November 2006
The light in the boot of my 1999 Golf sems to have stopped working and I'm at aloss as to what to do about it. I've tried replacing the bulb a couple of times, the wires and casing look in good working order. The 16v power outlet below the light is working fine.
I seem to recall hearing that this problem could be related to the catch on the boot door, but can't remember the specifics of this, or where I saw the info.
Any suggestions? Read more
Hello everyone.
I know I ALWAYS post questions along the lines of "what do you think of x...." but has anyone driven, or does anyone own a Golf R32? A colleague is thinking of getting one and asked me my views, as a "car geek". Nice to have a good rep eh? Read more
PS - the comments above relate to the mkIV. Not driven a mkV
Why is it that all new "dedicated" satnavs have a "landscape" screen rather than "portrait" Surely we are not particularly bothered about what is off to the side but what is ahead and a "portrait" view would be able to show more?
Or is this a daft question?? I only ask because I have an old PDA which has satnav with a "portrait" view and prefer it to my PNA which is "landscape" - but it may be purely subjective of course.
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Phil Read more
What you are actually looking at is a window showing a scrolling view of a map approx 200m wide and of potentially vast length (start ot finish of your journey).
You shouldn't be looking at the screen anyway.
Hi I'm in-between cars and have we just purchased a new house that requires refurbishing. Rather than fill a new car with plasterboard and old bathroom suites I?ve decided to buy a used pickup for up to around £2.5k. Any recommendations, or ones to avoid?
Thanks
Read more
Hi I'm in-between cars and have we just purchased a new
house that requires refurbishing. Rather than fill a new car with
plasterboard and old bathroom suites I’ve decided to buy a used
pickup for up to around £2.5k. Any recommendations, or ones to
avoid?
Thanks
Toyota Hilux - bulletproof.
What sort of pressure does the main output of a Golf Mk3 steering pump reach. ?? Any ideas, 200, 300 PSI less. Regards Peter Read more
Typically 300 to 500 psi depending on the car. More for large cars and less in small cars as a general rule. So a Golf? In the region of 300 to 400, I'd say.
I was reading about the new Mazda pick up recently and the article states the engine was designed to last 180K miles.
Also reading about Scooby's and that 200K is nothing for one of their engines if looked after.
IIRC 100K miles was always deemed as the end of life for a car in most peoples minds.
If that was so, what is it today and does anyone know if a car company has a figure in mind when they design the engine.
There are losts of websites where people can record their high mileages but what is the engine makers number when they design an engine (presume this will have to be an average).
E.g did Mr Honda say that the 2.4l vtec will last 150K when they designed their latest engine - what is a realistic figure (with proper servicing) do you think. Read more
Another way to say virtually the same as Cliff's post is that during design and development of a car, any load bearing part found with a crack is deemed to have failed. This also applies during the service life of a car - I certainly wouldn't be happy with mechanics deciding whether a crack is acceptable or not. That MOTs are carried out by people with no training in the analysis of structures is not ideal! (but I wouldn't argue for a more stringent or expensive MOT)
In a practical sense, parts are designed and developed, and if they pass the development tests, they are OK. So, any difference between manufacturers is not only in their design rules, but also in their development test specifications and procedures.
With aicraft, (and many other engineered structures), finding a crack is only one part of the fatigue management of the structure. Typically, the types of structure this applies to are those where the cost of manging fatigue is much lower than the cost of replacement of the structure. Cliff is right to point out that many aircraft parts are "lifed", which is in effect one fatigue management option, which is attractive for small, easily replaced parts. A crack in a wing spar would be managed quite differently!, and one possibility is to continue use of the aircraft, while monitoring the growth of the crack periodically.
For aircraft, the specification of development tests is still quite manufacturer specific, but there is the extra burden of flight qualification tests which are referenced back to national and international standards, and hence much less variable.
For some structures, where detailed inspection is difficult, or impossible (some parts of oilrigs and nuclear installations), one approach is to assess the structure based on the supposed existence of a crack which is just to small to be seen using the coarse inspections methods available (say if you can feasibly inspect to 5mm resolution, but no finer, you would assume a 5mm crack is actually there, positioned and aligned in the worst possible way with respect to the prevailing stress state of the material)
Number_Cruncher
I suppose it makes a change from the usual drunk driving stories...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/6192628.stm Read more
He certainly gave it a bit of stick - in fact he caned it...
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
Given the speed limits and so on, and given the speed capability of even the average small car, I reckon that even at top whack I 've probably got 50mph + of legally unuseable speed capability in my car.
So what, you might say, it's not costing you anything, but I'm guessing that I'm not actually being given it free and gratis, that at some point it did cost money to develop this, and at very least, I'm probably still being charged for the enhanced safety features to deal with it
Why do manufacturers of new cars insist on us having all this wasted capacity?
What is the benefit of it - from any perspective?
Is there an argument for "under-engineering" engines to save on the wastage and would it make cars cheaper? Read more
My wife yesterday accompanied one of our grandchildren from one place in London to another, Like a total idiot she chose to do it by public transport. The result was that she took two hours to do a one-hour journey. Although I am sorry for her, the journey she chose to do by public transport was so downright irrational that I have a damn good mind to refer to her as SWMBO, something I have never done before. If she does anything so mad again I will.
I was reading today that after sacking 4000 people in Belgium VW are building a car plant in India. Clearly workforce loyalty does not apply with the western car companies like it does with the Japanese boys, but putting that aside this really does smack to me of short termism once again.
Rather than develop ways of engineering a product & it's processes to be made at lower cost & high quality with an already trained workforce, most US and European car makers seem hell bent on opening factories in low cost economies to try and become more profitable. (I realise that some Jap car companies are opening factories in India and China but it is not at the expense of other factory closures)
What worries me in this grand plan of theirs is that inevitably quality for the paying customer will suffer - at least in the first instance. For instance I recall quality problems with Golfs made in South Africa, is this to be repeated with the plant in India.
And when these low cost economies latch onto the fact that the factories are built (and shut elsewhere) and they can command higher salaries where does that then leave the car companies.
I bet Toyota must sit back and think carry on boys - we will continue to make cars in factories with proven quality standards that people want while you go building cars as cheaply as you can elsewhere. Read more
That is a really interesting post ajit - thanks.
Hi all, I have just fitted an RDS 7000 in place of my old 5000, everything is hooked up ok (speakers, cd changer) using the standard connectors, but the steering wheel control stalk has a smaller socket on the rds 7000. does anyone know where i could get a connector to change it from the old long one to the newer small one? looked on fleabay and cant find anything, would ford sell it do you think?
cheers in advance Read more
The Mk1 Focus and Mk3 Mondeo (pre mid 2003 facelift) share
the same radio fittings, including stalk.
In fact as far as wiring is concerned it is up to Sep 2004, well into the face lift, i.e. IIRC a pre Sep 2004 column control will fit any 2000 on Mk III Mondeo and any 98 on Mk I Focus.
Browse
Ah ha - now it's all clear! I had a leak in the rear washer system last year. Thanks for the tip - will get a new catch.