July 2003
I have been interested in reading about the efficency of petrol engines,diesel engines, and for every gallon of fuel 3/4 of it is wasted, it got me thinking whether modern engines are more efficent.
On the other hand anyone heard about stirling engines, they are external combustion engines, and are reputed to be 80% efficent,wonder if any manufacturer is thinking about introducing them.
Another kind of engine is the orbital engine, a 3 stroke machine,last time i heard was ford have been experimenting, we have cars made by various manufacturers promoting safety, space efficency, but not about fuel efficent, any comments to why manufacturers not introducing new types of engines. Read more
Hello Folks,
In the absence of any affordable technical documentation for my Vauxhall Monterey (rebadged Trooper), can anyone give suggestions on acceptable loss of thickness of front disks, please?
Without use of a proper micrometer, I reckon that they have lost at least around 3mm out of a total (estimated) thickness of 10mm per single disk side. They are original after 131K. Is there a rule of thumb for maximum loss of thickness?
As this truck regularly tows 2000K up and down motorways, I am erring on the side of caution by replacing, but would welcome listmembers comments to make me feel better for spending £120 for the set!! These are replacements from Milner Offroad, Matlock. Anyone else bought them from there?
Bleeding. I havn't done this for few years on any vehicle. It is ABS equipped, hence I am concerned about crud getting into the pump gubbins when I push the pistons back. OK to open the rear/front nipples in sequence and top up the reservoir? This way there should not be any potential air locks to reach the pump. Any tips welcome.
And with the demise of my local factor, can anyone suggest a decent motor factor on Teesside? Is Dwight Van Driver still on this list?
Cheers
Rob
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Look at the following USA web site: www.carprices.net/Cars/Isuzu/Trooper/4_door_S_Auto...l
This gives rotor thicknesses. I think that the front discs on Trooper/Monterey are ventilated, therefore very thick. Above site gives front thickness of 1.02" (26mm) and rear of 0.71" (18mm).
I suggest that you actually measure the unworn part of the disc.
I was sent this link ... by a BMW hater!
I think this calls for a caption competition!
www.mazda6forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=82 Read more
For an animated sequence of the same action, go to
www.pikaneil.com/prog.html
Hi all,
Now i know there are loads of threads whining about speed bumps already on this site, but i thought i\'d offer an opinion of my own on yet another public safety REDUCING effect these things have.
The other day i was on my way home from work along a 20mph limit road full of speed bumps, doing on or around the limit, as you do. So you can imagine my surprise when an ambulance pulled out of a side road in the distance ahead of me with its lights and sirens going, then proceeded to virtually stop at every bump, with the result being that i ended up forming the front of a queue behind the patient-laden emergency services vehicle.
Surely this should be an issue for the government road planners to look at, as surely these bumps are effecting response times, let alone the added danger to the patient from all the bouncing around! Read more
We lose every way with humps.
Emissions? A car moving along at steady speed vs one on the brakes up to the hump and then accelerating away to the next one.
Suspension? Can't be doing springs or dampers any good
Brakes? Can't reasonably just drive up to them at constant speed so excess wear
Exhausts? All the body movements will stress the hangers and you might catch a silencer box on a hump
Tyres? How many "eggs" do you see in sidewalls? Quite a few actually caused by delamination on excess sidewall deformation by bumps and obstacles.
Spoilers and body kits? All right, most are naff and deserve trashing, but it's some spotty oik's pride and joy n'est-ce pas?
another question about my golf...
I've just retro fitted a rev counter and one thing has become apparent.
When my foot is on the brake pedal the engine idles about 50rpm slower than when my foot is off the brake pedal. It does this all the time and not just when the vacuum is being restored in the servo.
Does this mean I have a leaky servo?
if so is it leaking when brake pedal is up or down?
thanks Read more
Pressing the brake pedal would produce a momentary change in idle speed as the vacuum is replenished - it should not produce a continuous change.
I think you do have a leak somewhere, probably within the servo unit itself. However, initial things to check would be one-way valve in the servo pipe and rubber seal at the 'elbow' where the pipe goes into the servo.
Test the servo seals by running the engine for a short while (without touching the brakes). Turn engine off and them press on the brakes several times. You should feel the servo assistance intially, but wearing off (pedal becoming harder) after a couple of presses as you exhaust the vacuum.
Just tried the Personal Number Plate Search facility that exists to the right of the page at Honest Johns.
Anyone know the level of discount that they give if you quote "Honest John" Read more
Does anyone know what makes an oldish ('68) motorcycle plate transferable or not.
Just a quickie to say that we recently purchased a solar powere trickle charger for Mrs V's new Skoda. The previous owner hadn't done any mileage in it for some months and was finding he needed to charge the battery every few weeks because it was running down. I guess this was due to the drain from the alarm system. Well, since we've had the car we've done less than 50 mils and much of that has been learning - stop/ start/stall/restart etc. and the battery is absolutely fine. The cars starts first time, every time and turns over very willingly.
For those who don't know what these things are, ours is a flat solar array (about 12"x3") which simply plugs into the cigarette lighter and sits on the dash. For less than £15 IIRC I think it's great and it's certainly a lot better than charging batteries. Read more
"The batteries may be different in a submarine, but i think they are similar to car batteries"
I'm sure you are right in principle, RF, but there are different construction methods, and lead-acid batteries designed for motive power would be pretty useless if they couldn't stand being discharged! Indeed, you can buy batteries that look like car batteries for use in boats and caravans that are designed for just that, but the ones in cars are mostly made to a price, and lose longevity and deep discharge ability in the process.
I seem to remember (I'm just about old enough) that batteries used to last a lot better than they do now - in fact, I don't recall my Dad ever buying a new one!
Yes HJ - as someone who knows very little about car mechanics and came here with a problem to solve I'll second any motion to thank the BackRoom technical department. It's very annoying and frustrating when you have a problem and are either getting nowhere or being fleeced by our chums in the motor trade. I've always found the people here to be extremely helpful and very much appreciate all the advice I've had. I only wish I could contribute more to that side of things ! Read more
Rob the Bus said: >>>> "eMBe - You may, by now, have gained the impression that I don't always agree with what you post ;-). But, on this occasion, I feel compelled to agree with you totally - .... " <<<<
Rob: it may surprise you to know that I don't agree with many of my own posts - but I still post them in the interests of balance and fairness when someone is "tried and convicted" in their absence. Sometimes when the "other side" is not being heard, I try to give an idea of what the view as seen from that other side might be.
I'd like a second opinion on the solar battery chargers sold by various mail-order outlets. My measurements on two of them show maximum charging currents of about 50 milliamps under optimum conditions, viz. bright summer sunlight, with the unit angled to face the sun. In dull conditions, the current is much less, typically 10 to 20 milliamps. These currents are surely much too low to have any noticeable effect on a car battery. Discuss.
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I think the Passat has solar panels in the sunroof to operate small fans to circulate the air if its left standing in sunlight.
Related to my thread about the Z4, we've never had a convertible before. How do we look after the soft top?
Is normal washing using a bucket and sponge OK to use on the soft top as well? And how about drying? Is a normal chamois leather OK, or should we not bother drying?
Any advice greatly appreciated!
Blue Read more
BMWs should have a separate booklet in the manual pack entitled "Looking after your car" p10 is dedicated to the soft top. Too much to repeat here, but basically dont put it away (IE fold it) wet,clean up bird droppings pronto,never use stain removers or solvents, and spend lots of money on BMW soft top cleaner and BMW impregnating spray (Making sure your girlfriend/wife stands well clear when you use the latter:) )
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Check out this website - www.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine.htm - very informative.
Stirling engine is a closed cycle engine which uses an external heat source to expand gas which is used to power either a piston or a rotary cylinder. It's very efficient and quiet and was used by Russian submarines.
Lot of research into Stirling engines at the moment, mainly because of the potential efficiency.
Fuel efficiency has increased significantly over the years, I've been driving for 25 years and my first car (1600cc) was as thirsty as the Mondeo 2.5 V6 I used to run.
All things considered - if I drove the Mondy the way I used to drive the Renault it would be a damn sight more juicy, goes to show it aint the car - it's the driver.