June 2005
Does anyone know wht the best way is to change the gearbox oil in the above car. I had alook when i serviced it for the level plug and couldn't find it, anyone know where it is? Also is ther a drain plug? and if not how do you get the oil out?
Thanks
Rubberdubber Read more
Follow up to previous messages.
Just had 30k service, inside passanger door handle replaced as the crome had cracked slightly, done under warranty, no fuss, no other problems. Original tyres 4mm still on front 6mm on rear. noticed that mpg jumped from 38 to 44 after 20k service, same has happened after 30k.
Still a complete joy to drive either on motorway or country roads. Read more
Huge car, huge cabin, 25000? 8000km (ex demo) should i buy it or not??
Do I "need" the 4x4 use, maybe (probably not, although roads in Spain are pink fluffy dice in some places).
Quite fancy it as the drivers in Spain leave something to be desired and the 2 kids, well I quite like 'em and wouldn't want them to het hurt. So a 2 tonne 4x4 is appealing.
To buy or not? Please give your reviews/opinion for me.
Cheers,
Hoppo
We have a swear filter in place to prevent certain words appearing. Please do NOT try to get around it with aserisks etc. The meaning is STILL the same and STILL we don't want them on the site, whatever variation is offered.
Thank you
Hugo - BR Modarator Read more
Got a santa fe, and its the best vehicle i have had. Reliability 2nd to none, gears were notchy for 1st 20k then they loosened up now at 30k just great. lots of room, well built, 35-44 mpg diesel, what more can i say.
Hi,
Thanks for reading my query and I'll be ecstatic if you can help me solve my problem. I've just bought a used A4 Avant and the hose feeding the rear wash/wiper would appear to be loose as, when activated, I get water dripping out of the tailgate panel. There are four screws retaining the panel on the underside of the boot lid near where the warning triangle is housed but, after removing these screws I can't get the panel off to get to the back of the wiper mechanism.I don't want to apply too much pressure in case I break the panel off......any ideas please? and does anyone know where I can get SLX 0W30 oil cheaply...Halford is nearly £40. for 4 litres!
Andy T. Read more
You ought to try removing some modern-day dash items if you want to be scared of levering some plastic bits and bobs!
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
Hello,
Just a quick question. I've just replaced the steering rack on my 1.6 fiesta H reg. Can anyone tell me an effective way of resetting the correct tracking without any specialist equipment just to get me to my local kwik fit where they can do it accurately for me.
Many Thanks
Steveo Read more
In the "olden days" we used to use two pieces of wood, each about 3 foot long side by side. Place these on the inside rear half way up the front wheels & draw a straight line across the two pieces. Use the same two lengths of wood on the inside front of the front wheels again half way up & adjust the tracking until the line is re-aligned with each other.
This is absolutely a "get me home" temp and only to get you to a appropriate specialist.
In 2 weeks time I will be in Munich by car, and am toying with the idea of making the return trip to UK within a day, so I can be present on SWMBO's birthday. Conventional wisdom says 730 miles in a day is taboo, but so also is arriving a day late for aforesaid thrash. In my mad youth in Oz I once did 900-plus in a day and still feel pretty gung-ho about the idea. Others' experiences?
Oz (as was) Read more
>>but so also is arriving a day late for aforesaid thrash
Chances are that you'll arrive late back for aforesaid thrash owing to traffic problems.
Hi, a couple of queries I was wondering if anyone could help me with!
First, I have an intermittent fault, occasionally when I press my brake pedal the amber TC light and the amber hill descent light come on. They may stay on for a while or go off again almost immediately. Does anyone know why this might happen and what I can do to prevent it!
Second, the other day, my other half was doing 70mph down a dual carriageway when all of a sudden all power was lost! We put the hazards on and coasted safely (fortunately) to the side of the road, looked at each other, turned the ignition key and it just started up as though nothing had occurred! We had the heater on full blast blowing out cold air as it was a hot day - dont know if this has any bearing!!
If anyone could help with either query it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Read more
Just got a couple of quotes for my current bike, and another bike I am looking at getting:
Company A / Bike A = £460 Bike B = £240
Company B / Bike A = £350 Bike B = £477
I really wonder how these differences can be explained.
Read more
Hello All, thanks.
I am changing my 2 year old ZX7R (one of the last, sad to see it go) for a more practical - though still fun - '97 ZRX1100 and putting some money in the bank. The ZRX is worth £2500 ish, allowing for hefty excesses and loss of NCD (inc on my car) I am really only insuring about £14-1500, might take the risk and go TPFT + legal and recovery for £144.
Guys,
I've been enjoying my golf IV gti turbo 150 for all of 4 weeks now (with only the airbag, air mass meter, throttle body & cigarette lighter going wrong), and have now scrapped the rear wheel-arch (nearside back) on a concrete post - several layers of paint have come off, but the body part itself is not damaged, so do I need a complete panel respray and if so, what should I expect to pay when I take it in? I've had a very wide range of quotes so far - any suggestions appreciated.
Secondly, the cigarette lighter is not working (for power or for lighting smokes!), and it worked to start with. I've checked the fuse & connector at back, has anyone any ideas what else I could look at - I can't face being without the car for another whole day while VW sort this out!
Thanks! Read more
Mare
I've just cottoned on why my lad's DVD player has stopped working when he plugs it in to the rear cigarette lighter on my Passat. Thank you.
I read on many forums about 0w and 5w oils being too thin. I will try to explain it without getting over technical and we'll go from there.
0w-40, 5w-40, 10w-40 and 15w-40 are all the same thickness (14cst) at 100degC.
Centistokes (cst) is the measure of a fluid's resistance to flow (viscosity). It is calculated in terms of the time required for a standard quantity of fluid at a certain temperature to flow through a standard orifice. The higher the value, the more viscous the fluid.
As viscosity varies with temperature, the value is meaningless unless accompanied by the temperature at which it is measured. In the case of oils, viscosity is generally reported in centistokes (cst) and usually measured at 40degC and 100degC.
So, all oils that end in 40 (sae 40) are around 14cst thickness at 100degC.
This applies to all oils that end in the same number, all oils that end in 50 (sae 50) are around 18.5cst at 100degC and all oils that end in 60 (sae 60) are around 24cst at 100degC.
With me so far?
Great!
Now, ALL oils are thicker when cold. Confused? It's true and here is a table to illustrate this.
SAE 40 (straight 40)
Temp degC.........................Viscosity (thickness)
0..........................................2579cst
20..........................................473cst
40..........................................135cst
60..........................................52.2cs t
100........................................ 14cst
120.........................................8.8cst
As you will see, there is penty of viscosity at 0degC, in fact many times more than at 100degC and this is the problem especially in cold weather, can the oil flow quick enough to protect vital engine parts at start up. Not really!
So, given that an sae 40 is 14cst at 100degC which is adequate viscosity to protect the engine, and much thicker when cold, how can a 0w oil be too thin?
Well, it can't is the truth.
The clever part (thanks to synthetics) is that thin base oils can be used so that start up viscosity (on say a 5w-40 at 0degC) is reduced to around 800cst and this obviously gives much better flow than a monograde sae 40 (2579cst as quoted above).
So, how does this happen, well as explained at the beginning, it's all about temperature, yes a thin base oil is still thicker when cold than at 100degC but the clever stuff (due to synthetics again) is that the chemists are able to build these oils out of molecules that do not thin to less than 14cst at 100degC!
What are the parameters for our recommendations?
Well, we always talk about good cold start protection, by this we mean flow so a 5w will flow better than a 10w and so on. This is why we recommend 5w or 10w as the thickest you want to use except in exceptional circumstances. Flow is critical to protect the engine from wear!
We also talk about oil temps, mods and what the car is used for. This is related to the second number xw-(XX) as there may be issues with oil temperatures causing the oil to be too thin and therefore the possibility of metal to metal contact.
This is difficult to explain but, if for example your oil temp does not exceed 120degC at any time then a good "shear stable" sae 40 is perfectly capable of giving protection.
"Shear stability" is important here because if the oil shears it thins and that's not good!
However, if you are seeing temperatures in excess of 120degC due to mods and track use etc then there is a strong argument to using an sae 50 as it will have more viscosity at these excessive temperatures.
There are trade offs here. Thicker oils cause more friction and therefore more heat and they waste power and affect fuel consumption so it's always best to use the thinnest oil (i.e. second number) that you can get away with and still maintain oil pressure.
There is more but this post is too long already so lets keep it to basics.
Cheers
Simon
Read more
Ah, got it now. Sorry, and thanks.
So the basic point is, higher second numbers (40, 50 etc) do mean a thicker oil, but the characteristics are modified by the first number (5, 10, etc) ?
Interesting from your table that the gap in viscosities between 40 and 50 grades narrows as the temperature rises. It looks as if they might be virtually the same at 140degrees.
As a matter of interest, what is a typical engine oil operating temperature? I assume greater than 100, to boil off water condensation?
Browse
2 litre diesel crtd, if you aren't getting that sort of mpg you need to make sure its being serviced correctly, some of the main dealers are useless. Other owners of the crtd get similar mileage to myself, costs me about 9-10p per mile in diesel, most of my driving is mixed some motorway at 70-75 mph and some intown, and i don't tow with mine. If you live anywhere near Thornbury, Berkeley Vale Hyundai are superb.