50K Service

Mileage: 49,318KM

As usual, GeotAuto was the service centre for this 50K maintenance interval. Nothing much has been done to my car from the last service to be shared here the experience (no DIY for the past couple of months).

It was done one day before this year Chinese New Year. I reached the service centre at around 8:30AM. I was there a day before but the queue was long, I've to leave it for almost 4 hours if I want to do it that day.

Mileage registered; short of 600KM

Since I'm early today, so I decided to give them some extra work (money also :( ahahaha) and my car is almost 2 years old. Changing radiator coolant would be a good idea. Furthermore, there is a squealing noise emitted from the front right hand side wheel, more likely from the brake system. Another one for them to rectify.

The front disc rotor

After a 5 minutes of brainstorming with the mechanic, we unanimously agreed to skim the brake pad (the edges not the surface ;)) as brake disc / rotor is not recommended. The latter part is advisable to be replaced only.

Bleeding time

This was the longest time to wait. Roughly 45 minutes wasted on time and petrol.

The bill

The damage for the wallet and a token of appreciation from the oil company. Looks like a smartphone but actually a slide up calculator with clock function.

The coolant part is a bit confusing. Just noticed it after I reached my office. It was written as "Coolant Liquid/1 Liter" and the total cost was RM20. But they poured in a 5 liter pre-mixed coolant. Strange, or is it the actual price for the coolant?

40K Service

Mileage: 39,944KM

Done at Geotauto, Petaling Jaya. Arrived at 3:45PM and service completed at 4:50PM. 40K service excluding the "free wash" service, did not want to get caught in Pasar Ramadhan traffic jam. Grand total RM409.20, a bit cheaper as I've done transmission lube service in 30K service.

Mileage registered at 39,944KM short of 56KM

Usual diagnostic check, no fault recorded

Here are the parts changed in this service apart from the lube and oil filter....

• fuel filter
• air filter
• spark plugs

Part 1 of the bill

Part 2 of the bill

Out of Juice

Mileage: 36,630KM
Do It Yourself: Yes
Difficulty: Easy

Today, my car battery was out of juice. I've been using the original battery for almost 16 months. It started yesterday with a single chime and unsuccessfully fire up the engine when switched on the ignition. Today it was totally flat...

The original battery.

Notice the date on self made sticker. My car registered in March 2009. The battery has been in the engine 3 months earlier.

The replacement battery.

The replacement battery is GP-Atlas. A Din 44 maintenance free battery for the cost of RM330. The price tag is in DIN 66 range. The price that I have to pay for a rare battery size in Malaysian automotive scene.

I was not too picky on the brand, anyway, I have another Din 66 GP-Atlas in my other ride. Still good till today, almost 2 years now. Rule of thumb when finding a car battery for me is to buy it from the nearest workshop from my home as it will be easier for me to claim the 12 months warranty (except if I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere).

The workshop owner did asked me what car it is for as he never order this type of battery before. Luckily he managed to source out for me. If anybody wanted a cheaper alternative, a Din 55 is a suitable source which is cheaper but you cannot use the original battery cover thou.

Other Din 44 battery brands that are available in Malaysia are Century and Delkor (happy hunting). Imported brands are Bosch and Varta. Expect to pay a hefty price for the latter (found one in Eneos 1U, a Din 44 Bosch battery is at RM460).

Warranty Claims Marathon

Mileage: 35,802KM

Today, I went to three service centres to make claims. Three is enough to call it "Marathon". Spent almost a full working hours to get everything back to order.



At 10AM, reached Geot Auto to claim for the most famous bearings failure on 206. Before that, I made a call in the morning to ask them about the stock and to report a new problem discovered last night.

My bearings started to emit the pulsating sound since 31K KM in the odometer. Just imagine, drove another 5K KM, with the turbo spinning sound but without the "kepishhhh"

"Sir, we have stock for the bearings but not the fuel pump"

When I'm there, made another query about it. Still have the same reply in fact they have two customers in the waiting list.

"Do you think Blue Box has it?" I asked the SA. "I'm not sure, you have to go there and make a new claim" He replied.

My new bearings, top and bottom (covered with black plastic). Photo captured at home

45 minutes later, I drove off from Geot and heading to Blue Box. When I reached there, I was hampered with the news....

"Sorry, you have to go to our Batu Tiga branch. We're no longer service and do any warranty claims for Bestari"

Supplied with a photocopy of Google Map, given by the SA. The hunt for the Batu Tiga SC begins.

When I'm there, there are a lot of Bestari, a few Sutera and Forza. Hmmm, this gonna take a while or maybe they can't fix it by today.

Met the SA. A nice lady. Explained to her the purpose I'm coming here but sadly....

SA:"Encik kena buat appointment dulu ye"

ME:"Ohhh ok, bila next available slot? Nak check pun kena buat appointment dulu ker?"

SA:"Next slot hari Jumaat atau Isnin next week, bole ke?"

ME:"Hari Isnin baru nak check? Emmm macam nie laa. Saya call hari Isnin utk confirm stock fuel pump, kalau ada baru saya datang. OK?"

SA:"Confirm kaa fuel pump?"

ME:"Confirmed, Geot dah check tapi diaorang takder stock. Lagipun dalam keta dah bau petrol. Anak saya nie alah habuk, so kena pakai air-cond tapi kalau dah bau petrol dalam keta camner nak pakai air-cond. Nanti apa jadi kat anak saya tak pasal-pasal saya kena dakwa"

I do not know how I can came out with this lame excuse but it worked, plus a couple of eye winks hahaha.

SA:"Camnie laaa encik, saya check dengan store dulu kalau ada saya buka job sheet, tapi mungkin ambil masa sikit. Bole ke?"

ME:"Ok, saya boleh tunggu sampai tutup kedai"

The Service Invoice

The new fuel pump and new oil ring (not visible) but saw it in the part replacement sheet

Arrived at SC around 11AM. The job started around 2PM because waiting for the part to arrive from their warehouse. Plus with some miss communication, I collected the car at 5PM. Supposedly, I can pick it up around 3:30PM. 2 hours wasted.

Alas, there are few PC to surf with, wifi available, Nestle machine for the free flow, Astro (tv leper lagi) to watch... and sofas to doze off so it kinda cool down my nerves.

This SC is wonderful, only the supplied engine oil (Petro...) and restricted access to working bays area would make me think twice to have my schedule service here.

Tomorrow, I will pay a visit to Blue Box Sparepart Department. During the early troubleshooting of the fuel pump leakage, I accidentally broke off one of the fuel pump under seat cover's latch. The cost is RM30 for the part.

Beep... Beep....

Mileage: 30,480KM
Do It Yourself: Yes (Access to Peugeot Planet 2000 required)
Difficulty: Average to Hard

Just got a hold on Peugeot Security System for my Pug.

The package (image courtesy of ebay UK)

Because of an agreement made between me and the seller, I can't reveal the price in this blog.... sorry guys; but I can give you the information of the seller so anybody wanted to have this system can contact the seller directly (maybe some of you guys might already know where I got this unit).

Anyway, here are the images. Sorry no details DIY steps as I'm on a bit rush to get this job done. The instruction manual supplied was clear enough to have this system up and activated. It is plug-activate-play system.

RTFM... I read the manual thrice to understand on how to install it

In short, Bestari already has the wiring installed from the factory but missing a few connections namely the front hood sensor and BSI wiring. My car already equipped with LED so I can omit the supplied LED. I did a mistake whereby I laid rear boot wiring all the way to rear of the car from the dash and found it is not working. The problem solved by using the pre-installed factory wiring (you can find this connector underneath the boot floor trim near the boot lock anchor).

Front hood switch sensor

Another view

Sorry for blurred images. It was very hard to get a good angle. Anyway, it is a black color switch between the two springs.

The siren

Backup battery is built in the siren housing. Requires 8 hours to fully charge and can supply 1 hour of blast

The alarm control box

Situated just above BSI unit under the dash. The blue connector is from the BSI and sensors and the brown connector is for ultrasonic sensors.

Ultrasonic sensors, on both A pillars

I'm trying to source out another Peugeot part to conceal the sensors. Hopefully I can find it else I have to search it high and low at half cut shops.

Boot lock anchor replacement part, equipped with switch sensor.

I've spent almost four hours to have the system installed. A 15KM journey to my favorite workshop to have the BSI recognize and activate the alarm. It's only a 10 minutes task and FOC (my workshop is not an authorized Peugeot Service Center but he have Peugeot Planet 2000 and much more expert than the service dealer). The system works flawlessly and ....

Peugeot approval stamp

In conclusion, apart from the normal automatic central locking function, these are the additional features provided by the alarm system....

• A short beep if the system detected any open compartments when activating the alarm
• Alarm will trigger if any open compartment detected (as any other alarm does)
• Alarm will trigger if any movement detected inside the cabin
• The MFD will not only show "Open Doors", now it have additional warnings "Front Bonnet Open" and "Boot Lid Open"
• The LED has additional blinking mode called rapid blinking to inform alarm has been triggered without owner presence
• The key fob now act as reset mode if the alarm goes off (case of flat key fob battery), just insert to ignition barrel and switch to ON to reset

That's all, the drawbacks. No beeps when activating or deactivating the alarm, typical continental car and no PANIC button / mode.

30K Service

Mileage: 29,510KM

Service done at Geotauto, Petaling Jaya. Arrived at 3:45PM and service completed at 4:30PM. Grand total RM465.14 including transmission lube change.

Registered mileage

Continue for more photos...

Diagnostic check

Bill; Part 1

Bill; Part 2

Rubber Blade

Mileage: 24,612KM
Do It Yourself: Yes
Difficulty: Easy

My rear wiper rubber blade gave away early this week. It was tore at both edges. Instead of buying a replacement unit, I decided to do DIY using wiper blade refill.

Sorry for the out of focus picture

Another view of the ill fated rubber blade

I went to Eneos 1U and got myself the blade refill. The length of the rear wiper is 14 inch and make sure the width is not less than 6.5mm, best if you can get 7.5mm.

The refill, claimed to be made from silicone rubber

To remove the old rubber, just pull at either one of the edge and slide out the whole rubber lining.

Slide out the rubber....

The parts, from the top.... the wiper frame, the original metal brackets, the original rubber and the refill unit

I'm using back the original metal bracket. After swapped the bracket, I just cut out the extra 2 inch from the refill unit. If using the original metal bracket, then it will be easy to estimate the length. Did I mentioned the refill is 16inch in length?

Chop off the extra

Done... waiting to fix back at the car

Viola... it's done. Took me about less than 30 minutes to assemble it and cost me RM12.80.

Wet Light

Mileage: 23,200KM

Months ago, I've posted a blog about "Wet Tail". Today, I have the same issue again with the other one. Last time it was the right side.

Anyway, the DIY steps are same as previous entry.

You can see the water line inside the light, look at the bottom right corner

Another view of the light

Note:

• I use the same steps as previous DIY. Using silicone adhesive sealant.
• After a close inspection, I could not figure out how the water got into the light. Seems this case a bit different. The water might got into the light through the waterproof padding, coz it was damp.

Bumper Scars...

Mileage: 22,815KM

Last weekend, parked my car after done weekly grocerry shopping. Then I noticed something which is not look so good to my eyes. How did the scars end up there, at my front bumper?

The whole night I've been thinking about it, I did not bump to anyone nor hit any pillars (not again!) or curbs. I did not even feel any knocking vibrations through out the whole journey...

The scars (pic without flash)

The scars (pic with flash)

The scratch is quite deep. The impact chipped off the paint and also the bumper fibre. Luckly it did not crack.

Suddenly, wifey broke the silence. She said a rider bumped the car when she was on the way home from office. The impact even ripped off the black plastic moulding but she clipped it back to the bumper after the accident.

And not so funny part is.... the accident happened two days earlier. Tisk.. tisk... tisk...

I think I won't repair the scratch as it is not so obvious. The bumper material is made from a white colored fibre and my pug is quartz blue. The scratch is not so apparent. I will leave it until I'm ready to paint the whole bumper.

Hertz 240 Watt 4 Speakers 1 Subwoofer

Mileage: 20,850KM
Do It Yourself: Yes (Some parts may need professional help)
Difficulty: Average to Hard

Happy New Year!!!

Just one day after new year, I began to think of upgrading the interior of my Pug particularly on audio. By far, this is the most challenging DIY to date, but I managed to do it within the weekend.

I'm in love in car audio since I've own my first car. I've learn a lot, some from the professionals, others by trial & error basis.

Anyway, for my Pug. I've decided of "SQ" setup. This is the most challenging setup in car audio because it is more on Sound Quality, clarity, sound balance through out the entire sound frequency (we are talking a big range here from 20Hz to 20kHz). Another setup called "SPL" (Sound Pressure Level), this is more on raw power and the main objective is how loud you setup can produce before audio clipping, quality is second here.

The drawback on SQ are...

• Expensive components involve.
  
• Hard to tune but once you hit it, shortcut roads are not in your option anymore.

Hertz ESK165 System

Before choosing Hertz, I went a lot of audition on other brands just to get the best value for money (and promotion, this is the jackpot), namely.... (all of the audition was based on my ears and what was available at the dealer at that time. I'm not auditioning their demo car as this is unfair)

• Macrom - Italy, good vocal but lack of mid bass. I own one of the M2 5" series and still having it in my Kancil.
  
• Mohawk - Malaysia, good value for money but it is more on SPL, lately their products able to tune to SQ but I'm still skeptic on the performance.
• MB Quart - Germany, very harsh tweeter.
• Dynaudio - Germany, very well known to SQ community and too common.
• Rainbow - Germany, not very much option. A nice SQ.
  
• Sinfoni - Italy, hand crafted and not very much option. A nice SQ.

Why I chose Hertz....

• I've got promotion at that time.
• Not too common.
• Manufactured by the company who produce a well known Audison amplfier, Conection accessories etc.
• Very good mid bass and well balance soft sounded tweeter.

I still have plenty of upgrade plan, this is considered as part one because I only have Hertz front components. The system was matched with my...

• Two years old Clarion APX4240 amplifier (purchased it from Eneos 1U).
• Four years old al cheepo subwoofer (the box was given to me by my friend as he accidentally fried the voice coil and unable to get the replacement. Luckily for me, I've found 8" bass speaker on sale).
• Peugeot RD3 head unit.
  

For this setup, I laid a one time installation using 8AWG grade cable for the power and ground and 18AWG grade cable for the speakers. The is no RCA output from the head unit, so I've to use the speaker level input. Furthermore, the stock head unit does not have remote lead to turn on the amplifier. Until I found a good way to solve this issue, I will use my cigarette lighter 12V feed as the remote lead signal temporarily.

My simple setup diagram

The Hertz box

For 12VDC feed for the amplifier, I tapped directly from the battery. Well it is not directly on the terminal, I'm using the relays and fuses box. With the cover, it is well hidden from the plain sight.

The relays and fuses box

The cable was laid beside the battery all the way to the firewall. If you notice, there is an extra rubber gourmet which is just nice for the cable to pass through.

The 40 amp fuse tube and firewall entry point

A view behind the glove box compartment. The cable was laid along the door sill to the boot

Ground point. If you wonder where is the location, it is on the left side of the boot under the trim, just below the parcel shelf

The remote signal feed, tapped from the cigarette lighter, I'm disabling my lighter function at the moment

The remote signal cable path beside the hand brake lever all the way to rear bench

The speaker output from the head unit was directed to amplifier. Then, the output from the amplifier was connected back to the original wiring to drive the speakers. This is speaker level input method. All of the wiring connection was done using heat shrink tubing, much more reliable than the pvc tape or block connector. IMHO.

The head unit wiring

All the speaker cables are routed behind the instrument cluster, then downward at the A pillar to the door sill. The cables are laid along the door sill using all the factory supplied wiring harness.

View at the fuse / BSI area

Door sill at the driver side

Temporarily, the amplifier was not properly mounted in the boot. Plan to change it later.

Clarion APX4240

I'm using two method of amplifier gain adjustments. Mathematical using multimeter and ears approach. Since I do not have oscilloscope to be able to tune perfectly. It will be done up to my satisfactory level.

Mathematical approach...

• Get the optimal speaker output voltage in AC by getting the square root of RMS power of the amplifier x the speaker impedance. In may case, it was 15.5 volt.
• Connect the multimeter to the speaker output of the amplifier. Set it to 20VAC range.
• For front component, I'm using 1000Hz test tone recorded at 0dB, for sub is 50Hz test tone.
• Flat out the bass and treble; turned off the loudness.
• Crank up the head unit volume to 3/4 of the maximum volume (which is 22) and increase the amplifier gain to get 15.5 volt.
• Note: For my setup, I've to turn down the volume to 1/2 as 3/4 yield a 22VAC before gain which definitely a clipping.

Ears approach...

• After done the above adjustment, I'm using a few audio CDs to fine tune the sound staging and subwoofer level.
• It is a mixed music from Celine Dion (A New Day Has Come), Ella (A Journey Beyond...), Search (Memori Hit Rock Otai), Awesome 80's Disc 3 compilation, Metallica (Black); M. Nasir (Terbaik M. Nasir - the best album to test full frequency of sound production; rich of orchestral instruments) and a few track from IASCA Test Audio.
• Finally, the setup was done with 65Hz highpass for the front components and 65Hz lowpass for the subwoofer.

My subwoofer, need to get 12 inch after this to feel the very low frequency

The rear view of the 6.5 inch Hertz speaker driver. I've also done soundproofing on all of the 4 doors (this was done at the shop prior to my audio project) using STP Material (StandartPlast)

The tweeter mounted at the original bracket

Although the tweeter looks small, it is actually same as the factory fitted tweeter. The original tweeter looks big because of the casing. The white connector is an aftermarket connector, you can have the casing from any electronic outlets.

The rear view of the tweeter

Hertz supplied with a lot of tweeter mounting kit to cater all kind of installation. The one I'm using is direct replacement of OEM mounting. There are flush mounting, surface mounting and wedge mounting with 30 and 60 degrees angle.

Door view before assembling the door card.

The mid bass speaker was mounted on a spacer as there is not enough depth to fix the speaker. The passive crossover was taped to the door membrane. A few cuts was done at the door card styrofoam before fixing to accommodate the crossover.

That's all from now. To be continued...

Update (10/1/2010):

• Reuse the original sponge lining (which is glued together with the OEM speaker). No more excessive door card vibration.
• Changed the mid bass speaker cable to 18AWG, originally using supplied tweeter cable.
• Changed both tweeters polarity as it were out of phase.
• Changed the speaker spacer / adapter from MDF to plastic, more robust and fit nicely.
• Rerouted ground and power cable termination points to minimize cable tension.
• Downgrade the fuse rating from 40AMP to 20AMP, adequate for current amplifier requirement