Bugger

Been working silly hours over the last 3 weeks and not had chance to take a look at the beast.



Bottom of the picture shows the problem... Bugger clould have been nasty on the Motor Way

Near death...

Well, I have never been so scared. As I joined the motor way the car decided to lane swap. It felt like I had no control of the car. I pulled into the hard shoulder and checked the car over but could not find a problem.

So I set off to make sure it was not me. It was like driving a snake, I had no control of the car. I pulled over again but this time I called the RAC to see if they could help.

1 hour later they turned up. The RAC chap looked over the car and could not find the problem. He felt that the car was not safe to drive.

Due to the size of the Jag he was unable to toe me home. I was told I would have to wait for a recovery truck... Joy

While waiting a flat bed truck decided to dump its load over the Motor Way, I had to call the police as all 3 lane where covered in rubbish. The HA and police looked at me if it was my rubbish.

As you can see the Police and HA closed the Motor Way as I sat there and watched.

Another hour later and the recovery truck turned up and we set off home. It was a sorry site to see the old car being dropped of home.

Brakes and Service

Today I decided to change the rear brake pads. The car has warned me for the last 2 month that the Pads needed changing... I was surprised that the car has a rear brake sensor.



I enlisted the services of Chris to give me a hand as I was unable to change the front ones on the car. Luckily Chris owns Motor World Car Body Shop and they have all the tools and equipment needed to do the job.


This is also a good time to service the car... It has been over a year now and the Jag was starting moan to me!



When changing the air filter, (which is only a year old), it looks the same age as the car (19).




Below is the black sludge that came out. We replaced this with nice new clear oil... Sorry car




Chris then set to work changing the rear pads. They where that low they have damaged one of the rear sensors! The sensors need replacing, but to get rid of the warning light in the car I have crossed the streams :)

While the rear wheels where off, I was able to inspect the rust that is starting to come through the side seals. This is not an easy fix and will require them to be replaced.

Costs:

Pads: £23.00 (SESPAD656)

Service parts: £61.00 (Air/Oil Filter, Plugs and Oil 9 litres of the stuff)

Fixes

Today I wanted to take a look at making a proper stand for the DVD player as the weight of the unit caused the plastic below the glove box to give way.


I wanted to mock up a design to make sure that I was happy with the layout. I checked the shed today and found some old wood. One bit was the perfect size for the front board and I didn't need to cut it to size. I measured up some bits of wood to support the DVD.



I removed the carpet and cut it to the correct size. I had to cut the hole out for the DVD player. I am going to leave this for a week to make sure it stays up and I will then build a proper stand next weekend out of MDF.



It was about time I cut away the headliner, It was pea'ing me off every time I got in the car I could feel it on the top of my head. Also it should give me more of an incentive to get it fixed!

Music Time

Today I purchased a Freecom Tough Drive 120GB mobile USB hard drive. Its USB powered and guess what... It works with the car stereo.




I have been trying a number of different USB devices with my Kenwood head unit to see if they would work, like the Nokia N95. You select the phone to Mass storage and the head unit reads it as if it was a USB stick.




I have also wired up the audio/visual lead to the screen in the car so you can use the phone as normal but view it on a large screen.


The question now is how many music files the head unit can see, I am in the process of copying 47GB's worth of music to the drive to see if it will ok but as I am not running windows it should be fine. Navigating will be a problem, and there will be a lot of track skipping.


Not bad for 54 quid...


On another note, due to the weight of the DVD player the bit of plastic that sits under the glove box gave way this week. Need to figure out a way of re-fitting the DVD player and make it look pucker!

Oil, What Oil

Checked the car oil today and it was a little low. In fact it wasn't even registering on the dip stick.

Couple of litres from Westleigh Motor Factors and its registering again. I know where the problem is, I did not replace the sump nut washer when I did the last service and its leaking slowly from there.

Oops!

Quick fix

After washing the car I decided to take a look at why the interior lights were not working. The car was reporting that a fuse had blown but every time I changed it, it kept on blowing.

Also there was no "Always Live" power to the car so the seat did not work when the ignition was off.

I remember that I had some problems fitting the passenger sunvisor, so I took a look at this first... And guess what, I found the problem. The positive wire had split and was connected to the Shell of the car. Is was shorting the car out.



I removed the sun visor and needed to fix that before I refit it.

I also had ordered a new bit of chrome for the front windscreen as it flew off a couple of months ago. It was only 3 quid from Jag which I thought was good!.

Back to Project Sovereign

It turned out to be a bolt that had snapped so the clip that held the centre pipe to the manifold had come away.



18 years of wear and tear.


At first it looked like I would need a new clip but with some Burrows magic and a hammer I got it out.

Then it came to fitting it. I replaced the broken bolt with a shiny new one and enlisted the services of the Ramus' to tighten the clip as I pushed the exhaust back together.

Now its sounds very quite.

Project Spitfire!

Well, it rained today and anyone that lived through WW2 would have thought that it had started again. Spitfires flying above... But no it was me in the JAG!


On the way to work I noticed a burble noise coming from the Jag. When I go to Ramus' I quickly checked but could not see where the problem was.


I drove very slowly to Motor World and asked Chris to take a look. He took one look at it and confirmed it was defiantly the exhaust, however, he couldn't fix it until this evening.


So we drove very slowly to work. It made it to the gates in the car park and then bang, the car shock, the noise was deafening. It sounded like an old Spitfire getting ready to take off!


When looking closer, it looks like the pipe has come off the manifold. So should be easy to fix.


The sound is awesome but unfortunately not drivable...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDGWLUmbB_Q

Visual entertainment. Day 3

Today I wanted to put the dashboard back together and give the car a good clean.

As the weather was touch and go I washed and poshed the car first.

I had the battery on charge all day yesterday and most of today. When I connected the battery the dashboard reported that a fuse had blown. On inspection it turned out the be the interior lights. When I changed the fuse it blew that one and the other 3 I tried. (Going to leave this until tomorrow)

Also for some reason the +12vdc "always live" from the battery to the stereo was not working. I checked it all the way back to the fuse box. When I checked the voltage at the fuse box it had +12vdc but some where there is a break in the wire.

I decided to run a new lead from the battery and this time fitted an in-line fuse. I started to put the settings back into the stereo but it was getting dark so gave up until tomorrow.

Visual entertainment. Day 2

Day two was all about mounting the screen and complete the wiring of the system.

Yesterday I purchased a gold power terminal from Halfords as I wanted to tidy up the positive connector as it had wires hanging off it.

This was not as simple as I hoped. I had to saw off the old connector and then tempt fate by cutting the cover off the wires without making a visit to A&E.

I also fitted the relay that will supply the DVD player and screen with power

I then set on the headlining, this also was a pain. I had to take most of the left hand side trim apart. (I broke most of the clips again!!!!!)

I then measured up and screwed the screen into the headlining. I made a slit in the headlining for the cable and then drilled a hole in the headlining to feed the cable.

I connected the main lead the the screen and started to put the trim back but I needed to buy some more clips to secure it in place. I wont do this until the headlining has been refitted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxAkbTrQxIg - excuse the poor quality as it was what I sent to Ramus!

I also damaged the "Sky Slop" that goes around the gear stick and stereo. I can get another one of these on Ebay.

I could not fully test the system today as I left the boot lid up and drained the battery to the point twhere the dash board flashes because there is not enough amps to power the system.

I think its going to take a couple more days to fully finish the system

Visual entertainment. Day 1

Its all about the Visual entertainment, I wanted some thing that would help keep the headlining up once it has been refitted. I was originally looking for a set of spot lights that would go in the middle of the headlining

I spent hours upon hours looking and never really found anything I liked. Eventually I noticed that you can get an LCD monitor that attach's to the headlining.

I did not want one that you manually had to move down to watch, I wanted something different. I found a motorized unit that on a touch of the button the screen would come down.


Finding a DVD player was nice and easy.

My next issue was powering the units. I only want the unit to work when the ignition is on to save battery in case the system is left on. However, I did not want to power it off the cigarette lighter as I already have the SatNav and phone charger running off it.

This is quite a simple job just requires some wiring. I used a relay to be triggered off the cigarette socket and then wired a wire to the battery. So when the ignition is on, the relay completes the circuit to the battery and the system should turn on.

Because I now had a direct feed from the battery I wanted to make sure that every device had a fuse and the main lead was fused as well. (Picture to follow).

I wanted to mount the DVD player in the glove box but it was to long for this, I then looked at mounting it under the driver seat but when the seat is moved back it closes the gap and would crush the DVD player. The only place I could think of mounting it was under the glove box in the passenger foot well. Mounting this was quite fun and took me a couple of attempts to get right.

My task for tomorrow morning is to fix the screen to the headlining. The screen came with some screws that you just screw into the headlining but this is not the best way to do it. I have a metal plate that I will fit above the headlining and will screw the screen into this.

The stereo has an AUX input which I will use to give the DVD player audio as the car has 6 speakers and a 12" sub.

Bushes need changing

I got Chris to take a look up and behind the front wheels, as there has been some play in the steering wheel. Its not very much but we did notice a problem...





Its turns out the front bushes need replacing. I have been told this is quite a simple job and should only take 3 hours to change and of course a set of Bushes.




While we had the wheel off we also tightened the hub nut that was a little loose.

No more leaving the lights on

Last night was the final straw! I did it again, left the lights on.

I have drained the battery 3 times now doing this.

I know there is an option on the alarm to alert if the lights are left on. The only issue is figuring out how to wire it up.

Nice and simple, just need to get the +12Vdc from the side light to the alarm box.

Now the car beeps 6 times and the key fob goes nuts if you leave the lights on and lock the car.

Fuse

Even though my car is 18 years old. Not many cars will tell you that a fuse has blown and which one.


When I started the car last night to come home I noticed the "Lightning bolt" on the dash which means a blown fuse. I pressed the VCM button and the on board computer told me it was in fuse box one, which is the right hand fuse box.


Only to find out it was the cigarette lighter fuse that hand blown. Nice and simple! 5p Fix.

Hot Hot Hot and Still Hot

Had some one out today to take a look at the Air conditioning in the Jag. I was hoping that it would just need re-gassing but guess what... Its not that simple.

The electrics checked out OK but there is a leak in the compressor. So it needs a new one and they range from 150 to 300 quid... Ouch... It will be winter soon... LOL

Boot lock

This afternoon I set on the task of fixing the boot lock. Since I have had the car, I have had to use the key to unlock the boot.

Where, this is not a major problem, it was a fault that needed sorting.....

For some reason you could not unlock the boot with the button in the glove box and when you unlock the car with the remote the lock would pop but not unlock!!

(Yes that is a driving cap that Rash and Ramus bought me)

I first set about checking the fuses in the car but quickly realised that the car would tell me if a fuse had blown and which one...

Maybe there was a wiring problem with the button!?

I started by checking all the wires under the glovebox. I did some continuity checks and after about 45 minutes I was certain that it was not a wiring problem...

Then I turned to the lock and release unit. I stripped the units out and checked the mechanical workings of the lock. I noticed that a small micro switch did not look right... I bent the metal contact away slightly and hooray, it seems that the micro switch told the car that the lock had manually been locked and was over-riding the central locking!

Now the button in the glove box unlocks the boot and pops it up a little.

Now I could set to work on wiring the boot release up to the alarm. The alarm has a trigger relay for the boot. It took me some time to figure out how to wire this up but by cutting into the wires and getting the relay to complete the circuit, the alarm now unlock the boot as well.

The cool feature with the alarm is it unlocks the car and deactivate the alarm, then it unlocks and pops the boot.

Not done yet

Well, what can I say. I have not had chance to sort the headlining.

Now its about time for the Jag's six month service. Bit's I need to do on this service are as follows:

Air Filter
Spark Plugs
Oil Filter
Oil Change
Coolant
And if I feel brave, Transmission fluid!

When I do the service I will look at taking the headlining out. At the moment I have a temporary fix, which is working.

Miles Per Gallon

Well,


Since I have changed the wheels and done the major service the car had six months ago, the MPG from the car now averages 30 MPG.




Not bad for a 4 litre monster!

Also the Car Tax is nice and low, costing me only 185 quid a year and if I take it into the London "Low Emissions Zone" they report...

Not subject to LEZ - Based on the information you have entered and information held by Transport for London (TfL), the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) does not apply to this vehicle. As long as the vehicle remains not subject to the LEZ the daily charge does not have to be paid for this vehicle when it is used in the zone.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/lez/

HA HA

Headlining

Next week is all about getting the headlining fixed. Its a logistical nightmare

• I am going to have to drop the car down at Motor World Car Body Shop on Monday
• Arrange for the Windscreen company to take the windscreen out on Tuesday
• Tuesday night remove the headlining from the car (Joy!)
• Wednesday arrange for the headlining to be dropped off at the trimmers
• Allow a couple of days for the job to be done.
• Hopefully Friday its should be finished... Fingers crossed!