What have you tinkered with today?

[littleoldman2]

Originally Posted by Bibio

dont know how Trev got it to work using a horn connector. a horn is not live till you press the horn button (snigger). the horn button is a switch and as such is live up to the switch and 0v after the switch, when you press the switch it turns the relevant circuit live.

I thought that, then thought what if Triumph for some reason have the horn switch on the earth side?.

[Bibio]

you mean the negative side, yes that would work. its the switch that completes the circuit, it matters not which side its on. very strange way of doing it though or either that the bike is positive common (commonly referred to as positive earth).

[ophic]

Originally Posted by littleoldman2

I thought that, then thought what if Triumph for some reason have the horn switch on the earth side?.

I think curvy SVs did this too.

[R1ffR4ff]

I have a small digital volt meter attached to my horn on my Curvy.It's on with the ignition

[garynortheast]

Not today but this week. Week from car hell!

Ever since I bought this Zafira it kept trying to run a regen cycle on the DPF, even though the light wasn't on. Using huge amounts of fuel and dumping the excess in the oil.
Finally got round to sorting it this week. Started by doing what the manual recommends and checked the EGR valve. Took it off the car and cleaned it, and discovered that it wasn't seating fully in the closed position. Held up to the light it was possible to see daylight around the seat even after a good clean. New EGR valve ordered and fitted then. Trouble was, as I discovered after fitting it, the blind holes on the manifold for the exhaust input to the valve were not as deep on the new item as the original, so the bolts bottomed out before the manifold clamp sealed the exhaust input. As I found out when I drove the car up the road and the car filled with smoke as it tried to run yet another regen. Cough....splutter. Quick, up to my friend's to get the car on his workshop lift so I could do an oil change again, then back home and off with the EGR valve again. I shortened the bolts and this time the exhaust input sealed properly.

Next I had to decide what to do about the flashing DPF light. I figured the cheap option was to try and clean it with a serious thrash for 20-30 minutes. If that failed I would have to think about the expensive option of a new DPF or a chemical clean. Started the engine and drove at reasonably high rpm out to the main road. Light still winking at me. Ok, on the main road, 3rd gear and 4200rpm all the way into town. Lots of smoke for five minutes then none. Hit town 15 minutes later and the DPF light was still flashing, but 3 or 4 minutes later it stopped! Hoobloodyray!!!! I felt like getting out of the car and doing a little dance in the road (but I didn't as I would have either been arrested or run over).

I've done a couple of hundred miles since and the light has remained out, fuel consumption has decreased dramatically, oil level has remained constant, and there is no more smoking or further attempts to do a regen on the DPF.

I had tried thrashing it to clear the DPF previously, but not at such high rpm. It's now obvious that I wasn't getting it hot enough for the exhaust gases to burn off the collected particulate matter in the DPF. Lesson learned.

Horrible job but at least the week has ended on a much better note than that on which it began!

[maviczap]

Cool!

Fed up with one of my cars alloy wheels dropping air pressure over a couple of days, I finally had the time to try a fix, but only after finding my valve core remover.

Took the core out, a injected a bit of my gloopy mountain bike tubeless sealant, I'd bought it to try and run my road bike tyres tubeless, but this stuff was too thick and heavy for road tyres, so it'd been sitting unused.

Sprayed some soapy water on the rim and pumped the tyre back up. Sure enough, it's ****ing air out on one part of the rim, where it'd been kerbed by the previous owner.

However, 2 days later it looks like it's holding air better than before inserting the sealant.

No detrimental effect on wheel balance either. So we'll see how it holds up, but even if it slows the air loss a bit, I'll be happier.

[Sir Trev]

Originally Posted by Bibio

you mean the negative side, yes that would work. its the switch that completes the circuit, it matters not which side its on. very strange way of doing it though or either that the bike is positive common (commonly referred to as positive earth).

I'm really not sure which side the switch is on I'm afraid as I don't have a wiring diagram to check. The tip came from a Trumpet forum and I too was sceptical but sure enough when I used the multimeter with one probe to earth and the other to the horn connectors one was live with the ignition on and dead when ignition off.


Gary - you have reminded me why I have never considered a diseasal engined car. I know turbo petrol units have their problems but compared to the myriad of posts I've read about dual mass flywheels, EGR and DPF issues I am not changing my mind. Hope it all works fine for you now it seems sorted.

[garynortheast]

Nice.
I've just put a full set of alloys plus spare from a Vectra on my Zafira. Got them all for 40 quid, and very nice looking wheels too. I'm going to get them all off and sand blasted and resprayed in the near future as I don't want them rotting too quickly. One of them has a dink in the rim which needs straightening too, and although it's not losing pressure I'll get it sorted at the same time.

[garynortheast]

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

Gary - you have reminded me why I have never considered a diseasal engined car. I know turbo petrol units have their problems but compared to the myriad of posts I've read about dual mass flywheels, EGR and DPF issues I am not changing my mind. Hope it all works fine for you now it seems sorted.

It actually drives very nicely now Trev (for a car) and I must confess I have learned a lot about it over the last few days. I'm not really complaining too much as it only cost me £900 and I knew there would be things to be done to it. It needs to last me a while so I'm intending to get it sorted and tidied now. Next up is a cambelt change and a few bits of bodywork to do, including a dent I put in the tailgate within two weeks of acquiring it.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

It actually drives very nicely now Trev (for a car) and I must confess I have learned a lot about it over the last few days. I'm not really complaining too much as it only cost me £900 and I knew there would be things to be done to it. It needs to last me a while so I'm intending to get it sorted and tidied now. Next up is a cambelt change and a few bits of bodywork to do, including a dent I put in the tailgate within two weeks of acquiring it.

Cambelt on a diesel Zafira? Mine had a cam chain, one reason I got it. Good for 90,000