What I did today thread...
 

I see this forum doesn't have a "what I did today" thread which is a happy dumping ground of those wishing to tell all what they achieved recently....so let me start one off.

It was a perfect sunny day here, very unusual of late, so I replaced all discs, pads and shoes on all corners, fit new power steering reservoir, engine oil and filter change, remove O/S wing liner and take the alarm module out, hacksaw it open for some preventative maintenance by replacing the batteries, (still to find some suitable batteries online), replace the main bearing in the wiper motor and refit, tighten handbrake cable, charge the battery as I'm getting low battery indicator on the information module and give the car a wash.

P.S. Forgot to mention... while the wing liner was off, the amount of mud and grit I found stuck up behind the heaflight was pretty appaling. This is future trouble for rust I reckon. I hosed all the dirt out and then slabbered Waxoyl everywhere for rustproofing.

By the Christ ... Aint you bin a Busy boy then !!!!!...

me??? i washed the "Fleet" & then nodded off in the lounger in the back garden ...

To be woken VIOLENTLY by my 6 year old grand Daughter leaping onto my Stomach shouting Grand Pa, Grand Pa .....were you asleep !!!!!!!!


Oh Joy!!!!!


Keith

I had a long lazy sleep in until 11am (well it is Sunday), got up, helped the wife with some house work, visited my son and his mrs, cut his grass and gave him some advice re-the gardening, came home, did some gardening of my own, now chilling out with a beer.

wish i had visitors like you Steve , usually when someone visits my home i end up helping them.

PS any time you want to visit feel welcome just bring your lawnmower.:thumbs_up:

I've found a supplier of the N2H 280 batteries that are inside the sirens....not affiliated blah blah disclaimer They are here:-http://www.univercell-batteries.co.uk/cells.php?method=quicksearch&value=n2h+280

Will they supply in small quantities I wonder, I'll drop them a line tomorrow.

Reset my service reminder...

No more "TIME FOR REGULAR SERVICE"

Yey!!

About as exciting as it got really!! :(

Steve :thumbs_up:

Here is a pictue of the new and old wiper motor bearing that needs replaced. They are used a lot in skateboards and available on eBay from some one I have no affiliation with at all.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3205867701...84.m1439.l2649

I got an e-mail back from the company above and they say Emmerich, the maker of the batteries, has gone bust, but he does have a solution.. In fact he came straight back and asked if it was for a Volvo!....suggesting someone else has been down this route already. I'll let you know of his costings and whether the CPC/Farnell battery will work out cheaper.

http://cpc.farnell.com/varta/2-v250h...-4v/dp/BT01060

Cell Cell Cell
 

OK, I have the cost from Univer Cell who have quoted me £20 all-in for replacement of the cells. No affiliation and you can get get similar from other places. On the other hand, you could just get the complete kit from here:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volo-Alarm...item2c567b8a54

My "Regular service required" message popped-up this morning (on the S60)...that seems to have come around quickly.
Just one thing of note, :) the oil level has not budged at all since the last service.

156.7k and running great.

Fitted my Magnefine steering filter last night, well it was badged Raybestos, sounds like Fraybentos or Asbestos. I unbolted the return line form the rack, put the hose in a vice and cut the hose 3 inches up from the rack and removed a few inches where the filter will live. There wasn't enough room at the top of the hose next to the cam cover for the filter to sit comfortably. Tightended it all down with Jubilee/banjo clips awaiting the cambelt/idlers replacement to arrive. BTW, you may have seen people on-line hacksawing these filters in half to see how much crud they have collected from their gearbox or steering. You don't have to hacksaw it open, it just unscrews to reveal the magnet and the paper filter inside.

Replaced the timing belt, idler and tensioner this evening. Not fun at all with that VVT cam going out of position. Took me hours to do but managed not removing the crank pully and slip the timing belt behind it. Cranked it by hand a few times and all seemed OK. Fired it up and all was well. Looked under car, pool of something under there and dripping down. Shut it all down and traced it to leaking new Magnefine filter. It is power steering fluid leaking from the seam where it screws together. Too dark and late just now to take it all out so I'll look at it later.

I did not vehicle do anything vehicle wise (probably due to the fact I don't own a vehicle...yet haha), but I did have a BBQ while doing some gardening work!

Scott

I fitted a new pre-cat lambda sensor in my V70.

I can remove the bit of black tape thats covering the warning light now...:thumbs_up:

I discovered what caused the Magnefine filter to leak. Me unscrewing it and not realising that it has a seal which is hidden in a seam in the upper lid beside the magnet. I refitted it and also wrapped some PTFE tape around the threads AND welded it shut by melting the plastic at the seam so it can't possibly leak or unscrew again. I also hoovered out the airfilter box which was full of dust and I'm still not sure whether my front wiper motor is still too noisey. I'll post the noise on here for an opinion later.

Absolutely sweet **** all! Managed to skin my knuckles trying to remove the rear anti roll bar bushes while in leaving the bar in situ..........don't mention the rear drop links that had to be destroyed just to get the bl**dy things off.......

Hello ShadeTek, Please tell me if I got this right. When prepping for a cam belt change you rotate the engine's crank pulley clockwise 1/4 turn past the point when the marks align. Then you turn it backwards (anti-clockwise) to where the marks align. My question to you is: What went wrong? I was under the impression this procedure set the VVT solenoid to a mechanical zero. Thanks for answering. Kira

What I used to do on my 850 was line up the crank mark, which should then have both the cam marks lined up. I would then CUT the belt off, scary point of no return moment, remove it then squeeze the new belt on, keep the belt tight from the crank up round the intake cam and then onto the exhaust cam trying not to move anything. Once it was all lined up and the belt was in place, I would pull the pin on the belt tensioner. Turn the crank by hand a few times and if nothing clunked, I was half-way there.

I used this same technique on the V70 VVT. I lined the cams up with the timing mark, scored the crank pully with a screwdriver, in line with the inner wing so I could re-aligne it in case it moved, I couldn't see the crank mark as I left the aux pully on and squeezed the belt up round the back of it around the three alloy lugs, kept the belt tight up the front to the intake cam only to find the cam had moved!...EEEK. This is when my anxiety started. The intake cam is very easy to move anti-clock-wise as it is on a dog-lock mechanism, like the pedals of a bike if you know what I mean? I re-aligned the cam by turning it clockwise again and it lined up. The exhaust cam also moved fairly easy and I had to re-aligne it too. I would recommend tie-wrapping the cams together at their nearest point to stop them moving.

In answer to your question, do you turn it clockwise then anti-clockwise, I would say no. There is no mention of this in the Haynes manual either. The way the belt came off the intake cam was locked into the clockwise postion so it hit a stop position and could go no further without meeting some resistance. So you would have to re-do your set up if you did it that way. I may be wrong and there is a further adjustment I don't know about, but it worked so far for me although my V70 has not been taken for a good drive yet as it is not road legal. It does get up to temperature on the drive with no dash errors or bent valves. Let me know how you get on Kira.

Towbar
 

You ***CAN*** fit a towbar without taking the bumper off, 'cos that is what I did today.
It is a STRUGGLE though, so if you know how to get the bumper off without damaging the parking sensor wiring, then it might be better to do it that way.

Thanks to Hymerbeliever for the towbar : fits nicely.

I made a start on the revision. 4 months from now and i have a two hour oral exam with someone who can ask me anything he likes about my job. Apparently there is around a 40% pass rate and i don't intend joining the other 60.

Apart from that i gave the car a quick wash and took it a wee run. Also got the service light on! 102,000 and still pulling like a train.

My external temp gauge is reading 10 degrees below what it should so I followed some posts saying it is behind the mirror. Removed the mirror only to find it isn't in there exactly, it is under the arm of the mirror. I tried to remove it only to break the lug on it, but it looks like it needs replaced anyhow and a door-card off job to re-wire the new one in. Seems to be a common fault.

You can't tease us like that without saying what you actually do, intrigued! :)

The rear wiper assenmbly in my 850 and in the V70 need removed and the main shaft greased. The 850 wiper is slooooowing down and the previous owner of the V70 said the fuse was blowing on the rear wiper motor which suggests excessive current draw due to seizing bearing shaft. After the trouble I had getting the front wipers off I have ordered one of these non affiliated tools:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3804111218...84.m1439.l2649

Woops, my mistake. I'm a Deck Cadet on ships. Kind of like the RN's equivalent to a midshipman i think, but on the Merchant Fleet. I've got the degree part already, now i need the license.

Wished I hadn't put the summer tyres back on two weeks ago what with the heavy snow today....
It handled it OK though, even with 3/4 worn treads ;)

This was yesterday so will this count??

Replaced rear anti roll bar and rear drop links on my XC. Realised that it was bank holiday so rushed around to get the car mot'd and taxed. Then.....not satisfied with all that, I replaced my siren module.

Today...............chillaxed.......

HI All

Not a bad today so i changed rear brake disks/pads/shoes on my S80,
also fixed leaking power steering reservoir, changed pas fluid, cleaned MAF and replaced air filter.


Anyone know any good mechanic in Burton on Trent area.
got some issues with turbo and need some advice.


Regards
Seb

what I did YESTERDAY:

Serviced the S60. :thumbs_up:

fitted new drop-llinks...hopefully these ones will last longer than the last ones did!!!!

Had a pack of digestives with tea for breakfast came on here then read some of a book.
A glamorous life I know.
Sorting out getting leather seats for my 360 atm hopefully they will be mine mwuhahahaha......

Sat here reading my police report from yesterday. No, I'm not in trouble. :)

Scott

I've spent the day writing a report on ECDIS (Electronic Charts) for the Nautical Institutes Journal Seaways.. Should have done it yesterday but i was too lazy, now i've lost this fine Sunday ... anyway ...

Time for a coffee and a wee biscuit.

G3'd my car

Its a rubbing compound rather like "t-Cut .But cheaper and better

I love how you really see the old ingrained dirt come off. Nice rinse and tomorrow evening i will use a "old skool" tin wax to polish the car. hate these new liquid resin type waxes !! Paint does really feel "flatter" after a compound rubbing .

And visited the "Ace cafe" this morning to show little one the bikes etc ! Great fun, but the food is getting very poor value ....

Performed an ATF 'blood transfusion' dropping 5liters of old manky blood and swapping it in for fresh. I do this with every third oil change, which I also did today too.

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attach...1&d=1334501274

The drain plug was covered in a few cm's of metallic goop. Considering engineering a larger (pole) magnet for inside the sump to catch more crud.

While I was about draining out crap fluid and replacing, I also did the PAS reservoir (empty with syringe and refill) I will do this again in a couple of months. Old stuff was manky!

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attach...1&d=1334501274

My very expensive drip catching funnel.

I can always tell when the car needs an oil change, it gets a little smoky on cold start-up. After a change the smoke is gone for another six months or so. :thumbs_up:

Chris...

OOh, gray reservoir cap. Is it not causing you problems yet Chris?

My 850 T5 had a grey reservoir cap, Never had any problems with it.

bump to add the pics


http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/q...2/339e15a9.jpg



http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/q...2/fbdcb77a.jpg

Parking Brake shoes
 

Howdy, Today I replaced the parking brake shoes on my 2002 V70 base. The job is pretty much what you'd expect. Of the 4 brake shoes, only one had lining. Fortunately there was no destruction of any part of the hub. My car has 138,000 miles and I'm certain the shoes were original. I want to report that this job can be done by anyone willing to try it. You'll need the 4 shoes, the hardware kit which consists of the 2 retainer springs and 2 return springs and normal supplies. The only "advice" I'd offer is to have a pair of good quality long nose pliers and/or long nose vice grips to hook the heavy return spring in place. All the details have been laid out, with photos, on this board. Kira

Well, I may have an interested buyer for my 850 who wants a cheap runaround till they get a campervan they're after. I knew I had some holes in my cat so I put the car on the ramps last night and got the front of the cat unbolted very easily. Next was to undo the clamp at the rear, usually a 1 minute job, never had a problem before, but not this time, bolts and nuts rotted away after 2 bad winters. An hour later after grinding the clamp in two, I got the thing off. Nightmare. Just by sheer coincidence my mate who can weld walks past walking his dog down the cycle track and I mention that I have some holes I need filling and he says, bring it round and I'll do it now! Top marks, an hour later, cat has only two holes. (One at each end). Just need to re-fit now. Btw, the last time I had to take the cat off to replace the exhaust manifold I had a similar experience with rounded nuts. It took me 5 hours to get the top right bolt off as it was in a really awkward position and I had to drill the head off it. Exhausts are horrible rusty dirty things and best left alone to expensive dancing men in blue overalls.

Today I tackled my first ever oil and filter change. The job probably took me three times longer than it should, but I was paranoid about getting the car on the axle stands safely - didn't fancy two tonne of Volvo coming down on me. I was surprised how easy the job was to do and have already ordered another set of oil and air filters for the next one. I have no formal training and have never been taught by anyone else, so it was a leap of faith armed with Haynes manual, this forum and some informative you tube videos.
I will definitely keep doing them myself.

Best part was that it was really enjoyable to do!