Just reading Dave Mason’s survey results, I don’t know how much work’s involved in a creating a ‘proper’ survey page to capture details about a vehicle, and the problems encountered over time.
This could help everyone to understand reliability issues, remedies and identify trends.
Currently most users of this site (who have a problem) don’t post messages; they just get on and fix it.
Do others think such info would be helpful ?
- (#12198) Chris Harding (Hampshire), 20 Jul 04 02:37
In reply to your message,I would just like to add this.
You say that most people who have a problem,just get on and fix it!. True,only partly.
If you have technical data ie such as a manual, then yes you can get straight on and fix it.
But with these vehicles there is no manual available!!!!,nor any support from main dealer.. We would have burned our vehicle long ago if it were not for the good people on here that kindly answer questions for people who might not be as technically minded as others. I myself am not a mechanic. But I know a bit more than I did about 6 months ago.
In sending questions in to here I have been able to,
(1) Change Radiator.
(2) Renew head and gasket.
(3) Flush cooling system.
That's 3 reasons there,6 months ago I would not have known how to do any!!
- (#12198) Andy Richards(Bridport), 20 Jul 04 20:03
Hi Andy,
I agree with your points, and have found this web site invaluable, probably my most visited site on the net (other than google.com and tesco.com).
I too have used it to diagnose and repair several faults which quite frankly without this site I’d have scrapped my Space Cruiser and Townace and gone for something else long ago. I was not criticising this site in any way whatsoever.
The point I was making is this; myself, and I’m sure many others, have used this site to find the answers to many problems. Since all the common problems are already addressed on the site (a credit to the editor), I’ve never needed to post anything relating to any of the problems I’ve had.
I also know that if I came up against a problem not covered, there would be a huge amount of experience on tap via this web site.
My question was this;
I think there are a large number of regular visitors to the site that have never posted a problem or wanted to get involved in discussion, but that use the site to ‘get on and fix their problem’ - (the web stats of visitors would answer this question).
What I’m trying so say, is I think most people want to be anonymous, some don’t want to look silly, and others technophobes, but whatever the reason for not wanting to post a message is, it makes it’s very difficult to know magnitude and frequency of specific problems.
I was simply asking others weather it would help logging problems they have to identify and understand what goes wrong and how often.
Chris
- (#12198) Chris Harding (Hampshire), 21 Jul 04 03:25
Not sure what purpose the stats would serve Chris. In my world, stats are usually compiled to justify a point or spending money. This board and AceAnswers is more about providing help to those that need it. There's no need to know how many gain from that help as there's no charge. Merely the fact that it is being used to help one or more people to overcome their problems is reward enough.
- (#12198) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 21 Jul 04 05:33
a thought-provoking idea. i think there might be some value getting a feel for how serious certain problems are. two examples ...
we know some owners are sure it's worth changing to an electric fan. what proportion of owners, who use ace answers, have done that? how widespread are the cooling problems encountered by those who haven't, and by those who have?
elsewhere there is recommendation to improve the undersealing. among those of us who haven't done that, what signs are there that the undersealing is inadequate?
chris, it would only be a modest amount of work to provide a, say, 100-question survey to cover interesting topics, however i suspect that most users of this resource would find such a questionnaire irksome and the real hurdle is trying to do something useful with the results - there are so many variations of ace and we owners also vary a lot in what we regard as important.
...
- (#12198) Dave Mason (Sussex), 21 Jul 04 06:06
Can anyone explain why a battery might not be charging on a 2Y petrol Townie.
My battery was replaced about 3 years ago. Lately it was appearing not to hold a charge (although the 'magic eye' window on the battery stills shows green) so Townie would not turn over. I have changed it for 2 other batteries (Ok, old ones but removed as good from other vehicles I have scraped) and they will not charge on the vehicle.
The townie starts first time with a jump or a very short push. Once started - all electrics work fine so alternator is working.
I have checked Ace Handbook and wiring diagram shows 3 leads (apart from starter) on +ve. Mine only has 2 - green and blue - diagram shows inline fuse and fusible link - where would they be (and what is the difference between a fuse and a fusible link)?
But then again all electrics work when started. Do alternators output for the general circuit and output for the charging circuit (which could be why there are seperate cables on the battery)?
The two batteries I have used where completly flat before use - after running for 1 hour - both where still completly flat so I am thinking it is a fuse because even a low voltage would have put something back into the battery - wouldn't it?
thanks
- (#12198) Paul Thompson, 22 Jul 04 05:23
Sorry - posted above message incorrectly - should have starte dnew thread - will do now. Sorry again!!!
- (#12198) Paul Thompson, 22 Jul 04 05:31
Did you know that 68% of people in the UK don't beleive in statistics!!!!
- (#12198) Paul, 22 Jul 04 08:37