Sirbendy

do you still have the 'stat? You were trying to put the stat in the hose end nearest the engine, yes? It should fit, maybe a bit snug, but it should be fine. Get a jug of boiling water, or a hairdryer or similar heat source and stick the end of the hose in it/use it to heat the hose itself up nice and toasty..cold hoses won't flex, hot hoses tend to expand a bit...and try getting it in there then. Maybe a bit of fairy liquid lubrication on the 'stat might help it slip in. Ooer. What size is your engine? (although IIRC they all use the same hoses!). Option 2 is to put cardboard sheets in front of your radiator and block off the airflow..not as good, but workable. Told you they'd look at you funny.. I've had the EGR valve fail twice on mine at £80 a pop. Now my EGR valve is bolted to the OUTSIDE of the engine, clicking in the air. In it's place is a nice CNC cut blanking plate. Problem solved forever, with better emissions on the MOT! That always gets a grin from the testers.."we see what you did there"..

Yes, we bought some. getting the shopping out of the car with the baby asleep in it at home, it was a case of Jem saying "3 tesco bags, 1 homebase", me saying "got it..", then eventually she called out "fat balls!"..to which I replied "yes, huge t*ts?"..much to the amusement of next door. It took both of us a while to stop laughing enough to get the baby out!

aye, Vx 16 valvers are like that. It's only the 8 valvers (C14/16SE, Z16SE, X16SZ/SZR) that seem to have it in the daft place.

legover...? Nah, a rest would be nice. Or to see my little one enjoying it..

Gods, don't bother...they'll look at you funny for a start. To get the "normal" stat replaced involves covers off, timing belt off etc. It would cost a bit, yes. Trust me. The solution I've posted (and done twice) takes no longer than 30 minutes and is as easy as wiring a plug...

Relax! As a MK3 and MK4 owner, both with this bloody silly design, you've got an answer. Requires: RENAULT 4, 5, 9, 11, 18, 19, 21, 25 - THERMOSTAT on eBay (end time 19-Dec-10 13:43:14 GMT) 1 of. And 2 hose clips, pennies from a motor factors. Simply let the engine cool down, unfasten the clip that hold your top radiator hose to the water pump outlet. Disconnect the hose. It's a git if it's not been moved in a while. Pull, swear, it'll come off. Once it's off, pop the thermostat above in the hose, keeping it as straight as possible. You want the sticking out bit to point towards the engine/pump, as this is the wax pellet that senses the temperature. Push both clips over the hose, push it firmly back onto the pump outlet. Fasten up one clip to hold that hose in the pump. Clip #2 - feel the pipe to locate the flat surface of the 'stat, and put the clip round there to hold the stat tightly in the hose. Kick it in the guts, let it warm up and top up your coolant, job done. The person who designed the X/C/Z series 8 valvers needs a gun to the head for the design... Mine runs at 85-92 all day long now.

What vehicle? Hot weather usually does for Vauxhall barrels.

-9.5 by the Severn in Ironbridge at 7.50am. -1.7 and rising here according to the weather station.

I hear all that, and I agree with you. In my case it's a 13 month old who's feeling very cuddly and wants continual contact as she has (possibly) flu and a barking cough. I had a tit stuck behind me today - doing 30 into a hairpin, in second..he was an inch off my bumper..sigh. Made a slight boob in the carpark..hit the throttle instead of the brake, and I've embedded the bumper in the flowerbed..heh.

I'm going for a flatout reinstall of XPSP2, as it's the only media we have to hand. That recovery system is USELESS. Give my my AA1 anyday..heh

Anyone out there got any Samsung NC10s? We've got a member of staff with one that's giving issue. NM who set it up said "restore the initial state using the samsung restore system." We tried, it gave eaccess violations. Upon reboot, we now can't boot XP either! Any suggestions?

I've had a few mornings where the dash has done a good xmas tree impression and the starter has really struggled..but when I start it in the morning I leave it ticking over for a few minutes to defrost, and when I get home I leave it ticking over with no electrical load while I cover it back up. Add in some second gear lock driving and it's holding up fine..so far. I have no idea how old the battery is - the PO noted everything in the manual, every brake re-line, every service, every tyre replacement etc...no mention of a battery. So I could be running on a 9/10 year old DieHard..eek. It'll go on a charger at mums when it stops snowing and get a good topping off there.

Light snow at home 2 days ago, road lightly dusted. Yesterday AM, about an inch. Enough for MIL to call off childcare, so I stayed home with tiddly. This AM, about an inch again. Roads - all OK with care, all clear mostly bar the immediate home roads (normal) and the immediate carpark here. I'm getting "witty" comments from the staff about the fact my Astra is parked in the carpark with a blue fleecy blanket over the screen/front doors, and a rag under the rear wiper. We'll see how funny it is later when I whip them off and drive with no de-snow/icing. Heh. I always clear the roof/windows before I move it anyway, but the blanket is ace!

Astravans (astras in general) can take it..heh. All of mine have laughed at snow, even without any aids. Mother-in-law chickened out yesterday for childcare citing "5 inches of snow"..we had about an inch tops. Plus more overnight. Jem walked to work, I stayed home and spent my first full day alone with daughter. Good times! MIL drives a Kia Soul..always saying how good it is, how well it handles etc..yet snow can stop it? I don't buy it. Jem's taken the day off today working remotely so I can come in today, then she doesn't work thurs/fri, so we'll be OK until next week now. I have a boot containing autosocks, a blanket etc..so far, 1 wheelspin. Untreated school carpark! I have the only car out there with a blue fleece blanket covering the windscreen, and front doors. Heh.

According to the school weather station, we hit -8.9 here over the weekend. I could believe that. Home thermostat has been clicking over at 13 degrees, even with the heating running it's nuts off, our house is..not overly warm. Bedrooms are freezing, I've curtained off the living room into 2 halves to make it easier to heat etc. The car was showing -5.5 this morning, battery backed that up! Electric blanket was on all night, on the lowest setting - lovely. Me, the missus and little one, all under a duvet and 2 blankets, with an electric blanket too...nobody wanted to get up. It's the upside to co-sleeping with little ones mind - you know everyone's going to be warm so the room temp becomes less of an issue!

We often find staff and kids don't get our humour... cue one the other day.."I've used the dictaphone in english" Cue both us us, in unison..."couldn't you have used your finger like everyone else?" Teacher "....eh?"

Heh. I merely tinker..the missus is a self-taught (now pro) webdev,and I pick up bits here and there (she's a PHP soul)..but I find PHP/Javascript/HTML/Cscript etc etc etc all quite..familiar. I blame learning Turbo Pascal and Borland C++ - everything else seems to be along those lines.

NOOOO! Notepad++ with extensions! Be fair..

this: Madeley Academy > Home Is ours, based on DotNetNuke...and I'd suggest not going to DNN as a platform. I find it very buggy. Just my opinion though, I tend to do all content for it in Dreamweaver and port it in. Myself and the missus (webdev) use Wordpress, which is simple to set up and very customisable and extensible indeed. Joomla/Mambo I have used before in small amounts..but didn't have the time to play with it.

My mother has borrowed my aged but reliable Garmin i2 satnav unit, and loves it..so I'd like to get her one herself. However, I need recommendations. Requirements: Largeish screen (easy to see whilst moving) Loud volume (hearing not so good in denial, heh) Accurate Easy to use and enter data into Preferably lane assist or similar to reduce confusion. Anyone got any suggestions? As I say, I love my tiny Garmin, but I do appreciate it's old, small screen, scrollwheel entry etc..sometimes it's said "turn left" and she's taken it literally and ended up in a driveway..heh.

Thermostat gone? Or cooling system flush needed! Mine's done the standard vauxhall "fail when wide open" thing and whoever designed the 8 valvers needs a bullet to the head...to remove it, you need to remove the timing belt covers and timing belt. So i've just put a Renault 5 90 degree 'stat in the top hose and jubilee clipped it into place. Works beautifully. Warm air in under 2 minutes. The original stat can wait for the next 4 years until the next scheduled belt change, and I'll tell the garage to not put a new one in.

Yep. I used to take my Rover out in "Do Not Drive" warning snow conditions. Good fun, no other traffic, no visible roads/hedges...just "going to see Jem, got my phone and a shovel, might be back today or might not" to mum, and off...best snow practise there is, and quite relaxing when there are no other cars about. Until you end up in a hedge and have to dig the car out. Ahh, youth. I recall it well.

I live on the other side of a valley - so coming or going I have to do a steep hill both up and down. Last winter I decided to wuss out of the steep downhill with cars parked both sides and take a longer, triple carriageway hill route thinking "busses use it, lorries use it, it'll be fine". It was untreated! Cars abandoned all over it. Shocking. Drove nice and gently down there, rear end overtook me and we sailed down in neutral while I sat there and made my peace with the car. Heh. That said, the steep hill had a lorry jackknife on it, so I'd have been stuffed...and in January/whenever we had that last icy snap, there were cars and busses stuck either end of it as it was so icy that it was impassable. I was at home, ill...so I could take an outsider view. People living on the hill were bringing out hot drinks and making their loos available to people who were stranded. If the worst comes to it, I can take a trip to mums and swap my 15's for some nice skinny 155/13s off the MK3..they tend to cut through the snow much better than wider tyres.

Since I'm baby-carrier as of January, I've invested not in winter tyres, as my Astra seems to not have issue on the standard fit 185/65/15 rubber, but in a set of AutoSocks.. Snow chains seemed overkill, but The AutoSocks seem to get good reviews, are easier to fit and live in the glovebox. I just don't want to be stuck unable to reach Isabel, or unable to get us both home and warm.

the C12 that became the "Savvy"? Still got one. Works, too! I had a Philips Diga before that..the Savvy had a vibrate feature though. Better for here. Philips Diga The Savvy had voice dial, which was a good pub game. Then came my 3210 (still have it), a 3310 (got 2), My 7650 Symbian (still got), MPX200 with WM5 (Still got), Ipaq 512 (still got), and now my Ericsson K800i (favourite so far)