mart360

My nearside dipped beam decided to expire yesterday so after trying to source a replacement, and staring in disbelief ay what a local retailer wanted for one bulb, £30! ,went home and looked online in detail. Initial thoughts wernt good, with access on the nearside being restriced by the battery & washer bottle filler On the offside was the snorkel thingy, so that looked daunting... Anyway bulbs first.... dont know wether i can promote them, but ECP ;) are running an online offer on bulbs I picked up a H7 477 osram nightbreaker unlimited for £17.99 . bargain i though, so i ordered 2 Went to pick them up tonight, and the assistant brought out one box and went to get the other ... Close inspection saw that each box had 2 bulbs in it not 1 So i only needed one box at £17.99 :) smiles all round Antyway back to the job in hand. Checked the web, and results varied from headlights out, to remove inner skins of the wheel arch liners ... eeek Anyway, i popped the bonnet and had a look... Nearside... yes access tight. I could remove the battery, but still the washerbottle neck is in the way... So then i thought, what if i can move the washerbottle filler ... One clip/screw later the bottle was pulled to oneside allowing access to the bulb cover.. Once that was removed it was a simple matter of unplugging the blown bulb... As access is still tight, and not wanting to touch the bulb, i found the easiest way to do everything is to pop the bulb into the lamp unit and refit the spring clip assembly... then its just a pushfit on the power connector Replace the cover, move the wsher bottle filler neck back, and refit the screw job done The offside was broadly speaking the same... The Snorkel is held on by 2 screw clips, once removed the snorkel just pulls out of the airbox once that is removed, you have easy access to the bulb cover, remove an replce the bulb as per before Refit the snorkel, making sure is located into the airbox, and refit the screws,clips Thats it :) Took me about 30 mins all in Mart :D

Some of you may be aware that over the pond there is a recall for Takata airbags Looking at the posted list of vehicles it affects the US Legacy & Outback from about 2003 THe Vin checker listed dosent recognise UK vins, so were probably OK ;) There is rumor that this recall may be extended ..... how true and how wide the recall remain to be seen Mart

The 53 Outback has a red ring, I often thought, that polar white would be a better colour Mart

OK i wanted to add handsfree & Mp3 to my Outback, Current head unit is bereft of an aux in socket or bluetooth Looking at the aftermarket options ther was Grom - a 3rd party interface Parrot - i.O Play - Grom was discounted due to the amount of work and cost Parrot was discounted as ive allready had one, and was not impressed So i went for the iO play - it come is 2 versions, one for media streaming and one for calls (although each unit can do both) I went with the media streaming version, as it comes with its own 200W amp built in Fitting was straightforward, once i'd got the centre console and other behind dashboard crap out of the way lol 2x speakers (one for a previous handsfree, and one for the nav unit thingy) and there respective control boxes and wiring lol . Fitting the iOplay unit was straightforward, as it fitted perfectly behing the centre cubby unit one bridge lead to run from the stock HU to the IO unit (£17 if i recall) Mounting the ipod lead was easy, just a small hole to feed the connector through, and a 4mm hole for the aux port The controller sits just below the gear selector, Question ? Where to put the display .... big issue this, where to put it so you can see it, Guarantee a bit of stealth... and not block any of the dash display ?? Answer:- On the dashboard.. highly visible, but not easy to see when not in use.. Cubby - Controller Display sits nicely in the line of sight, but dosent block any of the display Mart

OK Update:- This solution works for UK models, it does however has some compromises It should also work for other markets again with compromises The current UK part number for the info display is 85201AG 040E Today i picked up a display with the following part number 85201AG 110 Main differences - No bright button as on the UK spec part On the rear power connector there are only 2 pins on the lower row of the connector block as opposed to 3 on the UK/Bright button varient. After confirming the unit worked, i opened it up to see if it had the connector pads for the bright button & light fitted. hoping it was just a different front bezel. No luck I'm afraid, The board is specific, and has no pads or light where the UK bright button should be. However interestingly, instead of the 3 large resistors on the bottom of the unit, there are only 2, the centre resistor space is home to a clock crystal Operation :- All functions work. However, this is where you have some compromises The Ambient temperature is displayed in F as opposed to C The consumption is in MPG ( OK for the UK market) You cannot change the brightness of the display its full brightness Also you can no longer change the brightness of the Dashboard display The unit lit up bright on power up, but after cycling the dials the odometer display dropped to the dim setting. I found that i could bring the display brightness up using the rheostat on the dash to +6 , but even at max brightness, i struggled to see the odometer A quick think, and i found a solution. Plug the old unit in, switch the display to bright, leaving the ignition on, unplug the faulty unit, and plug the new unit in. This keeps the bright setting on the dashboard after a power cycle. The only downside is that if you adjust the dash display using the rheostat, it no longer shows the setting number in the odometer panel. I waited until it was dark to confirm that you can change the brightness of the panel lights, and that the odometer stays bright. Costs :- Ive seen the UK part go for £70-90 on Ebay. This one cost me £26 on ebay. If you went down this route for non UK vehicles, i guess your error would be MPG as opposed to litres Hope this helps Mart

My Console MPG/ info display has failed, and subsequent resoldering has proven unsuccesful. The PN is 85201ag040e Ive been offerd a similar display from a breaker, buts is a difffernt PN 85201AG220 The only diference i can see is it does not have a bright button in the unit, which mine does, If i set my brighness to full using the original unit, will the alternative part work? MPG etc Mart

Just noticed the screen scuttle panel is not fitted properly on my latest aquisition, :) the white clip is not near its locating hole. iv had a quick tug, to see if i can get it to locate, but with little success. Does anyone know the correct method for refitting ? is it wipers off ?? cheers Mart