Hey guys, another update on this

 

Spent all day on it yesterday, Firstly I started  by ripping out that bloody tow bar! It was wored directly into the lights with no smart relay or anything. So it's gone and wiring original again.

 

Next I un plugged the ECU and traced both wires back, then checked resistance in both, both cables between 50 / 60 ohms. Seems all okay. Although the cable that was broken was pretty black for a couple feet so not in the best shape. I will repair this properly. 

 

I started turned the engine on and still getting the code and at this point iv eliminated the wiring so it's either pump or something needing reset on the VCDS. 

 

Phoned my brother in law to see if he could put it on his computer and on the way to the garage, it bloody reset itself and everything went off. 

 

So my problem appears fixed, I think?? Most unsatisfying end to a problem, but I don't care 

 

But of strange one this problem, but on inspection i got see what kind of car I bought. 

-Ad blue tank has taken a hit, hence the broken wire

- to rear lights non Chinese replacements

-tow bar wired by a monkey

-rear body work has been carried out

 

For a 11500 mile 1 owner  ar, it has some history 🤣🤣

Edited 18 March, 20233 yr by Peebs101

13 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

Do you mean they have incandescent bulbs? That would be a standard rear light cluster.

 

 

If they have standard wattage bulbs and the vehicle was fitted with and coded for incandescent bulbs then there will be no problem with the BCM, they may not be as weather tight as the original, the contacts may corrode or make poor contact but that will just throw up bulb failure warnings when they are working for a visual test, my OE ones do that on occasion anyway.

So even though these are cheap replacements they shouod be okay?

 

Until they leak that is haha?

Edited 18 March, 20233 yr by Peebs101

14 hours ago, Llanigraham said:

I hope that the bodged trailer wiring hasn't cooked the BCM!!
Long ago there was a member that did this and he ended up having to spend a fortune on a new BCM and ECU.

personally I wouldn't trust those Chinese lights.

I think I got away with the tow bar, I never had a trailer on it and it looks new so I doubt they had anything on it either.

 

Hopefully a bullet dodged

2 hours ago, Peebs101 said:

Next I un plugged the ECU and traced both wires back, then checked resistance in both, both cables between 50 / 60 ohms. Seems all okay

Is that a typo?

 

50 ohms seems anything but OK.

 

Did you try it on the continuity tester resistance range & if so did it beep?

 

Towbar wiring would have been inert and not caused a problem until a lighting harness connected, as you say you have dodged a bullet and also have bought a car that will continue to surprise you.

 

Does the V5 carry a salvage category marker like CatB or CatC?

 

I believe there are sites where you can enter the reg number and see if the vehicle has been sold through salvage auctions like Copart, they carry photographs so you can see the extent of the damage that has been repaired.

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

Is that a typo?

 

50 ohms seems anything but OK.

 

Did you try it on the continuity tester resistance range & if so did it beep?

 

Towbar wiring would have been inert and not caused a problem until a lighting harness connected, as you say you have dodged a bullet and also have bought a car that will continue to surprise you.

 

Does the V5 carry a salvage category marker like CatB or CatC?

 

I believe there are sites where you can enter the reg number and see if the vehicle has been sold through salvage auctions like Copart, they carry photographs so you can see the extent of the damage that has been repaired.

I was told by a friend which works a lot on auto electrics I'm looking for .5/.6 ohms. I know house electrics are .2 ohms that's why I confirmed with him what I'm looking for. 

 

All the cables I tested had results between .5/.6 ohms and yes they "beeped"

 

It is a front end Cat D write off from 2017 which was profesionaly finished. It carries some damage and a few surprises as you say but I got a 2 owner L&K yeti with 11500 miles on it for under 9k so I'm happy with the car for the money. Certainly saves 300 a month car finance 🤣

Edited 18 March, 20233 yr by Peebs101

That is one hundredth of the resistance of the typo!!!

 

Usually under 1 ohm but you must first check what the meter shows with the probes shorted (mine is different every time) and subtract that from any measured reading.

 

Sounds like you got a good deal allowing for the post covid price rises and you went into the purchase with your eyes open.

 

In September 2019 I bought an unrecorded written off 3 year old Yeti 4x4 Outdoor with 79k miles for £3200, it had a tiny shunt to the bumper which did not even require any paintwork, just polishing of the scuffs, it had however bent the bumper crash bar which pierced the aircon condensor but also caused the airbags and seatbely pretensioner to deploy.

 

It cost me exactly £800 to repair to a good standard commensurate with the other little dings and scratches including the LHD headlights that I needed for France, I still have no idea of its history but its been 100% reliable so had been maintained correctly before the accident with no bodging, I did the repairs properly the only bodges being unseen bits of plastic trim that I plastic welded, none of them have come back to bite me.

 

I have pretty much always bought and repaired salvage for my own vehicles, its a very cheap way to get a decent late model car but if you keep them for too long then depreciation takes away any notional "profit" you have made, buying one repaired by a third party outside of the insurance system will always come with hidden surprises, there is nothing in it for them to spend extra money to do the job properly.

2 hours ago, J.R. said:

That is one hundredth of the resistance of the typo!!!

 

Usually under 1 ohm but you must first check what the meter shows with the probes shorted (mine is different every time) and subtract that from any measured reading.

 

Sounds like you got a good deal allowing for the post covid price rises and you went into the purchase with your eyes open.

 

In September 2019 I bought an unrecorded written off 3 year old Yeti 4x4 Outdoor with 79k miles for £3200, it had a tiny shunt to the bumper which did not even require any paintwork, just polishing of the scuffs, it had however bent the bumper crash bar which pierced the aircon condensor but also caused the airbags and seatbely pretensioner to deploy.

 

It cost me exactly £800 to repair to a good standard commensurate with the other little dings and scratches including the LHD headlights that I needed for France, I still have no idea of its history but its been 100% reliable so had been maintained correctly before the accident with no bodging, I did the repairs properly the only bodges being unseen bits of plastic trim that I plastic welded, none of them have come back to bite me.

 

I have pretty much always bought and repaired salvage for my own vehicles, its a very cheap way to get a decent late model car but if you keep them for too long then depreciation takes away any notional "profit" you have made, buying one repaired by a third party outside of the insurance system will always come with hidden surprises, there is nothing in it for them to spend extra money to do the job properly.

Can you explain shorting the probes? Is that the buzzing on the multimeter?  Because that's what I did with all the cables going to the ad blue and it was still showing an open circuit. One cable was blackened but still buzzing out. I had to check resistance in case the cables were damaged 

 

I think the problem was worse because of my own doing not sorting the problem immediately instead of running down the miles 🤦‍♂️

 

Yeh sorry it comes up on my MM as 0.50 / 0.60. Forgot the important decimal

 

Yeh i knew it was a write off before I bought it and had some cosmetic stuff that was insignificant. I also knew something would pop up inside the first few months with such little miles on it. 

 

This is my first salvage purchase for the very reason you mention, resourceful way to get an up to date car and its pretty much the same as my last one that got written off. So I have some understanding of it from doing timing belt etc on the last one. 

 

Iv also serviced the car and topped up all the fluids. Will probably change out all the fluids (gearbox, diff, brakes) by the end to the month just to be safe since its pretty cheap to do. 

Edited 18 March, 20233 yr by Peebs101

@Peebs101

Remember, there is the Haldex @ 3 year / 30,000 miles.    Oil & filter. 

Then the rear diff, which is different. 

 

George, (In Forfar)

Re shorting the probes.

 

The multimeter will probably not show a true zero even if the 2 probe sockets were shorted with a copper busbar, added to that is the resistance of the leads themselves, the longer and more flexible they are the higher it will be.

 

Collectively lets say that you meter displays 0.2 ohms when the probes are shorted, when you take the reading of your circuit at say 0.6 ohms you subtract the 0.2 ohms initial reading to give you the true value of 0.4 ohms for the circuit.

 

When you are measuring higher resistances like 1K, 2K, 20meg ohms etc the resistance of the test leads are of no consequence, its only when you are looking for low resistances like you were that it should be born in mind.

 

Example, shorted lead resistance 0.2 ohms, you measure a circuit at 1K ohms, theoretical true resistance would be 999.8 ohms, I used theoretical because your meter would only be accurate to +/- 2% or whatever equals +/- 20 ohms for that measurement.

Edited 18 March, 20233 yr by J.R.

11 hours ago, toot said:

@Peebs101

Remember, there is the Haldex @ 3 year / 30,000 miles.    Oil & filter. 

Then the rear diff, which is different. 

 

George, (In Forfar)

Thanks toot! I didn't know it had that so thanks. Clearly didn't change my last one either and it was 90000miles 🤣

11 hours ago, J.R. said:

Re shorting the probes.

 

The multimeter will probably not show a true zero even if the 2 probe sockets were shorted with a copper busbar, added to that is the resistance of the leads themselves, the longer and more flexible they are the higher it will be.

 

Collectively lets say that you meter displays 0.2 ohms when the probes are shorted, when you take the reading of your circuit at say 0.6 ohms you subtract the 0.2 ohms initial reading to give you the true value of 0.4 ohms for the circuit.

 

When you are measuring higher resistances like 1K, 2K, 20meg ohms etc the resistance of the test leads are of no consequence, its only when you are looking for low resistances like you were that it should be born in mind.

 

Example, shorted lead resistance 0.2 ohms, you measure a circuit at 1K ohms, theoretical true resistance would be 999.8 ohms, I used theoretical because your meter would only be accurate to +/- 2% or whatever equals +/- 20 ohms for that measurement.

Thanks for that explanation JR. That makes sence, I'm learning the basics of auto electrics in this thread

 

So say my MM is between 0.1 and 0.2 and the circuits were 0.5/0.6 the readings were between 0.4/0.5ohns. 

 

So when checking car electrics I'm looking for anything under 1 ohms? Infinity is obviously a break.

 

what if the cable is damaged but not broken, would that just read over 1ohm on the MM? 

 

Thanks for the lesson 🤣