Stuff you have fixed today

[RobCox]

Yesterdays job, replacing my wheelbarrow wheel:

New one was £11, tube and tyre included. Unfortunately the bore in the new on was much bigger, but thats what the workshop toys are for! I found a piece of 3/4" steel rod in the scrap bin, cleaned it up to 18mm ish and cut a 4" length, then drilled it to 10mm for the original fixing bolt. To fit the bore I found some delrin offcuts that were already 1" dia, so bored them for a tight fit on the steel and turned 1 end caps from more delrin offcuts as the new wheel was only 75mm wide. This is the axle:

and fitted to the barrow:

 

[RobCox]

The machinists level vials I ordered from Aliexpress finally turned up, so I got them installed. The little side to side one (non-precision):

and the sensitive one in the main barrel:

Both fitted with inkjet photo paper as a backing and spacer and sealed in with plaster of paris. These will be left to dry for a day before final assembly.

 

[m_c]

More yellow

Shims finally turned up on Friday for the main pivot, so thought I better remove the lower trunnion outer bearing races while I could still tip the axle over.


Quick zapp with the mig to shrink the race, and it dropped out with a little bit leverage.
(That weld is obviously porous because of contamination, and not because I forgot to turn the gas on )

Didn't take any more pics, but axle is now back on with only minimal play, and new remote grease hose installed.
Steering re-assembled with all new pins and bushes.
One wheel bearing/hub/wheel is on, with just the other wheel bearing to change before reassembling the other hub.

Still need to drop the oil cooler off to be repaired, as I can't start it until that's fitted (or I find a 5/8" bsp nipple to join the hoses, but nobody local has one)
Then I can get it moved and start reconstructing the front bucket.

 

[Keithmac]

Rolling frame arrived for the Kawasaki H2 750.

Taped and wrapped the frame and then got his rebuilt engine back in without scratching anything!.

Start putting it back together tomorrow but got the nasty bit out of the way..

 

[Smouser]

Today I decided I cannot live with the ABS issue I have been intermittently experiencing on my Ford Ranger.
Here is the truck (older photo).

Problem
The ABS light on my Ford Ranger has been coming on intermittently. I have changed a few sensors before during the life of the truck as the Rangers seem to eat sensors somehow.
It is really annoying when the ABS malfunction light comes on because: not only do you not have ABS, you don't have hill start /hill decent assist, the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) does not work, and finally, the parking sensors don't work either

I don't know what the ABS has to do with the parking sensors, but when the ABS light comes on, it also disables the parking sensors


Symptom
ABS light would come on but then normally it would 'fix itself' in a few minutes while driving. At first, it happened rarely but has been becoming more common over the last two weeks where the ABS light would come on, on every journey.
The main fault code was 'Code: C003A'.

There were other codes too, but they all relate to the rear right wheel speed sensor not working correctly.

Normally, when previous sensors have gone bad, I get an error something along the lines of 'invalid data received from X sensor', this time I got 'Circuit Short or Open'.

On Sunday, the ABS light came on once again, but it did not fix itself. After resetting the code with Forscan, it came back on without me driving/moving the vehicle. At last, the problem was present while parked on the drive. It was time to try and figure out what the problem was.

Diagnoses
Because the sensor was fairly new, I did not expect the problem to be the sensor. The sensor checked out when measured with a multimeter. Besides, it 'fixed' itself regularly and my suspicion was a broken wire/continuity problem somewhere.

My plan was to check for continuity from the rear of the vehicle where the sensor plugs into the harness to the front of the vehicle where the connector connects to the ABS module.

I found the pin layout for the front connector and identified pin 17 and pin 29 to be the right rear wheel sensor.

I simply bridged the two pins with a piece of fire and then used my multimeter to check for continuity at the rear right speed sensor's connector.

Nothing. Open circuit.

At least I identified the problem I thought.

Just to make sure I was doing everything correctly and had the correct pin layout for my vehicle, I checked continuity from the left rear wheel sensor to the front ABS connector and that all worked.

The ABS wiring diagram is pretty simple on paper.

The rear right speed sensor plugs into connector CA426. The cable then goes to connector C3047B and then to C210 and finally, it terminates at C136 (the connector going into the ABS module).

The plan now was to establish where the continuity problem lay in the three pieces of wire/cable/harness.

The first problem was to identify where these connectors were and then to get access to them.
Luckily, I found the wiring diagram for those too.

Connector C3047B is on the left-hand side of the vehicle behind the mudguards. While it is probably possible to get access to it with the wheel on, it would be difficult so I took the wheel off.

I checked the continuity between connector C426 and C3047B - all good.

I then checked the continuity between connector C3047B to C136. Nothing.

It was time to find connector C210 to check continuity from there to the front and also to the rear.
I came across a diagram that indicated connector C210 is on the left-hand side of the vehicle by the passenger footwell. However, I could not find it.

Later, I found a diagram that indicated it was on the right-hand side of the vehicle by the driver's footwell.

I checked the continuity between C210 and C136. All good.

I then checked the continuity between C3047B and C210 but could not get it.
It was late and dark and I had to use the vehicle the next day so I got everything back together.

Today I had some time to continue to try and find the problem. However, now I had continuity from the rear of the vehicle all the way to the front

I hooked up Forscan to monitor the wheel speed sensor outputs.

This is what I found.

The pink line is the rear right and as you can see the line is not smooth like the others. It has got some weird drops.
Maybe the sensor was bad after all (pretty bad going for less than a year old).

I had a spare left rear wheel sensor but the cable on the left rear sensor is a little too short to fit on the right-hand side.
A quick extension of the cable and I fitted it to the rear right.

This is what I got.

Much better and no more ABS light!!!!!

It is working!

For now.......

I have done about 30 miles since I changed the sensor and all is good for now. I still don't know what was up with the continuity problem, maybe there is a damaged wire somewhere and it is back to its working position now or there was a poor connection at connector C210. I just don't know

I hope I don't have to post in the 'Today I broke' thread soon

Wish me luck!!

 

[m_c]

I don't know what the ABS has to do with the parking sensors, but when the ABS light comes on, it also disables the parking sensors

The parking sensor system uses the wheel speed sensors to improve accuracy.
Modern wheel speed sensors can detect what direction the wheels are turning, so that information is fed to the parking system so it can use it to calculate distances and where objects are.
The information allows it to calculate things like whether an object is behind the vehicle, or at the side. If something is parallel to a corner sensor, and the vehicle is still moving, the distance remains constant, so the parking sensor system can discount it as being behind the vehicle and silence the alarm.
It's also pretty good at ensuring things like bollards don't end up in the undetected spot between sensors, as it can 'follow' the object as it gets nearer, then using the wheel movement to keep the distance warning active, even once it's entered the blind zone.

If you've also got front sensors, it'll also make use of the steering angle in the detection algorithms.

<snip>

Those traces are indicative of a wiring/connector issue.
If the fault returns, have a very good look at all the connector pins for corrosion.
If they're ok, then bridge the wire pair at one end, attach a multimeter on ohms to the other end, and then get somebody to watch for the reading varying as you shake/wiggle/push/pull the loom, so you can narrow down which area of the looms needs split open.

 

[Smouser]

The parking sensor system uses the wheel speed sensors to improve accuracy.
Modern wheel speed sensors can detect what direction the wheels are turning, so that information is fed to the parking system so it can use it to calculate distances and where objects are.
The information allows it to calculate things like whether an object is behind the vehicle, or at the side. If something is parallel to a corner sensor, and the vehicle is still moving, the distance remains constant, so the parking sensor system can discount it as being behind the vehicle and silence the alarm.
It's also pretty good at ensuring things like bollards don't end up in the undetected spot between sensors, as it can 'follow' the object as it gets nearer, then using the wheel movement to keep the distance warning active, even once it's entered the blind zone.

If you've also got front sensors, it'll also make use of the steering angle in the detection algorithms.

Those traces are indicative of a wiring/connector issue.
If the fault returns, have a very good look at all the connector pins for corrosion.
If they're ok, then bridge the wire pair at one end, attach a multimeter on ohms to the other end, and then get somebody to watch for the reading varying as you shake/wiggle/push/pull the loom, so you can narrow down which area of the looms needs split open.

Great explanation about the relation of the ABS and parking sensors, thank you very much. I didn't realise the parking sensors also rely on the vehicle/wheel speed to make them more accurate.

 

[bricol]

Think yourself lucky – when the ABS on my 89 Lancia through up the warning light on the outside lane of the M1, it didn’t immediately let me know quite what it then intended to do . . . not only did it disable the ABS, it actively fought me applying the brakes! Literally would not let me press the pedal down – took two feet!

That too was initially random – tracked down to a front sensor where the plastic tie-wrap around the front right CV boot had worn through the corner of the end of the sensor can, letting water in.

Of course, hindsight tells me simply pulling the fuse would have made the journey home much less interesting.

 

[droopsnoot]

Of course, hindsight tells me simply pulling the fuse would have made the journey home much less interesting.

The first time I tried setting the tracking on my TT, I ended up with the wheel off-centre because I'd ignored it when getting the wheels lined up and it was too dark to finish the job properly. I drove home, then had an awful grinding and pulling along with the ESP warning light as I got into the first proper bend, so I pulled off the road to see what was stuck up a wheelarch but couldn't see anything. I drove home slowly and got there without incident. It wasn't until later that I remembered I could just have switched the ESP off with the handy switch on the dashboard (the "why would I ever want to turn it off?" switch) and not had to crawl along.

Of course, the issue was that the steering angle sensor thought I was either massively understeering or massively oversteering as soon as I got to a certain speed, and tried to correct a problem that wasn't there. Once I re-tracked it with the steering wheel centred, it was all fine.

 

[bricol]

I routinely switch off the ESP on my Alfa for my commute home – it chops in and kills power in a few places where power would stabilise it.

Had a courtesy Merc E-Class AMG (for a 15yr old Caterham after a non-fault accident – work that one out!) – get that sliding, get the corrective/controlling lock on . . . and the computers threw a fit, trying to get it straight, meaning the steering was now pointing the wrong way – never found a way to turn it off – must be programmed for steering wheel holders, not drivers.

 

[JOEPRO]

I routinely switch off the ESP on my Alfa for my commute home – it chops in and kills power in a few places where power would stabilise it.

Had a courtesy Merc E-Class AMG (for a 15yr old Caterham after a non-fault accident – work that one out!) – get that sliding, get the corrective/controlling lock on . . . and the computers threw a fit, trying to get it straight, meaning the steering was now pointing the wrong way – never found a way to turn it off – must be programmed for steering wheel holders, not drivers.

Mercedes ESP systems are best in class. Indeed Mercedes produced the world's first production car with such a system - the w126.

They are fantastic systems but if you choose to fight with it then there you go. Let the car do the work

 

[brewdexta]

Today I decided I cannot live with the ABS issue I have been intermittently experiencing on my Ford Ranger.
Here is the truck (older photo).

View attachment 433967

Problem
The ABS light on my Ford Ranger has been coming on intermittently. I have changed a few sensors before during the life of the truck as the Rangers seem to eat sensors somehow.
It is really annoying when the ABS malfunction light comes on because: not only do you not have ABS, you don't have hill start /hill decent assist, the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) does not work, and finally, the parking sensors don't work either

I don't know what the ABS has to do with the parking sensors, but when the ABS light comes on, it also disables the parking sensors


Symptom
ABS light would come on but then normally it would 'fix itself' in a few minutes while driving. At first, it happened rarely but has been becoming more common over the last two weeks where the ABS light would come on, on every journey.
The main fault code was 'Code: C003A'.

View attachment 433965

There were other codes too, but they all relate to the rear right wheel speed sensor not working correctly.

Normally, when previous sensors have gone bad, I get an error something along the lines of 'invalid data received from X sensor', this time I got 'Circuit Short or Open'.

On Sunday, the ABS light came on once again, but it did not fix itself. After resetting the code with Forscan, it came back on without me driving/moving the vehicle. At last, the problem was present while parked on the drive. It was time to try and figure out what the problem was.

Diagnoses
Because the sensor was fairly new, I did not expect the problem to be the sensor. The sensor checked out when measured with a multimeter. Besides, it 'fixed' itself regularly and my suspicion was a broken wire/continuity problem somewhere.

My plan was to check for continuity from the rear of the vehicle where the sensor plugs into the harness to the front of the vehicle where the connector connects to the ABS module.

I found the pin layout for the front connector and identified pin 17 and pin 29 to be the right rear wheel sensor.
View attachment 433969

I simply bridged the two pins with a piece of fire and then used my multimeter to check for continuity at the rear right speed sensor's connector.

Nothing. Open circuit.

At least I identified the problem I thought.

Just to make sure I was doing everything correctly and had the correct pin layout for my vehicle, I checked continuity from the left rear wheel sensor to the front ABS connector and that all worked.

The ABS wiring diagram is pretty simple on paper.

View attachment 433970

The rear right speed sensor plugs into connector CA426. The cable then goes to connector C3047B and then to C210 and finally, it terminates at C136 (the connector going into the ABS module).

The plan now was to establish where the continuity problem lay in the three pieces of wire/cable/harness.

The first problem was to identify where these connectors were and then to get access to them.
Luckily, I found the wiring diagram for those too.

View attachment 433972

Connector C3047B is on the left-hand side of the vehicle behind the mudguards. While it is probably possible to get access to it with the wheel on, it would be difficult so I took the wheel off.
View attachment 433974

I checked the continuity between connector C426 and C3047B - all good.

I then checked the continuity between connector C3047B to C136. Nothing.

It was time to find connector C210 to check continuity from there to the front and also to the rear.
I came across a diagram that indicated connector C210 is on the left-hand side of the vehicle by the passenger footwell. However, I could not find it.

Later, I found a diagram that indicated it was on the right-hand side of the vehicle by the driver's footwell.
View attachment 433976

I checked the continuity between C210 and C136. All good.

I then checked the continuity between C3047B and C210 but could not get it.
It was late and dark and I had to use the vehicle the next day so I got everything back together.

Today I had some time to continue to try and find the problem. However, now I had continuity from the rear of the vehicle all the way to the front

I hooked up Forscan to monitor the wheel speed sensor outputs.

This is what I found.
View attachment 433980

The pink line is the rear right and as you can see the line is not smooth like the others. It has got some weird drops.
Maybe the sensor was bad after all (pretty bad going for less than a year old).

I had a spare left rear wheel sensor but the cable on the left rear sensor is a little too short to fit on the right-hand side.
A quick extension of the cable and I fitted it to the rear right.

This is what I got.
View attachment 433981

Much better and no more ABS light!!!!!

It is working!

For now.......

I have done about 30 miles since I changed the sensor and all is good for now. I still don't know what was up with the continuity problem, maybe there is a damaged wire somewhere and it is back to its working position now or there was a poor connection at connector C210. I just don't know

I hope I don't have to post in the 'Today I broke' thread soon

Wish me luck!!

I had the same issue on my ranger, 2 years old. Under warranty, took the dealers ages to get the sensors, but I suspect that was just an excuse as they were busy.

 

[Smouser]

I had the same issue on my ranger, 2 years old. Under warranty, took the dealers ages to get the sensors, but I suspect that was just an excuse as they were busy.

The Rangers 'eat' sensors.

My truck is a 2016 model and it has 45k miles on it.
Left front sensor replaced x 2 - 1 x Ford Orginal (£80+) and 1 aftermarket (£30).
Rear right sensor replaced x 2 - 1 x Ford Original and 1 aftermarket (installed yesterday).

Because the original parts from Ford failed in a short time and were expensive, I decided to just go with aftermarket sensors and accept the fact that I would need to replace them now and again.
If you start googling about Ford Ranger ABS issues you will get hundreds and hundreds of posts of people complaining about the poor quality sensors.

The rear wiring harness also suffers with failure (I hoped that would be my issue but I could not confirm it yet).
Here is a video explaining the wiring issue at the rear.

The original Left rear and right front are still going strong!

 

[bricol]

Mercedes ESP systems are best in class. Indeed Mercedes produced the world's first production car with such a system - the w126.

They are fantastic systems but if you choose to fight with it then there you go. Let the car do the work

If you enjoy driving a car, actually being the one to tell it what to do, then the one in that car was a bag of crap.

If however, a car is the same sort of thing to you as a washing machine, just a device to get from A-B, then I guess they are wonderful - you can slump down, switch off and point it . . .

It may well have have had other settings, even an off button, but I never found it.

 

[JOEPRO]

If you enjoy driving a car, actually being the one to tell it what to do, then the one in that car was a bag of crap.

If however, a car is the same sort of thing to you as a washing machine, just a device to get from A-B, then I guess they are wonderful - you can slump down, switch off and point it . . .

It may well have have had other settings, even an off button, but I never found it.

Anyone who truly knows about cars will be aware that a good ESP system can result in faster lap times on a track for example. This stands to sense if it monitors and controls wheel spin in fractions of a second.

Any Mercedes I have driven have truly excellent ESP systems especially in winter conditions.

Sorry to hear you are not happy with the system but sometimes it's user error / misunderstanding that comes into play. If you think you're smarter than systems that took £billions to develop than go you. Turn them off and let her eat bud

 

[RobCox]

I got the 18" machinist's level completed and calibrated today. These are the bits to put back together:

The end caps press in. A (big, in this case) milling vice makes this easy and fairly precise as the two end caps need to line up and present the vial window on the top:

But don't forget the little friction thingys when fitting the rotating cover:

I'm not sure if there was only one when I dismantled it or whether, , I lost it, but the one at the front is a replacement I made from a sliver of shim. Works ok though.
After reassembly, calibration, for which I use my surface plate. Any flat surface will have one axis with is exactly flat to the world, so I located this axis with my shorter Starrett level (another refurb) and tweaked the setting on the Rabone level with two adjusting tools (in reality a couple of Obo nails ground to fit):

The calibration on both might be out by a line but my setup, an 18 x 18" granite plate on an SGS tool chest, isn't as rigid as you'd ideally want to do ultra fine adjustments. The level is rotated 180 deg to check it's reading true and as a check on it's sensitivity I put a 1 thou shim under one end. The bubble moved about 3 graduations:

Finally, here it is in its box with some of the foam that came with the vials to anchor it in place with the lid closed:

 

[bricol]

Anyone who truly knows about cars will be aware that a good ESP system can result in faster lap times on a track for example. This stands to sense if it monitors and controls wheel spin in fractions of a second.

Any Mercedes I have driven have truly excellent ESP systems especially in winter conditions.

Sorry to hear you are not happy with the system but sometimes it's user error / misunderstanding that comes into play. If you think you're smarter than systems that took £billions to develop than go you. Turn them off and let her eat bud

You missed my entire point.
I never once mentioned "faster".
But never mind.
My two favourite cars, of which I own an example of each, one has no electronic nannies at all, the other only an extremely good ABS system.

 

[magnet]

I replaced the semi fossilised serpentine belt on the old toyota corolla im fixing up for my youngest daughters birthday. It was no fun at -4 degrees wrestling that on with numb fingers.
Only a couple more bits to do, handbrake and a new drivers wing mirror glass and its ready to go.

 

[northwest]

This has been a real pain in the buttock for a while now, I called Cutwell where I bought it from and their solution was "buy another one" not really wanting to do that, I took it apart:


The "easy change" was anything but. Oooh look, lots of springs n things:





Turns out one of the fingers on the ratchet arrangement had snapped and it was fouling so it wouldn't rotate to release the tool:



I modified it using the Dremel and it seems to work so I put it all back together, amazingly I only had one part left over.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

This has been a real pain in the buttock for a while now, I called Cutwell where I bought it from and their solution was "buy another one" not really wanting to do that, I took it apart:
View attachment 434121

The "easy change" was anything but. Oooh look, lots of springs n things:

View attachment 434122
View attachment 434119
View attachment 434123

Turns out one of the fingers on the ratchet arrangement had snapped and it was fouling so it wouldn't rotate to release the tool:

View attachment 434120

I modified it using the Dremel and it seems to work so I put it all back together, amazingly I only had one part left over.

When assembling a Mauser C96 pistol without a manual, excess parts may remain. Inspiration for designing a new flat shaped Rubik's cube. Shadow geniuses... (c)