RCD wins again

[Mike Tomlinson]

All modern engines use some oil, which shows how much you know, i.e. the square root of f*ck all.

[Bob Eager]

Similar story. I had a Honda CB72 (250cc twin) back in the late 1960s/ early 1970s, and acquired a reputation as the only person locally who would work on them, apart from the dealer.

I knew a particularly thick CB72 owner, who I didn't see very often. One day he broiught the bike to me. He said it was very noisy and lacked power. I tried it out and he was right. He said a scrappy had offered him £25 for it 'next wek' and I offered him £20 on the spot if he left it there and walked home. I made a tidy profit on breaking it.

I stripped the engine down. He'd failed to adjust the cam chain, which ran in a tunnel between the cylinders (adjustment consisted of loosening a nut and tightening it again; a spring took up the tension). The chain, flapping away, had sawed through the inside of the block casting, breaking into a horiuzontal oilway that ultimately fed the camshaft.

The cams were scoured and virtually round. The ends of the rocker arms were concave and soft. They could hardly have been lifting the valves at all.

But, as I say, the rest of the bike made me a good profit. The story of the police and the frame is another tale.

[Bob Eager]

Ah, but it's more than neutralised by the black stuff.

[MrCheerful]

I used to have both CB72 and 77 and C72, my friend ran a bike shop that had all the parts and I learnt a lot. CB72 stuff now sells really well, so if you have anything left.......

The worst part of the CB72 was the stupid kickstart that went the wrong way :)

[Capitol]

I am jealous, very difficult to find decent fried bread these days.

[MrCheerful]

He could have put two leads to it with two plugs. I ended up doing just that to provide a converter lead for use in a theatre without 32amp sockets. To avoid anyone getting a zap off one plug while the other was plugged in I put a strap around the surface socket to hold the plugs in. Yes, I know......but needs must etc.

[Andy Burns]

And no doubt thought it was a more elegant solution than fitting a PZ2 hex fuse?

[damduck-egg]

I knew a ships engineer who let his car engine seize due to a lack of oil , he had noticed the light but when checking the oil level it appeared ok eveytime so he decided it was a fault with the pressure sensor and ignored meaning to sort the lamp out later. Not sure how he did it but it turned out that he had never actually noticed the engine oil dipstick and had been checking the one that showed the fluid level in the automatic transmission. He got a lot of ribbing over that.

G.Harman

[ARW]

It is a bit posh for a farm.

Nice lighting though. Track lighting on a suspended cable tray.

[MrCheerful]

The MK2 jag auto had a very obvious dipstick and a less obvious one, the obvious one of course was for the gearbox. We bought a lovely condition one , but with a seized engine, the owner had regularly checked the dipstick :)

[MrCheerful]

you can get a 35 amp glass fuse into a 13amp plug without difficulty.

[Tim+]

Perhaps true to say that modern cars don't need top ups between services routinely.

Worst car I had for oil consumption was an Alfasud, which, from new, needed topping up every 2-300 miles. "Within spec.." according to manufacturer.

Tim

[ARW]

The melted plastic would be the cause of it looking like that. I am pretty sure the hot spot was at the top of the fuse and that the plug was wired up correctly.

Still - a brilliant win for RCDs.

[ARW]

But they did not know why the RCD was tripping.

I had one earlier in the week at a recycling centre. The RCBO tripped every time exactly 5 seconds after it was reset. A walk around the place to see what was working and what was not working was all that was needed. I then unplugged the hot drinks vending machine.

The heating element kicked in 5 seconds after powering up and the element was knackered.

I was really annoyed as I knew how to get free drinks out of that machine.

[David Lang]

I regularly install wireless doorbells.......

[MrCheerful]

the burnt exterior of the plug was a bit of a giveaway, plus there must have been a smell of burning.

[MrCheerful]

So do I, seems like very few people can do anything except use a smartphone.

[dennis]

Its quite common for that sort of clamp not to grip the fuse very well. They usually need some adjustment if you don't have a spare so you can chuck it.

[dennis]

What did you use to ensure the current was balanced and not taken from just the one plug?

Did you check to see if it was a ring that could have been damaged by taking such a large load from one spot?

Has it burnt down yet?

[Bob Minchin]

Surely everyone knows that you need a PZ3 bit to make best contact in that arrangement lol