Barry

This is good. When I came here I was shocked by the amount of rubbish lying around. People just seem to drop everything on the ground even when there is a bin 10 metres away. Sadly though, these are also the same people who would shit in their own garden at home and it will be very hard to train them to civility.

Just when I said there's no estates....

http://www.lro.com/news/land-rover/1502/how-to-fix-a-land-rover-with-a-potato

Some good points very well made. I never would have considered the Avanza or Inova as an estate, more of a MPV the the lines of the Renault Scenic or Espace. Speaking of Nissan, check out some of the JDM estates such as the Stagea GTRs. Basically a Skyline Estate. Family drift bus 😍I remember loads of Bluebirds on the road when I was a kid. They never seemed to cope well with the Irish weather and salt on the roads and most of them seemed to be rotten after 3 years. The last one I saw was in a scrapyard about 2 years ago having not seen one for maybe 15 years and it wasn't in healthy shape. I don't know about the SUV bling bling thing, maybe it's just a matter of taste but I think something like RS4 or C63 estate looks way more classy than a Patrol.

It just occurred to me that I haven't seen any estate cars in my time in UAE. Where I come from, they're everywhere. They're practical and fast. So any reason as to why they're not popular here?

There is a reasoning behind Teajays logic. If oil in automatic gearboxes hasn't been changed for a long time, say 100k+, sometimes it can be better just to leave it alone. Fresh oil can dislodge all the built up deposits and crap in the gearbox which can then circulate around and block up valves etc which can stop things from working properly. It can and does happen. I recently had a lot of problems on a Dodge Avenger where this was the case. I'm not saying that people should or shouldn't change their oil. They should go and read specific information and reports about their own vehicle and make informed decisions. There is no such thing as a "sealed for life" gearbox. This is something that was created by the vehicle manufacturer to save money in the short term and sell parts in the long term. If you go direct to the gearbox manufacturer, wether it be ZF, Allison or whoever and check out the specific gearbox model, there will be a service schedule for it. No gearbox is unserviceable but sometimes it's not as simple as just dropping the oil out, changing the filter and refilling. It is very important that correct procedures are followed or damage can occur. These procedures may include special flushing or filling techniques and computer resets or relearning programmes.

Bananas in the differential 😂 I wonder what this guy would say if I stuffed bananas in his transfer box and told him I just saved him 27 dhs 🤔 On another note, I have used eggs in an engine before. I drove 4 heats in a banger race in a Vauxhall Carlton. The car was pretty banged up from pushing people out of my way and the radiator was leaking a bit. I wanted to enter the destruction derby at the end of the day but I couldn't do it with a leaky radiator as the head gasket would blow in no time. No spares to hand but I had the groceries in the back of the van. I'd heard about putting eggs in the cooling system to stop leaks but I'd never tried it. It was the last time the car would be out before it would be scrapped so I had nothing to lose and I wanted to enter the destruction derby so I thought why not. 6 eggs in the cooling system and what do you know, it actually worked!

Sometimes that doesn't even work. Recently i done some work on a supercharger on a mini so I needed supercharger oil to refill the gear case. First port of call was BMW/Mini. They told me the oil wasn't available as the supercharger was a sealed unit and I had to buy a complete new supercharger. Obviously I knew that was a lie because I had just taken it apart and fixed it so I wasn't going to waste any more time on that company. I did some further digging and got the GM equivilant part number for the oil I needed. An Eaton supercharger is an Eaton supercharger no matter what vehicle it is fitted to so I wasn't bothered which company the oil came from. I visited/called at least 10 different GM parts suppliers and gave them the part number. They all just said not available, can't be ordered. Just because they didn't know what it was, they weren't interested in it. I ended up having to import it from the USA myself.

That is pretty impressive for something achieved using only free tap water and a bit of time compared to spending money on terraclean or seafoam.

Nissan recommend a 30k interval for changing. To me that seems a bit extreme and I would change on condition.

You can get an ever cheaper one for $10-15 that works on android phone or tablet. Check aliexpress.

I just discovered this on the interweb today. Never seen one in real life and never heard of it before but I think it looks not too shabby,

@desertdude yes, I'll give you that 😂 It really can be a nightmare to get the parts you need sometimes. Even common stuff like oil filters, sorry sir, need the chassis number, have you got a sample? There's 3 different types etc etc

Todays weather forecast - hot and sunny

One thing I've learned since I started working on cars and machinery is that experience is good but nobody knows everything and every day is a school day. Good to hear you're making some progress @Gaurav you should never be scared to open an engine if there's a problem that needs fixing though. If it's put back together properly there will never be any issues. I'm guessing problems you had before with idling and overheating after rebuilds where down to the incompetence of the mechanic. The most important thing when putting an engine back together is cleanliness. If you're putting heads back on and the mating surfaces are contaminated with oil, grease, dirt there will be issues. Too many people here try to overcome issues by covering everything in shellac and silicon. In all my years, I have never ever put shellac in an engine and never had issues.

There is also the option of bungs. Previously, I had a Subaru which I used for track days. The majority of tracks have noise limits and if your car is too loud, you aren't allowed on track. I had a free flowing rear silencer which was VERY loud but it also came with bungs that could be fitted to the silencer in a few minutes with a handful of screws to instantly bring the db level down. Something else for you to look at.

If you have a big bore exhaust people are more likely to hear you coming and get out of your way. Loud pipes save lives! I don't know of any specific aftermarket manufacturers who make what you're looking for but it is completely doable with a bit of custom fabrication. Aston Martin for one example, the DB9 if I remember correctly has a switchable exhaust system. There is a solenoid operated valve in the system which routes the exhaust gas through extra silencers then opens under throttle to let the gas flow more freely. A lot of owners remove the fuse so the valve is always open and you always have more noise. I also recall seeing something similar on some BMWs although it was a vacuum operated valve towards the rear silencer. So yes, if you can find someone who can weld proficiently and has a little bit of know how, you can do it.

Thank you too @slick72 it's always a pleasure to have you in. @Rahimdad you're right. People like to complain and rarely say when something goes right. The whole 3k, 5k, 10k oil change thing is a load of crap and a scam to con people out of money. I never heard of it until I came to UAE and I've been doing this for 15 years. Put in the oil recommended by the manufacturer and change it when the the manufacturer recommends you change it. Anything else is just asking for trouble. Good oil is 20 dirhams more expensive than crap oil. Why risk it?

AFAIK it's 6 dhs for the big bottle. I'm not 100% sure, the wife deals with it.

I've only ever used a garage twice in my life because I was too busy (lazy) to work on my own car and both times I had a bad experience. These days I don't trust anyone's work but my own. There are lots of good mechanics out there but I don't want to waste my time testing people, if I do it myself at least I know it's done right. First time was a Vauxhall Astra Mk 3. It was chewing tyres badly so I left it in to get a wheel alignment done. Got the car back with the steering wheel upside down. Left it back in the next day to get it sorted. I'm convinced they never bothered tracking it properly the second time, just took the steering wheel off and turned it around. Second time was a Subaru Legacy and a bit more serious. Left it in for a clutch replacement. Driving out it seemed fine. A few miles out the road and I took it over a hump back bridge and got a little bit of air time. They didn't put the bolts back in the bottom ball joints. You can guess what sort of a mess that made. Stance yO.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the colour of the big bottles of drinking water I was buying at home had changed from blue to pink. I never gave it much thought other than thinking it was a bit gay but yesterday, I noticed this,