Skezza

Great! I'll have a pop in a month or two when it's a bit warmer. I'm not absolutely desperate to fix it, I'm just one of those who gets annoyed by little things lol. It's more that I'm worried about removing the lock. I don't want to permanently damage the lock because it uses the original key. I intend on fitting aftermarket remote central locking, but it would be silly to damage a lock for something like this.

Good luck. If you need any help let me know. You should find it fairly straightforward though. All you need to make sure is that you put on enough to reduce the impact, but not too much so that it rucks. If you have a heat gun, that's probably the best way to shrink the wrap around the pin. A hair dryer might do it, but if not, your hob will. Not sure of the best way to suspend it over the hob, but remember, the heat shrink won't melt and shouldn't burn so you can hold it pretty close. An electric hob would probably be better but I can't see why a gas hob wouldn't work. Oh, and one last thing, heat shrink decreases in both length and width so don't cut the length precisely, give it a mm or two more. If you do cut it slightly too far, you could trim away the excess although I imagine screwing it back in will chew any excess anyway, so I wouldn't worry.

Good plan

It's a fact that all first cars are either crashed, or driven so badly they become not worth repairing. My first car was a fantastic little Pug 106. Super reliable. Ended up a Cat B lol, was hit at 60Mph by some tool in an Astra.

Yes. I assure you it will have.

To be fair, 1700 is pretty poor considering you're doing 3k miles and done the very basic upgrades, as in wheels, lowered I assume and exhaust. Although I guess they take age as the big factor here which is why it's so high. It's a long shot but you could try DirectLine. They don't allow modifications for under 25's, but if you say they were there when you bought the car they usually turn a blind eye.

Have to agree with Scotty. Get a panel beater to do it and then perhaps fill it in if required. You might find it pops out without the need for filler, just depends how badly the metal is creased.

Yeah, mine sounds like a tractor. In the words of my girlfriend when I first bought it "it feels like I'm on a bus" Nissan Micra's have great engines but like I said, they're made of tinfoil. Has anyone ever watched the Euro NCAP video from 2000 of an old Nissan Micra, watch that and then the Lupo one and you'll feel a lot safer. If you're not convinced, then watch the FIAT Seicento Euro NCAP video If Micra's were made out of tinfoil, Seicento's were made out of plasticine.

Hmm. Have you plugged the connector in the wrong way round? You can do that with a bit of brute force and idiocy.

Have you checked the actual contacts on the bulb holder?

I reckon you've got a better chance of living when your crash your Lupo, especially when you consider that Nissan Micra's are practically made out of tinfoil.

Hi Tim Sounds to me like they've removed the fuse (quite a common fix for buggered central locking). I suggest checking the fuses for the CL. You never know, it might work, however I'm guessing it's bollocked and that's why they removed it. If it's any solace, mine is playing up too (SDI as well )

The SDI is slow the traffic lights but when you get up to 70mph it's a different beast. It's quick going from 70mph to 90mph.

Mine is hit and miss, but I just can't be bothered to fix it.

Sorry Leighton, but it isn't the punctuation... your sentence doesn't make any sense. "the indicator is up I works" ? You could do with elaborating on that. When you say the 'light', do you mean the entire cluster or just a single bulb? You could do with providing us a bit more information for us to help you. How hard have you actually tried to diagnose the problem? Because I'd have thought lights were fairly straightforward to diagnose.

Matt, you certainly aren't the only one. The MFD1 had an absolutely abysmal interface and so does the newer VW head units. The best one they make right now is the non-sat nav model with a B&W LCD screen. It's functional, has a decent menu system and isn't unpleasant to use.

The sound is adequate but nothing revolutionary. The interface is like something out of the 1980s. I have a feeling the guy who designed it was a big DOS fan who loved those old menu driven computer systems. The satnav is dreadful, but then again, most bespoke sat nav systems are. The best sat nav software is off-the-shelf such as iGo Primo, Garmin and Sygic. They've had years and years of development, with thousands of hours research on heuristic algorithms. I assure you that some muppet at Mercedes who reckons he can make a pretty in-dash sat nav system for their newest car will not be able to make a better one. The same extends to VW.

I should have made a video lol! It's really not that hard to fix, either way. If you decide to replace, you'll need to remove it from the inside which takes about 20 minutes at most. If you want to do the heat shrink method, it'll take you about 10 minutes.

Here, I found this photo I took while I was doing it. Should give you a reasonable idea of how to do it:

Hey, The door creaking thing is really common due to the bush in the check strap wearing. The Volkswagen fix is to buy a new pair of check straps. However, if you're like me and prefer the ghetto fix this is how I did it this weekend just gone (i'll upload a video I took of them completely silent now): Buy yourself a pack of heat shrink tubing. I suggest going for cheaper heat shrink rather than more expensive. More expensive heat shrink tubing is soft, and very nice to touch, which is why it's commonly used when binding wires and what not together. Cheaper heat shrink is tough and not so nice to touch, which is why it's used as insulation to prevent short circuits etc. I imagine the cheaper stuff will be harder to wear and last a bit longer. This bag from the bay should do nicely: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150-Pcs-2-1-Heat-Shrink-HeatShrink-Tubing-Tube-Sleeving-Wrap-Wire-Black-New-/171012524297?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item27d1240909 Remove the pin in the door using a socket wrench. Part of the pin you will see has no thread, and this is the part that is clattering loudly. Depending on the wear in the bush, you will need to wrap it maybe 2 or 3 pieces and then heat the tubing so that it shrinks to fit nice around the pin. Do it one by one. So wrap, then heat it, wrap then heat it, wrap then heat. If you do too many, you will find it will ruck up and you will struggle to get it in the hole properly. If you do too few, you will reduce the noise but it will only last a month or two as the impact will still cause problems. So if you still get creaking after you put the pin back, you need to wrap another layer of heat shrink. To heat the tubing you really need a heat gun, however some people reckon a hair dryer would do it. If not, your hob is fine. I will upload a video to YouTube now that I took this weekend of the difference it made. You will be very surprised at the difference it made.

Here's a twist though, this morning it worked fine when I first got to the car, but then didn't work after. Maybe it is just cracked joints as you said.

Ultimately, for 15 quid, it's a pretty cheap fix, but I don't think it's one that is urgently required... unless of course the sensor to the ECU has gone which I suggest you change it immediately lol.

Wow, thanks Jon. That's a far better picture than the one in the guide. Did you just re-heat the solder or did you use fresh solder ? How hard was it to get off the door and disassemble?

As soon as I saw you'd replied I felt it was necessary to read this thread and reply of course. Well, my Lupo SDI is absolutely rapido which is the greatest of speed greats. Rapido > Rapid > Fast > Slow > Barry. It's so fast, that the tyres melt, so I've had it professionally restricted to 500Mph. I also attached my ClubLupo sticker this weekend which definitely added another 5Mph!

I assumed he was smoothing off the frosting from the inside, which would make them transparent as opposed to translucent. I believe this is possible by smoothing off the inside which is rough, thus creating the effect that the light from the bulb is coming straight through. The reason I asked if it was an MOT fail is because as of about 2 years ago, any modification that significantly reduces light emitted from a headlight or rear light can be deemed unsafe and as such an MOT fail. The reason it's frosted is to allow the light to spread, allowing a much wider visibility. Just a question