The Max

Loose heat shield?

Batteries are not rocket science. You get what fits in the space provided (I run an Optima yellow top, seven years old and still kicking on strong). Before going to the extremes of computers and whatnot, has your mechanic actually checked the wiring and relevant fuses with a proper meter? I seriously doubt it, which is why I question your mechanic's electrical knowledge. I say find a real auto electrician to work out what's going on before you spend thousands for nothing.

Go to Adrian's Auto Centre at 100 Parramatta Rd Croydon. The workshop access is in the lane behind the car dealership. He's the guy I go to when it's not something I can do in my own driveway. No, he doesn't charge dealership prices and definitely runs an honest workshop.

Your mechanic is (figuratively) a rapist. Find someone either honest or who actually knows how to fix cars with the right amount of effort and parts.

I dare say it's probably more the fact that panelbeaters prefer to deal with local sources so that they have the required local support to resolve any issues that may arise. According to my guy, when it comes to import vehicles, the dealers (such as Suttons and Parramatta Motor Group here in NSW) treat us as second class citizens. Without a friend working there (of which my acquaintance and my repairer's friend has retired), it's a tough battle to get them to be semi-helpful even with the part numbers handed to them. I deal with Partsouq for most of what I need anyway. They're cheaper and faster than the local boys but then again, what I save in cash is because of the lack of local support. For example, I bought what I thought was the replacement ashtray assembly for my vehicle with the woodgrain finish, based on the part number I found in the database pertaining to my VIN. Either the previous owner changed the trim himself, database was wrong or the guys at Partsouq needed to be told what trim it needed to be because I received a brushed aluminium one instead of woodgrain. Obviously too expensive to ship back but I can just switch the lid with my original one.

Not necessarily. Depends on the agreement you come to with the repairer. With my guy, I suggested to him that I take it back home after the assessment until he had all the bits ready to repair. He appreciated it because it freed up a space in his busy workshop and all the while, my car was safe at home.

See if a loan car is an option. I have two cars so it didn't present any problems for me.

I would leave everything in place. It's not ideal but when it happened to me, I just used some really fat cable ties to keep the bonnet tied down onto the rams as I drove over to my guy. The rams are a single-use item, so you can't compress them back down to allow the bonnet to close completely. It is what it is. If you mess with anything that has deployed, that gives the insurance an excuse to screw you over. Don't give them any ammunition for excuses. Let them see what happened and why. Leave it to your repairer to put things back to normal after that.

Definitely the same process. The modules are still Bosch, albeit perhaps somewhat different programming and/or EEPROM IC used but it wouldn't be significantly different and the Tachsoft guys seem to support a wide range of modules. If you have the hardware, it's easy to fix within the space of 30 minutes. I might reverse engineer the code in mine to see if there's a software method of switching this module off, as I think it's the biggest load of horseshit, in my opinion. Failing that, a couple of resistors and disconnecting the rams will certainly do the trick as well.

And I'm saying of course Shannons would not write it off. The repair is not expensive enough to do so. My repairer has a good relationship with Shannons but he is not preferred by them. The reason why Shannons took so long was because they had a massive backlog to get through at the time. If you don't have a repairer you know and trust, you can talk to my guy and see what he thinks. Make your own judgement from there. Cullens Smash Repairs in Auburn.

Only reason why it took so long for me was because of Shannons themselves, not my trusted panelbeater. That being said, the only thing he couldn't handle was the pop-up bonnet module, in order to erase the diagnostic code and I told him to leave it up to me instead, since I already have the necessary hardware to reset the module myself. The repair will not be expensive enough to get it written off.

Haven't had the chance to get that far yet but based on a previous situation, it seemed pretty easy to access.

What are you programming that interface into? It should just appear as a regular HID/mouse. If you're using it in a Windows environment, you will need the appropriate UPD drivers which give you the ability to tailor how it performs (as in if it's just x,y or x,y and left click simultaneously, etc). They were free up until a certain version but I'm not home yet to tell you what that version is. I'm sure I have them on file and can share them on Dropbox if need be.

Much easier than that. As the NUC output is converted to composite, it'll feed the auxiliary input of the infotainment system, as per your first sentence. As for the touch overlay, I've decided not to bother with a switch. I'm just going to permanently connect it to the USB converter for the NUC (based on Microchip's discontinued AR1100 IC).

What my plan entails at the moment is based on an Intel i7 NUC, Windows 7, Foobar 2000 for audio with a mediocre skin for touchscreen control and Mapfactor Navigator (free software with open source maps, Google coordinate searches for POIs, addresses, etc) and a Garmin 18x GPS antenna. I've gone the additional step of using a JDS Labs USB DAC for decent analogue audio output and an HDMI to composite converter that's way more expensive than a bok-choi eBay job but it's still composite, so let's see how good it'll look on our little screens. All powered with custom designed power supplies and the NUC power is intelligently managed to allow for an elegant shutdown of Windows after stopping the car, before cutting the power off from the power supplies to prevent unnecessary draining of the battery. I would've preferred a Linux OS but Mapfactor don't do a Linux version and I have not found anyone who does a GPS application as comprehensive as theirs.