February 2004
Hi,
What would be the symptons if my alternator was failing, (other than not charging the battery).
I'm trying to determin wether my alternator is faulty or if the battery is no longer holding the charge. Is there a way I can find out.
If the alternator was weak, would it affect the car whilst driving in any way.
Cheers
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On my alloy wheels the tyres are 195/60/14. What are the implications of fitting 195/65/14 tyres? (apart from the speedo reading slightly low) Read more
at 30MPH, sorry!
2% is 2% at any speed, surely?
2% of 30 mph = 0.6 mph.
Here is a site I found recently.
Of particular interest is the automotive and perhaps the chemical engineering section.
I have no connection etc etc.
www.eng-tips.com/
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Thanks: quite useful, if I ever get back into my former line of work!
afternoon all,
my monitor (ctx ultra screen17") appears to have developed a problem that i don't seem to be able to correct. i have re-installed the drivers, re-installed the graphics card, tried adjusting the picture using the monitors own controls,but the problem remains.
the problem is: the sides of the screen are pulling in at the middles, giving the picture an hour-glass figure that the wife would be proud of!! any body know of a "fix" or is the monitor about to die!.it's only 3yrs old.
billy. Read more
...all good advice. But stick with checking what you can see - open up the case and make sure the fans are turning - bog ones to dissipate hot air out of the case and smaller ones on top of the processor and possibly the video card. Intermittent stalls can be caused by heat related problems, and while they will USUALLY be fairly consistent, some operations are worse than others for generating unwanted heat.
When I went out last night I saw two kids riding micro scooters on the road and two on bikes without lights. The ones one scooters looked about 13 and were at least just going along the road keeping to the left. The ones on bikes who looked a couple of years older were weaving about getting in the way of traffic and then went the wrong way up a one way street. I don't know if it will take an accident for them to learn. Read more
>>he made me push it two miles to the local cop
shop ...
Ligher note
One of the funniest things I've ever seen was the local constabulary questioning some 'lads' in a shopping trolley in the wee small hours...
"we found it"
'Well, take it BACK to where you found it"
The lads were handcuffed to said trolley, and had to push it a fair way to the supermarket (about 1.5 kms!).
Plod left them to it, and returned later, to undo them, at said carpark!
On a serious side
This was posted BY ME on a local motoring site ... Now, many folk may see it as racist, but I can assure you it is REALIST.[to settle the argument before it starts, my missus is 'of colour'....
Many of the indigenous people from the poorer areas of the old T'Kei and C'Kei [tribal areas - ed!]have probably never seen a motorway/main road before. their sole experience of traffic will come from witnessing tattered old pick-ups grinding along a potholed gravel road. The fastest thing they've ever seen is a horse doing 30km/h.
Comes the trip to the 'city' - a bit of a culture shock for them! - and they haven't a clue.
To dilute the race issue, imagine if YOU, as an experienced 'city slicker' here in good-ol RSA found yourself in the New York of 2055 ... sounds silly? Yep, but that's what you are dealing with.
I have had, in that neighbourhood, several near-misses with people clueless as to speed/distances etc. I have also witnessed several pedestrian/car encounters - each time when the pedestrian 'just ran in front of me'...
My brother hit a woman once - ran straight in front of the car. Nasty mess - fortunately she survived.
Maybe these kids are still of the 'indigenous' mindset? And haven't got a clue about sppeds/distances/stopping distances etc.
Sorry for the rant...
Anyone out there know why the passenger electric window on my daughter's 1999 Fiesta slows right down as it comes within inches of closing. She's just bought the car and is obssessed with having everything work just right. Told her I thought it might be a safety device to prevent trapped fingers but she won't buy that because the driver's side window does not do the same. Read more
Thanks to MV and pastyman, the silicon spray worked a treat.
Flicking through some road tests on The Indpendent web site and I came across this brief description of the Laguna estate :-
Renault Laguna Sport Tourer 2.0T: £21,645
Supercharged, front-mounted 500bhp V8 makes this a near-dragster, helped by ultra-responsive automatic gearbox, and folding metal roof is neat. Very desirable.
I didn't realise the Laguna was such a powerful motor...... should have got one of this for the same price as my new Outback !
jd
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You too NB in you go.
Occasionally the engine immobiliser will not deactivate (the red light on the dashboard still flashes after the ignition key is turned) causing the car not to start, What component is causing this to happen ?. Can it be fixed or replaced ? Any advice would be most welcome, its already been to a Renault main dealer who can't find a fault and charged my wife £30 to re-program the Remote Control ! Read more
Whiner,
Several ideas for you in this thread on Renault electrics...
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=18744&...f
Good luck,
Ed.
The subject of driving while tired has come up in the news again. I wasn\'t going to go into the figures and except that there is a danger in driving when you havn\'t had enough sleep. The trouble is sometimes you don\'t have much choice - so what do you do?
I live about 50min drive away from work along a motorway (it was halfway between my wife\'s and my own workplace) My wife\'s having our first child in 6 weeks and so I\'m likely to end up without much sleep. I can\'t afford to move and I have to go to work, there\'s no public transport (couldn\'t afford it anyway) and so I shall have drive tired. Does anyone else feel forced into driving tired despite what would be safest? Read more
*government
Oh, and wear your seatbelt too!
I was talking to a lad the other day who's a bit obsessed with 'modifying' his car (in competition with his brother) The latest mod is to fit a spark plug inside the exhaust. Apparently (I didn't ask for a demonstration) when he floors it you get a 6 foot flame out the back! Has anyone else seen modifications like this on the roads? Anything more extreme?
The guy did say he put a switch in to disable it so as top avoid any unwanted attention form plod...:) Read more
>>for a moment I thought this thread was going to be a pop at Alan, Dave, or Mark!
So did I ! I came cruising in here ready for a serious delete session and left feeling rather silly.
Browse
Might be showing my age a bit here but nobody seems to check for voltage leaking across the top of the battery, fundamental stuff from my H**e T***e days which has paid off countless times. Get your voltmeter, and place the 'pos' probe on the 'pos' terminal, now here comes the tricky bit... place the negative probe near to the '-' terminal, not touching it and note the reading. If the top of the battery is all horrible and clarty you might see as much as 11 volts! this is sufficient to flatten a battery in a short time as the battery is actually shorting across all the crud and dampness on top of the battery. Move the probe slowly across the battery near to the filler plugs and look for any sudden voltage changes. Cure is to spray the top third of the battery with WD40 then clean with a dry cloth paying particular attention to the terminals. Any electrolytic corrosion on the 'pos' terminal can be washed off with boiling water then treat with grease or petroleum jelly.
Andrew
Simplicate and add lightness!!