http://passionate-about-cars.com How to survive the world of modern motoring Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:40:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 © andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk () andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk() 1440 Just another WordPress weblog andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk No no http://passionate-about-cars.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://passionate-about-cars.com 144 144 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2011/07/22-put-a-bucket-of-grit-in-your-car/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2011/07/22-put-a-bucket-of-grit-in-your-car/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:40:15 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=188 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2011/07/22-put-a-bucket-of-grit-in-your-car/feed/ 0 15:25 It's a car cast today as I ride with Steve back from the Brighton and Hove Breakfast Club - we discuss: Coil springs verses leaf springs The ... It's a car cast today as I ride with Steve back from the Brighton and Hove Breakfast Club - we discuss: Coil springs verses leaf springs The poor conditions of roads in the UK Not having to go back to the main dealer for repairs to your vehicle Wearing of valve seats and how this happens What causes pinking, what does it sound like and how to fix it Photo: maxmborge faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2011/06/22-its-quite-hot-in-here/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2011/06/22-its-quite-hot-in-here/#comments Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:37:48 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=178 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2011/06/22-its-quite-hot-in-here/feed/ 0 21:58 As Steve gets back into the throws of work after a bank holiday packed few weeks - we discuss: Growing hops in Steve's workshop Steve and Andy's ... As Steve gets back into the throws of work after a bank holiday packed few weeks - we discuss: Growing hops in Steve's workshop Steve and Andy's new Bank Holiday regime Peaceful protests and Steve's annoyance at the council's welcoming attitude Volkswagen Campers Triumph Stag steering bushes Rovers and head gaskets A VW Beetle with a broken window mechanism A long journey for Andy's Volvo with a slipping clutch Clutch bandages Observing traffic wardens and their need for tea and coffee Steve gets his roof fixed - but the insurance company DID NOT PAY Photo: johnrobertshepherd faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/12/19-high-winds-and-insurance-companies/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/12/19-high-winds-and-insurance-companies/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:54:20 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=171 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/12/19-high-winds-and-insurance-companies/feed/ 0 18:26 In today's show Steve communicates the sad news that insurance companies prefer to use innaccurate methods to determine the severity of a weather event resulting ... In today's show Steve communicates the sad news that insurance companies prefer to use innaccurate methods to determine the severity of a weather event resulting in a claim. Andy: Hello everyone Irsquo;m with Steve Kennard on a very crisp November morning. Morning Steve. Steve: Yeh. Morning, Andrew. Andy: When I first arrived Steve was on the phone - he was having a very long phone call. Do you want to tell us what it was all about? Steve: Um. Yeh. Insurance companies. Almost an hour, talking to an insurance company regarding the storm force winds we had at the beginning of November. We had a little bit of damage done to the garage roofhellip; Andy: Irsquo;m just looking now therersquo;s some broken panes and stuff arenrsquo;t there. Steve: Yeh. The garage roof has got some large glass panes in it - therersquo;s quite a number of them. It is a large roof. In previous lives this was a bus garage. Andy: Ah. OK. Steve: It dates back probably to the early part of the last century - it was Tillings bus garage actually where they had the first electric busses in Brighton - and this was one of the depots. The busses used to pull in here - change over the batteries - these huge sort of 1 or 3 tons - these huge battery packs - change them over on the busses and then theyrsquo;d be back out on the street again. So these were the very early electric vehicles that used to run around Brighton back at the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. Andy: And thatrsquo;s a topic for another show - electric vehicles - we must talk about that - but lets back to your roof. Steve: Yeh - OK. Anyway this roof structure. There are dozens - close to hundreds of glass panels in the roof - large roof structure. Itrsquo;s a very tall building, an open building, and Montague Place here is very windy. Andy: Because of the flats. Steve: The block of flats opposite are 16 - 18 floors or something. So we get this vortex - I think wersquo;ve mentioned it before in previous shows - this vortex effect runs up the center of the street. Back in the early part of November - everybody will remember - we had strong winds for about a week. One particular day the wind speeds were extremely strong - I donrsquo;t know what they were because wersquo;ve got no way of recording them. They were strong enough to knock me off my feet, I got out of a car and the wind actually knocked me over - quite strong. Insurance companies say, nowadays, in order for it to be classed as a storm force or a storm event, it has to be a memorable event - and as a pointed out to them anyone who sustained damage - thatrsquo;s memorable. Yoursquo;ll remember if yoursquo;ve had damage caused by the weather - thatrsquo;s a memorable event. Andy: And you got blown off your feet which was memorable as well. Steve: I got blown off my feet, I did. But we also sustained damage in the garage here, we had a couple of the roof panels got lifted up, because theyrsquo;re glass it actually broke. A section of one of the panels fell out. Fortunately itrsquo;s in a corner of the building, nobody underneath it - had there been anyone underneath it, I hate to think what would have happened. Andy: Did it happen during the day or night, Steve? Steve: During the day. We were in here working at the time. We had to have the - again itrsquo;s a large entrance to the garage - every time we were opening the doors it was allowing the wind to come in, the garage was rattling - real strong, storm force winds. I would say they were almost hurricane force - but of course, ask Michael Fish and we donrsquo;t get hurricanes in this country. Anyway we had to open the doors to let cars in and out - as soon as cars were in or out, close the doors back up again - try and reduce the amount of wind that we get into the building. As we opened the doors to let a car in, a gust of wind came in, lifted these roof panels, broke the glass, and we had the damage. I thought another job for the ins... faults,,winter andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/10/18-stroll-on-alan-sugar/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/10/18-stroll-on-alan-sugar/#comments Sun, 31 Oct 2010 07:26:48 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=166 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/10/18-stroll-on-alan-sugar/feed/ 0 17:18 In today's show, Steve has become Alan Sugar and showed me his new board room! Also - some great news on a new community venture ... In today's show, Steve has become Alan Sugar and showed me his new board room! Also - some great news on a new community venture Steve has piloted - all coming up in Passionate About Cars... Andy: Irsquo;m with Steve from 1st Class garage. Today Steve is looking like Alan Sugar because hersquo;s in his manager clothes, hersquo;s not in his normal shop floor clothes and hersquo;s got a new office havenrsquo;t you, Steve. Steve: Yeh. Irsquo;ve got the new office now sorted and yes, I have a collar on - Irsquo;ve stopped short of putting a tie on yet. Irsquo;ve gothellip; Andy: You can tell from the rustle of his shirt Steve: Yes. Itrsquo;s well starched. Thatrsquo;s the old ex-army training. Andy: Hersquo;s already pointed his finger and fired me. Your fired! Steve: Well I did think, because this office is on a couple of levels I did think about moving the desk to the edge of that upper level, and have the other chair below that so that people have got to look up - but no, no, no. Some people might say Irsquo;m a bit of a control freak at times anyway. But this is the new office which is quite nice because where I had a desk in one of the front offices there, that was all well and good but it doesnrsquo;t allow you much in the way of privacy. So wersquo;re expanding a little bit, Irsquo;ve now taken this office. Wersquo;ve got a yard there which can get about 15 vehicles in which will go quite a way towards our parking issues which wersquo;ve constantly ranted about in the pasthellip; Andy: Wersquo;ve spoken about this so many times havenrsquo;t we, the parking issues. Steve: Yeh, anyone with a business in Brighton would know the problems faced with trying to park vehicles. Itrsquo;s extremely difficult. Because we are a garage and we work with vehicles, thatrsquo;s what our business is, we need to have somewhere to put vehicles. Particularly when theyrsquo;re waiting for parts - wersquo;ve got a vehicle in there at the moment thatrsquo;s waiting for a part from America, I think we spoke about it before, itrsquo;s waiting for the part. So the vehicles get sidelined but you need somewhere to put them. The yard will certainly help in that aspect. Itrsquo;s something wersquo;ve been looking at for some time and itrsquo;s very convenient because it adjoins the main garage - so thatrsquo;s perfect. The other thing of course, it gets me a nice little warm office so this time of year when itrsquo;s quite chilly in the garage I can come in and have a little warm up in the office and the boys can freeze their rocks off in the workshop. Andy: Talking of the workshop, shall we go and see whatrsquo;s going on? Are you still in touch with whatrsquo;s going on, Steve? Can you remember whatrsquo;s going on? Steve: Well Irsquo;ve got a bit of a clue whatrsquo;s going on round there - we can have a look and see what sort of jobs wersquo;ve got in today. I guess wersquo;d better have a wonder round to the workshop and see whatrsquo;s going on. Andy: Is there a shortcut through from here, Steve or do we have to go back round the front again? Steve: No, wersquo;ve got to wonder out through the front door and then up the street. Andy: So wersquo;re walking out Steversquo;s specially heated and humidified office - Irsquo;ll leave my bag there. Through the front office - past Kathleen - hello Kathleen. She was on the phone. Oooo, wind, horrible wind - hang on a second. Steve: Montague Place is renowned for itrsquo;s windiness because of the block of flats. Andy: Oh yes because yoursquo;re right next to a block of flats, thatrsquo;s where all that wind was coming from. Apologies to our listeners for that horrible noise of the wind. So whatrsquo;s going on, Steve, here on the shop floor? Steve: Well wersquo;ve got the taxi van here, itrsquo;s been with us now about 3 or 4 weeks waiting for various parts. This is one of the vehicles where it never got much in the way of maintenance, it... faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/09/17-concertina-conrods/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/09/17-concertina-conrods/#comments Sat, 25 Sep 2010 21:00:04 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=156 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/09/17-concertina-conrods/feed/ 0 15:19 Today Steve shows me what can happen when an engine seizes up due to lack of maintenance nbsp;and then comes up with an interesting solution ... Today Steve shows me what can happen when an engine seizes up due to lack of maintenance nbsp;and then comes up with an interesting solution to unemployment... Photo: RobotSkirts Andy: So here I am at 1st Class Garage. Hello Steve how are you? Steve: Yeh. Fine Andy. Andy: So what's been happening on the shop floor then? Steve: We've had a run of engine changes. Probably over the last three weeks we've had about ten vehicles in for engine changes which is quite a high proportion really... Andy: Didn't we have a run of these a few episodes ago I seem to remember, and I was blaming the ash cloud? Steve: Yeh, probably. The majority of these engines is down to lack of maintenance and I think this is what's happening now. People are just either afraid to lift the bonnet or don't know how to lift the bonnet to check the levels. Too many people are relying on the lights and the gauges inside the car. And I've said before that the lights themselves are what I'd call too late lights, when the light comes on it's too late, the damage is done. And of course with the current economic situation a lot of people have been holding back on servicings or missing servicings out. Put that lot together and it's a recipe for one or two disasters and that's what's been happening. As you can see here there's engines sat here waiting to be fitted... Andy: Oooo nice shiny new engines, yeh. Steve: Yeh, there's one there, and one of the guys just changing all the bits over on a Mitsubishi L200 and that's one of two that we've got in at the moment. Both of them have done around 50,000 miles. That particular one there has had a serious blow, and believe it or not, it was still actually running. It's got a hole in the side of the block, conrod... Andy: Can we go and have a look? Steve: Yeh of course we can. Conrod sitting in the sump, and it came in still running. It was spewing oil everywhere of course, that that was left in it, but... Andy: So this was basically due to oil running out? Steve: This was really down to maintenance issues really, with the diesels if it's not regular oil changing, oil pick up pipes tend to get a little bit gummed up, take it up the motor way and consequently lack of oil feed to everywhere and something's got to give, it needs lubrication. Andy: I can see the spoils of war here, Steve. This is a sort of mangled, err, is that called a big-end, that bit there? Steve: No. That's a conrod. It should be straight. Andy: It's actually concertinered in the middle like in a cartoon. Steve: Yeh, it is. It's a shame you haven't got pictures of it you can transmit. Andy: Well I've always said, Steve, this should be a video podcast you know. Steve: Well yes, maybe that's the way to go. But this is just totally destroyed. If you think about the amount of power it would take to destroy that. Andy: It literally looks like on a cartoon when a cat gets splattered, and the thing falls away and you get a concertina cat, it's a concertina conrod. Steve: Yeh. And this was laying in the sump when we took it apart but the engine was still actually running. Andy: That's amazing. Steve: It is really, um... Andy: Was it a bit noisy, Steve? Steve: Yeh, you could say that. Andy: Oooo. I'm walking under a huge 4 by 4 here. Well Steve's doing it so it must be safe. Steve: That's the hole in the side of the block... Andy: There is a massive hole... Steve: ...where that conrod has decided to part company and it's shot out of the side of the engine. And the whole thing is totally useless and once the engine gets to that stage... A lot of the companies you by replacement engines from there's surcharges involved. And the surcharge means that the old unit, we're supposed to return to the company that supply the engine for them to rebuild, but that particular one there is no good for rebuild so a surcharge is going to apply, so you've got the cost of the engine plus... Andy:... faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/07/16-five-foot-cycle-lanes/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/07/16-five-foot-cycle-lanes/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:15:45 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=148 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/07/16-five-foot-cycle-lanes/feed/ 0 18:40 Steve this morning showed me an article about cycle lanes in yesterdays newspaper. In todays show we discuss a Triumph Stag with engine trouble and ... Steve this morning showed me an article about cycle lanes in yesterdays newspaper. In todays show we discuss a Triumph Stag with engine trouble and daft cycle lane planning. Andy: Steversquo;s rushing around like a blue arse fly this morning and I walked in and hersquo;s got a Triumph Stag on the rack with an over heating engine and hersquo;s already been to the car and got a newspaper out and hersquo;s ranting about cycle lanes. Steve: Wersquo;ll come to the cycle lanes in a minute Andy, I guess we must get the garage business out the way first of all. Andy: Yeah, whatrsquo;s the story with this lovely yellow Triumph Stag without an engine? Steve: I said to a guy that owns the Stag that you know itrsquo;s loosing water; it was loosing it from around what appeared to be around underneath the manifold in the middle of the engine, itrsquo;s a V8 engine. Not very easy to actually see underneath the manifold whatrsquo;s going on, but when we took the manifold off we could then see that it was actually leaking from the sides of the heads, so we said to him right, itrsquo;s your loosing water from around the heads and obviously the heads need to come off. So he said OK, took the car away and I think it was about three days after that it decided to overheat and blow the hoses. Pressured up, blow the hoses and we recovered it, we got it back here now, obviously done a head gasket. Andy: Yeah, I can see a mangled head gasket on top of it. Steve: Yeah well itrsquo;s done a, I mean therersquo;s two head gaskets so you know. Itrsquo;s really a case on these, take the engine out. But this particular engine had a little bit of a ?[01:46] from the timing chain which theyrsquo;re quite prone for and also a little bit noisy on the cam shaft and when we actually striped it, one of the buckets or the followers on top of the valve was, the cam was actually worn through it. The cam on one of the lobes has worn square and one of the other followers is cracked so yeah. I mean this engine, according to the owner, was actually rebuilt two years ago so, I donrsquo;t know who rebuilt it but it hasnrsquo;t lasted very long for two years because it hasnrsquo;t done an awful lot of miles in those two years. Andy: No but itrsquo;s now hanging on a chain and therersquo;s a young chap. Whatrsquo;s he doing painting it? Steve: Yeah he is, I mean we said to the guy that owns the car you know whilst itrsquo;s out wersquo;ve got the blocks striped right down now, the blocks just hanging there on the hoist and we got young Richard there and hersquo;s actually painting it. Being a Stag, the car that it is, I mean ?[02:52-02:53] wersquo;ll give the engine bay a good clean out and probably even polish the engine bay for him. But yeah I mean it needs a full rebuild. Wersquo;ve made inquiries, I donrsquo;t doubt there are engines out there somewhere but it does seem like the best way to do this is to actually rebuild it and if we rebuild it then we know itrsquo;s going to be done right and done properly because if that engine, we donrsquo;t know the history, all I know is that it was supposedly a recon two years ago and of course itrsquo;s two years down the road itrsquo;s not in a very good state for a two year old engine you know, so yoursquo;ve got to sort of wonder what sort of recon did they do. Or was it just a con engine rather than a recon, I donrsquo;t know. Andy: Well if it was a recon maybe it had been conned before and now itrsquo;s being conned again. Recon. Steve: Yeah I suppose that it depends on the definition of the word recon you know. Andy: So the blocks fine itrsquo;s just the bits that go on to the block need replacing is it? Steve: Yeah the block itself is OK, itrsquo;s you know obviously head gaskets are quite prone for it. Timing chains tend to wear; this one was a bit chattery so wersquo;re going to replace all this. The heads have been sent away, theyrsquo;ve been tested, and theyrsquo;re OK. Theyrsquo;ve bee... faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/07/15-scimitars-and-black-ops/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/07/15-scimitars-and-black-ops/#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:07:32 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=138 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/07/15-scimitars-and-black-ops/feed/ 0 23:48 On a beautiful morning in Brighton, I tracked down Steve Kennard on the workshop floor at 1st Class Garage. After discussing a mysterious starter motor ... On a beautiful morning in Brighton, I tracked down Steve Kennard on the workshop floor at 1st Class Garage. After discussing a mysterious starter motor issue on a Volkswagennbsp;van, I noticed the rear end of an exotic looking Reliant Scimitar - brake cylinder problems. We finished the discussion was a rant from Steve on the way the revenue from car tax is being spent in the UK. Photo: exfordy Andy: Hello everyone, Irsquo;m standing with Steve Kennard in the forecourt of his wonderful garage, First Class Garage. Hello Steve how are you today? Steve: Yes, morning Andy, no fine making the most of this nice weather wersquo;re having. Itrsquo;s supposed to be getting to sort of 30 degrees today, but I donrsquo;t know that wersquo;ll quite reach that down here on the South Coast. But yes, itrsquo;s lovely, nice, pleasant good working conditions at the moment. Andy: Yes, yes it is very. Irsquo;m surprised how acoustically quiet it is in here at the moment, why is that Steve? Itrsquo;s normally very noisy in the work shop. I mean you look busy, therersquo;s loads of cars here. Steve: Yes, it is, therersquo;s a couple of guys just gone out on a road test. And everything. Andy: nbsp;Thatrsquo;s more like it. Steve: Yes just on cue, the compressor fires up, you know. But no I meanhellip; Andy: Now it sounds like a garage. Steve: Yes, yes I donrsquo;t doubt itrsquo;ll sound even noisier as it sort of goes on. Someonersquo;s bound to pick up an air tool or something like they usually do, when wersquo;re trying to sort of talk yes. Andy: Actually itrsquo;s very much like that in an operating theatre, some of the tools they use on bones. Steve: Yes, yes yoursquo;re right actually. Andy: Thatrsquo;s a different story. Steve: Oh absolutely, you know I mean I guess if you were to see some of the instruments they use you know. Like hacksaws when theyrsquo;rehellip; Andy: Theyrsquo;re very similar to garage instruments, theyrsquo;ve got compressed air power devices. Steve: Absolutely, and joint splitters, I mean we remember you used joint splitters to sort of split ball joints. Itrsquo;s no different like in the operating theatres, except that theirs are not covered in dirty grease and road grime, you know. Andy: You mean you donrsquo;t dress up in greens and masks and things? Steve: Well they say theyrsquo;re meant to be clean but I donrsquo;t know, Irsquo;ve got my doubts in some cases. Andy: So whatrsquo;s been happening? Because there is lots of cars here. I can see a Volkswagen, a Renault Espace and a Volkswagen Van at the end I recognize from around Brighton, with the thing in the back window I recognize. Whatrsquo;s going on? I know that thatrsquo;s got an interesting story, because itrsquo;s a starter motor mystery isnrsquo;t it? Steve: Yes, yes itrsquo;s one- it came in a couple of weeks ago, it wouldnrsquo;t start, we had to go and recover it. Andy: So itrsquo;s a Ford Transit is it? Steve: No, this is a Volkswagen Caravelle. Andy: Just testing. Steve: Yes, okay. Andy: Thatrsquo;s why itrsquo;s got a Volkswagen sticker on the back. Steve: Obviously you need to go tohellip; Andy: Specsavers. Steve: Exactly, I didnrsquo;t want to mention it but, you know. Andy: I was looking at the wrong van, I was looking at the one in front which is a Ford Transit. Steve: Yes, thatrsquo;s the Transit, no the Transitrsquo;s just in for a knocking noise on the front. We know what that is. And on the Caravelle, had a starting problem, we recovered it back here. Had a look at it and itrsquo;s - there was no - the starter motor itself is dead. Therersquo;s power going into the starter motor, nothing happening. So we put a new starter on it. Fine, tried it, road tested it everything was fine, and off it went like, you know. So here we are again, two weeks down the road, its come back with starting issues. And when wersquo;ve sort of ... faults,,law,and,regulations andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/06/14-peugeots-parking-and-busses/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/06/14-peugeots-parking-and-busses/#comments Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:15:04 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=133 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/06/14-peugeots-parking-and-busses/feed/ 0 21:02 In today's show, Steve rants passionately about ho much he loves Peugeots, some observations of parking in Brighton, and an opinion about public transport and ... In today's show, Steve rants passionately about ho much he loves Peugeots, some observations of parking in Brighton, and an opinion about public transport and particularly the busses. Andy: So wersquo;re with Steve, this is the third take, Irsquo;ve had a bit of a technical problem, a bit of equipment failure here going on with the old recorder but never mind, this is the third take now. Steve yoursquo;ve had your brother down havenrsquo;t you, apparently he's a chef from Oz? Steve Kennard: Yes he is, yes. Andy: Have you been having nice barbecues and things? Steve Kennard: Absolutely, yes hersquo;s been making the food taste really wonderful. Being a chef you know hersquo;s ndash; as I say hersquo;s ndash; even something silly like mashed potato tastes totally different, absolutely different. So yes itrsquo;s been nice to see him and yes hersquo;s gone back to Oz now so I need to get my work head back on again. Andy: Yes and therersquo;s loads of ndash; is it Peugeots on the shop floor at the moment? I bet you love French cars donrsquo;t you? Steve Kennard: Absolutely, Fr- Andy: Let me guess, electrical problems? Steve Kennard: Yes French cars ndash; most of the problems we get with the French cars that come in are electrical problems. There is... [Car horn] Andy: Excuse me... Steve Kennard: Yes. Yes, this is live. Yes therersquo;s... Andy: No editing here. Steve Kennard: No definitely not. We actually have a ndash; there is a Peugeot 206 there, therersquo;s not an electrical problem actually, that particular one there has had a cam belt failure. But actually when we looked into it, it wasnrsquo;t purely and simply a cam belt failure it was actually a partial seizure on the engine which has then done the cam belt. Itrsquo;s had a total snowball effect. The result is it requires another engine; itrsquo;s not viable to pull that one apart and rebuild it. But- Andy: What caused it to seize in the first place? Steve Kennard: Well we havenrsquo;t actually taken it out and stripped it down that far; wersquo;ve taken the cylinder head off and had a look to see because it had a belt failure. The engine itself was fairly well locked up and you know it wouldnrsquo;t move either way so we took the head off and had a look at it and even with the head off the crank shaft was extremely tight to turn and it shouldnrsquo;t be. If yoursquo;ve got the cylinder head off, yoursquo;ve got no resistances; if the bottom end of the engine is in pretty good shape then it should rotate pretty freely. This one here itrsquo;s taking quite a length of bar on it to turn it over so itrsquo;s suggesting to us that the engine has suffered a bit of a partial seizure at some stage and itrsquo;s probably that thatrsquo;s resulted in the belt failure because the belt in fairness didnrsquo;t look that bad. If you inspect the belts, most belts when theyrsquo;re coming to the end of their working life have got evidence on the belt. If you inspect the belt you can see around the base of the teeth starting to crack up, just a general you know visible inspection of the belt will give you an idea on the condition of the belt. This one here didnrsquo;t really look too bad. It ripped off some teeth where the engine had obviously suffered this seizure and thatrsquo;s it. And of course then it runs out of sync, cam shaft to crank shaft and- Andy: You get things banging into each other? Steve Kennard: Yes yoursquo;ll get valves touching pistons which is whatrsquo;s happened, but even then with the head off the engine should still rotate pretty freely. It hasnrsquo;t been, or it wonrsquo;t do that, so itrsquo;s telling us itrsquo;s got a problem internally and thatrsquo;s going to result in ndash; you know we can take the engine out, strip it down and rebuild it but nowadays the cost of doing that is more expensive than actually buying a ready built unit to fit in. And thatrsquo;s what wersquo;re going to do with that ... faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/05/13-engine-refits/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/05/13-engine-refits/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 16:21:02 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=126 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/05/13-engine-refits/feed/ 0 18:58 Steve talks about engine replacements and the new road widening at Handcross Hill in Sussex, UK. Andy White: Hello Steve, itrsquo;s been a couple of months because ... Steve talks about engine replacements and the new road widening at Handcross Hill in Sussex, UK. Andy White: Hello Steve, itrsquo;s been a couple of months because yoursquo;ve been otherwise occupied the last couple of times Irsquo;ve come to see you. Wersquo;re standing by your big RV. So, yoursquo;ve been out in it? Steve Kennard: Yes, we went out in it last weekend, just to give it a bit of a trial run after its refurb, let's say. We went just along to Chichester way but it was a nice weekend. Andy White: I thought you were going to say for a minute, went to Chichester and then stopped. Steve Kennard: No, no, no. Just went down to Chichester, I mean because of the size of it, we towed a little KA behind. So, we get there, park up on site and then use the KA to run around in locally. Andy White: So, it doesn't fit in the boot like some of those big American ones? Steve Kennard: No, it hasn't quite got the garage, is what you're talking about. I mean a lot of them have what they call the garage in the back of them, which basically sort of goes underneath the bed. The bed is raised up quite high and you've got this large space underneath that you can put small vehicle in. Andy White: How was it, Steve? It wasn't the inaugural trip was it, you've been out in it a few times haven't you? Steve Kennard: No, this was actuallyhellip; Andy White: It was the inaugural trip! Steve Kennard: First trip, yes. The one we were going to go one towards the back end of last year, last October, that occurred - well I had my little attack let's say. Andy White: Yes, your little challenge. Steve Kennard: Yes, the weekend or the week that we were due to go out in it. We went out on it, the idea was just a long weekend, just to give it a run out and see if there were any gremlins, iron out the gremlins. Andy White: Did you find any gremlins? Steve Kennard: The one real annoying thing was the old satellite didnrsquo;t work properly. Couldn't find, it couldn't find the actual satellite itself. Which was a little bit annoying but it wasn't out the way, the DVD player and that lot worked. The most annoying thing was, when we got back after the weekend I switched it on to have a look to see what was wrong with it and it worked fine. Andy White: Isnrsquo;t that always the way? Steve Kennard: Yes, I guess there is a little gremlins in their somewhere, which Irsquo;ll have a look at and get to the bottom of but the bus itself ran absolutely fine, turned a few heads. It gets a few looks where it is at the moment, parked outside the workshop. Andy White: I bet it did. I was going say, itrsquo;s the first time Irsquo;ve seen it actually out in the open because when we saw before it was sort of tucked into your garage at the side, wasn't it? Steve Kennard: Yes, it was tucked in the corner but it's now out in the open. It's all been, as I say, all refurbed inside and it drives absolutely lovely. You just have to make sure you give yourself a little bit of room when you swing it because of the overhang on the back. Andy White: Yes, the back wheels, theyrsquo;re way forward, aren't they? Steve Kennard: Yes, like a lot of these vehicles they have what they call a separate bedroom on the back and that is, it gives you some sort of about a seven foot overhang on the back. Ah, perfect noise in the background at the moment. Andy White: Thatrsquo;s okay, this perfect technology can still pick our voices up despite the road cleaning device coming along. Anyway, let's get on to the shop floor, what's been happening? It's now April, it's nice and sunny, still a bit chilly; what sort of problems are you having at the moment? Steve Kennard: Oh well, where should we start? There are loads of problems. Andy White: You are mentioning a lot of engine changes, actually replacing engines. Steve Kennard: Yes, we've got a high Hyundai, its been here for a little while, sorry not a Hyundai, itrsquo;s a Kia wa... faults,,maintenance andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/02/12-dont-drive-your-mini-through-a-ford/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/02/12-dont-drive-your-mini-through-a-ford/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:01:11 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=114 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/02/12-dont-drive-your-mini-through-a-ford/feed/ 0 17:35 Amongst other things, Steve tells the story of how driving a mini through a ford resulted in a new engine. Andy: It's Friday 29th January, I'm at ... Amongst other things, Steve tells the story of how driving a mini through a ford resulted in a new engine. Andy: It's Friday 29th January, I'm at 1st Class Garage with Steven. Steven's just been playing - not dominos - that game where you have to move things around to make space with cars. Steve: Well, it's almost like musical chairs with the cars, just shunting the cars around so that people can get in and out. And, yes, I mean, it's the same sort of problem wherever you go in the town. I don't know; I don't know what the answer to it is really. Well, I do know the answer is not to fleece the motorists. That's basically all that's happening; it's all about money. I mean, if you go not too far from here there's, like, it's 11-hour meters. And if you go up and down those roads you'll find that most of those are standing empty because, of course, the cost of parking now. So we've got roads around here that has got not a lot of vehicles parked on them because they're now metered. Whereas before the meters, obviously people used to park there, so all the cars that used to park there, where have they gone? You know, they've only moved them to another area. And this is the common practice: when they started zoning this town people used to park on the outskirts of the zones, so they moved the zones out. People park on the outskirts of those zones, so it is a little bit of a knock-on effect. And the parking issues in this town, I mean, I could spend hours talking about it and I don't really want to go down that - because it does make the blood boil. Andy: Have you had any nice, juicy run-ins with traffic wardens recently, Steve? Steve: Just lately, no. I've got to say, in fairness, the guys we've had around here have been very understanding, because obviously we work with cars; we're in the town; parking is a problem. When people drop their cars off, you know, we then have to move vehicles around to accommodate them or we have to find somewhere that we can park them, you know, safely and legally. So yes, parking is a little bit of an issue and we've had run-ins in the past with various wardens - I don't know what their, sort of, their actual job title is now, but... Andy: Traffic enforcement officers, I think, something like that. Steve: Oh, traffic enforcement... Andy: Or parking enforcement officers. Something like that, I think. Steve: Yes. That's a lovely term, isn't it? I mean, just directly outside the garage here we've got double yellow lines. We did ask if we could actually have, like, the white bar that they used to put across sunken pavements. Because this is a sunken pavement, or a crossover as they call it, which means that you - you know, that really other people - or people shouldn't really park there because we need access to it. So we asked if we could have the white bar there because of cars being dropped off; it'll allow customers just to pull their cars up outside there without getting hassled. And one or two of the wardens in the past have really hassled us, you know, they don't appreciate that we have a job to do like they have a job to do. We've got to have a little bit of sense and just - it is, it's common sense really. Andy: But on a bright note it's good news about the understanding wardens that you've encountered recently. We salute understanding wardens, don't we? Well, I do. Steve: Absolutely, I'm all for it. Everybody has a job to do and I'm sure they hate to get abused, but there are ones out there that actually encourage abuse with the way they go about their job. You can understand why people do get wound-up and do, like, howl verbal abuse at them. I'm not condoning it - I can't condone it - but yes, you know, it'll make your blood boil, particularly if you're having a bit of a bad day and their lack of understanding is - it doesn't help matters. It's just fuel to the fire really, isn't it? Andy: Now Steve, last time I spoke to you, which was in December, was faults,,law,and,regulations,,winter andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2008/09/8-how-about-an-inspection-cover-mercedes/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2008/09/8-how-about-an-inspection-cover-mercedes/#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:00:39 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=34 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2008/09/8-how-about-an-inspection-cover-mercedes/feed/ 0 00:01:01 Steve talks about A class Mercedes starter motor problems, the Ford Galaxy phantom opening windows problem, his prize Cadillac loosing top gear and the indestructible ... Steve talks about A class Mercedes starter motor problems, the Ford Galaxy phantom opening windows problem, his prize Cadillac loosing top gear and the indestructible Toyota Hilux. faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2008/05/5-the-strangeness-of-control-modules/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2008/05/5-the-strangeness-of-control-modules/#comments Thu, 22 May 2008 20:00:07 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=14 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2008/05/5-the-strangeness-of-control-modules/feed/ 0 15:25 Steve tells us about how modern cars can behave very strangely when their controller units go wrong. We hear tales of a Vauxhall Vectra with ... Steve tells us about how modern cars can behave very strangely when their controller units go wrong. We hear tales of a Vauxhall Vectra with a dead indicator switch and gauges, and a Kia Sedona with an accelerator pedal that refused to function, until a completely and apparently unrelated issue was resolved. Strange indeed. faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No http://passionate-about-cars.com/2007/11/2-get-a-cadillac/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2007/11/2-get-a-cadillac/#comments Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:00:18 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=7 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2007/11/2-get-a-cadillac/feed/ 0 19:58 Steve shows me his pride and joy - a Cadillac, and talks about what can sometimes go wrong with air conditioning. Steve shows me his pride and joy - a Cadillac, and talks about what can sometimes go wrong with air conditioning. buying,a,car,,faults andy@wireworldmedia.co.uk no No