Robsey's Thread of Random Ramblings.

[Robsey]

Well -
Three and a half hours later,
And it is fixed - Again.
Second time in twelves months.

Turned out it was two loose transistors on the rear case.

Re-secured and hey presto.!!
One had to be bolted to the back casing so that it was grounded through the rear panel.
But the other had to be bolted via a plastic top-hat and plastic panel - so that it was secured in place but insulated from the rear panel.

A bit of a wasted day - I was going to make up the dash loom ready - but there would have been no point if the dash had remained faulty.
By the time it was fixed, it was too late to dig out the necessary cables from the shed. (Out-house).

[iangsi]

At least it's fixed now
With circuit boards of this age it's all ways going to be dry joints & loose components, just a matter off patience & good luck to find them

[Robsey]

Thanks -
You can imagine how my heart sank when the gauges crashed.

Still - it was much easier this time, than the first time.
I had no gauges at all back then.

Took an absolute age to replace all the faulty parts. Water damaged, corroded and burnt out components.

[Robsey]

Now then - off at a totally random tangent.

I have long since wondered why Vauxhall / Opel called many of their cars names ending in 'a'.
Or should I say 'ah!'.

Agila
Ampera,
Antara,
Ascona,
Arena,
Astra,
Calibra, (added per Andrei's prompt)
Cascada,
Corsa,
Cresta,
Firenza,
Frontera,
Insignia,
Manta,
Meriva,
Mokka,
Monza,
Nova,
Omega,
Sintra,
Tigra,
Vectra,
Ventora,
Viva,
Zafira...

Then I got to thinking that they are not the only ones...

Citroen - Xsara, Xantia,

Ford - Anglia, Cortina, Cougar (?), Fiesta, Granada, Ka, Kuga, Puma, Sierra...

Nissan - Micra, Primera, Stanza, Silvia,

Toyota - Carina, Cellica, Corolla, Corona, Cressida, Previa, Supra...

VW - Jetta...

I could cheat and mention BMW Alpina, but that is bending the rules.

Is there possibly a reason for chosing names ending in 'ah'.

I left out "Cavali-ah" in case some smart alec told me it was only phonetically acceptable.

Otherwise I could have had VW Transport-ah.

[Cavalier342]

Robsey, I can't believe you forgot the Calibra in Vauxhall's list. Dear me.

[Robsey]

Robsey, I can't believe you forgot the Calibra in Vauxhall's list. Dear me.

Oops!!
I do apoggle-ise.

Now added.

I am sure there are more that I forgot.

[Cavalier342]

Meriva lol

[Robsey]

Meriva lol

Meriva...
And Agila (Suzuki Wagon R).

Okay... all added.

See what I mean?
There is a lot of them.

Forgot the Manta, Monza and Ascona too.

About 25 models at the last count...

[iangsi]

Thanks -
You can imagine how my heart sank when the gauges crashed.

Still - it was much easier this time, than the first time.
I had no gauges at all back then.

Took an absolute age to replace all the faulty parts. Water damaged, corroded and burnt out components.

[ Image ]

[ Image ]

It a be a bugger to identify those let alone replace them without damaging everything else.

[ilovedmymantas]

It doesn't look like there was anything left to damage! Good job getting it working

Now then - off at a totally random tangent.
I have long since wondered why Vauxhall / Opel called many of their cars names ending in 'a'.
Or should I say 'ah!'.

I'm not totally convinced but here's someone's theory https://www.cartalk.com/content/we-were ... -use-names

I left out "Cavali-ah" in case some smart alec told me it was only phonetically acceptable.
Otherwise I could have had VW Transport-ah.

[Robsey]

I have considered the possible female gender slant before, but it should not matter anymore -

in these 'gender neutral', 'non-binary', 'gender fluid' times.

And - as all cars look the same anyway, I propose a new model name.

All hail the new PSA Group plastic Euro-Box..............

The Vauxhall Minga !!

[Cavalier342]

Introducing the new Boring Ecobox.

Featuring all of the modern requirements for new cars:

- Ugly plastic bodywork and LED lights.
- Absolutely no character, history, pedigree or charisma of any kind.
- Festooned with all the unnecessary pointless gadgets which are guaranteed to distract and annoy the driver and sink their wallet when it all goes wrong.
- Build quality of an early 1990's Chinese toy, guaranteed to break once you've had some fun, so you have to go and buy a new one immediately after.

Buy one now and end your life at your local pointless dealership today. Finance available to sink your wallet even further!

[Robsey]

That just about sums it up - lol

Maybe it should be the -
Vauxhall "Wot-evva"!! (In an Essex accent).

Sadly, the better you make the car,
the dumber it makes the driver.
Sat-navs are a good example.
Many people don't need to know where they are, or where they are going - as long as the sat nav does.
I have highly qualified colleagues at work who have no idea where their patients in the community are - they just set the sat nav and off they go.

Driver's do not need to think anymore.
I am sure it must affect their ability to "drive with due care and attention".

If you want alert careful drivers...
Remove the air-bag and fit a spike in the centre of the steering wheel.
Limit heater controls to warm, and not the heat of the sun,
Remove any abilty to have a mobile phone in the car.
And remove all these anti-collision systems, launch controls, hill start assist etc...
If people cannot drive without them, maybe they should not be given a driving license in the first place.

If they are really keen to control driving behaviour, how come they do not electronically limit the speed of the car to the road? The technology is definitely there.

Why?? Because many people would not buy a new car that cannot fulfil their need for speed.

[Cavalier342]

Remove the air-bag and fit a spike in the centre of the steering wheel.

Lol, I watched an episode of either Traffic Cops or Police Interceptors, one of those programs, and a traffic officer said that exact same thing after pulling someone over who wasn't wearing their seatbelt.

Too funny.

[Robsey]

I think my inspiration was from a driving school documentary on TV.
The driving instructor said the same thing about someone driving too fast or without a belt on.

Saying that though - being an old fart, I recall being an energetic driver when I was younger...
Sadly, I now see myself being a miserable old bugger, moaning at all the young drivers.

[cavalier1990]

Too much guff on new cars now, and that's not me turning into a moaning old goat in my 40s!

I've recently been driving my missus's new pug 2008, just been back and forward to the stealership with "Unknown" carplay issues, continual software updates, plus salesman blaming her phone and cables was causing the issue, then they said oh the Kia dealer next door is having the same issue with carplay and it's a known issue, but a couple of weeks ago they were blaming her phone?

I also managed to activate the engine cut-off (The one it does when you stop at lights) while driving by parked cars up a hill, don't know how the hell that happened but I almost rolled back into the traffic behind me - I'd pulled into a gap between parked cars for a split second to let a car by and on going to pull away the engine was turned off. Also don't get me started on electronic handbrakes and reversing sensors!!

Just give me 3 pedals a steering wheel and a handbrake lever and I'll do the rest

P.S I might need a paper map! Although I will say sat nav is quite good sometimes.

[Cavalier342]

Exactly, all that pointless unnecessary crap they fill cars with nowadays only leads to problems and even dangerous situations. The engine should be turned on/off with the ignition key, not some stupid electronic computer! That's just beyond stupid. Driver should be in control of everything at all times, not having to rely on crap that breaks after a week. Just don't understand why people never learn from it, they still get sucked in to buying this crap.

[Mk3alan]

Agree 100%! I read in car mechanics about a 'feature' I think Ford was promoting whereby one of the forward facing cameras monitored the soft kerb/edge of B type roads and it would steer the vehicle away from anything it considered unsuitable ie towards the centre of the road!
Couldn't believe what I had read or that something so stupid could be designed.
I put my thoughts into print but never got a reply.
Another stupid safety feature is the system that applies the brakes should another vehicle pull into your lane and is too close. I have been on a coach fitted with this 'safety feature' where a car pulled in front and the coaches brakes just went ON, unbelievable!
What is needed is better drivers who are aware of the surroundings and able to drive appropriately.
Stick with the oldens.

Alan

[thomas]

Beware The Machines. The Risks Digest (of comp.risks) is full of such things, it's fascinating, amusing, frightening in like measure. Read at your peril for it swallows time, yet ignore at your peril too.

To me the Cav is gone a bit in that direction already, past the Mk3 facelift of 92/93, to others things of that era are relics. They're such simple perfect seeming machines that we seem to have regressed. Technology had been taken as far as it could usefully be, all since has been burdening with toys, fripperies and distractions.

[Robsey]

I need to sit in the naughty corner here.
Because I have two older vehicles, both of which I have, or plan to have modernised... or added toys.

The Cavalier - I added a fuel computer, a colour integrated sat-nav headunit, cruise control, remote central locking and an un-necessary digital dash cluster.
The gps has gone, but the rest remains.

All could be considered un-necessary frippery.

And the camper van...
Well - electric power steering, pwm controlled heater blower, digital dash cluster, an injection system in place of a feeble carburettor.
All un-necessary, but with some useful practicality.

More efficient for the fuel emissions (28 mpg instead of 22 mpg),
112bhp instead of 60 bhp....
and reduced electricity consumption by the pwm unit.

Finally power steering would make life easier for low speed manoeuvres and parking up a van that weighs nigh on two tons.

I would fancy cruise control on the van too.
It was great on the Cavalier pre-Covid.

Leave it there Rob... that's enough !!

[3cav3]

Don't blame you with the improved economey aspect and the power steering. I'm fitting Pas to my van, also will be fitting more comfy seats aswell. Nothing electrical however will be modified, basically if it can't be fixed with a big lump hammer then I don't want to know, lol.

[Robsey]

Well finally the mayhem that is Christmas is over.
I am a bit of a humbug, as I am not a fan of the commercial or alcohol fuelled side of it all.

I have previously experienced the charm of a few days of innocently enjoying the snow and reindeer in Rovaniemi (Finland / Lapland) and a simple Santa orientated village in Valkenberg ( southern Holland).
They are how I viewed Christmas as a child.

Sadly totally lost in the alcohol and food bingeing UK.

I am not a particularly religious person, so I do not really take much stock of what the holiday is called... Christmas.

But then I hate the insincere yanky-twang of "Happy Holidays!!"
I don't know why I am so anti-Americanisms - all the people I met in Orlando, Florida were really nice - even the customs guys.

Maybe I should not take any notice of what I see and hear on tv.

I recommend to anyone a brief trip to any non-UK Santa destination to remind them of what Christmas should be like.

Just to bring out that innocent inner eight year old within you.

Despite previous long haul holidays to exotic far-away lands... Rovaniemi and Valkenberg will always be my favourite memories.



(I told you it was a rambling thread).

[Robsey]

Returning back to cars.

As with every Christmas, the powers that be insist on making things harder and more expensive.

With the Cavalier SORNed for the last nine months, and the van in pieces...
It means that the poor old Vectra is having to bear the brunt of doing all the motoring tasks.
It has long had a noisy dual mass flywheel (flywheel rattle) when cold...
But in November, the screen got a chip and almost as quickly formed a horizontal crack... bugger that will be another £70 excess.
And yesterday the bus-sized battery died.
It is a huge 110 battery.
Putting it on charge, it showed as fully charged within five hours... double bugger.!!
A replacement will probably be in excess of £125 - sugar bugger!!.
Left it on charge overnight, and it is charging again. Hmm we shall see what happens by this time tomorrow.
Although the little status window in the top does not look good.

[3cav3]

A pity you're not more local to me as I can get new Varta batteries at trade prices. Just had a heavy duty one for the wife's panda at under £60, and I seem to remember the one on the Nissan cabstar was about £90. I find once a battery has gone flat it's days are normally numbered.

[Robsey]

Well - it is what it is.
At this time of year all batteries get a good "battering" due to all the consumers being on.
Heated rear window demister, front blower motor, headlamps and so on.
Added to that the freezing cold over-night temperatures.
Even the least weakness is more vulnerable in cold conditions.

As it happens it is still charging merrily.
It is an 80 amp battery, so should take a minimum of 20 hours to charge with a 4 amp charger.
---------------------
This evening marked a pleasant change...
Rather than working on the van, I assisted Troy by starting to rebuild the Capri.
A change is as good as a rest, and it really was quite pleasant to do.
----------------------

The charger is still showing as charging after about 45 hours.
My assumption is that I have dropped a cell, and it will be hard for the battery to get much above 10 volts.

As it happens, Euro Car Parts are doing a 45% end of year discount.
Reducing the cost from £143 to £87. (Or there abouts).
Still - it is a bugger when Christmas expense strikes at the same time as cold weather.