As a new boy here I'm three weeks into my Z3 ownership experience and I love and hate the car in equal amounts, and both surprise me... but regardless of my feelings I always want my cars to be the best they can and my immediate concerns were helped and talked through by the awesome @colb today. A few posts on here got some interaction going and Colin invited me over to Newport so he could help with my spinning ignition barrel... which he fixed in about five minutes of me getting there and I was still waffling about nothing as usual!
Colin was so welcoming and immediately got over and under my new purchase with some reassuring remarks about me actually buying something so good for so little... that was nice to have confirmed! Colin then got his laptop out and started reading the codes on the car. I genuinely thought this could be the Pandora's box that the cheap car price was hiding. But no. A number of historical codes were shown but erasing and rescanning showed that they no longer existed... another wave of relief!
I was chatting through my few remaining concerns with my little 16V and mentioned my thoughts about the clutch and also the suspension. The clutch bites really high and does slip on harsh acceleration and the suspension feels a bit crashy and bouncy - my thoughts were shock issues. So I asked Colin if he could take it for a drive and see what he thought. He then proceeded to throttle the hell out of the little car and got more out of second than I have out of third!! And the car showed itself to be a little gem and I think Colin had some fun showing it who the boss was! And he agreed the clutch is on the way out - just maybe not as quickly as I thought its' demise was. And he also agreed with my shock absorber analysis - but suggested to start with replacing the rears first which I'm going to do. It's worth noting we did have a decent chat about what to do and when to do it and for my own peace of mind I am going to push ahead in getting the clutch done this month, and then the shocks.
Yesterday the car also starting chirping under low revs and Colin got his stethoscope out and started investigating that too. I thought it may have been a pulley or belt in the water pump area and Colin thinks it may be a bearing in the alternator. I'll get my mechanic to have a listen when he sorts the clutch.
Wow, I waffle! I only wanted to write this to say thank you, Colin - was great meeting you and thanks so much for your invaluable help and expertise and I look forward to seeing you again soon and in meeting more of you forumites at ZedShed Newport and beyond!!
Colin was so welcoming and immediately got over and under my new purchase with some reassuring remarks about me actually buying something so good for so little... that was nice to have confirmed! Colin then got his laptop out and started reading the codes on the car. I genuinely thought this could be the Pandora's box that the cheap car price was hiding. But no. A number of historical codes were shown but erasing and rescanning showed that they no longer existed... another wave of relief!
I was chatting through my few remaining concerns with my little 16V and mentioned my thoughts about the clutch and also the suspension. The clutch bites really high and does slip on harsh acceleration and the suspension feels a bit crashy and bouncy - my thoughts were shock issues. So I asked Colin if he could take it for a drive and see what he thought. He then proceeded to throttle the hell out of the little car and got more out of second than I have out of third!! And the car showed itself to be a little gem and I think Colin had some fun showing it who the boss was! And he agreed the clutch is on the way out - just maybe not as quickly as I thought its' demise was. And he also agreed with my shock absorber analysis - but suggested to start with replacing the rears first which I'm going to do. It's worth noting we did have a decent chat about what to do and when to do it and for my own peace of mind I am going to push ahead in getting the clutch done this month, and then the shocks.
Yesterday the car also starting chirping under low revs and Colin got his stethoscope out and started investigating that too. I thought it may have been a pulley or belt in the water pump area and Colin thinks it may be a bearing in the alternator. I'll get my mechanic to have a listen when he sorts the clutch.
Wow, I waffle! I only wanted to write this to say thank you, Colin - was great meeting you and thanks so much for your invaluable help and expertise and I look forward to seeing you again soon and in meeting more of you forumites at ZedShed Newport and beyond!!
