Ask a Shiter

[daveb47]

Volvo 940 auto,do i need to tighten or loosen the kickdown cable to get it to change gear at lower speed as at moment it is not changing to top gear till nearly 60 mph even on light throttle.

[Junkman]

I don't think the kickdown cable adjustment has much to do with it, it's rather a sticking cable, if that's really the culprit.

 

Check the fluid level first. I presume you know how to check the fluid in an auto?

If it is low, add some, if it's even slightly contaminated, change it.

 

Most autos have no drain plug, that's why many a pub regular has the received opinion that they are 'sealed'.

However, the common practice is to force people to remove the sump in order to change the fluid,

thereby asserting that they don't skip to clean, or change, the strainer.

[daveb47]

Managed to sort it by using the following from volvo forum.

 

With the throttle pedal at rest(tickover) measure the gap between the end of the outer threaded cable and the crimped bit should be 0.25-1.0mm and the cable should not be taught.
Then get someone to push the throttle pedal fully down and measure the gap again it should be 50.4-52.6mm.You then be able to pull the inner cable about an extra 2mm.

 

[Luckythirteen]

Possibly stupidest question ever: if a picture of something (in this case a knitting pattern) happened to have some prime Autoshite in the background, would that be a good portent? Would it be safe to assume the Gods of Shite were smiling upon it, and therefore it would be a good thing?

[Louise2cv]

Firstly I am going to (in a tongue in cheek way) try and deflect any mocking of how amazingly stupid this question is by adding the overtly sexist (it's ok because I'm female) caveat: I am a girl and this is a question about engineering...

 

I was loading up the Audi with rubble and bricks from my latest garden/allotment shenanigans and it occurred to me I had no idea when to stop... How would I know if my car was overloaded? Then I thought if we can have sensors for switching the wipers on, sensors for not wearing a seat belt, sensors for a blown bulb, sensors for distance from objects etc etc why aren't there sensors for "woah now you have got way to much heavy junk in this car!"?

 

Is it some simple principle of physics that I ought to be ashamed of myself for not realising?

[dave21478]

It comes down to money. The big-ass truck that used to deliver grain to the farm here had built in scales and a wee computer thing that gave a printout of its weight before and after it dropped a load of grain.  Its just a bunch of sensors on the suspension and some electronics but the cost of adding to road cars would be prohibitive for relatively little benefit. Plus another bit of electrickery to fail in an expensive manner.

 

As a general guide, have a look underneath - if the suspension is on or very close to the bump-stops, you are probably overloaded.

[Luckythirteen]

Or if you're a farmer - load it til the chassis snaps, then chuck a couple of spades worth off.

Seriously though, if it still drives fine, dont worry too much. You're only going to the tip, I assume?

[DeeJay]

When you're driving like Quasimodo and you need arms of rubber to change gear, the car is probably full.

[MrDuke]

Damn, I was there yesterday - could've used the Master Of Doom to cart the stuff away. You could've wept with laughter as I drove away in screaming 2nd gear, with the side door falling off at regular intervals.

[tooSavvy]

Dave.....

 

"With the throttle pedal at rest(tickover) measure the gap between the end of the outer threaded cable and the crimped bit should be 0.25-1.0mm and the cable should not be taught.Then get someone to push the throttle pedal fully down and measure the gap again it should be 50.4-52.6mm.You then be able to pull the inner cable about an extra 2mm."

 

Ref: (tickover)..... they make an assumption, here, that vlovo types would know it is with the engine OFF

 

 

TS

[Bobthebeard]

Firstly I am going to (in a tongue in cheek way) try and deflect any mocking of how amazingly stupid this question is by adding the overtly sexist (it's ok because I'm female) caveat: I am a girl and this is a question about engineering...I was loading up the Audi with rubble and bricks from my latest garden/allotment shenanigans and it occurred to me I had no idea when to stop... How would I know if my car was overloaded? Then I thought if we can have sensors for switching the wipers on, sensors for not wearing a seat belt, sensors for a blown bulb, sensors for distance from objects etc etc why aren't there sensors for "woah now you have got way to much heavy junk in this car!"?Is it some simple principle of physics that I ought to be ashamed of myself for not realising?

If when driving you can only see the sky, the steering feels light and the tailpipe scrapes the ground it is overloaded..... If none of the above you are possibly* fine!

[cort1977]

Not a stupid question at all and short of putting the car over the weighbridge not that easy to answer i think.  

 

I reckon a system of sensors would be possible but the capacity of the vehicle depends on the weight of the equipment fitted and hence each system would need to be individually calibrated to the vehicle.   You can look at the GMC or Dodge web sites and play around with how the options affect the load capacity of a big pick up truck to see this.   I would guess that it's not done because of cost and not much demand although I could see a time when the authorities might make such a system mandatory on commercial vehicles.

 

As said above, if it drives OK and you're just going to the tip at 30mph you'll be fine.  Just leave more of a gap than usual.

[Asimo]

Easy to arrange load monitoring on a hydropneumatic Citroen. It would only require an appropriately calibrated pressure gauge for each axle, connected to the hydraulic line between height corrector and suspension unit.

[320touring]

I use a sheet of a4 paper.

When it can be passed under the front wheels without jacking, tis time to stop loading.

 

Or, if you have summat with leaf springs, them bending the opposite was is a good indication that you can haz racevan

[twosmoke300]

Some jap pickups are upside down when unladen

[Louise2cv]

thank you, I was sure I was being stupid.  I suppose as this is the first time I have had occasion to wonder about it, it probably isn't going to be a cost effective gadgets. I was fairly confident that it wasn't over but it just occurred to me that as the Audi bleeps far too loudly about a number of other things this might be something useful to have flashing on the dash.

[twosmoke300]

On twin wheelers it's not a good sign when the inside faces of the tyres touch

[mat_the_cat]

How would I know if my car was overloaded?

 

This is possibly too much...

 

 

A place where I used to work had monitoring systems fitted to the vans which I drove from time to time. It was useful while loading them as the stuff we were carrying around could easily overload them without filling the space, but a pain when on the road as going over bumps when near the limit would trigger an incessant beeping!

[wuvvum]

Why are twosmoke300's posts highlighted?  Or is that just me?

[twosmoke300]

Buggered if I know , not highlighted when I look at them

[Bobthebeard]

Everyone else seems to have a 'Rank' above their avatar. I don't seem to have a rank at all!

Is that good or bad? Lol!

[Skizzer]

If you include a friend with the cargo, you don't need a sensor.  When he says stop loading, there's room for a couple more bin bags.

 

Blimey, there's a bloke in there by Skizzer, on Flickr

[wuvvum]

This is what I mean:

 

[twosmoke300]

How strange , is it cos I is special. Well my mum always said I was

[Jim Bergerac]

Something to do with the avatar not appearing, I think.

[twosmoke300]

I had noticed id lost my piccy

[KruJoe]

I also can confirm TwoSmoke is special.

And the other day CatsInTheWelder went all green on me, like he'd been promoted to 'mod'. But he hadn't.

[daveb47]

Why are twosmoke300's posts highlighted?  Or is that just me?

Resolved...

[cobblers]

wor lasses mother has a tractor int barn. Shes a horsey type but its fuck all good to her as she gets a bloke to plow't field for £25 a go. And once he's done that he turns the soil over on her smallholding etc etc.

 

Anyway Said tractor is a Massey ferguson, apparently 'it works fine", I spotted a reg number (something like FEF 890 but not that and I've since forgot it) and did a DVLA check on my phone which showed it was made in 1952 and was last taxed in 83. Obviously its MOT and tax exempt now.

 

 

1: Is it worth owt? Shes wanting to get a bit of cash and was banding round the figure of about a grand, I reckon you could rape the plate off it somehow and make the best part of that, and she'd still have t'tractor in't barn. It looked a nice old bit of kit but I'd been outside the pub all afternoon by this point.

3: How do you plate rape something that doesn't need an MOT and has no realistic chance of passing one?

7: I would feel bad helping out the rape of a plate off of it really so should I just keep out of it?

[twosmoke300]

Ferguson te20 , not worth a fortune maybe 2k ish .

non transferable plate I expect