What Did You Do To Your Car Today?

[blur911]

I changed the alternator in the Honda Pilot today.  It flashed once for a few seconds after hitting a puddle on the way down, sometime around dark in the middle of a holiday weekend, somewhere near Rimouski, then was good again for a week or so.
A few days ago it started flashing again and getting more frequent, it was on about half the time when I finally got organized.   I'm in NB and don't have all my tools, was looking for a local garage to do it, couldn't find one in a timely manner, so I did it myself.

[RRocket]

I changed the alternator in the Honda Pilot today.  It flashed once for a few seconds after hitting a puddle on the way down, sometime around dark in the middle of a holiday weekend, somewhere near Rimouski, then was good again for a week or so.
A few days ago it started flashing again and getting more frequent, it was on about half the time when I finally got organized.   I'm in NB and don't have all my tools, was looking for a local garage to do it, couldn't find one in a timely manner, so I did it myself.

Tough or easy job?

[blur911]

I changed the alternator in the Honda Pilot today.  It flashed once for a few seconds after hitting a puddle on the way down, sometime around dark in the middle of a holiday weekend, somewhere near Rimouski, then was good again for a week or so.
A few days ago it started flashing again and getting more frequent, it was on about half the time when I finally got organized.   I'm in NB and don't have all my tools, was looking for a local garage to do it, couldn't find one in a timely manner, so I did it myself.

Tough or easy job?

Fairly easy, but a tight fit.  You have to drain and remove the power steering reservoir and coolant overflow to get access.  Had to do a bit of filing to get it to fit into place.

[Firm]

After 20 years and 308K kms the original air compressor for the rear air levelling system in the Escalade packed it in on Wednesday. Got the Dorman replacement and installed it in about an hour on Saturday - pretty simple job. This new one sounds much quieter too, so that's nice.

Today I got motivated to take the Blue 78 MGB out and installed new front shocks and tie-rod ends I had for it. Also pretty straightforward work, other than having to DIY align it. The alignment was out when I started, because the tie rods were bad, got the old jack-stand and string setup out and had it aligned pretty decent within maybe 45 minutes. Took it for a good ~30 mile run afterwards, car runs amazing. Does need tires though...these are from the 80's (!!) and get a little squirly above 60mph. Probably going to swap the SuperLite from the white car onto this and get new tires for them.

[Bridgecity]

^ Nice work Firm!

I did the transmission fluid on the kids Mazda 3 on Sunday.  He wasn't around and I had some time at home so it was a solo job.  It was straightforward, no issues encountered.  I drained the fluid, pulled the pan, cleaned the RTV silicone from the pan and mating surface, swapped the internal filter, and put it back together.  I used a gasket for the pan that comes with the internal filter, rather than RTV.  Fluid looked OK, no terrible burnt smell.  Pan was actually really clean except for the magnet that had a thin coating of sludge. 

Mazda doesn't call for any maintenance on the transmission fluid but glad I did it.  I'll plan on doing drain and fills from here on out.  Kid doesn't put many kms on so may not have to do it again before he's done University and gets something else.  The car currently has 174k km. 

[Firm]

Nice! I need to do the SLK trans service soon....old Mercedes "sealed for death" system, its working fine, but I imagine  it's on the original fluid, but only 80K miles.

[Bridgecity]

Ya I find the Mazda "no maintenance" requirement odd.  Easily accessible drain plug and dipstick tube for draining/filling/checking. 

[Bridgecity]

Junior and I did the valve cover gasket on his Mazda 3 last night.  Again, straightforward job, hardest part was removing the wiring harness clips that sit on top of the valve cover bolt studs.  Not sure what those are called but a pain in the ass.  Top end looks clean, no forbidden glitter evident and cam lobes looked new.  You can see evidence in the photo of why the center plugs were seeing some oil.  I really should get a 1/4" drive torque wrench for these small torque value jobs.  Torque spec for valve cover bolts is 6-7ft/lbs.  I just used best judgement and tried my best to keep them all even.

I've covered off everything in the car that I wanted to initially, so hopefully good for a while.

[RRocket]

Looks good!

[Tortoise]

Nice work! It's amazing how little rust their is.

[Bridgecity]

^ It's pretty clean for a 15 year old Mazda. There is a few spots on the drivers side rear fender lip, so it's on its way. Not sure if I should try and keep it at bay with oil spray or try sanding/filling/painting. I'll likely just spray it myself and keep it in check as much as possible.

[Tortoise]

I just had the 180k service done on the Golf. It's a pretty big one that includes:

- Timing Belt/Water Pump
- DSG Service
- Oil Change
- Fuel Filter Change

On top of it, I had a local VW/Audi shop install Bilstein B4 shocks because the original ones were toast.

After picking it up I ran a few errands. At the first stop I noticed that there was lot of heat coming from the engine bay, and bit of a burning smell. I continued to run some errands and on the way home the CEL came on. I'm positive the DPF pressure sensor has melted, caused by being broken during the timing belt change since it's sorta in the way.

After the first stop the temperatures were significantly reduced in the engine bay. I presume the car initially went into a regen which melted the sensor and then stopped regenning after it had fried.

I'm going to call the dealership to see if the Dieslgate warranty would cover this, being upfront about the situation. Otherwise, I hope the shop will take care of the repair as they broke the part. Especially since I read the official procedure is to remove the sensor when doing the timing belt change.

It's not safe to drive, so I'll have to get it towed wherever it ends up. At least I have CAA.

UPDATE: I called the dealership, being fully transparent about the situation and they said it should be covered by the Dieselgate warranty. I have an appointment for Monday. If they deny it, I will work with the shop to sort this mess out.

[Johnnymac]

Dieselgate, the gift that keeps on giving.  Hope VW covers it but regardless I would be letting the shop know and maybe they throw you a free oil change for your troubles.

[Blueprint]

Boosted it. Apparently The Club slipped enough to activate the horn on the Crosstrek and drain the battery completely. A Mazda employee had called me about this, and said that shaking the car somehow moved the car enough to jiggle the club off the horn (note that a round trip there at pm rush hour is at least 3 hours). According  to the note left on the windshield, it did it again at some point (lonely business park, so no harm done). I came back armed with booster cables and sure enough the battery was so drained that I had to use the physical key hidden in the fob to open the car. It started right up once hooked up to the press car. Done using The Club with this car.

[RRocket]

Boosted it. Apparently The Club slipped enough to activate the horn on the Crosstrek and drain the battery completely. A Mazda employee had called me about this, and said that shaking the car somehow moved the car enough to jiggle the club off the horn (note that a round trip there at pm rush hour is at least 3 hours). According  to the note left on the windshield, it did it again at some point (lonely business park, so no harm done). I came back armed with booster cables and sure enough the battery was so drained that I had to use the physical key hidden in the fob to open the car. It started right up once hooked up to the press car. Done using The Club with this car.

People steal Crosstreks? LOL 😆

 I always liked the locks that went from steering wheel to brake pedal much more. And they've won a couple steering lock tests. This one won C&D's comparo..  https://a.co/d/09emDzq6

Maybe consider one of those for the Crosstrek?