Drilling out wheel nuts

Anyone tried these or know how they work (Emergency Locking wheelnut remover)????

Get a standard manual impact wrench - the sort you whack with a hammer. Get a wine bottle cork or similar which will block the recess in the wheel. Pour in WD40 and stick the cork in to hold it in place for a day or so against the bolt (this process can't be rushed).

Empty the WD40 a few days later and pour several pints of boiling water into the wheel nut recess.

Insert the wheel nut adapter and engage it. Hold the impact wrench firmly, take up slack and apply some force in the undoing direction. With a big lump hammer (you need lots of mass) give the impact wrench some heavy accurate whacks as in line with the bolt as you can manage

- mass and accuracy are the important things - not swearing and wellying bejasus out of it.

Thanks for that.

I'll order it and report back.

Rgds

Andy R

Spot on.

Andy R

how they work, eh?! Why not ring them up and ask: they are pretty good that way.

BTW I particularly like how in the "You might also be interested in..." window below, there's a "Radio removal kit" on offer. What is this, a car thief's charter or something?! ;-)

David

If they are what I think they are, they are a 'universal socket' arrangement, where a large socket 'shell' is part-filled with either thin round or hex rods which can push back out of the way to fit around any odd-shaped object.

Which won't be much use on a well stuck nut.

referred to earlier in the thread. It uses a left-handed conical spiral "thread" inside the socket that grips the nut tightly as the socket is turned. As I said, It worked fine for me.

CRB

The problem with welding (assuming electric!) is that it can be extremely difficult to get an earth return that only contacts the other end of the studs / threaded holes in the hub. Strap the earth on the upright and the current can flow through the wheel bearings leading to failure not long after.

Although planks are a problem, for the last few years this has had some legal basis for counting as gross and culpable negligence (they're supposed to be torqued).

So what is planky's corporate excuse for this, and what recompense are they offering you?

In message , Matt writes

What's wrong with attaching the earth to the hub or disk itself?

Unless the vehicle has exceptionally oversized wheels (think tossers with a Saxo on 19" rims) or very undersized discs then It's usually close to impossible to do either with a wheel rim in the way.

How does the fault code reader on the same page work?

Dave

Its just an OBD reader, overpriced for what it is, and it doesnt tell you which standard ISO or VAG etc, and it's not expensive enough to do all, buy one off ebay for your paticular type of system on ebay for about =A330, any car made since 1996 will ahve to have one fitted if it's sold in the US markets ( thats where it all started) manufacturers were not allowed to lock the system down so it's open to all, the OBD plug will be withing 14" of the steering wheel ( I think that was a must) usually just under the dash or behind ashtrays/inside armrest. It will give you stored codes for all engine/gearbox faults along with a lot of AC faults. I like to have one to check how the car's doing as it stores trivial stuff like misfires etc, and can let me know if a coilpack is on its way out.Also good for resetting the service light if you service the car yourself.

In message , Staffbull writes

Well, the subset of the spec that was mandated to be standard wasn't allowed to be locked down, it's necessary to perform certain emissions tests but the manufacturers have lots of opportunity for adding extra twiddly bits, for instance Vauxhall/GM ECU's are flash programmable via the OBD2 port but you won't get that functionality from a third party scan tool AFAIK. Some manufacturers had/have proprietary diag ports as well as the OBD2 port

V.Useful diagnostic tools but not infallible by any means, they don't always give you definitive faults, you have to know what's meant to be going on, why something may change and what effect the change will have on the other parameters you are seeing. Nothing beats knowledge and experience combined with good tools. OBD2 is mandatory on European cars now and has been since 2001 IIRC (bit hazy on that..)

OK about that then.

It looks like I will just have to trust the dealers with my two Rover cars. (a Rover trained mechanic has opened up as a service centre).

Dave

OBD only gives readouts of faults relating to engine emissions.

Both my 2000 Volvo V70 and my 2003 Audi A4 gave me the fault codes for their AC faults