Post by electrospanner on Jan 3, 2011 20:52:28 GMT 1
Ok in the aftermath of the disaster with our cars hees a slightly more cheery update ;D
Ben Nevis has now melted and the little Hyundai was fired up she started first turn of the key we reversed over the remains of the snow mountain and no problems at all to report with this one.
The Snapped key was persuaded gently from the lock of the Rover Mini Cooper and was taken to our local motor factors who were able to cut one from the length of shaft given to them they were doubtful that it would be accurate enough to unlock the door but this time lady luck was smiling on us and the new key works perfectly
The only drama on this one now is that my daughter turned the wipers on whilst they were frozen to the screen and the nearside one isn't working now, not too serious though i hope 
The Carry van was thoroughly and gently thawed out then i started her up she ran ok apart from a slightly worrying misfire, however i drove for over 60 miles with no dramas other than the misfire, no overheating and no coolant loss so fingers crossed i may have got away with that one, the old antifreeze/ screenwash has been replaced and today it has had a service with plugs, filters,oil etc having been replaced tomorrow she goes back into service so fingers crossed it will be ok, but i will keep you all posted.
The Ka is still languishing at the moment no one seems interested and i can't be bothered with it just now, but will try to get it up and running at the weekend.
The Prius .................well where do i start, this is what happened here......................... I put the keyfob back in and pressed the standby button all i got was the big red warning triangle with an exclamation mark in
Ok so time to look in the handbook now and see what this triangle means. The explanation says and i quote
"THIS IS A WARNING THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG PLEASE SEE THE HEAD UP DISPLAY FOR DETAILS"
Ok so what does this mean then, mmm head up display, is this talking about the information centre that graces the dashboard because if it is its not telling me anything. In anger i hit the steering wheel with my fists (stupid i know when there's an airbag there but i did it anyway
The sound that greeted me was music to my ears though, it was the faintest little peep that you could hear, bit like a baby sparrow snoring. This car has a flat battery i thought full of hope for a second, but then my hopes collapsed as i thought well what do you do with one of these with a flat battery where is the battery anyway because its not under the bonnet that's for sure and its not under the seats either!!
Time to check the handbook again ........THE BATTERY IS IN THE BOOT brilliant i think like a mini should be easy.......but no, no of course its not easy. The boot opens electronically with no manual overide at all. So how do you get into it then when this scenario presents itself........ uh um uhh uhhh ................mmmm. Ah i know the handbook will tell me. So out comes the handbook again and i find the relevant page it tell me and i quote "IF THE BATTERY IS FLAT THERE IS NO ACCESS TO THE REAR LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT" and that's it, not do this or do that or anything helpful just NO BLEEDING ACCESS MATEY.
Now i am not the worlds most patient man and i am starting to get a bit emotional at this point. Under the bonnet i find the fusebox (which is the size of a small country) and tear of (and snap) the cover. AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. probing around with the meter i find the fuse which operates the lights and connect my jump start box to it using a piece of wire and the other end to the chassis. Now i should expain that i wasn't trying to start the car just supply with enough voltage and current to operate the rear boot lock.
As i connected up though the car beeped and beeped and beeped i had left the key fob in accidentally and the car was or appeared at least to be in standby. The exciting thing was though that the head up display or information centre as i prefer to call it had come on and was displaying the following fascinating message
"WARNING THE TRANSAXLE IS NOT CORRECTLY ENGAGED PLEASE DEPRESS THE HANDBRAKE FULLY THEN RELEASE IT SELECT D AND DRIVE NORMALLY"
Handbrake what handbrake ? Didn't know this car had a handbrake and if it does where the heck is it hidden?? This must be a mistake surely i said prodding at the "P" button it must mean this button surely, however regardless of how many times i prodded it, hit it, or swore at it this silly message remained "DEPRESS THE HANDBRAKE"
Handbook time ......................... It transpires that the car does have a handbrake or rather a footbrake(bit like the Mercedes one but more hidden.
Full of trepidation and dread i press the footpedal down and then press it again to release it and low and behold the message in the display changed to this "MOVE THE CARE TO LEVEL GROUND AND SELECT D THEN DRIVE NORMALLY"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH How do i move it, its wheels are locked electronically i need a crane to move it, to phisically lift it from one place to another (it was parked with two wheels up on the curb and i assume this lean was causing this message) But how did the car know it was parked like this anyway is it built with some sort of spirit level to let it know!!!!
Anyway that doesn't matter now i had just had a brainwave ha ha i will jack the car up to make it level thats sure to work isn't it.
Well no actually because under went the jack i levelled the car and pressed the standby button again to be greeted with the following message
"WARNING THIS CAR IS UNSTABLE TWO WHEELS ARE NOT IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND PLEASE RETURN THE WHEELS TO THE GROUND!" ........... The car is unstable? The car! So is its owner pal he is close to a nervous breakdown here.
I returned to my garage to collect two ramps and hammered one under the front wheel and one under the rear as far as they would go whilst trying to keep the car as level as possible. Back in the drivers seat the message was saying "PRESS P SELECT DRIVE" this i duly did and the car said "READY" Ready for what though i was not sure i switched off removed the ramps and took out the jack, then disconnected the jump starter. The display said "SELECT DRIVE AND MOVE OFF" Tentatively i selected drive the car slid silently away, at about 25mph the engine spluttered into life and all has been well since, however the battery does test low i guess it must have to work really hard in this car as it starts and stops (although i am not certain the battery is involved all the times) probably about 30 - 40 times on the average journey.
Phew well i will change the battery anyway just to be on the safe side but all seems well now.
The little Nissan and the Bambi still continue to provide sterling service and i think both will outlive the hi tech Prius
Regards
Andy
Ben Nevis has now melted and the little Hyundai was fired up she started first turn of the key we reversed over the remains of the snow mountain and no problems at all to report with this one.
The Snapped key was persuaded gently from the lock of the Rover Mini Cooper and was taken to our local motor factors who were able to cut one from the length of shaft given to them they were doubtful that it would be accurate enough to unlock the door but this time lady luck was smiling on us and the new key works perfectly
The only drama on this one now is that my daughter turned the wipers on whilst they were frozen to the screen and the nearside one isn't working now, not too serious though i hope 
The Carry van was thoroughly and gently thawed out then i started her up she ran ok apart from a slightly worrying misfire, however i drove for over 60 miles with no dramas other than the misfire, no overheating and no coolant loss so fingers crossed i may have got away with that one, the old antifreeze/ screenwash has been replaced and today it has had a service with plugs, filters,oil etc having been replaced tomorrow she goes back into service so fingers crossed it will be ok, but i will keep you all posted.
The Ka is still languishing at the moment no one seems interested and i can't be bothered with it just now, but will try to get it up and running at the weekend.
The Prius .................well where do i start, this is what happened here......................... I put the keyfob back in and pressed the standby button all i got was the big red warning triangle with an exclamation mark in
Ok so time to look in the handbook now and see what this triangle means. The explanation says and i quote"THIS IS A WARNING THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG PLEASE SEE THE HEAD UP DISPLAY FOR DETAILS"
Ok so what does this mean then, mmm head up display, is this talking about the information centre that graces the dashboard because if it is its not telling me anything. In anger i hit the steering wheel with my fists (stupid i know when there's an airbag there but i did it anyway
The sound that greeted me was music to my ears though, it was the faintest little peep that you could hear, bit like a baby sparrow snoring. This car has a flat battery i thought full of hope for a second, but then my hopes collapsed as i thought well what do you do with one of these with a flat battery where is the battery anyway because its not under the bonnet that's for sure and its not under the seats either!!Time to check the handbook again ........THE BATTERY IS IN THE BOOT brilliant i think like a mini should be easy.......but no, no of course its not easy. The boot opens electronically with no manual overide at all. So how do you get into it then when this scenario presents itself........ uh um uhh uhhh ................mmmm. Ah i know the handbook will tell me. So out comes the handbook again and i find the relevant page it tell me and i quote "IF THE BATTERY IS FLAT THERE IS NO ACCESS TO THE REAR LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT" and that's it, not do this or do that or anything helpful just NO BLEEDING ACCESS MATEY.
Now i am not the worlds most patient man and i am starting to get a bit emotional at this point. Under the bonnet i find the fusebox (which is the size of a small country) and tear of (and snap) the cover. AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. probing around with the meter i find the fuse which operates the lights and connect my jump start box to it using a piece of wire and the other end to the chassis. Now i should expain that i wasn't trying to start the car just supply with enough voltage and current to operate the rear boot lock.
As i connected up though the car beeped and beeped and beeped i had left the key fob in accidentally and the car was or appeared at least to be in standby. The exciting thing was though that the head up display or information centre as i prefer to call it had come on and was displaying the following fascinating message
"WARNING THE TRANSAXLE IS NOT CORRECTLY ENGAGED PLEASE DEPRESS THE HANDBRAKE FULLY THEN RELEASE IT SELECT D AND DRIVE NORMALLY"
Handbrake what handbrake ? Didn't know this car had a handbrake and if it does where the heck is it hidden?? This must be a mistake surely i said prodding at the "P" button it must mean this button surely, however regardless of how many times i prodded it, hit it, or swore at it this silly message remained "DEPRESS THE HANDBRAKE"
Handbook time ......................... It transpires that the car does have a handbrake or rather a footbrake(bit like the Mercedes one but more hidden.
Full of trepidation and dread i press the footpedal down and then press it again to release it and low and behold the message in the display changed to this "MOVE THE CARE TO LEVEL GROUND AND SELECT D THEN DRIVE NORMALLY"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH How do i move it, its wheels are locked electronically i need a crane to move it, to phisically lift it from one place to another (it was parked with two wheels up on the curb and i assume this lean was causing this message) But how did the car know it was parked like this anyway is it built with some sort of spirit level to let it know!!!!
Anyway that doesn't matter now i had just had a brainwave ha ha i will jack the car up to make it level thats sure to work isn't it.
Well no actually because under went the jack i levelled the car and pressed the standby button again to be greeted with the following message
"WARNING THIS CAR IS UNSTABLE TWO WHEELS ARE NOT IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND PLEASE RETURN THE WHEELS TO THE GROUND!" ........... The car is unstable? The car! So is its owner pal he is close to a nervous breakdown here.
I returned to my garage to collect two ramps and hammered one under the front wheel and one under the rear as far as they would go whilst trying to keep the car as level as possible. Back in the drivers seat the message was saying "PRESS P SELECT DRIVE" this i duly did and the car said "READY" Ready for what though i was not sure i switched off removed the ramps and took out the jack, then disconnected the jump starter. The display said "SELECT DRIVE AND MOVE OFF" Tentatively i selected drive the car slid silently away, at about 25mph the engine spluttered into life and all has been well since, however the battery does test low i guess it must have to work really hard in this car as it starts and stops (although i am not certain the battery is involved all the times) probably about 30 - 40 times on the average journey.
Phew well i will change the battery anyway just to be on the safe side but all seems well now.
The little Nissan and the Bambi still continue to provide sterling service and i think both will outlive the hi tech Prius
Regards
Andy
