Fixed a mates car today...

[Thatch]

...on holiday and a friend has kindly lent me her car.

Problem was it wouldn’t start this morning.

After a couple of hours fettling I got to root cause and have been able to fix it for her.

 

[Wanderer]

My dad was always running out of petrol and stranding us. And he was a motor mechanical during his National Service.

I have never, ever run out of petrol!

 

[Scaf]

I keep petrol in the boot of my 65 Mustang as the gauge is useless and can go from 3/4 to empty in the blink of an eye !

 

[Vampyrebat]

My first '67' Beetle didn't have a fuel gauge............It was an optional extra!!

 

[allandwf]

My first '67' Beetle didn't have a fuel gauge............It was an optional extra!!

Neither did my Fiat 500, a warning light was all if I remember correctly.

 

[Oneball]

My first '67' Beetle didn't have a fuel gauge............It was an optional extra!!

Fuel reserve tap under the dash. Mine did have a gauge, didn’t stop me running out of fuel once.

 

[rockits]

I keep petrol in the boot of my 65 Mustang as the gauge is useless and can go from 3/4 to empty in the blink of an eye !

Nothing to do with your right foot though?

 

[Wanderer]

My Dad's Austin Cambridge had no passenger side floor, or not much of one!

I can still remember looking at the road between my legs with my non-seatbelt on.....

List of my Dad's shitt cars...

1. Ford Zephyr
2. Hillman Imp
3. Austin Cambridge
4. Triumph Herald (not bad that one)
5. Sunbeam Stiletto (twin strombergs but caught fire a lot.)
6. Ford Cortina MK4 (rust bucket)
7. Several Austin Maxis (awful)
8. Several Austin Princesses (awful)
9. Ford Cortina Mk3, executive or Ghia, had electric windows but 'used too much petrol'.
10. Ford Sierra Estate (Cast in my memory is the sound of my Dad starting for work early winter mornings and it not starting and battery getting weaker....'
11. Vauxhall Carlton 1.8, I sold it to my Dad cheap, it was mine, great car, best he ever had.

Not one ***, German or Korean car there but I think only the Carlton made it past 60k miles. My Dad thought oil changes were optional.....

 

[Wanderer]

Why is J-a-p a swear word?

Trying Kraut K-r-a-u-t

**** S-p-i-c

Taff T-a-f-f

Jock - J-o-c-k

Tight-arsed git (Yorkshireman)

 

[Scaf]

Nothing to do with your right foot though?

Well the quad 48 Weber’s may have something to do with it !

 

[CatmanV2]

Why is J-a-p a swear word?

Gentleman sausage.

C

 

[azapa]

Fuel reserve tap under the dash. Mine did have a gauge, didn’t stop me running out of fuel once.

Had one too. It was a little tray in the tank with a couple of liters, mechanically flipped over with the lever. Wonderful idea!

 

[Wanderer]

Well the quad 48 Weber’s may have something to do with it !

Don't they have Carter carbs? My 8.2 litre Cadillac had a four-choke Rochester on it, the secondaries were enormous!

 

[Scaf]

Don't they have Carter carbs? My 8.2 litre Cadillac had a four-choke Rochester on it, the secondaries were enormous!

I swapped out the standard carb for this set up -

 

[mjheathcote]

My Alfa 146Ti I soon discovered ran out of fuel when the needle hit quarter full!
Was recovered by the AA as I thought it was an engine problem, but the AA man said he had seen this before and he was right, the fuel gauge very inaccurate!

 

[Dan!]

Those of you that have had the joy of owning a S1 Elise will be familiar with the 20+ year old LCD fuel gauge that reads: Full -> random fluctuating numbers between 35 and 15 -> Refill.

The distance I have travelled after seeing Refill flash up has varied between several hundred metres and 20+ miles.

When adding 200hp I also added a long range tank. Turns out that was largely pointless as the guage can't be trusted and so I still get around the same miles per tank and it costs about the same to fill up... Therefore there must be at least 20 liters left now when Refill flashes up....?

 

[safrane]

My old 2CV came from the factory with a stick... honestly... the sticks are collectors items now.

 

[2b1ask1]

Those of you that have had the joy of owning a S1 Elise will be familiar with the 20+ year old LCD fuel gauge that reads: Full -> random fluctuating numbers between 35 and 15 -> Refill.

The distance I have travelled after seeing Refill flash up has varied between several hundred metres and 20+ miles.

When adding 200hp I also added a long range tank. Turns out that was largely pointless as the guage can't be trusted and so I still get around the same miles per tank and it costs about the same to fill up... Therefore there must be at least 20 liters left now when Refill flashes up....?

Have you got a Lotus the Dan???

 

[midlifecrisis]

Have you got a Lotus the Dan???

I seem to remember a bloke under a very small car in the Spanish trip..

All the bikes I had have the reserve tap. It's quite an art driving along, running out of fuel then reaching for the tap just to get that last gallon. The trick is to turn it back after refuelling!

 

[happydaze]

My first '67' Beetle didn't have a fuel gauge............It was an optional extra!!

My '54 Beetle has no fuel gauge - but it does have a reserve. A foot-operated tap gives you about 4 litres extra fuel!