November 2006
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
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.
I bought a escort van 1995 that had petrol put in the tank
It has been drained off and new fuel filter put on and now i can't get the fuel to the injecteors what else can i do
{Shouting, ie, UPPERCASE text amended - DD}
Read more
i have done what you said and there is no fuel at the injectors but the injector pump was working fine till i changed the fuel filter
I know there have been past threads about disabled parking but I've not seen this particular aspect discussed before - I know - I'll be proved wrong shortly .... :-)
I was in Carlisle last weekend and there were cars parked everywhere on the double yellows - I'm talking dozens and dozens. Nearly all had the old blue disabled badge displayed but a few hapless souls didn't, and these guys were duly being issued with penalty notices by a traffic warden. I (very politely) asked the warden what the position was regards blue badges and double yellows. She told me they were allowed 3 hours parking on them by law. I asked if that was a bye-law or actual law (if you a see what I mean). She said it was proper law.
Is that right? Is there such a law?
Now to me this just doesn't make any sense. I thought the yellow lines were there to prevent obstructions. Disabled drivers cause just as much of an obstruction as an abled bodied driver. Create disabled parking bays by all means, but to cover the streets in yellow paint and then let a special class of driver use them as parking areas is just illogical.
What do others think?
Les Read more
So that's the law then - still seems daft to me !
Naturally, anyone with a disability has my sympathy and I'm not , in anyway, disputing their access to parking near where they need to be. I'm just baffled by this yellow line thing which I must admit I just hadn't dawned on me.
So clearly the lines aren't there to prevent obstruction unless coupled with loading restrictions - so just what are they for?
Please can you tell me how to change the airfiter on my 2004 toyota yaris d4d diesel. and put in a jetex
Thank-you
{Subject header made less vague - DD} Read more
A polite reminder that this is Technical Matters, and therefore can you keep the jovial comments to the Discussion side of the forum please.
DD.
If you are going to hit a brick wall then, it would seem, a BMW Mini is pretty much up to the job of protecting you...:-)
www.southportforums.com/forums/showthread.php?thre...3
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by Read more
Doh. Sorry M, just realised what you were getting at, tattoed, needles, I am getting old.
Excerpt from Monday's auction report
"..Big 4x4s continued to slide. An 11k mile well-specced 2005/55 ML350 sold for £31,000. Facelift X5 3.0 Sport diesels, all with leather and satnav TVs were £27,750 to £31,000. And a 43k mile Touareg V10 with illegal front tyres and no 747 behind it bid to £25,200.."
So what's a 747?
Thinking of stuff that rhymes with Boeing, Jumbo, Jumbo Jet but can't come up with anything.
Ready to be embarrassed..
Read more
So what's a 747?
jase{p} - for the answer to your question , read :
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=46...4
Browse
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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