Clean for The Fast Show 2011
Well, with TFS on Sunday, I thought it was about time I gave the car a clean… so I popped over to Halfords to get some supplies…
So this was the state of the car at 11am this morning:
Hoovered the interior and cleaned all the dash and plastics with some Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care:
I then stopped taking photos and got to work. I also did my Mum’s car at the same time…
First up, rinsed it all down with a pressure washer.
Then cleaned the wheels with some Wonder Wheels (It’s all I had, and couldn’t justify buying some new wheel cleaner when I already had some 
)
Washed the car with some Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner, two bucket method.
Dried using a waffle weave towel and some Demon Shine as a drying agent.
Cleaned the glass using some generic supermarket glass cleaner.
Polished the glass with some Autoglym Car Glass Polish.
Sealed the wheels using some Autoglym Alloy Wheel Seal.
Dressed the tyres with some Meguiars Gold Class Endurance Tyre Gel.
Dressed the plastics and vinyl B-pillars with Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care.
Polished using a machine buffer and Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine.
That got me to this stage, where I got the wax out 
Once I waxed everything, I re-dressed the plastics and vinyl B-pillars as I got some polish/wax on them which wouldn’t come off… But here’s the file results 
So 7 and a half hours work, and the results speak for themselves 
My first time using that Autoglym HD wax… and first time using a non-liquid based wax as well… and I’ve got to say I was impressed. Smelt quite nice, spread really nicely once I got used to it. And the pot looks barely touched after I’d done the whole car, and I think I used it too thickly… so it’ll definitely last a long time I was getting put off by the £45 price tag, but I would say that’s well worth it now I’ve actually used it
I hate EGR valves
As you may have read about two weeks ago, I was having power problems with the car, but I took the EGR valve off and gave it a good clean and all was well again. Well, I’m sorry to say, but on the way to the meet at Tunbridge Wells, the wretched spanner light came back on and threw up two P0400 codes again. On the way home, it did the same thing… and then the next time it swapped to being the EML… 
So last weekend, I took the valve off again and gave it a more thorough clean and took it for a spin. Still really responsive, but still got the EML light on 
On Monday, it went into limp mode 4 times on the way to work throwing up P2279 codes each time… so being so pissed off with it, I just bit the bullet and bought a new EGR valve on eBay for £70. Not bad considering a Vauxhall dealer was selling them for £95 on eBay, and if you walk into a dealer they want somewhere in the region of £130…
Got it delivered, nice and shiny! Yay!
Went to replace it, and obviously with me being an IT tech and not a mechanic, made a right balls up of it straight away. Got the socket wrench out to take the bolts off, and straight away, twisted and snapped one of the bolts because I’d not been smart enough to let the engine cool down properly, so it was still quite warm and therefore made the bolts much more pliable. 
So I spent the next two days on the phone trying to find somewhere that sold M6 thread 55mm bolts with a hex head and couldn’t find anywhere that I could get one by the weekend, so settled for a set of 60mm ones and had the hacksaw ready… Went out again to have another bash at fitting them, and ballsed it up again. Got the ratchet on the wrong way round and ended up trying to tighten one of the nuts instead of un-tighten it… and therefore rounded off the nut. Tried to undo it the right way, but it was too round for the socket to get a grip on it Got some pliers and all kinds of strange looking tools out and just ended up grinding more and more metal off it… After about an hour or two of shouting and swearing, I had an idea. Get a hammer and a smaller socket. So I got a 9mm socket and the biggest hammer I could find. Socket wouldn’t fit by hand, but hammered on surprisingly easily. Out comes the socket wrench, and the nut comes straight off and went straight into the bin while shouting “FUCK YOU, BASTARD”
Once I got the EGR off, put it next to the new one. What a difference! 
Put the new one on with all new gaskets and with a big smile on my face, started it up. That smile lasted all of about 10 seconds when the EML light came straight back on Rev’d it a bit, turned the engine off and on a few times trying to clear it… Still there. Drove it round the block, still there.
Took the valve off and it was pristine clean, didn’t look like anything had gone through it at all Noticed a lot of crap still in the inlet manifold, so I sprayed it with some more carb cleaner and reassembled it. LADmachining on AON (Legendary bloke, he is) suggested to take the battery off for a bit to clear any codes, then drive it for a good few miles for it to clear the error… so I did that, and after 76 miles, it finally went off! So did another 12 to be sure, still off! And I’ve been out again today and done maybe another 60 miles, still off! So… for now, I’m happy again
I’m not gonna say it’s fixed until next weekend though.
Another busy day
Well I’ve had quite a busy day today
First up, tyres. 
Thursday morning, ordered two Falken FK-452 225/40/18 for the rear tyres from Blackcircles… They were an advisory on my MOT as the side walls are beginning to perish… but one of them now has a slowish puncture, so I’ve been limping on it until pay day so I could finally get some.
Got to the garage this morning to get them fitted, all happy I don’t have to worry about that dodgy rear tyre any more. Walk in, “Oh, I tried to call you and left you a message. Unfortunately there’s been a bit of a problem…”
Turns out, the numpty at BlackCircles who sent my tyres to the garage sent two Falken FK-452′s, no problems… but one was a 225/40/18 and the other was a 215/35/17. 
How can you get it that wrong? Apparently they left me a message, but when I asked what number… it was my old mobile number from the last time I used that garage. They could have looked on the BlackCircles order and noticed I’d changed my bloody number.
So went home, and got this lot together for an afternoon working on the car
I wonder what he’s doing
Well first up was to give it a good wash… so I did
Fitted new dust caps, as I lost one of my VX logo ones, and someone nicked another one… so I had two chrome ones and two black ones
Now we all hate the old orange light, don’t we?
So I fixed that
But then the back looked out of place now with the old orange light
So I fixed that as well
Took off a few bits from the car… and prepped them for a colour change
While letting all that set, I started about cleaning out that bloody EGR valve that’s been causing me so many problems recently… After I did some swearing when I realised my socket set only went upto 12mm and I needed a 13mm, I found a 56-pc socket set in my parents tool box that went up to something silly massive, and down to like, 3mm… so found what I needed, took it off and found it like this
So flushed it out with some Wynn’s Air Intake & Carb cleaner. By this time it was dark, so I went and re-fitted it, did a lot more swearing as I couldn’t see what I was doing… Got in the car, fired it up and did some more swearing when the EML light stayed on. Checked it all over again, fired it up, no more EML light! Rev’d it, did some more swearing as the EML light came back on… Checked it all again, fired it up, no EML. Rev’d it, no EML
Couldn’t drive it yet as my Dad was parked across me, so I went and did some more painting and lacquering of the bits, then packed everything away:
Took the car out for a drive after, once my Dad went out, and my God. Not only did the EML light stay off like a good boy, it is so much more responsive. I’ve never actually seen it so responsive. So I’m happy happy happy
Just about to go give the painted bits another coat of lacquer or two, and then they’re all going back on the car in the morning
A well deserved clean!
Well I’ve not cleaned the car in about a month, and with all the recent snow and ice, there has been the inevitable mass of salt and grit on the roads, so the Astra has been absolutely filthy. I only really noticed how bad it was the other day when I opened the boot and remembered what colour the car really was when I saw my hand prints
This is the state it was in up until this morning:
Now the polish I usually use is Autoglym Super Resin Polish… but I’m running out of it, and while I was in Halfords yesterday getting one or two other quick bits, I noticed Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine, so I thought I’d try that.
To be honest, I found SRP to be absolutely brilliant on my old Black Sapphire Astra. Really, really brought it up nicely… but I don’t rate it to well on my Moonland Grey Astra… so I thought I’d try something different, and I’ve got to say I’m impressed with the results.
This is after just washing with Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo Conditioner:
And then, I attacked it with the Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine, and wow was I impressed at the difference
Massive difference I think I’m going to become good friends with this Ultra Deep Shine stuff
So now I’ve just got to sort out the grille as it’s getting chipped to hell, and sort out the front bumper as it’s in a right state
Trax 2010
So Trax has finally turned around, and what a great day it was! 
I have to say, I am proud to be a member of Astra Owners Network. It is more than just a car club, everyone is so friendly, chatty, willing to help out with pretty much anything. They are a great bunch of people, a huge credit to them. The club stand looked awesome as usual, and was pretty big. We had a total of 66 cars on our stand. Yes, sixty six.
Of the Astra Owners Network awards, MissyR quite rightfully won the Car of the Show award for her massively modified arden blue Astra OPC. One of, if not the, best cars on the forum. Best H went to Coxey for his moonland sporthatch, best G went to X_Steph_X for her Astra Coupe and Richgsi2 won the award for best detailed. As always, there is the wooden spoon event for the stupidest mistake of the show. This went to none other than the mental Scot, Wee Mac. She had such a great time at the hotel on the Saturday night that when it was time to leave on Sunday morning, she was still far too drunk to drive her van to Silverstone! Someone else, someone sober, had to drive it there for her
Congratulations to all those prize winners!
I’ve taken a fair few photos, feel free to browse them here: Trax 2010