February 2008
Yesterday whilst returning to my car in a "stately home" car park, an oldish chap with his remote control aeroplane paraphernalia on a buggy, kindly dragged it past my car and proceeded to make a "nice" 8" to 10" scratch in the rear bumper.
I actually saw it happen from about 50 yards away and when I inspected the damage, it has gone down to the black base material in a couple of places.
I approached the kind chap and asked if he indeed admitted to hitting my car? He reluctantly agreed, but thought he had caused no damage! His mate, (also the wrong side of 65) came to give me the "try T-cut" advise, which was not at all appreciated.
I've got said chaps name and address/'phone number. He was very cautious that I should not get my car totally re-sprayed on his account, but I think he will cough-up.
My question is, what is the best way to get this fixed? I could possibly make a fairly decent job with Autoglym polish and a good touch-up brush, (the damage is low down on the rear bumper, just behind the rear wheel), but my car is an immaculate 55 plate Legacy and this has happened due to someone else's negligence. I wouldn't have minded too much, but there wasn't another car parked within 100 yards of mine, it just happened to be in the direct line of where this pill0ck was walking back to his own car.
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10w-40, what does it mean?
We have answered thousands of oil questions in the last 4 years but the most frequently asked one is ?What do the numbers mean??
In short, if you see an expression such as 10W-40, the oil is a multigrade which simply means that the oil falls into 2 viscosity grades, in this case 10W and 40.
This is made possible by the inclusion of a polymer, a component which slows down the rate of thinning as the oil warms up and slows down the rate of thickening as the oil cools down.
Multigrades were first developed some 50 years ago to avoid the routine of using a thinner oil in winter and a thicker oil in summer.
For a 10w-40 to attain the specification target a 10W (W = Winter please note!) the oil must have a certain maximum viscosity at low temperature. The actual viscosity and the temperature vary with the viscosity grade but in all cases the lower the number, the thinner the oil. For example a 5W oil is thinner than a 10W oil at temperatures encountered in UK winter conditions.
This is important because a thinner oil will circulate faster on cold start, affording better engine protection and therefore lower long term wear!
For a 10w-40 to attain the other specification target a ?40? oil must fall within certain limits at 100 degC. In this case the temperature target does not vary with the viscosity grade, if there is no "W" the measuring temperature is always 100degC.
Again the lower the number the thinner the oil, a ?30? oil is thinner than a ?40? oil at 100 degC, which is typical of maximum bulk oil temperatures in an operating engine.
Engine makers are, of course, very well aware of this and specify oils according to engine design features, oil pump capacities, manufacturing tolerances, ambient temperature conditions etc. It is important to follow these guidelines, they are important and are stipulated for good reasons.
Finally, if the engine has been modified or is used in stressed conditions, the operating conditions may well be outside the original design envelope. The stress on the oil caused by increased maximum revs, power output and temperature may require that an oil of a different type and viscosity grade would be required.
These examples show viscosities at different temperatures:
Grade................0degC............10degC...... .........40degC...............100degC
0w-40...............665cst.............354cst........ ..........82cst................14cst
5w-40...............842cst............ 430cst..................91cst................14cst
10w-40.............874cst.............440cst .................91cst................14cst
15w-40...........1260cst.............595cst........... ......107cst................14cst
In a nutshell, that?s what a multigrade is all about!
Cheers
Guy and the Opieoils.co.uk team
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Help
Renault Grand Scenic, 1600cc VVT Petrol, Feb 2005, Engine Stalls in cold weather
I have had a few problems with this car, the latest problem even the dealer's technician can not find the cause.
6 months ago the 'de-phaser' -VVT regulator was make a rattling noise on start up and was diagnosed was faulty and changed.
After the repair, I noticed a few problems which was reported to the dealer, the fuel consumption has gone up, lossing 3-4 miles per gallon, and that on cold start up stalling problems. The car starts up ok, I reverse out and drive away 20-40 metres I engage clutch and brake to slow or stop car and the engine cut-out it does this until engine warms.
The problems persist in the evening after work.
Can anyone help in diagnosing and telling me the problem and solution?
Is there still a air intake regulator that maybe the problem?
{year&engine added to subject header - as per the 3 separate requests} Read more
Moonmonkey01 did you actually get to the bottom of this? My 2007 Scenic is doing this, and nearly caused my Mrs to have an accident this week. Would love to know what caused your issue so I can give it a go!
I've got a tdi pd 130 passat 2003
what oil do i use safely as i don't want to be paying £15 a litre from vw but i do want to keep the car
cheers for your help
Richie Read more
I have a Golf with the same engine ( I believe) yestarday I was in my local VW dealer buying filters etc. 5 litres of Quantum OIL 505.01 was £23.
why mess about buying anything else ?
Hi All
I hope someone can help, unfortunately I bought a 2002 xsara Picasso 2.0 HDI off Ebay yesterday{and I put those details in the subject header today because someone ignored the requests to do so!}, the guy told me the heater blower does not work (but it will only be the fuse), I have also realised that the A/C light does not com on when you press the switch, I have checked the fuses they seem ok but not sure which one to look at, I bought a Haynes comic today a little better than useless, does it sound serious?? or maybe a simple solution, can anyone help please Read more
Hi sorry taken so long, it turned out to be ignition swich, my local garage bypassed ign sw with another wire with an inline fuse, working fine now but he said if I used possition 4 it will blow fuse after a few minutes so I dont use 4 runs fine including A.C regards
Len
I am having a problem with my 2.2 turbo diesel X-trail, when the car is moving with the clutch dipped e.g. coasting up to traffic lights, the engine revs stay at 1,000rpm. When the car is stopped the revs dip to 800rpm, more often than not, after this the engine will not rev above 2,00rpm. To rectify this the ignition needs switching off and on again and the fault goes away.
I have had the car into the dealer who changed the fuel filter with no curing of the problem, they said that it could be the fuel pump which would be 2 grand to change (the car is no longer under warranty). Any ideas?
{The 3 separate requests to include year & engine details in the subject header must have been playing hide & seek when you composed your question. Why else wouldn't you have seen them?} Read more
i had the very same problem with my 2.2 dci x-trail. the pump is an expensive part to replace but what the main dealer is not telling you is, there is a swith on the pump that can be replaced as i have done at an expense of €90. however when you replace the switch you will need to go to a nissan garage to put the computer onto the car and set the switch. you can get one of the lads in the nissan garage to set the pump switch before you replace it and see if the problem comes back into it. my x-trail had that problem at 120,000 kms and its running well now at 250,000 since replacing that switch.
Living in France, I bought my Grand Scenic in Nov 03. Now nearing 90000km (about 55000 m). After relatively few problems before, I'm now having a curious problem.
This happens when the engine is at normal running temperature, and I've been cruising for a while (eg on a longish dual carriageway). When I come to, say, a roundabout, slow down, then accelerate hard out of the junction, I get a warning beep. The STOP light shows on the dash then goes off as quickly as it came on.
First couple of times this happened I stopped, looked and listened for telltale signs and, when found nothing, drove on again. The local Renault garage is very helpful normally but not on this. It may be linked (or not) but I had new injectors about 5000 km ago.
Has anyone else had this - if so, solutions, please. If not, any ideas for me to offer on to the garage (my technical French is getting better than my conversational with things like this!)?
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Your dead instrument panel is NOT due to pads/disk/fluid. That brings on a brake warning light and beep.
your dead panel may require a new one.
Sister-in-law's staying with us, and moaning the dealer has not reset this after service.
Does anyone know if there's an easy way, or is it back to the dealer? It's currently showing 'inspection due'. Read more
Thanks Bathtub Tom.
Your method works fine.
I've stopped taking my Skoda to a main dealer after the last service they did, I took it there for the stamp in the book to keep the warranty. They didn't replace the screenwash resevoir top, 1 tyre valve cap was missing & 1 tyre valve cap was cross threaded, I expect better for £175.
When I complained, my attitude was if you can't get simple things right, what chance do you stand with anything important like an oil change etc. Their attitude was, we get the major things right, it's no big deal if me mess up the minor things.
Since that episode, I've voted with my feet & gone to an independant that I trust.
My nearside headlight unit on my 52 reg Vectra-C has damp inside so I want to take it out and dry it off.
I can see 2 obvious small bolts but cannot see the third bolt that holds the headlamp unit in place - It feels like it is behind the edge of the wing.
Any ideas?? Read more
:)
Which engine oil is best to use for my 2.2 di 2002 Nissan x trail ,is it full synthetic or semi synthetic,i want to change oil and filter and put correct stuff in thanks aj Read more
Go on the Castrol website and look for the oil recommendation section.
It will tell you to use Castrol Edge 0W-30 which is synthetic for best oil.
For second best it says use Magnatec 10W-40 which is semi syn.
You pays your money and takes your chance.
Quizman, I religiously use Castrol engine oil in my Mazda 323 diesel but I'm not too sure about their recommendations on their website. My car manual recommends 10w-40 whereas Castrol recommends 5w-30.
Wouldn't they be recommending more expensive products and obviously that makes business sense too.
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Similar thing happpened to me. Slight scrape down a wheel arch while my car was nicely parked in the street. Lady who did it admitted it might have been her fault-"I was trying to give way to oncoming traffic" . Damage slight but highly visible--a £150 quid jobby at least...