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1

General Discussion Area / Re: The best drummer....ever?

« on: 27 February 2012, 19:56:21 »

Neil Peart (Rush) by a long long way
Bill Bruford (Yes amongst others)
Keith Moon (The Whooooooooooooooooooo)

2

General Discussion Area / Re: im off

« on: 27 February 2012, 18:05:02 »

Envious or what. If only I was a few years younger. My brother emigrated to Florida back in 1981 and has lived the life of Riley ever since. No kids for him to worry about at the time (or since) and he despairs at the state this country has got itself in. Everytime he comes back here to visit he's pretty open mouthed at the way in which the countrys gone to rat-sh_t.

The only downside is medical bills. He works for a large hospital trust so his medical insurance is pretty good but his wife is quite poorly and it still costs a fortune even though they're only paying a small portion of the real bill. You need to factor that in to the "pro's and cons" but fair play to anyone that takes the plunge. I'm sure you'll have a better quality of life overall and as for the footy although you can't get to the real deal I think my brother gets better cable coverage of UK games than we do.

3

General Car Chat / Re: The Omega may be going again!

« on: 27 February 2012, 17:52:41 »

Blimey that's got to be wrong surely. It's no wonder there are so many people that simply flought the law nowadays and don't bother insuring at all. Not that I condone it, I've always paid my dues and would happily dob anyone in that I knew was avoiding insurance (or road tax). I suppose the insurance compnaies are basically saying "go away, we don't want the business" but how they can justify such a large premium baffles me, it must be three times the value of the car.

4

Omega General Help / Re: Fault Reader Hook Up

« on: 27 February 2012, 06:27:00 »

Thanks for that. I couldn't find any reference to this connection in the manual but guessed it might be somewhere near the fuses or perhaps the ECU but it was too dark to look last night.

5

Omega General Help / Fault Reader Hook Up

« on: 26 February 2012, 22:10:15 »

Can someone confirm where a fault reader connects to diagnose / reset faults. I have had the 0420/0430 emission fault codes come up a couple of times now in the past 9 months (most recently after my mate kindly dumped some cheapo tesco fuel in it after borrowing the car for the weekend). Usually I put BP Ultimate in the tank and I don't have a problem.

I know these codes are not critical (the Mig passed its MOT on emissions with flying colours with the light up last month) but on that occasion the Engine Management Light was on for a couple of weeks and it drove me mad. I've now ordered a fault code reader so that I can reset rather than wait for it to reset as I'm worried that the "lamp on" masks other possible faults.

I know there is a fix for this by relocating the sensors but I'd rather put up with it and reset when necessary. Given the value of Migs now, replacing the Cats and or sensors is not an option as it rapidly takes the old girl into right off territory.
 

6

General Car Chat / Re: how dare thay say this.

« on: 16 January 2012, 19:21:40 »

Thanks, I'll PM The Boy to see if I can arrange to get the software checked and updated. I have no record of gearbox oil changes so suspect it may not have been done but looking at the maintenance guide I can see why, it doesn't exactly look easy. I'll try the software as a first step.

7

General Car Chat / Re: members spotted out and about today.

« on: 16 January 2012, 19:04:52 »

Out and about all over the place today (200 miles) on the car hunt. Talking of entry slips London Colney anti-clock entrance on to M25 is interesting at the moment. The slip road from the roundabout into the contra-flow (50mph limit) can't be more than 100 metres long and you're blind spotted from seeing anything on the motorway until the last 30-40 metres. Floor it and hope

8

General Car Chat / Re: premium or standard fuel ?

« on: 16 January 2012, 18:34:00 »

Bp Ultimate for my 3.2 which consistently keeps the dreaded pre cat emissions fault codes at bay for each bank.  I don't suppose it makes much difference to performance but every time I put standard unleaded in my tank I get these up and it then takes an age to reset without a Tech 2. 

9

General Car Chat / Re: how dare thay say this.

« on: 16 January 2012, 18:17:00 »

I am surprised at your comments on the autobox. I note that you are now above the OOF recommended mileage for the autobox ATF change. Has this been done? You may find that you get a significant improvement. I have a 3.2 Elite Auto (51 plate, 50,000m) and a 2.5TD Auto, and the Elite box is superb, whereas the the TD box is a little lumpy, although well kept.

What's that you speak of?? I have found the auto box on my 3.2 to be a bit of a pain at times as it tends to change up quite early - or at least earlier than I like when I'm just pottering about. No problem with kick down when it's needed but I often find it is more comfortable driving in Sport mode just to keep the revs a tad higher. Is there a mod that sorts this?

10

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / Re: Bose System - Lack of Bass

« on: 15 January 2012, 14:04:41 »

I may take you up on that although as I said now that I've played around with the balance and put some decent music on it's not as bad as I thought. Another blast this morning got me into head nodding mode - much to the embarassment of my daughter who was sitting next to me at the time. 

11

Omega General Help / Re: 3.2 MPG question

« on: 15 January 2012, 13:59:47 »

Mine has done 24.5 (according to the trip computer) and that's an average over approx 5000 miles. I rarely reset it so I can get an overall view on what it's doing. On average I get 260-320 miles from a tank but it can be as low as 220 with spirited driving or as high as 400+ if I use a full tank on a run. 

12

Omega Electrical and Audio Help / Re: Bose System - Lack of Bass

« on: 15 January 2012, 09:31:03 »

Can you confirm your car is an Elite, or another flavor with Bose added, where abouts in Hertfordshire are you?

Chris.

My wagon is indeed an Elite, 3.2. I live in Waltham Cross. On the Bose issue I couldn't find anything obvious re wiring etc and I've since had another dabble with my system and I think because the rear speakers are in fact subs they tend not too give much output unless the choice of music is right. I wound the system up yesterday with some Pink Floyd, Rush and Black Sabbath and its not at all bad after all. I've altered the fade to bias a bit more to the rear and it seems ok. I wasn't interested in doing anything too radical because I'm not planning on keeping her for too much longer but I've had some decent hifi in other cars in more recent years and the system just sounded a bit flat in comparison. I expect its a victim of it's age but still not bad for a car over 10 years old.

13

General Discussion Area / Re: Cruise ship Costa Concordia aground

« on: 15 January 2012, 09:22:15 »

Credit to the captain for getting the ship to shallow water - although there are now allegations that he didn't exactly hang about getting off the boat himself -  this could have been so, so much worse. I suppose it's a bit of a dilema what to do in such circumstances. Abandon ship when there's still a chance of making shallow water, with the risks this must also have presented. It can't be easy to get so many off a ship of that size in darkness even before it starts listing badly but the crew must have some idea of the seriousness from the on board telemetry. This also obviously raises the question of how well they plan for such emergencies and how well practised the crew are in controlling such a situation.

It took my wife about six months to pursuade her mum to go on a Norwegien cruise last year - which she loved - but I wonder whether her plans for a cruise to the Med this year and now going to be on hold.

14

General Discussion Area / Re: One for Martian - councillors no tickets parking in Southend

« on: 14 January 2012, 20:03:26 »

Southend council - like may others - are a joke. I spent the day down there last summer with my boy and bought a ticket to park on the front - which extends for a few miles chalkwall to shoeburyness. I bought a ticket by the Sealife Centre for the day then a few hours later moved my car about half a mile to close to the funfair. Needless to say I was slapped with a ticket during the afternoon even though I was covered until about 5pm because the parking is supposedly zoned. If I'd seen the low-life who had ticketed me I'd have tw*tted him and at least had my moneys worth. I wont be venturing back in a hurry.... their loss.

15

General Car Chat / Re: So, my hunt for a small car for daughter..... can anyone check something for me

« on: 14 January 2012, 12:15:45 »

When I broached the subject of my daughter taking on our Corsa a couple of years ago she recoiled in horror ('cos it was an auto) and after making enquiries about insurance (its a CDX) I wasn't too unhappy. It's difficult to see how kids can get started nowadays unless they're hanging off mum or dads policy. Happy hunting and remember its often cheaper to walk away it's just so damn time consuming.