Ben-B

Yesterday evening was out driving and went to put the fan on, then all of a sudden the car started filling with smoke through the air vents. Pulled over and stopped, opened the bonnet to look, let the engine cool down. Started up again and did it again. Tracked it down to this thing, located in the back right of the engine bay, under the scuttle panel... sat right on top of the fan. It is obviously shorting out and burning from the inside, but what is it? : Here's the thing that was shorting out and burning... This is where it was located... Any ideas, what is it, how do I disconnect/replace it? Please help.

Sorry to hijack the thread but mine runs like this too... VERY rough up to around 2000 rpm (if you floor it at say 1500 rpm then it lurches and chugs), but above 3000rpm it seems to be fine. Seems very down on power though. Also, it doesn't make a difference what the oil temp is, does it at the start middle and end of long and short journeys. It won't be the coilpack though, cos mine's a dizzy!

I was meaning more the management on the road repairs side who were fully aware of the pothole yet hadn't marked it out properly or fixed it, and then still refused to compensate me for damage Once they are aware of it though, they should repair it within reasonable time, or at the very least mark the pothole out so roadusers can see it, particularly on a 70mph dual carriageway when it's about the size of a dinner plate and 3 inches deep... it's like driving into a curb at 70mph

In the last two years, potholes have cost me about £300 in wheels... I've never got very far with getting my money back, cos different councils have different rules... both sets I've just sold "as seen with photos of damage" but for nowhere near what they cost new. Next time I hit a pothole and damage an alloy, which I'm sure is inevitable, what I would really like to do is get someone who works for the council, and use their head to hammer out the dent in the wheel, then it'd be perfect!

Exactly. I'm sure ambulances have to be able to respond to a call within 8 minutes of the control centre receiving the 999 call as well... taking 10 minutes to cover 500 yards ain't gonna meet that target! I know in rural areas where there is not much ambulance cover they first-aid train people to respond to calls until a paramedic can arrive at the scene, perhaps those people, and other people vital to the country (doctors, nurses, teachers* etc) should receive discounts or subsidies on winter tyres. * teachers get a star cos it seems most schools close anyway so perhaps not such a wise way to spend the money

Sorry to jump in here, but could you do a 2.8 24v conversion and bore the block to 2.9 using the ABV pistons? Or is it a different stroke and everything going from the 12v VR6 to the 24v?

I personally have winter tyres, and I think they should be a legal requirement on all 4 wheels during winter months. That'd also do us a favour with traffic jams as 90% of people probably don't have winter tyres, and at 3 points a corner that's an outright ban for them! I do like the idea behind snow socks, easier than snow chains, but a colleague at work has them on his 1-series BMW and said they're great on the snow, but on tarmac they'd wear out before he even got halfway to work if he tried, so they're only good on the snow. Chains are the same, but more of a hassle to fit. Those SnoClaws look dubious, I'd rather spend 2 minutes watching him fit them than see a "2 minutes later" caption pop up in the video. Finally that spray on stuff won't convince me... that hill didn't look that steep tbh, and if I was selling a product like that, if I was able to sensibly and slowly drive up a slight snow-covered slope, then I'd also be able to wheelspin halfway up and "get stuck" to make it look like my product works. At £10 a can or whatever it is, that will do 2 tyres four times, lasting half a mile a time... that's not a safe option... like the video comments say, it's for getting your car off the driveway, shouldn't be for any road use

Sorry to hear that Jim, I've got a crack on the rear bumper too, perhaps from when I left the car parked at work for a week in the snow, someone driving in the car park a bit too quick perhaps. Unfortunately they'd gone by the time I noticed the crack. Also got a mark on the front bumper where someone scraped past me as well. I'd have let their car roll down into someone elses... serve them right for having to fork out for other people's repairs... even if it does damage an innocent persons car.

really enjoyed yesterdays episode, and last weeks episode. I couldn't care less that the episodes seem to be getting more scripted and less about cars and more about entertainment. End of the day, they're enjoyable to watch, if you don't like it don't watch it... I do enjoy it so I do watch it... they're a good laugh. Their usually outspoken and often controversial and that makes it better imo.

Sheffield... on Ecclesall road opposite kwik fit & the car wash, a few days ago (22nd perhaps?)

That would create a larger surface area as the tyre flattens... meaning less grip... Narrower tyres are better because they dig into the snow, as such wider tyres (or flatter tyres with a large surface area) "float" on top of the snow. Also that would put additional strain on the tyres potentially leading to premature failure as well as increased wear rate when not on snow. And if you underinflate the winter tyres, that's worse because then the little sipes (slits in the rubber) close up reducing grip.

went back out to the car after half an hour, had a fiddle around with the handbrake mechanism got the cable releasing slightly, and it didn't lock the rear wheel up anymore, or cause (too much) resistance, so I drove to work. 30 seconds after pulling up at work, after a 15-mile drive, the rear brake disc was just cool enough to touch without it being painful, but was still pretty hot (I hadn't "used" the brakes for at least 5 minutes either, as I can just coast down the drive at work into the parking space) Left the handbrake off, left the car in N too, as I noticed last time whenever you leave it in gear it always clunks as you drive off again. On the way home, no problems, and the rear brake disc was barely warm when I got home. Handbrake is off but car is in 1st on a flat surface.

Go out to the car at 4.30 this morning to go into work for 5am, handbrake is stuck on (passenger side). Wheel just about rotates on the dry road surface, but on the wet/icy surface it is completely locked up. Made it to the top of my road and just had to turn back... Sprayed de-icer in the general area, but was too dark to see anything like if the caliper mechanism is seized... and I was in a suit so didn't want to be crawling around. Unfortunately it looks like the temperature is set to DROP throughout the day, so no hope of ice melting if that is the cause. And I don't have any money left this month to take a taxi... only got today/tomorrow/wed to work then I'm off til after xmas, but not sure how I'm gonna get into work

I'm sorry to the extremely small minority that this might involve... but every single car I have witnessed first hand as severely struggling in these conditions has failed to clear their front/rear windscreen or side windows and headlights of snow, obviously has summer tyres fitted, and drives far too fast and aggressively for the conditions. For those people, I actually HOPE they write their cars off, but I really do fear that they may cause damage to mine/others cars, or even worse, injury to innocent drivers and pedestrians. If they did not have "adequate" brakes fitted to their cars, considering the road conditions, would they still continue to drive?? I hope not... but why then do they drive in conditions that their tyres (the ONLY 4 points of contact between car and road) obviously cannot handle

THEY'RE WINTER TYRES NOT SNOW TYRES. They are designed FOR ALL WEATHER CONDITIONS WHERE THE TEMPERATURE IS BELOW 7 degrees C. They vastly improve grip in WET WEATHER CONDITIONS AT ANY TEMPERATURE. The number of people who I hear saying "well it only snows a few days of the year" or "it's never deep enough for us to need them" just annoys me and makes me want to beat them with something

Did I balls, one prick had a go at me for parking in his space. The reason I parked there... when HE shovelled the snow out the way of his garage door, he piled it straight into my parking space... and I saw him do it as well, so I'll park in his space until he clears the snow. He's a real cnut anyway, one day I came home from work at 3am and it had been pissing it down, all the parking spaces were taken up, and I wasn't gonna drive up to the square and park there then walk all the way back down again, not when it's dark, cold and wet... so I blocked him in, but I left a note on his windscreen (and also one visible on my dashboard) explaining it was 3am, pissing with rain and I was too tired to move it up to the square... also said if he needed me to move it, ring me on my number and I would happily move it for him. So at 7.30am he rings me up and asks me to move it... which I am more than willing to do, seeing as though I was blocking him in... then he doesn't move his car until 4 in the afternoon, I'm pretty sure he was trying to be awkward and wanted to wake me up right in the middle of my sleep

I did my part to... I dug my way from the flat to the main road... which also provided 15 other flats/houses in our courtyard with access to the main road... do I get a tax refund?

I overheard someone elses conversation and apparently somewhere they were using a pnuematic drill to break up the ice... tractors with ploughs had ploughed the snow into high banks on the side of the road, but there was only enough room for one and a half cars at a time... and those snow banks have since turned to ice walls. They used pnuematic drills to break the ice walls up enough to fit two cars down, and used the same tractors to plough the blocks of ice out the way.

Indeed, I'm not sure why, but everything in a Corrado is louder... stones/grit hitting the windscreen... slush/snow coming off the tyres and hitting the underside of the arch... anything hitting the subframe/sump/exhaust... tyres scrubbing the arch

You and me both :lol: I think the puddingy sidewalls of 50 and 55 profile helps this time of year :D I'd certainly agree with that, the only reason I can't drive the normal way to work (the back roads) is cos there's so much compacted ice (with the way global warming is I'm sure it's at least as thick as the polar ice caps) that is as uneven as any road I've ever driven on... grip isn't a problem on it, but it's so bumpy that you have to do about 5mph or you get thrown about too much, and I'm also worried about damaging my sump (I saw a 4x4 drive at about 30mph over one bit and smash their rear transmission gearbox thing to bits on ice). Higher profile wouldn't help me much there, but it would reduce the ride harshness on most of the ice and potholes you get around winter

They won't insist on them. They'll do what the Germans do and won't pay out for claims made on summer tyres :D Yeah a proper inflation figure would be helpful. I've just being going by 'feel' and visual clues so far. It could just be the particular tyres I'm using don't like that much pressure! For me it was the cheapest option to go back to 15s! I bought a set of speedos, a 288 setup and 4 winter tyres for less money than a set of 17" snow tyres! Mine weren't that expensive, although next time I need to buy new winter tyres, I think I may do the same. I didn't this year as tbh I cba with the hassle of changing the brakes... I've had enough of brakes this year

I don't care, I think they should be made compulsary... either legally or insurance-wise any fully comp insurance policy should provide 3rd party cover only in the event of an accident in winter where winter tyres were not fitted. That'll soon teach people, when they're having to pay out for their own repairs.

-1... well bring out the shorts n tshirt!!! Yeah I will never put summer tyres on my car again during the winter months, I still can't believe how good they've been

I've still not sorted out my ABS sensor yet, so I have no ABS... which is great, because in weather like this it kicks in far too soon. The tyres grip fine on the road in the wet or dry, if they lock up in the wet I just ease off the pedal slightly til the wheels start turning again. In the snow, locked wheels build up snow infront of them anyhow, stopping you quicker than ABS... and on ice, well ya just gotta be cautious I managed to reverse up an icy/snowy bank in the car park at the supermarket today, must have been a good 8-10 degrees slope, not a problem. I find that the grip on even ice is remarkable... this morning at -11, all the water was completely frozen, and as long as that ice is dry grip is good. When it gets close to melting/freezing point, around -3 and above, the ice starts to melt and the water/ice is too slippy, but dry ice at this temp is fine... One thing I do hate however is freezing fog, and not just cos it freezes to your windscreen instantly, but also it has created a nightmare morning at work

Ahh interesting. Shame I couldn't afford that but that sounds like incredible performance/reliability for under £40k if you went and bought one then converted it.