Ask a Shiter

[dave21478]

Cheap white vinegar poured onto a clean rag and used to clean the wiper blade by drawing it back and forth through the rag. Do it a few times. Then clean the screen too.

 

Alternatively, buy new wipers. I get the cheapo ones for a couple of quid and change them every year - works out cheaper than buying a fancy Bosch set which will last maybe 3 years tops and its rare for me to keep a car that long anyway.

Be sure to keep the good clips from your old blades (assuming they are decent) and the clips on the cheap ones can be poor.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRNLo9iJbQg

[Richard]

Three years out of Bosch wipers? I think I'm doing well if I get three sweeps.

[Asimo]

Rain-X is great, but it won't fix juddery wipers, it just removes the need to use them at speed.  

 

Change blades at least once a year at least. They just wear out.

[DS20]

I'm not saying that it rains a lot in Scotland or anything, but when I lived there, wiper blades needed to be replaced every six months.  Here in drier Lincolnshire, it's about every year.  The Saab eats them (I think it might be the heavily curved screen), so receives new blades a bit more often than that.  

[M'coli]

Aye, cleaning the wipers themselves is a good move.  The outer layers of rubber get attacked by sunlight and oxygen, and contribute to the film on the windscreen.  Clean the screen with whatever you fancy, then rub the blade of the wiper over with a clean damp soapy rag, tissue, kitchen towel or whatever until it stops leaving black shit on the rag.  It gives a few more months wear out of tired wipers, but new are best because the edges of the blade are still sharp.

[barefoot]

Trains - communication cord.

Does this really apply the brakes with comedy abruptness and force as seen on telly

Or does it light up a bulb marked stop in the cab and the train is brought to a controlled stop by the driver.

[rml2345]

Trains - communication cord.

Does this really apply the brakes with comedy abruptness and force as seen on telly

Or does it light up a bulb marked stop in the cab and the train is brought to a controlled stop by the driver.

Not sure about here but they do in France. There was an accident in Paris in 1988 when a woman pulled the emergency chord as she had missed her stop. The train crew botched the emergency brake reset and managed to shut off the brakes on seven of the eight carriages so when the driver tried to slow for Gare de Lyon he basically had no brakes and ran into another train waiting in the station.

[Craig the Princess]

Depends on the train. On older trains such as HSTs it puts the brakes on and can only be reset once the train stops. Newer (mid '90s on) have an override button in the cab which needs to be pressed to stop them coming in automatically. If the train has a guard the alarm can be reset without stopping the train.

[wuvvum]

Did Poundland ever actually sell wheel trims?

[Station]

No, never seen them.

[saucedoctor]

Poundstretcher did, though. And GR64 car mats for 3 quid.

 

 

Home Bargains (if you have one) have El Cheapo cars mats for £3.99 which are actually pretty hardy. Also, reasonably priced bulbs, fuses, wipers, things for plugging into fag lighter sockets and a few giffer trinkets.

 

[DS20]

I'm ashamed to admit this one publicly...but, on all of the cars I've owned, I have yet to change either brake discs or pads myself    The time is coming, though, for new discs and pads on two of the vehicles, and I'm contemplating tackling the job myself.  The question: is changing pads and discs on a Volkswagen and a Range Rover realistically achievable for someone with little experience of spannering, and only modest mechanical sympathy (I promise not to twat the calipers with a big hammer to get them out of the way)?  Or would it be better for everyone concerned if I saved up and paid someone else to do it (I promise K**kF*t will not be used)?  

[TimothyClaypole]

Did them last week on my Astra.

 

Got the wheel bearing//hub to change as well as I've paid enough for some brake pipes doing.

 

It's easy to get out of the habit of doing things and just letting the garage do stuff, it's just annoying when you could do stuff but are lacking that one tool you need or it's pissing it down etc.

[Lacquer Peel]

Speed limiters.

 

We have a mix of vehicles at work, Hiluxes fitted with speed limiters, Defenders, Transits, Sprinters and Rangers without.

 

The Hiluxes seem dangerously slow, that's coming from someone with a Nissan Vanette 2.3 diesel, can a badly set up speed limiter inhibit performance that much?

[Jazoli]

Speed limiters.

 

We have a mix of vehicles at work, Hiluxes fitted with speed limiters, Defenders, Transits, Sprinters and Rangers without.

 

The Hiluxes seem dangerously slow, that's coming from someone with a Nissan Vanette 2.3 diesel, can a badly set up speed limiter inhibit performance that much?

Speed limiters are built into the ecu on most commercials these days, it should have no affect on the overall performance, my van drives and accelerates normally, then stops dead at 68mph, regardless of whether I'm in 4th 5th or 6th

[mat_the_cat]

The question: is changing pads and discs on a Volkswagen and a Range Rover realistically achievable for someone with little experience of spannering, and only modest mechanical sympathy

 

You'll need a 52 mm socket for the RR (assuming it's a 'proper' one) as you have to remove the hubs to change the discs. Which VW? I've only worked on 90s Polos and Golfs which were straightforward enough, the only tool you may not have is a 7 mm allen key. The way I look at it, nobody's born with the knowledge to do this so we're all just gaining experience on the way. Some start earlier, but there's no reason not to try (so long as you don't start both jobs on a Sunday afternoon without any other working vehicles...)

[drum]

I've changed the discs on most cars I've owned and I'm no mechanic so I say give it a go.

 

Dunno if Vag are all the same but changing the discs on an A4 is easy enough with no special tool needed.

Something needed a 7mm allen key though, think it was the alfa, and most sets miss that size out.

Another car had a torx headed bolt (astra maybe) which was a pain as I snapped a torx key and had to buy a socket.

A caliper wind back tool is handy.

 

You might cock it up like I did once. As a callow youth, I messed up changing the pads on a mk1 polo. Can't remember the set up exactly but I couldn't get the pins out of the caliper and only had a very limited tool box at the time. Had to admit defeat, cobble it back together and drive to the nearest garage where I got a well deserved piss taking.

[saucedoctor]

Is Suzi Perry the world's only surviving brain donor?

[brickwall]

RR discs are a doddle, you do need a hub box -spanner (£4) as the hub has to come off. Pads are even easier, just make sure you press the pistons in a wee bit.

[Sigmund Fraud]

The question: is changing pads and discs on a Volkswagen and a Range Rover realistically achievable for someone with little experience of spannering, and only modest mechanical sympathy (I promise not to twat the calipers with a big hammer to get them out of the way)?  Or would it be better for everyone concerned if I saved up and paid someone else to do it (I promise K**kF*t will not be used)?  

 

Like most jobs, it depends on who has been there before. A few months back, I offered to do the discs and pads on Mrs.F's daily (VW with ATE calipers), thinking they would be a piece of cake on a relatively modern car. Little did I know that the twat who had done them last time had rounded the allen bolts and fitted the slider pins completely dry. So I had to wait for a week to get replacement sliders and boots, then had to spend most of a Sunday to finish the job.

 

I reckon it's best if you can have a friendly, DIY-savvy shitter around to provide guidance. They will also be able to hold you back when things go wrong and you're about to smash the car to bits with a sledgehammer.

[DS20]

Ta, all  I'll muster the necessary tools and give it a go.  One car at a time, otherwise I'll end up making both of them undriveable at once, which would be fun*.  The RR brakes - yes, it's a proper one - should be ok to work on, 'cos the garage that's looked after it for ages generally do the work properly, but I wouldn't like to vouch for what's happened to the Volkswagen (which is a 2003 Golf).  That might well be a feast of rounded bolts and bodgery.  I don't have terribly much pride, and would be willing (if not exactly happy) to take the job to a garage if it all went a bit wrong.  

 

RR first, I think, 'cos that's just like a big meccano set  

[dave21478]

Is Suzi Perry the world's only surviving brain donor?

 

I would happily lick every inch of her until my tongue wore away.

[HH-R]

If a car is visibly blowing white smoke out of the coolant expansion tank (with the lid off) even when cold and spurting coolant everywhere when it's on, is the headgasket f00ked?

[Lacquer Peel]

modrrn speed limiters  , unlike the  'speed limiter'  on the ESV spec  Injected cologne V6 Transit , generally take a speed signal so shouldn't interfere with  perofrmance if the roadspeed  is less than the limiter 

 

most  complaintsaobut poor performance  from modern light commercials or diesel cars  are down to the loose nut o nthe end of the steering wheel.

 

 

I drove a non-speed limited Ford Ranger after the dour, slow, ponderous Hilux and it seemed fine. The Hilux is supposed to be more powerful.

[Micrashed]

DSC04540 by Micrashed, on Flickr

 

Is this a Mk 1 Fiesta Dashboard? Pretty sure it is, though my wifes never had the faux wood or the extra gauges. It was 1992 when I last sat behind one so you will forgive me for asking.

[philibusmo]

It is a Mk1 Fiesta dash.

 

The faux wood and the glove box with an actual door shows it's a GL or Ghia spec.

[Micrashed]

Thank you Phil. Now tell me what the kit car is, I think its a Scamp, but stand to be corrected.

[philibusmo]

I have no idea, but I don't think it's a scamp.

 

[Jim Bergerac]

Thank you Phil. Now tell me what the kit car is, I think its a Scamp, but stand to be corrected.

 

I think that it's a Spartan Treka.

[Micrashed]

OK, well Ive asked the college via the medium of Tw@ter but doubt I'll get a reply before Monday, even then that assumes 

a) someone actually knows what it is OR

it says Spartan / Scamp etc on the log book and not Fiesta GL