JS2004

Cheers Chris, I was not aware of that but I am now so wont do that any more Normally I dont use full lock, its only when I have to get out of a tight parking spot. The drivers where I live are quite fond of literally sitting on the bumper (admittedly parking is difficult due to lack of space) so on occasions I end up spending 5 minutes edging back and forth to get out of the spot (Austin Powers style!)

No harm done - its rectified now and as a result a new part (crank pulley) is in my scopes to be tested. Your 100% right though and I can see exactly how it looked due to the modified title - that definately did not help matters, but with it being a forum and just 'text' its so easy to take things out of context (adding in that its a Monday morning too!). Anyways hopefully my intentions and reasons for modification are now clear - and fingers crossed I can get it fixed without dipping into the xmas present saving pot too much.

Hi Havard, The amended thread title was done by a moderator. I had changed the title to simple "." as my original diagnosis following this mornings tests was potentially inaccurate. I did want to put up a full post but generally I wait for my lunch hour before I access forums as its frowned upon to do during work time. To clarify, the title suggesting I was witholding information was not a title I put on, it was done by what I can only assume was a moderator (I can only assume as I dont think non mods can edit titles). I can totally see why this amended title received the responses that followed. From the comments it seems there was a spate of bad threads recently and mine probably got tied in with those despite my intention of editing it so that the mis-diagnosis (potentially) was not displaying still. I had changed the posts and the reason of "fixed" that I entered was (in retrospect) misleading as the problem isnt fixed its just that I dont think its 100% the alternator yet. I have no hard feelings over this as I view it as a misunderstanding. As mentioned however I will be posting my findings once I get to the bottom of it. Ill be under the bonnet as soon as I get home with a torch (and a jacket this time!) to try and see whats going on. Battery terminals will be cleaned up and I will grab some tipex on the way home and get the tipex test done. Reading up on this I need to put load on - so locking wheels and flicking heaters on etc should do that (provided it starts). Ill stick it in park and rev it up to around 1600 so it doesnt die and the batter does charge for a good 5 minutes or so then check where the tipex line is. If this has moved then its crank pulley and / or belt. If not, then ill move onto the alternator. - Chris, regarding the power steering I only ever notice something 'strange' when I have full lock on the power steering it makes a slight whirring sound, its hard to explain but it is similar to the sound of escaping gas from a coke bottle, but continually.. if that makes sense. I appreciate the feedback and advice =)

Thank you - its another one to add to the list of checks. Ive only been able to speak to a mechanic over the phone so far but we hadnt even thought of the crank pulley. My plan is get home tonight, have a go with the battery terminals (last time I changed one over I did notice there was white buildup on the negative terminal and tried to clean this) and get the multi meter back on it. Im not expecting that to give me much joy but having a slightly different voltage on the bare wire in comparison to the battery terminal doesnt sound great so it needs cleaning anyways. Ill go off and find this tipex test - I have read about that in the past but cant remember the details. I have not managed to get it into a garage yet as due to it dying this morning I ended up late for work. I just figured its better to work along the list of easier / cheaper things to fix first rather than jumping the gun and ripping out the alternator only to have the issue resurface if it is not the root cause of the problem.

I had changed the title to "." As I didn't have a better thing to put at that time. The current title is not mine.. * I have now changed the title to try and clear things up.. not my intention to get peoples backs up.

Woah guys - I seem to have incidted totally the wrong response. I edited this because I have a feeling that the problem was misdiagnosed. This morning the car started fine but then felt very lumpy almost as if it was misfiring so I parked back up and got the multimeter out again. I have different symptoms this morning. The voltage on the battery was above 12.5 but continues to drop. There is a slight squeeling noise. Also when putting the multimeter contacts on the bare wire before the battery terminal I get a higher reading than from the battery itself. I have discussed with a mechanic this morning and we are going to start with the cheapest and simplest things first. Tonight I am going to clean up the terminals of the battery when I get home and re-check voltages because it may be that. If that fails we are going to look at replacing the belt. If that fails then we are going to look at the alternator. Like I said - apologies for ruffling feathers and also Havard I am not sure what Ive done to gain your anger directed other than perhaps a misguided edit of my post to avoid mis information, however causing an issue was not my intention (and certainly not something that you could seriously request I am kicked from the forums for? that seems a bit excessive?). I feel that I jumped the gun last night and assumed the worst. It might still be the alternator but I am going to check the other, cheaper options first. I am at work so limited access to the forums I had planned on sorting it out tonight when I get home. I am very very thankful for these forums and where possible I do try to give positive input however I am by no means an expert and I dont want to have incorrect information on here. So my apologies again - once I know for sure (and fix it properly) I will update this so others can learn from what happened

Will have a look Would it be better to get mine refurbished though ? I'm sure I've read a few posts about people doing that. Would hate to put a replacement to have the same problem.

Do you mean is it an aftermarket one? It looks like the original from what ive seen of other N/A supra engine bays. I think its just worn out because at 1200 revs the voltage on the multimeter was slowly dropping from around 12.7 to 12.3. and falling. bad times

Well tonight was an interesting night. Supposed to pick up the gf from train station, train was delayed so I ended up having to sit for 40 minutes. Car was on idle, had the heater on. Train arrived so I turned engine off got luggage in the boot / back seats, went to start car and it looked at me, clicked and said "no". 2 hours later help arrived with multimeter and set of leads. Appears alternator is on its way out. When on idle with *nothing* on its 12.5. So its working (kinda) but is somewhat lazy. Are these things difficult to fix? Ive been recommended a garage to buy either a new or reconditioned one from but I dont really fancy trying to install it myself because of the belts and such- would anyone know what the rough ballpark figure is for fitting a new alternator? Also ballpark figure of the reconditioned or new one itself? To top it off I was only in a tshirt as it was supposed to be a arrive, pick her up, get home type of thing and would have been fine had I not had to sit around waiting for so long !

This was the switch in the door ? the controls themselves?

How did it go? Ive got a similar problem currently with mine. The drivers side controls for the passenger window will make it go up, but it seems to be a bit touchy about making it go down. Sometimes it works, sometimes it wont - however it has no issue making it go down. The passenger side switch works fine though so im thinking its something to do with the driver side controls - so im interested to know how you got on with yours.

Not sure on the TT. Mines an N/A but the pipes behind the ABS and going through the bulkhead were hard enough to get to even with the ability to shift the air con pipes a bit. Its a pain getting at the bolts holding the plates in place that the other pipes go through.

Indeed - however its nice when you call them and they do give you their best price off the bat - or at least one that you dont feel as violated by lol

Aye - saved me about 5 days worth of ringing round and repeating the same details over and over again, which is good

I was 30 this year. I think a classic policy would have meant I could not use it for the commuting to a single place of work, and probably no chance on the business miles between sites.

After ringing around multiple providers I have finally gone with Sky. The last few years I had been unable to find competitive prices from Sky, however I had only held my license for 2 years. This time I have 3 yrs NCB and 3 yrs experience with the Supra. For £542 I have a 5k limited milage social, domestic, pleasure and commuting to a single place of work policy, fully comp. I also have 1k business miles between different sites for those times I do have to make trips (very rare!) Overall I am very happy. I had a rough idea of the price I wanted to pay and I was happy with this price. Direct Line wanted £1300, Swinton wanted £605 but had so many restrictions it was silly! Adrian Flux who I had been with for the last 3 years wanted £695. Last year they quoted me £1300 then dropped to £660 when I called in, so I wasnt happy with the increase considering I turned 30 this year and had an extra years NCB etc. So when Sam at Sky gave me the price of £597 I was rather pleased, then he said because I am part of this club and the provider was keen to get the new business they were dropping it to the £542 which I have paid. This is around the price I was willing to pay so I went with it despite other companies still compiling quotes. Goes to show if the quote isnt too silly then the customer is going to be less flighty. So I am now happily insured with Sky.

Right - turns out it wasnt such a silly question after all then and I am glad I asked it! I had thought about knocking through the stack to make the room bigger but the gain outweighs the cost as I imagine its not a cheap job to pin up the chimney. I will be hollowing the downstairs breast out though in prep for the log burner. As I am papering that wall I had almost started to brick it up / fill it ni to make the papering easier. What I think ill do now is buy one of those shiney brass flush fitting vents and install that after I have papered. It should make it look smart without the risk of causing the above mentioned problems. If I had not disconnected the gas fire downstairs id be a lot more concerned about the potential of carbon monoxide -but its not going to be used and my ideal replacement is a nice log burner with its own flue, which would hopefully prevent smoke coming into the bedroom but still allow the airflor in the stack. Thanks for your feedback and help guys - much appreciated as always

A map of the area shows 0% houses above the action level (hull)

Hi guys, This might be a silly question but it doesn’t hurt to ask. When it comes to DIY I am somewhat of a novice and I know we have a few builders on this forum so hopefully I can get some advice. Ive bought a mid-terraced house (approx 1940s) and I am in the process of redecorating it. There is a hole covered by an old style slidey plastic vent in the bedroom, approx 2 ft high from the floor. It isnt very large, probably 30 cm by 20 cm. My intial plan was to brick / fill the hole so that I could paper over it, however I mentioned this to a work colleague and he asked me why a vent was there in the first place and if its supposed to be there. I have done a few searches on DIY forums and found mixed responses. Some people say its dangerous where as others say its needed to prevent damp and allow air flow so now I am in two minds about bricking it up or not. I suspect that there was a coal fire downstairs at one point. This is now a gas fire, but I have capped it off and disconnected it. My long term plan is an installation of a log burner with its own flue. Has anyone had experience with vents on chimney breasts in a bedroom? I would like to brick it up but concerned that there may be some really obvious reasons why its supposed to be there (or some very good reasons to brick it up). Cheers guys

Supra Steveo's walkthrough. I followed this and connected mine to the dial cluster itself. I dont know if its less fidgety than using the cig lighter or not but I had the dash out anyways. Helped me a lot when doing mine http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?145162-Fitting-EL-Glo-Dials

I had to drain my air con to get access on the N/A.

I should be going but I dont know if we will be setting off early like last time so I might have to catch up with you guys when we get there

Might be going to this again

Driving to Hull from Kirkella 2/1/12 afternoon. You were parked up on the left near the Chinese take way (something duck I think) opposite the pub. I have not seen any in a while so it was a surprise! New here?

Lol Ian - not a bad way to be financed.. Did you see that ponzi scam that got pulled off there? They took away the equivelent of about $60k in ISK (if it were converted to plexes). In no other game is scammng encouraged lol.