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BFG

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Posts posted by BFG

    Returning to the fold. Fabia vRS.

    in Hellos and Goodbyes

    Posted

    Thanks for the tips.

    I remembered that I had an old obd2 Bluetooth scanner. That plus torque on my phone meant I could check boost pressure which appears to be running at approx 1.3 bar gauge (max), which appears to be normal for a non remapped car.

    Still happy with the car. 1000 miles in a week, and it's going well!

    Returning to the fold. Fabia vRS.

    in Hellos and Goodbyes

    Posted

    Hi,

    I've just bought a mk1 07 Fabia vrs, and loving it. I've been away from the fold for a few years, having previously owned a pd100 Fabia and mk1 Octavian vRS, but for various reasons have gone through a few cars in the meantime.

    I thought I'd come back on, and I'm trying to work out if this Furby has been mapped. No clue at the moment.

    Its good to be back!!

    Cheers,

    Andy

    Does anyone keep fish ?

    in Off Topic Chat

    Posted

    I've kept tropicals for a couple of years & have considered marines a couple of times. As with all tanks, the bigger they are, the more likely you are to get away with any mistakes. Marine always seems far too expensive / time consuming to me. Protein skimmers, salinity monitoring, requirement for RO (reverse osmosis water) & the fact that normal tropical kit doesn't like salt means I've tended to avoid it.

    Have a look at doing a (malawi) cichlid tank. Extremely colourful, lively, overstocking isn't a problem (as long as your filtration is up to it) and a very, very nice alternative to marines. Good fish shops will normally have a cichlid tank on display - well worth a look. This will be my next set up.

    Edited to say: P.S. It's not like I shy away from high tech tanks. On mine I've got UV sterilising (as a back stop against disease), external filtration, and CO2 for plant growth. It's a Juwel 180L tank.

    Pinking(?) / metallic noise on Mk1 vRS at low revs

    in Skoda Octavia Mk I (1996-2004)

    Posted

    Interesting to see other folks having a simlar problem.

    I'll do an update once I've had the cambelt done (and yes you're right Ken there is a service in there too).

    On different though, is that my sound gets MUCH worse if I try to accelerate harder (rather than it going away)

    once of my colleagues with a vRS had that problem with the centre mount and I hadn't related it - I'll get that checked too :-)

    Pinking(?) / metallic noise on Mk1 vRS at low revs

    in Skoda Octavia Mk I (1996-2004)

    Posted

    I've had my mk1 vRS estate for a while now and although it's been great, it hasn't been without problems.

    Over the last few months, I've noticed at between 1k and 2k rpm if I'm anything other than extremely gentle, the car sounds like its pinking (albeit much much worse than an old astra that used to do it). It's at the point where pedestrians turn and look occasionally. I obviously try to avoid driving at revs that bring on the problem.

    Not mapped, no mods, and performance once the turbo is spooling is still spot on. Worse when cold, but it still does it when at normal operating temp. When idling, the car is slightly 'tappity' (again as per my old Astra)

    Anybody suffered from this? Any suggestions? My cambelt is due soon(ish) so there is the possibility to ask my local dealer to have a look then maybe...

    Thanks for any suggestions

    Which Sat Nav??

    in The Technology Shed

    Posted

    Other option is a Garmin Nuvi 770. Quite pleased with it. Got TMC, bluetooth, and FM broadcasting to play MP3s through your stereo. Did a review of it on ebuyer.com. Can take an SD card. Nuvi 700 = UK maps, 760 = UK and Europe, 770 = UK, Europe and N. America

    Traffic reception is patchy at times, but has dug me out of many a jam on the M25. A mate has the Tomtom with TMC, and it's much worse than mine (not that that's much consolation!)

    Anybody a Home Theatre PC techie?

    in The Technology Shed

    Posted

    I've built a HTPC for Blu-ray and HD DVD playback. It's working great for these with no issues. For some reason though, DVD playback is rubbish. It's like a buffer gets full as play is ok for 5-6 seconds, and then it gets worse and worse.

    It also sounds like the (hd) dvd drive stops and then restarts making sounds like it's hunting. Have changed it for a normal DVD drive (IDE rather than SATA on the new drive) and I'm having the same issues.

    VLC player is playing DVDs fine, so it looks like software rather than hardware that's the issue.

    Any braniac out there with any suggestions? I've installed ffdshow and had a play around, but to no avail :-(

    My gold fish keep dying :(

    in Off Topic Chat

    Posted

    I'd suggest a couple of things:

    I know this sounds excessive, but goldfish really require approx 40ish litres each as they're such messy fish. The reason they survive for a couple of years is that they're also quite hardy and can survive for quite a while in dirty water (ammonia). In good conditions, goldfish can live >30 years. In poor conditions they'll succumb to diseases like fin rot, dropsy, or something else that makes them go belly up.

    The reason your replacement fish are dying so quickly, is that where as your first additions had time to get accustomed to the poor water quality, the new ones get 'dropped in at the deep end' and can't cope with the shock.

    If you have the patience, look up fishless cycling (I'm a member on another forum that discusses this in detail). Make sure the tank is filtered. Really you need to set up the 'friendly' bacteria in the tank that process ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate. Ammonia (from fishy "output") is nasty as they're basically swimming around in their own wee, but nitrite is worse. If you can get the tank 'cycled' then any fish you put in there are much more likely to survive. Ideal tank conditions should be ammonia ZERO, nitrite ZERO, nitrate <100ppm. Liquid tank additives to help the tank cycle are normally useless. Some Maidenhead aquatics stores are now selling frozen bacteria to instantly cycle your tank. It's probably worth a try.

    Get yourself a test kit from a fish shop - not very expensive and give you much more idea of the conditions your fish are living in.

    For the size of tank, I'd suggest a Betta (siamese fighting fish) in there on its own.

    If you want / need any more info , drop me a PM. Good luck

    Edited to add: If you've got a fish in there, obviously don't fishless cycle. Just consider it if you have to start from scratch again. Also, don't buy ammonia removal products as they stop the bacteria cycle (remove their food), and you'll be buying those same products for ever more to prevent ammonia build up

    Hardtail MTB needs Brake Discs

    in Off Topic Chat

    Posted

    I'd agree with the others, get a decent rim brake on the rear, and make do. I'd never go without my front disc mind you. Adaptors can be more hassle than they're worth with alignment etc. I had a steel frame modified professionally and even that's slightly off.

    However, I used to sell Woodman kit at a shop I used to work at. can't comment on this particular adaptor, but may be worth a punt.

    WOOdman products

    If you do decide to go for a bracket, be careful - from memory, you need to check the actual design of your rear quick release as some frames can't take the mod.

    Do you trust your dealer!?

    in Skoda Octavia Mk I (1996-2004)

    Posted

    Trusted mine until recently. Had an ongoing splutter problem (the usual), dealer claimed they'd cleaned out the throttle body but I still had the problem. Main dealer then suggested a fair bit of expensive work (incl new TB £££!)Took it to a local independent (Volvo specialist really) for second opinion, he cleaned the TB thoroughly and instantly solved the problem.:) He didn't reckon it had been done before.:mad:Won't name and shame til i've spoken to the main dealer but VERY unlikely to go back to them!

    Jay - was it the Swindon dealership by any chance? I don't know what's been going on there over the last 18 months, but their service / QA etc have dropped massively IMO. I've had to take the car back several times to get fairly simple faults fixed (when they've insisted that the job has been completed).

    I'm onto my 2nd Skoda & unless I find another dealer, I won't be buying a third.

    MTB Help required

    in Off Topic Chat

    Posted

    I'd agree with Joff,

    I've previously had V's but now running Hope Minis.

    V's are easy to completely strip down if there's a problem, whereas unless you're willing to deal with brake fluid the only thing you can do with hydraulics is change the brake pads. I had a cracked piston & had to take mine to a bike shop to get it fixed.

    Hydraulics are absolutely awesome if you're going to be going through deep mud / water / whatever else a trail can throw at you alot as the braking surface is so far away from the rim (and based on this I personally wouldn't go back to V's), but based on you saying it's going to be mainly for commuting & occasional offroad, I'd go for the lighter v-brakes.

    Also Joff mentioned going for slicks - you could go for 'semi-slicks' - not too knobbly at the centre of the tyre, but some grippy stuff on the edge of the tyre incase the going gets rough. With either of these though, don't get toooooo adventurous in the muddy stuff...

    Octavia vRS loses all power on start

    in Skoda Octavia Mk I (1996-2004)

    Posted

    Hi all,

    Got my Octy vRS a few months ago (bit of a change from a 1.9Tdi Comfort Fabia!) and it's been fun, but a bit eventful. Had a few problems but the main one is the following.

    Initially, the drivers door wasn't locking / unlocking with the rest of the car - occasionally (using the keyfob). Sometimes when it was unlocked (via keyfob) I'd try to start it and all power in the car would disappear. i.e. I'd hear the relay for the starter motor and then the dashboard mileage indicator, computer, courtesy lights etc would go out & fade back gradually. Multiple tries would produce the same result. If I got out of the car and manually used the key in the door to lock & unlock, the car would then start if I tried again. Switching on the radio would give the 'safe' message on the display for a few seconds.

    It's been in the garage & apparently there was water ingress in the door. The door ecu was replaced & all was fine for a while (i.e. best part of 6 weeks). It's now doing it again. The garage has suggested I check the battery terminals for corrosion before taking it in. They're fine.

    From my limited experience, it looks like a major short circuit somewhere. Any suggestions as I'm getting to the end of my tether...

    For info it's a 2005 Octy vRS estate with 20k on the clock. :mad: No mods so far.

    Thanks for any advice. :thumbup: I'm hoping someone, somewhere has had this issue before. It's a royal pain as it's intermittent.

    Help door locks wont open

    in Skoda Octavia Mk I (1996-2004)

    Posted

    beware... check the red light in the bottom of the drivers door to see if it stays on when you close the door, and check the flashing LED in the top of the door to see if its on all the time, my problems started this way with a flat battery after standing for a couple of days, and became no end of electrical gremlins resulting in some work on the loom in the drivers door...

    I'll second that. Had water ingress into the drivers door which killed the electrics. Had same issue with flashing LED & flat battery

    Things to look out for when picking up a 2nd hand vRS?

    in Skoda Octavia Mk I (1996-2004)

    Posted

    Hi all,

    I haven't been on here in a long time, but it's time to chop in my beloved Fabia 1.9TDi. It's done nearly 80k of trouble free motoring, but I need something bigger - I've put down a deposit on an 05 plate mk1 vRS estate that I'm going to see / pick up on Monday. I'm so excited it's untrue :rofl:

    Before accepting the car I want to give it a good check over - this is my list so far - please add to it if you can...

    Make sure the climate control runs nice and cold and doesn't smell funny

    Check to see if coil packs have been replaced (had they designed out the problem by 2005?)

    See if the car hesitates in 3rd gear (as per the sticky at the top of the Octy forum)

    Check all electrics (windows / cd changer etc)

    Thanks,

    BFG

    Simple insurance claim is turning into a nightmare - any advice appreciated

    in The Roadside Hotel

    Posted

    As above with the additional advice to make NO COMMENT to the other side,either by phone or letter - if he say's or writes the wrong thing HIS insurance company will leave him to deal on his own AND not pay for repairs - this happened to a colleague at work - BE WARNED

    Cheers Dave - we were wondering what to do about that. Fair point about the policy as well Neil. Briskoda comes up :thumbup: as always!!

    Just an update as I thought you may be interested - it seems his insurance company have been trying to claim off the wrong insurance company (no relation to who insures the other party) :eek: :mad:

    Will keep you posted.

    Simple insurance claim is turning into a nightmare - any advice appreciated

    in The Roadside Hotel

    Posted

    Hi,

    Am hoping someone may be able to help.

    A friend of mine was involved in an accident a while ago when they went over on green at a set of traffic lights, and someone who jumped a red light went into the side of them. There is a witness who can clarify this. Police had to attend the scene and the other driver left soon after without getting full details from my mate.

    It's been a few months, and my mates insurance have kept assuring him that all was fine, and that the 'other party' would pay up, but they had no communication from the other side denying / accepting the claim and so sent the witness reports through.

    The other insurance company has now got independent solicitors involved and now, on Saturday a letter has been recieved by my mate from them, saying that if the matter is not sorted within 7 days and full payment made to their client then they will be suing him personally.

    Now this stinks as far as I'm concerned for several reasons:

    Why couldn't his insurance act like this and threaten the other side?

    Don't you pay insurance & legal cover so that this sort of thing doesn't happen?

    What are they up to when he has a witness and the other driver left the scene without talking to anyone else?

    Citizens Advice have been consulted but weren't much help unfortunately. My mates insurance company have a legal team that they have said 'will get involved when necessary' but that hasn't been at all so far.

    Anybody been in similar circumstances / had any problems similar to this? Any suggestions / advice on where to go from here?!! Any help would be much appreciated.

    Thanks.

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