September 2006
I am connected with a Motor Club. Recently the question was asked:- "Does anyone know how to change the polarity of a dynamo?"
Apparantly, it seems, if you touch one of the leads to earth while the dynamo is running, the polarity is reversed. Allegedly.
Does anyone has any ideas on this subject. I should point out that we are talking about 1930s - or thereabouts - cars. Read more
Several months ago driving along to work I heard a news story re 'Crash Ratings' for new cars and most, if not all car makers were allegedly fixing the results by ensuring that certain parts of the cars scored well.
EG: Comcentrating on parts of the car that scored the most points and not spending as much attention to the remanider of the car.
In the USA and you have demos at Walt Disney or one of the other them parks (can't remember which) where they show a crash bar fitted to the rear in addition to what we get in the uk.
Motor way crashes are leathal for those rear ended and its about time Euro Ncap was honest enough to start scoring points on these!!
Did anyone else see/read this story about car makers building cars to get the 5 stars but not concentrating on other possible accident scenarios?
(Edited your title, as I'm sure you didn't mean to shout. PG) Read more
Eggsactly it knocks huge holes in the big vs small argument.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Hi all,
I have just bought a BMW 530i Sport. My cars user handbook says that I should use 98 RON fuel, but that 95 RON fuel can be used.
Which do you recommend I use? If there is a proper reason for the use of 98 RON fuel then I will do so, but it seems most odd that the manual states 95 is perfectly acceptable if it would prefer you used 98.
I am currently using 95 RON fuel and am returning 37mpg on Motorway runs and 30mpg in mixed driving.
Whats the deal here?
Thanks! Read more
Shell have replaced Optimax with V-Power, everywhere I think (certainly everywhere I've been recently). Optimax was 98 RON and V-Power is 99 RON (91.9p hereabouts); Tesco Greenergy is 99 RON too, available at 88.9p around here (Herts).
my 406 1998 1.9td A/C (116000miles) is going into the garage next week to have work done on the radiator fans so the front of the car will be off. the radiator will also be being replaced as there is a leak that has been plugged by rad weld for a year. is their any other parts that are common failures or probably near the end of their life that would be worth changing while the mechanic has the car stripped down? Read more
The water pump on this engine can only be accessed by means of removing the timing belt. Best bet is to change it when the car is next due for a cambelt change and the pump itself is not expensive, about £30-40 I think.
Martin
New Bond Street, Central London.
As I'm walking along I notice a motorbike pull up, reverse back to the kerb the guy got off and took his numberplate off and took it with him. Numberplate appeared to be held on by magnets. All parking is not allowed on this section anywhere.
I don't know if it's a great idea, stupid or just plain risky. I should imagine a traffic warden would make a beeline for it (& they will there) but on finding there was no numberplate would be unable to do anything and just wait there until the biker returned got on a rode off again. I don't know if he'd thought about the tax disc - I didn't look at the time. I was a modern newish bike.
Thought the whole thing quite amusing though.
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At least one previous post on here has mentioned covering up the number plate with a bin liner also suffices.
Something i've just picked up from the Corrolla thread...
anyone know the daftest name for a car........ or unlikely spin off when translated into another language
for example, the old war story about the Pajero/Shogun............with Pajero apparently meaning a very rude word in Spanish....(no idea if it's true) Read more
Could you imagine the looks you'd get down the local nick reporting some of these as stolen?
"Yes officer someones had my cherry!"
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Xantia HDi.
Buy a Citroen and get to know the local GSF staff better...
So our Jazz is 3yrs old now, and we've been offered Hondacare Guarantee for £400 for a year or £700 for 2 yrs.
Normally I never buy extended guarantees, but, bearing in mind I'd have to get some sort of recovery cover (it's really Mrs Payer's car) and that would cost £70 per year, I'm wondering whether to go for it or not?
The car has been faultless over 3 yrs, but I'm thinking that if almost anything went wrong with it then it could easily cost a small fortune. Read more
Remember that of the £700 about £70 will actually go into the pot,£350 will be dealers margin,IPT tax and the rest to pay the warranty providers operating costs.Its a Honda not a Euroshed,very unlikely to go wrong.
I have a Ford Mondeo Estate 2.0 TDCi. The car was registered in Oct 2003 and has done 31,000 miles. It is in good condition. I had a major service carried out a the local Ford dealership 2 days and 25 miles ago. On inspecting the oil this afternoon, I found it to be black and pretty dirty looking. Is this to be expected in a low mileage diesel so soon after a major service? Any advice appreciated.
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In answer to the question yes oil goes dirty very very quickly ? carbonisation- secondly I was dead against this method of vacuum oil extraction. However it is widely used in Marine circles and before anyone dares differ common rail engines are now fitted to boats and the Pentas are very car/truck derived. I do both now as I extract about 99% by the vacuum and then remove the sump plug whilst doing the other filters when I replace the plug there is usually no more than a cup full in the pan !!
Surprised this subject has not been raised already.
A review of the Government's speed cameras policy was demanded yesterday after official statistics showed that only five per cent of crashes are caused by drivers breaking the speed limit.
Drivers who let their attention wander cause more than six times as many accidents.
The Department of Transport insisted that, while driver error accounted for 66 per cent of accidents, motorists going too fast for the conditions, irrespective of the speed limit, accounted for 29 per cent of crashes.
The analysis rekindled the speed camera argument and raised questions over whether the Government would meet the road safety targets it had set itself. The figures showed that the number of people killed on the roads last year fell to 3,201, one per cent fewer than in the previous year. The 28,954 people seriously injured represented a seven per cent fall on 2004. The Government has said it wants the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads to be reduced to 40 per cent of the 1994-8 average by 2010.
Analysis of hospital data sent to the Department of Health painted a very different picture, suggesting that the drop in the number of deaths had been minimal.
Full article at tinyurl.com/qsqr4
Moderators please leave this thread out of Speeding thread for at least 24 hours as I feel it will be widely discussed.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Surprised this subject has not been raised already.
It has:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=43788&...e
Moderators please leave this thread out of Speeding thread for at
least 24 hours as I feel it will be widely discussed.
Too late. Please continue discussion in the above mentioned thread please.
DD.
Can anyone tell me at what mileage the cambelt is due for replacement, and what else should be done at the same time on the 2.0 HDi engine please Read more
Thanks for the advice 659
I can't find any reference for it at the moment, but it's my understanding/half remembered snippet, that
all the above was known about when the decision was made to make cars positive earth, and it wasn't
done just to increase sales.
The reasoning was to reduce electrolytic failures in the (moisture holding) cloth insulated wiring.