Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet Read the manual dummy....

A few years ago my wife bought a very nice Toyota convertible to replace the Suzuki she could no longer ride. It was top of the line in it's day and is still one of the nicest well appointed cars I've ever driven, so I'm not allowed in it too often. One thing I always faulted though was the headlights. They never seemed aimed properly and lacked the brightness I felt they should have for HID Xenon lamps. Last night I manually raised the headlamp adjuster screws up to the point where you could see far enough ahead of the car with low beams on to make for safe driving without blinding oncoming cars. Got back in the car and turned the little dial that I thought dimmed the panel lights and boy was I surprised to find it actually raised and lowered the aim point of the headlamps The manual says that's to compensate for different loads in the car. I really wish I had read that before spending all that time locating and messing with the adjuster screws. Of course now I can spot low flying owls and aircraft with it as well as see the road, but Who knew?

Me, I don't even try to fool with the newer cars. They've got so much stuff on them that it makes my head spin.

I've got a man down the road that does all that stuff for me!

Lannis

Mike,


Yeah, I could never figure out why car headlamps from the factory are aimed straight down at the ground, about 15 feet in front of the car.
First thing I did to my Passat. Raised the low beam to just below blinding height. Made a massive difference.

Later, there was some sort of "headlamp adjustment" recall.
Which I chose to ignore.

Past 15 years (or so), most of my driving has been at night. Sure does help to be able to see.

Come to think of it, I've raised the headlamps on every car, truck, & motorcycle that I've owned.

GM had the right idea. Make the headlights only adjustable with with a special screwdriver. Most people end up with headlights adjusted for coon hunting.
You mean that we're not all satisfied with British Pre Focus?

British pre focus would have been an improvement over what it was before I started. It was almost as bad as my A10.

Your wife didn't see you reading the instructions, did she? That would be a violation of the guy code, Rule #8. No reading of the instructions with witnesses present.

Is'nt a manual just somebody else's idea of how a job has to be done ?

I was out yesterday evening with the Flash & Box. For the dark ride home I would have been better off with a white stick/cane. Good job it was familiar roads.

My car has the same headlight load adjustment.
It's the same model but 5 years younger than my mate's one.

He was moaning about the load bay being a "bit short" (they are sports wagons /station wagon)
I showed him that by pressing two hidden buttons on the front passenger seat, the back folds down to the dashboard.
He'd had the car for 8 years at that point.

My favorite manual was the original, "Fixing Your Volkswagen, a manual for the Complete Idiot." No pictures, only drawings of what you really needed to see.
"Don't think that we are making light of working underneath the dashboard. We know that it's the devil's work. It's just that we can't help you do it."

My favorite quote from the Bentley VW repair manual is at the beginning of the transmission chapter. "If you have never worked on an automotive gearbox the Volkswagen is not the place to start. Your VW agent will be quite upset should you bring him a box of parts and expect him to put it right."
The Idiot's manual is more succinct, "Transmission work takes specialized tools and a lot of practice. We don't like to practice that much, so we won't tell you how to rebuild your transaxle. We will tell you how to remove it and take it to a proper repair facility though."

Not sure about this one. Wouldn’t have thought it was PC to lump menstruating women and psychiatric patients into the same category.


E13E2B83-1F62-4E20-B5E3-A3673445E4D1 by First Last, on Flickr

^ Like

do not bang exhaust box at dogs

I've just tried to change a headlamp bulb on a modern car. Failed utterly. Looked at manual .... jeez, are they SERIOUS? Apparently I have to dismantle half the bloody car to get to the bloody thing!

Graham......you are NOT the only one that's been down that road. It used to be SO simple.......I don't think they want us working on them?

Gordon

I used to think that was because they tried to cram too much stuff into a small space. But, many normal maintenance tasks are actually more difficult on my full-size van. Doesn't help that half the engine in inside the cabin.
I wouldn't even know where to find many components without a proper manual, and Ford makes separate ones for different systems.

A mate has a French car.
In France, you must carry a spare lamp for the headlight, and other spares.
In fact, you have to carry two of everything, or using the only spare now means you have no spare.
You had to jack up the car and remove the front wheel to access a panel to replace the headlamp.

In the U.K., I believe faulty vehicle lighting is a strict liability offence. If one of your lights doesn’t work then you are guilty. There is no defence.

america is much easier. it's all that "freedom" we like to crow about.

where i live i don't have to have a headlight at all, and no brake light unless a tail light is fitted, IIRC

no tread on my tires either, so i can run slicks, if i were to be so stupid.

they can bust me for excessive noise, but i've never seen anybody stopped for open pipes.

You don’t always have to have any lights in the U.K. If you have lights, they are supposed to work.