July 2004
Hi, apologies for this....long story.
Car is a basic 97 KA and after a recent engine swap the cooling fan doesn't seem to be working (don't think it worked before either). Noticed that leaving the car on idle with the lid off the expansion tank the water boiled over without the fan starting or warning light coming on (lamp tests OK when ignition switches on).
Have run it since then for a few months long & short trips without any problems but have to have heater blowing hot in traffic to keep it cool and would like to fix fan/light. Coolant level has been rock solid so I reckon head gasket is OK so checked out fan circuit which is driven by engine management. Found thermistor under the manifold and replaced it but seems to be the same. Measured both thermistors in boiling water and they are about 3kohm. So tried 2,2kohm resistor in place of thermistor. Still no luck, but reducing resistor further to 1kohm and the fan starts. This suggests to me the fan drive/relay/power is all OK but maybe ECU is sick and not reading thermistor correctly?
The point of my question is - could the ECU have a calibration curve for thermistor which is now inaccurate? If so, can you clear the calibration? Do you think the car needs to meet it's maker?
Tks
Stuart
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Right then, and onto the final round of Big Brother\'s Garage.
One car was evicted from the previous round.
See here for further details:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=23858&...e
Here are the remaining cars in no particular order.
1. Seat Leon.
2. Alfa 156.
3. TVR Tuscan.
****** EVICTED VW Golf, Lada Samara, Vauxhall Vectra, Renault 5, Austin Allegro, Perodua Nippa, Citroen 2CV, Toyota Landcruiser, Peugeot 405, Ford Mondeo. EVICTED ******
All votes have been reset to zero.
PLEASE NOTE
This is the final round. Unlike the previous rounds, this time you have to nominate the one car you want to win.
This Friday, (23rd July) is the closing date for nominations.
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Oh dear. With all this skulduggery going on I just cannot make up my mind.
I think I will have to cast my vote for the Tuscan, purely because I have voted it out every week so far. (and yes I know this week I am voting it in).
Came home form the annual holiday this morning to find a nasty letter from a debt collection agency threatening a visit from the baliffs if I don't pay up some money. They gave me 10 days to cough up or action will be taken. 10 days will be up tomorrow. Thing is, I do not owe the money. Without going into all the dull details the gas company thought I owed them some money when I moved house whereas they actually owed me. I called them and sorted it all out and was promised a cheque. Apparently my records show they owe me. However, I have received a number of letters demanding the cash they originally wanted from me. Each time I get a letter I call them and think it is sorted out. They agree they owe me. Now I have a letter from the debt collectors threatening visits, court action and a black mark on my my credit history. I am concerned that there will be a couple of burly blokes at the door in the next few days. Naturally I am incandescent with rage about this but what can I do? I will of course be in the phone tomorrow morning to the gas company but what if there is a knock on the door tomorrow morning? Can they come in? If I go out the back door can they block my car in the drive? If they do arrive and block me in or get nasty or refuse to go away can I call the police? After all, I don't owe anybody anything.I am thinking of threatening the gas company with the small claims court for the cash they have owed me for nearly 3 months.
Any advice?
Many thanks Read more
I believe the regulations have recently changed regarding the necessity of having a lobby between WC and kitchen. Apparently if your WC is properly ventilated (mechanically or window) you no longer need two doors between WC and kitchen. How this new rule copes with noises is another thing. I really can\'t imagine comfortably combining noisy use of the WC whilst cooking/eating a door\'s thickness away. But there you go that\'s modern regs.
There\'s also no minimum height of a room - make it 3 feet from floor to ceiling if you like!
Evening all. Doofus gets virus, can't seem to fix it, help!
I opened an .zip attachment from a friend, I think called your bill.zip or just bill.zip. The email was clearly bogus. As soon as I log on it starts sending multiple emails via Norton Anti-Virus which I can't stop other than by going into task manager which produces multiple 'program not responding' messages which I have to click 'end now' on individually. It does eventually stop them and then I can surf away contendly. I have downloaded every available update from MS today (no mean feat on a dial up I can tell you) and when I restarted, yes it was there still. I can't seem to find a specific patch on the MS site - any suggestions?
Thanks Read more
cliff pope
this subject is discussed in computer questions.
i just tested this sitte via my netscape 7 browser and it works fine!
When I was in the army in Blandford circa 1972 I had as a first car a Viva Hb. Evntually the engine gave out and The local garage part exchanged it fo a Victor. Almost 25 years later I at a reunion and who was in front of me in immaculate nick..FJT 668D my old Viva. Read more
I suspect not, Crayford was a convertible conversion company which went out of business several years ago whereas Tickford are a coachbuilder affiliated with Aston Martin. or something along those lines, maybe someone else can correct this?
The brake drums on my Mondeo are not looking too pretty.
They rather detract from the alloys.
I would like to improve the general appearance by restoring the drums to a black / matt black finish.
What is the best paint for drums? Exhaust paint? Will normal paints stand up to the heat generated?
Having removed the loose rust, what are the next steps in the preparation?
I am not a fanatical polisher so I am looking for a durable end produce by DIY Read more
Hammerite it will be.
The bad news is I have some on the shelf so
I have no excuses for getting on with a zero cash
expenditure job.
>>
Reporting back.
Excuses ran out and the job has been done today.
A wire brush and one of those foam pads covered in emery stuff did the job as the rust was not too bad.
I cleaned off the dust with meths and on went the black Hammerite.
For the small amount of effort I am very pleased with the end result. It really does tidy things up.
Fortunately the drums are not too small to make the overall appearance look odd like some of the small saloons around.
Thanks to all for suggestions.
****** Voting over for round four. ******
For the next round, and to see the remaining cars, goto thread:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=23983
Right then, and onto round five and the penultimate round of Big Brother\'s Garage.
Only one car was evicted from the previous round.
See here for further details:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=23750&...e
Here are the remaining cars in no particular order.
1. Seat Leon.
2. Alfa 156.
3. TVR Tuscan.
4. Ford Mondeo.
****** EVICTED VW Golf, Lada Samara, Vauxhall Vectra, Renault 5, Austin Allegro, Perodua Nippa, Citroen 2CV, Toyota Landcruiser, Peugeot 405. EVICTED ******
All votes have been reset to zero. Same format as before - nominate two cars for eviction. You don\'t have to give a reason this time - unless of course you nominate something different from the last round of voting.
Next Tuesday, (20th July) is the closing date for nominations. The car with the majority of nominations will be evicted. That will then leave three cars. In the final round you will have to vote for which car you want to win BB\'s Garage.
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For info, only one car - the Ford Mondeo (30 votes), has been evicted from this round.
Voting over for round four. For the next round, and to see the remaining cars, goto thread:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=23983
Fabia V Yaris???Which one
I can\'t decide which one of these two supermini cars to buy. I am buying used and wondered if you could help me decide. I want the most mpg and space in a small car. Both of these cars have excellent reviews. Please help me decide, any comments from owners will be much appreciated. Read more
Tracey/Julia
The sliding seat of the Yaris is useful, but is only if real use if you do not carry rear seat passengers whilst you have it set for maximum boot space. The Fabia has a good size boot and you still carry four people in it at the same time with ease. I know because I did exactly that last Saturday! Four adults, loads of odds and sods in the boot and nobody was short of leg room or uncomfortable in the 40 or so miles we did - at a smidge over 60mpg.
Motorway driving at or around the legal limit will see a minimum of 54 mpg with ease. Slightly steadier driving will see you tip 60mpg. These are not manufacturers quoted figures I'm repeating here but actual fuel consumption figures we have achieved and have calculated manually following a refuel after a journey. Stop/start city driving gives around 40mpg.
We too were not anxious to come away from Toyota following dependable, reliable performance of our two Yaris's and reasonable dealer service - better the devil you know! However, we have absolutely no regrets doing so.
Good luck with your decision.
Whats going on? Why do lorries with a speed advantage of 0.0001 mph insist on overtaking the lorry in front? (And taking 10 minutes to do it?). And why does the lorry being overtaken not help the whole traffic situation by reducing speed by even 1 mph to shorten the whole process by about 90 per cent? Read more
the slipstream affect is very important because that is exactly what happens you can get sucked into the vortex created by the truck in front and you therefore pull out to overtake and all of a sudden your sudden snap of extra power has gone,this is why waggons often pull out but then dont overtake as they have no reserves of power,unfortunately as already said if they let their foot of the gas to pull back in then they lose even more power and therefore cause even greater mayhem.
To put the argument in a nutshell most car drivers are ignorent of the fact that the waggon they are racing up to is going to need to overtake before they get to it and they therefore have to brake or pull over,as said it is all about reading the road ahead and experiance, obviously you will get bullies in waggons but they are in the minority.
I do not drive a waggon for a living .
--
\"a little man in a big world/\"
Apologies if this has been discussed before.
There was an article in the Sunday Times this week about a GM concept car. The writer went to great lengths at several points to explain that the car in the picture (an Opel) was equivalent to a Vauxhall. This got me thinking..
Can there be a person alive who does not know that Opel cars and Vauxhall cars are exactly the same? Do people really still think that when they buy a Vauxhall they are buying in to a 'British' product somehow different to an Opel? Is a Vauxhall really perceived somehow as less 'foreign' and thefore preferable to an Opel?
I'm sure that a car company the size of GM does not leave such matters to chance. I dare say that they research this issue on an on-going basis. It just still surprises me that the Vauxhall brand is so strong that it seems to be somehow immune from the normal commercial realties of maintaining the two brands for otherwise identical products.
I don't have any strong opinions either way, but I'm interested to hear what others think.
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Something those who changed Royal Mail (second most recognised brand in the world after Coca Cola) ......
Slightly off topic (not that that seems to stop anybody ;-) ) but I would have thought anyone of Pepsi, McDonalds, Mercedes, Ford, Toyota, Sony etc. would be a more regcognisable global brand than Royal mail?
Browse
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That explains the problem we have. It seems crazy the fan comes on so late - I thought most cars switch in at about 96? The only leak seems to be around the thermostat housing when under pressure so I'll change gasket straight away.
We did disconnect the battery in case it was adaptive. I reckon now that the fan circuit is OK, just didn't realise it switched in so late.
Tks
Stuart