August 2003
Thanks for the auction report. Much appreciated.
Regards,
Thommo. Read more
Last summer I thought I had a water cooling problem when my temperature gauge would quickly rise to ¾ of full-scale. After all the usual thermostat changes, flushing rads, checking water pump etc, I noticed that when I half filled the petrol tank its reading was full-scale. Ah ha - changed the voltage regulator on the back of the speedo and hey presto, water temp is now between ¼ and ½ of full-scale and petrol gauge is OK.
However ... I now have 2 new problems
1. If I turn on my headlights when driving, the temp gauge rises to ½ full-scale.
2. The speedo back-light comes on OK when the lights are turned on, except when the engine is running, when it then goes off. (Is it a coincidence that the voltage regulator is fixed to the rear of the speedo?)
Any suggestions gratefully received.
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This car had a voltage regulator a 3 pin metal can device that fed all the instruments feul temps etc. This was a crued device usin a bimetalic stip and a heater coil. Look in the cct diagram for this device as I think that is your problem . The back light is not related and probably due to vibration and duff bulb. Regards Peter
I notice that I am not alone in living in the West Country.
I thought it would be interesting to discuss motoring in the area and how it differes from other parts of the UK.
I notice on the whole
Longer car journeys
More windy roads
More courtesy
More Sunday Drivers
More Tractors and slow moving vehicles
Also - how about a West Country Meet?
H Read more
I lived in the Westcountry all my life - grew up in Somerset.
Spent the last seven years (till 2002) commuting along the coast road between Weymouth and Bridport, reckoned one of the UK's most picturesque routes. From March to November the grocks drove me up the wall - driving along at 20mph, with their heads at 90 degrees to the road, diving onto the verge either side without warning to stop and look at the view, and as for the caravans...
I wanted to mount a poster campaign in the Home Counties and Midlands, saying something like: 'how would you like it if we came to your area every year and drove so thoughtlessly on your roads?'
Motor caravans used to wind me up as well - jamming all the laybys at night to avoid paying a few quid into the local economy!
I was lucky - managed to sell the house to a Londoner and escape to rural France, where the roads really do still make driving (or biking) enjoyable.
Not too sure whether this should be here, or in Technical. I'm sure the powers that be will move it if need be ;-)
Anyway, I am driving from the South East to the North West and back this weekend, a round trip of about 520 miles, with about 50 miles of faffing about up there. The car I'll be driving is a 1992 Astra 1.7D (yes, *that* Astra...) and I generally never go above 65 ish - I certainly don't scream down the motorway like a loon.
Does anybody out there know roughly how much this trip will cost me diesel-wise please? I'm terrible with figures (you should see mine!) so any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks all
Cheers
Rob Read more
About 58 miles per gallon. I can get 58 mpg out of my Passat but only if I talk to it really nicely.
I have a 1998 Civic 1.6iLS Coupe which I bought without a hand book or service history. It has done 30K.
Anyone know how often the cam belt needs changing? Read more
Mileagewise it is early but it is now 5 years old and from the low mileage has had a hard life. Change it now.
Andrew
Simplicate and add lightness!
The lady wants a decent second-hand car and has decided she wants air con. We are looking at something about two or three years old, either Ford, Rover, VW or Japanese. We've had all these different makes in the past and have been pleased with them. However we have never had a car with air con. Have had a good look at the excellent Autoair.co.uk website but I wanted to know which air con systems are the most reliable and least prohibitive to fix when they need repair.
Are there any reliability comparisons for air con available?Which system would an air con engineer choose for their car? Read more
Are you sure all car units take 12 kW? That's
about 16 bhp - a massive difference on a 60 bhp
Ford Ka, for instance.
Well, the specific output is about 45,000 btu. I don't know how efficient the compressors are, but Sandens site says they consume about 8HP at 3000rpm. From an post last year, someone worked it out to be about 12KW. I know my small generator has a 5hp engine, and produces 3KW of electricity.
And you are correct, for a small engined car it's a fair old wallop, especially at tickover, as a 60hp engine produces much less than that at low revs. That's why most manufacturers have gone over to variable displacement compressors, so the load is spread a bit more evenly than conventional 'all or nothing' compressors.
Hi,
My N reg Golf GL TDI had worn lower front suspension bushes that need replacing. I bought the complete new lower arms, pivot bolts and mounting bolts to fit them myself.
I couldn't get the bolts undone and was concerned about damaging the bolt head by putting excessive force on it so gave it to a local garage to do. They also found the bolts were very stiff, one pivot bolt in particular. They advised the thread maybe damaged and they were going to put the bolt back in, tighten it up and put a weld on the end of the bolt to stop it coming loose.
Got the car back and it seemed fine. Drove about 10 miles and started hearing clonking noises under braking and when steering. Drove back to the garage and they looked at it and said the bush had not been compressed sufficiently because the bolt wasn't tight enough as the thread in the sub-frame was damaged. Basically they said I'd need a new subframe!
I spoke to my father about it who knows more about these things than I do. We managed to convince the garage that they should get an engineer in to attempt to repair the subframe either by retapping the thead or fitting a helicoil to it. My father told them he thinks they should have done this in the first place rather than replacing a bolt that couldn't or at least wasn't tightened sufficiently and welding it in place. The bolt is tack welded so can be removed. Engineer is busy till next thursday, but is going to "asses it" then.
I'm reluctant to have a new sub frame, firstly because of the costs involved, and secondly I'm thinking if the bolts holding the subframe to the chassis are in similar condition to those on the lower arms, then I could have the same problem with threads damaged in the chassis/body!
What do you guys think about all this. Am I doing the right thing? Is the garage accountable for any of this? I understand that the bolt was very stiff and I don't think its their fault for damaging the sub frame thread, but to me the repair they attempted was a bodge that didn't work. Should I be expected to pay for it?
Thanks!
Rob Read more
I'm no VW specialist but have come across this type of thing so many times on other cars.
I tend to phone the owner if I suspect some bolt/whatever may strip on the way out. Give them the choice of me taking the chance or not. Obviously you try as hard as possible to ease the fixing out without damage because usually if it strips/breaks everyone loses.
Having said that if this does happen then you then have to inform the customer of the proper way to resolve it and costs involved.
So far your guys seem to have done OK, especially as you were already aware the problem existed hence passing on the job.
But from here on they got it a bit wrong. Sadly many mechanics fail to understand engineering principles. As I'm sure you knew it doesn't matter how well the weld stops the bolt turning the fact that the thread at the main fixing point had stripped meant the design tension could never be maintained.
I don't know your subframe design well enough to say on yours but for example this can happen on Astras and one answer is to cut a hole in the subframe and then use a locking nut on the end of a slightly longer bolt. Often a patch is welded over the hole again.
This may be considered an acceptable solution but boy is it a puzzle if someone tries to get the bolt off in the future and the hidden nut just spins!
Many guys in car repairs don't understand how to tap a thread to the required standard for this loading, helicoils also can fail.
Me...well I take no chances with suspension fixings so I would be looking at a replacement subframe unless a 100% engineering solution could be found from someone I trusted.
Good luck.
M.M
Not like me to stray off motoring these days but....
Noticed the ad bottom left yet?
Those guys seem to have got to know each other real quick. Still if you've nothing else to do on a rainy day....
M.M
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And that'll be enough, I think.
Thank you.
My daughter has just had her first service (7k miles) on her Ford Ka, and was somewhat taken back by a charge of £115. For a comparison the first oil and filter change at 6.5k miles on my 320d was £77 which included the cost of 5 litres of Castrol SLX synthetic oil at £11 per litre. For a mere oil and filter change, are Ford not being a trifle greedy ???? Read more
Makro have had Mobil 1 on offer at £19.99 for a can (4 litre ??) in the past. I can buy SL-rated fully synth at £2 a litre (in 25l drum) from the GM dealer where I have a trade account. Elf fully synth is about £17 for 5 litre (retail) from my local Elf lubricants dealer.
Browse
I'll echo that. Great to have them back, they really are appreciated.