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Yes, that’s the connector for the seatbelt tensioner. Be very careful with that trim panel. A mechanics mirror also helps find the clip locations.
I looked at the manual and saw where the clips were, gor behind gently and wiggled the panel free from all 4. It's currently held in place by the top belt mount. I'll get that undone after work and pull it off.
On a 2-wire system I'm thinking the test method will cause "short to battery" if the ground side pin isn't making contact and the loop floats up to +ve so hopefully cleaning the terminals helps.
It hasn't fired so it's either that or a broken wire, but it was intermittent so I'm leaning on corroded contacts.
I think the description of short to plus is wrong in this case. I beleave more correct description would be high resistance or resistance out of range.
I think the description of short to plus is wrong in this case. I beleave more correct description would be high resistance or resistance out of range.
Fair enough. Makes sense. I pulled the connector off and got OPEN CIRCUIT so the wiring is good, the pretensioner has actually died.
Had to glue the slider for the top mount back together, pulled without looking and the knob for sliding the top mount up and down doesn't actually fit through the hole.
Today's task was to repair two small dents on the edge of the passenger-side headlights. Filled, Sanded, Masked, Primed, and painted. Tomorrow will be wet-sanded and the final polish. Those two small dents were the only imperfections in an otherwise pristine exterior.
The effect was that of a beautiful woman who smiles, and is missing a tooth. It was just wrong.
The dents.
Filled and primed.
Two base coats of British Racing Green
Five coats of lacquer before polish. It needs to dry overnight before final polish (tomorrow's task).
Interesting car to work on. I have not worked with body metal this thick since my 1949 Chevrolet 3600 pickup. Definitely not the pop can fenders on the typical modern car!
Wish I could paint like that, but it's a skill I've consistently failed to master.
Most people obsess over getting the application part of paint perfect. That's probably the least important. Getting the surface prepped is key. After that, you can use a rattle can if it's from a good producer. As long as you follow directions, don't goop it on, and have a clean surface and environment, the rest is just patience and elbow grease AFTER the paint is on the car. For me, it's a bit like drywall seams: someone really good hardly has to sand it. Me? I spend a LOT of time very slowly wet sanding with 1500, then 2500, and finally 5000 grit to remove any orange peel or other imperfections, always stopping and carefully checking along the way. Then it's just a few more minutes to polish the paint. If you missed any imperfections you'll see them now, and if so it's back to sanding that area again. It's slow, but it works for me. Never had to do a job twice, but you'd not want to pay me by the hour. I repainted the entire fender. To do the entire car would likely take me about a month or so, one section at a time. But, it beats paying someone 7 to 10 grand.
BTW: I painted that 1949 truck when I was 16 years old in 1970. Did it with a gallon can of flat black Rustoleum and a 4" brush. Looked great to me!
I had to pull the center wooden panel the other day to remove the center console and armrest assembly. Crunch pop all the plastic broke again.
Removed the backing box and grilles. Started supergluing my fingers together.
Decided to reinforce the broken sections with some bits of circuit board because that was what I had to hand that's fairly tough and I know accepts glue well.
Strong enough to hold the spring clips again.
Net result: dash doesn't fall out when I accelerate hard now. Only made slightly crunchy noises pushing it back in.
Good enough.
Also, embarrassed a guy in his big tired, jacked up, straight piped F150 at the red light. Was approaching the green to make a left. Was doing about 25-30 because I didn't want it to change on me. The car just took the turn in its stride and I then put my foot down into the new road.
A glance in the mirror saw him across two lanes, nearly into the shoulder, then a big cloud of black smoke as he tried to catch up. He only did because I caught the next red... I do like this car. People seriously underestimate it.
Phil
When I was removing the door panels on my car to replace the door latches and microswitches, I put a small electric heater in the car overnight to warm everything up. With an unheated garages and night temperatures near 0, the 22-yr-old plastic in my car would not handle stress while cold. If it's a delicate piece, I warm it with a hairdryer before trying to remove it. Same with the headlights if they need to be popped out. Warm plastic bends better than cold plastic. Of course, LA is a bit warmer than upstate NY. Still, it is February.
When I was removing the door panels on my car to replace the door latches and microswitches, I put a small electric heater in the car overnight to warm everything up. With an unheated garages and night temperatures near 0, the 22-yr-old plastic in my car would not handle stress while cold. If it's a delicate piece, I warm it with a hairdryer before trying to remove it. Same with the headlights if they need to be popped out. Warm plastic bends better than cold plastic. Of course, LA is a bit warmer than upstate NY. Still, it is February.
To be fair, it was broken when I got the car, and had glued it all together. It was 85° when I pulled the console a few days ago (it's 35° now, huzzah southern weather patterns). It had mostly broken at the joints because that plastic is so thin and underspecified for being able to have the alloy panels pushed into it (and removed).
That and all the ABS and ABS/PC plastics on the car are so so so brittle now with age.
BTW: I painted that 1949 truck when I was 16 years old in 1970. Did it with a gallon can of flat black Rustoleum and a 4" brush. Looked great to me!
Years ago I painted a LR Discovery with a 4" roller & a tin of bright orange household gloss almost the same colour as the G4 cars. Looked great from 10ft away... surprisingly as all I did was lightly sand the car first it also stayed off when scraped over rocks etc offroading it.
I can't spray and I can't weld. I've tried & failed every time so given them up as stuff to pay others for.
I had to pull the center wooden panel the other day to remove the center console and armrest assembly. Crunch pop all the plastic broke again.
Removed the backing box and grilles. Started supergluing my fingers together.
Decided to reinforce the broken sections with some bits of circuit board because that was what I had to hand that's fairly tough and I know accepts glue well.
Strong enough to hold the spring clips again.
Net result: dash doesn't fall out when I accelerate hard now. Only made slightly crunchy noises pushing it back in.
Good enough.
Also, embarrassed a guy in his big tired, jacked up, straight piped F150 at the red light. Was approaching the green to make a left. Was doing about 25-30 because I didn't want it to change on me. The car just took the turn in its stride and I then put my foot down into the new road.
A glance in the mirror saw him across two lanes, nearly into the shoulder, then a big cloud of black smoke as he tried to catch up. He only did because I caught the next red... I do like this car. People seriously underestimate it.
Phil
Great idea reinforcing. I should have done the same when regluing a broken bracket ( I also found it like that) in the AC panel just to be future proof.
Great idea reinforcing. I should have done the same when regluing a broken bracket ( I also found it like that) in the AC panel just to be future proof.
Yeah, know what you mean. The panel that came with my car had no arms. It just kinda floated in place. The replacement for that because one display driver chip had quit has one, at least. It's better...
Just ordered a pair of front lower shock mount bushings, because the roads around here destroyed the old ones and the right one now goes clunk.
Left won't be far behind, so that can be changed also.
Placed an offer on a seat belt assembly also, hopefully that one doesn't have the same electrical fault as this one. It looks in slightly cleaner condition than mine, so that's promising. Shall see.
Finally got the rear main engine seal replaced along with the oil pan gasket. Was at my brothers and did it in his barn with car lift! No leaking on the garage floor now!
