Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Pretty much.

He says the R34 is good now, so of course the V12 Merc with the F1 exhaust has decided to shit itself

Fair point but the sound ....

Hah, nah. I know it looks sketchy, and it’s hard to see from the photo, but the top section of the ramps is flat. So once the wheels are up there, the car doesn’t need ‘holding’ up (as long as your surface is flat). One of those constant downhill headfucks.

Of course, you don’t want the car to move such that the wheels go on to the inclined section of the ramp, but there are two things preventing that: the tyres seat into the gaps between the bars across the ramp and, as a nod to elf and safety, the handbrake.

If I was wrestling big nuts underneath with a 6ft wrecking bar I might have chocked it.

Wish I could have got a pic, much lols as the old shape 90s Micra with a roof spoiler about 1ft tall.

Today I changed the timing belt on my 14 year old Astra. This was the first bit of car maintenance I’ve ever done and I feel pretty proud of myself (and fucking relieved when it started again).

Good job. 99% of people would not even attempt it. I wouldn’t on my 12 year old golf

I can understand why. I originally ordered the parts with the promise of a mechanic friend helping me, but it ended up that he couldn’t fit it in so me and my brother in law did it (neither of us had done one before). YouTube and Haynes go a long way!

Nice work. A timing belt isn't an easy first thing to tackle!

As others said, good on you. Timing belts can be a real pain, more modern stuff need special locking tools and space can make things difficult.

Due to the ubiquity of the fabled Mk IV Astra, the high quality plastic camshaft locking tool made by DRAPER was only a few quid. No high tech tooling needed.

But I can safely say that the pretty roomy engine bay (relative to modern cars), was cramped enough for my liking. Took plenty chunks of skin of my knuckles loosening and tightening the various thingmies and widgets*.

*official technical terms.

I've had a problem with my new-ish car.

I drove from London to Oxford on Christmas Eve, and it was absolutely fine. Stopped in Oxford for 10 minutes or so, and when I started it up again, there was a "Check injection" message on the trip computer, and the engine sounded like it wasn't firing properly - rough idle, and less powerful than usual. Since then I've had to use it on the motorway and it's really underpowered - it won't really go above 60mph on hills, and barely made it up the Stokenchurch Gap.

Any speculation for what it's likely to be, or recommendations for a garage in East London that could take a look at it? (Mk2 Megane)

Coil blocks?

Wood Street Autos are generally a reasonable bunch.

https://woodstreetautos.co.uk/

Edit: misread check injection as check engine, below advice less useful.

See if there’s a way to get the engine error code without an obd reader. You can do it on my car by twisting the key to just before ignition, while holding accelerator and brake down (or something). Google the make and model and check error code - there might be a way.

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I'm going to give it a go - just watched a tutorial for replacing them which seems quite straightforward and Euro Car Parts have a big discount on at the moment.

Fingers crossed - I've got to do Cheshire to London via Oxford again tomorrow so hopefully this will sort it out.

Before buying coils I'd get a code reader and see what it thinks is wrong, which could potentially save you a lot of money.

What Dammit said, you can pick them up for £15-20 and are a damn handy thing to have in the car.

Nice work Andy. You're a braver man than I.

Thanks both. I've picked up an error code reader and will see what it's saying tomorrow. I bought a couple of coils too because there was 50% off and I'm sure at some point it will be useful if not now.

It seems like if it's not the ignition coil, it could be the fuel injectors or the EGR. Neither of which I would be too confident tackling myself, so fingers crossed.

Cheers man! Deffo chuffed we managed it. It helps that the Astra is worth about what a garage would charge to do it. I’m basically gonna try and do all the maintenance myself until I accidentally kill it 🤣

Had an engine code go for the EGR in my car a few months in. Turns out it shorted and blew a terminal on the ECU, needed a new ECU which was not a nice way to break-in the new car!

Hopefully it's something simple, the issues you mentioned are probably a good place to start with some DIY maintenance though. Taking out and cleaning the EGR valve was the first thing I'd had to do on my own car and was a good place to start. (unlike the guy above who's first job was a timing belt change. Lunatic, in the most positive way!)

I looked through the list of fault codes online and couldn't see anything that mentioned EGR or exhaust on there. But once I've actually got a fault code it might be a bit more straightforward.

Read the error codes before scatter gun changing things. Could be so many different things!

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