Good Festival of Speed!!! 2019 year is the year I finally seized to opportunity to attend it. Well, my fiancée gave me tickets as my Christmas present 2018 🙂 and off we went. it was an amazing experience; from the trip through the south of England, our airBnB host and of course the Festival of Speed itself. I can highly recommend it. Long story short, I’ll let you watch the video down below rather than writing a novel.
Here we go again, the ‘engine fault: repair needed‘ warning message came back. What is this time? Well, this time the diagnostics tool brought up the error code “P0087 – Fuel Rail/System Pressure Too Low”. Apparently it has to do with the high pressure fuel pump. Need I say more? 🙂
Enough of the routine maintenance, let’s get some excitement into this ride. The K&N air filter was a good start, but why not upgrade the RCZ esthetically while also improving the sound note?! I decided to install a FOX dual exhaust for three reasons: It looks great – chrome, classy and bigger than the stock exhaust – hopefully sounds great and it’s road legal in Switzerland. Furthermore, I went all in and also acquired a matching sporty rear diffusor that allows the new right side exhaust to come out.
NOTICE: The installation is quite straightforward. As always, take some time to prepare yourself and don’t rush the whole disassembling an reassembling. The kit was complete. You don’t need to cut or weld anything to the chassis. However, you need to cut the stock exhaust pipe at the exact spot, in order for the new pipe to fit. More tips are given at the end of part 2.
Here’s how it’s done! 🙂
Part 1 – Removing the original exhaust and prefitting the FOX exhaust
Part 2 – Final assembly, sound check and feedback
So you’re one of those people who service and tune up your car yourself, right? But what about all the electronic little messages that come up periodically and want to remind you to look after your car? Of course, YOU wouldn’t need that because YOU keep track of your car’s maintenance history, right? Well guess what, you still need to tell you car when you changed the oil. My RCZ‘s onboard computer wants me to service my car every 30’000 km. It shows so buy putting up a little wrench next to the odometer, as well as in the central display between the rpm gauge and the speedometer.
Lucky you, you drive a Peugeot and hence don’t need any diagnostic computer to reset the service warning message!
Here’s how to do it! 🙂
Okay, once you are done with the oil change, what the next thing to look after while servicing your RCZ? The spark plugs, of course! They have to be replaced every 30’000 km. I replaced the original NGK with the equivalent from Bosch (Ref.: 0 242 135 518). Not that I wasn’t satisfied with NGK or that I hoped that the Bosch ones would miraculously increase the engine’s performance, I just wanted to try something else from a well known brand – as long as it was compatible, of course. 🙂
Anyway, (1) pop the hood, (2) release the ignition coil, (2) pull it out, (3) unbold and remove the old spark plug, (4) insert a new one and proceed in the opposite order for the rest. Now repeat this for the remaining three spark plugs.
NOTICE: If you need an extension for your 14 mm spark plug socket, make sure all of the elements of the wrench are taped together, as the spark plugs might be a bit stuck even when unbolt. Fishing out the socket can be quite tedious, trust me…! 😉 It’s a simple solution to a really annoying problem.
Here’s how to do it! 🙂
Doing an oil change on an internal combustion engine is probably the most commonly known and most frequently conducted service element in all car maintenance history. So guess what, even my RCZ needs it every 30’000 km or every two years. The procedure is quite simple: (1) Open up the oil cap on top of the engine block, (2) unscrew the drain plug and let the old oil flow out into an appropriate catch pan. (3) Put a new crush washer on the drain plug and screw it back on. (4) Now replace the oil filter before (5) filling in 4.25l of fresh synthetic SAE 5W30 engine oil.
NOTICE: Safety first, environment second! Make sure the car is safely positioned on a car lift or on ramps when you are working underneath a car, especially when your are applying force to unbolt / bolt parts! The engine, exhaust and the oil might be hot if you warmed the car up just before, hence protect your hands, skin in general and your eyes accordingly. Always dispose of used oil properly – bring it to your local waste disposal service station.
Here’s how to do it! 🙂
Changing an ai cabin filter doesn’t seem to be a big deal at first glance. After all, the filter itself is basically just a dry piece of foam. Getting to the air cabin filter compartment is a different story. On my 2012 Peugeot RCZ it’s basically a three-step process: (1) Remove the plastic admission tube that is connected to the cabin air filter housing, (2) unclip and pull out the insulating mat just behind the admission tube and finally, (3) open up the cover and pull out the used air cabin filter. Now simply replace it with a new filter and proceed in the reverse order.
NOTICE: As always with car plastics, be patient and careful not to handle them roughly as they can easily crack. I like to quote Amesie from Amesie’s Automotive Corner, “those plastic parts are as supple as uncooked pasta”. 🙂
Now that the cabin has clean air, let’s turn our attention to the engine. This filter is located behind the engine. You can directly access it by unbolting the cover, the air intake hose, as well as unclip the electronic sensor that is connected to it.
NOTICE: As always when you take any bolts out in and around the engine block, make sur to store them safely and not let them fall into the engine bay. You never know whether they will be stuck or lost somewhere in there. 😉
Happy wrench spinning! 😀
This time it’s time to change the tires of my RCZ. The summer tires are 19″ Continental Sport Contact 3 tires, which I am replacing with Continental Sport Contact 5. The old tires have lasted for about 60’000 km, which is pretty good, considering that they are sports tires and thus supposed to not only last but also be super sticky. 🙂
Anyway, when you look at the tread of the tires, you’ll see that they have almost come down to the tread wear indicators. These are at 1.6 mm, the legal minimum in Switzerland and many other countries as well. So, time go to the tire shop and have them all replaced with some new rubber! Yes, all four of them are down!!
If you can’t spot a tread wear indicator, one good tool to measure it is a one euro coin. The outer gold ring is exactly 1.6 mm. If you compare the old and the new tire you will instantly realize that the change was due!
Another day, another tutorial! This time we’re removing a taillight of the RCZ. If you want to order it before you read or watch through the process, here are the part numbers. Peugeot part number: YM40701280, Automotive Lighting part number: 2623 0102. Always make sure you’re ordering the correct side, since the left and the right units are symmetric, hence not identical.
In a nutshell, the entire process is quite simple. It can however be confusing when you’ve never done it before. Open up the cover on the side of the trunk and disconnect the cable. There is only one cable coming from the taillight. After that there are two big white nuts to unscrew. The first time I tried to loosen them they were so tightened up that I needed pliers.
Push the taillight out from the inside and twist the entire unit counter clockwise until the burl in the front of the light snaps out of its position. I sounds like something just broke but don’t worry, it’s really just the burl. You may want to cover the left edge of the taillight with some sort of cloth so you don’t scratch it while removing it. However, it’s not necessary if you’re careful.
No just press and pull the rubber plug, pull the cable out and the entire taillight is free. Check out the video for a more comprehensive demonstration:
Enough is enough, it’s time to modify, to pimp, to give my Peugeot RCZ that little touch that makes it unique. Let’s start by changing the stock leather imitation gear knob with an aluminum item. Truth be told, I already did this a year ago, but I have a couple of more modifications in the pipeline I want to show you on YouTube so let’s start with the beginning.
The original gear knob is okay, it’s actually pretty good quality. Okay just doesn’t cut it anymmore when you have a car that looks this good. Given that the RCZ GT-Line, R and many different Peugeot models also have the new aluminum gear knob as standard, I just had to had it!!
I got the new one at my official Peugeot dealer. The part number is 96 738 472 vv and was available within 24 hours. Boy, was I positively surprise. It’s heaver than the original one and fits even better to the gear lever, hence there is no play at all while shifting!
Switching the knobs is actually very straighforward. Just hold the lever with one hand and pull the knob off the level. You must pull strongly until it’s released, so my advice is to put engage 6th gear first, so your hand doesn’t hit the parking brake lever as the knob comes off. Then, just insert the new knob onto the t-shaped lever and push it down until you here a distinct click. This tells you that the gear knob is now safely connected to the lever.
Check out the tutorial video!