#cardiy — Public Fediverse posts

Took the Z4 for MOT, naturally the airbag light comes on as I'm driving there and refuses to clear so it fails. Also the inside of the nearside headlight is full of water droplets, causing a second major. 🙄

Managed to trace the airbag fault to high resistance on the passenger door, and figured out the control module had corrosion on the pins where it's previously gotten damp. Scraped clean with a penknife and no more airbag light! #BastardCars #CarDIY

Reassembled everything today, bled coolant system and it appears the cabin is no longer a swimming pool. Huzzah. Radio left to fit this week.

Think it’s taken me about 18 hours of labour, so possibly three days in a garage. Would’ve been quite some expense 😬 #BastardCars #CarDIY

Pulled the heater system out last week and stripped it enough to get the heater and air con cores (radiators) out. Heater core has a decent hole in it. Cleaned coolant out of everything and set back in cabin to dry. #BastardCars #CarDIY

S-Max has been showing a headlight fault for a few months, fancy Xenon things. Only real effect was the cornering lamps didn’t come on.

Eventually it threw an error code the height sensor on the front axle wasn’t sending a signal. New (£50!) sensor fitted and now everything’s happy once more. Just in time for the MOT.

#CarDIY

Meaco Dehumidifier turned up today, whacked it on the interior. Took it from 45% down to 28% humidity in a couple of hours. I know the carpet has had moisture leaking into it for a few journeys so want it bone dry before reassembly #BastardCars #CarDIY

Had the air con system emptied this morning, had half the gas it was supposed to which is apparently quite good for an oldish car. Heater matrix waiting to be extracted and dismantled now. #BastardCars #CarDIY

Fought on and got the dashboard and crash structure out eventually. (Passenger Airbag needed to come out first.)

Discovered coolant leaking out of HVAC unit which means the heater core itself is a leaky boi. Now need to arrange Air-Con being degassed before I can pull the whole unit out to dismantle and replace core. #BastardCars #CarDIY

Rain somewhat stops play, but not before I got the centre console completely out. Then removed the instrument cluster to discover a previous owner has left a tracker unit behind. Free hardware! #BastardCars #CarDIY

So far the dash moves slightly, still need to take the wheel & instrument cluster out. Currently taking the centre console out which involves dismantling the rear storage too.

Can see coolant leaking from the heater box under dash so this is all required work. #BastardCars #CarDIY

I swear the Z4 knows when I’ve a hotel booked for a road trip with it and then breaks part of the cooling system.

Two years ago the expansion tank & thermostat needed replacement the night before we went (took the Golf GTI instead).

This year the heater core appears to be leaking in the depths of the dashboard. Which of course is a dashboard out job. Five weeks and counting to trip.

#BastardCars #CarDIY

Discovered if I connect the H7 dip bulb polarity backwards the indicator bulb lights up with the sidelights. Easily fixed, even if headlights aren’t the most accessible on the Z4. #CarDIY