Starting was becoming a bit laboured with a charged battery and even when showing a good voltage it wouldn’t turn the engine over if left for a few days. Putting the battery on charge showed it to be charged enough but it had to be really fully charged to do the business. I suspected dodgy connections twixt battery and starter but they all checked out and cleaning them up didn’t make any difference. I suspected maybe a cell was on the way out and thought I had procured this battery only a couple of years or so ago but on checking it’s seven years old! OK, time to get one of those legendary and mighty Hankook MF31-1000 beasties which arrived this morning.
Fitting it in the battery box and connecting the terminals was straightforward and the starter didn’t know what had hit it when I turned the key - it has been a long time since I’ve heard the engine turnover that fast!!
As the battery is a bit taller than the OEM sized battery the metal battery strap over the top doesn’t fit and it doesn’t have any other means of being clamped in. I didn’t fancy leaving such a large weight not securely clamped down. What I did find though was taking the raised bit out of the strap so it was now straight gave enough extra length to be used to adjust and increase the drop over the front of the battery and the strap fits perfectly and the plastic battery cover also fits pretty well. Result.
Some comments on the video posted above:
It’s a LHD vehicle so for a RHD vehicle the steering column is rather a large impediment to getting a good view and access.
When the centre console side panel was removed it is clear that someone had been in there previously and removed a huge portion of the plastic dash underneath. Without that removal cutting of the ducting as he did is not possible although it did offer good access to the screw head. Most of us just drilled some holes in the appropriate places.
The use and amount of sealant he utilised may well prove to be counterproductive! Not something I would do or recommend. It’ll be a bugger of a job if he has do do it again at some time!
A thin smear of silicon grease is probably OK although I just dipped my o-rings in coolant as per RAVE when I did mine a few weeks ago. Do not be tempted to use any other gloop unless it’s the type that never dries and remains flexible for years as it a sure fire way to get leaks in the short term - those pipes need a little bit of flex during their life time.
Soak the back end of the screw with plenty of penetrating oil and leave it to do its work. Use the correct screwdriver - this is an absolute must. Crack the screw by tightening it very, very slightly before undoing (too much tightening risks cracking the plastic matrix). Once the screw is moving unscrew a turn then screw up half a turn and continue doing this until it becomes easy to unscrew or is completely unscrewed - this out in action allows the threads to clear themselves of any built up crud on the back of the screw rather than drawing it right into the threads and risks seizing everything up. Be patient about removing the screw - half an hour of patient work here can save hours of heartache later! I have not seen anyone say they have successfully drilled out the screw without removing the dash!
ABS & Traction lights with usual beep and failure messages. Yet another ABS sensor failure - N/S/F this time and NanoCom did correctly report the failure as Left Front sensor but only because it was repeating the stored failure! At least this one lasted nearly 3 years this time!!! I have replaced so many now on all wheels that it is now quite a quick and easy half hour job - the sensors are never in the hubs long enough to seize in!!!
However, the wheel sensor inputs and live outputs as shown on NanoCom seemed OK for all wheels despite the failure which would not cancel although the voltage for this particular sensor was a bit lower than the others. I have had this before with the O/S/F and a replacement sensor cured the problem. Again, I replaced the N/S/F sensor this morning and the fault cleared. The fault was first flagged at start up and not whilst driving so the sensors are failing the power on test so I can only assume that the measured resistance or voltage is quite sensitive. I measured the resistance of the spare front (now fitted) and rear sensors I keep in stock and both measured 1.15kOhms. The failed sensor measured 1.34kOhms. Not sure what is happening within the sensor for the resistance to increase but I am assuming that this is what is flagging the failure.
I have been trying to track down OEM WabCo sensors (I have two fitted on the rear now) rather than the eye watering priced LR branded items - does anyone have a source for these or recommendations for decent aftermarket sensors that last for a sensible time?
Thanks Richard.
I am going to fit a couple of new height sensors soon so will be calibrating the various heights using some blocks. The $64k question, not covered in this idiot’s guide, is what length should each block be for each of the four heights? I am also given to understand that the rear heights are a little different than the front heights!
+1 for removing the left hand instrument cluster bracket - very easy and makes life a lot easier.
The o-rings can be replaced without removing the infamous air duct but is very tricky unless you have small hands and has mostly to be done by feel. If you decide to cut and remove the duct to do the o-rings then access to the blend motor is also much facilitated.
Some advice:
DO NOT switch on the ignition without the instrument cluster connected - a whole new world of pain awaits down that path,
DO NOT ‘muller* the o-ring clamp screw head - drilling out a butchered screw will be ‘challenging’ to say the least. Use plenty of penetrating oil, let it soak properly and, very, very carefully, try to tighten the screw very slightly to just crack it before unscrewing it. Very long (min 12”) shank No2 cross head screwdriver required for this job.
DO NOT overtighten the clamp screw when refitting as you risk cracking the plastic heater matrix.
DO NOT as Richard has already said, externally power the blend motor with the HEVAC unit connected unless you like the sight and smell of the smoke of burning chips!
You do not have to drain the coolant via the main radiator when doing the o-rings. Just crack the clamp screw loose and collect, in a sutiable receptacle, the litre or so of coolant that will drain out before fully undoing the screw.
Not 100% diagnosis but if the coolant is evident at the joint of the heater matrix flange and the collar around the coolant pipes - the joint where the o-rings are - then it’s most probably the o-rings. Get a mirror and a torch and inspect the joint, if the coolant is coming from the slight gap at the joint then it’s almost certainly the o-rings. If there is coolant on the matrix side of its flange then I would suspect the matrix and also the matrix if the joint is nice and dry.
Blowing cold on one side only is a blend motor/flap issue.
Good news and, despite initially going bloody crazy, looks to be a fairly straightforward fix to get the ICE up and running properly. In your original post you referred to an”aftermarket amplifier interface” which seems to match the aftermarket HU to the HK amplifiers. May I enquire what the make/model of this interface unit is?
Yes, they look like the only two options but I wouldn’t mix left to right otherwise the balance from left to right will almost certainly be lost or any significant adjustment of it at the very least.
If the aftermarket interface loom does the necessary balancing to work with the door amps on the LHS without any buzzing etc then I would go for getting a couple of door amps and rewiring to the RHS doors accordingly. I assume the grey/black wire is still present in the driver footwell and this will need a couple of wires put in to switch the door amps on and wiring replicated at the HU end as has been done to switch the LHS amps on unless the aftermarket interface loom already does this. As I understand it the grey/black wire is not a power supply just the on/off signal from the head unit - power to the amps comes via the door outstation.
I believe it was only the Hi Line system that has the 10 pin connector at the back of the radio. If so, this system should have door amps and the sub-woofer amp. The additional two orange wires are the feed for the sub-woofer. The amps are only switched on when commanded via a grey/black wire from a separate 8 pin connector at the back of the radio. I would suspect that this grey/black wire to the right hand side of the vehicle may well be the problem. This grey/black wire feeds to a 6 pin connector behind the kick panel in the driver’s footwell and has two wires from it individually feeding the two door amps. As both doors speakers are not working I would presume that the problem is at this connector of between it and the radio - easy to check which it is with a multimeter.
Perhaps remove the blend motor on the passenger side and check everything it drives moves freely.
All back together now. No coolant leaks, dash to screen trim back in place and all heater flaps moving freely and well greased/lubricated. Blend and distribution motors all fine. Dash went back in OK with the only issues being:
The upper duct on the drivers side - the sliding ‘collar’ just would not fit onto the centre duct. I even tried trial fitting just the collar on its own to see what the problem was. It just doesn’t fit over the central duct. I tried heating it and making it very pliable but it just wouldn’t go on. I can only think that the plastic has shrunk over time - it is exceedingly loose inside the duct it slides in - well it was until the additional foam seal made it snug. It is now about 80% fitted to the central duct and supplemented with lots of tape! Indeed all the ducting joints are now supplemented by plenty of tape!
I had to fabricate a replacement central gasket twixt the dash top and the ducting below. Foam sheet cut to shape and then covered in duct tape top and bottom to give it strength. Gasket fixed to the central ducting with double sided tape. Jobs a good ‘un.
When refitting the glove box release cable I did not locate the release ‘claw’ properly into the lid. I shut the glove box and the ‘claw’ dislocated and I was left with a glove box that wouldn’t open. It’s worse than that because at that point I realised what I had done because, well, I made the same mistake a few years ago when I replaced the damper - doh! At least I knew how to rectify the situation!
Yes, what is that tailgate all about?
They’ve come down in price. At one stage, and this was many years ago, they were well over £300 a throw.
Give the mirror a thorough work out to try and clean the pot tracks and wipers.
If that fails try adjusting the normal position of the mirror just slightly but obviously still acceptable.
Harv wrote:
Isn’t carpet tape 2 sided? I used Gorilla tape, also black and stronger and way longer lasting than regular duct tape.
No, the carpet tape used is single sided used for carpet joins (from underneath obviously), double sided and it would stick the carpet to the underlay - the double sided stuff is used to stick carpet down round the edge when proper gripper is not used. It is very sticky, robust and hard wearing, indeed the downside is getting it off the ducting once it has been in place for some time! It is 10x better than duct tape. I haven’t used Gorilla Tape although I did notice black rolls of it in a shop t’other day - might give it a try when my carpet tape runs out.
O-rings are in. The infamous screw came out sweet as a nut. Old o-rings were decidedly hard and although they came out in one piece one of them just split when I gave it a light squeeze. However, the battery didn’t have enough oomph left after standing around for a couple of weeks or more and my earlier testing to turn the engine over and fire it up so testing delayed. Having put the instruments and air bag back in I didn’t get any faults up except for the usual windows/sun roof not set malarkey. Perhaps the pressure tester was not such a bad idea after all!
mad-as wrote:
when i done my dash removal i taped up all the ducting so it wouldn't rattle or leak. don't forget to check the fans while you have access to them, also remove the evap without disconnecting it of cause, if you like and clean behind it , i didnt do this but there can be lots behind it.
I have to replace all the foam seals on all the ducting as they have all disintegrated to powder/dust - the upside is that removing the residue is fairly easy as it all just rubs off! I also use carpet tape rather than duct tape when sealing the ducts - much stronger and more rigid as it has thread woven into it, and it’s black! Fans, distribution & blend motors already checked and working fine - I am wondering whether to change the latter motors anyway now I’m in there? After nearly 22 years I have to say that everything is surprisingly clean although I am giving it a good ‘going over’ as I don’t plan on doing this again anytime soon - my hands are too big for a lot of the jobs required to remove/replace the dash.
Work on hold at the moment as a) it’s freezing out there and I’m getting old; and b) I am in no rush and can take my time to do things thoroughly.
Pressure test kit is a bit OTT for home DIY leaks - the drop in pressure tells you there is a leak but Mk1 eyeball is still required to determine where it is. I’ve never had much of a problem determining if coolant is leaking and where, and waiting for everything to cool down is not that much of chore - good excuse for an extended tea break! Besides which, the system needs refilling properly with engine running to ensure no air locks, some heat through the heater matrix is a good sign that there is coolant actually flowing through there and will test the O rings with heat as well as pressure.