May 2006
As the more *mature* members of the Back Room were very helpful with a solution for the last conundrum Auntie set me, that of the dirty solenoid connection, I wondered if I might lay the latest problem on the collective table.
Auntie has an easy life these days, only venturing out to occasional rallies, but about two years ago she was reluctant to return home from one, due to severe flooding of the H-type SU carburettor. I quickly determined that this was due to the float (original soldered brass type) having sunk to the bottom of the chamber. Try as I might, I couldn't get the petrol out of the float until I punctured it. I then emptied the float, screwed a self tapper in the hole I had made, and drove home. After soldering up the hole I had made, I tried to find how the petrol originally got into the float (immersing in hot water etc.) without any success. Eventually I gave up, put everything back together, and added 'ignition on; wait for SU pump to stop ticking; start engine' to my pre-flight check list.
This morning, the pump didn't stop (incidentally it was perfectly OK yesterday). Mercifully as I was still at home, the procedure was straightforward enough; try to get petrol out of float, fail to do so, drill through soldered patch, shake petrol out, insert self tapper & rubber washer, immerse float in hot water to try to find original leak, fail to do so, put everything back together and off to the rally, only 20 minutes behind schedule.
The solution of course is a no-brainer; purchase a nice new reliable nylon float. However the puzzle remains; how did the petrol get into the float? On each occasion the time interval between the float having enough buoyancy to close the needle valve and sinking below the critical point was only a matter of hours, which would suggest that the entry point for the fuel should be large enough to find. However not only was the puncture impossible to find but it has taken two years for the float to refill sufficiently to sink, which would suggest a minute seepage.
On the subject of the new nylon float (new brass ones no longer being available) it is getting late and I can't get my head round whether or not fitting this will alter the level of fuel in the float chamber. Presumably it will be of different density to the original brass version; will it therefore displace more or less fuel in the chamber thus altering the level or is it simply a matter of the volume of the float setting the level in the chamber, this presuming new and old are of similar dimensions. Aunties liquid intake is so great in any case that it is fairly important to get the mixture just right. Thanks in advance for any views on this.
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One mans junk is another mans treasure Read more
I know very little about the insides of the engine in my 2000 W reg Renault 1.6 ALIZE Scenic, but it has recently acquired itself a little tappety-tappety whir at tickover which speeds up as you rev. It is inaudible inside the car, and not anything a casual bystander would notice, but I am mildly nervous about this metallic noise. This has only been noticeable in the last 4000 miles.
My question is, having stuck fairly closely to the service intervals, are there any things which should have been done or could be done to remidy this rattle? Or is it the case as my Father's just joked that 'It's a Renault - you're lucky to have got this far and it not blow up.' Slightly unfair, as now we've sorted the coil pack problem with a plastic lid cable-tied to the top of the engine, it's a quiet safe & economical (40mpg) family car.
Thanks in advance for your reply. Read more
If it's hydraulic tappets like oldman says it could be that one or more has got gunged up. First try an engine flush and oil change with semi synthetic and if this doesn't work it's time to take off the rocker cover and find the loose tappet.
Hello everyone,
My dad's 1995 Golf CL estate (55kW diesel engine, code RB??) has recently been difficult to start.
When you turn the key, the starter turns the engine normally, but nothing happens for 3-10 seconds. When it's started, everything runs perfectly. It doesn't seem to matter whether the engine's cold or not, some times it's easier than others.
He took it to a garage last month, who checked the glow plugs (no faults found) and replaced "some tubes which can get blocked" - cost about £60. But sadly, this had no effect.
Any help gratefully received. I'd like to sort this for him before the starter motor gets ruined!
Cheers,
Nick. Read more
Thanks for all the replies, everyone, very grateful!
I'll have a look when I next see my dad, and let you know what we find.
Cheers,
Nick.
I will be selling my car to a dealer in a couple of weeks and I'll be taking it in for them to have a look at for a final valuation this week. At some point on my travels one of my hubcaps parted company with my car...it was either nicked when it was parked or it fell off whilst I was driving. Whatever the reason....I took the remaining 3 off as I think it would look more lopsided with 3 than with none. Will it be better to take it to the dealer 'naked' or with the remaining 3 on??
I know it will hardly make a difference to the offer price but it's one of those little niggly things that pop into my mind!
Talking of which...I'm keeping the car mats so do I remove them before the valuation?
Cheers!
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If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished Read more
Stick 3 on and park it really, really, really close to another car. >>
:0P
That'll hide the scratch too!! Good thinking!
It's a pity they don't stay open until 10pm....It looks brand new in the glow of the (distant) streetlamps!!
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If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished
Hello this is my first post to this forum and I apologise for the length, I am having a nightmare with the lights on the car and was wondering if anybody had any ideas of what the problem(s) might be!
1. The front fog lights are on all the time. This is wether or not the fog light switch is on or off. When the light switch is turned to dip beam the fog light dashboard indicator comes on as do the fog lights. Wehn the fog light switch is turned on the dashboard light and fog lights get a little bit brighter.
2. The side lights are powered from two different 5 amp fuses. One does the left hand side of the car and the fog lights, the other does the right hand side of the car. The fuse protecting the right hand side keeps blowing. I have tested it with a tester and the circuit is drawing about 8.5 amps. Interestingly when a fuse of 10 amp rating is put in it doesn't blow although the dip beam lights come on as well as the side lights.
I have checked all of the wiring and bulbs etc. that I can get to. It all looks OK. I dont have a wiring diagram so am not sure which relays do the lights. Maybe they are stuck open? or closed? I am not sure where these relays are located. I have also checked the light switch, I dont think this is faulty as I have tested the circuits using a piece of wire instead of the switch and the same faults occur.
The car is a 1995 (N) 2.1 td Savanna.
I would really appriciate any advice!
Many Thanks
Sam Read more
Not solving the fault, of course, but as you are obviously comfortable re electrickerity why not rewire so foglamps work directly off switch, using a new feed from the foglamp fuse. ( I accept that the switch may not really be man enough without a relay in circuit, but how many foggy days do we get? )
Using Sod's Law it quite possible that just as you have nearly finished this job you will come across the initial problem!
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One mans junk is another mans treasure
Hi,
Please could you advise me on mopeds?
I want to ride a moped on my driving licence, so it has to be 50cc and have a top design speed of 50 km/h.
Do 50cc mopeds all have a top design speeds of 50 km/h? If not, how can I tell what a bike's top speed is?
Thanks. Read more
SWMBO appeared in my life when I had a 250N, cars became warmer to "court" in.
Yes, caught. such an apt word.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
SWMBO had a collision Saturday afternoon, nobody hurt, thankfully, just a lot of expensive metal bent.
SWMBO approached a cross roads on the 'main' road, lady in a Ka approached from the right, overshot the give way marks, stopping third of the way across, as seems quite common these days. I rarely seem to see anyone actually stop short of giveway or stop markings it seems. SWMBO slowed down seeing her approach from the right, then having seen her stop assumed the other driver had seen her and proceeded only for the driver of the Ka to promptly start off again and drive straight into her offside as she drew level, hitting the rear of the front wheel and scraping right the way down the side to the rear wheel. Result; damage to two alloys, front wheel arch, drivers' door, rear door and rear wheel arch, plus probably damaged steering rack or track rod as it now drives 'offline'; as I said, a fair bit of expensive metal bent. All going ahead with insurers, other party was actually insured which is a first for us, our previous three accidents have all involved uninsured drivers :-(
It was just the other party's excuses that took my breath away.
1. 'I didn't know whether I needed to do right or left.' Ok, so just carry straight on into the side of a vehicle then and ignore the give way markings.
Followed up with,
2. 'Well, how am I supposed to see you, you are driving a dark car.' SWMBO's car is a sort of metallic British Racing Green, which is rather academic as it had been raining and she still had her headlights on!
This just got me thinking what are the daftest excuses you've been given by another driver?
Oh, and for the statisticians amongst you, SWMBO was 150 yards from home, the other party less than half a mile. Helps prove the old story about most accidents accurring within a mile of home!
Cockle Read more
Would it make Algy feel any better if he hadn't noticed a junction at all? Then he'd have been going faster and sailed across it before the bus arrived.
The independent engineer who does my car was scratching his head over a not very old, 4-litre I think, Jaguar XJ6 the other day. He said it 'wasn't running right' and would also run with three of the plug leads disconnected. He demonstrated.
The engine idled very quietly and was clearly not in a bad mechanical state. It continued to run perfectly at and above an idle with any or all of the three rear plug leads disconnected. Pulling off any of the front three leads resulted in the car missing as one would expect.
I thought it might be severely coked up and the explanation might be red-hot carbon around the exhaust valve seats in those three cylinders. But he said the car would start and run from cold with those leads disconnected.
Mystery. Any ideas? Read more
One of the first MK VII Jags I bought sounded very rough, with a real vuh-vuh-vuh sound. Fairly soon after buying it I checked the carburettor float levels. The rear carb float level was very low. Correcting that brought the missing cylinder back to life. I suspect that the price I paid was related to that unresolved problem. It never missed a beat for the rest of the time I had it.
Talking about V12s and missing cylinders; The later (around 1989 on) XJ-S cars had Magneti Marelli ignition, which had a distributor like two stacked six cylinder ones, each firing one bank. They had a tendency for the HT voltage to burn through the insulation in the cap and short out the HT to one bank (usually the left one). This caused a drop in power, and a lot of unburnt fuel going to the catalytic converter, which then became a very expensive pot belly stove. Result was often an engine fire, and sometimes the whole car was destroyed. The good news is that the Series 3 XJ12 saloons never got the Marelli ignition, and kept the Lucas Digital P system, which didn't have the same problem, until the end of production in 1992.
I have just been reading the Top gear thread and agree with the comments that it seems to be more of the same - way out (but funny) acts on cars (Anne Hathaways car - the Toyboata etc) and a stream of super cars driven at pace round the track.
5th gear is trying to copy and making a complete hash of it - racing a GTI and Octavia backwards - how ridiculous ?
What do you think is the best car programme on the TV now or previously.
My vote goes to Automondial on Men & Motors and the 1st series of C4 driven where they compered 3 cars on the ROAD - (you know Top Gear that place we all actually drive our cars) and then scored them. The cars were all pretty normal as well.
Even that got daft though when the started sumo wrestling the micra. Read more
Did nobody notice that 5th gear is the old top gear..?
I think a few people did: as i understand it, BBC pulled the plug on Top Gear, channel five offered the then presenters (Tiff, Quentin and VBH) a deal and off they went. It even has / had the same producer (Jon Plowman?).
Then depending on the story, either Clarkson and Wilman pitched the idea or BBC realised what they'd done, but either way a totally different programme with the same name got onto BBC2.
Im thinking of buying a Reliant SS1 next winter as I owned a Reliant Rialto before and for what it was, it was superb and my local reliant specialist is the type that has died out for the most part ( his prices and customer service is second to none and he will stand and have a chat to you about anything, plus he knows the cars so well its a little scary ).
My question is, has anyone owned or driven one and what are they like?
I dont fancy the Turbo one as the insurance is a little high, but the 1300/1600 ones have Ford engines so should be simple to service etc..
There are three on Ebay at the moment and nobody seems to be bidding very high for them - is it lack of knowledge on what they are etc or are they cheap cars for a reason? Read more
there are 2 for sale on autotrader (national) a white one and a green one have you considered these?
Forgive the thread resurrection.
Just had the same problem on this model of carburettor. The leak takes place through hairline vertical cracks in the outer wall of the float. I tried opened one up , drained the petrol and soldered it but a few days later it was leaking again. No soldering kit available this time so it was pierced with a knife and sealed with milliput. Hopefully this will keep it petrol tight till a new float from Burlen arrives in a few days. I use the vehicle, a 107" land rover with P4 60 cylinder head as a daily runabout and work vehicle.