Was having a nice enjoyable day last Friday i.e. pub lunch, visit to garden centre and new nature trail so that I could try out my nice new Canon A170IS digicam. After roaming around, we came back to a rather warm car (new shape Golf MKV) and so pulled away and turned on aircon. within a few minutes, or miles, a horrible irritating rattle started coming from the vicinity of the driver's air vent (nearest driver's door). I started fiddling whilst driving (a dangerous thing to do) but could only stop this noise if I applied pressure to the air vent surround or the fascia in general.
This really pee'd me off and so eventually I posted this annoyance on the excellent www.uk-mkivs.net website, where all things VW are discussed. I soon had a post back telling me to remove the side panel that exposed a fuse board whereupon I might find a loose nut/bolt or two. I did this today, and sure as eggs is eggs, one of the bolts, a torx-headed affair was loose as was its washer. Not having the necessary tools I ventured over to Halfords and bought a Torx set of 'Allen' keys and came back and tightened it up securely. Thinking about this, I also removed the passenger's side panel and again found a very loose bolt of the same size - this was similarly secured.
This all worries me somewhat as I wonder just how many more, perhaps important nuts and bolts are loosening themselves and what does this say about VW's quality control and the appalling road surfaces.
Someone on that site did suggest that maybe the torque settings for fastening are kept low in order not to strip any plastics into which they are being screwed down, in which case why aren't locking washers being used?
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Could it just be that this particular screw is the first one tightened on the production line and after tightening the others the first becomes slightly loose?
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Someone in the motoring press used to base car build quality on the "screw factor" After a long test drive - The more screws found in the footwells the lower build quality rating it got.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Could it just be that this particular screw is the first one tightened on the production line and after tightening the others the first becomes slightly loose?
Who knows? It/they must have been working loose over the last 24 months or so, with the effects of both hot and then very cold air in the car's air ducting perhaps exacerbating the problem.
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Strange that. I had to go inside the fuse panel housing on my Skoda to add some extra wiring associated with my towbar and built-in rechargeable torch. Every screw I took out was tightened precisely as I would have done for the materials involved. It doesn't and didn't rattle.
Maybe the Czechs could teach the other VAG plants a thing or two about assembly.
659.
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A few years ago the workshop van (Fiesta) had a few tools stored in it to be used for breakdowns etc.
One tool was a battery heavy discharge tester, and every time it was used the small nuts holding it together had to be tightened. Without fail, after a couple of days of being driven about, one or both nuts would loosen. The van is long gone but the same tool is now kept in the workshop - and it never needs tightening up.
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Clamp bolts for the frame and/or steerer on the eponymous folding bike would regularly unscrew and fall out while it rode in boot of my old Pug205. Never happens now in the Xantia, niether did it in the BX.
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Every time I walk along the main road into town-about 1/2ml.-I notice odd nuts and bolts laying in the gutter-some are small,self-tappers etc.other may have dropped into an engine compartment during a service and not come out the bottom until vehicle is driven but some are large and appear to be suspension parts or similar.
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I was once in a very long and very very slow moving jam on the A3.In the outside lane, with nothing to do I looked in the grass in the central reservation.
IN the space of 5 very very slowmoving miles, I think I could have recovered enough parts to build a new car.
Complete gearboxes, an engine, several suspensions..... Mind it was all crash damage.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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>...new nature trail so that I could try out my nice new Canon A170IS digicam...
Take it you meant to type A710IS, Oldgit. Anyway, how do you like it? I'm looking for something for days out when the full dSLR kit is too much to carry and that and the A640 are on my list.
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>...new nature trail so that I could try out my nice new Canon A170IS digicam... Take it you meant to type A710IS Oldgit. Anyway how do you like it? I'm looking for something for days out when the full dSLR kit is too much to carry and that and the A640 are on my list.
Sorry for that typo but I was so agitated by that rattle (now cured) that I was suffering from 'keyboard-itis'.
Anyway this camera (Canon A710 IS) is, as our American friends would say, awesome. At least that is how I see it when compared with my old Powershot A40 2 megapixel camera.
Only drawback is that, although the viewing screen is much larger it is of lower resolution and suffers from the usual inability of seeing anything on it in bright sunshine - thought the scientists would have overcome this drawback by now. However I thinks it's great and my old Minolta Dynax 500i et.al stay at home now.
In addition to the camera, I also purchased a Canon Selphy 720 dedicated 6"x4" postcard printer which is also produces extemely acceptable prints and is useful for SWMBO; a computer does not have to be involved!
You can, as you are probably aware, read full reports on cameras etc on either Steves digicams or dpreview websites.
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Thanks, OG. Yes, I've digested the review sites but there's nothing quite like another real user's experience, is there? (Bit like the information available in the BR, really.) I never liked Canon cameras in the film era but their mid-range digitals seem really well thought out - SD memory, AA batteries and proper viewfinders.
As for seeing the LCD screen outdoors, perhaps it's time for a return to the 1890s and hiding under a black cloth to take a picture - always being careful not to knock off one's top hat in the process, of course, and keeping the legs of the tripod decorously covered.
Now back to the others to drag us back on topic.
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Now back to the others to drag us back on topic.
Precisely.
However, I'll just one mention one drawback. Over long recycle time with flash (doesn't really worry me, however).
Cheers
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