Ask a Shiter

[DVee8]

Done as easy as that.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Are there any useful uses for the fairly pure water that is expelled by a dehumidifier?  I've just sent 20 litres of it down the drain because I was in a hurry (it was getting dark), but there'll be more where it came from and it seems a waste chuck it like that.  

steam iron

[DVee8]

Are there any useful uses for the fairly pure water that is expelled by a dehumidifier?  I've just sent 20 litres of it down the drain because I was in a hurry (it was getting dark), but there'll be more where it came from and it seems a waste chuck it like that.  

Windscreen washer bottle i use the water collected from the tumble dryer  to fill mine up.

I fill empty dilute juice bottle up and store behind the wheelie bins,till needed which this time of year is a lot.

[Luckythirteen]

I'll keep it for coolant changes, although it might be an idea to get hold of a water butt or two and save it for the next drought (at the moment t'garden is waterlogged, rather than dry)

Pa set up a water butt behind Chez_Thirteen, and it's quite handy for getting (non drinking) water without going in the house.

Many uses around car and garden.

[Andrew353w]

Would anyone out there in Autoshiteland know when Skoda Estelles changed from swing axles at the back to a trailing arm system? I know Skoda faced a good deal of bad publicity regarding the swing axle arrangement on the Estelle and that the Rapid DIDN'T have swing axles, as it was a more powerful car. I think that at some time during the production run the Estelles adopted the Rapid's rear axle arrangement and were built with trailing arm suspension as well.

 

Anyone know when the change-over was and are the older swing axle ones really THAT frightening?  

[TimothyClaypole]

Sister's W reg 206 is leaking water into the passenger's footwell, dad said he saw one at the garage up the road for sale that was the same.  

 

Is it a common fault?  

 

Leaking screen/blocked vents etc.

[meshking]

Are battery conditioners worth it? Does anyone use one to keep their chod topped up with Lucas smoke?

[skattrd]

Are battery conditioners worth it? Does anyone use one to keep their chod topped up with Lucas smoke?

 

I just disconnect the battery, that stops electricity leaking and my tat doesn't need to have power going to an ecu/alarm all the time.

[saucedoctor]

Are battery conditioners worth it? Does anyone use one to keep their chod topped up with Lucas smoke?

 

My ex got one with her Vanquish. It did work, inasmuch as it helped keep the battery from going flat due to shite Aston Martin electrics.

 

There was an auxiliary 12v socket in the boot (which was broken). I replaced it with one from a scrap Ford Ka, and we plugged the "conditioner" into it. A complete pain in the nuts as the car was too wide for the garage where we lived at that stage, so it had to be reversed up against the house.

[meshking]

Hmm, the lotus' battery seems to go flat over a week or two. The alarm is a bit shit, so not sure what goes on with that. Don't really want to disconnect it completely.

[brickwall]

Check for drain on the siren. They can get damp and start sucking out a fair bit.

[meshking]

Will do. Cheers!

[myglaren]

How does diesel engine oil remain clean? It's black with soot deposits within a few miles.

Mine stayed clean a long time after the last change, which was the third in a  short time.  Oil change is 12,500 miles but was done at 6,00 then 3,000. (C5 2.0 HDi - 198,000 miles)

 

It was barely visible on the dipstick 500 miles later (overfilled slightly due to this).

Still slightly over the max mark 6,000 miles later.  Due for another change but Procrastines keep getting in the way.

 

Used to change oil in the Xantia monthly - fairly high mileage and it was so damned easy.  Still ran nearly black all the time after the first day though.

[mat_the_cat]

I've got a few battery conditioners (or smart/float) chargers, as with one I kept forgetting to swap it around. Flattening a lead acid battery shortens its life, so if laid up for a while either disconnect or keep charged. A conventional charger only relies on the change in the battery's internal resistance (as it reaches full charge) to reduce the charging current, so it's likely to overcharge, gas, and potentially boil dry if left.

[robinmasters]

Isn't SFQ some sort of barbecue sauce?

 

I've got a question, possibly stupid, possibly even mad: I'm sure I remember reading a long, long time ago, in a manual (possibly Renault) of an exhaust assembly grease that contained tiny beads of glass, the idea being that the grease burned off but left the glass behind in order to ease disassembly. Nobody else seems to have heard of it so I'm beginning to suspect I dreamt it.

 

Did anybody else ever hear of such a thing? Would it even work? Maybe the reason why nobody else ever heard if it is that it didn't...

I'm sure something had glass beads on the mating faces, to prevent over-tightening. You do it up until it crunches and no more. Can't remember what it what it was though. Actually it might have been glue. Or something else entirely. Definitely had glass beads in though.

[jonathan_dyane]

I stand to be corrected but I think the Estelle suspension revamp coincided with the front end restyle.

[Honey Badger]

I'm sure something had glass beads on the mating faces, to prevent over-tightening. You do it up until it crunches and no more. Can't remember what it what it was though. Actually it might have been glue. Or something else entirely. Definitely had glass beads in though.

 

Aye, glass beads are used to get a consistent bond thickness as they are very hard to crush, also they are fucking lethal if someone spills them on the lab floor and doesn't tell anyone.

[Andrew353w]

I stand to be corrected but I think the Estelle suspension revamp coincided with the front end restyle.

 

Thanks! That would be about 1982-3 ish, when the 2,  the square and the 4 headlighted cars were all face-lifted to have 2 square lights. Planning ahead.....

[Cavcraft]

Who was it that posted the picture of their FSO towing a Jimp 'jeep' on a trailer, please?

[skattrd]

Who was it that posted the picture of their FSO towing a Jimp 'jeep' on a trailer, please?

 

That's gotta be SambaS hasn't it?

[DavidB]

I'm sure something had glass beads on the mating faces, to prevent over-tightening. You do it up until it crunches and no more. Can't remember what it what it was though. Actually it might have been glue. Or something else entirely. Definitely had glass beads in though.

 

Vauxhall sell this - it's for exhaust manifold bolts, they have metal beads in to give it some 'space' when the rest of it has rusted in the aluminium head.

[dave21478]

If you park up your car for a longer period, the battery goes flat......if you parked up a new electric car for a long time, would its main battery pack go flat too? what sort of effect would that have? ie leaving a normal car battery flat for a long time does it no good - would your Tesla suffer the same fate?

[explosive-cabbage]

Who was it that posted the picture of their FSO towing a Jimp 'jeep' on a trailer, please?

Only Edd is mad enough...

[Luckythirteen]

What is it with old people, and slipping the clutch through first gear? Like for about 30s?

There's an old guy at the other end of the street does this for at least 200m, then again when he turns out onto the main road. Once he's in second he's fine, it's only ever first!

He's not the only one. There's loads of them.

[dave21478]

I have put two clutches in three years into a '99 Escort for an old biddy who seems to think that any maneuver at under 15mph needs 3000rpm and massive clutch slip....parking....reversing....3 point turn.... I think its just an "old person thing".

[DavidB]

What use are imperial measurement tools like sockets and spanners nowadays, apart from ancient cars, and using the 1/2 size one to round off 13mm nuts?

Also 9mm and 11mm spanners, I've encountered one 11mm bolt in my entire life.

[saucedoctor]

Older Frogshite seems to feature the 11.

 

 

The 9 is for when you need to "hammer a smaller spanner" over a 10.

 

[spike60]

11mm fairly common, 9mm less so, perhaps brake pipes and nipples

[cobblers]

What use are imperial measurement tools like sockets and spanners nowadays, apart from ancient cars, and using the 1/2 size one to round off 13mm nuts?

Also 9mm and 11mm spanners, I've encountered one 11mm bolt in my entire life.

Americans are backwards and use imperial all over the place, most tools we buy are originally designed for "world" markets before being rebadged with "Halfords" or "Draper" or whatever, Hence we end up with 100 piece sets with only about 60 usable pieces. They are close enough to hold nuts on the other end of bolts (like for shocker eye ends etc) so they occasionally come in handy. Also for hammering over things.

 

11mm is common with pipe fittings, brake nipples etc.

[chaseracer]

...I've encountered one 11mm bolt in my entire life.

 

You've never owned a pre-PSA Citroen!