January 2005
Watching Star Sports tonight on the Dakar thing and all the VW's covered in pretty decals rolling over and shedding bits all over the formerly pristine sands of the Sahara. Hilarious. And so sublimely stupid. Those marketing pimples better revise their branding! Or produce a vehicle that lives up to its pretentious name.
Lots of head-scratching from the clever-clogs against the background of shared nods of wisdom from the true Touaregs, the Blue Men, neatly portrayed by clever camera work from Star. Bit like all those soccer weenies who crawl around in agony every time they get a slight knock on their little finger in case it prejudices their commission from those highly lucrative after-shave commercials for males of dubious personal orientation.
I was half hoping a VW Combi of hippies would pass serenely by (rear engine, weight over the back wheels) as in my days of yore (having of course stocked up on interesting cigarettes enroute in Fez) with nothing more than a few sacks for the drifts and a bit of effort to get through the sandy bits. I seem to remember making it from Essouira via the then Spanish Sahara to Mauritania with a lot less fuss and no support 30 years ago and we never considered it any special achievement, let alone the need for excruciatingly decorated vehicles and clothing.
Bah! Read more
Hi, going to Edinburgh week on Sat and staying overnight in Hotel. Unfortunately hotel does not have car parking.
Anyone know of a city centre car park that is secure and does a good rate for overnight? Thinking of Princes St / St James Centre / Playhouse area? Read more
There are also lots of Park n Ride car parks arround the city - 2 on the west side, 2 on south side, 1 on east side. Free parking and regular bus services. the airport one is exceptionally good, since there is a night bus service (N22). During the day, it's served by the 35 and 48 / X48 service. Bus fare is currently £1.30 (I think - just gone up last week) into town. Parks are monitored by CCTV.
Taking cars into Edinburgh just now is NOT to be recommended - tram works everywhere and diversions fool even the locals - and even bus drivers!
I have a 1998 Nissan almera 1.4 16v (GA14 engine). The owners manual suggests the use of 10w30 oil, however a friend has recommended 5w30 semi synthetic (says it is better on cold start, but same at normal operating temperature). The owners manual seems to show 5w30 with a very narrow operating temperature range.
Bottom line is it ok, and indeed beneficial to use the 5w30? Read more
If it were me then I'd use a 10w40 semi-synthetic & change the filter when I changed the oil every 5k miles (assuming this would be at least every 6 months).
I have a '95 Primera GT with the 2L 16v twin-cam engine and 160k miles under it's belt. For the past 50k miles I have done this (prior to this it got whatever Nelson fed it) and the engine just keeps on going...and going....and going....
10w40 semi 'Vauxhall' branded I can get for £12 from my local motor factor, and a fiver for an OEM oil filter. Doesn't use any oil between changes so after a couple of changes I have enough left over to just get a filter.
Hope that helps in some little small way...
cheers,
Stu
Hi Everyone,
I have had a problem with my Mercedes today, the first ever, where it would not start, the fuel pump ( electric ) was not running, so I took a live feed from the battery to the pump, and it started without a problem, and continued to run fine and restarted, even after I removed the improvised feed.
I suspect the Fuel pump relay to be at fault, however I could not locate it anywhere, despite reference being made to it in the Workshop manual, as being on the LH Front inner wing.
Does anyone know where this component can be found, what is likely to have caused this malfunction, and anything else I should be looking for ?
Many thanks, and Happy new year to all backroomers
Marcus Read more
Late yesterday repaired relay R30 from a Golf 1.6. Hairline crack around the connection from one of the spades to the PCB. This is a common problem due to the flow soldering technique not allowing the larger contacts to get hot enough to flow the soldered joint proberly. The owner of the car had spent £210 at a VW specialist garage chasing an intermittent engine shut down but to be fair to them they could not induce the fault however why they change the temp sensor God only knows. But then it happened whilst he was here and it was clear he had a power control problem and inspection of the associated relays revealed the problem and a good clean and reflow of the joint and all its OK. Regards Peter
I need new tyres (v70 tdi 195/60-15 88v)
I dont like p6000 which are currently fitted.
I always used to buy michelin, but expensive arent they.
What do people think of Goodyear F1, Kumho(?), toyo proxies, contisport contact, etc etc ?
Im looking for grip (dry and wet) 1st, comfort shouldnt be an issue on that profile, reasonable wear.
I seem to remember that auto express did a big feature a while ago, but I cant find it.
Read more
I spend on average six weeks a year in the States. All of a sudden the US website is forgotten in your reply. You have missed the point on the R&D comments I made .Kuhmo focus their efforts on the US in everything they do because it is the largest tyre market in the world. I did not say Kuhmo were bad tyres just seriously overpriced over here. When it comes to tyre testing I have driven for hundreds of miles over many test tracks including the small ones in Korea. I have had the ECSTA on my M5 and they were ok but not a patch on the P Zero Nero,the Dunlop SP8080, the Avon ZZ3, The Bridgestone S03, and the Goodyear F1 Gsd3 which I am currently driving. I am lucky to be given my tyres free, and my tests are as subjective as anyones, but at least I am comparing them on the same vehicle. I change at 6k miles per set and compare wear rates as well as recording my impressions of handling wet braking etc. I am also fortunate enough to take my car around several race tracks on manufature test days so I can comment on the various tyres high speed performance. I know the MD of Kuhmo personally and I was very grateful for their kind invitation to Korea a few years ago. Let me restate Kuhmo are not a bad tyre just overpriced ! Glad to see you can read the German language
Our firm has two offices. We'd like to set up videoconferencing between them so we can "meet" more often and with less hassle. There is a good routed link between the two (512k IIRC).
We'll put good speakerphones in the two conference rooms but would like to see each other, too. One option is to clip a webcam to a laptop at each end - anyone have experience of this? Of the two candidate laptops, on is XP prof and the other is Win 98SE.
The other option is to fix a webcam to the wall where it has a decent view and plug it into the cabling system. Presumably we can just give them an IP address and then someone on the network can log into them and pick up the image? Is it this easy? Or am I being widly optimistic?
Read more
System log is in Conmtrol Panel/Administrative tools. Click Event Viewer and there are three logs. System log is of most interest. Just scroll down it and look for Errors and Warnings. You can double click the specific error to see more detail. However this probably won't glean much, unless it shows a particular piece of hardware with persistent warnings (or errors). The log probably won't get written to with the actual problem as the machine is crashing abruptly.
The problem isn't with the AC adapter then, if the power switches to battery when AC goes off.
In the bottom of my Dell there is a lid held by a screw. If you unscrew it and take it out then there is the memory. Carefully (and preferably using anti-stat precuations, although I never have!) remove the memory and replace it, making sure it is properly and evenly pushed home.
Someone already suggested trying to get a dump file. This link leads to a M$ article which describes how to save Stop messages to file. tinyurl.com/6pllc. This means that if XP crashes then a dump file will be produced at the location you specify - it may take a while of apparent inactivity so be patient (disk light should flicker).
If you get one of these, you could try Googling for the Stop Code and following data, or post back here and we'll see if we can help. But more importantly, if you don't get one then it's most likely that your hardware has died abruptly, and XP didn't see it coming. It will certainly narrow your problem further.
anyone heard of a cat getting gummed up?
Anyone cataclean www.cataclean.co.uk? would they recommend? Read more
It's interesting that these are all products that are claimed to work by adding stuff to the fuel. As others have said, I find it likely that these might clean injectors, possible that they could clean combustion chambers a bit, but very unlikely that they could do anything to a cat.
But what about physical cleaning? Some years ago I had to replace the section of exhaust pipe just upstream of the cat, and on looking inside the exposed end of the cat it did occur to me to wonder whether hoovering it out could conceivably be of any value. In the event I left well alone, but did gently vacuum the carbon from around the Oxygen sensor.
That was 100,000 miles ago, so I can't say whether it made any difference or not.
I bought a BMW from a Nissan Garage - was a part exchange.
It failed its MOT, so I took it back to the Nissan garage as it was still under warranty
Agreed to fix under warranty. However, the part they ordered did not fit - service guy called me and said it was because the car was an import and part was not applicable. I bought the car from them assured it was a UK car!
Finally after 3 days and 3 parts delivered I should get my car fixed with MOT. But - how do I deal with the problem of buying a UK car at UK price, and finding out its an import?!
I am so annoyed. I have lost a couple of grand from their lies. What should I do?
:( Read more
As per Retro's comments :-
"It more than likely won't show as an import on the Logbook. Rules were changed a few years ago for cars imported from Europe".
This is true.
My V5 shows no overt references to the car as being an import as it came from Europe.
Two questions really. Central heating side works perfectly but DHW is playing up.Sometimes tank gets hot, other times I have to switch the pump on and off until I hear a 'wooshing' noise and then the sound of water running throught the pipes. DHW then operates OK for couple of days. On my last trip into the loft I noticed the header tank was filled with hot water, so I obviously have a feedover. I've checked the 3port valve and actuator and they work OK and I've just used system cleaner and flushed out, but problem with DHW persists. Second query may be related. If I concentrate, I can hear the pump humming (don't recognise the tune), but SWMBO says she hears it all the time and its driving her, and she me, crazy. Hope someone can give me some new ideas to identify problem(s). Read more
There used to be a website where you whistled or hummed down you computer's microphone and the website identified it.
I have a question too - how can anyone confuse Popcorn with anything Beethoven wrote ??
The two front tyres on my Golf 1.6SE are due to be replaced, what tyres do other Golf owners use and what do they think? On the car at the moment are Dunlop SP9E 91T 195/65/15. I am thinking about Vredestein Sportrac 2 of the same size, any views on these? they won the Autoexpress best buy tyre test last year.I have managed to get a price of £63.45 each fitted, is this a good price? Thank you. Read more
I was amazed to see that a friend's brand new VW van had got Hankock tyres fitted. There is no way that I would have cheapo tyres on a new vehicle, and if I bought a used car with cheapo tyres, I would change them.
I have never had Vredestein tyres on a car, but have them on two grain trailors, and they seem OK.
Browse
.jpg)
Sat at Dover on Boxing day on my way down to the alps. In the next line at the SeaFrance terminal was a very early lwb Pajero with a dirty great stuffed toy snake on the roof (it was so large it hung down to the rear bumper). Car was covered in Plymouth Dakar stickers and full of blokes trying to find space amongst the duvets, sleeping bags, assorted molegrips and gaffer tape essential for such an adventure.
Hope they make it.