Giant slayer

I have got to get from west london to Birmingham by about 10.30am tomorrow. Anyone any idea what time i would have to leave? It is birmingham uni iv got to get to and i live about 10mins from the A40 for access to the M40. Google maps says 2 hours but i have trusted that timing before and almost missed an entire football match!

that is what it says in the manual but how do you get to it? wheel liner?

I am having a problem with one of my headlamps not working which is causing the other side high beam to come on. I have a UK car with the dip-dim system and think this is either where the problem is or i can find where the problem is from here. Has anyone had a similar problem? I have seen threads where people got a dip-dim bypass instructions from the Zcentre when buying HIDs. Would someone be able to tell me about these instructions? Thanks. Tom

I would consider a simple flooded engine before you immediately suspect the PTU. Pull a plug and see if it sparks and if it doesnt it could suggest an electrical issue like PTU connectors or a series I PTU failure. To check if it is not a flooded engine: - Pull out the fuel pump fuse. It is a cartridge fuse in the small fuel box on the rear drivers side of the engine back. - Crank the engine a few times to dry off the spark plugs. (If it happens to spark now dont work because it will soon die because it is not being fed feul but at least you have a promising sign). - Jam open the throttle by jamming a screwdriver in the hole in the cam cover to pull the throttle cable back. - leave it for a half hour to air out. - maybe crank it a couple more times to make sure the plugs are dry and push out some of that rich mixture. - Put the fuel pump fuse back in and try it. - If it fires it might sound a bit groggy so keep the revs med-high until it clear and maybe take it for a drive just to make sure its cleared out. Even if this does fix it it is probably worth upgrading to a series II PTU in the long run. Hope this helps

If it is the 2 small hoses it is not a difficult job. Remove the fan shroud and fan to give some rooom to work. remove either the top pipe or bottom pipe (cant remember which but someone will soon be on to tell you, think it is the bottom one) that go to/from the engine and radiator. Pull off the 2 rubber hoses and replace them and put everything back together using lots of liquid gasket to make sure the seal is ok. You can get the replacement hoses from MJP.

i use it too but the pinsentry thing annoys me because it means i cannot access my banking from any computer unless i lug the pin generator about. As you say the crooks will one day get past this too so what is the point. It is not like i ever have any money in my account to steal anyway so i am not that bothered about how secure it is!

how do you mean earthing them with upgraded mains? i have earthed my HIDs to the body but feel they could be brighter. Is there a way of improving the earth to increase the brightness - hardwire them to the neg on the battery perhaps? peranaman, To sum up. If you earth the HIDS to the body they will not go off when flashing of dipping at night (ie when the lights are turned on) but to stop the HIDs breifly coming on when you flash your lights in the day (ie when your lights are off) the only solution is to do the relay mod. But as MarkZX says it may not be worth worrying about because the HIDs will last fine but it is up to you if you want to take that chance.

I agree but i am getting used the wavy hand signal instead now! I tried this at the weekend but i think i disconnected something or blew a relay when i was monkeying around under the fusebox. Hold your breathe for a very confused and fustrated post when i cant get it working again. As far as the mod goes it is pretty simple. The worst bit is threading a wire through the firewall to get to the light pod but that has been done before. PS you can get the relay you need from Nissan Sunny's. Almeras and Micras didnt seem to have the right one when i was at the scrappy. Take along the picture because there is 2 different types of the blue relay

cheers Darrell the one you sent me is alot clearer than the online one.

....of the manual. Electrical Section page 47 of 133. I cant see all the wire colour labels from the online version. If you have a clear version could you kindly email me the page. Cheers, Tom EDIT: Removed your email address to save yer butt from wierdos ;)

I have through the FAQs and done searches but cant find this thread. Have you got a link to it?

you can tighten up the belts. There is an explanation in the online manual. I sure someone will correct me but i think you need to tighten the altenator belt. If you dont think your are capable you can smear a bit of light lubricate, like margerine oor vaseline on the belt which will stopping it squelling but will mean the belt "slips" so maybe not the ideal solution.

yeah it is easy to change but try hard to to do it when it is on a lifter or over a pit becuase the starter is heavy and i found it really hard work when doing it with axel stands and lying on my back or side.

did one cost more than the other or was it £425 for the pair. If they are different prices what work did you have done on each?

agree with the above. If you can borrow a coolant pressure tester (basically a bicycle pump with a pressure gauge on it that has an attachment to fit where your rad cap should be so you can artifically pressure up your coolant system without running) from your local garage it might help you identify where your leak is coming from when you are under the car. It might be coming from the notorious coolant feed to the throttle bodies that can be done away with with a bypass. There are plenty of write-ups on here.

maybe it is the joint in the fuse holder then and as it getting more melted and screwed up it gets worse. I think i will cut out this fuse holder so it runs through the the 20A fuse under the dash for protection. The only problem i have with that is that i have heard it is best to have the fuse as near to the battery as possible. I am not sure of the reasoning behind this but this fuse will be in about the middle of the wire connecting the batt to the amp.

what is the correct way to control the back end stepping out like that in a RWD car? It happened to me (in a manual) in the wet when i was coming out of a long left turn and hit the gas too early and it started to drift out. In my panic i think it turned left and braked and it spun. No one injured thank god. I know braking is wrong as you have to give it more power to push the weight back to rear wheels so they can re-grip and right themselves but which way do you turn? I guess i was turning the wheel right when it happened as i was coming out of the left hander but the wheels must have still be pointing left by some degree. Thinking about it logically shouldnt you try and get the front wheels pointing straight so all 4 wheels are pointing in the same direction but when it re-grips it will be pointing you further left in a direction where you are almost going back in the direction you came. Or should you point the front wheels in the direction you want to go when it has corrected (as in straight up the road) so when the back wheels have gripped you will be pushed straight up the road? I know i should understand my car better but i now take it very easy in the wet and now have Toyo Proxes on the back which seem alot more grippy.

Cant remember the exact Wattage of the amp but it is nothing extreme or tiddly. It is running a sub and rear replacement speakers. It was on pretty loud (ipod running into RCA into the stereo so stereo wacked up to get any volume) and for quite a long period (1 hour - 45 mins). What amp fuse would it need if it was not running efficiently? higher or lower that 20A? I guess shorting out would be the most obvious thing but it is going to be a pain pulling up all the carpets. Wouldnt a short cause the fuse to blow rather than this heat build-up on the battery side of the fuse. What use is the fuse if it doesnt blow when the circuit is shorted?? I should also mention there is another in line fuse (20A) further down in the connection running under the dash but this has had no problems. Would this suggest the problem lies between this fuse and the battery?

I have an amp that is connected directly to the positive terminal of the battery using the heavy gauge wire supplied with an in-fuse holder. The holder came with a 20amp blade fuse which is what i have used but noticed the other day it had melted part of the plastic part of the fuse and the holder on the battery side of the fuse. It lost the circuit but not with the fuse blowing but the fuse melting so the blade was not in contact with the sacrificial link. strangly enough if i turned the amp off and on again it would come on for a second then die. I dug out most of the melted plastic, tried a new fuse and tried to make sure it wasnt in a hot area of the engine bay but the same thing soon happened. Is the 20amp fuse too low rating or is the fuse holder too close to the battery (about 8" of wire seperating them) or have i got a shorting problem somewhere?

Thanks Darrell. as an update the missing wire going to the fuse was a permenant live like its neighbour for the other headlight so i crossed this live over so both fuses were served. this didnt have any effect and i am not sure this fuse ever was in use as it did not make a difference and i could find the wire that went in there. I think now it might be the relay for that side that i blew when fiddling around somehow. I have read threads where people have had problems with their lights and it is suggested to swap the 2 headlight relays over but the RH and LH relay are completely different. One is black and one is brown and they have different block patterns so they cant be swapped. The one is suspect of being broken (the "LH" brown one) doesnt click or get hot like the other one. I dont have any spare relays so i will have to source one and try that out but does anyone have any other ideas what it could be??? I can hardwire a power supply to the bulbs through the 15A fuse to the headlight for my journey tomorrow and remove the full beam connector in the working headlight.

little help guys. Even if you can just pull the 15A fuse in the engine bay fuse box that is indicated "LH Headlamp" while the lights are on and see if the RH/passenger light goes off and and the drivers side lamp stays on with both the full and main beam on.

I have been mucking about with my main fusebox by the RHS of engine bay. When i turn on the lights i just get the LHS headlight (as you look at the car) working with both the main and full beam on no matter the indicator stork setting. After poking around i have spotted that i think i have pulled out the wire that goes to the 15A fuse for the RHS lights. Looking at the manual this headlight also controls the dipped beam so makes sense that this is on. could someone quickly have a look at what colour the wire is that goes into this fuse and even where it follows through to because i cant seem to see it. The way the lights are labelled the LHS headlight as you stand infront of the car is actually labelled RH headlight. But just give me the colours of all 4 wires and i will figure it out. Bit of an emergency as i have an early trip tomorrow and it will be dark.

i this loacted next to the middle coil pack on the right hand side on the engine? Think it must be but thought i would make sure.

be careful to mark the position of the CAS before you take it out because if it is put back in the wrong position your timing will be out.

you might find that the buzzing noise is the small fan that is in the map reading lights that draws cabin air onto a temperature sensor for the climate control system. They run all the time and are very fragile so it is common for them to go. If you prise out the map reading light you can see it. alternatively, it could be something to do with the electrical/lighting system with the trouble you are having with your fuses but worth checking out.