Thread: Brutus.

They look like 244/75 or possibly 265/70 General Grabber AT2...so 31 inch (AT2 is a generous tread) as opposed to the genuine tyre that is 29.5. At 100 speedo you will be doing about 110 real. I have a Scangauge calibrated by me to show real speed, but I'm used to seeing the real speed on the analogue factory speedo now. Remember to mentally adjust the odometer for servicing and trip metre for economy calcs.

Cheers

Your lights are probably an ABS fault. Look in 'The Good Oil' on here for all the answers. Cheers

So after only a couple of months free of problems Brutus decided that life was far too easy and halfway home from a family gathering there was a loud bang from the engine bay followed by a lot of smoke. When I managed to pull over and open he bonnet i was greeted by a small fire at the top of the engine, the plastic covering the top end of the fan belt was alight, luckily I had a can of drink with me and that sprite isn't flammable.

Upon extinguishing the fire it was discovered that the ACE pump had failed in a spectacular manner, all the fluid had spewed out causing most of the smoke as it hit the hot engine, and the heat from the busted pulley rubbing against the pump body had caught the plastic on fire. Sadly I do not have pictures of the fire as I was too busy panicking to whip out the phone. I do have a picture however of the broken pump after I jimmied it back together to get me home.



That was Thursday, got a secondhand pump Friday along with a replacement shuttle valve for the abs monster and a set of newer model headlights because the passenger side on Brutus was not working properly and the indicator has not worked since i got him, came with HID lights in them too so no more having to squint! All up it took me 6 hours to fit everything, had to get a replacement fan belt too as the old one had worn almost entirely on one side due to the pump failure.
I need to get a new coat of paint now on the front grille and the headlight surround as the grille took a scratching from my son trying to help me out, and the car the headlights came off was silver. But that's a job for another day, as is putting up more pictures.

Oh, and I took off the bulbar because when I removed it to change the lights I discovered how badly it had been 'installed' it now awaits me having the time to do some work on it, have to take the light covers off as the rust on those parts is impressive, the whole thing needs a coat of paint and the mounts are wonky, something a former owner has rectified by adding a random piece of metal with new holes in it to level it up on the car.

The new pump works fine, no more squeaks from the fan belt, and the headlights work wonders. Only issues left are the abs, which a new shuttle valve did bugger all to fix, the SRS light is constantly on after I bumped up the kerb at the mother-in-laws a couple of weeks ago, the cruise control has also packed up as has the horn. But not when the alarm goes off... Works fine then as I discovered when the wife went out to the car to get something she forgot at 3am and didn't unlock it with the buttons on the key. Hopefully I can find a solution to some of these issues in the coming weeks, if anyone has any ideas I am all ears.

Sounds like Brutus has had a bad run , SRS , horn , cruise control , all go through the rotary coupler , might pay to look there but nanocom would be helpful and try the option b mod for the Mexicans
although once again diagnostics would put you on the right track

alarm horn and car horn are individual items shudder could be gearbox fluid needs changingSRS is usually the yellow connector under the drivers seat, just replug

Thanks guys!

I checked the plugs under the seat to see if an were loose but could not find anything that seemed disconnected, might try this rotary coupler tomorrow in daylight, though not entirely sure what it looks like I am sure it's probably obvious. Nanocom would be great but I don't know of anywhere that has one, let alone one I can use so going for the 'prod everything if could possibly be' method, I think the Mexicans can wait for now and I'll see if I can't get the srs and cruise control done and working first, figure the abs will result in too much stress right now plus I am limited on the amount of swearing I can do with a pair of toddlers hanging around

Rotary coupler isn't obvious unfortunately, it involves removal of the steering column shrouds and steering wheel , the reason I have suggested it is because horn , airbag ( srs) and cruise all run through it , not very scientific but one thing you might be able to do without nanocom is hold the horn button while thumping the steering wheel , if the contacts in the coupler touch your horn might briefly sound . as Pedro mentioned this is a different horn to your alarm horn which is under the bonnet , which obviously works , I was trying to sort out what doesn't, and yep you can unplug and replug the yellow connector under the seat to see if your SRS light goes out , if it doesn't then it could point back to the coupler , of course this might be all coincidental as your horns ( behind the grill ) may be stuffed , the srs light might be something to do with your wonky bull bar and the cruise control could be a fuse but we have to start somewhere. Anyone with a nanocom around 450 Dan's area?.
With the shudder it's probably worth going to a mechanic ( competent)
as its easier to diagnose by driving it.

Ok so daylight allowed me to properly see the connectors under the driver seat, played around with those to no avail, also had a quick look to see about the rotary coupler but have no idea how to remove the steering wheel, figure I will do some net research and attack it when I have a full day spare and don't need to run the wife to work, so likely the weekend. Took the opportunity to paint the headlight surround from silver to green, looks a lot better now. Also did a bit of a cleanup on the bullbar







It is at this point I realise that I am now missing a spotlight surround as well. Joy oh well, will retrace my steps and see if it's on the road when I pick the missus up from work