Adrian_D

*fingers crossed* Hopefully this all works as planned and it's just the converter which failed. What I fear most is a failure in the trans because I took it apart, changed the guts from the working one and put it back together, all in a rush.

I just got off the phone with another place in Romania which repairs transmissions and I bought parts from them before (a solenoid, some valves). They also have killer prices and sell OEM Mercedes parts. Very helpful over the phone. Time to support the local company and buy all the stuff from them, warranty, no delays etc etc

And make it a fun experience. On the other hand, my father is excited about this rebuild. The plot thickens: I called UK's biggest automatic repair place (JPAT), they said it's most likely a failed converter and at minimum I will have to tear apart the transmission and valve body and wash everything. JPAT also has killer prices, $100 for all the friction discs, $80 for all the seals, and so on. It comes in under $400 for all that I need. I called my mechanic friend from who I got the converter and used trans. The trans came off a working car but the converter came from a car in his shop with a ton of problems. As it turns out, they fixed the problems last week, and it all sounded like my problem. Filter would get clogged and the car would slip in any gear, oil level would be high. They installed another converter, new oil and filter, and off it went. So I guess I got a bad converter. Quite the joy, and to think that I wanted to get a rebuilt converter when I replaced the transmission but was convinced not to because of cost.

I'm not scared of rebuilding the transmission, seems like the most difficult part is keeping everything in the correct place. No brake bands and things to torque.

Rebuilding the converter costs $400 Transmission rebuild costs $1300 A full rebuild kit in the US costs under $500. According to the guy who does the rebuilds, the converter should be responsible for the damage. I sure hope he's right and the trans is ok.

Used transmission or torque converter I installed in the Jeep failed. First it clogged the filter with friction material, 30 miles later it was friction material and metal flakes. So I'll bite the bullet, send the converter to get rebuilt and see how bad the damage is in the transmission. Boo

I forgot to mention that it was on a very busy stretch of road, which at some point got a lane divider to stop people crossing illegally. This happened right at the end of the divider. I sure hope I bruised the guy well enough, he didn't apologize, didn't even ask me if I'm ok. Just stood there like a potato, rubbing his shins, probably in pain. He even had the nerve to ask "what are you doing, man?" as soon as I hit him. Dafuq am I doing, using the road...

Hit a pedestrian with my bike yesterday, I was going probably close to 20mph and the idiot jumped on the road without even looking when I was 8-9 feet from him. The idiot was turned with his back towards me and as soon as he was with both feed on the road turned around to face me. BAM, head on hit. I managed to slow down a bit so I only have a bruised elbow, knee and a nice bruise on my thigh, twisted handlebar and bruised fork lock-out. The idiot was so shocked or stupid he couldn't even say sorry. What if I were with my car? Fucking idiots...

It's not a rule that you will spend more than the car costs. But then again over here diesels are a lot more prevalent and servicing one is cheaper

Have fun Matt !

Complete, running 13b turbo for sale in the UK. I'd love to brap-brap the Miata but it's not going to happen.

Hell yeah !

What are spark plugs? It's a commonrail diesel.

LOL, guess what I want now that I have passive keyless entry? Obviously, keyless go... Well... Trouble is from time to time the starter fails to engage the flex plate on the first attempt (and strangely the revs jump up higher than idle). Then I have to switch the key to off and try again, otherwise I can crank until the battery dies and it won't start. Not sure if it's a worn flex plate or a weird combination of CPS showing a bad signal and the ECU nanny trying to shut off the starter thinking the engine is actually running. So having keyless go is not an option now. Chrysler uses a double start relay. It is designed to prevent someone attempting to crank the starter while the engine is running. Once it senses a cranking event, it will forbid a second attempt at cranking until the key is shut off, and it doesn't pay attention to the engine RPMs, so if it doesn't start, it doesn't care. This is actually common on European cars, but it is also something Chrysler did long before the Daimer merger. I can crank on the second attempt, engine turns over but won't fire unless I switch the key to off.

LOL, guess what I want now that I have passive keyless entry? Obviously, keyless go... Well... Trouble is from time to time the starter fails to engage the flex plate on the first attempt (and strangely the revs jump up higher than idle). Then I have to switch the key to off and try again, otherwise I can crank until the battery dies and it won't start. Not sure if it's a worn flex plate or a weird combination of CPS showing a bad signal and the ECU nanny trying to shut off the starter thinking the engine is actually running. So having keyless go is not an option now.

LOL, guess what I want now that I have passive keyless entry? Obviously, keyless go...

5 more days and I leave for 1 week of skiing in Austria. I can't wait...

I really like the wheels!

Buyer's remorse hits again, I bought the rear Addco sway-bar for the Jeep. Found one "used like new" on Amazon. I always wanted one and I had to touch my savings to get it, which hurts.

We've started putting to use the weight rack and weights at work. So far doing squats, deadlifts (alternate with bent over rows), military press, bench press, triceps and biceps curls. As soon as the weather gets close to 0F again, we're out to lift

Adire Extremis 6.8 I lucked out and bought 4 NIB for $100 + shipping.

Done with the doors, all I have left is to get a pair of Faital full-ranges and install them in the dash.

Heck yeah

WTF? That's too much