Archive for the ‘car’ Category

Purchasing items from eBay, Be Careful of Chinese Hidden Sellers! – SCAM – you decide ?

Saturday, February 1st, 2020

You can select a filter on eBay which shows only UK Sellers. See here in the listing the Item Location is stated as Manchester, United Kingdom.

BUT, if you take the trouble to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the description (using a web browser on a PC, not the eBay App), you’ll will notice that our Seller is from CHINA !

eBay does not view this as fraud! I guess because they make so much of their income from these sellers!

I don’t really have an issue where the item is located, BUT when an item is clearly a fake, see picture below, both of these are a plastic caps for the Suzuki Swift expansion bottle for the radiator fluid. 

Suzuki Swift Radiator Bottle Expansion Cap

Suzuki Swift Radiator Bottle Expansion Cap – left fake, right – original.

Suzuki Swift Radiator Bottle Expansion Cap

Suzuki Swift Radiator Bottle Expansion Cap – left fake, right – original.

Now you would think, well this is eBay, I’ve got Buyer Protection, and I can return the item for a refund! True.

But when the Seller has created a Returns Process, which requires you to use the eBay Returns procedure, and you’ve got to print and pay for a postage label through eBay, at £3.75, it’s hardly  worth the effort to return the item, which cost £4.24!

So who wins the seller, and just pockets £4.24! 

I suspect if everyone never returns an item, that’s a nice business model if done 1000x!

Oh, the original Suzuki part, cost 4x as much!

So if it looks too good to be true, it probably is! Be Aware, when shopping on eBay!

(if you are wondering why the cap needed replacing… ah well that would be the mice!)

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CTEK Car Battery Gadget Gizmo – CTEK CTX Battery Sense

Tuesday, July 30th, 2019

On the subject of car gadget gizmos I’ve been using a CTEK CTX Battery Sense Car Battery monitor for just under 1 Year now.

Available from Amazon here

this little gizmo attaches to the car battery and sends voltage and temperature information on the battery health via Bluetooth to a smart phone. The temperature is of the engine bay, not the battery. It just so happens on the 1 September 2018, I changed the battery in my car to a new Silver Bosch support mega battery with a 5 year guarantee. So I was interested in it’s health.

CTEK CTX Battery Sense

CTEK CTX Battery Sense

 

It stores all the graphs on your smartphone, this was the first time the battery was connected from new, so only had 60% charge, and gradually charged to 100% over a few days, when driving the car.

History Graph

History Graph

CTEK iOS App

CTEK iOS App

 

History since January 2019

History since January 2019

 

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TPMS – Tyre Pressure Monitoring System

Monday, July 29th, 2019

I purchase this Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems from Amazon. It only took a few minutes to install, it took longer to read the Chinese manual, written in Chinglish!

Initial installation

Initial installation of the “head up display” Solar Powered!

Sensor Caps which secure to tyre valve

Sensor Caps which secure to tyre valve (yes my wheels do need a clean!)

after a 30 mile drive to work!

after a 30 mile drive to work!

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After 20 years of Continuous RAC membership and a Black Card, I sacked RAC! @RAC_Care @GreenFlagUK

Monday, January 30th, 2017

In the last couple of years I’ve been the proud owner of a Black RAC Membership card, given to customers, I’m led to believe this is because of my loyalty to RAC. I’ve never been sure what benefits it actually gives me, other than a black rather than orange card in my wallet.

Black R.A.C membership card

Black R.A.C membership card

I been with the R.A.C for 20 continuous year, but the renewal cost  was £27.46 a month, a total cost of a £328.99, I spoke to them today, to discuss this cost, this membership does included Onward Travel, which I decided I do not require, but even the reduction they offered does not match the current £13.13 they want to charge NEW CUSTOMERS!

They were NOT prepared to discount any further despite friends telling me that had current cover for £8.50 a month. I’ve noticed R.A.C twitter handle is RAC_Care ?

I don’t think so!

So R.A.C YOU ARE SACKED!

I’ve now switched to Green Flag for better cover, which also includes Onward Travel and Mis-fueling….!!!

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Let me introduce you to – Xsara No.2

Wednesday, January 4th, 2017

As many of you may know, Xsara No.1 was destroyed after a serious road traffic accident in January 2016. (not my fault, a lorry did a u-turn into me on a dual carriageway at 65mph!).

I loved the last one so much I purchased another one, and here is Xsara No.2

Citroen Xsara LX HDi 90 BHP - Phase 2

Citroen Xsara LX HDi 90 BHP - Phase 2

and inspiration from Wheeler Dealers, I got Wheel ’em In in Hull to refurbish these

Original Citroen Xsara alloys

Original Citroen Xsara alloys

refurbished satin black alloys

refurbished satin black alloys

a complete set

a complete set

and finally…

Xsara No.2

Xsara No.2

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Retro ’80s – the compact cassette tapes from the 80’s

Friday, September 9th, 2016
Compact cassette tapes from the 80s

Compact cassette tapes from the 80's

Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays with Jane
Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again
Suki plays with Leo, Sacha plays with Britt
Adolf builds a bonfire, Enrico plays with it

Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching’s is blue
They all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu

Lyrics from Peter Gabriel 3, “Games Without Frontiers”, I’ve been finding it a little boring driving to work, listening to Radio 1 & 2, so decided to dig out some OLD compact cassette tapes from the 80’s, and considering these have not been played since the 80’s sound very good and fresh, in my car stereo!

Yes, I can here you asking, who has a cassette tape player in their car, these days!

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My name is Andy, I’m a Grease Monkey!

Monday, August 29th, 2016

After watching many episodes of Wheeler Dealers on Quest and watching Ed China (The Mechanic), whilst I was recovering from my serious road traffic accident, and also encouraged by Paul at JLB Electronics.com to complete my own car maintenance, on my new car, I’ve completed its full service, changed the oil, oil filter, air filter, and fuel filter myself. Repaired the central locking, repaired the rear windscreen wiper motor and pump, repaired the seat belt, and replaced the exhaust silencer. I’ve still got a few jobs to complete, replace the head lamps and bulbs, and fit a spare wheel lock, to stop the spare wheel being stolen.

I’ve had to purchase new tools, because they were lost in the old car, and this is my new chest for my tools.

This is the K-Lock spare wheel lock kit.

And this is a hole I’ve drilled/cut in my boot to install it…using my new drill bit from Machine Mart, and it cut through the car body, like butter!

A dab of red oxide paint, top and underneath.

Some grey primer…

And Citroen metallic blue paint, glad it’s under the carpet – not quite sure this is the correct match! This was a tester to check the correct paint match!

Lacquered..

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Andy’s new gadget for testing car batteries! – A Solar BA7 Battery and System Tester for 12 volt batteries

Wednesday, July 1st, 2015

Yes, I have been experiencing car troubles again, well to be honest, the issue has never really gone away, and I’ve done nothing about it, other than keep charging my car battery!

The Problem

The issue has been, if I do not use my car for 24 hours, when starting the car, it does not turn over. So I have to ensure, I start and run my car 7 days a week. Lately, however this period of time, has been decreasing to less than 10 hours, so if I park up overnight, the car will not start the next morning.

The Temporary Solution

If I connect the battery to a battery charger, and charge for less than 5 minutes, it allows me to start the car. This is odd, because the battery is not going to charge much in 5 minutes.

This temporary solution to the issue, was becoming problematic, and delaying me getting off to work in the morning, unrolling the 50m extension lead, plugging in the battery charger, charging the battery, driving to work, and the car was always able to start after parking up in the car park, until Tuesday, when it refused to start, requiring me to get a jump start, with my special jump leads from my Boss! (I think Lindsey was probably getting p***** off as well, because my car is parked behind hers, on the drive!)

Discuss with “The Specialist”

I spoke to Paul from JLB Electronics, pop by their website, and purchase some electronics bits and bobs… about the issue with my car, I took some voltage readings with a voltmeter, before and after charging, and current draw from the battery at idle. The voltage of the battery was 12.4/12.5 volts, and current draw was 0.77A at idle (which could be high!), but not really enough to flatten a car battery overnight.

The Fix

So I decided to purchase a Solar BA7 Battery and System Tester for 12 volt batteries from Amazon.co.uk, this is not just a voltmeter, which can test starting minimum and maximum voltages, battery under load, battery at idle, to check your alternator is working correctly, but also checks the car battery conductance, and compares with the stated value on the battery e.g. the CCA (cold cranking amperes – this is the current which can be delivered for 30 seconds), the value is stamped on the battery!

Amazon parcel

Amazon parcel

Solar BA7 Battery & System Tester for 12v batteries

Solar BA7 Battery & System Tester for 12v batteries

Solar BA7 Battery & System Tester for 12v batteries

Solar BA7 Battery & System Tester for 12v batteries

As I had suspected the battery was at fault, I also purchased a new battery from Halfords – a Yuasa YBX5096, this brand in the UK, commonly associated with batteries in alarms, but very common in Japan and Japanese cars!

Old Car battery CCA 300 - FAIL

Old Car battery CCA 300 - FAIL

After connecting the tester, the CCA value tested is 300, the battery has a stated CCA of 680, so therefore it’s a fail, you cannot make out the numbers on the LED, but the fail light is lit! So it was nice to technically know, after testing the battery is duff!

New Yuasa Silver HSB096, 80Ah 760A (CCA) - PASS

New Yuasa Silver HSB096, 80Ah 760A (CCA) - PASS

Checking the new Yuasa Silver HSB096, 80Ah 760A (CCA) – it passes with a CCA value of 900, and 860. So good to know, my new battery is perfect!

So, before I removed the old battery, I tested, starting minimum and maximum voltages, and charging at idle and load and both these tests pass, so clearly it points to a duff battery, so it was quickly removed and changed.

New Yuasa Silver HSB096, 80Ah 760A (CCA) - PASS

New Yuasa Silver HSB096, 80Ah 760A (CCA) - PASS

New battery installed and connected…..sorry about the fuzzy photograph, excited!!!)

New battery installed....

New battery installed....

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Two Days at Lotus F1 Team courtesy of Microsoft & @lotus_f1team @1MikeyT @TechNetUK

Thursday, April 10th, 2014

All work and no play, makes jack a dull boy so I was told when I was a little boy!, I had the opportunity to visit the Lotus F1 Team at Enstone, Oxfordshire for a Microsoft IT Camp on the 8th and 9th April 2014, the days were entitled

Day 1: – Managing the Data Center with Windows Server and Microsoft System Center
Day 2: : Journey to the Cloud with Windows Azure: Microsoft IT Camp

Here are a sample of some photographs I took, there are 141 more here hosted at Google.

Two days, I will remember of a long time, I had an excellent time, and learnt some golden Microsoft nuggets, to take back to the Office, so it was not all about the cars!

Thanks to Guys and Gals at UK Technet, and Michael Taylor @ Lotus F1 Team for two great days.

Lotus F1 Team

My fat arse on a Lotus F1 Racing Car!

Andy on a Lotus F1 Racing Car!

lotusf1rachingcar

Lotus F1 Team Forumla 1 Raching Car

Lotus F1 Team Formula 1 Racing Car

Lotus F1 Team Steering Wheel

Lotus F1 Team Steering Wheel

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Ouch – My Banger!

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

Someone drove into my car…Ouch!! I did try and use gaffer tape to stick it back together, it didn’t work!

Before….

carbump1

carbump2

carbump3

After, some bits from a Dell Server!

carbump4

carbump5

carbump6

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