Ask a Shiter

[omegod]

Made what i feel to be a silly blunder, sold a car a few weeks ago and took a px fro the buyer and in a blurry of v5's ( including several other cars) buyer left me with the full V5,  I forgot to change it into my name online, i know... Im a knob... i know!!,

 

The car is still showing taxed until end of month but is not insured. I can put it into my name online in the morning and backdate the date of sale as I want to avoid any fines for me or previous owner Any experience of this type on conundrum??       

[Kiltox]

Just send it off backdated, it'll be fine if it's only been a few weeks

[DodgyBastard]

Towing an Auto?

 

A chance has come up to buy a very cheap Vauxhall Royale. It's an auto and needs to be gone by tonight. None of my local recovery guys can shift it an such short notice and it's approximately 40 miles away.

 

Will it be ok to A-frame?

 

Edit: This is the car

 

DSC_0257 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

But I think it's too late for it...

[Jazoli]

Towing an Auto?

 

A chance has come up to buy a very cheap Vauxhall Royale. It's an auto and needs to be gone by tonight. None of my local recovery guys can shift it an such short notice and it's approximately 40 miles away.

 

Will it be ok to A-frame?

 

You should disconnect the prop shaft, its only 4 bolts I think, towing it will bugger up the gearbox if you don't.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Some cars give advice in the handbook for towing auto's. Basically if you have to do it , go as slowly as is feasible, 30 if it's safe. I've towed a lot of autos in the past and the only one that the box fucked up on soon afterwards was a 24v Scorpio? That was towed for 80 odd miles and we got bored so the speed might have crept up !

 

Fun fact: you can tow start P6 Rover's and Mk4 Zodiac autos- just have to be doing 50.

[cort1977]

Think that is too far to tow; propshaft removal as advised is a good call.  

[Bfg]

What happens if you mix 5W30 and 5W40 together? Do you get 5W35?

 

I've just decanted about a litre from an old can into another old can that had about a litre in, before realising they were different oils. Clearly last time I serviced the modern ECP recommended the long life oil, this time it's the regular service oil.

 

Do I need to bin the two litres of mixed stuff or will it be ok? I service to regular mileages anyway, never to long life schedule...20k!

 

As long as the oil type is the same  ie., mineral / synthetic / semi-synthetic then you're fine.  The oil when mixed should be considered the same as the lower spec..   Think of it like a chain .. it's only as strong as its weakest link..  Likewise oil is only as resiliant to shear,  compression,  pressure,  extremes of heat,  etc.,  as its weakest molecule chain..  And  5W30 and 5W40 are so close together regarding viscousity that its ignorable..

 

Hope my reply is not to late to be of help 

[tooSavvy]

If I buy a 2013 Chevvy AVEO 1.4ecotec... GM motor.

 

Is the 1.4 a dog?

 

Generally, the 1.2 AVEO is very close on outputs??

 

 

Just fishinn...

 

 

TS

[Pillock]

Makes perfect sense, thanks BFG!

[Kiltox]

If I buy a 2013 Chevvy AVEO 1.4ecotec... GM motor.

 

Is the 1.4 a dog?

 

Generally, the 1.2 AVEO is very close on outputs??

 

 

Just fishinn...

 

 

TS

Is that the Z14XEP also fitted to a Corsa D? Don't think it's particularly bad

[HH-R]

You don't hear much bad about the 1.4 ecotec, but I've driven a Corsa D with one in and it was pretty slow. They're not particularly refined, or quick, or economical. Chevrolet interiors are even cheaper and nastier than Vauxhalls. I'd not touch one with yours, but I don't really rate any GM shite.

[Kiltox]

Anyone know where I can buy tax disc holders in bulk cheaply?

 

eBay sellers having a laugh for something that'll be on their books forever now nobody wants/needs them

[Eddie Honda]

What do you want to buy them for? Go round the dealers and blag some from the back of the cupboards.

 

Stick some change in the charradee box on the way out.

[AMC Rebel]

Why do Xantia fog lights have a mechanical adjuster? What does it do?*

 

 

 

 

*(Adjusts the fog lights presumably, but why is the only car I've ever seen this on one which has self-levelling suspension?)

 

Same reason the headlights do - sets the "reference point" - the correct alignment that's then maintained by the suspension.  Even allowing for modern manufacturing, with all the variables involved it's doubtful they could achieve 100% accuracy with the alignment without the ability to move the unit a little.

 

I've had three cars with OEM HID lights - their alignment is controlled by electronics in the car in conjunction with level sensors on the suspension - but they still have adjusters to set up the initial alignment.

[xtriple]

Why  on this new laptop is this site soooooo sloooooooow? All the others I frequent seem about the same as they were on the other laptop, but this one is glacial now. Most annoying...

[Guest Hooli]

Fun fact: you can tow start P6 Rover's and Mk4 Zodiac autos- just have to be doing 50.

 

You can bump start a XJ40 at about 30mph, as I found out when it stalled because I dropped it into 'N' to see what'd happen. Put it back in 'D' & it fired up again.

[Bfg]

Why  on this new laptop is this site soooooo sloooooooow? All the others I frequent seem about the same as they were on the other laptop, but this one is glacial now. Most annoying...

 

I'm not a computer geek but possibly settings on your new machine are not the same as on the old..  To me this website is no faster nor slower than any other (except e-bay which is particularly slow, probably because it's trying to present so many images at once and also provide a live countdown).   I suspect this old Vaio notebook lacks a decent enough graphic card that can keep up with that.

 

However,

> I have firefox preferences set to 'clear history' every time I exit it.

 

> I also manually switch off the (bluetooth) internet connection whenever I'm not browsing.

 

>  I've systematically gone through the 'Processes Running' in Task Manager and identified (via internet searching the name of each of the more hungry processes) what are not necessary or not to run this computer.  By doing so I typically now have 44 - 48 processes running rather than what used to be 60 or more. 

 

>  This includes switching off  'Search Index' ..which I allow to run now and then but otherwise Snooze and exit,  and then remove those processes in Task Manager.

 

AND.. 

 

>  I now always start up firefox in safe-mode ...which not only doesn't start up Aps (which I don't use),  but also seems to bypass Google tracking everything I do.   NB I'm still on the old Firefox as I do not need what's offered in 'chrome'.   Starting in Safe-mode is easily done, simply by pressing and holding the shift-key down when starting Firefox through clicking its desktop icon.  A dialog box then comes up and just click OK.    It can also be done by typing ' -safe-mode' to the end of the address in firefox's desktop icon : rightclick icon/ properties / target / C:\Program Files blab blab blab firefox.exe" -safe-mode     Note the space before the first '-'    This is more convenient for everyday use. 

 

I've found that each of these have helped bring my aged Vaio back into play, whereas I was thinking about retiring it.

 

Hope this helps..  Pete

[steveo3002]

Why  on this new laptop is this site soooooo sloooooooow? All the others I frequent seem about the same as they were on the other laptop, but this one is glacial now. Most annoying...

slow on mine ...was on olde lappy and same on brand new one

 

using chrome

[Station]

I've tried the bounce test and it seems fine, I think the front suspension is set up quite firmly anyway but it's probably on the original 175k shocks and springs.

 

The gearbox seems spot on apart from the occasionally crunchy 3rd gear.

I think the bounce test is bollocks sometimes. I had two cars with dead shock absorbers and it passed the bounce test, but had no resistance on the springs over bumps. New shocks make a huge difference, you'll notice it straight away.

[Guest Hooli]

I had a Carlton with no front shocks, passed the bounce test & MOT every year as the suspension was too damn soft to bounce.

[myglaren]

slow on mine ...was on olde lappy and same on brand new one

 

using chrome

Not slow on any of mine with either Ubuntu or Linux Mint and Firefox/Chromium or Arora (although Arora is a slow browser at the best of times)

Only problem I seem to have is iPlayer not working in Firefox.

[tooSavvy]

It appears my planned 'povvo' DaaChaa 3pot turbott is sans Tacho

 

Anyone know of a 'non plugged in/spark pulse trigger' [don't fancy cutting loom!!] option??

 

Happy with 52mm pod 'velcroed' to cluster

 

 

TS

[320touring]

It appears my planned 'povvo' DaaChaa 3pot turbott is sans Tacho

 

Anyone know of a 'non plugged in/spark pulse trigger' [don't fancy cutting loom!!] option??

 

Happy with 52mm pod 'velcroed' to cluster

 

 

TS

just listen for the 2nd hard rev cut and shift;)

[tooSavvy]

^^^ hall sensor.... Crankpulley/drill hole&tap = bolthead.... Hmmm

 

TS

[Kiltox]

On something that modern you'll be able to use an OBD2 reader and an app on a phone or tablet

[tooSavvy]

I see that, yeah!!

 

OBD texts moby a short mssg 'conrod exit imminent!, please confirm receipt '

 

lolz

 

TS

[dave21478]

"Danger to manifold" surely?

[The Moog]

Too savvy

 

I have got a scangauge2 going spare. It does all of that and plugs in obd2. Have a Google of it. If you want it it is yours for £50

[The Moog]

What are the difference in car battery numbers?

 

Alfa is 069 and i have a spare 068 sitting in the shed.

[twosmoke300]

Prob terminal layout I imagine