Ask a Shiter

[Richard]

If it's the same 5 pot 2.5 that's in my Volvo I'm told it is ok for veg, that was the engine from the late Audi 100 and early A6 but I'm not sure if they were still using it in '98.

[drum]

Electrickery question.

I've been having problems with the indicators on my '68 series 2A.

When I bypass the flasher unit, all the indicators work as they should.

The tell tale light on the texmag indicator stalk works fine when supplied with 12volts.

 

I bought a new three pin flasher unit but the best I can get is right turn flashing as normal, left turn on solid and flasher unit buzzes. Tell tale light won't come on at all. I can wire up the flasher unit to make the tell tale light flash but not at the same time as the indicators.

 

Auto electrics do my nut.

[Micrashed]

Are batteries worth anything? 

I have two, they are both good but I havent been able to sell them so though about weighing them in 

One is a 110ah leisure battery the other is a spare Maverick battery so they both weigh a metric shitload.

[twosmoke300]

About a fiver each for big uns

[Micrashed]

D'ye ken, that was all I wanted to flog them for too.

Daft.

[richardmorris]

I want to put a manual isolation switch to the electric aerial in the merc. as I'm fed up of it going up needlessly when I'm listening to the ipod. Any reason a simple on/off rocker in the boot connected to the control wire from the radio won't work?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

What is this thing? Is it an electric aerial controller switch?

 

[steve_earwig]

('ere, wot does this "multiquote" thing do then?)

Electrickery question.
I've been having problems with the indicators on my '68 series 2A.
When I bypass the flasher unit, all the indicators work as they should.
The tell tale light on the texmag indicator stalk works fine when supplied with 12volts.

I bought a new three pin flasher unit but the best I can get is right turn flashing as normal, left turn on solid and flasher unit buzzes. Tell tale light won't come on at all. I can wire up the flasher unit to make the tell tale light flash but not at the same time as the indicators.

Auto electrics do my nut.

Oooh, 1968? There's some seriously complicated stuff going on there then... 3 pin you say? Shouldn't that be 2 pin? I'm not sure what your bus came with but I'd be pretty certain it'll just have been a bi-metallic jobbie wired in between the supply (fuse) and the stalk, so that the switch applies the load to one side or the other while the tell tale is wired across the indicators so that when one side is working the other side is just providing the earth. If you're fitting an electronic one (which I think is implied by the 3 pins) then you have to put it in the same place but provide an earth so the electronics work. Unless I'm completely misunderstanding things anyway. What sort of flasher until do you have there? Any markings on the terminals'

 

Multiplexing does my head in...

 

I want to put a manual isolation switch to the electric aerial in the merc. as I'm fed up of it going up needlessly when I'm listening to the ipod. Any reason a simple on/off rocker in the boot connected to the control wire from the radio won't work?

I've not played with an electric areial since about 30 years ago so I can't remember if they need to switch between live  (up) and earth (down) or just the live and nothing because the aerial sorts it out.. You could probably disconnect the feed from the radio and see what's coming from it, if it's just the live then you just need a switch to interrupt it, if it's live and earth then you need a changeover switch and a relevant earth. Or you could just put a switch on it, remembering if the aerial is already up it might stay there.

 

What is this thing? Is it an electric aerial controller switch?

That actually looks like a relay, possibly to take a feed where it's just live and nothing coming from the radio  (hey, this seems kind of familiar) for an aerial that needs a feed on one wire for up and another for down.

 

Meh, I think I prefer to do it one post at a time

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

That actually looks like a relay, possibly to take a feed where it's just live and nothing coming from the radio  (hey, this seems kind of familiar) for an aerial that needs a feed on one wire for up and another for down.

 

I think you're right, the electric aerial looks like it's significantly newer than the radio that will have been in the car. 

[steve_earwig]

It's probably come with the aerial and been wired in with Lego blocks...

 

Hey, I've got a stupid question. Well, maybe not too stupid... What's the current draw on a pre-engage starter solenoid? I'm talking without the main power feed from the battery so it's not turning the engine, just engaging the starter pinion.

[mat_the_cat]

Difficult to measure, as the initial current draw will be large and then fall away. But work on around 10 amps as a ball park figure.

[steve_earwig]

Hmm, my meter goes up to 10 but as the digital display passed 20 amps I disconnected it in rather a hurry. I wondered why the fuse blew but as I only just added a fuse I thought I'd miscalculated. This is on a mate's Moto Guzzi, the starter was meant to have been rebuilt but I'm beginning to think it was rebuilt by a chimpanzee. More investigation required I reckon. Ta muchly

[The Moog]

Will any peugeot check strap fit the 405? Today the door was almost blown off hinges. Looking on ebay i cant work out if they vary or not

[steve_earwig]

The door? It only has the one? (/sarcasm mode)

 

Looks like it's the same "arrester" on all 4 doors, found on:

3 document(s) found for 405
1 document(s) found for 205
1 document(s) found for 205 FROM MOD 1991
1 document(s) found for 405 SAUF RESTYL
1 document(s) found for 309

Hmm, no Citroens.

 

One from a dealer is 15 quid-odd, that's actually quite reasonable, for them anyway...

[The Moog]

The only one i was using at the time

 

Excellent will wander along and see if i can order one.

[Honey Badger]

Water/Engine interface question.

 

 

The IAC valve in the Purple Honda leaked coolant water into the throttle body and I suppose inlet manifold, now it's been run long enough to move off the drive and onto the road, no more than 5 min  and it's been parked on a slope with the car sloping away from the engine towards the airbox (the resonator was full of coolant).

 

I'm probably just being paranoid but i shouldn't have any problems starting the car should i? I've seen the result of Hydrolock on an old A-series and it wasn't pleasant (well it WAS funny, who drives through a swollen ford at speed in a mini).

 

I'd say 90% of the coolant is still in the system and a good chunk of what leaked is in the resonator.

[Cavcraft]

Cruise control: how come if I'm doing say 60mph and I come to a hill the revs don't go up? I'm still in top gear and can feel the car surging to maintain fixed speed, yet the rev counter doesn't move. Also, with that in mind, if I got up to say 80mph then took my foot off the accelerator pedal until the car slowed to 60mph and was effectively just ticking over, would the drop in revs mean even better MPG, until the car had to increase speed on a hill or something?

[steve_earwig]

Too many variables! What is this on? Automatic or Emmanuel? Ancient or modern?

 

If it's a manual then the engine is directly connected to the road wheels, so same speed = same revs. If it's an auto, some later 'boxes have a lock up feature on the top gear, so there is no converter slip, so again same speed = same revs.

 

Do you mean dipping the clutch so it's ticking over? You'd be better off leaving it in gear, if it's fuel injection they cut the fuel off if the engine revs are over something like 2k and the throttle is released. Still, you'd loose because of all the fuel you wasted pushing it to 80 (this is on your driveway, yes?) and accelerating again once it got to 60 or you reached the hill and had to accelerate going up it.

 

Water/Engine interface question.

 

 

The IAC valve in the Purple Honda leaked coolant water into the throttle body and I suppose inlet manifold, now it's been run long enough to move off the drive and onto the road, no more than 5 min  and it's been parked on a slope with the car sloping away from the engine towards the airbox (the resonator was full of coolant).

 

I'm probably just being paranoid but i shouldn't have any problems starting the car should i? I've seen the result of Hydrolock on an old A-series and it wasn't pleasant (well it WAS funny, who drives through a swollen ford at speed in a mini).

 

I'd say 90% of the coolant is still in the system and a good chunk of what leaked is in the resonator.

It's hard to say without knowing the layout of the engine but, as you know, hydrolock wouldn't be funny, so if there's any doubt have the plugs out (you said throttle body, so I'm guessing pezzer) and crank it over by hand to make sure. Also, I wouldn't feel happy about leaving any coolant in the cylinders, I know it has rust inhibiters but...

[twosmoke300]

Honey badger , If you are worried just pull the plugs and spin it over with them out first

[twosmoke300]

^^^ didnt see steves post . whs

[drum]

Cruise control: how come if I'm doing say 60mph and I come to a hill the revs don't go up? I'm still in top gear and can feel the car surging to maintain fixed speed, yet the rev counter doesn't move. Also, with that in mind, if I got up to say 80mph then took my foot off the accelerator pedal until the car slowed to 60mph and was effectively just ticking over, would the drop in revs mean even better MPG, until the car had to increase speed on a hill or something?

It will only increase revs if it drops a gear like Steve-earwig says. The cruise control will vary the amount of fuel to maintain speed in any given gear.

 

In the alfa, I like to set the trip computer to instant mpg while the cruise control keeps me at a steady speed. You can see how hard the engine is working.

[inconsistant]

Why are MGBs called Sherpa Coupes please?

[twosmoke300]

Sherpa engine and nearly all switch gear.

 

The main reason , however , is to wind up the stuck up knobs in the mgoc

[inconsistant]

Thanks, I was hoping it would be both of those.

[phil_lihp]

Here's one for the mechanics - I've ordered a new set of brake pads and discs for my sister's 2008 Hyundai i10 1.1 and since I got a good discount and brakes are important (especially on a family member's car which does a lot of miles) I went for the most expensive Pagid bits.

 

They've turned up and I was a bit surprised to find the brake discs are vented - pretty sure that's not standard fitment.  The car's currently 130 miles away but last time I saw it I'm fairly sure it had solid discs (albeit wafer thin with a significant edge on them).  I can't think that any i10 has ever needed vented discs but they were listed as right for this car and I've since seen a number of sellers list them for the same car.

 

As they're obviously quite a bit thicker than standard discs, is there any likelyhood of getting them to fit (i.e. are there spacers in the stock calipers which can be removed) or do I need to send these back and get a pair of standard ones?

[twosmoke300]

Cant usually fit vented where they were solid. You sure they are solid ?

[phil_lihp]

Well I was sure they were solid but now I'm not - I'd assumed solid was standard on the front but now I can't see anything but vented front discs available on various parts sites and solid on the rear.  I didn't take the wheels off, I just felt behind the wheel (steel, not alloy so quite well hidden).  Meh, I'll take the chance, there's a new ECP branch nearby, I'm sure they'll sell me a set of discs for a Fiat Uno if these are wrong.

[Honey Badger]

Thanks twosmoke and Steve

 

looks like I need become double jointed for the back bank!

[Cavcraft]

Cheers for the cruise control answers.

[wuvvum]

Anyone good at identifying engine noises?

 

My Cagiva is doing this:

 

http://vid118.photobucket.com/albums/o83/wuvvum/SAM_0664_zps9773767b.mp4

 

Any ideas?  I know these engines have a reputation for being rattly, but not to this extent.  It was barely noticeable when I bought the bike, but has got steadily worse since, and is now at the point where I'm reluctant to ride the thing any distance.

 

The noise doesn't go away when the clutch is pulled in, if that's any help...