Car Alternator + Water Pump ~ Changed

7/31/2010 10:53:00 AM Car Care No Comments

i woke up early in the morning preparing myself for a long day at the car workshop and becoz of this i had to apply for an emergency leave as well... the mechanic which our family has known for years came around 9:15am in the morning with a charged up battery to fire up my car, he then use a multi-meter to measure the voltage of the battery that he juz installed into my car...

a healthy car battery will give a measurement of 12V and when the car alternator is running and charging the battery, it should give a measurement of 14V... but the readings on the multimeter stays at 12V and started to drop slowly as the car started to drain off the battery with the airconditioner running... so it's confirmed that the car alternator is gone case... so he asked me to drive my car now to his workshop while he escort me from behind juz in case my car drained off this battery before i could reached his workshop... luckily i managed to get there...

this is the old spoilt alternator...

once arrived, another mechanic which is known as wayar man (ah gou lou) took over as he's in charged of all the electric and electronic stuff of the car... they have ordered the alternator ready for me as i hv rang them up yesterday, so the operation to change the alternator proceed immediately... it took him only 30 minutes to get off the old alternator and fix in the new one... by then my car is up and running again...

the multi-meter is on the car battery once more and this time it measure a healthy 14V meaning the alternator is charging the battery... my new battery yesterday which was 'kong' managed to be salvage and they use a machine to charge it up back to healthy state... luckily, if not i have to foot money for another car battery... zzzz...

old water pump...at the top right, there are coolant residue which indicates leakage...

there is another parts in my car which i always fear that it has wear off... it's the water pump and i know that the consequence if it fails... so i asked the mechanic to have a look and indeed small leakage started to appear on it... the water pump on a Proton Wira is located right above the alternator, so we also notice some coolant residue on top of the alternator... i made a bold decision which is to change it as i do not want to tow my car once again in the future...

the entire timing belt system is out to make way for the water pump... major work...

changing the water pump is a major activity similar to what i witness back then when i had my car clutch plate changed... they have to take off the entire timing belt system to disengaged the water pump... that operation took more than 1 hour... once he has fitted back the entire timing belt system and refilled my car with a fresh bottle of coolant, my car is fired up and they monitored closely to ensure that the new water pump is running and circulating the coolant around the radiator system... after 5-10 minutes, it's confirmed that everything is good...

my new car battery is also fitted back into my car and the readings show a healthy 14V readings... sigh*** finally it's done... and the car bill... :(

• Water Pump : MYR 80
• Radiator Coolant : MYR 28
• Alternator : MYR 580
• Labour Charge : MYR 80
• 5% Government Service Tax : MYR 4.00

this brings to a total of MYR 772.00... sigh***

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Car ~ Towed Away

7/30/2010 06:52:00 AM Car Care No Comments

as i thought that yday was a pretty bad and stressful day, little did i know that today is worst... sigh*** it started out normally as i drove myself to work and everything with the car feels normal... i even stop by the same petrol station which i purchased the car battery yesterday to swap back the customer copy of the warranty card... the staff yesterday handed me the manufacturer's copy instead...

so off i head to the carpark and parked my car for work... at 5:30pm, i left the office and hike on to the van shuttle to my car... as i tried to disarmed my car, i felt something wrong... it's not responding... OMG!... it's Déjà vu... :( my car is out of battery again?! but it's a new battery i bought yesterday??!!... instantly it hit my mind that the alternator had died-ed... so i rang up my mechanic seeking for advice and the only option that i have is to tow the car back, even a jump start will not help as the new battery which i installed yesterday is totally outta of juice coz the alternator didn't managed to charge it...

i hv no choice but to call up Kurnia Assists to have them sent in a tow truck for my car... i have to wait almost 2 1/2 hours before the tow truck could arrived due to heavy traffic down at Puchong... getting my car towed is another major operation as my car originally came with the full sport skirts and side fender, thus he needs to jack up my car in the front before he can lift up the hook... sigh*** but then at least now i hv experience car towing...

at 9:30pm, i finally reach home and had my car lowered down to the ground and paid RM 30 to the tow truck guy... erm... i think RM 30 is very reasonable as private tow truck will at least cost me RM 120+... every year Kurnia Assists will cover 30Km of towing FOC and every excess of 1Km will be charged at RM 1.50 (excluding toll money)... the only thing i was angry that nite was the tow truck service arriving late and how the Kurnia helpdesk center guy didn't informed me that if customer insists to use their Kurnia tow truck, it can cover 50Km FOC instead... zzzzz...

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Car Battery ~ Died-ed

7/29/2010 08:24:00 AM Car Care No Comments

it was a hectic day yesterday late evening when i was about to leave the carpark... i took out my car key from my jeans pocket and pressed the dis-armed button but then, no reaction from my car... i was like oh! okay i need to walk closer to the car (my car has this stupid response) duh!... as i inched closer to the car, i start to feel something is wrong coz i was then standing right at the driver's door yet... no response from the car to dis-arm itself... in my heart i was like ou! shit!... zzzz...

so i forced to enter the car and immediately the car alarm activated... and the alarm sound sounded wierd... it's confirmed that my car's battery is dead... zzzz... so i rang up -ah koong- to inform him i'm gonna be late for the dinner gathering only to find out that he's still in the offiz hahaha waiting to pick up -ah jiew jeh-... good, so i called him to come and rescue me hehehe... about 15 minutes later, he was there with -ah jiew jeh- haha and i asked him to look after my car while i go and purchased a new car batt from the nearby petrol station...

this is the died-ed battery and the new one is exactly the same

the stupid gate connecting to the petrol station from the TPM car park is locked, so i had no choice but to ask the company shuttle van to drove me out to the petrol station... this later caused a huge pile up of my colleagues waiting for the shuttle van to pick them up (later when i'm in the office, it's gonna be shitty)... zzzz...

finally i got the car battery at a very expensive price and got it changed with the help from -ah koong-... we then off head towards Sunway Pyramid for our dinner as -ah claire- was already there at 7pm... we reached at 8pm... hahaha...

back to the price... 1 year and 17 days ago, i paid RM 160 for the very same battery and yesterday i paid RM 238 for it!... WTF!...

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New Hotmail Icon ~ Got It

7/26/2010 09:50:00 PM BlackBerry Storm II No Comments

while i was testing some new downloaded themes on my BlackBerry Storm II, i noticed that the Hotmail icon on my device finally changed to the new orange color design... >:)

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Rapidshare App ~ Refreshed Finally

7/25/2010 07:32:00 PM No Comments

yes, Rapidshare finally put in a very good effort in refreshing it's download app for desktop manager... after years of still sticking to it's every ugly looking UI, they finally released a newer version which rocks in every single sense... the effort they took after so long, worth the wait... take a look at the new face-lifted app...

so other than the updated UI, i can now set unlimited number of parallel download instead of being restricted to only 5 on the old app... they also provided a much better access to our own account for settings changes and management ability without the need to logon to the website... cool stuff... ;)

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Neway + The Opera

7/25/2010 05:03:00 PM Unwind Session No Comments

been a long time since i've sing K, and i managed to find kaki's kekekeke... so me, -ah kok hau- and wife, -ah lam- and -ah yc- went for singing at Neway Puchong yesterday... ;)

me and -ah yc- then picks up -ah claire- for our 2nd round at The Opera... >:) we did something brave this time by opting not to pay the cover charge but to open a bottle of Hennesey VSOP kekekeke... around 1am+ we have another fren joining us all the way from Seremban hahaha... it's -ah koong-... we rock the nite till they chase us out as they closed down for the nite...

but then as we were about to leave, there is actually some drama happening there when people all starting to throw or splash water onto the birthday boy... things get a little out of control when some of them started to throw bucket of ice to him... some went as far as throwing/splashing it down from the 2nd level which triggers the marshal into action... something which was at first fun went on to become a havoc drama... lolx...

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Batu Dam Conquest

7/24/2010 04:58:00 PM Canon EOS, Conquest No Comments

haha... finally i made it this time kekeke...

an empty horizon

patiently waiting for fish

a Sprite bottle which was left there

things which not supposed to be there?... the empty bottle or the tripod?...

fish trying to escape from being bait... yes, these are baits to catch bigger fish...

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Antenna Meter for BlackBerry ~ Xtreme Labs

7/23/2010 08:40:00 AM BlackBerry Storm II No Comments

i found this apps posted to Crackberry.com website and it's created by Xtreme Labs as a result from the iPhone 4 Antennagate debacle... so i downloaded the app and tried to choke my Storm 2 but then the signal doesn't want to move... even if it does move, it will climb up back after 1-2 seconds... hahaha...

*** post credits to Crackberry

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Dinner Gathering @ Go-Gung, The Gardens

7/22/2010 07:57:00 AM No Comments

-ah lam- is back to Malaysia after months of disappearance hahaha... and finally we got time to gather around and have a dinner... this time, it's at Go-Gung, The Gardens which is a Korean cuisine...

the appointment was set at 7pm and i was there sharp at 7pm, reaching the carpark kekekeke... as expected, i'll not the be last one there hahaha as -ah jack- and -ah farn- still yet to arrive while -ah kok hau-, -ah lam- and -ah matt- were there starting to eat liao... so we start to catch up with each another but then we met each another quite often other than -ah lam- hahaha... so most of the time we update her actually ;p

not long after that, both the other 2 arrived and we start our actual dinner... the beef was good but then too little for the sky high price tag and we were all shocked by the spiciness of the Kimchi Sup (if i didn't remember wrongly lar har the name)... all of us start to perspire while drinking the sup... ~hou guai sei laat ar~....

then more surprising things happened that nite, while we were busy chatting and laughing, i noticed a girl sitting at the far end corner of the restaurant and i recognized her instantly, it's -ah limpy-... hehehe... so i pop up by BlackBerry and start texting her...

• Hi..I saw u..hehe.. From : ah tiang..
• Where u?
• Look straight...hahaha

as soon as i text her the last message, i was ready to wave my hand at her as she look up from her phone hahaha... and caught her by surprise hahaha... priceless... ;p we didn't actually talk to each another until she were done with her dinner... she left after a quick chat between us on the status of my team which is her ex-team hahaha...

soon after our dinner is over, we proceed with our dessert down at the New Zealand ice cream which is located at the underpassage way connecting Mid Valley with The Gardens... there, both -ah kok hau- and -ah lam- start shooting with their polaroid cameras hahaha... yup, it's polaroid and not DSLR hahaha...

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BlackBerry 6 ~ Multimedia

7/21/2010 08:16:00 AM BlackBerry 6, BlackBerry Storm II No Comments

here are some of the upcoming BlackBerry 6 screenshot...

this is so cool compared to the current version 5.0 OS and i will be damn sad if RIM decided no to release this BlackBerry 6 OS for my Storm 2 9520 device... fingers cross...

*** pictures above credits to Inside BlackBerry

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Ford Fiesta Price List ~ Released

7/20/2010 07:50:00 AM No Comments

i still remember that i drove down all the way from Shah Alam to Bandar Utama to have a glimpse on the Ford Fiesta when they were having roadshow at 1 Utama Shopping Complex... and indeed it was a fantastic car with futuristic hi-tech dashboard coupled with it's sleek aerodynamic body... the best part, is the rear light... it's just superb sleek and sexy hahaha... ;p and i fell in love with it instantly...

back then, they only managed to import 1 car in from SG for display only and they doesn't have any cars ready for customer to perform test drive... therefore they actually loose out to their erm... competitor + partner (partner becoz both car manufacturer share the same Thailand plant to produce Mazda 2 and Fiesta) whom is Mazda and surprisingly have had the roadshow for it's Mazda 2 on the same weekend, same place hahaha...

of coz i did went over to Mazda 2 to have a look, but then sadly it's design is too old fashion compared to Fiesta hahaha... ;p so Fiesta won... however, the only problem with Fiesta is that it has taken ages to roll out from the Thailand factory resulting in Mazda 2 being on the road months ahead of them... so they were beaten on sales figure for those who can't wait...

but finally they still doesn't have the car yet in Malaysia but they have released the Price List complete with the specification... there are 3 models available here in MY;

• Ford Fiesta 1.4L Manual : RM 73,888 (Est OTR)
• Ford Fiesta Sedan LX 1.6L Ti-VCT : RM 79,888 (Est OTR)
• Ford Fiesta Sport 1.6L Ti-VCT : RM 84,888 (Est OTR)

the one that melted my heart away is the Ford Fiesta Sport 1.6L Ti-VCT which apparently is the most expensive of them all... reason is that this car is fully packed with;

• Engine/Power : Inline 4 - 1,598 cc (120 PS @ 6000 rpm)
• Torque : 152 Nm @ 4050 rpm
• Transmission : 6 - Speed Automatic with Dual Clutch
• Acceleration : 9.9 secs (0-100 km/h)
• Top Speed : 193 km/h
• Antilock Braking System (ABS) with Hill Launch Assist (HLA)
• Electronic Stability Program (ESP)
• Traction Control System (TCS)
• Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD)

that above list does make the price RM 84,888 worth it... ;)

*** pictures above credits to Ford Malaysia

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Batu Dam Conquest ~ Failed

7/19/2010 07:16:00 PM Canon EOS, Conquest No Comments

again i set off for another expedition over to a dam... this time it's the Batu Dam which is located on the way to Ulu Yam... getting there is quite easy with a GPS which shows me the nearest route...

however the weather is once again not on my side :( it's gloomy and ends up raining when i reached there... but the view is fantastic not to mention that the road is also superb... twisty uphill and downhill coupled with fast shift corners... absolute mesmerizing to drive on that road beside the Batu Dam...

there is actually 2 small area along the road which you can parked your car and have a stroll beside the lake but then, because of it's small size hahaha... it's not easy to find parking and with the sky started to cry, i decided to head home... but then i shall be back again...

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4~3~2 The Opera

7/18/2010 07:43:00 PM Unwind Session No Comments

-ah yc- called for a yum cha session yesterday nite but then oni me can made it in the end hahaha... -ah claire- couldn't make it... so it was down to 3... then -ah koong- also cannot make it coz he was involved in a string of chain car accident down at the KL-Seremban Highway... ops... so left 2...

it was indecisive at first as there were oni 2 of us but then in the end we decided to go for it anyway hahaha... so there it goes 2 of us drink out at The Opera... catching up each another while indulged into the music and atmosphere...

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RM 200 ~ 10 Vodka Shots

7/16/2010 10:34:00 AM Unwind Session No Comments

i was down at Coco Banana yesterday nite and couldn't find -christine- there... strange as she normall will be there quite early, so as usual i sat down and ordered a jug of Carlsberg... while waiting for her and listening to the live band performance...

finally around 9:45pm, i saw her rushing into the pub and getting herself ready for the work... she came out later and we chit-chat for a while before she again rushing to start her nite... during the chit-chat she mentioned that she had got a new work elsewhere and she won't be arriving early there anymore as was last time... sigh*** i lost a fren to talk to during my unwind session...

then as the nite came, i was greeted by a gal name -angel- (-maurice-) and she's one of the many gals there which sells vodka shots... and after some chit-chatting and some persuasion haha... i bought some shots and of coz i also hv to foot for the shots that she drank... in the end, i paid RM 200 for 10 shots?!... pretty expensive huh?... usually i will turned them away, but then not sure why i did entertain that gal... hahaha...

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First Objectives ~ Completed

7/14/2010 08:03:00 AM Work No Comments

if you were brought to here from my old blog site, then most likely you'll know that how difficult it was for me to have the role transfer accomplished... sigh*** and it's not done yet... aih***...

this new role of mine is 1 grade higher than my previous position and supposingly i should have an automatic promotion when i move to this new role and i honestly believed that i deserved this new grade, but then due to some circumstances... i was told that i need to prove myself worthy to that grade... i was like OK, what else can i do if i need the job... so i reluctantly agreed to prove myself since i'm pretty confident that i can do it anyway, so what's left would be pretty much the time before i got the grade...

but then another thing that bother me is that another colleague of mine still got his grade promotion held off until today and he has been working very hard to get his, so i'm taken aback a bit when i knew about this... so i'm gonna make sure that i will fight hard for mine, well as hard as his... sigh***

the worst thing is that when i move to this new role, my RM 600 worth of inconvenience allowances was taken away from me!!!... so i pretty much downgraded with this move... i desperately need the grade!!!...

and this week, i just completed the main objectives which will act as my benchmark to prove my worthiness... so i'm on route to fight for my grade in Oct or Nov this year...

and i dun wan to wait till Apr 2011!!!... aaarrrggghhhh....

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BlackBerry 6 ~ Another Sneak Peak

7/13/2010 07:34:00 AM BlackBerry 6, BlackBerry Storm II No Comments

this is so cool and i really can't wait to run this OS on my Storm II 9520... ;) fingers cross that it will be released to Storm II devices...

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Spain ~ World Cup 2010 Champion

7/12/2010 07:42:00 AM No Comments

Yes!!!... Spain done it by winning the 2010 South Africa World Cup with a 1-0 win over the Netherlands... hahaha... and it was a very good match between the 2 nations and Spain came out on top with an outstanding tactics...

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World Cup Street Party @ Jalan Telawi, Bangsar

7/11/2010 10:37:00 PM Unwind Session No Comments

tonight is the final match between Netherlands versus Spain for the 2010 South Africa World Cup and i've a VIP pass for the Street Party @ Jalan Telawi, Bangsar to watch this match live on a big screen... so will i go???...

i'm not sure yet, probably will not as tomorrow or few hours after the match is a working day zzzz... so i guess i will not be goin hahaha...

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Kuala Langat Dam Conquest ~ Failed

7/11/2010 07:29:00 PM Canon EOS, Conquest No Comments

i've always wanted to go to the Kuala Langat Dam which is located deep into Kampung Pansoon, somewhere deep inside Hulu Langat... getting there is relatively easy as it's juz one straight road all the way from Batu 11 Cheras... if you've been to Sungai Gabai Waterfall, then it's actually quite near there...

i've tried once the week before but then i didn't managed to reach the Kuala Langat Dam entrance as the last section of the road was blocked by a bus and i was forced to back off by reversing my car out all the way on a very very small hill road... thinking back now, it was a pretty bold move by me hahaha...

this time around, i made up my mind that i will go to the end all the way no matter what's in front... so off i venture into the last section of the hill road and it leads me right to the Kuala Langat Dam entrance... i was once again sad as i've learned that all dams in Malaysia are locked and no visitors are allowed, thus getting a shot from the dam is impossible :( sigh***

to the left of the Kuala Langat Dam, it's actually the starting path towards Gunung Nuang... so i found something else instead hahaha... i parked my car at a proper parking space provided for the hikers and went scouting around the area but then since it's a hiking road towards the Gunung Nuang, hahaha i turned back towards my car ;p

so there goes my conquest to Kuala Langat Dam and again no picture... sad huh...

on my way back home, i decided to drop by to another dam which is quite near... it's the Semenyih Dam and i fired up by GPS to double check on that... indeed i'm pretty near to it... the road which i took is called the B116 and it was a stunning road for those who like to drive hill road with fast sweeping left right corners... and if i tot that the road was mesmerizing enough to occupy me, i was wrong... as soon as i reached to the t-junction of B116 road to B19, i was immediately greeted by the huge lake... it's the Semenyih Dam lake (the lower lake in the picture is the Semenyih Dam while the northern one is the Langat Dam)...

the lake side road, which is the B19 is one hell of a road to drive while enjoying the lake view of the Semenyih Dam... i was denied by the gloomy weather and could not take down any shot of the lake... sigh*** nvm, i will be back for this as... i promised myself...

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BB Storm II 9520 OS Upgraded ~ 5.0.0.741

7/11/2010 10:40:00 AM BlackBerry Storm II No Comments

since my last successful upgrade of my BlackBerry Storm II OS from 5.0.0.436 to 5.0.0.497 back in April, i've been frequently visiting RIM's software update website to check for any new OS releases for my beloved device...

and indeed there is one now and i've successfully updated my device OS now to 5.0.0.741... any significant change noticeable? not so much on the UI but then i do feel that the annoying SOS radio signal is no longer frequently appear on the device hahaha...

• Package Version : 5.0.0.1252
• Applications : 5.0.0.741
• Software Platform : 4.2.0.333

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EF 35mm f/2 ~ Ordered

7/02/2010 10:34:00 AM Canon EOS No Comments

finally i've made up my decision and i've ordered the lens...

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Re-Organization Completed ~ Finally

7/01/2010 06:26:00 AM Work No Comments

from end of last year till mid of this year, everyone is waiting for the announcement of the new organizational chart due to a massive re-org activities being done from top-down... and when a big re-org happens, normally people in the company will be shaken and there will be casualities...

finally, on Monday... the new organizational chart has been revealed to us for the first time and calm down the storm which has been rocking the boat so far... any impact on me???... well my one-2-one session just got completed yesterday and my role will still exists and everything stays put...

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