Martyuk wrote:
I have an account with Calor in Swindon for autogas - the advantage is that I get a fob so can fill up 24/7 and they bill me on account about 28 days in arrears.
The pump price is 57p/L though the account price has a 2p/L discount, so I pay 55p/L Which I think is a bit too much given it was that price when petrol was £1.20/L and is now about £1/L... though it's still just over half the cost of petrol, so I'm not complaining too much!
Bloody hell! I used to drive to Swindon on a Monday morning and back to Cheshire on a Friday. Calor was always the cheapest by far and was my last stop before heading home.
P.S. LPG is around 15 Peso (20 pee-ish) a litre here, but with petrol so cheap, I'm not bothering! Sorry.
Thanks guys. Britcar sent me an email about the failed payment asking me to reply and they'd process. I'll ask if they are available first. As said there's always the Britpart one if I have to.
I'd really like to fit and forget if possible, as with steering, brakes, cruise, EAS and everything else dumped in there it's not a job you'd want to do every day.
Spiggy, yes, saw the hoses as well. Will order one and fit just in case whilst the system is empty.
Thanks for that!
Both sites are refusing payment from the Philippines unfortunately. I get this a lot which is why I tend to stick with those I have no problem with, e.g. Rimmers, Island and a couple of others.
I'll drop them a mail and see if I can sort it.
Found it!!!
Thanks to Spiggy's brake failure and Gilbertd's mention of braided hose, I had a nose this morning to find two things:-
1) My hose is not braided and,
2) My fluid leak is from the PCRV. I hadn't spotted it before as it's bloody busy down there on a left hooker!
Soo, nosing around for replacements I can only find Island 4x4 who do the PCRV. Good news? No, bad news, it's Britpart!
The question therefore is who does OEM/Genuwine PCRV? I'm buggered if I can find anyone.
SpiggyTopes wrote:
Hi All,
No warning at all, just a very faint click and the three amigos came on.
Pedal almost to the floor .....
Hose failure between pump and ABS modulator but the pump had the good sense not to keep running and didn't spray fluid from the leaking hose over the exhaust manifold.
New hose and all OK now.
Spiggy, good to hear there were no other consequences.
Gilbertd wrote:
Ouch! That's a new one. On both mine it's a stainless braided hose and they don't usually fail.
Where did you obtain these, please? Pre-made or did you go to a local hose supplier?
I ask because I'm slowly collecting brake parts. I've got the modulator modification and some braided calliper hoses have just landed, so when it's all in bits, I may as well throw on the hose in question. I could try to get one done here but if someone does them ready made, I may have a bit more faith.
Just remember (on mine anyway) the ignition switch needs to be in different positions for successful connections, e.g., engine running for 'engine and EAS" position 2 for BECM, etc.
That's kinda the way I'm leaning as well. Not a real issue, but a strange one.
Aye, Gecko's are well known for their anti-spirit properties. We have several wandering around the apartment and nary a ghost in sight, so I have to assume that these small and insignificant lizards are fully capable of holding back the massed denizens of hell. Amazing.
Getting your car blessed in Thailand is standard practice. I think it's a substitute for buying fully comprehensive insurance! It doesn't seem to work quite so well here. The Missus had her Hateful Fortuner blessed by a priest when she bought it. Since then it's been in three accidents, had two front tyres slashed and both sides keyed. He's not coming near mine!
So, there's this shopping mall near me to which, on occasion, I am forced by circumstance to visit.
The car park is accessed via a five storey left hand up-ramp.
Maybe five times out ten when I park up and lock, with a happy click of solenoids, she drops to access height. As soon as I start up, back to normal in seconds.
This only ever happens at this single location.
The car park was fitted with a vehicle sensing system above each slot around the same time as I reverted to EAS. Don't know if there's a correlation or if I should get a gecko to live in the '38 to ward off the evil spirits.
Any thoughts?
Bolt wrote:
Wow, What a great service!
Not quite as hot here as PI but we have Interstate Battery, and if one of theirs fail, they will Instantly tell you it was obviously your fault and to sod off!
No help- Nowhere- Never!
It is evident that battery failure is much more common there since they have such a great system for getting you back on the road! (Except Mondays?)
Now that's how I would have expected it to work here, but no. They are a great bunch. Really helpful and quick. Most unusual.
Yes, except Mondays for me, unless it's a public holiday (of which we have many, many)!
Gilbertd wrote:
Wouldn't it be easier to swap the plates on a Monday?
Are you suggesting I wilfully break the law? :-)
The problem is that here, false plates or not, is the feeding frenzy instigated by a White Guy breaking a law. And possibly not just once. Y'see we have the Highway Patrol Group (part of the National Police) the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Traffic Enforcers who operate Metro wide, and then the traffic police of each individual city making up Metropolitan Manila, all looking to make a Buck. So you have the potential to be pulled three times, each by a separate agency, for a single offence.
It starts to get expensive in Tea Money!
I don't mind now and again, like the PHP200 "fine" I got for an illegal left turn, the traffic enforcer cheerfully admitting they'd removed the sign, but to go out looking for it is financial suicide!
So no, I'll stick with the Hateful Fortuner. In fact when I can, I'll borrow her driver as well, so at least if I have to be in the thing, someone else can have the displeasure of controlling it.
We have number coding in Manila, which means I can't use the '38 on Mondays. This isn't generally a problem as I work mainly from home, but on the odd occasion I do get a meeting I need to go to. This means borrowing Madam's Hateful Toyota Fortuner.
She's stuck it on 20" wheels (Philippine Style) so it drives like a pig, the turbo lag can be measured in days and you just generally feel like you need a good stiff drink and a cleansing shower after you've driven it. I could go on, but to summarise, I can't think of a single redeeming feature.
I really hate Mondays, but look forward to any excuse to get out Tuesday to Sunday!
Thanks. A very nice and concise explanation.
I knew batteries suffered out here, but not why.
Don't know about other places but here we have a battery retail chain called Motolite and if you get stuck, they will be with you in around 20 minutes, fit the new one and cart your old one away for you. No need to be stuck. One of the few things that actually works as advertised!
My last one is from them and two years later it's still going strong, so reasonable quality as well.
SpiggyTopes wrote:
If the pressure hose is faulty you get warning if it is severe, but a fine spray might not be noticed.
If it sprays onto the exhaust manifold you might have a problem!
Dis am true.
However, there's no sign under the bonnet of any leak, smoke or even haze.
What surprises me is that you'd think if there was a pipe leak then as the pressure dropped after switching off and leaving for a few days, it'd suck a lungful of air.
We'll find it!
Gilbertd wrote:
Yes, done mine as it had a bit of play at the straight ahead point. You need to be very gentle with it, I put a blob of white paint on the edge of the adjuster so I could see how much I'd moved it by. 1/8th of a turn at a time and if you tighten it too much, it gives an 'interesting' feel to the steering. When tightening the locknut, use a ring spanner so you can hold the adjuster in one place.
Did mine as per this. Got it to where it just stopped self-centering easily and backed off a fraction. That was nearly two years ago and still all good.
Thanks guys. A little more investigation needed methinks.
I'll report back if/when I find anything, just in case we've got a new one!
Over the last few months I've been losing a bit of brake fluid, enough to need a small top-up every couple of weeks. I seem to remember a bit about this in Russell's brake modulator thread on RR.net but damned if I can find the words it now.
I've done pads all round so I know there's no leak at the calipers and the last time I did the oil I had a damn good look at all the lines underneath when it was on the ramp. I've also had a good look/feel around the modulator. No sign and no puddle when its parked either.
Any bright ideas? I've just received the modulator repair kit so will be diving into that at some point and that'll be checked, but is there anything on the 38 equivalent to fluid leaking into a servo on a 'normally' braked car, thus hidden?
Another one for maybe when there's a few more members?
One forum I frequent is Retro Rides which is fairly strict in its criteria on vehicles but has this section http://retrorides.proboards.com/board/9/readers-modifications
In here we've got guys building motorcycle engined lawn tractors, one repairing vintage watches, another doing up a Massey Ferguson and one rebuilding a 50-odd foot Harbour launch, all sorts of fascinating stuff. Even my own Letter from Manila, which contains nothing of any use or merit whatsoever seems to be well received!
SpiggyTopes wrote:
I always wanted to know how to do that!
An now we do!
Every day's a school day :-)
Martyuk wrote:
It's a bit cold here in Swindon too... only about -2/3 but it's all the moisture in the air here that makes it feel colder than it is...
Was in Oslo a couple of weeks ago and it was -14.. Still it was a crisp cold, and didn't feel as bad as it does here! Still no snow here yet so I can't go playing :(
Did 2.5 years in Copenhagen and whilst I loved the summers, the winters were a pig. The wind came over the Baltic and just cut through you, even with the top cold-weather gear we were issued. Sod that!
You occasionally get some good snow in Swindon. When I still lived oop north, I worked down there during the week for a while and stayed in the Rose and Crown in Ashbury (when it was a proper pub, before it got all tarted up) and there were a couple of times it was, "the hell with it, I'll stay sipping a pint in front of a large fire" rather than bother with the 200-odd mile run home on a Friday.
Now?
UK version:
"The North wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow..."
Manila version:
"The North wind doth blow,
Oh, is it 30 degrees again?"