my service

[guest3735]

just returned from the annual service "care" of johnsons.... quick, efficient and less money than i was expecting.
door switch recall done with no hassle (i wouldn't have known if it hadn't been mentioned; nothing appears changed) and the mot also done.
now the however.... mot threw up an advisory.... drivers side rear wheel bearing. only had to do one myself in the dim and distant past. i'm not confident enough to repeat the experience! 20% worn, whatever that means. the quote to rectify was £480!!! if i get it done elsewhere (subject to quote) are the honda bearings best, or might a known make be better? do honda make their own? presumably most garages would do it even if i specify OE parts.... although if something else is better.....
there used to be a story that honda wouldn't pay licence fees for stuff like injection or suspension if they could make it themselves.

on another note, johnsons do like their bottles of stuff.... keep trying to flog me injector cleaner at £25 a time. told the service manager that i'd found a source of my own, for considerably less money (£7 i didn't tell him that bit) and that it already had some in. emissions test passed with flying colours.....
now they've changed tack.... engineer recommends due to mileage and age of car (71,500, 2005) that fortron max should be used (£120). politely declined. anyone had any experience of this? does it work? is it worth it? i know it's supposed to clean out the injectors without having to disassemble everything but does it do what they claim of it or is it another "magnets on the fuel line" malarkey?

[culzean]

mot threw up an advisory.... drivers side rear wheel bearing. only had to do one myself in the dim and distant past. i'm not confident enough to repeat the experience! 20% worn, whatever that means. the quote to rectify was £480!!!

Plenty of advice on the replacement of wheel bearings on this forum.  if you are going to do it remember to slacken and re-tighten the hub nut with the wheel on and the tyre firmly on the ground - otherwise the hub will turn against handbrake.  GD model with Drum brake is easy, as you just have to remove drum and hub will slip off easily - not sure about hub with rear disc, you will probably have to take brake caliper off and remove disc from old hub.  Be sure to re-fit hub using a new nut.

OEM Honda bearing around £120 - they will know from your VIN number if you need ABS or non-ABS hub (difference is that the ABS hub has teeth machined on it for the ABS sensor to get pulses from) - you will need 500mm 'breaker bar' (long bar with 1/2" square drive on the end) and 30mm 'full hexagon' socket (6 sided socket,  not the 12 sided 'double hexagon' found in many socket sets, as this will round off the corners of wheel bearing nut) - these two will probably cost £40 total.    Bearings come complete with hub and  integral spacer tube so no adjustment necessary, and almost impossible to over-tighten the nut, tightening torque is 165NM with dry thread,   personally I have never used a torque wrench - just tightened it firmly and knock retaining collar on nut back into groove.   The hub retaining threads on all 4 wheels are normal RH threads (cars used to have LH threads on N/S hubs so that wheel rotation tended to tighten the nut).

[guest4283]

...on another note, johnsons do like their bottles of stuff.... keep trying to flog me injector cleaner at £25 a time. told the service manager that i'd found a source of my own, for considerably less money (£7 i didn't tell him that bit) and that it already had some in. emissions test passed with flying colours.....
now they've changed tack.... engineer recommends due to mileage and age of car (71,500, 2005) that fortron max should be used (£120). politely declined. anyone had any experience of this? does it work? is it worth it? i know it's supposed to clean out the injectors without having to disassemble everything but does it do what they claim of it or is it another "magnets on the fuel line" malarkey?

I've never used injector cleaner in 20 years of motoring. If you use quality brand name fuel it containes all the additives/cleaners your engine/injectors need.

Does a Fuel Injector Cleaner Work?
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fuel-injector-cleaner-does-it-work.html

My mechanic says my injectors are dirty and need to be cleaned. What does that mean?
http://autos.yahoo.com/maintain/repairqa/engine/ques076_4.html

Cutaway of a representative fuel injector et al.:
http://www.carbibles.com/fuel_engine_bible_pg2.html

Magnetic Fuel treatments et al.:
http://www.carbibles.com/fuel_engine_bible_pg6.html

[culzean]

There are gummy bits in the best of petrol that can stick things together (they don't call it dinosaur juice for nothing) ,  best example is a motorbike that is only used during summer - if you don't put something like Redex or STP in the fuel and get it around the system before leaving it you will probably have a strip-down job on the fuel system before it will run come the spring.  Cars that don't do many miles are more prone to injector and fuel system fouling than higher annual mileage engines, and can benefit from a cleaner.   The feeling that your car is 'running better' after a cleaner has been used may be psychological but the increase in mpg may indicate it wasn't a waste of money after all,  and it does more than cleans the injector spray bit,  it should remove varnish and gum from other parts of the system like filters, pump and the injector mechanism itself.

I certainly wouldn't pay £25 for a cleaner, but at around £5 - £6   Redex can't be called a rip-off and from experience it has recovered my motorbike from a hard to start, coughing and spluttering mess to an easy-start clean running miracle a couple of times.  Most cleaners are  mainly Kerosene (paraffin) but it does dissolve petrol varnish, as anyone who has used it to clean a carburetor or fuel pump will attest to.

[guest3735]

sorted the wheel bearing.... i chickened out and went to a pro. result - done in 30 mins at less than half the price of the main dealer.
while i was in a charitable mood i ordered 4 new tyres from blackcircles after my usual supplier was unable to find the 4 his computer said were in stock.... until now have had uniroyal rain expert and found them to be perfectly good tyres. i asked for the same and was told he only had dunlops then found that he didn't have them after all....
did a bit of digging on them while my baby was in at the dealer only to find positive things said about them.
usual supplier £82
main dealer £117 
black circles £76

as a result.... 4 new dunlop eco response blue tyres and they are markedly quieter. according to the EU tyre labels they should be more economy friendly as well as grippier. worth a try.
got a voucher for discounted fuel at tesco given while the tyres were changed. have been running bp super for the last couple of tanks but wonder if anyone knows much about or has tried momentum 99.....

wheel bearing, service, tyres... my car must wonder what's hit it...
now i have a sweetly running car again and i'd like to keep it that way for as long as i can.....