = No money

The owner said he was hearing a loud clunk occurring while out and about
He noted it was worse while students were carrying out slow maneuvers and a clunk / bang was occurring.

Getting the car up discovered that the passenger side was perfectly fine and tight within the ball joints

But the driver-side had developed play within the bottom ball joint and track rod end
Since the area is littered with potholes, speed bumps, students catching kerbs, carrying out full lock to lock maneuvers all its life, its amazing that 116k is the first sign of any minor repairs been needed

(its hard to see the movement in the joints – its only about 1mm each way, but trying to record the play AND make it play was a little tricky, may not be visible to you)

Changing the track rod ends is pretty simple and easy. Start by cracking the locking nut for the adjustment off after a soak with penetrating oil, Marking the top of the inner rod with a white line to help maintain as close as possible alignment (toe in / out).

Crack the nut on the ball joint, whack the hub to pop the ball joint, count the rotations off and make a note of it
Compare old to new to ensure no major difference (luckily they look identical), refit same number of turns and tighten it all up.

(IMAGE: VISUAL NOTE)

A little copper ease of the threads to help protect from corrosion, and to prevent the locking nut seizing into place.

Next we move onto the bottom arm, again lack of images here, as i got carried away in just getting the arm out and new one in

Since there are no anti-roll bars or anything to contend with, its a simple case of popping the bottom ball joint out from the steering knuckle, and removing the 2 bolts that secure the arm to the sub-frame

Work the arm free
Reinsert the new arm into place, fit bolts loosely, attach arm to the steering knuckle (bottom ball joint)
And then tighten everything back on up.

(IMAGE: NEW ARM IN PLACE)

A white alignment mark helps to pickup any movement for a final check after a test drive

Refitting the wheel and torquing up the bolts (110NM)

A final check to ensure no play was detected, before going for a spin around the block to ensure no knocks could be heard and that the customer is happy with the end result 🙂

Once back, the wheel bolts were re torqued to ensure they wont come loose, Also a visual check on the bolts to ensure the arm is still secure.

Since the vehicle is always on the go, it makes total sense to have the vehicle tracking readjusted to help preserve the front tyre wear. The owner arranged at a local garage to have it adjusted.

I followed up with owner at a later date, so far the owner has no issues 🙂

Note: – Some images are missing, as i often do – i get carried away within the repair, and forget to get pictures
Soon as i next at the customers car again, i’ll get the missing images

#21 – Broken Spring

Meet the 2004 ’04’ Peugeot 206 1.4 8v, with a 6figure mileage reading out (Just passed over 100K)
Customer had 3 items that required attention

Problem No1

Customer was complaining of a clunking noise when driving / steering

Since this was happening when stationary and when moving, i had a sneaky suspicion that it was a snapped spring, due to the area been full of speed bumps. So running my hands from the bump stop at the bottom around the spring all the way to the top, i suddenly came across a sharp edge, which turned out to be a snapped spring right near the top.

So source and find a new spring, luckily a decent 2nd hand set were found in a donor vehicle of the same spec
So a quick compress and remove ready for when the vehicle was available for repair

Removing the spring is an easy task with the correct tool to pull the bottom ball joint out of its socket, a simple case of a few nuts and bolts and you can retrieve the shock, But i don’t have a Bottom arm control tool, which meant getting it free was a struggle.
I suddenly had an idea to replicate the idea
I have a 2ton tow strap in my boot, and my trolley jack has quiet a long sturdy bar i could use.
So wrapped the strap around the arm, tied a double knot in the rope leaving a gap just big enough to get my pole in
And hey presto with all my body weight, the bottom arm popped free.

The Spring snapped, leaving the top coil nearly in the correct place, but allowing the rest to jump past the rest sitting at the top of the top mount

Spring out time
I needed the help of an impact due to the top nut been well and truly fixed into place, it most likely done the whole 100K
But first you need to compress the springs, as they store a lot of energy and can very easily cause damage to the surroundings/yourself if they let go

Compress the spring – undo top nut – disassemble the shock and you’re left with the broken spring now removed 🙂

Unfortunately the snapped spring had damaged the boot, luckily the donor shock was in better condition (the shock absorber was toast, due to been drilled for decontamination in the scrap yard)

The donor shock i had already stripped down a previous night, so i set about making 1 good shock setup out of the 2 available

Now unfortunately i didn’t get many pictures after this, i just simply forgot
But refitting, was the reverse of removal, and refitting all the bolts

But a quick lock to lock test confirmed, the fault had been fixed, and to move onto the next complaint

Complain No2 – the missing wiper

I personally see quiet a few 206’s on the road with the rear wiper cleaning the number plate, not the rear window
The fault occurs in the metal bushing they press into the plastic wiper arm. Over time the plastic cracks or splits, and the tension on the bushing is lost. The wiper spindle moves, but the arm doesn’t follow it, it moves partly when it grips a little bit. The next issue is the bushing is bonded to the splines on the wiper arm with corrosion, so soaking in oil doesn’t work. The best way is to sacrifice the nut and start from fresh

The owner had an attempt to remove the wiper, but was unsuccessful. The wiper arm was removed, but the nut was seized along with the bushing.

The tension of the nut and bushing needs releasing, the best way is to cut 2 fine slots in them at 180’s degree’s to each other to allow it be tapped off.

A quick flick of the wiper switch to ensure the wiper is sitting in the park position, the spindle was covered in anti-seize paste, and refitted with a new nut

A quick check ensures the wiper works correctly and doesn’t make contact with the bodywork

Complaint No3 – Overheating
The customer is experiencing random overheating issue as well as loosing coolant
A test drive found the engine warmed up to 90-100 degree’s C and stayed there
The engine cooling fan can be heard, seen and felt keeping the temperature within the correct range

There is no signs of coolant leaks, and no sign of it overheating, this would require further testing to confirm where its leaking
for example

– A coolant pressure test – to see if a leak can be found while cold
– A Sniff test, to ensure the HG isn’t the cause

But since the vehicle wasn’t overheating, i cant fix what is working fine for me

Service #2 – The Grand Scenic

Meet the Renault Grand Scenic 1.9 DCI – with 87942miles on a 2006 ’56’ plate

Customer requested a service due to the car dashboard requesting an oil / service required

So let’s start with the basic engine requirements to service the filters 🙂
So the car is jacked up and placed onto axle-stands and front wheels whipped off

First task was to leave the oil draining, the long it can drain the better, the hotter before draining will help as the viscosity decreases allowing it to flow better
While draining the oil off – the pollen filter was the first task. This was located at the back firewall of the engine bay behind a little panel with 2x Quarter turn fasteners

The slight problem been removal of the filter was hindered by numerous pieces of sound deadening material along with the previous filter been broken on its frame making it very fragile to pull
After teasing it out, we are left the old filter vs the new

Since some of the panels were already removed, it’s time to tackle the air filter, which again was hidden under the scuttle panel and with very poor access

But here is the air filter with added bonus of leaves, showing its still doing its job, just restricted flow

The car is sort of looking like one you would find in a scrap yard….

Next is the diesel filter tucked away in the wheel arch liner on the driver side. (Blue washer tank – Air con drier – Filter above)

With the filter in my hand, I drew alignment marks on the case, as this needs to be reinstalled in the same orientation otherwise pipework won’t fit correctly

Filter removed it clear it was very ready for changing vs the new filter

the diesel remaining in the filter was disposed of to allow the container to be cleaned(with Brake cleaner) of all the syrup that coated the internals, ensuring that fresh diesel was only then present on refitting

Filter refitted the protective shield was refitted ensuring it was seated correctly to prevent it rubbing on the aircon receiver drier that is also in the wheel arch. (Image is me realigning the shield)

With the filter refitted and secure, the primer bulb located in the engine was used till it was firm, indicating the fuel filter and lines were now full of fuel vs air

Since the front wheels were off the car was checked over for defects like seized calipers sliders, worn pads, split CV/Ball joint gaiters, leaking shocks or snapped springs. Only work required was descaling the brake discs, copper grease the hub to prevent the wheels sticking on, and protecting the brake bleed nipple from corrosion.

Tyre’s were inspected and re-inflated to the correct pressure along with refitting. With the wheel refitted the track rod end and bottom ball joint play was checked with no play detected
The car was lowered down onto its wheels to be torqued up to 130nm (stated on Auto-data and online sources)

The rear wheels were also inspected, removed, brake disc’s cleaned up of scale, checking springs, dampers, brake pipes, exhaust for knocks or bangs, with no major issues, except scored and lipped rear disc’s. The handbrake linkage was cleaned thoroughly of dirt and rust and coated in anti-seize to ensure correct operation of the handbrake mechanism
The car basics were checked like horn, lights, wash and wipe, dash board warnings, DTC’s stored, lubrication of hinges etc.

With the car looking very good for its age/mileage, the sump was sealed up with a new sump plug and crush washer, as the old plug was damaged due been rounded off by a previous service by somebody else.

As well as replacing the filter from above (image shows old filter). The New filter has a smear of oil poured over the seal, to ensure it don’t become damaged while fitting

The oil was refilled with 5w/30 Fully Syn Low Ash Oil as recommended by many oil suppliers

The car was dash was reset so the next service warning would come in 9000miles

Check for leaks and fluid levels before refitting the under shield and paperwork, before handing the car back to the customer with the findings 🙂

Faults found
N/S/R window not operational
Aircon not effective (No gas in system)
Grease leaking out CV boots, but no cuts found (suspect been overfilled)
Screen washer tank leaked from the spout to tank Tyre’s were under-inflated by about 10%

However the car should easily do another year and MOT – Happy Days 🙂

#20 – Putting some light onto the situation

Cloudy – Faded – Misty – Milky headlights are cropping up on certain cars as the len’s start to fade due to damage from road (stone chips) and UV damage from the sun making light lens opaque causing a loss of light output

If the lens get to murky, the Mot could for-well fail due to a light pattern not been projected or lack of actual light output

Its a Slow process that gradually gets worse, untill you start wondering did you even put your light on?

Well thats slowly happened to me
Back in 2013, i took a picture which you can see the light hitting the light defects causing it to alter the light patter

Old 2013 picture of light hitting light lens

Current (2015) Haze has only continued to get worse

As the picture shows – the lens has only gotten worse

Time to tackle the issue
There are kits available to help correct this issue, Like 3M and turtle wax
However if you have the correct items, you can replicate these kits

So i started off masking the area off to prevent damage to the paintwork
So the process of Sanding begins with some 2000grit wet and dry paper, rubbing the surface evenly and smoothly around to remove the defect from the surface
Keeping plenty of fluid on the lens and even pressure produces a slurry and white even haze over the light unit

Next step is to refine, swapping to 3000grit wet and dry, repeat the step above with plenty of fluid to produce a less milky haze

Then the next step is to polish, using a Halfords Medium grade polishing pad intended for a polishing machine, i applied liberal amount of a abbrasive polish and worked it in by hand in a circular fashion, ensuring to cover the light cluster evenly to remove the light haze present

Again i changed polish compound to a final finish which was less abrasive, to give a better finish
Keep working the polish evenly over the light lens

Once the polish has fully broken down, simply buff the light clear

Resulting in a much clearer light lens

Driver side light – after

Just to compare the 2

A Clear difference between the 2, even with bright sunlight

The Passenger side received the same treatment resulting in a much younger looking front end once again

Both lights improved

From a distance the lights seem much clearer

Final Step was to give each light cluster several coats of sealant, to help prevent the UV light from causing the milky lights to returns so quickly. Reapplications will also be required in the future

This process can be carried out with any vehicle, If the lights are much worse, you could step down grades to say 1000grit or less to remove the heavier defects before refining with 2000grit

#19 – The rising handbrake

Meet Picasso – Not the painter, but the Citroen Xsara Picasso 2l Diesel (HDI 90 version)

2002 – ’52’ Citroen Xsara Picasso

The Vehicle has travel a large distance of about 109,000, and believed to be still running on original drums and shoes!

The car has to park on a steep drive, so the handbrake has always been good. However the owner noticed that the usual 3 clicks and its solid has started to creak and roll – and click no4 now required to hold the car still.

The handbrake was working strong as always, just had a larger travel on the lever.

Time to get the drums off and have a look to see whats going on!
So jacking the car up and onto axle stands, trims and wheels off – its odd what you can find living in weird places….
2x snails and something small and furry

Flicked these off with a screwdriver – i hate creepy crawlies

First task Drum off – remove locking screw, whack the face of the drum swiftly with a hammer (Not on the circumference edge though – risk causing brake rumbling if you mis-shape the drum)

Inspecting the drum, there is a tiny lip and alot of glazing on the drum, so remounting the drum backwards onto the hub, it makes a DIY lathe effect, i can spin the drum while holding 60grit paper on the lip to remove it, this is to ensure easy removal again in the future

Manual Powered lathe!

Next was to ensure nothing obvious was wrong – such as a leaking cylinder/ missing components or snapped springs

Common faults is the auto adjuster, gets stuck due to corrosion and brake dust, no matter how much the shoes twist to make it work, it refuses to budge. if this happens the adjuster would need to be removed, cleaned, free’d and rebuilt with anti-seize to help prevent it happening again.

Luckily ours was free, ensuring it could run smoothly, the adjuster was reset to its smallest setting while using liberal amounts of brake cleaner to ensure the threads were free and clean

Next was to remove the retaining pins, and lower springs to allow movement of the shoes to view the friction spots

Retaining pins removed – Friction Spots visibly rusty

Lower Spring is trapped by the lower anchor point

As you could see there is a lip of rust on the back-plate where the shoes rub against, this could be a contributing factor as the shoes would hit the lip and struggle to move as intended.

Simply remedy is to rub these flat using the same paper as before to remove the rust and gunk leaving a smooth surface. A thin layer of copper grease ensure the shoes can move freely as intended. The shoes also received a quick de-glaze, to help with co-efficiency of friction.

De-glazed shoes + Friction spots cleaned up

After reassembling, the adjusters required resetting, you could do this by continually pressing the brake pedal, but this would take some time, its best to manually adjust little star shaped adjuster till there is resistance felt on the drum.
Pressing on the brake pedal  and applying the handbrake several times, ensure the drums remain free to spin with that slight resistance.

Both sides were treated to the clean and adjustment. The handbrake was a positive 3 click once again, with the 4th click still available but required some force to apply.

#18 – Finding something you werent really expecting

Back to my own car again, bumblebee the 1.2 8v Fiat Punto Active sport

We’ve all had the beloved noise of air escaping quickly out of your tyre’s, yet again i seem to have yet another one
Meet the stone that has written off the near new tyre due to the size, since you can only repair holes upto 6mm…. this is about 1cm wide

Since my front tyre’s were close to the limits, and 1 wont hold air, time to whip the winter rubber off and slap the much better summer tyres

Only to discover im ready for a new set of pads as there is about 2mm remaining

Front pads worn close to the limit

So while the tyres were off – it makes logical sense to just give the pads a quick change before refitting the wheels

The punto has a very quick and easy way to remove the pad, 1 R clip and 1 bar which taps out very easily with a few hammer taps
This allows the caliper to rotated on the slider, whip the pads out, return the piston to its fully retracted position, a spray clean and rub with some abrasive paper on the friction spots to allow free movement of the pads. With everything cleaned up the pads are copper greased on the friction spots and on where the caliper/piston sits on the pads using some anti-seize paste to prevent brake squeal and pads getting stuck in there runners

Everything all cleaned up – you rotate the caliper back again and insert the bar, with the locking R clip

A quick run around the edge of the disc with a blunt end to clean the scale/rust/swarf off the edge to prevent noise

The pads are ready to go 🙂
A spray of brake cleaner to remove any excess dust and finger marks the wheels are slotted back on and torqued up

Shot of the new pads fitted through a gap in the alloy wheel

Before going for a test drive, you need to press the brake pedal several times to ensure the pistons are pumped up to remove excessive room to allow a positive feel through the brake pedal and to ensure its not a spongy pedal as air managed to enter when pushing the fluid out via the bleed nipples

While servicing the pads its noted that 1 of the dust seals prevent ingress of grime/water/oil/anything off the road has split and will require replacement. If dirt was to enter it could cause the small square cut seal in the piston to leak = spongy pedal and ineffective brake pedal

O/S/F Brake caliper dust seal split

As always its nice to see fairly consistent wear between all the pads, there is a slight difference, but nothing to worry about

As with any brake parts replacements its advisable to drive carefully to prevent, as there they require time to bed in
So remembering to brake a little earlier to allow them to bed in

All done for another year

#17 – Mirror + Post + high 5 = Crunch……

Back to the Vauxhall Corsa, where there was a tiny accident of a car vs post

N/S Wing mirror slightly damaged

The only damage that could be see was to the wing mirror pivot point, which meant it wasn’t sitting securely or able to move correctly

Visible damage only to pivot point

So a quick hunt around wing mirror from a slightly older corsa C in light blue for a good price of £10
Since it was cheap and changeable covers, we snapped up the offer

The interior door trim simply pops off some clips, allowing access to 2 bolts and the door mirror pretty much falls into your hand

Spent more time trying to tease the covers off without damaging vs actually fitting them
But several clips later, the 2 covers were ready to be swapped over, and simply clicked back into place

Nice flush fitting

The inks still fresh from the scrap yard

The original mirror didn’t look very great afterwards, as the impact shattered a couple of the retaining clips for the metal plate, and a badly fitted cover is heading for 1 place next……. The Bin

Original mirror + donor cap Heading straight to the bin

Benifits of having manual mirrors are they are alot cheaper to replace, and less to go wrong with them, no silly cabling to fiddle with, just a simple pop and bolt off and bolt and pop on.

#16 – Anti Rolling MOT

Back to Rennie the 2006 1.2 Renult Clio Campus as before in the blog

The owner took it for the beloved MOT test and returned with a nice simple fix up to pass fail sheet 🙂

MOT Fail Test Sheet

Since the vehicle was believed to be on OE anti roll bars which have lived through 9 years of the Great British roads, one had finally let go. Since the replacements were reasonable price at around £6.50 each, easy to access and quick to-do,  it was decided both sides would benefit from been replaced.

So starting with the more important side that failed the MOT

View from Above missing ARB link

View from side of missing ARB link

As you can see there is literally nothing stopping the remaining linkage from dropping out due to the top 1/4 having literally rotten and snapping off.

A simple removing of the nut, pressing the anti-roll bar down and pulling it all free, the space is ready to accept the new one

New ARB link (left) vs Old ARB link (right)

Insert the middle part of the bush – followed by the bolt/pin with its bush, the anti-roll bar was pressed into the air using a trolley jack, and the top bush lightly squeeze with a pipe wrench, the bottom section can be slotted on and start the first few threads. A quick tighten to make it snug and tight and a dollop of anti-seize paste covering the fastener at the bottom to help prevent it rusting and rotting on so quickly.

New ARB link fitted

The same was repeated to the other side, but the pipe grips were needed to hold the middle section of the bushing while the bolt/pin was released. Again when nipped up it was covered in a dollop of grease to help prevent rot setting in quickly again

A nice quick and easy job, which could be done without removing the wheel, but much easier with it been removed!

# Diagnosis 15 – Revisiting #8, the soggy feet

Well the soggy feet returned with the cold snap that occurred, the car was freezing inside and out with the cold

The car had been sat for a few days parked up though several days of rain. eager to ensure the fix had been sorted, i checked the floor to see what was going on.

To my disappointment the floor was wet again, but there was a clear evidence of what was going on

Very similar to the last, except the water was actually flowing. The car been parked passenger kerb side up encouraged the water run down the door over the current seal – Result been no amount of padding the seal would cure this
Knowing that from google searchs, this is an on going problem for the Citroen C1, its brother the Peugeot 107 and Toyota Aygo, there was an additional seal that was fitted to the more current models to help combat the numerous leaks occouring around the doors

Rung the local dealership up to enquire about the seal, and was advised the “extra” seal @ £55 would be the answer .

However not willing to fork out such a high value that was proven to cure the fault, i spent my time researching some more. i eventually found that running a universal seal around the door itself to create a new water path had been proven to work on most cases. Ebay provided the goods of a D shaped door seal for under £9, following a video guide made, i copied the process onto the vehicle in question as trying a £9 fix was a better option vs the dealer option.

Here is the end result

The seal running around the top of the door and down the side

In the door shut

The Critical part, the seal prevents the water entering cabin

So far the car has remained dry and less internal frost when the temperature drops below.