What have you done to your car today?

Gidday Brad & Simon

bradze said:
good question, it should work better than the stock plastic but i dont do very hardcore offroading so it should hold up til i can afford a tube bumper.
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I know what you mean. I have my Fox for the same purpose - to take me safely where my Impreza couldn't, and tow my camper trailer better than the Impreza could with its asthmatic EJ-18 ever did. I'll leave the hardcore stuff to those with the money to keep repairing their cars ...

simxs said:
Noticed during the week that each night as I arrived home and left the car idling while I got out to open the garage that the thermo fans were coming on - unusual, but didn't think too much of it. Last night though the gauge was up a tad higher than normal as well so thought I'd better investigate. Looks like the radiator is leaking between the aluminium core and the plastic top. I guess 12 years and 232000km is not a bad run from a radiator! Time to find a replacement.

There's something to be said for having a proper temp gauge with a linear scale, rathen than just 'cool' and 'hot' lights like some new cars. It makes it easy to see if it's just a little hotter than normal and catch a problem like this early on.
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Dodged a bullet there, mate - and I agree, Simon. SWMBO's SH only has the "COLD/HOT" light. Must have saved them all of about $2.50 ... :(. Specially important with any AT to have an accurate temperature gauge.

As for the rest of it. I have got my deposit back from the Mildura crowd, and will now be getting the Oztrail 6 Camper + Sun room from Kangaroo Tent City in Sydney.
 
simxs said:
I guess 12 years and 232000km is not a bad run from a radiator! Time to find a replacement.
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Thats pretty good going mate :)

When I had to replace mine I got my new one from these guys.
A.A.A Radiator Specialists. They have branches at Croydon, Bankstown & Hornsby. Phone No 9747 8998 (Croydon branch)
I was very happy with their service & advice.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Ratbag said:
SWMBO's SH only has the "COLD/HOT" light. Must have saved them all of about $2.50 ... :(. As for the rest of it. I have got my deposit back from the Mildura crowd, and will now be getting the Oztrail 6 Camper + Sun room from Kangaroo Tent City in Sydney.
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:lol: re the $2.50! Looking forward to seeing the Oztrail.

mr turbo said:
When I had to replace mine I got my new one from these guys.
A.A.A Radiator Specialists. They have branches at Croydon, Bankstown & Hornsby. Phone No 9747 8998 (Croydon branch)
I was very happy with their service & advice.
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Thanks a lot for the tip! Always good to get a local recommendation for these sorts of things. I'll give them a call.
 
G'day again Simon

simxs said:
:lol: re the $2.50!
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Yeah. It's why I call the SH XS as coming with the "Accountant's Pack". In lots of ways it is a better (family) car than my series II SG, but in whole lots of miserable ways it isn't as nicely kitted out.

Looking forward to seeing the Oztrail.
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So am I :). I have actually eye-balled one.

Just hope that OzTrail's information that the OzTrail Camper 6 will fit all the way to the ground when fitted on my trailer. Spec is 850 mm to the top lip of the trailer. Mine is 890 mm.

If all else fails, I can put the axle on top of the springs. This will lower the trailer top edge by about 80 mm to around 810 mm. This will now be too low!

It will also put the 215/60 15" wheels far too close to the top of the mudguards, so the front spring hangers will need to be lowered by about 40 mm, and the rear slipper also have a 40 mm block welded in to lower the back of the spring relative to the perimeter frame.

A lot of buggerising about to get the trailer top lip to exactly 850 mm, but can be done, and should not be very expensive to do.

The OzTrail bloke reckoned that there should be +/- 50 mm leeway. I just hope he's right!
 
Just driven to Mansfield and having dinner then heading up to Mt Buller. Picked up the raffle prize from Supercheap Auto got about $200 worth of car care, tools and camping stuff.
 
havachat said:
Just driven to Mansfield and having dinner then heading up to Mt Buller. Picked up the raffle prize from Supercheap Auto got about $200 worth of car care, tools and camping stuff.
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Nice on both counts ... :ebiggrin: :biggrin:

NachaLuva said:
Finished the gearbox breather hose today
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Good stuff, NL. Hopefully, no further dramas with that :).
 
Took all my Proflex coil overs apart, changed all the joints and found a solution to keep the oil lubricating between the shock (inverted upside down) and the strut. Hope it will make them much more responsive on small bumps.
 
With all the rain we've had of late, I thought it was time to replace my wiper blades.
I decided to go with another set of the Tridon Flex Blades :) as the last set worked brilliantly :raz:

Also, if they last as long as the last set, I'll be very happy indeed :ebiggrin:

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Took my Forester in for a wheel alignment at Subaru today and the battery died while they had it. I had the choice of paying them $275 for a new battery or letting them jump start it for free and sorting it out myself later. It was the worst drive home I've ever had, modern cars rely on electronics too much. The engine stalls as soon as you take your foot of the accelerator, making braking in the manual difficult and you can't let it stall when you come to a stop because you don't have the battery to restart it, and there was lots of stopping in the peak hour traffic. Things like the power-steering and brakes stop working when the revs are too low. And the engine itself was running a bit rough.

But I've now ordered a new better battery for $158. Well worth it.
 
Washed my underbody again, still got mud in places I can't understand
 
^ perhaps wearing underpants will help? :ebiggrin:
 
Red XS said:
It was the worst drive home I've ever had, modern cars rely on electronics too much. The engine stalls as soon as you take your foot of the accelerator, making braking in the manual difficult and you can't let it stall when you come to a stop because you don't have the battery to restart it, and there was lots of stopping in the peak hour traffic. Things like the power-steering and brakes stop working when the revs are too low. And the engine itself was running a bit rough.
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Gosh, I've never had drivablility issues when I've had a dying battery, though I guess at low revs when there is little charge from the alternator the potential for it is there given the reliance on electrical systems. I hope the new battery clears it up for you and there is nothing more serious at fault.
 
Battery just went from no problem to not being able to hold more than 0.023V all within a day. So just dropped a cell? But the alternator still seems to be working.
 
^ Red, that sort of voltage isn't just one cell; it's the whole battery.

A wet lead/acid battery cell is nominally 2V. A "dead" cell will cause the battery to show about 10.4~11.4V after charging (i.e. not charging when the reading is taken), rather than around 12.5~12.8V that it normally shows. The one in Roo2 is currently reading 12.88V after standing for 2 days.

Have you had your alternator and charging circuit checked as well?
 
I assume the alternator is working as I did get power while I was driving. But I won't know for sure until I get the new battery in.
 
^ Could be a dodgy diode in the Wheatstone bridge rectifier in the alternator.

Our old Camry had just such a problem, with similar symptoms.

Worth having the charging system checked.

Does your existing battery increase its charge voltage after being left on a 240V battery charger for a couple of days?

Has it got the proper amount of electrolyte in it? Even "no maintenance" batteries do need topping up with distilled water periodically ...
 
Electrolyte is good.
Battery has been on charge for most of a day, the voltage was momentarily high enough to start it just after disconecting the charger. But in the few minutes it took to open up the bonnet and get the multimeter on it after the car was off the battery was back down to milliVolts.
The battery looks like it could be the original from 2006 so probably needs replacing any way. New battery is coming from Eastern states, but once I get it I'll be able to see if there are any other problems.

I really hope the alternator is fine because I won't be able to fix anything expensive for a few weeks as I'm a poor uni student and just wasted most of my money on wheel alignment and battery
 
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