Ask a Shiter

[M'coli]

Changing the timing belt on 1994 205 1.7 non-turbo XUD.

 

The water pump supplied with the kit incorporates the side of the timing belt cover, which is the design I'm familiar with. The old pump has no side on it. Does it matter? The timing belt covers do have the space to accommodate the new pump.

I wouldn't have thought so. My 205 (XUD7T) had the pump with the cover incorporated. So long as it all fits nicely and pumps water I don't think it would matter.

[Richard]

.

[DodgeRover]

Old gas strut disposal? has "observe disposal instructions" printed on it.

 

Does that mean I just watch the guy at the tip lob it into the general waste or are they going to try and rob me of £5.00 each strut for hazardous waste disposal like they do with tyres?

Chuck it in the dustbin. The sides of the bin wagon are plenty thick if it explodes when crushed. Which it won't if it was still charged you wouldn't be changing it.

[jonathan_dyane]

Dextron III ATF is perfectly fine to use in place of Dextron II right as it is backwards compatiable?

Many argue it is not truly backwards compatible and there are various tales of borked gearboxes. I wouldn't risk it.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Yeah I didn't in the end, if it is truly backwards compatible why would they make the old specification stuff still?

[Pillock]

Do the fuzz ever buy unmarked cars secondhand?

 

I was just putting some fuel in, and it's a supermarket near the county police HQ. Often get their motors filling up.

On the next pump over was a 63 plate BMW and a uniformed officer putting in fuel. Now 63 plate struck me as a bit old for something that will do mega-miles - but what was also odd was that the numberplate was on squiffy, and on the bottom of the plate had the name of a local Ford dealer across it like they'd sold it.

 

Deffo unmarked car though - the light on the top of the dash pointing out through the windscreen, and when I ran it through TotalCarCheck it comes back as over 3 years old, no MOT status available, no tax status available.

[panhard65]

Do the fuzz ever buy unmarked cars secondhand?

 

I was just putting some fuel in, and it's a supermarket near the county police HQ. Often get their motors filling up.

On the next pump over was a 63 plate BMW and a uniformed officer putting in fuel. Now 63 plate struck me as a bit old for something that will do mega-miles - but what was also odd was that the numberplate was on squiffy, and on the bottom of the plate had the name of a local Ford dealer across it like they'd sold it.

 

Deffo unmarked car though - the light on the top of the dash pointing out through the windscreen, and when I ran it through TotalCarCheck it comes back as over 3 years old, no MOT status available, no tax status available.

I went past a BMW estate last week on a 10 plate. As I went past doing a bit too much over the limit I thought to myself the old bill wouldn't have anything that old. How wrong was I when the blue lights came on. I will say that the copper who pulled me was probably the nicest one I have ever met. I got so lucky and let off even though I had hit 98 whilst he was following me. Let off with a warning to keep it under 90 !. So watch out for a black 10 plate BMW on the M5 near Taunton

[DodgeRover]

They sometimes used vehicles seized as proceeds of crime allegedly, undercover also have older vehicles not to stand out

[TRW]

They sometimes used vehicles seized as proceeds of crime allegedly, undercover also have older vehicles not to stand out

 

This is very true. South Wales Police had a scruffy 3 door M Plate Fiesta that I saw used on a house raid in Swansea Central. This was back in 2008.

[TRW]

Came into this to make a different post and got sidetracked. Bummer.

Does anyone know what colour the front speaker wires on a 1980 Solara GLS should be?

A contact on FB is asking and I said I would ask here to help out. Its still on the standard head unit, but somewhere between the back of the head unit and the console they change colour. 

[Stanky]

Sorry if this has been asked before, I'm reasonably sure the answer is 'no' but can a turbocharged petrol engine run away on its own oil (like a diesel) if the turbo oil seals fail?

 

I think not, as a petrol engine has a metered air intake (throttle body) unlike a diesel which only meters the diesel injection, right? Also the compression would not be high enough on a 9:1 (or whatever) petrol engine to make sump oil combust.

 

Or is this another thing I need to live in fear of?

[cobblers]

Nah you're grand with a petrol, like you say they've got a throttle valve, but also the compression ratio is low enough that they're really not likely to ignite oily fumes without a spark.

[somewhatfoolish]

If you are concerned about runaway dizzlers(really only likely if you're running one with a shagged turbot), either develop an easy means of physically blocking the air intake(rags, a softly inflated ball, etc) or carry a CO2 fire extinguisher; whichever method you pick practice the drill for it, with the first method actually doing it will not cost anything and neither will harm the engine so have a go.

[cobblers]

Is there anything that genuinely will deter spiders? 

 

 

One of the fuckers keeps making a web right in front of my most inaccessable CCTV camera, I have to hang out of a window and wipe them off it every other day.

[jonathan_dyane]

Where does one buy motorcycle engine parts (I mean things like piston rings and bearing shells). All of the companies I've dealt with for car stuff don't seem to so bike engine parts and all the bike places I have encountered it seems to be ££££ (stupid stuff like £12 per big end for shells when I would expect more like £20 for a full set)...

[SiC]

Do the fuzz ever buy unmarked cars secondhand?

 

I was just putting some fuel in, and it's a supermarket near the county police HQ. Often get their motors filling up.

On the next pump over was a 63 plate BMW and a uniformed officer putting in fuel. Now 63 plate struck me as a bit old for something that will do mega-miles - but what was also odd was that the numberplate was on squiffy, and on the bottom of the plate had the name of a local Ford dealer across it like they'd sold it.

 

Deffo unmarked car though - the light on the top of the dash pointing out through the windscreen, and when I ran it through TotalCarCheck it comes back as over 3 years old, no MOT status available, no tax status available.

Yes. I've seen 59 plate and older BMWs used by the traffic cops around the M4 near Swindon. Going by the number of cars I've seen pulled over with the unmarked police car behind, they appear rather effective.

[SiC]

If you were to drive an oldish car (>40yrs) home, that hasn't done many miles for a good number of years but recent MOT, on a 30 mile journey. Would you choose the motorway, which has plenty of hard shoulders or A-roads? Motorway is quicker, but very busy and some sections very dangerous to breakdown. A-roads slower to get back, but plenty of "safe" places to stop but still some dangerous.

 

Also continued motorway speeds likely to be harder on a car than one driven on a mix of 60, 50 and 30mph roads?

[trigger]

I'd go the country roads way and take my time, it's only 30 miles after all, get to know the car and build up your confidence in it.

[DeeJay]

Is there anything that genuinely will deter spiders? 

 

 

One of the fuckers keeps making a web right in front of my most inaccessable CCTV camera, I have to hang out of a window and wipe them off it every other day.

Walnuts.

[STUNO]

Walnut spider killer .

Take your sawn-off shotgun from the hidey hole in your attic, sawn-off gives a better shot spread.

load with a cartridge containing the smallest shot you have lying around.

load cartridge into a firing chamber.

Take 3 walnuts and crush the kernel and shell together with the hammer from your hidey hole, very dry walnuts are preferable as the kernels (nuts to you) will form very small pieces.

Tamp the walnuts into the barrel on top of the cartridge.

Lean out the window as far as you can, holding the shotgun in the most comfortable way you can. Do NOT point the shotgun downwards to avoid spillage of the barrel contents.

Ensure the spider is in a visible place to enable removal.

When all is aimed up pull the trigger.

Say bad words as you fall groundwards.

Repeat using as much of the walnut as you can recover from the pavement plus enough new to replace the spillage.

When all is lined up again, pull the correct trigger.

Done !!

so far

Next make a booking at your local hospital emergency as falling twice from the window has done serious damage.

Then purchase a new camera system as although it has not been damaged, the old one has become totally entangled in spider web while you were in hospital.

 

Method 2

Buy a good flyspray and spray over the camera . That will effectively stop it.

 

Hat and coat donned.

[somewhatfoolish]

You need wadding to retain the walnut bits in the cartridge.

[jon928se]

This is very true. South Wales Police had a scruffy 3 door M Plate Fiesta that I saw used on a house raid in Swansea Central. This was back in 2008.

 

I remember back in about 1981-82 ish the local police around the Parbold/Standish area (M6 -J27) used to use a light green Mark 2 Cavalier 1.6L. It would have been about 2 years old so a bit OT, but it was the worst possible undercover car - a fully marked normal police car would have stood out less. It's the only Mk2 Cav in that colour I ever saw. 

[Ghosty]

Saw an unmarked plod Range Rover Evoque near me a couple of years ago. Obviously low spec from the big tyres.

Only blue Evoque I've ever seen...

here in GMP they're all reasonably new cars but there's a lot of variety, albeit mainly German stuff, and some of them have white stickers with 'police' in red on the boot.

Interesting one in London was an about 08 plate Lexus IS.

[Kiltox]

See all sorts of "odd" unmarked stuff around London - things you wouldn't look twice at like Hyundai i30s, a Subaru Forester the other day, etc.

 

I know that's the idea but lots of forces seem to go for the predictable black 5 series

[twosmoke300]

I remember back in about 1981-82 ish the local police around the Parbold/Standish area (M6 -J27) used to use a light green Mark 2 Cavalier 1.6L. It would have been about 2 years old so a bit OT, but it was the worst possible undercover car - a fully marked normal police car would have stood out less. It's the only Mk2 Cav in that colour I ever saw.

Light green mk2 cav would be a military or ex military car - dad bought and sold quite a few when we lived in Dorset

[bub2006]

In Derbyshire the plod have a O2 plated black skoda octavia and did have a y reg vectra b but I've not seen that in a while. My friend lives over the road from the Bobby house in Heanor.

[burraston2006]

Stupid insurance question. The Range is on a classic limited miles policy. I've used it far too much and will run out of miles before the policy ends. I cannot extend the mileage as it's on the max they'll do for it. With two months still to go can I just get a new policy and leave the old one in place ( afaik it will not be insured as I'll have gone over the mileage limit) or do I get arse raped and pay the cancellation?

[Mally]

If you were to drive an oldish car (>40yrs) home, that hasn't done many miles for a good number of years but recent MOT, on a 30 mile journey. Would you choose the motorway, which has plenty of hard shoulders or A-roads? Motorway is quicker, but very busy and some sections very dangerous to breakdown. A-roads slower to get back, but plenty of "safe" places to stop but still some dangerous.

 

Also continued motorway speeds likely to be harder on a car than one driven on a mix of 60, 50 and 30mph roads?

 

30 miles, A roads.

With a following car with tow rope or preferably a bar.

Is it happening then?

[Mally]

In Derbyshire the plod have a O2 plated black skoda octavia and did have a y reg vectra b but I've not seen that in a while. My friend lives over the road from the Bobby house in Heanor.

 

Our Police Stations a Nursery now.

[M'coli]

An actual nursery or do the rozzers just look younger to you every day?