Ask a Shiter

[cobblers]

Th

 

Do any vehicles (I'm thinking trucks or buses) have 7 digits?

 

Most new PSV stuff has a LCD/TFT screen in the dash which can show graphics etc etc, so they only show as many digits as required. We repair them at work, the highest I've seen anything come in with with is 1150000miles which I think was on a Volvo B12 truck dash. The bloke said the truck was used for a regular run between two depots (IIRC for a waste/recycling company) and basically never stopped, they ran three shifts at both depots. 

 

It would hook a trailer at one end, drive 100 miles, swap for another trailer, drive 100 miles straight back. It only stopped for servicing and on Xmas day

 

It was only about 6 or 7 years old too! The stepper motors for the speedo and revcounters had lasted all that those miles, they usually fail about 250k miles.

I reckon it must have just spent all the time on the limiter down an A road so the needles didn't move much. Bus ones knacker about 150k miles, if that.

[skattrd]

Polishing cloudy headlamp plastics - what should I use?

I seem to remember mention of the following on here: toothpaste, t-cut, brasso, auto-sol ... should I give whichever of these I can a go?

[robinmasters]

Radweld but for steering-what's it's actually called, and does it work? I'm sure I read somewhere that it makes the seals swell, so presumably it's only a short-term fix-how sort term?

[Asimo]

Headlamp polishing:

 

Brasso 2/10

Toothpaste 1/10

Silvo 9/10

Autosol 9/10

TCut 2/10

[cort16]

cheese strings 0/10

[saucedoctor]

Radweld but for steering-what's it's actually called, and does it work? I'm sure I read somewhere that it makes the seals swell, so presumably it's only a short-term fix-how sort term?

 

 

Lucas (oils) and Wynns do it. It's called power steering stop leak. Most imaginitive. Dunno how it works, chum. I'm told that the Lucas stuff is effective.

 

Comme ca:

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

So...

 

...what IS the difference between a MOTOR and an ENGINE?

an motor operates the fan or sunroof* (posh fucker) whereas a engine makes the car proceed (or ftp if applied to as)

[Noel Tidybeard]

Did anyone else but Ford have such penny pinching into the 90s?

NO

[twosmoke300]

Unlike most fixes in a bottle that Lucas pas stuff does help noisy/ leaky racks and pumps

[Lacquer Peel]

The tappets in my car are knackered, is it likely that the camshaft is done too? How do I check?

If the lobes aren't obviously flattened and then I guess it's ok.

[spike60]

What's the car and engine?

[Lacquer Peel]

What's the car and engine?

 

Volvo V70, VAG 5 cyl 2.5 TDI.

[twosmoke300]

Hyd tappets so is go a flush and oil change first

[Lacquer Peel]

I've tried that already, they're still noisy particularly when the engine is warm which means one or more is buggered according to The Internet.

It sounds almost exactly like the engine in this video

[twosmoke300]

Haven't listened to vid cos baby sleepin but are you sure it's not the vac pump ? These van rattle like fuck on t4s with this engine . The way to tell is to see if the rattle stops/ changes if you pump the brakes a few times rapidly

[Lacquer Peel]

I removed the piston from the vacuum pump to test it and the ticking/tapping was still there.

I am pretty much resigned to replacing the tappets, I have 10 ready to go in.

[twosmoke300]

Crack on then !

[Lacquer Peel]

Camshaft though. It looks okay to my untrained eyes, no obvious wear, pitting or anything.

I shall man up, stop mincing about and get it done.

[twosmoke300]

I've found the Lucas power steering stuff to work pretty well the few times I've tried it in customers cars

[willswitchengage]

Wot's the point of 'resistive HT leads'? Surely the point of leads is that they must have minimal resistance...

[Pillock]

I suppose if the ignition system was designed around the leads/plugs having a certain resistance, then putting straight copper leads on could damage the system, you're sort of "short circuiting" it.

Also, you only need a spark. If your plugs are good, then surely it doesn't matter how much current is creating the spark does it? Genuine question, I don't know. I suppose it might make a difference if you've got fouled plugs, you might need the higher current to blast through the crud.

[Asimo]

The resistive ignition leads are for reducing the amount of radio interferance produced by the ignition system. The resistance slightly reduces the rate at which the current increases when the spark happens which reduces the interferance effect. Having the leads themselves form the resistance also reduces their effectiveness as "transmitter aerials".

[phil_lihp]

Anyone done a clutch on a mk1 Hyundai i10 1.1? I've never done one before but I'm up in Swansea visiting the sister and it started slipping in 5th on the motorway and got progressively worse through the day. I've adjusted the pedal up which has helped so she can still use it for now but putting it in 5th and lifting the clutch when stationary with the handbrake on shows it doesn't stall at the biting point, the pedal is almost all the way up before it does stall so I'm guessing it's had it.

 

It's all very tiny in the engine bay, the gearbox is quite accessible so it doesn't look like a terrible job but I've never done a clutch before.

[twosmoke300]

Lovely easy job . Dig out your 10 , 12 , 14 and 17 spanners

[phil_lihp]

That's excellent news, thanks Phil! Is it more or less a case of separating the engine and box in situe?

[BorniteIdentity]

Why do all modern soft tops only have 4 seats?

 

I'm sure the answer somehow involves "Europe" - but I can't fathom it.

 

The centre 3 point belt in my car comes from inside the seat itself, not a fixed anchor point on the roof etc.  So why?

[HH-R]

Bloated on the outside, poor packaging on the inside?

[Stanky]

Steering wheels - can they be repaired?

 

The Almera wheel is beginning to crumble at the top, presumably 19 years of sunshine, sun cream, engine oil and god knows what have taken their toll. Its that sort of foam stuff with a rubberised outer. It is coming away in tiny little gritty bits but I don't think it is going to get better by iteself somehow.

 

Oh, and it has an airbag, so I'm a bit reluctant to dismantle it unless I have to.

 

Is there anything that can be done, like refurbishment or replacement? Or should I just put a cover on it and forget about it crumbling underneath?

[Stanky]

And while I'm here, do you need an orbital polisher to polish plastic headlight lenses as per the question a page or so back? Can it be done using Silvo, a cloth and elbow grease? or will it take forever and look shit? One of mine is a bit yellowy and could do with being polished up a bit a la Skattrd's Sera.

[BorniteIdentity]

And while I'm here, do you need an orbital polisher to polish plastic headlight lenses as per the question a page or so back? Can it be done using Silvo, a cloth and elbow grease? or will it take forever and look shit? One of mine is a bit yellowy and could do with being polished up a bit a la Skattrd's Sera.

 

Flouride toothpaste apparently works well as the 'product' - the only way I've ever seen it done is with an orbital, yes.