September 2005
Inventor turns dead cats into diesel
A German inventor says he's found a way to make cheap diesel fuel out of dead cats.
Dr Christian Koch, 55, from Kleinhartmannsdorf, said his method uses old tyres, weeds and animal cadavers.
They are heated up to 300 Celsius to filter out hydrocarbon which is then turned into diesel by a catalytic converter.
He said the resulting "high quality bio-diesel" costs just 15 pence per litre.
Koch said the cadaver of a fully grown cat can produce 2.5 litres of fuel - meaning around 20 cats are needed for a full tank.
He said: "I tank my car with my own diesel mixture and have driven it for 105,000 miles without any problems."
Annelise Krauss of the Dresden Animal Protection Association blasted Koch's new diesel though, saying: "This is as bad as experimenting on animals."
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we have a 99 Scenic and are considering trading it in for a newer model. We would like an automatic, as the wife does a massive school run each day through London traffic. I quite fancy the 1.9 diesel Scenic, but of course, no auto option. The Cmax looks promising, I drove a TDi Focus & loved it. But it doesn't have quite the flexi seat capacity of a Scenic. Any opinions? Should I look elswhere? Read more
There's a new model due out soon ....
I thought it was already out?
need help here i have owned my rover 600 diesel for 1 and half years and the passenger side electric window has slipped out of its runners twice.
the drivers side has snapped the bracket once and slipped out 3 times before and twice in the last week including tonight.
i have been told its a common problem but not the solution. i am getting a bit sick of taking the door panel off and repositioning the window.Any help is appreciated. thanks Read more
WD40 is too thin and will just run away over a very short time, it's strictly speaking a penetrating fluid and not a lubricant.
Use any thick grease, white grease is the spray stuff.
I have the opportunity to buy a cheap 1 year old fleet car at a good price and have tempted me for a change and pass my QX to my girlfriend.
My question is, where would I be able to find the noise (in decibel) of a car make at 70mph? This car will be a work car (around 20k p.a.) so low cruising NVH, good handling and safety is key.
The choices are all 2004; Primera 1.8 S 60k for £3,000; Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 70k for £4,500 and a Passat 2.0 SE 75k for £5,000.
I am happy to go for the Primera because of the price but should I consider the Mondeo and Passat if I want a more calm environment?
Many thanks, Gazza Read more
Gazza
Are the Mondeo and Passat still available ? Can you have them also ? Please let me know. Thanks.
I am intereted in buying a 98-03 trooper but am put off by the injector problems. Is there any way to ensure they won't cause leakage into the sump oil and therfore potential extendive damage
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Hi Everyone!
I need some help here. My daughter purchased a Vauxhall 1.6 zire MPV Club exactly one year ago. The cambelt snapped and it now needs a new engine around 2000 pounds of damage.
The garage where she purchased the car are not interested,becuase the guarantee is not valid now, neither the finance company are interested, they just want their money each month.
The way I see it, the problem seems to be the cambelt, its done exactly 8000 miles and snapped. Now the scenario is or was it a defect belt, or was the belt put on to tight.
We contacted the garage which did the service, they confirm they changed the belt, as documented in the service book.
The car service book shows a service done at 53.000 miles mmy daughter has done 8000 miles, before the cambelt snapped.
We have a real problem now! What do we do, go after the garage that serviced the vehicle or get them to document which cambelt they used, and sue the cambelt company for a defective belt.
Do we need to get a specialist to examine the belt! What next?
All help appreciated Read more
all vauxhalls use nylon rollers which are prone to wearing very quickly
I don't think it's so much the rollers that wear, but the bearing that it runs on.
I have a problem with the hydraulic clutch and the car has been back to the Ford dealer 7 times!
The clutch hydraulic system is getting air into it and it needs bleeding every 80 to 100 miles. Ford have replaced the master cylinder, slave cylinder and the pipes and the problem is still there. Can anyone help please as the problem is driving me nuts?? Read more
A "52" plate should still be under warranty.I've owned a number of hydraulic clutch Fords and never had any concerns.Keep after the dealer;if still unsucessful write to:-
The Managing Director
Ford Motor Company Ltd.
Eagle Way
Warley
Brentwood
Essex.
My daughter did this with a recurring concern on her Fiesta that her dealer "could" not fix,was contacted by her local dealer within 24 hours,given a courtesy car and told it was hers till her own car was fixed and it was.
Our 54 reg Citroen C3 SX has on three occasions in the last five days unlocked itself. First time I thought it was me, but the next two times we definitely locked it and it was definitely unlocked when we came back to it.
I have been using the remote locking on the key fob.
Two questions:
1 - has anyone else experienced this on PSA cars?
2 - is there a possible generic DIY cure, i don't know but perhaps cleaning the contacts or something. Anything in fact!
If no to 2, then back to the dealer, which i am dreading...
Thanks Read more
Sorry, i never reported back
the unlocking stopped as mysteriously as it started. i did clear out the boot in case something was upsetting the boot lock, but it's behaving itself now.
Thanks All
Delighted to see the new signs going up on the M42N between J10 and J11. These confirm the banning of lorries from the outside lane for a 3 mile odd uphill stretch of a two lane carriage way.
No more sat behind one doing 0.5mph more than the one on the inside lane, like this evening. Yippee!!
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Good, It'll just take me longer to get your food, clothes, papers, fuel & car spares to you then :-)
Extract from a maintenance manual...
Every 250 Miles
Inspect oil level in crankcase and refill if necessary.
Every 500 Miles
Attach grease gun to the following grease nipples and give pump three or four strokes. These nipples are situated: two on the steering tie-rods; four on the steering swivel-pins.
Test tyre pressures.
Top up radiator.
Every 1,000 Miles
Oil door-lock bolts and hinges, also bonnet lock.
Examine oil level in gearbox and rear axle and replenish if necessary.
Apply grease gun to two nipples on the propeller shaft.
Examine fluid level in the hydraulic brake-gear supply tank and replenish if necessary?the tank should never be allowed to be less than half-full of fluid nor closer than \ in. to the bottom of the filler opening?using only genuine Lockheed brake fluid.
Top up battery with distilled water.
Add oil to carburetter dashpot.
Every 3,000 Miles
Drain engine and refill with fresh oil.
Give distributor rotating cam a slight smear of engine oil or grease.
Remove distributor rotor and add a few drops of thin machine oil in opening. Clean and re-oil air cleaner. Add a few drops of thin engine oil to opening round distributor rotating arm.
Check dynamo-belt tension and adjust if necessary. Smear contact-breaker rocker-arm pivot with engine oil or grease.
Add two drops of oil in hole at the end of the dynamo rear
bearing.
Clean fuel-pump contact points.
Clean contact-breaker points.
Examine the gaps of the sparking-plugs and make sure that they are not too wide; for example, they should be 0-018-0-022 in. in the case of the Morris Minor Series MM. The correct gaps for various models are given in the Data Table on pages no and 111.
Change round road wheels to promote even tyre wear.
Younger readers may have difficulties with "carburettor", "distributor " and "dynamo".
If you're curious I can post what happens next, 6,000 miles.
John
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Trunnions
As I understand it, the Marinatal inherited its trunnion based front suspension from the Morris Minor.
>>
Read aaall aboutit.
37 steps to heaven
www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/technicaltips/Trunions.html
Is there a connection here?
news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3156...e
Chris M