#carmaintenance — Public Fediverse posts

The three (3) genders

* Gevaar
* Gefahr
* Danger

This stuff from #Belgie did at least save me £110, thought post-cat lambda sensor in my #GolfGTI was goosed (it threw a code) but had just got a bit clagged immediately after #remap which according to the mechanic next door can happen

Its now behaving, just as well as new sensor is about £80 and I'd need tool to fit it, its in a most awkward place to just after the turbo where the metal reaches ca. 400°C when driving and still remains fairly hot an hour after stopping engine (learned that hard way)

#Petrol additive is full of #BTX ( #benzene , #toluene and #xylene ) - not smelt those #aromatics for a while as they have been discouraged from many other products on safety grounds..

#CarMaintenance #tuning

The #muffler on my #Forester gave up after 10 years of service and started to make my car sound like a rally participant.

#muffler #forester #car #carmaintenance #carrepairs #subaru #SubaruForester

Both #Volkswagen and #Opel / #Vauxhall use convention of #brown wire for an earth/ground (and in the case of this Corsa a black wire for L+), but in modern #ElectricalEngineering a brown wire is treated as live (could be either AC or DC) and black is often L- on older systems (nowadays blue or grey is preferred depending on whether the DC is negative or positive earthed).

I assume these conventions for #cars started long before the standardised European colours for electrical wiring in buildings and other equipment

Which you have to beware of if you often switch between #CarMaintenance and general electric work!

Today new #sparkplugs, #coolant refresh and #oil change - had to jack up car and put ramps underneath other way round rather than drive on to them - bumper slightly fouls ramp ( #bladibarsket ).

Also chocked rear wheels for #safety

Sparkplugs are #Bosch 0 242 230 806 FQR8LEU2

( #AltText contains useful info on tools, methods etc if you have a #Vauxhall / #Opel / #CorsaC #HoldenBarina with #Z12XEP #engine, I try to put this info in the text on any of my #toots about #CarMaintenance )

[ as there's spare space in this toot I added #Holden #Barina as hashtags for anyone here who is in #Australia or #NewZealand #Aotearoa ]

Also needs cabin filter replaced (alas, the one that arrived today doesn't look like right size, it will have to go back along with whichever oil filter turns out to be wrong size (there are *two* listed for this car, according to engine number but the engine number is not anywhere easy to see, and this engine Z12XEP stayed in production with Opel for the Corsa D and at some point oil filter dimensions changed..

I'm already knackered after todays work (I was at the office unusually early today for another reason), so will be getting an earlier night tonight than normal

Those other bits can wait until the weekend or early next week (as the Finance Manager has to deal with insurance anyway)

#Vauxhall
#OpelCorsaC #CarMaintenance

https://www.engine-specs.net/opel/z12xep.html

More #maintenance of #Vauxhall / #Opel #CorsaC

Replaced rear fog light bulb (bumper part dismantled, water tipped out, lampholder cleaned up then reassembled), fitted new horn.

New fuel filter, first time I've done this myself (not fun, had to crawl underneath in awkward position and avoid petrol being spilled out from old filter, self tapping holding screw goosed (fully rounded off), replaced with new one with bolt head

Fitted air filter, intake hoses have to be removed ( #bladibarsket ) so also cleaned up #throttlebody.

Went to ASDA (in my GTI, Corsa still doesn't have tax or insurance), filled up 5 litre #petrol can, topped up tank with new fuel

Still got coolant, sparkplugs and oil to change, but #car now running a lot better (no more rough idle)

#CarMaintenance

Snagged complete set of of Marshall Cavendish #CarMaintenance and #Motoring partwork "On The Road" from 1978-1981 (in 10 binders)

If you are #GenX you may remember your dad buying at least some of these if he was into #cars (although to get the entire partwork would have cost about £300 (2026 money) in total, so relatively few people actually got whole set of 140)

These were sold not only in #UK but across #Commonwealth countries where folk drive on the left, one cool thing is all units are #metric first (with Imperial equivalents added afterwards)

Fair play to the previous owner, it looks like they did definitely make use of the section on changing #HeadGasket in #BritishLeyland engine 😁

#OldTimer #1970s #1980s #WeirdCarMastodon

I knocked out a power steering fluid flush on the FJ and it was almost peaceful, right up until I realized I had nothing to cap the return port. Improvised. Spilled some. Learned a lot.

Two quarts later, the pump is quiet and the old fluid is out. Full how-to here: https://adventureadjacent.com/2026/01/30/toyota-fj-cruiser-power-steering-fluid-flush-how-to/

#FJCruiser #DIYAuto #CarMaintenance #Overlanding #OffRoad #AdventureAdjacent

Just fitted a replacement side #mirror (left hand /passenger side) to a (European) #FordFusion belonging to a work colleague (she had been stopped by the #Police yesterday for having a busted mirror and given a warning to get it fixed)

The mechanic at #repair garage next door sourced it earlier in the afternoon and was going to fit it but she had had to leave the office due to an emergency at home, so he had asked if I could fit it - its an easy job, even more so than VW versions.

It does seem Police are starting to check up on drivers who are from other parts of the Commonwealth, probably due to #gammons moaning about "foreigners not obeying #traffic #laws

(it is however good practice to have all side mirrors present to keep cyclists and pedestrians safe!)

#CarMaintenance

Thought todays fleet car check would be a quick one - instead dealt with low tyre pressure, defective rear stop light bulb (P21W), oil and coolant topup (even set the clock in the #car correctly as it still had 1 hour offset) #CarMaintenance #Fiat500Mastodon

Thought todays fleet car check would be a quick one - instead dealt with low tyre pressure, defective rear stop light bulb (P21W), oil and coolant topup (even set the clock in the #car correctly as it still had 1 hour offset) #CarMaintenance #Fiat500Mastodon

Thought todays fleet car check would be a quick one - instead dealt with low tyre pressure, defective rear stop light bulb (P21W), oil and coolant topup (even set the clock in the #car correctly as it still had 1 hour offset) #CarMaintenance #Fiat500Mastodon

Thought todays fleet car check would be a quick one - instead dealt with low tyre pressure, defective rear stop light bulb (P21W), oil and coolant topup (even set the clock in the #car correctly as it still had 1 hour offset) #CarMaintenance #Fiat500Mastodon

Thought todays fleet car check would be a quick one - instead dealt with low tyre pressure, defective rear stop light bulb (P21W), oil and coolant topup (even set the clock in the #car correctly as it still had 1 hour offset) #CarMaintenance #Fiat500Mastodon

Nothing to Say

I’m down to the final minutes of my lunch break on this fine Friday afternoon. I am pretty exhausted from a lack of sleep over the past… month(s) but I’m hanging in there. I had some Purdue Popcorn chicken and some peanuts and some sugar free Hershey bites for lunch. I really want a drink of water but I still have to wait the better part of an hour before I am clear to drink anything. That’s a gastric bypass patient thing. If you know, you know.

Fed Ex delivered a package today. I am not home to get it, but it contains a new guitar pedal. If I read the amazon shipping notes correctly, it’s a compressor pedal. The first I’ve ever purchased. I have this weird idea of using cleaner guitar sounds for this year’s RPM Challenge in February and a compressor will be a part of that. I bought an MXR Dyna Comp because it’s super simple and it will let me squash my clean signal down to a delightfully mushy… mush. There are two more pedals coming over the weekend. One is a Flanger, the other is an Amp Sim. I don’t have room on my pedal board for any of these kiddos and I don’t have open slots on my power brick… so I am going to need to get creative, I think. It should be fun. I don’t think I bought a single guitar pedal during all of 2024. I know I bought a couple of microphones for band practices that haven’t actually happened yet, but no pedals.

There are a lot of tentative plans for the weekend. We may be messing with our living room and we may be going to some stores for research purposes. I hope to spend some time wandering around town taking pictures with my new/possibly antique (though probably not) camera. I got a gift card for the sugar free bakery in Salem, NH for xmas. I haven’t bought anything from them in about a month, but now I am definitely going back and getting some cookies. Good stuff.

What else… I thought there was something else… One of our cars is going to get a break job. That wasn’t the thing that I am forgetting though… am I going to go shopping for a new iPhone? That’s definitely on the to-do list before we go to Florida at the end of the month, but is it this weekend? I don’t know.

I have to start practicing the guitar. The band is hoping to reconvene (hopefully for real this time) at some point after this weekend. I need to get ready for that. Which guitar should I bring to the first practice? Probably the Les Paul Standard that my wife got me for my 50th birthday in 2021. I really dig that guitar.

I know I had something else I wanted to write about but it has slipped my brain entirely. Don’t get old, kids. This is what happens to you when you get old. Stay young for as long as you can. Unless you’re already old like me in which case… sorry, folks. We had a good run, I’m sure.

#absentMinded #age #breakJob #breaks #Car #carMaintenance #carRepairs #food #Guitar #GuitarGear #GuitarPedals #homeDecore #homeDesign #homeImprovement #LivingRoom #livingRoomFurniture #lunch #Memory #Music #old #oldAge #plans #redesign #sometimers #toDoList #weekendPlans