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/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/2010/06/14-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/2010/02/12-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/2010/01/11-driving-in-winter-conditions/ http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/01/11-driving-in-winter-conditions/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:01:46 +0000 admin http://passionate-about-cars.com/?p=98 http://passionate-about-cars.com/2010/01/11-driving-in-winter-conditions/feed/ 1 17:57 Steve talks about driving in wintery and snow conditions. Andy: Hello everyone, itrsquo;s Passionate About Cars. We woke up this morning to thick snow, well, ... Steve talks about driving in wintery and snow conditions. Andy: Hello everyone, itrsquo;s Passionate About Cars. We woke up this morning to thick snow, well, I mean, for Brighton, itrsquo;s thick snow, three inches and Irsquo;m sitting in the main lobby, the main area where customers come at First Class Garage and Steversquo;s manning the lobby. Are you short of staff this morning Steve? Steve: Yes, Irsquo;m actually playing secretary as well today. The secretaryrsquo;s on two daysrsquo; holiday, shersquo;s back in on Monday, today being Friday. So Irsquo;m sort of manning the front desk as well as everything else. A general dogsbody, thatrsquo;s me. Wersquo;ve had a fair bit of snow overnight. I live just on the outskirts in Woodingdean and as always out there it does tend to get a little bit worse. Wersquo;ve probably had about sort of five or six inches of snow settling on the ground overnight in Woodingdean which has made it difficult to get out. Public transport, you know, buses not running. I came in from Woodingdean this morning and picked four women up on the way in actually this morning, like all walking to work along the Warren Road and it was still snowing quite heavily. It was a bit breezy out there and all the women said that itrsquo;s a bit of a first, they wouldnrsquo;t normally step into a motor with a stranger. So obviously I couldnrsquo;t sort of encourage people to do that but the conditions were such that, you know, itrsquo;s just Irsquo;m coming that way and Irsquo;ve got the benefit of a four wheel drive for the workshop so it just made sense rather than see them struggling on foot to work. Andy: Did you see any good examples of interesting snow driving on the way Steve? Steve: Yes, theyrsquo;re out there. The sort of people that are really not sure when it comes to these sort of conditions should stay at home. They ought never ever to get behind the wheel. If theyrsquo;re not sure about the conditions, stay away from the wheel. One of the big problems you get is yoursquo;ve got four wheel drive vehicles out there that do find it a lot easier to get through these conditions but then yoursquo;ll always come across the person that doesnrsquo;t understand the conditions, will drive at 2, 3, 4mph and constantly get stuck. Because you just need to keep momentum going, you need to just let the engine take it and you see people, theyrsquo;ll get up to 5mph so theyrsquo;re dabbing the brakes. Not really the thing to do. So if yoursquo;re not really sure, obviously the best advice is to stay at home, stay out of the conditions and you donrsquo;t have to drive, again, stay out of the conditions. Itrsquo;s only if you really have to drive then if you donrsquo;t have a lot of alternative but to venture out then obviously you donrsquo;t have much alternative, itrsquo;s as simple as that. Particularly if yoursquo;re living in the outer areas or if you know a neighbour whorsquo;s got a four wheel drive, you can cadge a lift with someone, then thatrsquo;s definitely the way to go. But, yes, therersquo;s more forecast for the weekend and although itrsquo;s nice and blue sky and bright out there at the moment, it is still hovering around freezing. And Irsquo;ve noticed one of the big problems wersquo;ve got, where the snowrsquo;s packing down and because the temperatures are so low, wersquo;ve got a lot of solid ice forming underneath. So, until the gritters get out there, itrsquo;s not a good idea to be on the road in fairness. Wersquo;ve had two of the guys from the workshop that live in the outer areas, havenrsquo;t made it in this morning. Theyrsquo;ve phoned in, canrsquo;t get in but likewise wersquo;ve had customers that again, whose cars are booked in, are not coming in. Not that wersquo;re expecting too many. We have had some come in and wersquo;ll continue to get people coming in with the non-start problems, the bad starting and then after the weekend wersquo;ll... 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