Ask a Shiter

[meggersdog]

Just bought a clutch off ebay from Euro car parts.Click and collect from the local store.Can't collect until they send me an email.It was £54.00 but before I ordered one I phoned the local store and the bestest discount price was £71.00 plus vat.

So how does that work then.30 quid cheaper on ebay than over the counter.

[dollywobbler]

Correct. Dipsticks are only lodged in with gravity and a bit of friction, you don't often see them launched out.

 

 

Does anyone have hints/tips for me about how to give caliper bleed nipples the best chance of coming out in one piece?

Twice a day I'm popping out to lube them up (fnarr) while I psyche myself up for the job. What else can I do?

 

Not really, other than lots of oil as you're already doing. I was astonished to get one out in one piece on a BX a while back. Lots of oil, over the course of a few days. Then I battered the caliper with a hammer, around the nipple, gave the nipple itself a couple of gentle taps and then took a deep breath. Eased up the pressure on the ratchet until it started moving, then more penetrating oil and I tightened it back up. I kept doing this with more and more turning, before easing back a bit and out it came. The nasty part is you've no idea whether it's genuinely turning, or just snapping.

[mat_the_cat]

/\ Just to add to that, make sure what you're using is 6 sided to reduce the risk of rounding off. I tend to apply gradually increasing turning pressure whilst at the same time tapping with a hammer. A flare nut spanner lets you see what you are doing, at the slight expense of grip so I'll switch to that once it's cracked off, to work it backwards and forwards.

 

Doesn't always work though, but if it's soft enough to snap it should be easy to drill out!

[KruJoe]

Well, I've succeeded, ON BOTH SIDES!

GET IN!

I've done pretty much all that. I chipped and brushed off all the scaly rust, and kept it moist. I think spraying down the nipple hole helped too, letting some gear to the back of the threads. I used the most snug socket I could. I swear by six siders (flat drive type), but my 8mm was slack. I tried some imperial ones, nowt was better. A 7mm wouldn't go on, but I gently tapped on a 7mm 12-pointer, which was SNUG, and applied a bit of pressure left and right, and out they came, without twisting too. The tapping of the socket would have done it I say.

Well pleased, cheers chaps!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Daft questions x2...

 

1 - What are the big yellow 'POLICE AWARE' stickers for? If a cop finds an abandoned car they whap a sticker on it, I get that; but is it because they can't trace the owner, or there's something dodgy about it? Or they just CBA? What happens to the car after that?

 

2 - Why do Matrix signs flash dim blocks as you pass by? Is there a traffic surveying function on them, or is it some kind of screen saver? Or are they just bored, and saying 'hey'?

Re :Police Aware signs, as Volksy says to stop people continually reporting the same car,but they are supposed to check first.

Some years ago a Capri was reported to the Police as it had crashed through a hedge and was lying in a field near Ridgmont in Bedfordshire late on a Friday night.

Two coppers attend,local bobbies not Traffic, and attach bright yellow stickers to stop concerned motorists either checking the car or phoning them.

Monday morning a local recovery agent arrives to take it away, and discovers the body of a woman sitting in the drivers seat.....

Can't remember the outcome but I think a disciplinary was involved.

 

Edit to add not quite accurate it was a road sweeper who saw the body 36 hrs later,the coppers both resigned.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/police-quit-over-failure-to-spot-body-1580749.html

[twosmoke300]

Shit. The . Bed !

[mat_the_cat]

Is it possibly to force a mobile phone (Android) to use the full forum website, rather than reverting back to an OAP style large print version?

[beko1987]

Mine has a 'Full Version' link at the bottom of the page that loads it as it loads on a desktop.

[mat_the_cat]

Yeah, mine too which works for a while. But after a reading a few pages it sometimes reverts back, and almost always when 'opening' the browser again (I know it really stays running in the background).

[SambaS]

When you take a cylinder head in to be pressure tested do they only test the coolant jacket, or circuit?

 

Why not the oil circuit too?

[Richard]

Yeah, mine too which works for a while. But after a reading a few pages it sometimes reverts back, and almost always when 'opening' the browser again (I know it really stays running in the background).

 

It depends on your browser. Opera Mini normally keeps the full version for a day or two, although it can take a few attempts.

[forddeliveryboy]

Does anyone have hints/tips for me about how to give caliper bleed nipples the best chance of coming out in one piece?

Twice a day I'm popping out to lube them up (fnarr) while I psyche myself up for the job. What else can I do?

 

Heat from a decent propane torch (one with a narrow flame) or oxy-acetylene. Why risk snapping it off, drilling out's a pain.

[Luckythirteen]

Apparently, it's a 'handshake' between the transponder and the sign. Probably.

 

Hadn't thought of that. Maybe good call. Thanks for the replies though, on both questions.

[tooSavvy]

Err... the Stupidest I could muster, but sensible..ish.

 

Right, everyone across the world [read China] are producing *I.C.E. at ever exponential rates...

 

*Internal Combustion Engines...Pezz & Dizzle.

 

Given we 'the worlds drivers, ever so humble' have our spoons in the same bowl.... where is it all going to end?

 

Is there a plan to get 'the developed West' on erictrickery/fuel cells??

 

 

Anyone reckon we (on the forum today) will live long enough to see it hit the buffers 

 

 

TS

[Asimo]

Probably depends where. Cars don't make much sense in crowded urban areas but they are very sensible in low population density rural areas. I expect European cities will drive private cars out first. China will probably get fed up with private cars very quickly and ban them overnight in about 15.3 years time.

The oil thing is a bit of a red herring, even if the last drop comes out of the ground tomorrow we will always have some sort of powered vehicle available. Once things are invented and appreciated they stay.

[catsinthewelder]

When the oil wells run dry we'll still have veg oil to run diesel cars and ethanol to run something similar to petrol engines.  Our old 70's and 80's heaps will work on that with a bit of adjustment,  any Renault DCi's that have somehow survived won't.

 

The big problem with this is that we there aren't enough fields to grow fuel crops and still grow enough food for the current population.  There have been some interesting experiments growing a type of algae that produces oil.  It can be grown in water tanks in the desert and is something like 10 times as efficient as oil seed rape at producing oil in a given area.  It's also carbon neutral as you are growing a plant where there wasn't one before.

[Richard]

Legal Protection when you renew your car insurance- two questions.

 

1: What does it actually do? I can only ever get a very wooly explanation from the companies.

 

2: Do you need it?

[tooSavvy]

^^^ someone will actually 'argue' [legal terminology] that the tree you collided with was not in your drive, but the drive/garden of a neighbour you don't know but, unfortunately, mistakenly took to be yours....

 

thus allowing you to claim 'knock 4 knock', and offer a weedy sapling from B&Q as compensation.

 

however, if you were REALLY HOGGINN IT, and the tree fell on the neighbours house, you have someone to 'argue' it was all a 'terrible mistake'....

 

Probably.....

 

 

TS

[Richard]

^^^ someone will actually 'argue' [legal terminology] that the tree you collided with was not in your drive, but the drive/garden of a neighbour you don't know but, unfortunately, mistakenly took to be yours....

 

thus allowing you to claim 'knock 4 knock', and offer a weedy sapling from B&Q as compensation.

 

however, if you were REALLY HOGGINN IT, and the tree fell on the neighbours house, you have someone to 'argue' it was all a 'terrible mistake'....

 

Probably.....

 

 

TS

 

That's clearer than the explanations I've had from insurance companies.

[mercrocker]

Or......."We don't actually cover you for all the eventualities you might think we do.   Why not buy this piece of additional cover which, whilst it may actually prove of no value, you will be hesitant to turn down because now we have sown a seed of doubt in your mind?"

[simmo]

Are Stags like Elephants?

 

Many years ago this old petrol station site was a Triumph Stag centre and since then it has changed hands and uses many times until ultimately becoming a hand car wash.  It looks like the Stag remembered and has come home to die.

 

[mat_the_cat]

Legal Protection when you renew your car insurance- two questions.

 

1: What does it actually do? I can only ever get a very wooly explanation from the companies.

 

2: Do you need it?

 

In my experience when I had a motorbike accident, my 'Legal Protection' encouraged me to claim for whiplash, despite not suffering from it. I was even told that "nobody can prove otherwise"!

[Wilko220]

I've had a problem with the starter motor appearing to stick on the Humber. You turn the key, get a click from the solenoid, but nine times out of ten, nothing turns. Obviously the battery has been checked.

 

The other day I removed the starter motor. It looks fine and, when I bench-tested it using a spare battery, it worked fine.

 

Any ideas what the problem could be if it's not the starter motor? Could it be that the teeth on the flywheel are worn? That's the only thing I could think of but I don't believe it's very common (?) - and I've no idea what sort of a job that would entail to sort.

[saucedoctor]

Ignition switch? Temporarily wire it up to another switch (once the starter motor is back in the car)

[sheffcortinacentre]

presume its an inertia type starter with separate solenoid.

 

in which case its the solenoid.

 

you can check by shorting the two large terminals with a screwdriver, this should get the starter turning.

[Wilko220]

presume its an inertia type starter with separate solenoid.

 

 

 

No, it's pre-engaged with a solenoid built in. 

Looks rather like these:

 

 

It works fine out of the car.

 

Interesting suggestion on the ignition switch - but turning the key does everything else it should (dimming lights etc)...

[pompei]

What is the pointy stick thing that some official places behing the back wheel just before a car takes off on a hill climb?

[sheffcortinacentre]

its to hold the car so driver can leave had brake off

[Richard]

 

 

Or......."We don't actually cover you for all the eventualities you might think we do.   Why not buy this piece of additional cover which, whilst it may actually prove of no value, you will be hesitant to turn down because now we have sown a seed of doubt in your mind?"

 

That's the problem I have, I don't think I need it but I'm not sure so I always end up paying it- as my wife has this time.

 

In my experience when I had a motorbike accident, my 'Legal Protection' encouraged me to claim for whiplash, despite not suffering from it. I was even told that "nobody can prove otherwise"!

 

So it's for pursuing the spurious claims that drive everybody's insurance up? I used to think it was for defending yourself against spurious claims and/or covering your legal costs in a messy case, If it does that I'm happy to pay it because I know how legal costs can escalate. The explanations I've read and heard make me think "isn't that what your insurance is supposed to do anyway?"

 

Does anybody have a definitive answer? While we're at it, is it worth protecting your No Claims?

[dave21478]

I used to pay extra for no-claims protection, but then I had an accident (other drivers fault, but it went 50:50 in the end) and while the number of years NCB was not changed, they jacked the renewal right up anyway as the accident still has to be declared.

 

I then sacked off the NCB protection, and promptly had another accident (my fault - wheel came off the car while driving and hit some poor chaps van). They reduced NCB from 9 years to 7 years and jacked the renewal up by the same kind of amount as before.. 

 

 

If you have a few years NCB - like 4 or more, I think, then having a claim doesnt mean you loose it all, you just loose a couple of years of it, but even if you have protection, having a few claims within a limited time still means you will loose it anyway.

 

Conclusion - its a waste of money.

 

 

As for the legal protection - they make it sound awfully important, which to my cynical eyes suggests that its not actually needed. I always assumed it was to help me fight a tricky case, but as mentioned above, surely thats what the basic policy is for anyway?

 

Conclusion - its a waste of money too. 

 

I now run with the absolute minimum stripped down insurance I can find, and since my cars are all cheap knackers I am perfectly happy to walk away from it as a total loss and leave the insurers to sort out any third party claims should the worst happen.