bazz54

I am sure that I have heard suggestions a number of times that Vaseline is harmful (long term) on rubber. On very thin rubber, I think it does damage quite fast!

The term "conditioner" is ambiguous and may mean different things to different people. I believe it refers to so-called pulsers and I have one which is sold either a kit of parts or ready assembled by a company in Scotland called Courtistown Marine, which I really think does work and serves to break down sulphate deposits which accumulate as a battery ages, or worse still, is unused for a period of time. However, the reality seems to be that alternators operate so that much of the time, your battery is only partially charged (maybe 50-75%), but with an older battery, or if you do lots of short runs, it may even be less. Deep discharging greatly reduces the life of batteries and so every 4-6 weeks, I connect a charger to mine and get them right up to full charge; sometimes they don't need much, other times they will take 15-20 amp hours of charge. Other thing is that if you look after a battery it should last 5-6 years (the OEM ones often last appreciably more), and my view is that when it's clear they are deteriorating, don't mess about; replace them and keep the old one as possible back-up while it still has some life left in it.

I have Goodyear Ultragrip winter tyres on my saloon and very happy with them; got them at a good price from a French (think that winter tyres are compulsory over there so they may be cheaper cos they sell more) online outfit called pneus, who have fitting network in the UK. Winter tyres will wear really fast in warmer temperatures so you will need to take them off around March; I keep 2 sets of wheels to save hassle.

There is no exact way of knowing how much you need because you have to bleed until you 'guesstimate' you have flushed through; if you are lucky, you might be able to see a colour change between old and new. But based on my experience of doing it on the Gen7, I think Opie is right and that 1.5L should give you a margin, though a 2 litre pack barely costs more. DOT3, 4 and 5.1 are all interchangeable glycol based fluids as distinct from 5 which is silicone. Toyota now only supply 5.1, but the Gen7 was designed to use DOT 4 and that's what I stuck with.

Try here; Got my winter tyres from them.

Although I can't offer an exact answer, I'm sure the issue of torque is more complex than just compensating for the coefficient of friction. Factors like loading and extension come in to play. What I do have experience of in regard to stainless steel fasteners is that of pickup or galling, i.e. the tendency of stainless steel parts to "friction weld" themselves together. This may not be relevant here, but it can be real problem; to avoid it you have to use either PTFE tape or a suitable lubricant on threads. Overall, I am not sure that going to stainless is a great idea on a standard engine. For cosmetic purposes, getting ordinary steel fasteners plated with nickel may be an idea.

Depends on how bad it is and that can be hard to find out until you get a wire brush on it. Provided you still have a good thickness of metal left you need a good rust neutralising paint. 18 years ago I bought a house with an incredibly badly rusted tank for the central heating oil. I thought it was useless but painted it with Hammerite and it is still in use today; guess what I use of the cars?

Including VAT and delivery, that charger is ~£110 which is far more than I would ever pay for a charger. It isn't even clear what it's maximum charge rate is; I would want at least 5 amps, pref 8 amps. I normally use a battery charger once every ~6 weeks or so just to ensure the batteries in my cars are fully charged (it is well established that they last much longer if you avoid letting them get below 50% charge). Just depending on how much they have been used, they sometimes prove to be just about fully charged by the alternator, but will sometimes take quite a lot of charge. I just use a bog standard 5 amp charger and ensure it doesn't over charge by keeping an eye on it and using a cheap plug-in mains timer. Regarding the battery voltage; that is very dependent on temperature, so saying that it should be a minimum of this or that is a bit uncertain. The key issue is that a battery will continue to give at least 9.5 volts or so during cold cranking and that really needs a load tester to assess it (about £30).

Is this anything than more spray on varnish? Varnish has been used as an insulator/corrosion protector for decades, especially stuff like military radios for use in tropical locations.

I hit a bird (in another car)and bits got through to the radiator so there was a nice smell of cooking meat for the rest of the journey

I have used white spirit over many years, and on several different cars, to remove tar and have never had a problem. I believe that Halfords tar remover (which I have also used) is essentially white spirit. Pure white spirit would evaporate and leave no residues, but it will remove all traces of wax and polish off the paint leaving it appearing slightly dull. Whatever product is used to remove tar, it will do the same - if it will dissolve tar it will certainly dissolve wax. Regarding T-cut, the clue is in the name "cut" and this is how wiki defines a cutting compound; "Cutting compound consists of an abrasive suspended in a paste. Like most abrasives, it comes in various grit sizes dependent upon how much matter is to be removed. It is used on automotive paintwork to cut through (abrade) oxidised paint or to polish out scratches in the paintwork. The oxidised paint is duller than fresh paint and the cutting compound is used to expose this fresher surface". The problem is that some paints re-oxidise again very quickly after the top surface is removed, so the benefits may be very short lived. Probably the main use for T-cut is by dodgy garages for tarting up rough cars just before being sold.

The way it restores colour is by abrading off the top layer (usually oxidised through aging). How else do you think it works m8 ? I've used it too, but not since I saw what it did the first time.

No don't use T cut; that really is harsh; it is an abrasive. The spirit will have taken off polish/ wax but should easily polish back up.

White spirit works well on tar and seems perfectly ok on paintwork. I think the stuff halfords sell is just that but costs lots more than the White spirit you can buy in any DIY store.

Although I own adjustable wrenches, they are the wrong thing to use on anything that is seized. No matter how tightly you think you have adjusted them, they always have some give in them and are good for rounding corners off nuts and bolts. When I took off the front calipers on mine, I started off using a good quality ring spanner, which was a good fit, but didn't have enough leverage. So I used two big jubillee clips (sort of thing that goes on a rad hose) to fix a length of scrap metal tube on to the ring spanner to create an extension bar and that did the trick. I really hate having other people work on my cars, but there are times when you do think that something like gardening would be an easier 'hobby'

Thanks for that!

how be this "garage" man getting his ideas???? How lean is lean? What be the colour of your plugs; should be light biscuity brown if good, but more whitish or even glazed if lean (old Haynes repair manuals for all cars used to have a series of pictures which showed the trend). What be the colour of yee tail pipe; should be black or mid-grey if normal, or lighter grey if lean, but not as indicative as ye plugs. These old "garage" men can be villains when the find a young lad like you. I be a young lad too once and they did me good and proper. Car was overheating, so they just took the thermostat out and said they'd fixed it. That be one Mr Nudd back in 1976 - I ain't forgotten or forgiven him. I didn't realise what had gone on for quite a while, until I too had become an old (automotive) seadog. Damn their black hearts to hell!

I've never met any woman who did not think the Gen7 looks good....except maybe some female owners of Gens 1-6 :rolleyes: Of course, the latter would say it is a girls' car anyway!

is the gauge you are looking at the one that's part of the hose which connects the can? If so, might have something to do with the valve in the low pressure port connector closing and the can being empty? If the air con is working, there has to be at least 20psi in there or else the AC clutch wouldn't go in....and it wouldn't feel cold.

I've measured temps as low as 6'C (just by the vent) on a hot day. As I have said soooo many times, DIY cans are a false economy :rolleyes: To do diagnostics, you really need gauges on both the low and high pressure sides and then there are "logic" tables that you can use to figure out what goes. Try www.AA1car.com Think you should see 25-45psi on low side in a good system and 170-190 on high side with ambient temp of 25'C. When you use cans, the high pressure can be too high because there is air (less compressible)in there and compressors dooo hate that.

Agreed, worth checking to see if OK, if so, leave well alone

Paraffin first then

Hi planc; would be interesting if you can find it; looks like it should be a couple of quid but ....??? Also looks like it should be easy to clean; it's just a one way valve but can get gummed up with oil vapour/dirt, hence some people using the little catch tanks. If it were stuck, 5 mins in some paraffin might well work. Being a pre-face lift owner, anything that helps keep oil sweet is of interest.

There are a number threads on US forums urging the periodic replacement of these valves, even though it is not in the Toyota schedule. The argument is that these valves clog, the PCV does not work properly and oil quality deteriorates more quickly. There are even suggestions that this is a factor in the Death Rattle issue. Apparently, an oem valve in the States is about $10 and a pattern part $5 ( link), but a Google search for UK parts came up with prices of up to £40! Has anyone replaced a Celica PCV, and if so, where did you buy and how much was it?

Think I have sorted it. I started by trying a drop of meths. When the stain was wet with meths, it was perfectly clear, but became opaque again as the meths dried, and the stain was not washed off. The only stuff I had in the garage in terms of a light polish was some household metal polish - known from previous jobs to be much milder than T-Cut, so I decided to try that on a tiny area. Worked brilliantly; pretty much sorted I think. Finished off with one of Autoglym's plastic care prods. Gen6GT, wasn't saying petrol was a problem, just that it definitely was not sticker residues. Having watched 1000's of "Crime Scene CSI" episodes, I now have the degree equivalent in splatter patterns. Lets say a small egg hit the cover dead central and then spread out in all directions; you get the picture. Now lets suggest a cat peed on the lens and that splattered out in all directions; I rest my case. Suspect the heat from the headlight caused it to dry rock hard, or chemically react with the plastic. Bad pussy; retribution will follow! First time I'd realised those covers are plastic not glass. Thanks for the suggestions - mild polish did it. As for superglue on a cover; acetone does superglue but suspect it will also do the cover. In your shoes, I'd try a 50/50 mix of water and meths soaked in to something very absorbent (ask wife/girlfriend/mother) and keep it fixed on there overnight, then see what the edge of credit card does.