Monday, February 28, 2005

Help me stop the car =\

Well, friday night, it had been arranged that my girlfriend & I would drive upto Suffolk to see her family, and to take her brother home. So friday night, we finished work, had a bite to eat, and then set on our journey to Suffolk. It usually takes around 3 hours, and it's a 150mile trip.

So, we hit the motorway, and i was taking it easy as it had been snowing recently! Anyway, the snow had all melted, but i was still being cautious because of the ice. Got to ipswich, and saw a bit of snow around there.

Something else i noticed when we got to ipswich was that the car was making a rather horrible grinding noise when i touched the brake, or steered left. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

Turns out the brake pad's had completly worn away down to the metal, which in turn had scored the disks and ruined them on the left side of the car. And the right side was on it's way out too!...

So i was in Lowestoft, Suffolk, with a car that was dangerous to drive, no tools, and the closest place was "Rapid-Fit". So saturday morning, i headed off to Rapid-Fit, and they confirmed that it was the pads & discs.... £120 lighter, and my car had new brakes.

Yippee!... What's next?

Friday, February 25, 2005

Eeek.. That's a bit expensive!

Just been on the phone to my local Peugeot dealer to get some rough idea of the prices for the parts needed on my car... I knew Peugeot would be expensive, but surely, it cant get any worse than this... Can it?!

Rocker Gasket (TU3MC engine) = £10
Headlights (Both sides) = £60 each
Mirror Glass (Drivers side) = £15

So to get some of the main problems done on my car will cost me £145 if i were to purchase the parts from Peugeot. Now i can assure you that wont happen!. Hehe

I think i have also figured out why my car is a bit hesitant when accelorating some times. This could be due to an old air filter. Time to get that replaced i think!

Other than that, the car's been pretty good recently. We've had a bit of snow round where we have (along with the whole eastern side of the UK) which has proved to make drivers think they need to act like idiots. Took me over 2 hours to get to work today. Which is just under 10 miles from where i live...hmmm

Thursday, February 10, 2005

My "to-do" list!

There always seems like there is something that needs doing on the Pug!.. One of them being the leaky rocker gasket i seem to have. As can be seen by the picture i've uploaded, there's an oil leak coming from the rocker gasket! I've not had the rocker cover off yet, as i'd rather wait until i can get a gasket to replace it with!.. I did actually go to a local car spares place to get one, but apparantly, there are 3 different types of rocker gasket for my engine, so a phone call to peugeot would be in order to see if they can tell me for sure!

Next up would be to fix the headlight after my bump a few months back. As you can see from the picture, the sockets that hold the headlamp in place have cracked and broken (3 of them to be honest!), so a new headlight is in order before my MOT in June!... still got 4 months to go until i can find one!... better keep my eyes open on eBay! I did actually see a set going for a couple of quid the day after this happened, however, i forgot to bid!... mmm

And last but not least (so far anywho), is to replace the mirror & glass which got broken by someone's inability to drive!... Again, probably another visit to eBay is on the cards! little parts like this for the 106 are few and far between on eBay, but they aint half cheap!.... I just have to remember to bid on them!.. hehe.. oops!

New stuff...

Being bored at work, i sometimes get the chance to tweak this site, and today is one of those days!... I have added another section on the right, showing how much i've spent on the car this year (2005) with a total at the bottom!. So far, up until today, (41 days into the new year), i have spent £143 excluding petrol and insurance etc etc!.. eeeesh!

In other news, I've got a whole bunch of photo's to add to other articles on the site, so i will be doing that at some point! And also adding a link's section!

Friday, February 04, 2005

HOW-TO: Fitting new headlamp bulbs

This has got to be one of the easiest replacements you can do on a car. Tools are not required! Quality!... Here's a rough step-by-step guide on how it's done!

1) Open the bonnet, and remove the cap from the back of the headlight.
2) Pull off the cable block (the wires attached to the bulb). These are not clipped on, and come off easily!
3) There are some retaining clips which hold the bulb in. Unclip these!
4) The bulb should now be loose inside the headlamp.
5) Make a note of the way the bulb was removed as they only go back in one way!. Remove the bulb!
6) Get the new bulbs BUT DONT TOUCH THE GLASS PART OF THE BULB!
7) Put the bulb into the headlamp (right way up) and re-fix the retaining clips
8) Attach the wires back to the bulb! They only connect one way, so you cant get this wrong!
9) Replace cap and test the lights.

Fitted bulbs

In my last post, i mentioned that i had bought the bulbs, and i have now fitted them!.... Being daylight outside, i cant quite see how well they are gonna perform, so i will give them a road test tonight, but they dont look overly bright :(

I've written a 'How-To' on how to fit the bulbs...Nice and simple! I've got pictures on my "Creative CardCam", however, i've got a sneaky suspicion that the camera was set to "small" pictures... D'oh! I will sort the pictures and add them later on!

Will post up tomorrow to let you know how the bulbs go!

New bulbs!

Well, i managed to pick up some bulbs... not the ones i was after mind, but being on a bit of a time limit seeing as i cant really drive the car when it's dark, and its dark when i left work. They had either these Elta bulbs or Max Power bulbs in the shop that i visited, so i opted for the Elta bulbs, as im not too keen on Max Power endorsed products... Saying that though, i have just found out (after some research on the net) that Elta produce the Max Power bulbs... damnit!.

Ho Hum and life goes on! I shall be fitting them in the next 20 or so minutes, so shall get some pictures, and post them here!. If they are no good, i shall purchase another set!... but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet!

Thursday, February 03, 2005

It was all going sooo well!

Jumped in the car after work, as usual. Started the car, dug out my 'face' for my head unit and turned that on. Then switched on the headlights, which didnt seem bright!... Got out and had a look only to find that both of my dipped bulbs had burnt out, so i had to drive home in the dark with jsut my sidelights!

Damn, that makes a difference!.... Anywho, off to find some decent bulbs tomorrow!... Looking to get some proper bright lights (traveling down unlit country roads requires bright bulbs!), and hopefully, some with a blue tint to em!... oooh!

Will let you know how i get on!

My Mods

I have added a list of what's been done, what's next & what's to be done on my car.. that can be found on the list on the right!.. As and when things get done, the items on the list will get shuffled about!!

If you are interested in Pug mods and stuff, check out my other website, Pugmods. Another blog like this but showing you all the latest gear!.. Quality!

Buy It, Love it, Sell it!

ooook, just been on eBay!.. i can never find a great deal on there, because i never know what to search for as everyone's terminology is different! However, i have found some new mirrors!.. I will keep my eye on them as i dont want to pay tooo much on the car just yet!

Will keep you posted as per usual!

hmmm

After having my new exhaust fitted, the car seemed to drive no different around town.. i thought it would have an improvement seeing as the old exhaust had been blowing for 2 years (even after it was looked at!).. However, i done a 300 mile round-trip at the weekend (London > Lowestoft) and the car seemed to pull a lot better at high speeds than before... which did put a grin on my face =)

The indicators are now back to normal, however, nothing has been done about it!... They just "started working" again!... The problem with that is, cos the problem is intermittant and doesnt seem to be consistant with anything, it's hard to take it to a garage so they can diagnose the problem, as sod's law will prevail, and the lights will work fine when it's at a garage, but a day later, they wont work again!!

Yesterday, i thought i may have screwed my clutch (again!). During a moment of madness on my way to work, i sat in a queue of traffic on a hill (facing uphill) holding the car at biting point for a few minutes whilst i was day-dreaming abuot something or other... Anywho, after that lil moment of madness, i had thoroughly heated up the clutch, and in my remaining 30 seconds of travel to work, it felt like i had burnt the clutch out. BUT, it was ok when i came out of work!.. Phew.. That would of been the 3rd clutch in as many years!!!.. Note to self: DO NOT WRECK CLUTCH!

Im off for a gander on eBay to see if i can find some parts to replace the "niggles" currently on my car!

What else has happened to the car?... not a great deal really!.. Everything *seems* to be working ok touch wood!! But i shall keep a log of any future problems.. Just-in-case!!!