Print

[minimayhem]

Hope this is OK, let me know if not.

Thought I'd make a thread about my car, and the maintenance and modifications that go into it over what I hope will be many years of ownership.

Although I've owned her for three days, so far this is the only picture I've taken:



But that is Pip.  Stands for Pip Squeak.  Few reasons for this, namely:

- Her engine is 1/3 capacity of the displacement of my other car, the XF and a 1/4 of the BHP output
- Shes shorter than the XF but still very spacious inside
- I think she's quite cute
- Dat horn

So, two days in and yeah, completely smitten.  Car was bought to be a cheaper alternative to the XF which will now become the toy.  Buying here was quite an experience, as I only really found out about the ForFour as a viable option to purchase 2 days before actually buying her - Just came across them whilst researching hybrids (shudder). 

From my limited experience so far though, I cannot think of a car that delivers better value for money; both in terms of form, functions and the feels.

Anyway, back to Pip. 

I have not had a good look over her yet, but from what I understand she's a Pulse with:

- MFSW
- Radio 6 w/ sub
- Comfort pack
- Cruiseline rims

So got what I would like, and especially pleased with the trip computer and sound system.

She also got a complete service in Jan 2016, including sparks, which is nice, but no peace of mind.  You never know the quality of others peoples work, and what they used. 

And so, a few jobs have already been planned to be done this side of xmas.

- First, she needs a clean.  I mean a proper clean.  Oh man, she's kinda clean on top but uugghhh under its grim.  Gonna take off the exterior trim as much as possible and really tidy her up, then go over with a rotary buffer and polish her up.  Swirl marks are a plenty, but not for long.

- Headlights need cleaning as they are glazed over.

- Alternator is chirping away.  Power output is OK, but the bearing is a tad noisy.  Planning to dismantle and lubricate.

- Bad metal on metal rattle during driving off.  Sounds like the exhaust shield.  Need to take a look.

- Front pads need to be replaced.  Discs too, as I can see potential evidence of warping (you cant feel it at all when braking).

- Rear n/s wheel bearing is rumbling.  Needs to be replaced at some point.

- Full service including valve clearances are on the DIY cards.  Looking forward to this one quite a lot oddly enough!

And yeah, modifications hopefully.  I'm not sure what, but really want to make the car as cozy and comfortable as possible.  Pillows have been ordered, the GF is going to make a little car mascot out of wool or something, I dunno how that mumbo jumbo works, but other than completely at a loss on where to take this little car.

So, it begins!

[Ocracoke]

To guide...

Bad metal on metal rattle during driving off.  Sounds like the exhaust shield.  Need to take a look.

I took a video of mine when it was doing that here. Does it sound like that? I should point out mine was so rotten it fell off whilst I was on the road, thank goodness no one was behind me! :S

Rear n/s wheel bearing is rumbling.  Needs to be replaced at some point.

That is fairly easy to do - there is a guide floating around on here that mr.singh wrote when he did his on the 1.1 he had.

I'm not sure what, but really want to make the car as cozy and comfortable as possible.

This would depend. The Strokeline alloys I originally had on my car were OK but I found running with 14" steels to be a nice "pillowy" ride (I say "pillowy", they have a higher sidewall than Cruiselines). Other than that, with the pillows in the car... just a case of settling into the 454's ride and seeing what you think needs work.

Enjoy.

[minimayhem]

Yeah it sounds similar to that, but further towards the engine.  But essentially the same metal-on-metal exhaust noise.

Its not constant, just when pulling off, I'm guessing its either the movement of the engine that's causing separation of some kind of mount, or its just at the right frequency to resonate.  Good shout though!

Had my first proper drive today around Kingston.  Stop/start but still managed 45 MPG.  So good, exactly what I had hoped for.

Noticed bouncing revs though, going to give the TB/air intake a very good clean tomorrow

Also had a bit of a hickup, seemed like the last person to remove the scuttle plate above the engine bay mis-aligned the front o/s bolt hole, when removing it completely stripped the bolt.  Thankfully a few minutes later with a tap-n-die the thing was sorted out and back on!

Question though - the scuttle plate seems to sit about 1.5 inch over the wings on the edge nearest to the windscreen, is that right? I never noticed it before until refitting it today. 

[Ocracoke]

Yeah it sounds similar to that, but further towards the engine.  But essentially the same metal-on-metal exhaust noise.

There are a few heat shields from the exhaust manifold downwards so if it isn't the rear most one, it may very well be the next one up the line.

Noticed bouncing revs though, going to give the TB/air intake a very good clean tomorrow

Be warned, if you want to get the TVA (throttle valve actuator) out of the engine bay, which has been known to soot up causing odd things like that, it can get pretty fiddly (though I suspect with the 1.1 engine being a little smaller than the 1.3, you'll be in a better position). I did this fairly recently and it was a absolute pain.

Question though - the scuttle plate seems to sit about 1.5 inch over the wings on the edge nearest to the windscreen, is that right? I never noticed it before until refitting it today. 

So long as the bolt holes line up and the plastic tangs on the underside of the scuttle are seated in the slots in the Tridion, then I wouldn't worry too much. Sounds as if they might not be seated correctly but then I would imagine that you couldn't attach the scuttle back. Check for debris and things like that blocking it up as well.

[Brabs]

Re: the scuttle panel... when replacing position it near the wipers and then make sure that you push it down so it slides over the plastic tags. Have a good look and you'll see. Then slide it down towards the front of the car and replace the bolts.
 

[mr singh]

which XF do you have? there is so much talk about forfours...

[brulaw]

which XF do you have? there is so much talk about forfours...

Ermm  ,   It IS  a forfour forum .... you should expect the odd comment or two about cars ...... 

[mr singh]

hehe... all in good fun, all in good fun!

[minimayhem]

which XF do you have? there is so much talk about forfours...

I have the normally aspirated limited coupe.  Absolutely love it, a really brilliant machine.  Designed by a brit, built by a german (karmann) with parts from mercedes for an American market.  3.2 V6, spent a lot of money on mods for it, absolutely flies. 

Anyhoo, did a bit on Pip last week, but didnt post any updates. 

On Sunday I poured over the servicing history.  Sparkies had been replaced 3 years ago, general service was due in Jan 2017, but I decided to do a full service anyway.  Mainly because you cant trust other peoples work. 

First port of call was to clean the car.  Spent a good 2 hours on it.  This car is very grimey.  Not dirty, but grimey.  The grime is literatly stuck to the car, I dont think it's had a proper clean out in a very long time.  Despite going at it I cant remove the grime properly, it really needs a clay bar. 

In the end I stood back and took a look after doubling up the layer of wax and thought 'Looks no different'.  The paintwork is dulled by the dirt.  A job for mid december me-thinks!






So went out and bought all the things needed for the service.  Air filter didnt look to bad, started to drain the oil and noticed that the sump plug was hardly tight at all, you could seriously undo it with fingers.  Thats really worrying.

Came to take off the oil filter and it was stuck on.  Some total idiot had torqued it up incredibly high.  Took 20 minutes of me using both hands and full strength to get it off.  Really, really annoyed me that someone at a garage can be so careless.  Luckily no  damage to the thread was done, and the new one went on without a fuss.

Next up was the sparkies.  Take a look at the picture.  The MOT history shows no more than 6K distance travelled since they were changed.  To me, these look like they have never been changed, let alone done 6K. 

Old:




New:



Thankfully the plugs had worn evenly, I couldnt see any oil on them and none of them were clean, so the combustion chambers appear to be - on the face of it at least - working well and evenly enough.

Once I did all this I noticed this layer of dirt under the scuttle panel.  The same dirt was in mounds by the front shocks.  Upon closer inspection it was...nuts! Handfuls of eaten nuts were sitting there, about 8 double handfuls in total.  Seems to be a little squirrel had made its home in the cars engine bay.  I wonder how long this thing had sat for?



So, servicing done.  Car runs very nicely, albeit it the bearing and exhaust rattle is still going on. 

I'm gonna now get the car up on ramps and look at the underside to check the condition out.  A job for later, thats for sure.

[Ocracoke]

Good work. The spark plugs do look fairly used but at least dry so hey, can't be all bad.

Once I did all this I noticed this layer of dirt under the scuttle panel.  The same dirt was in mounds by the front shocks.  Upon closer inspection it was...nuts! Handfuls of eaten nuts were sitting there, about 8 double handfuls in total.  Seems to be a little squirrel had made its home in the cars engine bay.  I wonder how long this thing had sat for?

When I bought my current ForFour and took the scuttle panel off, it was like what you are seeing with mud/grime/leaves (no nuts though!). The last owner had bought a Toyota IQ and the ForFour had been on sale for several months prior so I wasn't too sure that it had really sat around for that long. Does it matter now though that it is being used now? A clear out every service will be enough.

So went out and bought all the things needed for the service.  Air filter didnt look to bad, started to drain the oil and noticed that the sump plug was hardly tight at all, you could seriously undo it with fingers.  Thats really worrying.

Eek. I would assume the washer wasn't replaced when the last oil change prior to this was done.

[Problemchild]

which XF do you have? there is so much talk about forfours...

XF = chrysler crossfire  not   Jag XF as you were probably thinking

JJ

[minimayhem]

Update!

Found an hour to work on Pip today.  The rattling has been really getting to me, so I put her up on the ramps and took a look.



Found what I *think* is the offending item quite quickly. 

The engine side bolts are OK, a tad rusty but they open alright, but the exhaust side bolt is buggered!  The head is rounded or rusted, either way its now just a circle and contains no flat edges:



Whats interesting is whats happened underneath.  Looks like the mounting on the exhaust itself corroded completely away and is now welded onto the bolt.  Long-story-short, it will not come off at all.





So I think the noise is coming from when I'm accelerating from a stand-still and the shield is pushing/scraping against the exhaust. 

Looking at it, there's no feasible way that I can drill and make a new mount holding the heat shield above due to access.  That begs the question of how important this heat shield is.  What do you all think?  On some previous cars I've just removed them, however on this I'm a bit conscious that the exhaust side is facing the inside of the engine bay, with lots of electrics nearby. 

Other minor updates are that the pillows and floor mats arrived.  Beyond that not much else has happened after the service, as the XF has eaten all my time up.  Once that is finished next weekend I plan to get cracking on the remaining outstanding bits.

[paul1974]

Glad you found the problem

[Ocracoke]

Looking at it, there's no feasible way that I can drill and make a new mount holding the heat shield above due to access.  That begs the question of how important this heat shield is.  What do you all think?  On some previous cars I've just removed them, however on this I'm a bit conscious that the exhaust side is facing the inside of the engine bay, with lots of electrics nearby. 

I would rather have it than not. As you say, there is plenty of electrics in the engine bay to not get hot. I'd look at taking the exhaust + manifold off to do this (mine has started going as well).

[Problemchild]

could just heat wrap it - its only a few £ on ebay

JJ