Thursday, May 22, 2008

damaged brake hose...

during my last attempt to diy service my right rear calipers, i noticed a deep cut in my rear brake hose... at that time, it is not leaking yet, so i thought mayb someday later i'll change it when i'm free...

from days became weeks... the last time i remember about it was few days ago, when i experienced total brake failure coming back from taman bunga raya... it was about 3am that time... with no brakes and downhill, i rolled back home by pumping the brakes continuously...

once reached home, i jacked up the car, remove the wheel and this is what i saw...



brake fluid was close to nothing... i was basically pumping air to compress the calipers...



in the midst of removing the damaged brake hose, i ran out of tools... paging everyone in the wee hours in the morning, i managed get hold of a spanar from my friend (yongsiang, thanks alot)...



the next morning, i rempit to malim jaya to buy spareparts... 1 bottle DOT4 brake fluid (Rm8), 1 brake hose (Rm24) and 2 H3 bulb (Rm20) for my burnt foglights... total Rm52 fly that morning...



the newer brake hose is a little longer in length compare to my damaged unknown origin brake hose... haha... dont care la, as long as it fits...



while waiting for someone to assist me bleeding the brake fluid, diy'ed braided brake hose using cable tie....



didnt had enough cable tie for the whole brake hose....

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

speedo cable snapped...

a couple of weeks ago my speedometer sudently went dead... at the same time, mileage meter also not spinning... aih... mechanic checked and confirmed that my speedometer cable had snapped...

so, the other day i went to spare part shop and bought a new speedo cable which cost me Rm28...



replacing it was rather simple...

first, remove the inner dashboard and meter cluster...



then, remove the other end of the cable which is connected to the gearbox... jz screw it out with ur hand... dont need spanar for this...



see my snapped cable...



it is easier to replace jz the cable instead of the whole housing as the cable can be slided out easily.... but its highly not recommended as there might be some sand or pollutants which would accelerate the wear and tear of the cable...



hence, to remove the whole housing together, i unplugged the rubber cap from the firewall.... once its unplugged, slice the rubber with a knife till the centre... remove the old cable housing and replace with new one.... after that, plug everything back together into the firewall neatly.... plug both ends into the gearbox and meter cluster.... fix back everything and work done !!...

and this color tells why my cable snapped...



acidic rust from the brake fluid which leaked previously...

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

service transmission oil...

gear shift feels rock solid already... sign of worn transmission oil... went to spare part shop yesterday bought 2 bottles of manual transmission oil... total cost rm24...



upah 5 bucks only... didnt diy coz lazy... haha....

Sunday, May 04, 2008

leaky proportioning valve

few weeks ago, i start noticing strange noise coming from my brakes... after thorough checking, i notice my brake fluid level decreased quite alot... at that time i thought there was a leak at the brake hose as previosly i diy service my brake calipers, i might not had tightened up the screws properly...

after few days of monitoring, there is no sign of leak at the brake hose... during my last brake fluid topup, i notice the bottom part of my brake pump is kinda wet... so, confirmed the brake fluid leaked out from the brake pump... and its not jz normal drips... whenever i pump on the brake pedal, it SQUIRTS out fluid like nobody business....

the next day immediately i took my car to the workshop and had it fixed...

to my surprise, it wasnt the brake pump seal that leaks... it was the brake proportioning valve which distributes brake force accordingly for the front and rear brakes failed... somehow the metal thing got punctured and leaking...



removing it was kinda easy... fixing it back was a tough job... it took nearly 2 hours and 3 mechanics to fix all 6 metal pipes back on... what made it tough is that those metal pipes arent flexible... all 6 pipes must be alligned properly at the holes then only can be secured in place.... add to the matter of fact, the brake pump is located at a vr discrete place behind the battery.... so, it was kinda hard to reach...

brakes were bleeded all 4 sides... 2 bottles of DOT4 brake fluid... brakes were tested... everything satisfied... with a broken wallet....



:(