Fun (aka stress) with cars

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xpd

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#323983 12-Feb-2026 06:30

Bought a 2005 Vitz a month or so back, neat little cars to take apart as I've found :)

Boot leak.... most likely gaskets around taillights. Took tail lights off to check, yup, pretty worn, ordered replacements. Put lights back in and find a brake light no longer working. Cant replace/repair as its a sealed LED system. Buy replacement. Sorted.

Gaskets arrive, installed, lose nut (10mm rule). Find temp replacement.

Driving into work just now, car starts beeping at me as I come off the harbor bridge. Beeps range from 1-10. Cant see anything on dash, car not losing power or anything. Seems to occur when I turn left more than anything.

Get to work, jump online and Google "beeping 2005 vitz" - oodles of people asking same thing about Yaris (Vitz mature brother) - I'm a womble (hopefully). Had my work bag, which is rather heavy, sitting on the passenger seat, and the car obviously thought someone was sitting there without a seatbelt and turning left shifted the weight enough to trigger the alarm.

Think there will still be a bit more to do on this car, but so far its been an easy thing to take apart and work on. Radio and headlights are next on my list. (Jap radio, and headlights are pretty bad with scaling/yellowing)

May be an image of car

XPD / Gavin

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Goosey

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#3460826 12-Feb-2026 06:55

Those pesky seat sensors can vary between makes.

i remember a 2005 ford, even half a kg would set it off, a 2019 Mazda….could handle a laptop…nothing more and now a 2024 Kia, handles more weight before letting me know.

pro tip….buy a steering wheel lock (popular in the 80s and 90s). Use it when not parked in your garage.

other pro tip…. Google or find the repair manual and seek out where the air mass / flow sensor is….. and keep that clean.

also, for the dash, you can get custom fitted dash surrounds for the radio…if you are thinking of pulling that out and replacing it with somthing that looks like it won’t fit. The dash inserts and surrounds will look like they were factory.

have fun.

oh, keep your wheels clean….that black will disguise the brake dust build up and that’s really hard to clean once baked on.

xpd

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#3460827 12-Feb-2026 07:16

Got the manual ;) Was one of the first things I tracked down.

Yeah, seen the surrounds, they know how to charge ;)

Good point for the wheels.... I was actually thinking about cleaning them up - looks like they've been sprayed rather than factory black.

XPD / Gavin

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BlakJak

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#3460924 12-Feb-2026 10:44

I don't think i've ever seen a seat belt audible warning not also accompanied by a visual (dash) warning. My Prius has two separate seatbelt indicators - one for the driver (in the dash gauge cluster) and one for the passenger (an accessory type indicator in-the dash but outside the gauges).

I think this is the nature of having a 20yo vehicle.

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xpd

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#3460944 12-Feb-2026 11:03

Yeah, I didnt see the light come on but maybe it just wasn't triggering long enough....

I'll find out on way home if it was my bag causing the issue - I'm hoping it was :)

XPD / Gavin

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Handsomedan

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#3461018 12-Feb-2026 15:29

Having my dog in the back seat sets off the sensors and chimes in all of our cars, as we only clip his seatbelt into one of the receptacles (obviously).

I am unsure whether I have a light that tells me as the nice lady in the car (car computer brain thing) tells me that the seatbelt in the rear is not connected.

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geoffwnz

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#3466924 5-Mar-2026 08:44

xpd:

Yeah, seen the surrounds, they know how to charge ;)

You could probably spend more time and effort 3D printing one instead. 😉 Someone may already have the STL online somewhere if you are lucky, otherwise it's your time to design it.

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mudguard

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#3466926 5-Mar-2026 08:52

I put a new head unit and front speakers in a 34 year old car. Sounds really nice. Until I turn the car on. I suspect the exhaust has a matching resonance to the bass of the stereo and it sounds exactly like a 34 year old car. Tinny.

lxsw20

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#3466955 5-Mar-2026 11:07

I put a decent stereo in my MX5, bit of a waste of time with a 1mm thick roof.

mudguard

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#3466956 5-Mar-2026 11:08

lxsw20:

I put a decent stereo in my MX5, bit of a waste of time with a 1mm thick roof.

Yeah a bit tricky with the soft top! I could change the muffler but it's expensive. It is slightly amusing having AA/Carplay in single DIN though.

xpd

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#3466960 5-Mar-2026 11:33

Crapped myself yesterday... got in car, and it made this funny sound like something was stuck in a fan... thought "great, more $$$". Got home, popped the hood... couldnt hear the noise from the engine bay. Get back in the car, can hear it clear as day.

Turns out it was the mirror :D Someone had knocked it, and the motor was trying to re-align it :D

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XPD / Gavin

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ilovemusic

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#3477367 2-Apr-2026 19:26

Squeaks and rattles in cars are my bete noir.

I had a European car that was fault free for the first few years then developed some horrible interior squeaks and rattles.

Did the usual lube up all the door and hatch rubbers, the latches that hold the rear seat up etc.

Silence for about 6 months, then squeak squeak.

Finally tracked it down to the edge of the seat belt rubbing against the leather driver's seat.

Out came the lubes and potions to no avail.

This particular car doesn't have height adjustable seat belts,

Another Euro had a rattle that sounded like a ball bearing rolling around.

At first it sounded like something in the driver's door bin, then in the door, sometimes in the dashboard.

Stripped the door down and nothing.

Lived with that for ages then one day was driving/rattling along in the rain and I switched on the wipers - noise gone !

Turns out one of the nuts holding the wiper arms on had come loose and was rolling around.

The nut on the other side was a turn or so from coming free too.

Quality German engineering.

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#3477371 2-Apr-2026 19:35

mudguard: I put a new head unit and front speakers in a 34 year old car. Sounds really nice. Until I turn the car on. I suspect the exhaust has a matching resonance to the bass of the stereo and it sounds exactly like a 34 year old car. Tinny.

My stock Toyota stereo has a feature altering the EQ automatically when driving with the windows open, road noise etc. I wonder if your stereo has that and something is going badly wrong with the modes.