As you appear not very technical lets try this. Put a metal baking tray in the freezer for an hour then go for a 10/15 minute drive and return home. leave the engine running and go get the baking tray. Hold this tray face up at 30 degrees or so the exhaust gases are flowing up and over the tray. You will no doubt see condensation forming on the tray Thus water. White smoke, not steam is indicative of excess oil burning which would be picked up as excess hyrocarbons in the gas test. If you look and smell around you I suspect you will not see the smoke last for more than a couple of seconds and no burnt type smells. Hopefully you will have lots of condensation on the tray ( Wear a glove or you'll freeze you fingure prints onto the tray ) and no lingering smoke. Regards Peter That is the most non technical I have ever been, Scarey !!

speak to the chipping company. They will have encountered this before.

They may have a report which will satisfy the NU or a recomendation for another insurer.

I wonder if this is the LHD one that has been touted around for the best part of a year? Anyhow, not sure if you mean the 4WD estate or the saloon. The UK spec 4WD estate was manual only and had a 1500cc engine. I borrowed one for a week in 1984 when it was just launched and it was an excellent load carrier for the time. I took it out on the sands at Lindisfarne and it was great for just playing around. The Americans think very highly of them and there are plenty of Tercels 4WD and 2WD going up to 200000 miles and beyond, I believe. I did drive a Tercel saloon auto in the States back then too on a 1-day hire but I seem to think it had a smaller engine or emissions strangling it and was a bit underpowered. Mind you there were four blokes in it.

More up-to-date I drove a 130,000 miler estate about six months ago up for sale at £120 as seen, three weeks MOT etc. The interior was filthy so I ruled it out as a banger but it drove fine, even with nearly 20 years of experience in gradually more modern vehicles. A nice condition 1500 should prove reliable and perfectly capable in today's traffic but be aware engine spares may now be tricky and automatic parts even more so if it is an import from the USA. There are a few US specialists who might be able to help.

HTH

Hi
Just found out that my exhaust blowing on my Omega 2.5 CDX I took it round to my local exhaust supplier and have been qouted £185 fitted but this is less the Cats hope it helps

Bob

I know you have been after some info for a while - here's a few thoughts:

Sadly, it is not going to be easy. In your part of the world, the Leicester (Charles Keene) College used to have an excellent motor vehcile dept.. A good friend of mine, John Warner, was the Head and he really built up the electronics side, but he retired and coupled with a lack of student numbers the college has let the area decline. Youngsters don't want to go into the trade any more.

Coalville College had a reasonable dept. too (run by a guy called Bob Kelly) - but again, falling student demand means that they've 'slimmed down'.
Moreover, FE colleges tend to concentrate heavily on powertrain electronics - you will not find many who teach anything about SatNav or multiplexing - which are the areas I suspect you want to learn more about.

A better option for you would be to continue your general education in electronics, but find out about automotive specialisms 'under your own steam'. In your part of the world the De Montfort University in Leicester (www.dmu.ac.uk) run a variety of part-time evening HNC/HND/degree modules in electronics and mechatronics. The guy to speak to is Peter Prickett (prickett@dmu.ac.uk).

Much further afield the Colchester Institure in Essex have a good reputation for automotive courses; as does the Swansea Institute of Higher Education (they have lots of links with the South Wales auto companies - Ford, Calsonic etc.). Again, these will concentrate heavily on powertrain electroncs thought and your will not learn much about multiplexing.

A couple of good books that cover general auto electronics include:

'Automobile Electronics' - by E. Chowanietz
'Understanding Automotive Electronics' - by W. Ribbens

A good general electronics textbook which covers all aspects of electronics is 'The Art of Electronics'- by Horowitz and Hill.

I am a member of the SAE and get lots of technical papers from them - but that's a lot of reading to 'wade through'. You could try attending the next AutoTech exhibition at the NEC - the SAE usually have a stand there and you can look through their books/papers and make some contacts.

I also get a variety of free magazines like 'Automotive World' and some manufacturers' 'house journals' - like 'The Wheel Extended' from Toyota and all the Bosch and Siemens 'newspapers'. But they don't tend to give much technical detail.

As a final thought; on your way from Lincoln to Leicester you pass the AA's Technical Training Centre at Widmerpool (just off the A46) - I have given talks there some years back, its a nice place. You might want to see if they can help out (probably on a commercial basis with training for your company)?
MIRA on the A5 near Nuneaton have a good technical library - but again they may want a fee for access.

Hope that helps.