What Did You Do To Your Smart Today?

[Utopiacdi 3]

Got the snow tires on and installed a little Titan stick-on oil pan heater. It's just 125w but I guess something is better than nothing. Link to specs

Lot's of heat in the cabin this year with the new thermostat and Tolsens' plug. The car is up to 3 blobs within 5-6km now.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Utopiacdi

[MikeT 744]

Bill, I'm not sure, my C-1 has a rock hard suspension too so it's not doing the bulb filaments any favours! It's hard to compare it directly to the 2005 in my case, because for a while I was using the awful OE fog lights as DRL (which melted the reflectors, that's another story) in the green and black smart. But I think the bulb life in the 2005 was shorter once I started using the headlight DRL again, perhaps 30% shorter.

[scwmcan 0]

Drove the car the first time for a week or so on Thursday, went to work and the hospital and by the time I got home thought the car was sounding off. Checked the oil today, made sure it was a a decent level ( it was down maybe half a litre) and started it up, it definately has a knocking sound from the engine, it seems to run fine, but doesn't sound fine. Needless to say it will not be driven or run until I have a chance to look into this, not a chain problem as far as I can tell ( not a rattling or grinding sound), but not sure if it is from the bottom end or the top end ( though I think it may be from the top, again haven't really listened as I didn't want to run it that way. In any case it has maybe 5 km of driving with the knock ( from the time I left the hospital to the time I got home, there were a couple of stops and I am pretty sure I only heard it at the last one) hopefully not too much damage ( the car still had power on the last leg and started up no problem today) but won't know for a while.

[MikeT 744]

Oh no, that's not good.

[FlossyTheSmart 81]

Yesterday I did an oil change and switched over to my winter tires. We'll see how the Blizzak WS60's do this year.

[dmoonen 54]

Driving around the grey coupe and noticed an increasingly louder exhaust noise. Went back to the shop after and found the bolts holding the exhaust flange loosened up by almost an inch. Took it apart and installed new stainless steel bolts but this time two nuts and lock tight hope that does the trick. I also did an oil change since it was at 4,600km using Castrol 5W-40 and a fram filter. The wind was something else off the bay, took the brabus for its last crown rusting proofing before hibernation :)Had some extra time to waste so I cleaned up the shop, garage, barn and the containers and counted 11 sets of tires for my cars (not including the ones on the cars), 1 extra set of euro body panels for the Audi TT, another set of body panels for the 500e, one set of black body panels for a coupe and one full W124 completely parted, sealed and labels into individual containers.If anyone is looking for another set of winter tires I found another set pm me for info and photos

Edited November 11, 2013 by dmoonen

[MikeT 744]

Was that the BRABUS exhaust that came loose? You might want to weld a threaded rod to it from an OE exhaust and put the rubber vibration damper on it….because if the bolts can't loosen, something else has got to give. The gas engines don't vibrate like the diesel, so they never had the vibration dampers….

[dmoonen 54]

Wasn't the Brabus exhaust, just the stock OEM on the grey coupe. The Brabus exhaust is fine and dandy I think it came apart just due to not being torqued up enough since I was running trials on my other exhaust setups.

Edited November 11, 2013 by dmoonen

[MikeT 744]

Good news!

[dmoonen 54]

This is how windy it was on gerogian bay, this was driving to get the Brabus rust proofed. The antenna was bending over to my window to say hello

[Huronlad 186]

Winter tires are on the 451 at 66,836km. Just need to clean up the summers and put them away.

[marchanna 115]

Prepped the winter steelies for paint and shopped for winter tires.

[KurtMan 2]

Other than tirerack, it's hard to find better prices than at pmctire. Check that site and let us know what you find.

[marchanna 115]

That's what I've found so far. My dad is going down to Florida this week and he said he would bring them back for me, so I can get Blizzaks for the price of Kumhos.

[Leadwing 565]

Literally blew the intercooler sensor out of the engine. Many thanks to Matt and Glenn for the repair and fresh oil to start the snowy season.

[stickman007 309]

[Curious to know the cause...

[Leadwing 565]

The cause is unknown by me at this time Izzy. I will ask Glenn tomorrow and post his answer. I was just happy that it wasn't a turbo ($ame $ymptom$)

[tolsen 630]

Curious to know the cause...

Inlet air temperature sensor is physically interlocked with its connector. Sensor is locked into intercooler when connector is pushed on. I've seen clumsy mechanics damaging the sensor because they pry it out not understanding that the connector has to be removed first. It is quite obvious when examining it.

[dmoonen 54]

I had to replace the one on the Brabus and the Coupe, On the Coupe the clips on the sensor were broken and the dealer (or past owner) tried to fix it with zip ties which caused one hell a boost leak. On the Brabus the wire actually separated from the sensor giving off false readings.I cut mine of and installed a new one from Glenn and the other I took from the parts car.I think its one of those things where some one forgot to clip it back in or the plastic with age just was getting weaker and it failed to do its job.

[smart142 605]

The cause is unknown by me at this time Izzy. I will ask Glenn tomorrow and post his answer. I was just happy that it wasn't a turbo ($ame $ymptom$)

This smart had recently thrown an overboost code. That was probably caused by a malfunctioning waste gate. I'm guessing that is what happenned- overboost weakened the plastic connector allowing it to pop off?

[stickman007 309]

Cool Glenn, you're always thorough with your repairs! If it was MB, they would've quoted a new engine or something like that!

[MikeT 744]

Snowball got a bath in preparation for tonight's Club meeting in Victoria. It's a nice sunny day here, 14 degrees.

[smartnhappy 218]

We got 4+" of snow in squall form around London, so thought it was time to swap wheels for the snow tires.

[AHZELA 12]

Put on brand new Bridgestone Blizzaks this past weekend. Also changed a front wheel bearing. Took less time to change the bearing then took the tire shop to swap the rubber on the rims.

[Elude2 0]

I got the car re mapped and I would like to thank smart142(glenn) for the work and the advise , it does make a big difference in the performance of the car, actually was able to accelerate up hill on the highway at speed and the fuel mileage seemed to be better on the return trip. I guess that it no longer has a limiter on the top end speed as well , the other minor mods he did as well all look great .