m0n1xX3r

Had some good news about this. Just the rear wheel and tyre need replacing. No other damage. Suspension and everything else underneath is fine. ABS problem wasn't related: just the relay for the pump had seized so the warning light came on. Got that fixed now as well. Now just need to claim and find a new wheel. I guess I could keep the old one as a spare too, so it's looking good so far. Just hope Carillion don't kick up too much fuss over it (this is the company I'm claiming from). Thanks for all the support guys. Bart

That's a real shame. I don't understand why some people get off on other people's troubles.

Thanks mate, that's greatly appreciated, and I *will* send you that clock as well. Like I say, it's been in my glove box, and with the car-related events of the last week it's slightly slipped my mind. My apologies. Cheers, Bart

Excellent. Glad that's all sorted now. Thanks Mike.

Hi All, A lot of you have probably read my previous thread about the encounter I had with a foreign body on the A14. Fortunately not too much damage done: just need a new wheel a tyre for the back on the drivers side. However, after this my ABS light came on as I also mentioned. At the time I thought this was probably related, but it actually turns out that it was just the ABS pump relay that had stuck in the on position (initially we had thought this was the fuel pump)... so the pump just kept going and flattened the battery overnight. Nice. Well I need to take the car to the garage for the damage assessment, so I get out my jump leads, knock on my neighbour's door and ask if I can use her Micra to jump start the zed. Now I've *never* done this before so I follow the instructions with my jump-leads to the letter. First I connect the positive (red) lead to the live terminal on the Micra's battery, then to the live terminal on the zed's battery. I then connect the negative (black) lead to the negative terminal on the Micra's battery, and then (and this is the fatal error), instead of connecting to the negative terminal on the zed's battery I do as instructed and connect to an earth point away from both the battery and fuel lines, which turns out to be a bolt in the engine bay. Get a few sparks when I do this but am not too worried at this stage. Once everything's connected, my neighbour then tries to start her Micra, which now won't start. I nearly have a heart-attack because I think I've now trashed her car as well. So I then disconnect everything, she tries again, and luckily the car starts. Whilst disconnecting everything I notice a tiny wisp of smoke coming from the back of the engine bay on the drivers side near the fuse-box, which makes me think I've probably blown something. So anyway, at this point I bottle out, call the garage and the guy in charge comes out with one of those portable battery/jump-lead sets and starts the car no problems first time. He also tells me *never* to connect the negative lead to anything other than the negative terminal of the battery in future. Interestingly this was what I was originally intending to do, and it was only following the instructions that caused me to do different. Gah! The long and the short of it is, I haven't blown any fuses and everything seems to be working apart from the turbo timer. I apologise for this being such a long post: I just wanted to get all the details down because it might mean somebody knows exactly what's happened. Anyway, the turbo timer. I have an HKS turbo timer (don't know the model number or anything) which was fitted to the zed when I bought it, and unfortunately I don't have any instructions for it. So now, when I turn the engine on the turbo timer's display remains blank and unlit for a while, then eventually when it does come on the display just shows 000 seconds. It doesn't respond to me pressing any of the four buttons on the front either before or after it lights up. If I switch the engine off before the timer display has come on it just switches straight off. However, if I wait until after the timer display has come on then the engine will run on for a while (I think it's just 30 seconds or so) after it's been switched off, but the timer doesn't count down or bleep as normal. So, I think it's probably screwed. However I'd appreciate a more expert opinion on this. Also if anyone knows anything specific about the HKS turbo timer, or has wiring instructions or whatever I'd be really grateful. I don't particularly want to have to shell out for another turbo timer, but if I have to then I have to. It's just gutting that it's all down to a moment's stupidity on my part. Anyway, thanks for reading this far. My requests for help and advice always seem to be rather long-winded I'm afraid. Cheers, Bart

Oddly enough Fiat make all manner of ridiculously small cars that we (thankfully) never see over here. Went to Rome back in the spring, first time I've been to Italy. I was utterly staggered by some of the titchy little cars some of them drive: small enough to make the 126 look like a tank by comparison. (Sorry, I know this is a bit off-topic.)

Whoa! That's an amazing difference. Hey, you do realise this means you might actually be able to see stuff in front of you when driving at night now?

:rofl: Nice one!

Yep, RIP. Only 34 as well, it's terrible.

Yeah, I reckon that's true. I'm quite glad this has been openly discussed though, and if it gets "I'm a drunken post-whore" etc out of General Discussion I'll be happy (sorry to whoever posted that one). I'm also grateful for Mac's initial post, and some of the input from the mods. I agree that common sense should be the rule, but it just seems that recently somebody has tossed their toys out of the pram and gone a bit wild on closing threads... maybe understandable given some of the crud that's been posted, and I'm not criticising particularly. It does seem that there are some threads that could have been moved rather than closed: e.g. the "Bon Jovi" thread -- it started out as complete drivel but became considerably more coherent before it was eventually closed for no apparent reason. I mean, what's offensive or inappropriate about discussing Bon Jovi? (All right, all right, I'm sure some of you absolutely hate them. ;) ) Anyway, guess I'll be bringing my wet weather gear to JAE next year then. :rofl:

That's a shame. Sad to say, but Pat Morita has had a far greater influence on me than George Best... or maybe that's a good thing. I dunno. Anyway, gutted.

Peppered steak... mmm. :)

Too much to list. :) Wouldn't have bought it otherwise.

Well I've not voted in the poll because I don't think this is so cut and dried. I *don't* think he's a "legend", but then again, that's just because I don't think football is that important. Winston Churchill is a legend. Martin Luther King is a legend. Nelson Mandela is a legend. George Best? I'm sorry, who? I don't think so. Please cut the sentimental nonsense. However, do I think he "deserved" to die? Any more than anyone else "deserves" to die? Again, I don't think so. If it was that easy to give up alcohol then he would have just given it up. Some people find it impossible to walk away regardless of the cost. Addiction defies rationality, and it's a crying shame that it ruins so many lives. No, I don't think he "deserved" to die. I've known such people, and it's a terrible thing. What it is, is a shame, no matter who it happens to. That's my two cents anyway. Bart

It's allright: I completely screwed up the calculation of my rolling radius earlier when looking at new tyres so I wouldn't worry. Used the diameter of the wheel rather than the radius: what a doofus.

Oops, yeah didn't check the date.

Think I'm going to reserve judgement on this.

Yeah, sounds like it might not have been a great example. Boost kicks it at around 2500 rpm in my experience. Also, if you want to pull away quickly there's definitely a right way and a wrong way to do it in a TT... in fact there's more than one wrong way since if you over-rev you'll wheelspin like mad and the back end will be all over the place, which I can tell you is a really interesting thing when it happens in traffic.

Looks lovely mate. Kind of where I want to go with mine. Very nice indeed.

Ah, come on, they're great in a slightly cheese-rock kind of way. I saw them in Milton Keynes in 2001 and they were absolutely fantastic.

That's not quite right: that would be 20%. 25% screenwash is 3 parts water to 1 part screenwash. So 3 pints of water for every pint of screenwash. You might, as already pointed out want to use a bit more screenwash than this as it's winter.

Like I said: I'm no expert.

Yeah, that's kind of what you'd expect from a dump valve.

:rofl: It's funny, but it's also not funny. That's bad luck mate. I've not tried, but I'd totally agree on general principles. I've just been looking at tyres today (am considering Goodyear F1s): they're rated 1 out of 5 for grip in snow so there's no way I'll be trying it. The rear-wheel drive surely can't help either.