It's a bit of a worry that, far from becoming the dishwasher-simple appliances many owners would like them to be, cars are developing into things that require a significant degree of technical understanding to own and operate without ruining them. It's becoming almost as bad as - and rather more expensive than - the bizarre idea of the Windows PC as a suitable device for the non-expert home user. (Think about that one next time your mum calls on a Saturday evening to ask why her email isn't working!)
I didn't see the Willson programme, but I imagine there'll be people who did and will think 'My car has a diesel engine, so I can fill it with chip fat', then wonder why it goes phut.
Or, to put it another way:
Journalist in presenting-a-distorted-picture-of-the-truth shock
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Quentin Wilson was pretty clear that only a select number of diesel engines could run directly from pure vegetable oil and that you had to be very careful to check first. I had hoped mine was one of them.
I guess not.
I'll have to investigate whether the programmable 'economy' tuning box featured on the programme (on a Range Rover) is suitable for a lowly Corolla.
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Crimea
Quentin Willson should be thoroughly ashamed of himself for presenting that ludicrous half hour of misinformation. Virtually every "fact" was either dubious - or plain mad.
He even tipped veg oil into a Vauxhall CDTi - how dumb was that?
Veg oil isn't even that much cheaper than pump DERV now - though it is a lot cheaper than the cost of replacing your entire, common-rail, fuelling system! [Around £3000...]
I've never thought of tuning boxes as economy devices - they increase the power at the expense of economy. He must have had some spare programme minutes to pad out - or wanted a freebie for his car...?
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O.K.
I stand entirely corrected. I guess I can't beat the govt-directed punishment for daring to drive my car.
Edited by Webmaster on 21/07/2008 at 18:25
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(Think about that one next timeyour mum calls on a Saturday evening to ask why her email isn't working!)
Brill! I laughed out loud at that, my Mum lives over 400 miles away, so trying to sort out computer problems with a 92 yo silver surfer can be said to be difficult!! I'm afreaid to say that I tend to run out of patience as my Mum is not computer literate at all, though she can type very fast and accurately!!
Going back to subject I wish I'd seen it, I have heard of several people who have had a "remap" getting better mpg, though the "boxes" don't seem to fair as well...
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I made enquiries at a well recommended diesel tuning company about Toyota remapping.
It seems Toyo's are impossible to remap.
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I wouldn't bother - the price of veg oil has gone up a lot recently so there's little difference between the price of diesel and veg oil these days.
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(Think about that one next time >> your mum calls on a Saturday evening to ask why her email isn't working!) >> Brill! I laughed out loud at that my Mum lives over 400 miles away so trying to sort out computer problems with a 92 yo silver surfer can be said to be difficult!!
Sorry to go off topic but I have the same problems with suppoting computers over a long distance. There is a free remote access application which I use and it's very good. It's called LogMeIn. If you go to logmein dot com you can dowbload the free version there. You have to install it on the host PC so you have to make one visit in person but after that it's great.
Of course if they can't get on to the Internet at any time!!!!!
Andyfr
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