harshansenadhir

Good to know that it was a happy ending though it can be bitch to find out where exactly the leak is. Very well said about the repairing of compressors rather than replacing, contrary to the popular belief.

have seen some ppl have a habbit of leaning into the vehicle when the shutter is halfway down, with both hands resting on the glass. Entire upper body weight will be on the glass and on the plastic restrainers at the end. This could be a reason for this plastic peice to give up. Also check whether is there a supporting plastic clip on the groove of the beading (B pillar side of the door) where it holds the weight of the glass. If the design has such clip, not having a one can cause the plastic restrainers at the bottom of the glass to give up early.

Yes precisely, if you're to get a work done from him, you will have to leave your ego and his attitude aside and get it done for the merit of the job. have seen how he locks the repaired ball joints. Usually an ordinary guy will jump up and down with many hammer shots to lock it up. For him, it was a one or two hammer shots leisurely planting on to the ball joint, its locked. One advise, don't ever call the fellow "Yaka Bassunahe"

I assume you're referring to the mechanic who has a workshop near Piliyandala (along Katubedda road) where they do lot of suspension related repairs / modifications and refurbishing suspension parts. Got few works done through him and got to say very capable fellow. He ain't got any sweet talks nor PR, rather he don't give a damn about you but will do the work precisely.

sorry for taking long to reply. This is not a different type, it's the same as any hang-on type. But the facia panel is different. Instead of the vents fixed in conventional hang-on type, this has an enclosed facia panel with four rounded shape openings. You can fix ducts to these openings and direct those ducts to the A/C vents in the dash. The controls (blower speed control and temp control) comes seperately. I haven't personally bought a unit like this but must be available with popular names. Also give a ring to this chap, a competent A/C guy specially for custom A/C jobs for old cars. Sanath Bandara - 714 274 683

These are similar to hang on type but with some duct outs where you can do a custom duct panel/tubing to direct air to original air vents. You have to make sure minimum air / cold air loose in this tubing though. I have seen that type of A/C units in many old cars including one of 504s I had and a Carmanghia. Issue with that verses conventional original A/C units (cool box type) is that unit won't hold cold much inside. Therefore, the moment compressor cuts off, you tend to feel a difference in the air that blows. Didn't like when that happens as you tend to feel a bit uneasy. Was looking for alternatives and came up with the option of fixing a used cool box from a similar sized car. You can buy the entire cool box from junk yards in Delkanda and if the evaporator coil is good, you can continue to use the same. Be very careful and let the A/C technician also judge the condition of the evaporator. An A/C technician once told me, these coils are efficient than the new after market coolers manufactured in Malaysia / Taiwan. Also go for a cool box of a popular car where coolers will be freely available if you need any replacement. Also you may be able to find duct pipes in the same place and with a bit of cut and chop you should be able to make custom duct pipe which directs cold air from the coolbox to A/C vents.

Nitrogen pressure by sections would be the way forward. Even the evaporator you can pressure test without taking the dash apart (in most cases). Fair to suspect the compressor as it was the item which was repaired. Few tricky points where pressure test might fail 1. If the leak is from the high / low gas charging nipples / valves then its difficult to diagnose as pressure gauge will be attached to the system through these valves. 2. There are leaks inside the compressor where leaks only materializes when the compressor rotates. Standstill it won't leak. Personally I'd prefer a leaky compressor than evaporator as it spares the trouble of taking the dash apart which is a hassle and most makabasses don't know to remove / refix a dash properly.

Not necessarily. They would've bought down uk imports which are relatively cheap compared to Japanese auction prices. Issue is uk vehicles are with high milieage unlike jap vehicles where masses use public transportation for distance traveling. They might be paying 500 bucks to odo adjuster and say 'odo will be adjusted FOC'

Valve body has solenoid valves which operates different pistons in the gearbox. There are 7 electro valves and out of these two were suspected to be faulty and replacing. The pistons are not in the valve body but in the gearbox and hard to find out which ones are faulty, so have to replace all.

307sw it is and was relatively a high milaege car when we bought it. Was reading 146k and I've put on another few thousands before it gave up. True the rough shifting issue is sticky solenoids and also the seized operation (vehicle doesn't move) also can be due to sticky solenoids or faulty pistons. When we dismantled the engine, it was evident that the brake bands were the culprit. Didn't wanna take any chance as we're planning to keep this as a family tourer (7 seater that is) for sometime.

Ah, the AL4 in 406 runs solid as it's still a low mileager!! The 307SW tranny gave up shifting while we were returning from Kataragama. From Ratnapura to all the way to Piliyandala my brother drove it in the limp home mode. That was it and after that it didn't move. The design fault of AL4 boxes are the solnoid valves and known as stuck valve issue. The solution comes with an upgraded solenoid valve set (two main valves) and a software upgrade to cope up with the new valves. Going a step further, we decided to replace all 7 pistons, brake bands and what not. Still it's being re-assembled and will keep the forum updated about the results. attached document may help for whoever concerned on AL4 related tranny issues. edit: upload quota exceeded. Dear Mods can anyone help to upload this document either to this thread or on a pinned thread.

In the process of re-building an AL4 gearbox. So far spend around $700 for parts including valves minus oil. That will cost around $300 if purchased locally. It can be troublesome to re-build and go through all the hassle than dumping a used auto tranny from Delkanda. But the driving pleasure and auto adaptive shifting of these boxes cannot be matched.!!!

at the rate this mileage adjustment is happening, I have a feeling that buyers will start admiring high mileage cars assuming the mileage to be genuine

In Econ mode, compressor cuts off more regularly and cooling takes longer and you may feel it's not as strong as in A/C mode. Seems your coolbox is leaky if the windshield getting misty with spots of mists againt air vents to defrost front windshield.

they must be drilling and refilling and weld off the drilled spot. worth a try me thinks. Same way I tried repairing of shocks for the lancer and worked like a charm for 1 1/2 years till I sold the car. Paid off 6500/- I spent on it very nicely.

Heard of this place where they do all types of mounts and brake pedal covers, etc. How they refill? do they build the mount and refil or get hold of broken ones and repair/refill gel ? however, I'd say spend 4k and try it out as you'll save 36k with one year warranty as it's only 10% of the cost.

Even the famous Austin 1000 (aka gedi model in SL context) also had the same push start button. It was meant to be pressed by foot rather than hand I guess.

How old the tires are ? at least the ones in the rear. Try to change the noicy tire with the spare wheel or one of front tires and see whether the noise get reduced. If it goes off, at least from that tire, the plies in the tire are damaged and is nearing it's life. If not, it's for sure the rear wheel bearings.

If you switch on the ignition soon after switching the engine off, it takes few seconds to lit the oil bulb as it takes time to drop the oil pressure. As soon as pressure drops it lights up. Issue in your car is time taken for this pressure drop or the plug to sense the pressure drop Is significantly long. I have a feeling that oil plug isn't responding properly to the pressure drop. Give it a cleaning as Sylvi said and probably the oil pressure sensor(oil plug in local context) might needing a replacement.

There are sleeves although you cannot distinguish easily in this 2C engine. ( there are some designs where you can easily take off the entire sleeve and there's a hollow space between block and the sleeve for cooling purposes) it is not carved from the engine block, but that is the original sleeve which you cannot match the build quality in aftermarket sleeves is what I'm trying to elaborate. you don't have to machine the sleeve as long as you get the correct size to match pistons/rings.

Few things to consider into the whole equation. 1. Number of overhauls done in this engine and the size of the pistons (whether it's standard, 0.25 / 0.50 or etc) 2. Condition of the cyinder bore and the pistons specially the pistons to see whether there are any damages. Since you said it was very worn engine, there can possibly be damages in the pistons due to slapping of pistons. 3. Amount you going to spend on the spares, say if you're to put sleeves, yes it should be of good quality, else the new sleeve will wear out faster than the re-bored cylinder bore. I'd say, dismantle the engine first, without trying to freeze the plan/methodology with a known budget. Then decide what's best. if the pistons are of standard size and of good quality, that means no burn marks, no damages, no visible hairline cracks on around the gudgen pin area, yes you can re-use them. I would advise you to proceed with a caution as old/used pistons tend to get damaged when you put up with new sleeves. Also, if you're planning to keep the vehicle for prolonged period, better to go for a re-boring with new set of pistons as you will have new everything inside and the bore is still with solid original material that the engine block is made out. You never know the quality of the aftermarket sleeves available. Further, you will gain a slight increase in CC as re-bored cylinder will have slightly more capacity than the original one. the downside of re-boring is you will have to depend on the quality of the place where you get the lathe work done and if you get it done through professionals who does fairly good volumes. on a side note, I've gained better results by just replacing the rings without changing anything except gasket and seals and t-belt. That 1C engine lasted for more than 3 years daily driving till the next full overhaul.

Daihatsu Delta Wide?

A good solid car I rekon but finding a well preserved specimen would be tough. Have seen many ill treated, Jap engine transplaned specimens being sold anywhere from 400k to as high as 650k. There are ones in exceptionally good condition and being quoted very high prices, say around 1 mil. All depending on the condition, the engine and the gear box. Turbo engined, 5 FWD, Power Steering models usually quoting over 650k. There are few common issues, at least the ones I know of. 1. Front lower arm and the chassis (like) component where lower arm is being fixed is getting corroded and most of the cars with after market modifications to prevent it or repairs after it's being broken. 2. The opening in the firewall/bulkhead for the clutch cable and also act as a hinge point tend to rupture apart. This was a common weakness and may not be there in the ones where some tinker work has been done. Also the engines blocks are very sensitive for overheating and you should prevent overheating at any cost as I heard. hope this helps and I know very little about Golfs as yet, specially I'm still studying the electrical system which is bit complicated. Negative pulse operated relays in certain accessories and the LED based indicators in the panel are still confusing me

Signs of Battery weakening ?

It's economy mode. Amber means economy and green means normal A/C mode