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Decided to upgrade the brakes all around. I got a “Low Pad” Warning a couple weeks ago. I just got the car a month ago. The brakes work great, but wanted to investigate the Low Pad warning.
The rotors all looked either original or really old. The car has 119,000 miles on it and runs great. Got new sensors also.
Install them all, bleed the lines with Dot 4. Came out real nice. I think I’m going to get the calipers powered coated. Red or Yellow? I like red.
This is a common and easy job I know, but I did learn a few things that I wanted to document. My battery was giving me a sluggish start in the morning, but it fired up with no errors. I put this down to not driving it for about a week. Drove to work and then I left work about 4 hours later and again a sluggish start. I wanted to grab some gas, so headed over and squeezed in some 91 octane. Now she's dead, no start. Just a couple of clicks and multiple errors. Got a buddy to give me a jump start and it fired up ok. Errors went away and I drove home and parked it. Shut the car off and then restarted it no problem, no errors. I left it sit for a couple of hours and tried to start it with no joy. Ok, most likely a dead battery. Picked a new H8 and went to work on replacing it. No real issues putting the new one in, went to start it and off she goes running like a champ. The next task was the resets, parking brake no problem. It took me three times to get the passenger window to reset, but I got it. I tested the roof and it popped up about an inch and stopped. Now it won't open or close. The warning on the dash just says roof not latched. So I did a bit of online digging and found that if you hold the button for about a minute, it will eventually go. Never knew that. So after it started moving again I opened and closed it three times and finally on the last run, it operated correctly with all windows closing at the end. Again, not asking for help, just thought I'd post my experience and that's what I did to my X150 today!
Used Mothers California Gold Clay kit last evening - been putting clay bar off. Washed car in the afternoon and the upper surfaces hood, roof and hatch felt rough feel. Went out a bought two kits on sale. Spent hour and a half "baring" the car. Really easy (I was surprised) very little pressure applied - this stuff works really well. Paint work is really smooth and shiny. Used nearly one bottle (16 fluid ounce).
This is a common and easy job I know, but I did learn a few things that I wanted to document. My battery was giving me a sluggish start in the morning, ............. Ok, most likely a dead battery. ........... Again, not asking for help, just thought I'd post my experience and that's what I did to my X150 today!
Good job, and here is some sage advice after a battery replacement......... Batteries sit on trucks, in storage and in 'the back' of stores for sometimes a long time. It is ALWAYS recommended to FULLY charge a new battery before use. Since yours works right now, it should still get a complete top-off charge to make dang certain it is COMPLETELY full. This alone can help a new battery last much longer.
Correct, CeeJay! Gave it a full charge followed by a 15 mile drive to boot. I also noticed that when I first started it, after it had been running for a few minutes, the idle came down as expected but it idled funny initially. After driving it for 15 miles the idle was back to normal. I believe this is due to the car learning your driving style and how that is lost when you replace the battery.
Finally replaced my hl assemblies. The old ones looked great until I compared them to the replacements I bought last year.
I showed a friend the old and new...got the eye roll thing!
but, I'm happy
Got my XK Touring ready for the summer show on the outside, refurbished Kalimnos wheels, MY14 Touring outfitted with Kalimnos wheels which I had refurbished. Drove to a summer hangout in Upstate NY, HEIDS of Liverpool. Got the outside detailed for the summer, refurbished Kalimnos wheels. Then the valley coolant hose began leaking. Back to shop for the repair work.
came out great. Then she sprang a leak, low coolant warning, would not start. The dreaded valley hoses needed replacement. Going to replace the crossover pipe too. I knew this day would come, just never ready when it arrives.
Changed spark-plugs all around, only because I didn't know when they were changed last, or ever. Got the car with 50K miles, now at 112K. Also wanted to see what each cylinder was doing. Bank 2 (left side) was a horrific task - as expected - but bank one was a (relative) breeze. Next long-standing project: chasing down a P219B (air / fuel ratio) issue that's been plaguing me for two years.
So with the blazing heat and and long weekend I decide to firstly align the new exhaust tips after fitting stright pipe I do not know what was causing one side to sit lower than the other any way worked on a fix and it looks better I have now fitted the rear H&R springs and love the lower stance, it feel better digging in and getting traction. Came to do the front and did not know it had a very large torx bolt so that stopped me and then noticed the bail joint boots on the track rod end were split so ordered them. So this weekend end will be front springs, track rod ends and hopefully the cats fault light goes else I will just pull fuse 14 also need to replace FLR as mine has a fault so front bumper also need to come off. So lots of spanner time for me
New slotted/drilled front & rear brakes.
