The car had it usual run up the freeway and back. No issues to report. The new tyres greatly improved the ride and service has made a major improvement to the performance of the vehicle. It just seems to go so much better now. Plenty of power and noise when given the boot which indicates that the exhaust by pass valve is working. Yeah. It just so much nicer when everything is working and way it should be. Ahhhh…. bliss.

The next item on the agenda is to give the leather work on the inside a good clean and wax. What has been recommended for this is Oakwood Automotive Leather Protection pack and of course plenty of elbow grease. The whole interior is going to take a few weeks to complete. Luckily the holiday season is fast approaching eh?

So very early Monday morning the car made the trip across town to the Racing Red workshop. Even at such an early hour it is amazing how much traffic there is. The car travelled without incident but was beginning to complain about having to wait in traffic queues towards the end of the journey.

The diagnosis was there were no major issues and that the exhaust bypass valve can be repaired quite easily. Even better than that, Sal had been able to reattached the hose to the pipe on the frame that had been previously broken off. This meant the arrangement in the engine bay was back to being standard which was a real bonus. The problem with the bypass valve turned out to be secondary air valves (part number 148494) highlighted above. These valves allow vacuum to pass from the manifold to the vacuum tank which is then used to operate the exhaust bypass valve at the right time. They are supposed to be one way valves but as it turns out they were allowing the air to return to the manifold which decreased the vacuum pressure and thus prevented the exhaust bypass valve from opening, as it relies on a vacuum to operate. These secondary air valves were the next components that I had on my list to replace while troubleshooting the issue but it is easier to get an expert to fix it. Apart from the exhaust valve repair the other major request I had was to remount the thermocouple ECU’s back in their correct location under the Motronic controllers on either side of the car rather than remaining cable tied and flopping around. This was also completed as part of the service.

The other thing that the car needed was new tyres. Sal provided a few options but I settled on Bridgestone RE050A’s all round. The Pirelli’s were too expensive at this point in time. I was concerned that perhaps I was scrimping when it came to tyres but when I did some research on the 355 forums I found that plenty of people were happy with this tyre on their car. The only downside seems to be that it makes a bit more road noise than the Pirelli but it also has longer wear, which at this point in time is more important. A set of 4 Bridgestone RE050A’s including a wheel alignment was worth about $1,900, which is quite reasonable.

Two days later I picked the car up in the middle to the day. Immediately upon starting the car I could feel that it idled smoother. I was really keen to see whether the repair to the exhaust bypass valve had made any difference to the noise the car made at high revs on the drive back. Unfortunately, in traffic there was little chance to open it up, even a little. Again, it is utterly amazing at how much traffic there is on the roads, even during the middle of the day. Maybe it is more noticeable in a car like this but progress felt painfully slow. This annual service cost about $900 which was far less than was expected and considerably less than the last major service for my day to day vehicle. A very happy chappy with the ROI for the service I must say!

The trip back was also uneventful but while sitting in traffic or travelling along at very low speeds (on what is supposed to be a motorway) I noticed the oil temperature start to  creep up. It immediately fell back down again once the car was travelling along at normal speeds but it is yet another indication that it doesn’t like stop start traffic and operating a low speed. I’m confident that it would be fine if it had to do this but the car really gives you the feeling that it would rather be somewhere else than sitting in traffic. With that I must also sympathize.

With the car finally tucked away after the service the next item on the agenda was the third party insurance (i.e. green slip). After some research the choice was the NRMA because of other policies with them but also they ended being the cheapest by a significant amount.You obviously get more benefit from an insurer if you are already a policy holder, have other vehicle insurance with them and have been a member for over twenty years! It was interesting to compare the third party insurance of the 355 with that of my normal car (which is used for business rather than private and that does affect premiums). However, the comparison is that the 355 is about $100 cheaper (or 16% less) when it comes to third party insurance when compared to a normal hatch back. Interesting.

If you take that one step further and look at the registration cost you find that the 355 is about $145 cheaper (or 31% less) to register than a normal hatch back (again admittedly done for business). It therefore turns out that a car like the 355 is actually cheaper to register than a normal business vehicle, which is a nice surprise!

Next trip will be to hit the road to try the new rubber and repaired exhaust by pass valve. Can’t wait.

Tomorrow the car gets dropped for its first major service, rego check and new tyres. This means taking across town through the traffic which is something to be generally avoid if at all possible. Thus, that will happen at the crack of dawn in the hope of avoiding any major traffic snarls. Fingers crossed. The biggest hope is that, apart from all the things that HAVE to be done, there will be time during the service to address the issue with the exhaust bypass valve and to restore it to full working (noisy) order.

Even though the car will be out tomorrow it had the usual trip up the freeway and back. Happily, there again were no warning lights so it would seem that issue was to do with the ECU flopping around the engine bay. During the upcoming service I’ll ask to get those secured in their correct place under the Motronic controller.

The next major project is to try and build a diagnostic computer for the Motronic. Doing so would not only allow the viewing of engine statistics but it would also allow the resetting of any error codes (like limp mode). It would certainly be impressive if you could get this into an app loaded on a tablet or mobile but that is probably getting a little bit ahead of the game. The first step is locating the interface information about the Motronic and how it communicates to the outside world. Some searching already reveals that this information may be somewhat hard to come by but the Internet knows all. It is just a matter of finding it.

Hopefully all goes well with the service and the new tyres provide some more confidence while driving. The only question is how will that confidence cost? Next week should reveal the answer.

On most trips early in the morning the biggest challenge on the road are the push bikes, that is why I have selected a route that normally requires going counter to their direction. However, you can’t always be so lucky. Unfortunately, today another form of motorist who proved to be a challenge – boat owners.

There must have been some sort of event because the roads this morning were full of trailers and boats. Proceeding along the highway I pulled off into the usual service station to re-fuel. Problem was, the car in front also did the same. Further problem was all the pumps on the left hand side were occupied, with two bowsers being occupied by a boat and trailer. Given that my fuel cap is on the left of the car I didn’t really want to try and refill from a right hand bowser. So I waited behind the boat and I waited and I waited.

As the number of cars behind me started to grow (they could have gone to the right bowsers themselves actually) I tossed up whether to simply drive away and pull in at another service station later. I would not be able to do so until after by freeway run. What the heck I’ll go to the right bowsers. How hard can it be? (as they say on Top Gear)

So I pull up at the first bowser at the rear, acknowledge the boat people next door and grab the nozzle. Problem is the nozzle doesn’t quite reach, so I turn it vertically to try and make it fit and a load of fuel from the previous filler gushes all over the inlet area. Damm. So much for checking for fuel spills I think (which is what I wanted to do after some concerns I had last week). I twist and turn the nozzle but it still comes up short and it only just makes the top of the intake pipe on the car. I try this anyway and only end up splashing more fuel around where I don’t want it to be. Damm.

Needing to move the car closer to the pump I jump back in and drive it forward to the first bowser just in front. I make sure that the car is close enough to allow the nozzle to reach, however I now encounter a new problem. Being closer to the bowser means there is less room for the door to open and the doors in this car are much bigger than usual. Damm. So, re-position car (again) to allow exit but now forget to push the button to open the fuel intake on the car. This means getting back in, starting it up, pressing the button and getting out again. Oh, what a comic show for the crowd this morning.

The nozzle barely reaches but it does allow fuel to go into the car rather than elsewhere. After securing the fuel cap I go in search of some water to clear the fuel intake area. This means climbing over the boat, which is still straddled across the middle of the station. As I give the fuel intake a good flush I hope that there are not any leaks (as I was suspecting after last weeks run) that would allow the water to get into the fuel tank. Let’s hope not.

Refuelling done, the attendant behind the register (who has probably quite enjoyed the ‘show’) informs me that I need to pay for the few pennies I used at the first pump (when the nozzle didn’t reach) and my second more successful attempt. Fine. No discount for being ‘entertaining’? I think as I leave the register.

I hit the road and have to deal with more boats and cyclists until a little way up the freeway where things start to thin out. Phew. Breath. Breath.

I am happy to report however, apart from the refuelling dramas (will remember to not try the right side again!), there was no repeat of the warning lights. Three weeks in a row. Woo-Hoo. That certainly makes up for any other issues experienced today (which were really my own stupidity anyway). At least I shouldn’t have to refuel for a few more weeks now. The other good thing (somewhat surprisingly) is that upon parking the vehicle it didn’t smell of fuel like it did last time.

The tank plug replacement also arrived this week so changed that over as well.

Here’s the broken tank plug (above). The arm on the right fits into the centre of the cap on the left. If you look closely you can see that the ‘teeth’ at the bottom of the arm that sit inside the hole are missing. So it has totally loose the whole time.

With a new plug (like that above) the car is now just that little bit better. Still plenty to do and the car is confirmed for its first major service in a few weeks, so once that is all done (and it gets a new set of tyres) nirvana will be just that much closer. I however expect nirvana not to be cheap!