Ask a Shiter

[Partridge]

Here's an ebay related stupid question. I was discussing ebay bidding tactics with a guy at work and his theory is that if you're bidding on a say a car and the maximum you want to spend is 700 you're as well just to lob the 700 quid bid on right at the start then that way the auction will go up with you being the highest bidder until someone outbids your budget. If the auction goes over 700 then you're out and you've not exceeded your budget.

 

I always tend to hang back right until the end then lob my bids on in increments ideally making me the highest bidder only at the point the auction ends. The downside of this is you could always be outbid at the last minute and you may feel the need to exceed your budget in the heat of a button press.

 

My thoughts are that putting your highest bid out there right at the start forces the bids up as people counter bidding you will tend to do it right from the start of the auction. He thinks that that theory is a delusion and resulting price of the auction would be the same as things tend to find a natural pricing level during the aucion no matter what your tactics.

 

It’s uncommon for ebay buyers to stay up until the wee hours waiting for what they are bidding on to end (assuming it ends in the wee hours), and then put their bid in at the last second.

My old man does that sometimes, but personally I can’t be arsed.

[Partridge]

Here's an ebay related stupid question. I was discussing ebay bidding tactics with a guy at work and his theory is that if you're bidding on a say a car and the maximum you want to spend is 700 you're as well just to lob the 700 quid bid on right at the start then that way the auction will go up with you being the highest bidder until someone outbids your budget. If the auction goes over 700 then you're out and you've not exceeded your budget.

 

I always tend to hang back right until the end then lob my bids on in increments ideally making me the highest bidder only at the point the auction ends. The downside of this is you could always be outbid at the last minute and you may feel the need to exceed your budget in the heat of a button press.

 

My thoughts are that putting your highest bid out there right at the start forces the bids up as people counter bidding you will tend to do it right from the start of the auction. He thinks that that theory is a delusion and resulting price of the auction would be the same as things tend to find a natural pricing level during the aucion no matter what your tactics.

 

It’s uncommon for ebay buyers to stay up until the wee hours waiting for what they are bidding on to end (assuming it ends in the wee hours), and then put their bid in at the last second.

My old man does that sometimes, but personally I can’t be arsed.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I'm thinking of becoming an ubercool* modder by fitting yellow Hella H4s to my car. I know they're road legal, but I have some bulb-related questions:

 

i) Is a £20 Hella bulb going to give out more light and/or more useful light than the current £2.50 Unipart job?

ii) Do I need access to a calibration machine like the MOT testers have in order to ensure that they don't point out at other drivers etc [i suppose there's a higher chance of being stopped by the police due to the unusual colour of the lights]?

iii) Am I right to assume that a 55w bulb replacing another 55w bulb is unlikely to cause any issues with 25-year-old wires/relays/switches?

[Pillock]

Last one first, a 55W bulb will always draw the same amount of power through the wires - erm, 55 watts

It's a measure of power consumption, not light output or anything daft like that. So yes, if your wiring was designed for 55W then any 55W bulb will plop right in and not start any fires.

 

Which brings us to the top one - a 55W bulb from one manufacturer will have a different light output to a 55W bulb from another. It depends what the filament is made from and how well, and what gas is inside amongst other nerdy stuff. So yes, perhaps a £10 bulb will be better than a £2.50 one - or maybe it won't.

 

Finally, you shouldn't need to align the lamps if you're just swapping bulbs, the beam is shaped either by the lens (on an older car with the ridged inside to the lenses) or the reflector (on a newer car with the clear glass). Neither of these should change position so it'll likely remain the same beam pattern, perhaps just projecting the light further if you've spent a millionty quid on bulbs. Did you notice how many words like "should" and "likely" I used then? Bit vague, isn't it?

Firstly, I managed to bugger up both my headlamp aims just by changing bulbs. Secondly, if the bulb is really dire then it could cast light out non-uniformly and it'll be all over the shop. Even the shape of the painted bit on the end of the bulb can affect it.

 

If you're worried, park a few feet from a wall at night, put the lights on and chalk the midpoints of the beams. Swap bulbs, park in the same place and see if they've changed. You don't need to be mm-perfect but I appreciate your thoughtfulness in not wanting to dazzle other people!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Cheers for that, sounds good, although on second thoughts I may opt for some less well-known brand seeing as it's £12 a pair as oppposed to £20 each!

[trigger]

What can cause clutch judder? My Cortina clutch has been pretty much spot on since I've owned it but I used it for a classic car run on Sunday which involved a lot of slow driving, stop starting and generally riding the clutch a fair bit, the car was also 5 up which I doubt it's been for a very long time, all things I know which can make a clutch work hard.

 

During the day it started juddering pretty badly making the whole car shake and the prop rattle about, It doesn't slip and it isn't high but does this mean my clutch has now broke or could it be something else?.

[Spiny Norman]

Oil on the friction plate? Broken engine mount?

[Albert Ross]

Luxo, avoid the cheap shite bulbs, you will end up blinding other drivers. The filaments are made in varying places within the bulb, changing to pre-focus, and giving a wank beam pattern. Just use good ones and be done. It's not like you can hammer a smaller bulb inside the lamp unit when the bulb blows now, is it?

[Doctormop]

Having been travelling more on Motorways than usual this last week or so I have noticed a lot more trucks pulling draw bar trailers than there used to be.

Is there some change in legislation making them a more attractive proposition than artics or have I just not been noticing them on the roads for the past few years?

(Not noticing as in being aware they were there of course, not being totally oblivious of their presence I meant to say)

[hairymel]

if there's a few of the same thing ending within 24hrs or so, they get more expensive as time goes on.

 

this is true.. probably

[cobblers]

if you can get Nokya yellow h4 bulbs, do - they're the best bulbs I've ever had - I had to import them from the USA. The same pair has been passed on to every H4 equipped car I've owned for the last 6 years or so.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

if you can get Nokya yellow h4 bulbs, do - they're the best bulbs I've ever had - I had to import them from the USA. The same pair has been passed on to every H4 equipped car I've owned for the last 6 years or so.

 

I can get someone to send them across to me from the states. I've actually found a couple of places in NL selling them, but they have crazy postal and payment charges.

[skattrd]

Is there such a thing as a decent brand of wiper blade?

I seem to be changing them on my daily every few months as they just become crap or noisy.

I don't mind paying a few quid for some decent blades if they'll clear the screen properly and last a bit longer.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I've been looking at blades, too, as my current Bosch ones are seriously noisy.

 

PIAA have some silicon ones which are mega-expensive (£20 each).

 

SWF is a German OEM supplier which was recently bought by Valeo. The branding is separate, and they seem to have good reviews on the webz.

 

My next pair, however, is likely to come from Unipart, as they're really cheap (£4.50 each) and are sold by the local branch, so there wouldn't be much trouble in going back and making a bit of a fuss if they ended up being shite.

[skattrd]

Cheers Luxo.

It's not very AS, but I may be tempted by a PIAA silicon wiper. It is slightly extravagant, but I do only need one ... The passengers side, can make do with whatever piece of shit is left on the arm.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

well, the PIAA ones claim to be extremely long-lasting, so it may actually pay off if you intend to keep the car for a few years.

[gallondrunk]

BlueCol seem to make decent old school style wiper blades, at least compared to cheapo Wilkinsons bought affairs.

[skattrd]

£19 for one 21" wiper blade is quite a bit, but I reckon I've all ready spent £20+ on wipers for this car in the last 18 months, and I've never been totally happy with them.

[Cavcraft]

I've got some sort of modern soft rubber wiper blades on my 306. They were on it months back when I got the car and they're still brilliant now.

[Mike D]

I seem to have inherited trying to help my mate sort his mrs' 1.9dci scenic, it's a 2004 effort..

This is where i'm up to!

 

Ran fine, codes read and point to egr, went onto what feels like 2 cylinders (No power and won't rev up even with foot to floor) also won't

tick over, emissions fault and injector fault on dash, now tries to start, chugs away for a few seconds and stops, feels fuel related, fuel

filter changed and still the same.

 

Anyone able to help me out?

[cort16]

I think Halfords normally sell what you need to fix it.

 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_197103_langId_-1_categoryId_165619

[panhard65]

Ref the scenic what happened to it in the first place. There are loads of these about that eat their turbos then bugger up the engine. Next thing they are on ebay listed as an electrical fault or injector trouble. However they do have pump trouble and injectors do fail. Where abouts are you as I have got a few pumps and injectors from the many meganes I have broken. If you can get a code reader on it that will give live data that will be a help to see what the fuel pressure is doing. (don't crack the injector pipes they are supposed to run at 200 odd bar and serious injury can result by crack injector pipes whilst running)

[cort16]

I had injector issues with my smart diesel and it didn't show up any codes. I took them out and took them to a diesel a injector specialist and they put them on their machine for 20 quid and diagnosed that they where all stuffed. If you did this you'd know one way or the other.

[CreepingJesus]

@Doctormop - there's a technical dodge that means you can get more overall floor length out of a drawbar, than artic. So they're attractive to hauliers who need sheer volume. But, they're not popular in quite a lot of depots, due to the through-loading issue, and double deckers and the new 50' trailers can do what they do anyway.

I know Eddie's Go-karts have quite a few, as do the likes of UK Mail. I miss driving them; you can fling them about. Top fun.

 

I recommend Goodyear wipers if you can get them. Got mine from Costco for about £20, but they haven't had them since, and they're not normally that cheap! Bloody good blades on them, if the black paint's a bit flaky here and there after about a year.

[M'coli]

We have a 2005 Ducato-based motorhome. Foolishly, I have left the battery switch on the electrical panel on "Car" for some considerable time, and completely drained the battery - no ignition lights nor odometer or suchlike. I have a battery charger that's not a brute force job, but would like to know of any consequences of letting the battery go as flat as this - I'm thinking of alarm and immobiliser problems.

 

Any advice would be gratefully received!

[Pete-M]

I should think it'd be fine. You'd be surprised sometimes. You'll have lost any radio codes, and it'll run like a bag of if there's any engine management stuff on those..

[M'coli]

Cheers Pete - there's an engine management system as it's the JTD engine, so... I'll stick it on charge when I get in from work tomorrow morning.

[willswitchengage]

What exhaust manufacturer has a square griffin as its logo? Or have I somehow ended up with a GM exhaust that also fits BXs?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

QH? Not sure what sort of creature that is TBH.

[Pillock]

Cheers Pete - there's an engine management system as it's the JTD engine, so... I'll stick it on charge when I get in from work tomorrow morning.

 

It'll just go into learn mode, it'll be a bit lumpy and weak for a few miles. Just drive normally and it'll pick up and be fine.

When you bung the charger on, make sure you've got a door open or a window down. I've had one car (I'm thinking it was my Audi 90?) that when I bunged a charged battery on, it locked all the doors. With the keys inside. And the alarm going.