Ask a Shiter

[garbaldy]

Fook knows the reason but the misses got totaly sick of people telling her she had a fog light out.

[CortinaDave]

I thought it was an electrical fault when I saw it initially - but no, it seems to be a "feature"

[Angrydicky]

Woman next door has just killed her 54 plate Mundano.

No gears on the A50 apparently.

I helped the bloke get it off the recovery truck, but the symptoms baffled me.

 

Clutch pedal on floor

Stuck in a gear - no idea which one

Lever moved front to back as if unconnected

But wouldnt move side to side

Big puddle of gearbox oil beneath car according to recovery chap.

 

What's that then?

Womans husband thinks its a quick sixty quid fix!

Skim read that as '54 (Austin) A50 lost gears, was thinking check under the bonnet at the column gear linkage and it should be quite obvious what's wrong...alas not!

[garbaldy]

We live up a private road (track) with a very tight right hand turn at the top, they did shine around the corner a bit which helped in winter dark nights, shame the rest of the car was shite though.

[Cavcraft]

/\

That's what it's for, a sort of cornering aide. Rip off of those old swivel headlighted Citroens if you ask me, guv'nor.

[Junkman]

Has anyone else noticed on quite a few new cars it seems when you turn a corner one front fog light comes on? It then seems to go off again once you straighten up.

 

What's the point of that?

 

So you realise they are turning, since those fuckwits never set the indicators anyway.

[saucedoctor]

My 2000 W203 did that. It would also flash the fog light (dimly) if the indicator went down. Dashboard said "SUBSTITUTE LAMP IN USE!", the implication clearly being "FIX DER INDICATOR YOU ENGLISHER PIG-DOG!" A clever idea, what a pity they couldn't stop the car's airflow meters going "HANDE HOCH!"

[Bobthebeard]

My 2000 W203 did that. It would also flash the fog light (dimly) if the indicator went down. Dashboard said "SUBSTITUTE LAMP IN USE!", the implication clearly being "FIX DER INDICATOR YOU ENGLISHER PIG-DOG!" A clever idea, what a pity they couldn't stop the car's airflow meters going "HANDE HOCH!"

On a 2000 Merc I owned, one of the screen wash pipes fell off under the bonnet and filled the fusebox with water.

All kinds of lights flashed at random, the horn sounded constantly and mayhem ensued.

Took weeks to sort that one out!

[meggersdog]

Woman next door has just killed her 54 plate Mundano.

No gears on the A50 apparently.

I helped the bloke get it off the recovery truck, but the symptoms baffled me.

 

Clutch pedal on floor

Stuck in a gear - no idea which one

Lever moved front to back as if unconnected

But wouldnt move side to side

Big puddle of gearbox oil beneath car according to recovery chap.

 

What's that then?

Womans husband thinks its a quick sixty quid fix!

Not sure if it's the same or similar 'box to a FWD Transit but the selector fork grub screw works loose and drops into the gearbox.

That would give you the lever movement and the gears have probably flicked the screw through the casing.

Don't know why that would effect the clutch though

[skattrd]

I've been clearing my garage out a bit and can now see the floor in a few places. The floor is concrete and creates a bit of dust. Can I paint this with some crap emulsion I have lying around? I do have some PVA I could let down and seal the floor with first if that would be better.

[Rocket88]

Why are Americans obsessed by shitey chrome wheels? I was just watching a program that had a Monte Carlo on mega cool steel when and they did work on it and swapped them out for really shit looking chrome wheels. Result : looks like dog shit

Fantom works,,,,,,,,apparently. That model Monte Carlo is one of my favourite Yanks, especially in Buick Grand National guise. Those chrome abortions have ruined that one. You can get wheels far more suited to the looks of the thing than that.

[Bobthebeard]

I've been clearing my garage out a bit and can now see the floor in a few places. The floor is concrete and creates a bit of dust. Can I paint this with some crap emulsion I have lying around? I do have some PVA I could let down and seal the floor with first if that would be better.

I used to own a house with an attached garage and the concrete floor was REALLY dusty. Tried PVA etc, but soon wore off. Finally bought some proper garage floor paint that cost ££££'s. But did the trick. It almost needed pouring on rather than simply painting on, but worked.

[skattrd]

Cheers for the reply Bob, but I was hoping there was a shiteists solution as I'd rather not fork out for proper garage paint.

[cobblers]

Don't put emulsion down, you'll be kicking yourself for years as it all flakes off an gets on your tits constantly. PVA will be better than nowt and will hold together if you do decided to spunk some proper stuff on top of it, whereas emulsion will just go to bollocks.

[cort16]

Fantom works,,,,,,,,apparently. That model Monte Carlo is one of my favourite Yanks, especially in Buick Grand National guise. Those chrome abortions have ruined that one. You can get wheels far more suited to the looks of the thing than that.

 

It was Fantom Works. It looked much better before they started. Do you see the money the charge aswell? The charged that guy like 100 grand for a bare metal pickup truck that had unfilled welds on it.

[skattrd]

Cheers Cobblers, it looks like PVA solution for the time being .. well, after I finish the 19 other things I've got to do first.

[garbaldy]

I find the best thing to stop concrete dust on your garage floor is engine oil from geriatric old tat its worked for me

[skattrd]

I did think about used engine oil on the garage floor, but I was concerned about trailing it through the house.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I sorted the concrete dust problem by carpeting the garage with old carpet.

 

Pros: free, lovely to work in carpeted garage, dropped spanners don't make that annoying noise!

Cons: have to roll it up before grinding or welding, spills soak into it, have to vacuum garage now.

[Craig the Princess]

Is there any point to cruise control? I'm really not used to it (it's on the borrowed 420GSi) and I end up hovering over the brake which is more tiring than using the accelerator. Maybe on a clear dual carriageway or motorway it would be of use.

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Is there any point to cruise control? I'm really not used to it (it's on the borrowed 420GSi) and I end up hovering over the brake which is more tiring than using the accelerator. Maybe on a clear dual carriageway or motorway it would be of use.[/size]

 

I use it all the time, especially in average speed camera sections of the motorway.

The best cruise control I've ever experienced was on a carb SD1 VdP,when you pressed resume from any speed it would kick down and go flat out to get back to your preset speed,don't know if this was typical but it was hilarious .

[himoverthere]

I use it all the time, especially in average speed camera sections of the motorway.

The best cruise control I've ever experienced was on a carb SD1 VdP,when you pressed resume from any speed it would kick down and go flat out to get back to your preset speed,don't know if this was typical but it was hilarious .

 

The Picasso definitely doesn't do that. Or maybe it does, but the acceleration is so leisurely you can't tell.

 

I use it a lot too, particularly in roadworks. I imagine it's more useful in a more powerful car; le Picasso is pretty much self limiting at about 80mph anyway.

 

It's more economical not to use it, but it's not so much worse if you do use it, and it's less effort. Not sure what I do with my right foot though, will have to pay attention.

[Rusty_Rocket]

I use it all the time, especially in average speed camera sections of the motorway.

The best cruise control I've ever experienced was on a carb SD1 VdP,when you pressed resume from any speed it would kick down and go flat out to get back to your preset speed,don't know if this was typical but it was hilarious .

 

My Omega V6 used to do that  It would operate at anything over 19mph, so if you clicked 'resume' like you say and had last used the system on the motorway, the car used to absolutely fly forwards in kickdown (also automatic) until you got up to 70mph.  Most fun!

[barefoot]

My Omega V6 used to do that  It would operate at anything over 19mph, so if you clicked 'resume' like you say and had last used the system on the motorway, the car used to absolutely fly forwards in kickdown (also automatic) until you got up to 70mph.  Most fun!

Audi 200T also, there was a particular stretch of steepish hill that was restricted to 30mph, it would get slower a d slower, slipping more and more, then go for second gear only to realise it was too late.

It would hit bottom gear at full throttle and fucking howl back up to speed.

 

Like you say though, not a deal of use on a motorway unless you run quite a bit slower than everything else.

You're also deeply aware of how much everything else slows on hills.

[skattrd]

Is there any point to cruise control? I'm really not used to it (it's on the borrowed 420GSi) and I end up hovering over the brake which is more tiring than using the accelerator. Maybe on a clear dual carriageway or motorway it would be of use.

 

Cruise control is ace, as said though, it's gr9 for average speed sections of motorway, but also very relaxing on quiet motorways when you can just sit there and relax. I loved it in my S80, an autobox + cruise = lots of easy motorway miles. I used cruise control a lot. Plus theres games you can play with it, my personal record is 150 miles without touching a pedal, M6, Lancaster - Glasgow.

 

Then theres comedy cruise control, the cruise on my Galant Sapporo works via an actuator which literally floors the throttle pedal to get you to the set speed.

[hairymel]

mr skattrd

 

many years ago i painted my dads very dusty garage floor with some watered  down (with thinners) stabilising solution and then all the part tins of gloss he had in stock mixed together.

 

turned out a nice purpleish grey and apart from the fortnight it took to get hard enough it has been as durable as the proper floor paint used in his other garage.

 

i would trawl carboots or your shed for some gloss paint, thin with thinners/white spirit (for the first coat) and apply directly to the floor. apply another coat if needed and i reckon bob will be your mothers brother  *

 

 

 

*or you will have a horrid mess on your garage floor and you will curse me every time you open the garage door

 

 

[barefoot]

Powerflow and other stainless steel aftermarket exhausts?

 

Are they any good?

Are they as noisy as fuck of can you get a quiet one?

Do they fit them well?

 

Anything I should know?

How do they compare to a PD Gough item?

 

The reason I ask, a bit of a disaster on the Scirocco front, new back box fitted in May, never looked or hung right, bit of a rattle caused me to examine more closely. Its just not correct.

I'll have a different one fitted properly and take the offending box back to where it was purchased with some strong words and the sharp edge of my tongue.

[Cavcraft]

You can buy concrete sealer, probably Wickes or somewhere like that. Last place I worked rented a warehouse and everytime you went in it was like a dust cloud so they had the floor sealed and it stopped it. 

 

I like cruise control: only had it in two or three cars but it's ace on the motorway (though pretty useless elsewhere if traffic is bad) and makes for a relaxed drive. Except in an Iv*co Daily van, where the 'cruise control' was a bolt on the bottom of the accelerator pedal which dug itself into the rubber floor cover. This made for some interesting* overtaking on the A5.

[barefoot]

Cruise control - When I controlled lorries at UPS, there was a chap who'd cut a piece of wood to the correct length to wedge the pedal of his 17 tonner flat to the floor against the bottom of the dashboard!

[catsinthewelder]

I might have a shite solution for floor sealing.

 

There are 3 big 5 litre tins of floor polish / sealer for wooden floors on the shelf at work which I need to throw out responsibly,  any use?

 

I'm driving up to Durham in a couple of weeks so could drop them off somewhere.