Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

61

General Car Chat / sat-nav vs dash cam conflict

« on: 21 October 2019, 20:26:36 »

I have a Smart Fortwo with a factory sat-nav like this and swapped mydash cam over from my dead Smart to my 'new' one.
I hard wired the dash cam with a hard wire kit directly to the SAM (fancy fuse box/ECU/relay) in the passenger foot well which apparently is where the GPS antennae for the sat-nav is.

The result is ..... the sat-nav now can't see the satellites.   

Help. 

Is moving the 12 volt/5 volt transformer? as far from the foot well as it will go (bearing in mind a Smart isn't very big) or can I use a capacitor somewhere like we had to do years ago to stop wipers & alternators etc whining & clicking over the radio?

62

General Car Chat / There are some clever buggers out there ....

« on: 01 October 2019, 11:01:27 »

Read this the other day. The clever bugger! 

https://x8r.co.uk/  NO Omega bits though 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/meet-engineer-who-fixes-what-car-makers-can%E2%80%99t

63

General Discussion Area / Any swimmers?

« on: 16 September 2019, 22:33:48 »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/49719210 

I'm not sure I could manage 4 lengths of the local swimming pool these days   

64

General Discussion Area / north south divide

« on: 16 September 2019, 15:43:15 »

I went to Burnley today .... someone has to every now & then 
There was a house for sale further up the road from where I was going so, to be nosey I looked to see how much it was for sale at. The estate agent obviously had other houses for sale and there right at the bottom of the list were 3 houses for a price not even I thought you could buy a house for .... 

65

General Car Chat / car insurance

« on: 16 September 2019, 15:33:49 »

Why can't insurers just give their lowest/best/most competitive quote without you having to phone them?
Merc's insurance is due next month and, bearing in mind they wanted another £100 & something when I swapped from the R Class to the ML last March/April, their renewal quote was £760 ..... so I phoned them. 'Have you got any other insurance with us?' he asked, to which my reply was 'I have my house insurance with you ... you must already know that'
Quote went down to £681 ...... so why they couldn't have  quoted me that in the first place without me phoning them?

66

General Car Chat / Car battery .. how much?

« on: 06 September 2019, 18:33:06 »

https://www.petrolprices.com/news/the-1248-car-battery-scam/

makes interesting reading! 

67

General Car Chat / Driving in sea/salt water

« on: 30 August 2019, 13:27:34 »

Yesterday I watched Sally (her Reg plate was a variation of) driving into the sea axle deep in her new-ish Range Rover to retrieve jet skis on a trailer. I hope she swilled her car off afterwards ..... I doubt she did though.
I can't see that sea water does a car much good long term  ..... though that'll likely be a problem for the next owner. 

68

General Car Chat / Blasted Citroen ... arrgh

« on: 19 August 2019, 19:41:06 »

SWMBO said 'my interior fan isn't working' as we were both sat at traffic lights on the way to work on Friday morning (separate cars  ) then later in the days got messages to say there was water sloshing about 'at the front' 
A quick look on Friday night revealed a bucket full of water in the scuttle and both pollen filters sodden. Got rid of most of the water for work sat. Today, after she'd been to work said the wipers are stopping mid cycle .....  So, after removing the scuttle cover & wiper motor I found another grommet right under the wiper motor .... what a STUPID place to fit a drain, exactly where you can't see it.
Just trying to dry the wiper motor out a bit ..... I know it's wet as it dripped water after removal.
French cars .......... ARGGHHHH 

And the MOT is due 

69

General Car Chat / brake flare tools

« on: 30 April 2019, 16:02:08 »

What's the difference between  this 4.75]https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAKE-PIPE-FLARING-TOOL-4-75mm-DIN-BUBBLE-ON-CAR-FLARE-BY-TRIDENT-T413705/183109692784?epid=22017019790&hash=item2aa2302d70:g:gbAAAOSw~gRV3Cdn&frcectupt=true]this 4.75 and this 3/16]https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HAND-HELD-BRAKE-PIPE-FLARING-TOOL-3-16-SAE-ON-CAR-FLARE-SINGLE-DOUBLE-FLARE/263509200093?hash=item3d5a5f4cdd:g:vdIAAOSwgtxcSICv&frcectupt=true]this 3/16

I ask as 3/16" IS 4.74mm 

70

General Car Chat / keyless steering lock

« on: 19 April 2019, 08:41:55 »

My daughter came back from holiday to a flat battery on her 61 plate Yaris. Her car was parked up their drive so couldn't get a car alongside to jump it so we rolled it backwards to get it close enough to my car. However the steering lock came on, fortunately, the steering was straight enough to get the car to where we wanted it but it did make me think what would we have done if the steering was locked and we couldn't have simply pushed the car in a straight-ish line.
Would the only answer have been to take AN Other battery to the car?

71

General Discussion Area / HGV tyre valves

« on: 11 April 2019, 23:45:08 »

I was pulled up alongside a huge Viridor wagon yesterday & noticed there were high pressure hoses from the tyre valves to the hub .... presumably to monitor/change tyre pressures to compensate for a change in weight. 

I've just never seen them before on a road vehicle ... only on stupidly expensive stuff on Top Gear 

72

General Discussion Area / Thieving bar'stewards

« on: 02 April 2019, 17:10:46 »

One of my daughter's Uni mates got a taxi home last week end. Next morning she realised she no longer had her (Audi TT) car key and was pretty sure she'd left it in the taxi so phoned them to tell them. Naively she answered all  their questions of what make & model etc her car was ..... within the hour it'd gone from outside her house!!!! 

She's since been re-united with her car

73

General Discussion Area / Heinz

« on: 26 March 2019, 19:56:46 »

https://www.channel5.com/show/secrets-of-the-factories

I've set up to record it  ...... it might look better on the telly   

74

General Discussion Area / Harry's Heros

« on: 18 March 2019, 22:29:34 »

Who's watching Harry's Heros : The Full English?

I'm not really into football in general but this is brilliant.   

How big is Razor Ruddock? 

75

General Car Chat / new (to me) car time soon

« on: 15 February 2019, 20:54:12 »

Time to replace my R320 soon. Replacement needs to be big enough to tow a 1850kg max caravan, I want a 'proper' torque converter auto. Big heavy stuff is becoming a dinosaur these days so the choice is getting limited. I'd like a Jaguar like Lord Opti but my wallet doesn't stretch that far. 

I test drove a 16 plate Jeep Grand Cherokee today. Didn't seem too bad but the touch screen that seems to do everything kinda puts me off .... why can't there be a switch for the ? instead of scrolling through various menus & sub menus? The FIAT bit puts me off too 

I've a test drive booked next week in a 14 plate ML350 that surprisingly has quite a few bells & whistles.

Head or tails?