LooseLugNuts

Regular Members
  • Content count

    1,804
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by LooseLugNuts


  1. On 8/29/2018 at 11:17 AM, TheHandyHobbit said:

     

    Same here; I received 3 fob cases and 3 key blanks from China about 3 months ago. The buttons are hard plastic with close to "Zero" flex. Seeing that, I didn't even try to swap over my circuit boards in fear of damaging the boards.  Only cost me $5 CDN and thought it was too good to be true. A lesson learned!

     

    FOBS.jpg

     

     

    my china keys must have been from a different supplier

     

    i bought 2 keys with empty cases both had really nice working buttons....and one key with electronics seems like same quality (but i still havent managed to program it)


  2. 14 hours ago, Tedder said:

    Hey guys. I'm new to the forum; just signed up. I am responding to the E-box thing. I have a 2006 cdi. I am having the door ajar problem. Then my water separator light came on. Not knowing about the E-box issue, I didn't see a relation. I checked Evilution to figure out what the heck a water separator is. As best I can tell it's actually just a fuel filter. I ordered a replacement, went to install it, and was amazed to discover that my Smart did not have a fuel filter at all. It was obviously there at one time, but had been removed and a coupling added in its place. I cut the coupling out, installed my new filter, and sure enough, the wat sep light is out. But I still have the door ajar thing going. I'm going to pull the E-box and check it out. With the TSB, I'm wondering if this was a factory fix for the life of the car, or only until the warranty runs out. I hope to check to see if my Smart has had the fix or not.

     

    pull out your battery and check the white to black connector with 5 wires ...it is forward of the battery and you wont see it unless you remove the battery

     

    i would bet its corroded...it will set off the door ajar light 

     

    check post #60 above


  3. 14 hours ago, tolsen said:

    You fitted an in-line aluminium fuel filter just forward of right rear wheel arch?

    Canadian Smart 450s has no fuel filter there. Filter is on left side at rear end of door sill under the car. Water detector is a float switch. You are supposed to drain water from filter from time to time. 

     

    is there a way to drain it without removing it and opening it up?


  4. i seem to remember paying maybe $50 for mine ...all three

     

    im fairly certain they were sourced from carquest but i dont remember the brand 

     

    i used a greasy drill bit butt welded to a bolt to ream out the lower part of the passageway where the element resides...it was full of carbon deposits

     

     

    my 450 was bought on the cheap mostly due to 2 glow plugs being busted off by a "mechanic"...on one of them he nice enough to add extra damage by drilling it off center and then busting off an easy out in the hole..it had other issues but those glowplugs took quite a few patient days to carefully remove without further damaging the threads ..the threads can tolerate slight damage though as the glow plugs sealing surface is much lower in the bore below the threads ...not like a spark plug that seals above the threads

     

     

    1 person likes this

  5. 4 hours ago, Willys said:

    Wow...you can get tires at a great price, wish they were closer to a common size over here. IF it's not a 100lb 17"rim  14" wide monster here it's not a common size it seems...lol

    I'm waiting for the winter sales to start for my winter tires.

     

    As for the work on the Smarts...I have started the soaking proceedure for removing the glow plugs, I'll change all 3, I see no point in doing just 1 while you are in there do it right and get them all out and changed.
    The engine light is driving me crazy, but I simply clear the code and wait for it to show it's ugly face again and repeat!

    I scored a used air compressor motor, pump combination yesterday from a buddy. So I am now fixing the no air in the shop problem, you must have air....manual hand tools suck....didn't realize how lazy I had become...lol.   No I won't be powering the glow plugs out with the 1/2" air gun...lol.

    Tomorrow it's find me some glow plugs day.....oh joy!

     

     

    i bought a milwaukee m18 2767 last year...best tool ive ever owned 

     

    the compressor only gets fired up now when i need to inflate tires or blow out carbs (and when using the tire machine)

     

    amazing torque on that thing


  6. today turned into an unplanned maintenance day

     

    it started off with random weird beeping ..couldnt figure it out ...central lock button was flickering but fob locks worked fine..beeping in neutral and shifting to zero unless clutch was engaged

     

    so since the door was apart afew days ago to lube up the latch i figured maybe i got oil in the door switch...but after taking that all apart again and cleaning it it made no difference

     

    then my A.D.D. switched my attention to the dirty back window and when i used the squirter it sprayed the inside of the glass instead of outside..so the rear wing got removed and i had to fix the broken plastic nipples for the washers 

     

    so then i went for a ride and noticed the a/c was splashing water out the air intake (i always leave it on recirc)

     

    so the front clip comes off to find the plugged a/c drain

     

    then i remembered that z box and figure maybe its wet and causing the alarms/beeping but nope..it looks brand new inside and was not wet

     

    so then i remembered that connector you cant see without removing the battery and when i got in there it was crusty with green fellas so it got removed and bypassed with solder and heatshrink

     

    problem seems to be solved

     

    until the next one pops up

     

     

    2 people like this

  7. he is making 2 suggestions

     

    one is to take it all apart and clean it

     

    second is to remove it (but that requires an emulator to fool the computer into thinking it still has an egr valve)

     

    ive cleaned mine a few years ago and have had no problems with it (never had problems ..just cleaned it while the engine was out for other reasons)

    1 person likes this

  8. instead of buying an oil sucker id recommend just ordering a new oil pan with drain from china 

     

    it takes about 30 minutes to swap

     

    and the pan probably costs less than an oil sucker

     

     

    looks like they boosted up the price last few months but still decent at around 50 after shipping

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/For-Smart-Cabrio-City-Coupe-Crossblade-Fortwo-Cabrio-Coupe-Roadster-450-451-452-0-6-0/32804500538.html

     


  9. 5 hours ago, Willys said:

    I met another local Smart owner, Ray today, great guy full of enthusiasm....gotta love them Smarts...lol

    When looking over his Smart he asked if it was louder than usual when he pulled up, I said not that I noticed. On a closer examination, his car has the glass pack type muffler installed by someone who can do a nice job. Just like a was thinking of doing to mine. When we went for a test drive, ok it is slightly louder but not by that much, not enough for me to stop thinking of doing it to mine!   Just maybe use a bigger muffler if possible. He has a very nice Smart  and clean!   Same vintage as my two, just his has a solid roof made from some plastic or polycarbonate type material..?  Not bad as it stops all sun from cooking you like my glass roof does, or the sun roofed  one. It's great to finally find other Smart owners within easy driving from me.

     

    mine has that roof

     

    a layer of something is peeling off in big chunks..kind of like a thick clear coat or something..looks awful for now but i guess it will look even again once it all peels

     

     

    all i did to my smart today was drive it and dirty it up a bit more than it already is

     

    actually drove it across town to look at something else more suitable for hunting season and winter use...ended up buying a kia sorento so the smart will most likely go into  hibernation this winter..which means i might finally get around to doing all the maintenance ive been putting off 


  10. i never had much problem except when it gets piled up at intersections ...and when its more than 6 inches of fresh stuff or more than 3 inches of the sticky heavy wet stuff

     

    sticky heavy wet stuff is the worse...you cant get going because as soon as a tire slips it applies the brakes

     

    other than that the thing has amazing traction on packed snow

    2 people like this

  11. On 7/30/2018 at 6:00 PM, RobCDI said:

    Im bleeding the breaks and topping up the AC. Im sick at this point of taking off the front bumper. I have done it twice recently for headlights.

     

    you didnt take off the front for the recharge right?

     

    low side port on a 450 is fairly easy to access by popping out the grille and removing the right fog light then reach in and get the cap off then reach in with the hose and charge it up

    1 person likes this

  12. I keep finding listing for these bilsteins but doesnt seem legit

     

    some listing seem to say they also fit merkur xr4ti which are obviously not the same as the smart 450

     

    anyone know anything about this part number?...seems too good to be true at $57

     

    Bilstein
    Part Number:22-052261

     

     

    https://www.carid.com/2005-smart-car-fortwo-suspension-parts/bilstein-b4-series-replacement-shocks-535958781.html


  13. today i took my cabrio in for safety inspection and then i decided to install the new aliexpress sourced oil pan with drain plug

     

    but it got dark quick..so now its sitting there with no pan until tomorrow

     

    surprised how much the alternator looks accesible with pan removed...too bad it doesnt look like it would help with starter removal