So I have been a busy bee lately. To make a long story short, installed adjustable coilovers, streetable camber plates, rear control arms and adjustable endlinks.

Just as I figured out why my suspension was clunking (top strut nut on the left front) I had some strange behavior.

With all the mods above, the car is a handling machine. However, it is stiffer than stock.

(I suppose this isn't as short as I thought. )

So I went over some pretty harsh potholes/bumps and all of a sudden I lost power, threw a 2 second SES light, and had the DSC light come on.

The SES light must have come on about 5 times yesterday on a single 25 mile trip yesterday. DSC light stayed on and the throttle was somewhat funky. DSC light went away after parking and watching a movie.

What was REALLy weird was that my fog lights wouldn't turn on. I hadn't touched ANYTHING electrical.

Well, I went to the foot panel tonightand two of those green relay thingies FELL out when I pulled the panel back!!!!

Plugged them back in and tried the fog lights. No luck.

Went online, did a bit of reading, then went back outside and popped the hood to check the fuse panel there. Upon first inspection I noticed a ground wire that was missing a nut and was dangling about! On the driver side, connected from the top of the strut tower to the hood. This is taken with the hood open. Anybody know what this is for (I can't find my damn Bentley manual)?




Connected that, fog lights STILL wouldn't turn on.

WTF.

Then I popped open the fuse box in the engine bay.

ALL THE RELAYS HAD POPPED OUT (almost completely but hanging on by a thread!)

Popped them all back in and voila, fog lights back.

I would imagine that this kind of thing could be extremely dangerous. What if several fuses were to somehow pop out as you're driving along in low visibility conditions?? You could lose all power and electricity and the person behind you would find out way too late! ACK.

Pics - all green and black relays had popped out.






So to remedy THIS situation, I thought it might an ok idea to stuff some foam or a rag or SOMETHING in there to prevent it from popping up again.

So I grabbed a Costco micro fiber towel, cut it in half, folded it up, and stuff it in there. Anyone think this is a really bad idea? My logic is that the fuse will pop before anything ever got hot to the point that the rag might catch fire. Opinions appreciated.




What a weird day. But I am sooooo happy I fixed me clunks and got me fogs back. WOO HOO.

 

Wow! Amazing!

Don't see any heat risk - the relays shouldn't get hot and any fuse heat will be very local to the fuse

 

So long as all of towel is encased I would think it would work. Just make sure there aren't any fibers sticking out to wick moisture into the fuse box.

 

Ah good point. Another member suggested that I wrap it up in electrical tape.

 

which tein were you running again? 500lbs/in was it?

if your relays popped out from just that, image wat your chassis is
going through... hope you dont get any fatigue fractures. eek.

your alignment and bushings might be shot by now...

 

I can hear you from here, "OWWWW! Why does my back hurt so much now?"

Sounds like that suspension is just a bit too harsh and "responsive" for a daily driver! LOL

 

haha. sorry about the predicament, but those are good pictures. what camera are you using?

 

You never miss an opportunity to knock the TEINS, do you? That's why I got them....because I wanted to see for myself.

Granted they are definitely stiffer than stock and quite a bit harsher on the severe bumps at speed, I think the ride is awesome. I was expecting teeth shattering shakes but the ride is totally acceptable.

Mind you I have yet to do an alignment (since I had that crazy clunking) so that will be this weekend hopefully - if I can find a place that I can drive onto without bottoming out.

Will post more reactions as they come.....


It's really not that bad - I hit a few pretty nasty potholes...and believe you me the ones on the BQE in Queens don't compare to anything other road. In brooklyn (around the corner from where I used to live and I mean AROUND the corner!!) an SUV plunged into the friggin street! The streets in NYC suck.

Now that I live in the boonies I don't usually have to travel on those nasty roads anymore.......


It's a Canon PowerShot 620 I believe. I got it for free from my United Airlines miles. 8mp. It's not fancy or anything but it does have manual modes and stuff. I hardly know how to use it. I just take pictures of my car.

 

HUMIDITY RISK!

Rain, snow, humidity... Your rag will catch these like a sponge, and keep the little compartment humid! This will cause and/or accellerate corosion by not allowing the compartment to dry, due to capturing and holding the moisture in place.

The rag is a bad idea.

 

Hm. Perhaps a block of stiff window insulation foam or something.....Or maybe the stiff foam that comes with the V1...if I can find the box!

 

Okay, this is the first time I have heard of relays being dislodged due to a tight suspension!

Best fix: Find some closed-cell foam weatherstrip (usually black and fairly 'squishy') at Home Depot that will fill in the space between the relay tops and the cover. Stick this to the cover above where the relays mount and it will keep them in place. Same for the inside fuseholder cover. This will keep things in place. Unlike cloth and open-cell foam (usually grey in color and very soft), closed cell foam does not absorb or hold water and retains it's 'springiness' under a constant pressure.

Now, I am at a loss for what to use to keep your (and/or your passengers') teeth from coming out....

 

When you pushed them all back in, did they fit loose?
If they all feel tight now, I wouldn't worry about it.

But, knowing you, you will worry. Just get a piece of styrofoam and trim it to fit.

 

Excellent alternative! With a piece of doublesided tape to help keep it in place.

 

They popped right back in and felt snug. Perhaps I could just use some black electrical tape and hold the relays down.....Or combine that with the styrofoam as well......

 

well, im "knocking(?)" them because TEIN did not do their homework and
just used available coils cut in our lengths and used them for the US
market. remember though, that i currently use TEIN's on my other car
and have been using TEIN's from 98' when they first came into the US
by a private distributor. I was one of the first 6 people in the US to
have TEIN coilovers (those were the HA's with pillow mounts, also
had another set of HA's along with NA's, many S-Techs, etc). don't
think i am not a TEIN enthusiast... but i am also not an enthusiast for
bad setups either (well, more of a personal preference thing so nothing
personal to you). Also, depends on how much weight you got in the
car too. 500lbs/in can feel like rattling marbles on a pizza pan or
feel smooth like brand new cup of yogurt if you have a lot of weight
in the car.

no im not saying you're fat. (honestly i don't know).

hehe.

 

Let's just say the car weights about 250lbs heavier when I am in the car.

Hence smooth as butter, baby.........

 

forget the chassis - what about his kidneys

 

Has anyone figured out what the weird grounding cable that's attached to the hood is for?

Also, has anybody else had their relays pop out?

 

ok then.

 

enough length on the harness to suspend the relay/fuse box up on a rubber cussion? how do you spell cusion?

 

Cushion.

 

LOTF - that grounding strap, well, it grounds the hood. It supplies 12v- to the hood... and those big ol bug eye headlights! Was this strap entirely disconnected, or just loose? I could go out and check but it's maybe 5 degrees right now - is there another grounding strap on the other side? Odd that everything would be loose like that.

x2 on the "rag is bad" thinking. Moisture and heat risk. Styrofoam would be better (no heat risk), better still would be that black expandable foam that looks like styrofoam but is used in bumpers and such. Cut to fit.

Good luck...

 

It was still looped around the bolt but the nut was GONE.

You know, I could have sworn that my headlights would flicker once in a while...and hence that well could have been the ground wire jiggling on the bolt!

I will get some styrofoam and cut a few pieces to size....

 

Try a touch of Hot Melt Glue on each side of the fuse .My computer guru does that to hold SATA connections and cables in place on the drives and MB for added shipping protection