34576
General Discussion Area / Re: first 80 kilometers with my nice omega :)
« on: 27 July 2007, 22:03:07 »Quote
Latvian cambelt party anyone
Yay! After my cousin's stag do in Riga last year I'm up for it
Kevin
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Yay! After my cousin's stag do in Riga last year I'm up for it
Kevin
34577
General Discussion Area / Re: Mole grips
« on: 27 July 2007, 12:04:54 »Quote
an i was going to kwik fit to get my wheels balanced and tracked this morning Shocked Shocked i think i`ll go to hi-q instead
I would go somewhere where they can do a proper four wheel geometry check and adjust as necessary. Quite often problems on the Omega seem to be caused by camber at the front and fast fit centres use a simple toe setting tool on the front wheels (at least they did last time I saw them check tracking). Of the 12 or more angles measured by a proper 4 wheel alignment kit they are measuring 2.
Kevin
34578
General Discussion Area / Re: Mole grips
« on: 26 July 2007, 22:16:51 »Quote
To be honest, I'd keep the Mole Grips and think that I had got a bargain
.. and then take it to someone more likely to get the job right.
Quote
Ring their head office.
Absolutely. If you take it back to the branch they'll say thanks very much for bringing the mole grips back and keep quiet about it. IME their head office do take complaints seriously. They banged some heads together when I moaned about my air con recharge.
Kevin
34579
General Discussion Area / Re: Noticed this offer today....free laptop!
« on: 26 July 2007, 19:50:10 »Quote
Orange were formally Wanadoo, formerly Freeserve (then part of DSG), and do have customer service issues at present.
I'm a member of a mailing list where a lot of Orange / Freeserve / Wannadoo customers are having problems and have been for many months. Their mail is being bounced with such a frequency that the mailing list software keeps unsubbing them. That can only mean Orange are running the service on a shoestring using overloaded or misconfigured servers that aren't able to cope with the volume of mail.
Sounds to me like a package that's been cobbled together to look like a great bargain to shift some laptops.
2 Years is an awful long time to put up with dodgy service...
Kevin
34580
General Discussion Area / Re: Got a set of jump leads in the car now!
« on: 26 July 2007, 13:08:55 »
Modern batteries seem to fail with little warning. I'm not sure if it's down to the batteries or the amount of load they have to supply in a modern car. Either way, jump leads are essential, especially on an auto!
Last battery I had failed in the same way. Stopped for fuel, got back in. Click <alarm goes off>.
Got a jump start, drove to Halfords and bought a new battery!
Kevin
Last battery I had failed in the same way. Stopped for fuel, got back in. Click <alarm goes off>.
Got a jump start, drove to Halfords and bought a new battery!
Kevin
34581
General Discussion Area / Re: performance
« on: 26 July 2007, 13:14:10 »
Agree with everything said. Don't compare chip tuning gains on a TD engine with what can be achieved with a NA engine. Results from a NA engine will be marginal at best, so it's not worth bothering unless you've already got the biggest engine!
I wouldn't bother chipping a 2.0. Just change the car for a V6 instead. Oh, and a V6 would give you 80BHP more, and much better torque spread across the range of engine revs. It's a lot quicker than it appears on paper.
Kevin
I wouldn't bother chipping a 2.0. Just change the car for a V6 instead. Oh, and a V6 would give you 80BHP more, and much better torque spread across the range of engine revs. It's a lot quicker than it appears on paper.
Kevin
34582
General Discussion Area / Re: gear box oil
« on: 24 July 2007, 09:25:34 »
Many more modern manual gearboxes do require thinner oils that do resemble ATF in appearance. I'm not sure they have worked their way as generic oils onto the shelves of motor factors, etc. yet so probably best to buy that part number at a dealer and use the proper oil.
Kevin
Kevin
34583
General Discussion Area / Re: What Do We Need Dealers For?
« on: 24 July 2007, 14:52:31 »
I don't believe there was ever a time when dealers were a necessity to maintain a car. That is probably a myth that has been perpetuated largely by dealers!
Yes, being able to read codes from a car is a godsend if you're looking for a problem but it's not the case that you can't locate a problem without them using a good old-fashioned approach to troubleshooting. That's what happened when cars ran by clockwork, and when even early fuel injection systems had no diagnostics built-in. They're just another tool that can be used in the diagnosis. After all, I never came across a carburettor that would tap you on the shoulder and say the float was punctured or a jet was blocked... We still managed to troubleshoot older cars though.
Car manufacturers have gone too far down the road of teaching their workshop staff to rely on electronics rather than common sense and experience, assuming they have any. That makes a trip to the dealer a worse option than DIY for pretty much anything I can imagine doing on my car, TBH.
Kevin
Yes, being able to read codes from a car is a godsend if you're looking for a problem but it's not the case that you can't locate a problem without them using a good old-fashioned approach to troubleshooting. That's what happened when cars ran by clockwork, and when even early fuel injection systems had no diagnostics built-in. They're just another tool that can be used in the diagnosis. After all, I never came across a carburettor that would tap you on the shoulder and say the float was punctured or a jet was blocked... We still managed to troubleshoot older cars though.
Car manufacturers have gone too far down the road of teaching their workshop staff to rely on electronics rather than common sense and experience, assuming they have any. That makes a trip to the dealer a worse option than DIY for pretty much anything I can imagine doing on my car, TBH.
Kevin
34584
General Discussion Area / Re: Never seen one of these before
« on: 23 July 2007, 15:14:22 »Quote
Wow A 2litre to pull that about must be 0 to 60 in 2mins 30secs
Yeah, but even that'd flatten the guy up front carrying the flag!
Kevin
34585
General Discussion Area / Re: Project Elite LPG Disaster
« on: 23 July 2007, 10:22:51 »
Another theory..
I don't suppose the oil pump had dried out in storage and didn't re-prime properly?
Probably academic now if it's run for 10 minutes but I have found if you remove the oil filter and pressurise the crankcase a little by blocking all the breathers bar one and blowing or using an airline to gently apply pressure, you can draw oil up through the pump and out of the filter housing to ensure the pump is wet before cranking.
Oh, well, I think getting an engine that you've heard running is the answer so let's hope 3rd time lucky.
Cheers,
Kevin
I don't suppose the oil pump had dried out in storage and didn't re-prime properly?
Probably academic now if it's run for 10 minutes but I have found if you remove the oil filter and pressurise the crankcase a little by blocking all the breathers bar one and blowing or using an airline to gently apply pressure, you can draw oil up through the pump and out of the filter housing to ensure the pump is wet before cranking.
Oh, well, I think getting an engine that you've heard running is the answer so let's hope 3rd time lucky.
Cheers,
Kevin
34586
General Discussion Area / Re: Emissions light sorted !
« on: 23 July 2007, 09:55:53 »Quote
Well. from ive found out....no vac to evapourator means full gas pressure....lots of vac means less pressure
Vacuum is a good indicator of engine load, and this is why it's used to control LPG delivery (and fuel injection on many cars, although the MAF does that job on an Omega).
Imagine an engine idling (very little load). The engine's trying to suck air in at roughly its' swept volume every stroke but the throttle is limiting this to very much less. The result is that a vacuum builds up in the inlet manifold.
Gun it away from the lights at full throttle and the throttle valve is wide open, and presenting very little resistance to the path of air into the engine. The manifold vacuum collapses and you have pretty much ambient pressure in the inlet manifold.
So, the LPG system will indeed deliver more gas as the vacuum disappears.
This is also why the vacuum systems that control the multirams and other gadgets have those pesky reservoirs that keep breaking - because, under full throttle conditions, there is no vacuum from the engine, so they store a little vacuum to be used in such circumstances. If you can store a vaccum, that is :-/ :-?
Kevin
34587
General Discussion Area / Re: Big trouble
« on: 23 July 2007, 09:42:03 »Quote
The old trick used to be to remove the nail, and insert a screw with some sealent on it....
There is a kit you can buy to install a rubber plug in a tyre and effect a permanent repair at the roadside, and a mate of mine who runs an independant tyre fitters swears by them.
I'll see if I can dredge up the link....
Kevin
34588
General Discussion Area / Re: Insurance Salesman??
« on: 22 July 2007, 22:01:05 »Quote
the word rare has many meanings.
Yep. Mine's medium rare, please, with a little French mustard..
Plonker.
Kevin
34589
General Discussion Area / Re: Senator ready for Europe
« on: 21 July 2007, 23:09:35 »
I'd add a couple of rolls of bog paper to the list just in case... Unless all that IT stuff comes with documentation 
Have a good trip.
Kevin
Have a good trip.
Kevin
34590
General Discussion Area / Re: Its wet here
« on: 20 July 2007, 23:18:04 »
Saw a stricken V6 Omega in Frimley Green today. Not an OOF'er, I hope. Looked nasty. 
If I'd had some OOF flyers in my glovebox I would have handed one out, as the recovery truck guy was just looking bemused at the engine.
Kevin
If I'd had some OOF flyers in my glovebox I would have handed one out, as the recovery truck guy was just looking bemused at the engine.
Kevin