Aftermarket Bluetooth Install in Land Rover LR3 SE

Most cars come standard with bluetooth but despite having navigation and premium audio in my land rover i really missed the presence of bluetooth. A lot of information from disco3.co.uk encouraged me to go ahead with the install and although a lot of information is over a decade old where a lot of products are discontinued as well, I thought should write a blog on the 2016 version on how to do this.

Parts Required
Parrot 3200LS Bluetooth Kit
Harness specific to my sound system from Justcarkits.co.uk

Installation
1. Snap off centre console

2. Using a T25 bit
- unscrew the 2 screws and disconnect the top switch (that contains hazard light)
- unscrew the 4 screws that holds radio
- unscrew the 4 screws that is the heater switch

3. Take out the radio and unplug the 20-pin and the 12-pin adapters

The 12-pin Adapter
- Take out the end cap (red in color).
- That exposes which way round you need to push the the pins provided in the harness
- White/Black connects to Pin 3
- White Connects to Pin 5
- Yellow Connects to Pin 10
- Put the end cap back on the connector before plugging it in

The 20-Pin adapter gets rewired through the harness. So plug the factory 20-pin connector into the female 20-pin connector on harness and the Male 20-Pin Connector on harness now connects to the back of radio.

4. The only other connection you need to make is the Ignition Wire. This is the blue wire that is coming from the end of the harness that connects to the Parrot Blue Box. I connected this to cigarette lighter +ve.

5. Turn on your LR3 and see if everything is swell.

6. Placement
Display
- I opened three screws on back of display and rewired the wire to come out from the back of the display rather than the bottom. I drilled a hole on the small black part that is next to the centre left air vent and brought the display wire from the back of it then connected it to the display. i used double sided tape to stick the display on to the black part.

Microphone
I installed the microphone on the A Side pillar by the drivers side.

Parrot Blue Box
I brought the wires for the display and harness from underneath the steering wheel column into the Driver's Side Footwell area where i found some space to attach the parrot blue box using a long plastic strip tie.

7. Hide all wires as there should be no hanging wires or loose wires. Turn on your LR3 again to check everything is working. Put everything back.

Lighting Up My Garage

I previously just had 2 bulbs in front of garage and there were 2 bulbs on the garage door opener placed in middle of garage. When we upgraded our house to chandeliers, I used 2 of the left over lights that had 3 bulbs each in them. A bit better but still no way was there enough light. I thought of putting in Spotlights all over garage but i wasn't too sure of how well they would perform.

Then I came across these 48" Fluorescent Shop lights at Rona for $22.99 each that can take 2x T8 34watt Bulbs. The bulbs were extra with 30000 hours life for about $12 a pair. I bought 5 of them, along with 10 bulbs which cost about $193 inc. taxes. 

I also purchased 20m 14/2 Armored Cable for $50.85, one 4" Round Junction Box for $7.99 and 2x 4" Round Covers for $1.09 each.

I have a lot of shelves in the back, on the sides and on the ceiling. So I decided to put 3 lights in the rear and 2 in the front. I didn't used the chain hooks but i opened up the light and screwed 2 directly onto the 2 shelves on each side of garage and one directly to ceiling in the middle. For the 3 lights in rear I changed the wire on them to armored cable then wired them to the junction box that I put in the middle of the three lights. Then I used these rather than twister caps to connect up the wires. This is because it is hard to twist 4 wires together and these little push connectors are easier to manage if you have lots of wires.

I ran one wire to the from the junction box to my light connection in the front. In the front i changed the 2 lights also to these fluorescent lights and used the cover to cover up the Junction box. Again the lights were mounted directly to the cieling. For under $300 I had my whole garage lit up.

My Vinyl Wrap Kit

Dawn Dishwashing Detergent

- Solvent Based Cleaner, Grease Remover

- Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA)

- Lint-Free Towel or Lint-Free Paper Towel

Squeegee w/ felt tip

- Heat gun

- Utility knife - homedepot

- 3M 94 Tape Primer

- 3M Edge Sealer

- WrapCut Tape

- Cotton gloves

- Masking tape

- Tape measure

- Infrared thermometer (optional)
- Roller

Fixed the oven for 50 bucks Error Code F9 LG Double Wall Oven

Shame on LG for not supplying a $10 part part for my $4000 broken oven that is less than 2 years old and already thermostat is gone. So after 3 hours off being bounced back and forth on the phone to them and their local authorized appliance repair company Shaugnessey Appliance I had enough. At first LG told me i just give Shaugnessey Appliance their reference number and they can deal with it form there. Shaugnessey Appliance wanted me to set it up separately with thim which is $90+ tax for showing up abd diagnosing and then parts and labour. I wanted to go through LG. But last LG agent told me that since my oven is out of warranty and since they don't have any of their repair people in my area i have to do whatever Shaugnessey Appliance is offering. So I went online and found out that actually the F9 Error that was showing on upper oven is because thermosat is broken and i need to replace it with part number 6930W1A003X. LG However refused to sell me he part (against their policy for some reason) and no appliance place apart from Shaugnessey Appliance can actually carry LG Parts. Not only that the cherry on top is that I have to get Shuagnessey Appliance to come and repair my oven. Since their start rate was $100 I really wasn't looking forward to a few hundred dollar bill that they were going to make for me. I wasn't going to give up thoug so finally I found my part at Sears Parts Direct Canada. I gave them a call and gave them the part number. The part was $8.99 with fla rate shipping of $9.99. Total about $20. Within a week i recieved the part and asked my handyman to come over as I wasn't too confident on handling it on my own.

I googled "service repair manual for LWD3081ST" to see what i have to deal with and if i could do it myself. To my surprise I found it.

http://www.appliancefactoryparts.com/content/pdfs/148178-8.pdf

If you scroll down to page 22 section 3-7 you will see the thermostat and its location.

We turned off the breaker at the mains so no power at oven.
We took 6 screws out to detatch the wall oven from cabinet. Removed the doors and kept it aside.
The we put cardboard down on the hardwood floor to make sure we don't scratch it and slid the double oven out onto it.
Once we had access to the back panel we took the screws out and took off the back panel.
The Thermostat was attatched on with one screw. We took it out and put the new one in.
Then I turned the breaker on and tested the oven and guess what it was working absoolutely fine.
Turned breaker off and put everything back as it was.
All in all for 2 people who have never fixed an appliance before this took us under one hour easily.

So shame on you LG for really poor customer service and product support. I will think twice before buying your product again.

Plastidip on Winter Wheels using Rustoleum Flexidip

Since i wrapped car matte black i had been itching to do something to my wheels to make em stand out. So I thought of plasti dipping my winter tires gloss black.


Total Cost = 4 Cans of Matte Black Flexidip @ 10.49 ea

4 Cans of Rustoleum Gloss Black Orotective Coat @ 7.99 ea

Plastic Sheets @ 1.25 ea

Masking Tape

Before i got started i cleaned the alloys to the best of my ability.

  Using plastic sheet which you can buy for $1 from the dollar store i covered my tires and then used masking tape around edges so i dont get any paint elsewhere. Also tires are laid on one sheet too so I dont get any paint on ground below.   First coat of plastidip. I think i put it on too heavy. There was a few drips etc.   Some chips but gonna do a couple more coats.         Plasti dipped all 4. Waited about 10-15mins between coats and 45mins to dry. before doing clearcoat.         Finished Product

Wrapping my Land Rover LR3

7 year old car. wrapping in mate black.
       
    

Fleebay and Paypal Explained for Buyers

 

After buying 100s of items on ebay here is a bit of advice for buyers on eBay.

1. Always check description very carefully and make sure everything is as described and you haven't overlooked anything.
2. See Youtube videos and try and google the product name to see if anyone has reviewed it or made a video on it. It'll give you a much clearer idea of the product before you purchase it.
3. Make purchase from ebay and I have only paid through Paypal because I find them safe to pay through. You will not need to pay any fees if you are a buyer.

How Paypal works

Paypal is a mediator between the seller and the buyer. It works for both.

1. If you have problem you can start a dispute within a particular time frame. That is 45 days from date of transaction. Normally, if you are buying stuff from abroad it takes 3-4 weeks to get to you anyway. So you are only left with about 15 days in order to try out item make sure eveyrthing is good.

2. If you start a dispute and seller asks you to end the dispute, the seller is trying to scam you. DO NOT CLOSE A DISPUTE UNLESS YOU HAVE REACHED A RESOLUTION. Because then you can not ever start anoter dispute and it is completely upto seller to give you a refund, and yes you will never get your money back. e.g., I wanted to get my older phone unlocked but wasn't with my previous provider anymore so i had to get my phone unlocked through third party. i contacted a few and went with the cheapest option of $49. The guy send me his PayPal address via text message. So I paid him and then he asks for $10 more. So I said no and ask for a refund. His action made be wary and i opened a dispute. the guy flips and says if I don't close dispute he is going to blacklist my phone and that i and ruining his paypal history. All this is a lie and a pressure technique. I immediately phoned paypal and described to them the situation and not only they added this report on his account so if he tries to do it again they will close his account, they immediately escalated the dispute to a claim and the guy was forced to give me back my money. And as far as blacklist is concerned the cellphone provider has record of me as the original purchaser of phone and if he did try to blacklist my phone (i'm guessing he worked for a company celling cell phones or something like bestbuy) he'd be easily tracked down.

3. You can also ask for a partial refund because sometimes items can be too expensive to send back. For Example, i ordered a set of wheels for my landrover from the states. I paid around $1200 after shipping and taxes and the seller said they will fit my vehicle. When I went to get them installed it turns out the front ones were hitting my caliper so they had to take it off and put my old ones back on. I had to buy spacers that cost me another $300 in order to get those wheels on. I started a dispute on PayPal and asked the seller to go half on the spacers which i thought was fair. So the seller did end up refunding me $150 to avoid the hassle and it worked out really good for both of us.