So what have you done with your Aston today? (Vol. 2)
Discussion
Yesterday, I set my phone Waze to “avoid motorways” and then headed off from my place on the East Sussex/Kent border to Tewkesbury.
And after a little bit of pottering today, I collected my car from the lovely team at Aston Installations with a couple of new toys installed; CarPlay and a front camera (I already have a rear one).
Obligatory Vanquish background
Great drive back- detoured through the “Harry” road in the Cotswolds for a quick look and then later, because of the whole “no motorway” thing stumbled upon the newly opened branch of Caffeine & Machine near Petersfield
Which just left a roof-down moonlit flit across Sussex home.
A lovely couple of days.
Oh, and I seem to have an intermittent “Tyre Systems Fault” code coming and going by a quick search, which led here, that’s not that uncommon- any advice gratefully received. I have up trying to find a working air pump so that’s the first thing to check in the morning- no obvious signs of damage of leaks though.
And after a little bit of pottering today, I collected my car from the lovely team at Aston Installations with a couple of new toys installed; CarPlay and a front camera (I already have a rear one).
Obligatory Vanquish background
Great drive back- detoured through the “Harry” road in the Cotswolds for a quick look and then later, because of the whole “no motorway” thing stumbled upon the newly opened branch of Caffeine & Machine near Petersfield
Which just left a roof-down moonlit flit across Sussex home.
A lovely couple of days.
Oh, and I seem to have an intermittent “Tyre Systems Fault” code coming and going by a quick search, which led here, that’s not that uncommon- any advice gratefully received. I have up trying to find a working air pump so that’s the first thing to check in the morning- no obvious signs of damage of leaks though.
basherX said:
Oh, and I seem to have an intermittent “Tyre Systems Fault” code coming and going by a quick search, which led here, that’s not that uncommon - any advice gratefully received. I have up trying to find a working air pump so that’s the first thing to check in the morning- no obvious signs of damage or leaks though.
A lovely route from Tewkesbury across the Cotswolds to Burford, then perhaps you went Newbury and Alton to Petersfield.
Ref. TPMS dashboard warning. My guess would be failed/failing sensor batteries. I experienced that.
As your car appears to be year 2010, you do not legally require a working TPMS, so you have a choice to either have new sensors fitted, or have the TPMS disabled. My warning light was on for two MoTs and there was no problem.
Dewi 2 said:
A lovely route from Tewkesbury across the Cotswolds to Burford, then perhaps you went Newbury and Alton to Petersfield.
Ref. TPMS dashboard warning. My guess would be failed/failing sensor batteries. I experienced that.
As your car appears to be year 2010, you do not legally require a working TPMS, so you have a choice to either have new sensors fitted, or have the TPMS disabled. My warning light was on for two MoTs and there was no problem.
I did go through Burford- pretty place As I was passing through I exchanged a happy smile with a couple heading in DeLorean heading the other way, the first time I’ve seen a kid whip out his phone to film my car and my bête noir: a long queue of uphill traffic. No stalls this time though.
It is a 2010 car- very helpful information thanks. It seemed to me that it came on with when I was running at speed, like when I was on the A34 or the fast(er) sections of a road generally but went back off if I either slowed for a while in traffic or stopped and restarted. So it’s intermittent and if there’s a well-trodden route forward then that’ll be fab.
I received back the results of the oil analysis on the used oil I drained as part of the DIY annual service I did on my DB9 a few weeks ago. With the low values of silicon and particulate matter, as well as low iron and aluminum wear metals, the conclusion is that my engine (and by inference my primary cats) are in fine shape. I believe that this sort of “blood tests for your car” is an alternative to physical inspection of the catalytic converter internals.
ram_g said:
I received back the results of the oil analysis on the used oil I drained as part of the DIY annual service I did on my DB9 a few weeks ago. With the low values of silicon and particulate matter, as well as low iron and aluminum wear metals, the conclusion is that my engine (and by inference my primary cats) are in fine shape. I believe that this sort of “blood tests for your car” is an alternative to physical inspection of the catalytic converter internals.
Interesting. Is the connection between state of oil and state of cats based on the thought that a misfiring car will alter the oil composition?The passenger side rear light on my Vantage has always had a bit of condensation, but it has been getting worse lately. It has clearly been apart for re-sealing at some point in the past, as there is a fair bit of black silicone sealant around the joint of the lens to the body. However, it has failed again.
So - I removed it, drilled a small hole at each end, emptied a bit of water out, and then put it in the airing cupboard. A week later, all the condensation was gone, so I removed as much of the old silicone sealant as I could (took about two hours!) and put some new sealant on it.
Re-fitted the light yesterday, feeling quite smug that I’d saved a few quid and today, the condensation was back AND I found that the tail / brake light now has a few dim / dead LEDs.
Toss up now between sending it off for fixing and re-sealing, finding a good secondhand unit, or lashing out on a new set (I’ve always wanted to change the high-level brake light too, as it’s still read and doesn’t match the clear rear lights).
So - I removed it, drilled a small hole at each end, emptied a bit of water out, and then put it in the airing cupboard. A week later, all the condensation was gone, so I removed as much of the old silicone sealant as I could (took about two hours!) and put some new sealant on it.
Re-fitted the light yesterday, feeling quite smug that I’d saved a few quid and today, the condensation was back AND I found that the tail / brake light now has a few dim / dead LEDs.
Toss up now between sending it off for fixing and re-sealing, finding a good secondhand unit, or lashing out on a new set (I’ve always wanted to change the high-level brake light too, as it’s still read and doesn’t match the clear rear lights).
Simpo Two said:
Interesting. Is the connection between state of oil and state of cats based on the thought that a misfiring car will alter the oil composition?
Yes. But it’s a bit hypothetical in the specific case of a AM V12 because it’s lacking a calibration of exactly how bad some of these measured parameters would get with a misfiring engine and/or damaged cats. I gather that oil analysis (abbreviated UOA for Used Oil Analysis) is not a strong habit of the AM community, unlike e.g. the Porsche enthusiast groups where a large percentage of them routinely have UOA done and post their results along with any issues experienced by their cars.Some causal links:
A misfiring engine would be dumping more than normal unburned gasoline into the engine that would show up in the UOA directly as a fuel % as well as indirectly via reduced viscosity and flashpoint of the oil.
Particulate matter from a damaged cat being sucked back into the engine would show up as a higher percentage of “insolubles” and probably also as a higher amount of elemental silicon.
And of course if the misfiring and particulates had progressed to the point of actually damaging the engine, this would be evident in the amount of elemental iron and aluminum from piston and cylinder wall damage as well as lead, tin, and copper from accelerated bearing wear.
Edited by ram_g on Saturday 30th March 19:51
Edited by ram_g on Saturday 30th March 19:52
said:
A misfiring engine would be dumping more than normal unburned gasoline into the engine that would show up in the UOA directly as a fuel % as well as indirectly via reduced viscosity and flashpoint of the oil.
Particulate matter from a damaged cat being sucked back into the engine would show up as a higher percentage of “insolubles” and probably also as a higher amount of elemental silicon.
And of course if the misfiring and particulates had progressed to the point of actually damaging the engine, this would be evident in the amount of elemental iron and aluminum from piston and cylinder wall damage as well as zinc and copper from accelerated bearing wear.
Thanks, it's forensic genius I agree. But if there's a lack of oil analysis data for these engines you might struggle to assign significance to the readings unless it's very obvious.Particulate matter from a damaged cat being sucked back into the engine would show up as a higher percentage of “insolubles” and probably also as a higher amount of elemental silicon.
And of course if the misfiring and particulates had progressed to the point of actually damaging the engine, this would be evident in the amount of elemental iron and aluminum from piston and cylinder wall damage as well as zinc and copper from accelerated bearing wear.
Simpo Two said:
Thanks, it's forensic genius I agree. But if there's a lack of oil analysis data for these engines you might struggle to assign significance to the readings unless it's very obvious.
Yep. The last column called “Universal Averages” is supposed to be this company’s (Blackstone Labs) statistical average of all the analyses they’ve ever done on Aston Martin 6.0 V12s. I think I’ll write to them and ask if they can share more details of this data set.ram_g said:
The last column called “Universal Averages” is supposed to be this company’s (Blackstone Labs) statistical average of all the analyses they’ve ever done on Aston Martin 6.0 V12s. I think I’ll write to them and ask if they can share more details of this data set.
Ah yes, you need sample size at the least. Good luck!Took a run out to Gilks Garage Cafe in Kineton, which is just around the corner from the Gaydon factory. Some interesting cars and bikes; a red 60's Chevrolet Stingray Corvette pulled out as I was ordering coffee and before I had a chance to have a look and see if it was genuine. I had an interesting chat with a couple of guys on BMW R Nine T's, which to my old eyes looked so un-BMW-like (many years ago I owned a BMW R100RS) I just had to ask if they had been customised. Apparently not - they looked like that "out of the box".
Walking round the back to where I had parked a couple had just reversed a very nice 4.2 E-type coupe (Series 1?) into the spot next to my V8V and I was struck by just how tiny those old E-Types were - I thought the Vantage was low! 150 mph vs 170 mph and nearly 50 years apart - I know which one I'd rather try to do Vmax in.
Walking round the back to where I had parked a couple had just reversed a very nice 4.2 E-type coupe (Series 1?) into the spot next to my V8V and I was struck by just how tiny those old E-Types were - I thought the Vantage was low! 150 mph vs 170 mph and nearly 50 years apart - I know which one I'd rather try to do Vmax in.
ram_g said:
I received back the results of the oil analysis on the used oil I drained as part of the DIY annual service I did on my DB9 a few weeks ago. With the low values of silicon and particulate matter, as well as low iron and aluminum wear metals, the conclusion is that my engine (and by inference my primary cats) are in fine shape. I believe that this sort of “blood tests for your car” is an alternative to physical inspection of the catalytic converter internals.
What oil due you use, I assume Mobil 1?Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff