Ask a Shiter

[CreepingJesus]

My mate [who isn't a car person] says that his diesel has been having cold start problems. He lobbed 'Easy Start' in which worked a treat (he put some in mine tonight when it wouldn't start) but swore that he was told you can also use Lynx deodorant spray and it worked on his car. Is this bollocks or could it be true?

 

Dunno, but maybe all the girl cars will start acting all horny, like?

[Cavcraft]

If you can find a bird that drops her trollies at the smell of burnt cock rash hiding spray infused with a tinge of vegetable oil then I want to meet her.

[barefoot]

...surely it's not the Lynx deodorant, but the butane propellant that starts the engine,

it's certainly what gets me high...

 

...oh, wrong forum....

[Cavcraft]

My trick is to pour lighter fluid straight into the carb, I'm under the impression that this works because lighter fluid is higher octane than petrol.

 

Now if you spray deodorant across a lighter flame you get a nice jet of fire, this would lead me to believe that its at least as combustable as petrol, if not more so, so i'd say its plausible...

 

Certainly seems to makes sense. Some of the stuff we make at work goes into petrol and other stuff does (apparantly) go into lighter fuel, amongst other things. There's no chance I'd risk it though, they're volatile bastards so I'll stick to the Lynx effect I think!

I'll find out within an hour or so if it works too, it's fairly cold outside and I have an eBay tat mission to complete today.

[michael1703]

Does anywhere/can anyone carry out an MOT on a Sunday?

 

I'm not after a Sunday MOT, just don't recall anywhere doing them

 

Wondered if its because Vosa/Siemens wont be available should the equipment play up

[scaryoldcortina]

It is possible to test on a sunday - you can use the computer any time you like. The system will notice that you are testing "out of hours" and send a report to the site AE (authorized examiner) so he can check up on what you were doing, but as far as VOSA goes, so long as it is tested to the rules they don't care.

 

Biggest problem is persuading someone to open up and test your car on their only day off

[michael1703]

Interesting.. so you can also MOT later than the usual 5.45pm time that most garages stop at also?

[whitevanman]

Yes, My one does them until 9pm on Thursdays...

[Morgan84]

You can test at whatever time you want;though they might get suspicious at the midnight hour tests !!

[Cavcraft]

Lynx works! Difficult on my own as by the time I'd lobbed loads into the stupid aftermarket airfilter and pegged it round to the interior to fire it up it died straight away as I didn't have my foot on the throttle.

Still, got a bloke at work to help before and his face was a picture when I shoved him the can and told him to get spraying as I started the car!

It's actually embarrassing starting it now, my missus was doing her nut when i got home from work as she said it woke her (and probably half the neighbourhood) up this morning.

[michael1703]

It is possible to test on a sunday - you can use the computer any time you like. The system will notice that you are testing "out of hours" and send a report to the site AE (authorized examiner) so he can check up on what you were doing, but as far as VOSA goes, so long as it is tested to the rules they don't care.

 

Biggest problem is persuading someone to open up and test your car on their only day off

 

 

I'm looking in to getting my VT01 sorted out, I'm an existing garage that has been trading on the site but nobody has ever mot'd here which might mean a change of use,Ive got a fairly big workshop but depending how much I lose to testing (my workshop is narrow but long) I might not do it yet or get a bigger workshop first.

 

Out of hours and Sunday wouldn't be a problem as I live a few hundred yards from my workshop, could open up for the odd Sundays or evenings in winter

[barefoot]

Driving on the M25

What are the 'pollution control valves' that are signed every few hundred yards?

[triumph1300]

Driving on the M25

What are the 'pollution control valves' that are signed every few hundred yards?

 

yes, this ^

[dollywobbler]

Easy. If people complain that there's too much pollution, just turn the control valves down a bit. Sorted.

[michael1703]

Rain water that runs off a surface likely to have oil/fuel etc in them needs to go through a sediment tank first, guessing it runs into a chamber where the bad stuff is filtered out before it is allowed to soak into the ground

[triumph1300]

surely it should filter stuff out anyway? I don't understand why the need for a valve for pollution control? what exactly does it control?

[michael1703]

Maybe it filters at a set rate but you need to turn them up if it floods?

[triumph1300]

I'm not sure? Seems silly, sometimes the weather changes very quickly, what if someone couldn't open the valves? I need to know now, its bugging me!

[triumph1300]

Sometimes I forget google is our friend ;

"These valves are found beside most new major road developments and many older ones. Surface water from carriageways drains into a network of gullies leading to drainage systems and onto soakaways, ditches, holding ponds or adjacent streams and rivers. It is unfortunate, but nonetheless commonplace, for various contaminants, such as diesel or petrol, to end up spilt on the road after traffic accidents. These then run away with the surface water and can cause environmental damage. To protect against this, new drainage schemes have pollution control valves that, in their most basic form, consist of vertical sluice gates that are generally left open to allow the free flow of surface water. In the event of a spillage the emergency services can lower the sluice gates to contain the contaminants within a controlled area so that they can be pumped away into tankers for safe disposal."

[michael1703]

BUT.....

 

If every vehicle happened to drop a micron of oil and there was thousands of the buggers every day, it must be pretty oily water and theres diesel and rubber marbles and blah blah

 

Doesnt seem that clean to me

[shedvan]

I just can't figure out what gifts to buy for diwali this year, any thoughts?

[KruJoe]

Another insurance question:

Can anyone recommend a classic insurance provider that would take on a 20 year old, on his own policy?

Ta.

[Angrydicky]

What's the car?

 

Adrian Flux is the only one that springs to mind as insuring under 25's on most stuff.

[willswitchengage]

^I'm in ma twenties and AF will simply sell you a standard policy for a classic, no matter how many times I specified I wanted a classic policy on the phone.

 

Garaged at night? Yep. Restricted mileage? Yep. Full time employment in scientific research? Yep. That'll be £2000 for your Renault 18 GTD...

[KruJoe]

What's the car?

Dunno yet, all depends on insurance, that's gotta be what dictates my baby bro's first motor.

He's 20, and we've been trying to persuade him he wants something like this (as seen in't eBay thread):

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1985-B-VW-VOL ... 0747422151

 

...Though this one will probably be wasted on him.

He lives and works away on a farm on the other side of North Yorkshire.

 

Do the classic insurance providers pop up automatically on the mere-cat (etc) searches, or would he have to try phoning them all individually?

[trigger]

I've been with RH classic Insurance a few years now, I can't fault them so far and have recommended to a few people who have all came back saying how their deal was better then FJ, There's no mention of age restrictions on their website, just that the excess is £300 for under 21's, might be worth emailing for a quote or a phone call?.

 

http://www.rhclassicinsurance.co.uk/cla ... rance.html

[CreepingJesus]

Do the classic insurance providers pop up automatically on the mere-cat (etc) searches, or would he have to try phoning them all individually?

 

I was surprised to find that the search engine jobs didn't seem to cover proper classic insurance policies, even tho' that's what I was asking for. In fact, because it was a J-plate R21 I was enquiring about, they didn't seem to see it as a classic at all. Better off phoning the proper classic insurers, or getting a direct online quote I reckon.

From now on, the only way I want to compare the fucking meerkats, is down the sights of a rifle, from the back of a Landy.

[KruJoe]

Thanks guys, that's all good advice.

Trig, I've never heard of RH, we'll give them a bell.

 

So, can we make a list of reputable* classic insurers?

 

Adrian Flux

Footman James

RH

Lancaster

heritage-quote.co.uk (?)

performancedirect.co.uk (?)

 

Also found this:

www.theaa.com › Insurance

Classic car insurance for standard build cars over 15 years old

The AA have given me a good price in the past, so may be worth a try.

 

Any more to add?

[catsinthewelder]

Don't forget Peter James for classic policies you can add another classic onto for pennies

[DSdriver]

Would it be possible to complain to the Advertising Standards authority about a bank or building society that advertises a savings account that offer less than the rate of inflation as you are clearly losing not saving?