76
General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?
« on: 23 August 2023, 18:59:29 »
MOT on the LC. Passed wohooo.
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77
General Car Chat / Re: Petrol Prices
« on: 23 August 2023, 11:28:56 »
My guess is that the Govt are quietly agnostic to consumer fuel prices going up on the basis that it makes electric cars seem more economic - or rather less un-economic.
78
General Discussion Area / Re: Cojones!
« on: 17 August 2023, 23:38:48 »
Perhaps that's one he caught earlier, and he's still fishing hoping for the even bigger one that got away 
79
General Discussion Area / Re: Software - Reg Edit/Cleaner
« on: 17 August 2023, 10:58:12 »One thing to be wary of is the version of windows you have. If it's an OEM version it may be machine locked and you may have trouble activating it on a new hard disk if M$ play hard ball.
My PC is self built, I bought the Windows disk/licence and this is now on the 2nd PC since I bought it, so cant see any particular issues there. But thanks for the info(Not something I would have thought of)
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-determine-if-license-oem-retail-volume-windows-10
80
General Discussion Area / Re: Software - Reg Edit/Cleaner
« on: 17 August 2023, 10:05:54 »
One of the issues is that there is a fair bit of stuff 'hidden' in the registry, and registry editors can't access it. Typically stuff where you have 30 days free trial, or perhaps 30 uses - the counters for this are hidden so that you cannot change them with any of the usual tools.
Personally I would buy a brand new hard disk (or SSD if you're so inclined). Remove the old hard disk and do a brand new clean install on the new disk. If there is room in you PC chassis you can then put the old disk in (you may have to set some jumpers) so that it becomes drive D: (or E: or F: or whatever). If you discover you're missing something then you can either get it from the old disk, or worst case put the old disk back to the default jumper settings and use it again.
One thing to be wary of is the version of windows you have. If it's an OEM version it may be machine locked and you may have trouble activating it on a new hard disk if M$ play hard ball.
Personally I would buy a brand new hard disk (or SSD if you're so inclined). Remove the old hard disk and do a brand new clean install on the new disk. If there is room in you PC chassis you can then put the old disk in (you may have to set some jumpers) so that it becomes drive D: (or E: or F: or whatever). If you discover you're missing something then you can either get it from the old disk, or worst case put the old disk back to the default jumper settings and use it again.
One thing to be wary of is the version of windows you have. If it's an OEM version it may be machine locked and you may have trouble activating it on a new hard disk if M$ play hard ball.
81
General Car Chat / Re: Zafira Tourer engine choices
« on: 16 August 2023, 14:50:11 »You make some excellent points.
The main thing I like about the current Zaf is it's simplicity and the fact that all the bits for it are so damn cheap.
There are a number of other things in the running: Grand voyager, ford Galaxy, R Class, Disco 3, or even one of those bonkers Japanese minivans but the expense of maintenance of all of those Vs the zaf is really off putting
My Sister and family had one of these for about 10 years - they used to call it Ellie. They really liked it, but it became no end of trouble getting spares once Chrysler pulled out of the UK market. From memory they had to have the brake calipers replaced several times coz they seized - and it wasn't through lack of use. Eventually the auto gearbox started playing up - it would slip when in drive until the auto fluid had properly warmed up. Then eventually it wouldn't pull away at all. Second hand gearboxes basically rare as hens teeth, and a new gearbox would need to be imported from the USA.
So they gave it the last rites and it got trailer away in P/X for some Korean thing - can't remember what.
82
General Car Chat / Re: MOT pass + 1 advisory
« on: 14 August 2023, 20:41:52 »
I'm surprised a nail in a tyre is only and advise. Would've expected a hard fail for that.
83
Omega General Help / Re: Engine Management Light On
« on: 14 August 2023, 09:49:09 »If that came off, two things would have happened - the huge influx of unmetered air would have caused your engine to run at full revs, and your braking ability reduced by at least 80%. So thank god you caught it.
No it wouldn't. The engine would stall at the first (and every) opportunity.
Agree about the brakes, they would be very wooden and ineffective, although the brake servo would hold vacuum for a while if it fell off mid drive.
I don't think you're wrong, but I do think it depends on how loose the pipe was. If it didn't totally detach, but let enough air in, the revs could rise.
But it's academic.... main thing it isn't been caught early, and everyone is ok
You just have to consider where is the extra fuel going to come from. The ECU doesn't know about the extra air, so won't inject extra fuel to burn the extra (leaking) air. This will result in a lean mixture. Fuel/Air won't burn if the mix is greater than about 20:1 - normal stoichimetric is about 14.7:1. So if the air leak makes up more than about 30% of the air going into the engine, there won't be enough fuel to sustain combustion, and the engine will stall. This is most likely to happen when the throttle is closed - so at idle, or during overrun/deceleration. To keep the engine running you are likely to have to apply some throttle whilst sitting at traffic lights.
At larger throttle openings the engine will run, but it'll run leaner than desired. The volume of air passing through the throttle bodies (and more importantly over the MAF sensor) will be (much) larger than that through the air leak, so the ECU will inject enough fuel to sustain combustion. It'll still be running leaner than ideal though coz there won't be enough fuel to burn all the air, and at high power settings this could be damaging to the pistons. Lean mixtures burn hotter.
Lambda sensors don't despond quickly enough to catch this sort of behaviour - they're basically used to adjust medium and long term fuel trims. They won't learn quickly enough to compensate for air leaks, and even if they did, they only have enough authority to change the injector duration by about +/- 15%.
So on MAF (Mass Air Flow) based systems, air leaks tend to cause lean running, and stalling at low throttle openings. On a MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor setup things are different - and the engine would/could run away, but Omega B and most Vauxhalls are MAF setups.
84
Omega General Help / Re: Engine Management Light On
« on: 13 August 2023, 17:43:02 »If that came off, two things would have happened - the huge influx of unmetered air would have caused your engine to run at full revs, and your braking ability reduced by at least 80%. So thank god you caught it.
No it wouldn't. The engine would stall at the first (and every) opportunity.
Agree about the brakes, they would be very wooden and ineffective, although the brake servo would hold vacuum for a while if it fell off mid drive.
85
General Discussion Area / Re: Bibby Stockhom.
« on: 11 August 2023, 18:02:37 »If we were still members of the EU, we would be under pressure to take a quota of migrants and the only difference is that they would be flown into Brize Norton....
Off topic, but not this weekend, and for lots of the time during June. The runway there (at the RAF's only Tanker and Transport base) melts when the air temperature exceeds (IIRC) 26 degrees, and this weekend it's NOTAM'd closed for "runway work". Don't tell the Russians though - oh no.
They tried to use Boscombe Down for the abortive Rwanda flight, but frankly it'd be much easier to just use Stansted, Birmingham or Manchester who have the equipment to handle large civilian jets.
86
Omega General Help / Re: Engine Management Light On
« on: 08 August 2023, 23:25:23 »There was a known fault with that pipe rubbing through from contact with the AC pipe if the spacer wasn't fitted, my first Omega suffered this which caused a slightly spongy brake pedal (but no problem pulling up the car in fairness) and diabolical fuel consumption.
You mean like this...
https://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=147593.msg1964758#msg1964758
87
Omega General Help / Re: Engine Management Light On
« on: 08 August 2023, 16:33:10 »
"Fuel Trim Malfunction" means the ECU is having to inject more (or less) fuel into the engine than it expects to in order to get the lambda sensor readings into range. This can be caused by either an inlet manifold air leak, or an exhaust leak.
The ECU measures the amount of air entering the engine from the MAF (Mass Air Flow Sensor) on the side of the airbox. Once it knows how much air is going into the engine, it calculates how much fuel to inject to burn all the oxygen most efficiently - the ratio is called stoichimetric and is (approximatley) 14.7g of oxygen per 1g of petrol. So the ECU calculates the fuel injector duration based on that mix.
The lambda sensors measure the results of the actual combustion. If the exhaust is too rich, it tweaks the injector duration down a bit. If the mix is too lean it tweaks it up a bit. There are limits on the amount of tweaking though, and if the ECU cannot get the exhaust to be spot on within these limits then it will throw these trouble codes.
An air leak on on the inlet manifold allows unmetered air into the inlet manifold, which the ECU hasn't 'measured' by the MAF sensor, so the ECU doesn't inject enough fuel to burn the mix, and the lambdas see a lean exhaust. If the leak is big enough then you get these fault codes.
The ECU learns and remembers the fuel trims over a long period. On most systems you can reset them back to default by disconnecting the battery for 10-15 minutes. Don't know if this works on a 3.2 though. Some systems also clear the trouble codes after a number of error free starts - typically 50 or so.
I still doubt the breathers are responsible - I ran my car for a few weeks with them disconnected although that is a 3.0. The Brake servo pipe is another issue - that's quite big and if it's loose enough could allow a lot of air unmetered in. Tighten it up. Now. It's also possible to mess up the 6 O rings between the plenium and the manifold.
The ECU measures the amount of air entering the engine from the MAF (Mass Air Flow Sensor) on the side of the airbox. Once it knows how much air is going into the engine, it calculates how much fuel to inject to burn all the oxygen most efficiently - the ratio is called stoichimetric and is (approximatley) 14.7g of oxygen per 1g of petrol. So the ECU calculates the fuel injector duration based on that mix.
The lambda sensors measure the results of the actual combustion. If the exhaust is too rich, it tweaks the injector duration down a bit. If the mix is too lean it tweaks it up a bit. There are limits on the amount of tweaking though, and if the ECU cannot get the exhaust to be spot on within these limits then it will throw these trouble codes.
An air leak on on the inlet manifold allows unmetered air into the inlet manifold, which the ECU hasn't 'measured' by the MAF sensor, so the ECU doesn't inject enough fuel to burn the mix, and the lambdas see a lean exhaust. If the leak is big enough then you get these fault codes.
The ECU learns and remembers the fuel trims over a long period. On most systems you can reset them back to default by disconnecting the battery for 10-15 minutes. Don't know if this works on a 3.2 though. Some systems also clear the trouble codes after a number of error free starts - typically 50 or so.
I still doubt the breathers are responsible - I ran my car for a few weeks with them disconnected although that is a 3.0. The Brake servo pipe is another issue - that's quite big and if it's loose enough could allow a lot of air unmetered in. Tighten it up. Now. It's also possible to mess up the 6 O rings between the plenium and the manifold.
88
Omega General Help / Re: Engine Management Light On
« on: 07 August 2023, 18:28:44 »I'd be surprised if any of the pipes on the back of that breather can cause the EML light to come on. ECU only knows what the various sensors tell it, and AFAIK nothing measures anything in the breathers.It's unmetered air into the intake which potentially causes discrepancies elsewhere, hence the light.
More likely to be an electrical connection off one of the various sensors, actuators or valves that are part of the plenium. The ECU does know if they're unplugged - it basically measures their resistance, and if that resistance is out of limits then EML on. As others say - get the codes read, or do the pedal trick.
No. The big pipes come from the crankcase, which is basically at atmospheric. I've run mine with them disconnected - no issues - although that is/was a 3.0 not a 3.2. The holes in the breather are tiny (assuming they're not actually blocked). The ECU only measures MAF, not MAP, so there is no way for it to know there is a leak except from lambda readings. Lambda sensors won't throw a fault till the engine is warm. So if the EML is on straight from engine start then it won't be from an 'unmetered air leak' IMHO.
When I replaced my engine ISTR there were 3 'faults'. I'd not plugged the EGR or the fuel tank breather solenoid in properly, and it threw the TC's from start-up. My money is on something similar since the Plenium must have been off to do the cam belt. But all should be revealed if we can get Lizze to read the codes
89
General Discussion Area / Re: Farage and Coutts.
« on: 07 August 2023, 16:09:52 »No spondoolies allowed, remember. Card only, so we can check you're not being defrauded.It's not your money, it's theirs
https://stocks.apple.com/Ag2e3UhWmSQeiYesflYVtCg
https://youtu.be/dWyTJP3bl74
No need for money.
Government can have 100% control over you.
Going abroad on holiday will get bleddy expensive if you pay for everything with your card. Imagine having to pay a foreign currency transaction charge every time you buy a beer or coffee....
That's probably part of the plan tho....
Anyone with any sense that travels abroad has a card (or two) that has no foreign transaction fees or exchange rate loadings. Stick it in the first ATM you see at the airport after landing, and take out several hundred spondoolies. Wait for the transaction to show on your interweb banking and pay it off immediatley. Interest cost is a few pence per £100 withdrawn.
One of the tracking checks they do is at airports. If you use your card at (say) Heathrow, and then again several hours later in (say) LAX, then their software realises you are probably in the USA, and it's less likely to decline your card when you get to the hotel. Doesn't always work, (I've had issues in Shanghai and Australia) but it does reduce the likelyhood of being declined.
The Nat West story appears to be "NatWest allows current account holders to take up to £750 out from a cash machine, or up to £20,000 out of a branch without notifying their ..."
£750 gets you quite a lot of spondoolies. (although AIUI Nat West don't do very good cards for using abroad).
90
Omega General Help / Re: Engine Management Light On
« on: 07 August 2023, 15:58:58 »
I'd be surprised if any of the pipes on the back of that breather can cause the EML light to come on. ECU only knows what the various sensors tell it, and AFAIK nothing measures anything in the breathers.
More likely to be an electrical connection off one of the various sensors, actuators or valves that are part of the plenium. The ECU does know if they're unplugged - it basically measures their resistance, and if that resistance is out of limits then EML on. As others say - get the codes read, or do the pedal trick.
More likely to be an electrical connection off one of the various sensors, actuators or valves that are part of the plenium. The ECU does know if they're unplugged - it basically measures their resistance, and if that resistance is out of limits then EML on. As others say - get the codes read, or do the pedal trick.