Sunday Times General Knowledge (Gk) Name...
Offers & Competitions1 min ago
Please Settle A Car Dispute....
73 Answers
As if my day couldn’t get any worse Ive now broken down! Went to supermarket just fine. Was in there 15 mins. Came out and car is completely dead. It’s only a year old. Before I rang breakdown I went in and spoke to the staff because you get £75 fine if you’re there over 90 mins. A lovely guy decided to come and see if he could help. He got his car and tried to jump start mine but didn’t work, so he was baffled.
Anyway I’ve rang breakdown recovery and they’ll be here in a couple of hours. Rang Mr Smow and he said it’s because the car hasn’t done enough miles! It’s driven every single day but only locally. He says I need to do longer journeys. Am I meant to do long journeys for the sake of it??
Isn’t driving it every day enough??
Anyway I’ve rang breakdown recovery and they’ll be here in a couple of hours. Rang Mr Smow and he said it’s because the car hasn’t done enough miles! It’s driven every single day but only locally. He says I need to do longer journeys. Am I meant to do long journeys for the sake of it??
Isn’t driving it every day enough??
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Smow...I had dreadful treatment from the RAC when I broke down. I complained and they offered me a £10 voucher. I complained higher up with a very long email and had a reply from higher up apologising, agreeing that £10 was very poor and offering me a £40 voucher instead.
Both vouchers arrived by post....I kept both.
Both vouchers arrived by post....I kept both.
Smow trying to convince 1ozzy to go for a drive.
https:/
https:/
Nice to know the answer - thanks Smow.
Incidentally, a lot of the comments on battery life/charging go back to the days of dynamos (as opposed to alternators). They had a maximum output of about 23 amps and required the engine to be running quite fast to achieve this. With headlamps requiring about 10 amps, heater another 10 amps and maybe the wipers on as well, it was possible to drive in traffic with the battery having to provide some of the power. Then heated read windows arrived, requiring another 10 amps = trouble.
With the advent of alternators things changed - lots more amps available and, because of their construction, they could run at higher revs than a dynamo, so full power from them could be obtained at much lower engine revs.
Again, improvements in starting cut down the time the starter motor was running (taking several hundred amps), so batteries don't suffer the same discharge per start. (When did you last hear a car churning away at the starter for minutes on end). The "each start takes 20 mins driving to replace the charge" mantra dates back to the early days; nowadays it's unusual for a battery to be flat unless it's past its sell-by date or there's been abuse by the driver (lights left on etc).
Incidentally, a lot of the comments on battery life/charging go back to the days of dynamos (as opposed to alternators). They had a maximum output of about 23 amps and required the engine to be running quite fast to achieve this. With headlamps requiring about 10 amps, heater another 10 amps and maybe the wipers on as well, it was possible to drive in traffic with the battery having to provide some of the power. Then heated read windows arrived, requiring another 10 amps = trouble.
With the advent of alternators things changed - lots more amps available and, because of their construction, they could run at higher revs than a dynamo, so full power from them could be obtained at much lower engine revs.
Again, improvements in starting cut down the time the starter motor was running (taking several hundred amps), so batteries don't suffer the same discharge per start. (When did you last hear a car churning away at the starter for minutes on end). The "each start takes 20 mins driving to replace the charge" mantra dates back to the early days; nowadays it's unusual for a battery to be flat unless it's past its sell-by date or there's been abuse by the driver (lights left on etc).
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