Hey guys. No questions this time. Moreso a story.

My AC recently failed, not even 1 day into the Victoria heatwave (man, was I pissed off. Driving home, heard a noise from the front end, thought nothing of it. AC ended up stopping). Anyway, instantaneously lost interest in playing with my Magna. Started looking into new cars, but my parents offered me their FG Falcon when it's out of lease in 9.5 months. Anywho, long story short, decided to get the AC regassed.

I rang up at lunch today, Natrad dude said to bring it in. So I did, about 2:30. The call came in at 4 - "we've regassed the system, although the compressor is aging (car has 250xxx on it) but see how you go". Went in, picked it up, froze my tits off driving it back to work.

Driving home, decided that for the next 10 months I'm going to enjoy this car. So I'm gonna. Dropped into Autobarn, grabbed some ISO harnesses, came home, hooked up my double din DVD headunit (which is now working) and after flattening the battery and jumping off the very FG I'll have in 10 months, I started it up. But I remembered my other issue, a scratching/whining sound, much like when you put a piece of paper in a fan. So I put my head under the front end, and as I lean under the car, the tone in the noise changes with the pressure I place on the bumper. What the? I push on it, and look for any spots where the bumper could make contact with moving parts. Then I notice it. The radiator guard, which I used a tension strap to hold it in place as it's broken, was making contact with the compressor. I adjusted it, and voila! My annoying noise when idling at a certain RPM is now gone! Couldn't be happier.

What other awesome fixes to things have you done to your car that have solved a lengthy/irritating problem?

the amplifier that came with my subs (bought the lot second-hand) had a tendency to lose volume or cut out completely when i had everything in my lancer. eventually i got so annoyed with it that i pulled it out, took it apart and looked for any burn marks or signs that it was getting hot. nothing appeared wrong and i scratched my head as to what it could have been. i put everything back together and put it back in the car, deciding that i'd just have to put up with it until the amp completely died and i'd just get a new one. fast-forward three months and i reach breaking point (of the amp and my patience). to add to this i had just blown one of my tyres on the way to work after it ate a screw. i head into my local bob jane and get them to fit new tyres and tell them to put the spare on the back seat as the subs aren't easy to remove and i'll put it in the well myself. an hour later my car is ready and i find that they stuffed the spare behind the driver's seat - crushing the RCA pins leading into the amp and snapping them both. needless to say i was feeling frustrated that so much shit was going on at once. i went and bought new leads, connected it up and noticed exactly what the issue was: the contacts inside the plugs.

the amp had received a good plugging during its lifetime that reduced how much the contacts inside it come forward to connect with the pin. a bit of aluminium foil rolled up into little grains about the size of rice fit perfectly into the space. the amp worked a treat and my levels of frustration quickly disappeared. it's a very nice feeling when everything just works.

QUOTE: "the amp had received a good plugging during its lifetime that reduced how much the contacts inside it come forward to connect with the pin. a bit of aluminium foil rolled up into little grains about the size of rice fit perfectly into the space. the amp worked a treat and my levels of frustration quickly disappeared. it's a very nice feeling when everything just works."

If that's not a permanent fix, look at replacing the RCA sockets on the amp or remove them altogether and just hard wire the cable directly to the circuit board.

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DIY fault finding and repairs can give you that warm, fuzzy feeling of accomplishment. (Endorphin rush in the brain perhaps?)
I still get that after 40 odd years, especially when it saves money, like a cam belt change, a radio install, etc.
If more people could experience this, DIY would be a lot more popular. lol
Pity those people who don't want to get their hands dirty and pay someone to do an oil and filter change.
(NOTE: Working on other people's cars doesn't have the same effect for some reason.)

QUOTE: "the amp had received a good plugging during its lifetime that reduced how much the contacts inside it come forward to connect with the pin. a bit of aluminium foil rolled up into little grains about the size of rice fit perfectly into the space. the amp worked a treat and my levels of frustration quickly disappeared. it's a very nice feeling when everything just works."

If that's not a permanent fix, look at replacing the RCA sockets on the amp or remove them altogether and just hard wire the cable directly to the circuit board.

===========

DIY fault finding and repairs can give you that warm, fuzzy feeling of accomplishment. (Endorphin rush in the brain perhaps?)
I still get that after 40 odd years, especially when it saves money, like a cam belt change, a radio install, etc.
If more people could experience this, DIY would be a lot more popular. lol
Pity those people who don't want to get their hands dirty and pay someone to do an oil and filter change.
(NOTE: Working on other people's cars doesn't have the same effect for some reason.)

+1 on this. I did an engine oil change for the first time a couple of months ago. It just gave me a warm feeling, knowing that I completed the task, saved money in the process, and gained experience.

If that's not a permanent fix, look at replacing the RCA sockets on the amp or remove them altogether and just hard wire the cable directly to the circuit board.

i tried doing that a while after using the foil. it's a pretty decently mounted set of sockets with thick plastic shielding around the internals. if there wasn't a risk of snapping the metal contacts inside, i'd just use a paperclip to pull them forward slightly so that there's pressure applied to the pins.

and on the DIY side of things, i absolutely love pulling stuff apart and learning how it all works. i had been doing it with toys since i was a kid (much to the dismay of my mother) and moved onto electronics in primary school. i was never really interested in cars and mechanical until i got the magna. i have grand plans for it now.

+1 on this. I did an engine oil change for the first time a couple of months ago. It just gave me a warm feeling, knowing that I completed the task, saved money in the process, and gained experience.

I'm going to have to agree with that, but I call it sheer satisfaction. I had my water pumps pulley bearing cark it at christmas, it held till I got home from the sunshine coast > brisbane. I was about to replace my ageing radiator due to the old girl getting a tad warm up hills at slow speed. Took maybe.... 2 hours, new water pump, radiator, totally flushed system, dose of chemiweld (I'm pretty sure I have a leaking headgasket, but that's another issue), followed instructions, and voila, I can even run the aircon on a 35c day without her getting hot under the collar. Total cost; $280, new radiator, new water pump, 5L coolant concentrate, 1 bottle chemiweld. :D Old girl lives. I'd love to know what a radiator shop would've charged me for that.......

took the xr6 for a spin but it was making a metallic rattle from the front i thought it was the timing chain. not looking forward to replacing it. but then my mechanic showed me to pour water on the serpentine belt and the noiuse went away! it was a dry creaky fan belt! replaced the belt and noise gone! it wouldve costed over a grand only for the noise to still be there!

took the xr6 for a spin but it was making a metallic rattle from the front i thought it was the timing chain. not looking forward to replacing it. but then my mechanic showed me to pour water on the serpentine belt and the noiuse went away! it was a dry creaky fan belt! replaced the belt and noise gone! it wouldve costed over a grand only for the noise to still be there!

I didn't know the serpentine belts could cause a metallic rattle, talk about well i'll be damned, very handy to know.

I didn't know the serpentine belts could cause a metallic rattle, talk about well i'll be damned, very handy to know.

The Ford straight 6 has an idler on that belt known to get noisy after many km. Belts can be noisy too when they age, seen a mechanic smear something like vaseline on the drive side of the belt and the noises magically went away. (Probably wasn't vaseline, but the mechanic just smirked when I asked him what he put on it. Trade secret, I'm sure. Haven't been back there since. lol))

The Ford straight 6 has an idler on that belt known to get noisy after many km. Belts can be noisy too when they age, seen a mechanic smear something like vaseline on the drive side of the belt and the noises magically went away. (Probably wasn't vaseline, but the mechanic just smirked when I asked him what he put on it. Trade secret, I'm sure. Haven't been back there since. lol))

Oh man, I can't believe I'm saying this but.... soap. A cake of soap is what I've seen work. On an old Holden straight six. Watched that magic right before my eyes.

For all I know soap could melt fan belts, and I'm pretty damn sure I'm not going to be running a cake of soap on my belts. It's just what a saw work once... on an old 186.

As for noisy belts. On all three magnas I've owned I've made a habit of replacing the idler pullies, and the belts. My Verada had a noticeable noise when cold that vanished with new pullies and belts.

PRO-TIP; triple check your belt sizes before replacing, more so if you only have one arm because holy cr@p that job gets tricky FAST!

Alternator belt is easy to replace. Its the Power steering belt that causes a sweaty forehead.

Never heard of using soap on a belt before? I have heard of silicon spray and WD-40 but not soap :S