supertownace

there are 2 basic types of automotive lead-acid batteries. the ordinary everday battery that is fitted ex-factory.....and the deep cycle battery. while the everyday battery is good for just about all types and styles of motoring it has limits. the deep cycle battery has limits also. the everyday battery will cope with a wide range of charge-discharge cycles before it gives up. usually without warning they just die. it is generally the best type for MOST automotive applications. the deep cycle battery is designed as a long term storage battery. there are several design types within deep cycle batteries. the most common is the deep cycle marine battery. these have more internal bracing and stronger plates to cope with the marine enviroment. they will sit for quite a long time and keep their charge, while the everyday battery won't. the down side to deep cycle batteries is they don't tollerate the short/shallow charge-discharge cycles as seen in most passenger vehicles. this is why deep cycle batteries don't last very long in a car. deep cycle batteries are designed to be run just about (but not completly) flat then re-charged. deep cycle batteries are considerably heavier than their everyday cousins. cheers supertownace

irrespective of the make/type of alternator they are all simple in design and therefore easy to repair/rebuild. i used to have a small time business repairing/rebuilding oddball alternators and starters that no one else would touch. costs were for parts plus $50. most times it worked out on average at around $70 to $80. if you are handy with simple hand tools, a bench vice, and a soldering iron you can repair an alternator at home. and most parts are available from any good auto leccky shop cheers

yes the charge warning light in the dash is a part of the alternator. this light comes on when there is a difference in voltage between the battery and the alternator. having a blown bulb here WILL affect the alternator working. the alternator needs to be "excited" before it will charge a battery. although some alternators will "self excite" under certain conditions. from what you have described it sounds like the brushes inside the alternator are low and not contacting the slip rings as they should. these brushes are a part of the alternator that controls how much current the alternator needs to put out. inside the alternator you have 2 major components. those being the stator and rotor. the stator is as the word suggests....stationary and is where the charging current is produced. the rotor is the part that gets turned by the engine via the fan belt. this component is responsible for creating the magnetic field that produces the charging current in the stator. the brushes are the medium used to send a small current to the rotor via a pair of steel or brass rings also attached to the rotor. hope this helps cheers

to wire up a tacho isnt difficult. the green wire on the tacho must go to the negative side of the coil (if your engine is a carby model) or if it is efi then consult the owners manual (you have one right??) and find the tacho trigger connector inside the diagnostics plug under the bonnet. spotlights arent difficult either. firstly find the high beam wire in the headlight closest to the battery...this will make it easier to wire up a relay. next find a secure place to fit your relay (you need this to switch the high current your spotlights need) then run your wiring from your spotlights down to the relay...make sure you use twin 6mm diametre cable for this as anything less will cause problems later on like constantly blowing bulbs. look on the bottom of the relay (or on the side) you will find 4 numbers. those being 85/86/30/87 85 and 86 are the trigger coil 30 and 87 are the contacts 85........earth this to the chassis (or negative terminal on your battery) 86........this goes to the trigger wire from your headlight high beam via the switch you have inside. 30........this goes to the positive terminal on your battery via a 20amp fuse. (the fuse is a MUST) typically most 12v 100 watt spotlight bulbs draw about 8.2 amps 87........this goes to your spotlights using a twin core cable makes the wiring job easier as you have a way of earthing your spotlights back to the battery. the positive or red coloured cable goes to the pigtail or terminal of the spotlight bulb (whichever you have) and the negative or black wire goes to the earth terminal on the housing where the spotlight bulb fits. the other end of the black cable goes to the negative side of your battery. hope this helps cheers

Autos lose more power in the driveline, thus need more power to be made in order to go as fast as a manual. yes i agree with you on this point. typically you can lose around 10 to 15% flywheel horsepower using an auto box. hence the reason for the "big horsepower" statement previously. if you have something like a seriously modded v8 that throws out 600 odd horses then yes fit an auto behind it as it will be kinder to the rest of the driveline......that is no sudden shock loads and possibly breaking a uni joint or twisting driveshafts and axle splines. although i have seen one lunatic on a drag strip leave the auto out of gear.....slam the right foot into the floor....then reef back on the shifter into 1st. this had the graphic effect of launching several hot internal components of the auto box into a very low orbit while the entire oil capacity of the box was evenly sprayed across the track. he also twisted the driveshaft....and got disqualified from racing for a VERY long time. cheers

hi bryan.... yes it is true that you can bend valves if you dont get the timing spot on......been there done that myself!!! when you get an exploded view of the internals of your pump you will understand why the diesel repair shop guys charge the prices they do. i have a non electronic injector pump and i rebuilt/repaired it myself a little while ago now. and i can tell you for a fact that if you dont have that diagram and a good clean clear table to work on....its gunna make rebuilding that pump so much harder. there are HEAPS of small parts inside (the non efi ones) that all fit together in a precise way. if you choose to take the pump apart yourself be careful as there are several strong springs inside that can and will pop out if you arent ready for them!!! cheers

hi brian the pump in question....is it the one that has an alloy body and a steel dissy block??.....and what seal exactly is leaking??...can you be a little more exact please. there is no rocket science to getting the steel dissy block off the pump body.....just take your time and use common sense. cheers

i will stand on my soap box for as long as i like....you can't stop me. this is a free country. i can,will and do speak my mind. so if you don't like it then stiff bikkies sunshine. i am entitled to voice my opinion about whatever i wish.....once again if you don't like it then go crawl back under your rock. cheers

i find it interesting that for a "service advisor" for toyota you appear to be lacking in the "ability to spell words correctly" department. But i guess i shouldn't single just you out either. There appears to be a lot of this among the younger "i know everything" generation. I have also found this disturbing pattern in our local newspapers here too. You spend the best part of 12 + years at school, only to go out into the workforce still with the inability to generate correctly spelt words. Is this because of mobile phones and text messaging perhaps?? cheers

look closely at the driveshafts. you will notice that they aren't the same length. also the long one has a steel ring with a rubber centre...this is to absorb harmonics in the longer shaft. this would explain the cost difference between the shafts. cheers

forget the crap "max" figure. its the rms value you need. the amp you will need depends if you want to run those subs as a mono or stereo setup. also the amp you choose should be 2 ohm stable if you want to use the subs as a mono setup. stereo subs sound better as opposed to mono subs. stereo is where you use BOTH channels of a 2 channel amp. whereas a mono setup uses both channels of a 2 channel amp but they are "bridged". this means both channels are grouped together to provide one output. the best amp-to-sub match is where your amp rms output is the same or slightly less in value than your subs. this is so that at full noise your amp won't try to push the cones out of your subs or at least fry the voice coils.....trust me...you KNOW when you fry a sub!!!....it STINKS!!. (it happened to me with a pair of 18" 1000w rms subs....we put a 3500w per channel amp on them!!....to be honest we wanted to fry them.....they needed to be re-coned) if you setup your subs as a mono arrangement wire them so BOTH positive(+) and negative(-) speaker leads go to the respective (+) and (-) on the amp....most amps will have this printed just above the output terminals anyways. in your case i would shop around for an amp around 220w to 250w rms per channel (stereo) into 4 ohms.(if you want a stereo setup) or for mono subs look for an amp around 450w to 480w rms in bridge mono and 2 ohm stable. cheers

not personally. but i have been witness to what was left of a $250 000 vehicle after some loser installed a fuse in a negative lead and burnt a brand new truck to its chassis rails cheers

the power handling capacity of your cabling doesnt need to match or exceed your amp(s) fuse(s). the fuses on an amp are for protection only and will blow if in the event of the unit short circuiting internally. i have an amp with a 30amp fuse used as a sub amp. it drives a pair of 12's nicely. the main fuse i use is a 10amp at the battery. i have driven the subs so hard they distort and the amp gets VERY warm.....yet i have never blown the 10amp fuse. current draw at full noise is about 8.5 amps with your negative/earth lead......make sure its of the same size as your positive lead AND run it back to your battery. if you dont then you will get what is known as "ground loop" this is where the current has to pass from the amp via the metal in the vehicle back to the battery. basically it makes the current "go the long way" back......and it picks up any noise generated by the car. DO NOT put a fuse in the negative lead as this can lead to an electrical fire cheers

but to personally answer the auto vs manual debate.......... if you have big horsepower...auto is the way to go. (im talking over 350hp here) if you want good fuel economy....auto. if you get the fidgits in a car and want something to play with.....go manual. if you are constantly having driveline problems due to a lead lined right foot and cant get the left foot co-ordinated....go auto. cheers

umm...YES there is. this doesn't really relate to passenger vehicles but it's still kinda relevant...... in heavy trucks there is a gearbox made by a company called Eaton. the gearbox is called a Roadranger Autoshift. basically the gearbox has a computer tacked to the side of it and uses 2 HUGE servo motors to change the gears....all 18 of them. the driver still has a clutch pedal to start and stop, with and automatic type shifter instead of a stick. once moving the engine computer talks back and forth to the gearbox computer and it does all the changing by itself. even when you have the cruise control on and climbing up a hill. i know because i drive a truck that has this gearbox. its great. and yes you can still change manually....just pull the shifter back into manual mode and you can tell the 'box when to shift. it makes driving a breeze. ohh...one more thing.....this gearbox uses a dual plate clutch too. it also has a clutch brake...its in the throwout bearing. this clutch is capable of handling 650hp and over 2000 pounds of torque.....yet its light as on the pedal. and no it is only dis-engaged when you either start off or come to a stop.....the rest of the time its engaged and locked solid. cheers