Reminds me of my 89 Accord Exi no space at all, not even for my air horn compressor
General The Good News and the Bad News
- Thread starter GettinBetter
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General The Good News and the Bad News
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Exhaust for a Panda 4x4 is more than that from Fiat (£960 at the last enquiry a year ago) and there dont seem to be after market ones yet. Useful to know the cost of the job because of this. Quality looks very good. I might just sell my exhaust which is in very good condition and have a system like that on the panda, Might get a lifetime warranty and effectively a discount by selling the current system!Sounds good to me ! nice to see someone else keeping on top of things!.
However nice as it is dont think i,ll be getting a £900 exhaust any time soon!
I have a reversing sensor on my merc 4x4 its called a tow -bar!!.
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good plan!
OP
OP
Just finishing up, no engine mounts moved or undone. Almost changed the starter as well, but it was the wrong one. 
Side cover & bracket removed, oh and the bolt securing the aircon pipe. Came out quite easy.
As people have said it was tight, but guessing where the bolts are above the alternator was the worst bit.
Must crack on.
Covers and testing to do.
Side cover & bracket removed, oh and the bolt securing the aircon pipe. Came out quite easy.
As people have said it was tight, but guessing where the bolts are above the alternator was the worst bit.
Must crack on.
Covers and testing to do.busy busy busy!
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Alwas find it easier on someone leses as its their parts bill. WHen its your own and it needs something else or you break it you can see the £££ racking up. If its someone elses you just call and say it really needs x and they decide if they want to spend or bodge. Also things that are worn /going you just leave well alone. You can tell them or not as you feel fit. As most of the jobs I have done have been freebies its just sraped knickels on someone elses, they mend soon enough.Bit cramped in the engine bay aint it! big hands & a small space = mucho! frustrato! when doing the job- dont rush, take loads of breaks, have a thermos of good strong tea by your side!, and warn your wife/ partner/ or friends to LEAVE YOU ALONE !!! until your done.
Surprising how irritating a friendly" how are you getting on then love!" can be when your covered in engineand your knuckles are bleeding
!
aint it great to work on your own car for that job well done feeling!!!!.
with current parts prices, I restrict myself to replacing what is actually worn out or otherwise unserviceable.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Im much less inclined to do differently than you too, and am currently battling re tyres on Daffo. They are legal... In this case its safety and the weather is bad so probably two new ones tomorrow if anyone has them. It all bad for overall road safety as we all push the limits a bit more. I may change he car onto all seasons if I can find bi directional ones. Costs of multiple gargae visits will affect some things and people as well.
OP
OP
Just run it up with meter connected. Sits at 13.1V even if I throttle it. 
Dont think thats enough!
Is this a twinair?Just run it up with meter connected. Sits at 13.1V even if I throttle it.
Do they not have smart alternators they only charge at higher voltages on the "overrun"
E.g when slowing down in gear
vexorg
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Same engine, saab was bought be vauxhall/GM and used the same v6 in their cars.
Piccolo Nero e Bella
Prominent member
According to the plug-in voltmeter I have in my TA it hits 13.9V within minutes of starting and hardly varies by more than 0.2V if I put the headlights or other load on, returning to 13.9V in short order. It's not a precision instrument (they all have a +/- error up to about 0.2V) but is consistent and is useful to monitor voltage while start/stop is operating.Just run it up with meter connected. Sits at 13.1V even if I throttle it.
OP
OP
I agree, it's not what I'm expecting, especially the no change when throttling it.Dont think thats enough!
That's what I was expecting.
I'm beginning to think the 13.1 was just the battery which had been on charge all day. When I went back about half an hour later to test the voltage under load, it was only 12.9V, when I turned on the aircon, headlights, main beam, and rear window blower it dropped to 12.5V, so I'm willing to bet the alternator is doing faf all, and that the load brought the battery down to that voltage. After a few seconds of the application of the throttle whilst watching the meter, I turned all loads off the voltage only came up to 12.6V.
What I can't understand is no alternator light, or any notification of low /zero charge? You'd think with all the ECUs on these bloody things, that would be the easiest to do!!
I want to checkout the circuit diagram to see where that wire off the alternator goes to?
Anyone got a 2013 version of this ?
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Had the same thing on my merc 4x4 - warning light was going out at tick over ! and the battery started the car for a week! then dim warning lights and not turning over! tested for charging and NOTHING from the alternator at all!!!! why the hell the warning light was going out i dont know!( and still dont understand!).
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
My TA has the battery sensor and stop start so I assume smart alternator (though how smart it really is I question) It shows the same 14.4 when running as the older cars do. Batteries at rest settle at 13.3 on all three at the moment but the TA is 4 and the other cars batteries are just a year old. The 4 year old battery is clearly aging as when left it drops to 12.8 after a week or 10 days. MES allows you to see what the car sees and to compare the ECU voltage to the battery voltage which may help.
On the wiring diagram the red is battery starter as normal! and black as usual the earth point!. the other wire dives into the engine ecu to perform its dark arts i guess? almost certain that it interacts with the can-bus system in ways we will NEVER understand!.
Think we (you) are at the point now that swapping the alternator out is the only way forwards! , not saying its gonna cure the problem!) but its the next thing to eliminate before starting to think E C U and/or wiring issues!
Have I mentioned I HATE electrics (spect you do to by now!) feeling your pain on this! but encourage you to press on!
you can beat this gremlin!( just dont work on it after midnight!
) reference to myself not knowing when to stop a job and go to bed! cross wife = unhappy life!
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Think we (you) are at the point now that swapping the alternator out is the only way forwards! , not saying its gonna cure the problem!) but its the next thing to eliminate before starting to think E C U and/or wiring issues!
Have I mentioned I HATE electrics (spect you do to by now!) feeling your pain on this! but encourage you to press on!
you can beat this gremlin!( just dont work on it after midnight!
) reference to myself not knowing when to stop a job and go to bed! cross wife = unhappy life!.
OP
OP
Not really, I have a degree in electrical engineering, so just getting started. Finding a decent circuit diagram is proving to be quite a challenge, you know one that says exactly what model(s) & year(s) it covers.... Have I mentioned I HATE electrics (spect you do to by now!) feeling your pain on this! but encourage you to press on!
As I've just swapped out the alternator, (and the battery twice) and the symptoms are exactly the same, I'll be looking to see if the field wire is live/high resistance or whatever, but need to see where the other end goes.
For now I need to get to work, and it'll just get an overnight charge untill the weekend. Hopefully I'll have found a circuit diagram by then.
The irritating thing is realising that this problem was there from the first day I bought it, except it was light and rainless days then, so no heavy electrical useage. Now that its all headlights, wipers and heater it mullahs the battery in about two days, and that's four trips with an occassional shop/fuel stop (and hence an extra restart).
Sounds a lot more complex than youd like!- sounds like its pushing towards the ecu?.
bloody electrics !!!do you remember when cars had points & a carburetor & the only bleeding computer was in your watch!.
All far to complex now even on simple runarounds let alone supercars and the like !-f**K knows how much wiring and goes in to a Rolls Royce or range rover!.
Often feel like going back to my rear engine Skoda rapid ( other than the fact the screen wash jets used to freeze up in November and not work again till march!) as with the engine in back no heat to thaw them out! had to drive around squirting de-icer out the drivers window to clear the screen!
bloody electrics !!!do you remember when cars had points & a carburetor & the only bleeding computer was in your watch!.
All far to complex now even on simple runarounds let alone supercars and the like !-f**K knows how much wiring and
goes in to a Rolls Royce or range rover!.Often feel like going back to my rear engine Skoda rapid ( other than the fact the screen wash jets used to freeze up in November and not work again till march!) as with the engine in back no heat to thaw them out!
had to drive around squirting de-icer out the drivers window to clear the screen!
vexorg
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It's not electrics that are the problem, in my view, car electrics peaked around the mid 90's, simple systems that got rid of all the mechanical timing and fueling issues. Then the green brigade started killing the engines, followed by the accountants that realised that it's much cheaper to have one highly complex system than many simple ones.
