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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted -
14/11/2010
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06:26
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NEW VERSION TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR MEMBERS WITH SLOW CONNECTIONS TO CONNECT.
Follw this LINK for last version.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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Bradders
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Posted - 16/06/2011 : 23:44
I always thought that an ECU unit was to do with engine (fuel) management....
If the car was running OK with the ECU "full of water ", I would have thought it wasn't altogether toast .
Am I right to smell a rat ? (and how much time does £250 buy you in a Garage these days anyway ?)
A sorry tale indeed ,....
PS What year is the Astra ?
Edited by - Bradders on 16/06/2011 11:48:25 PM
BRADDERS BLUESINGER |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 17/06/2011 : 05:16
Ian, commiserations to both you and your lad. I was lucky enough to finsish my days as both a driver and a vehicle fitter before computerisation hit the motor industry. I know nothing about them but since when did that stop me from commenting! Several things strike me. Why not mount the ECUs inside the motor where they are out of the weather? As for the 'updated software' etc. I have a suspicion that the major car companies were pressurised by the dealers to find a way that made sure a customer was tied to an authorised garage for servicing. If that's the case it makes sense for the manufacturer to make sure there are regular changes to the system to ensure that independent garages can't manage them. Add to that the fact that they can restrict access to updates by charging an arm and a leg for them.
There is a solution. Go out and find an end of production run motor that has a good service history. My last car was an 'N' registered Astra estate, basically the same car as the old Cavalier. They'd been making them for yonks and had bottomed most of the problems. Cost me £600 and I spent another £400 on new tyres, exhaust front suspension links (Vauxhall never did solve that one!) a new CH Gasket and water hoses. (The 1600 engine was good for 200,000 miles but the gasket only did about 100,000. Another problem they never solved.) Result, a nice economical ride with no computers. Tim at Gotts could do anything that was needed. I made a profit when I sold it after 3 years but that was an accident and a long story. Basically, the bin wagon backed into it, the insurance paid me £500 to go away and I got a new rear lamp unit form the quarry at Salterforth and fixed it myself. Young John got a motor in top class condition and three years later is still tramming to work in it. Without that stroke of luck I would have sold it for £700, so £100 a year for troublefree motoring.
I'm out of touch these days but if I was asked to advise someone I'd tell them to go to Gotts, have a word with Tim and ask him what he thought was the easiest motor to service. He's a good lad and would have an answer.
I have this mental picture of lifting the bonnet on a Ford '8' Van in the 1950s. It wasn't a big engine compartment but it was almost empty, just a side-valve engine, a gear box, a dynamo and a battery. We don't want to go so far back but My God! there was a lot to be said for them! I could de-coke that engine in 90 minutes easy. Those were the days!
Yes! I know! This is a genuine copper-bottomed Old Fart post! Sorry about that.....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
HerbSG
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Posted - 17/06/2011 : 18:39
I make it 440.72 APR (12Vthe monthly rate)
HERB
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Bradders
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Posted - 17/06/2011 : 19:22
Today I saw an Airstream caravan , a Ford Consul (60's two-tone version ) , a flatfront Ford Escost RS 2000, several Surfer type Vee-Dub campers ,a Landrover Series IIa and an Austin Maxi.....Not one ECU amongst them ! ..
Cornwall's great , even when it's raining and you can't busk ! .....
BRADDERS BLUESINGER |
wendyf
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Posted - 17/06/2011 : 19:52
As a Leeds raised lass I got a bit tearful today hearing about Tetley's Brewery closing after nearly 200 years of brewing in the town. Until quite recently the magnificent brewery drays were a common sight delivering cask beers to the town centre pubs. We always described a "beer belly" as a "Josh Pot". A sad day for Leeds.
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Bradders
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Posted - 17/06/2011 : 23:45
Oh Dear ! ...Knowing where the site is Wendy , I'll have a guess that the owners have decided that they can just as easily brew elsewhere , and "cash-in their chips"....
What do you reckon ..Hotels , Shopping Mall ...?
Property development ..eh!
BRADDERS BLUESINGER |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 18/06/2011 : 05:16
"they can just as easily brew elsewhere , and "cash-in their chips" I think Brad is spot on. Sentiment wouldn't come into it.
From Wikepedis:
The closure of the brewery by Carlsberg was announced on 5 November 2008. The brewery finally closed its doors on 17 June 2011. Carlsberg tried to redeploy some staff throughout the group but 179 staff did lose their jobs. Production of Tetley beer will be moved to Northampton.The brewery produced around 185 million pints of Tetley's every year. In addition to this brewery there was a distribution centre in nearby Tingley. There are no plans to close this depot. Since the closure of the Yorkshire Chemical Works adjacent to the brewery, some of the land has been used for storage by Tetley's. It has been speculated whether the two sites will be redeveloped together.The Brewery currently stands on the largest site it has ever stood on, after over 180 years of expansion. In 1906 the brewery stood on a fraction of its current site between Brook Street, Hunslet Road (this part now being known as Hunslet Lane), Crown Point Road and Waterloo Street. Many smaller streets in the vicinity have since disappeared under the ever extending brewery Several MPs in Leeds had called for a demerger between Tetley's and Carlsberg or a management buyout to save the brewery from closure. It had been suggested that the brewery could be leased to independent brewers, should it become unused. The Yorkshire Evening Post estimated a value of £4–£5 million per acre for the site.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 18/06/2011 : 06:08
I caught a headline yesterday referring to 'Bully-boy union bosses'. Par for the course but then I caught Danny Alexander speaking about the reprisals the government would visit on the unions if they continue with strike plans. Problem is that the unions and the government are in the middle of negotiations. A whiff of testosterone in the air? Who is acting like a bully? Do I detect a whiff of panic on the part of the government? Or is Danny just doing his own thing and shooting from the hip. Dave Prentice responded of course and said the unions would not be deterred, he was talking about the biggest strike since 1926. Not a very good example, that didn't end well.....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
thomo
Barlick Born Old Salt
2021 Posts
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Posted - 18/06/2011 : 09:27
A sad day for Tetley fans, the beer brewed at Leeds was different to that from other Tetley breweries. At Leeds the water was spring water, whereas at Warrington it was "town" water, still good but not quite the same. When I was steward at the "Brass Band Club" in Earby my main weekly order was for eleven hogsheads of Tetley Mild, thats 4,928 pints. I recall one delivery that due to a drivers strike at Leeds, was delivered by a Warrington dray that had collected my beer from leeds. a week later when the beer had rested, the first pints were pulled, beautiful, clear and with a good top, within minutes my regulars are holding it up to the light and muttering, not a good sign but very rare. The beer tasted fine, there was nothing wrong with it but it was different. I rang the brewery and was told that they would look into the problem, shortly afterwards I had a call, the drays second drop was the North Pier at Blackpool, they had got my order and I had theirs which was from Warrington. The beer was taken back the following morning and replaced with the right stuff, leaving me with a two day struggle to get it saleable, I made do with a couple of hogseads that I had on tilt for settling. Every year there was members trip to the brewery at Leeds, and very popular it was!
thomo |
belle
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Posted - 18/06/2011 : 09:32
It's these personal details that make a story come to life...
Life is what you make it |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 19/06/2011 : 06:25
Interesting comment from Ed Balls this morning about the June 30th strike. He warns the unions not to get suckered by the ConDem government provoking them into the strike. He reckons it will be very handy for the government to blame the bad economic news that is coming on strikes. Could be more to this than meets the eye, we're talking about political manoeuvering here not justice.
Watching reports of negotiations with the Taliban in Afghanistan and uncomfortable reactions to the NATO strike that killed Libyan rebels yesterday. A lot of people are looking for a way out. I said a long time ago that the only end to Afghanistan would be the Russian Solution, give up and get out. Looks as though this is what is going to happen and the same could happen in Libya. The bottom line is that nobody can afford these foreign adventures.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 20/06/2011 : 06:28
Greece continues to claim the headlines. The bottom line is that nobody can agree what is the best course because all options have severe consequences. If they default on debt (not the same thing as 'going bankrupt' there is a lot of confusion there) the banks lose out. UK banks are holding Greek debt of 8billion (not sure if this is Eiros or pounds) France 33billion and Germany a lot. If they devalue the currency, which is what they should be doing, they have to leave the ERM. If Greece leaves it affects the other Mediterranean countries and there are doubts if the concept of a single currency can survive. This was always the Achille's Heel of a single currency and monetary policy, one size doesn't fit all. The general opinion amongst economic commentators is that the Euro is in such severe trouble that the most likely outcome is that it will fail.
Going down another level, the Euro was always vulnerable without a uniform Federal Structure which was the dream in the early days but never happened. The parallel is the US. The only way they balance out the wealthy states against the poorest is via the Federal Structure.
Boring stuff I know but whatever happens it will impact on the UK. Europe is our biggest exporrt market and we are heavily involved even though we are not in the ERM. External events......
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 21/06/2011 : 05:45
FIFA vice chair Jack Warner resigns so Ethics Committee investigation of him stops and he is deemed to be innocent. Handy!
I may have been missing something but I realised this morning that the defunct booze shop on Church Street is now 'Freddy's Chicken and Kebab' shop. Bad news for the same shop on the opposite side of the road. Is Church Street still fast food centre of the town after the demise of the pubs?
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 21/06/2011 : 09:42
Right, I've calmed down a bit and ended my self-imposed exile. I've just finished cleaning the cooker and done a bit of ironing so its a coffe and a trawl through One Guy.
Lesson for the future - ignore the rubbish that's spouted on here and don't react. Nolic
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator" |
belle
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Posted - 21/06/2011 : 13:09
Good man!
Life is what you make it |