Today I.....

Today it was MOT time for DEVA.
First time in it's MOT history that she's had an advisory.
Slight cracking in the tyres.

Gutted.
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After a refuel lady night, I was surprised that my average was 64.8mpg whereas my long term average has been 58.9mpg. 1.4 TDI 75. Perhaps my driving is improving or I'm getting slower.
 
Yesterday I took the drive to Leighton Buzzard to avail myself of Tom’s services. Huge kudos for his resilience in pressing on with the work in (unforecast) horrible conditions, and many thanks to Fiona for her kind hospitality, it was definitely an afternoon for warming cups of coffee. I now have my new sports seats lumbar adjustment wired in, mercifully I’d managed not to strip the thread on the partially inserted bolt I hadn’t put in straight (but have learned the perils of laying the seat rails flat on the floor). I also have a false boot floor; Tom had done a great job pre-cutting the holes for the rails in a fresh pair of boot trim panels, but even with this time-saving device I was glad that I didn’t try embarking on this job myself, extremely fiddly. And I also have a smart leather gear knob to replace the original plastic one.

As a bonus, Tom managed to clear the DTCs in the HVAC with a bit of jiggery-pokery of the climate control buttons. He also diagnosed the mysterious little fault I’ve had since I bought the car where it sounds as if it’s trying to lock itself every 30 seconds or so, only while it’s unlocked with the ignition off. It turns out that sometime in its past the original CCCU was swapped for one of the old spec units that are prone to fail, and it looks as if what’s happening is one of the CCCU’s random failure modes. So unless I want to gamble on it not getting worse I’m going to have to invest in a replacement soon.

But altogether a really good day, my FSi is feeling nicely enhanced and further proof of what a great community this is 🙂.
 
I fitted these


Just WOW!!! What a difference it makes to using the car in the dark. Beam pattern seems excellent and a fantastic safety upgrade for me. Obviously MOT concerns etc need to be considered but I couldn’t be more impressed. I think I’ll find an equivalent for the side lights etc now and do both cars.

Thanks to @Raymie who posted the link (and Bob @Jellybean who shortly after posted it cheaper- too late for my initial purchase but not for the 2nd set for dad’s car!)
 
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I have modified relays and fitted them to my A2's, and much prefer the vibrant colour and brightness of indicator leds front and rear. They give far better warning of manoeuvres to others, especially in bright sun light.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
Any video of them in use please👍🏻
 
I fitted these


Just WOW!!! What a difference it makes to using the car in the dark. Beam pattern seems excellent and a fantastic safety upgrade for me. Obviously MOT concerns etc need to be considered but I couldn’t be more impressed. I think I’ll find an equivalent for the side lights etc now and do both cars.

Thanks to @Raymie who posted the link (and Bob @Jellybean who shortly after posted it cheaper- too late for my initial purchase but not for the 2nd set for dad’s car!)
I'm glad to hear that you too are enjoying the upgrade ....for off road use only ....of course ;)

I checked the beam pattern against the garage door before and after and for some reason had to bring one side up a bit.

I'm not able to personally vouch for the longevity of this product so it'll be interesting to find out if they last longer than the normal halogen bulbs.

What has life come to that when talking about lights passes as excitement eh ?
 
Yesterday I fitted my new number plates, into my A2OC surrounds. The surrounds really lift the car, and they’re excellent quality, German made (Helmut Seitz), lots of holes to fit your screws wherever you want and the number plates clip in really neatly. Thank you @FinallyFiona, and to anyone who’s not got them yet, get your order in now!
View attachment 132154

Unfortunately, I ended up making an awful bodge job of the rear plate. The old plate was glued in place with the strongest glue known to mankind and no amount of levering with a screwdriver or chisel would shift it (was worrying about damaging the bodywork) and heating it up didn’t do much to soften the adhesive either. So I ended up mounting the surround over the old plate. It looks ok straight on but unfortunately the edge of the old plate shows at other angles 😕. If anyone has any bright ideas how to remove the old plate I’d be curious to hear!

Thanks for all the suggestions as to how to fix this. In the end some proper heat from a heat gun made the most difference and softened the adhesive enough for me to lever it off, though still required a lot of brute force. Unfortunately my efforts to protect the bodywork weren’t entirely successful so I’ve got a couple of scuffs on the edge of the recess for the number plate but overall it’s looking a whole lot better 👍.
 
Yesterday I took the drive to Leighton Buzzard to avail myself of Tom’s services. Huge kudos for his resilience in pressing on with the work in (unforecast) horrible conditions, and many thanks to Fiona for her kind hospitality, it was definitely an afternoon for warming cups of coffee. I now have my new sports seats lumbar adjustment wired in, mercifully I’d managed not to strip the thread on the partially inserted bolt I hadn’t put in straight (but have learned the perils of laying the seat rails flat on the floor). I also have a false boot floor; Tom had done a great job pre-cutting the holes for the rails in a fresh pair of boot trim panels, but even with this time-saving device I was glad that I didn’t try embarking on this job myself, extremely fiddly. And I also have a smart leather gear knob to replace the original plastic one.

As a bonus, Tom managed to clear the DTCs in the HVAC with a bit of jiggery-pokery of the climate control buttons. He also diagnosed the mysterious little fault I’ve had since I bought the car where it sounds as if it’s trying to lock itself every 30 seconds or so, only while it’s unlocked with the ignition off. It turns out that sometime in its past the original CCCU was swapped for one of the old spec units that are prone to fail, and it looks as if what’s happening is one of the CCCU’s random failure modes. So unless I want to gamble on it not getting worse I’m going to have to invest in a replacement soon.

But altogether a really good day, my FSi is feeling nicely enhanced and further proof of what a great community this is 🙂.
I've only just noticed this. Many thanks for your kind words, Malcolm.

That is the same problem I had on my 2002 BBY.
Tom (@timmus) sorted this for me with a replacement CCCU and 2 key fobs to match in the post a few weeks ago,
Indeed, we had a short conversation about this. Unfortunately for Malcolm, his A2 was originally made with a later-generation, reliable CCCU, but this had been swapped out for a dodgy older one by a previous owner. Someone robbed Peter to pay Paul, I think. :(

Thankfully, it's a service that I can provide by post.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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