The AA

[PlaneMan]

Got home at 3. That included a quick 30 minute jaunt on a dual carriageway to charge the battery. The web page that the AA sent me a link to via SMS showed the driver due at 3, moments after I checked it the bloke was driving past in the opposite direction.  Before he even started on the battery he gave the car a quick going over, checked the oil and other fluids and tyre pressures. Car started fine on the battery after a small boost and he confirmed it was in prime condition.

I guess if you’re going to need the AA being in a capital city helps, the bloke was in a small van, Transit Connect size, and said he mostly does the smaller jobs that take minutes. Also mentioning that you have a blue badge doesn’t hurt, the bloke confirmed that you get a higher priority in this area.

Really impressed with my experience today.

[Richard]

Glad it worked for you, I had the 1 year RAC cover on the new car but it expired a little while before my ‘event’ and no one told me. For some reason the RAC had the wrong details on their records… In the end no harm done.

[JayCeeDee]

I’ve been having problems with the wife’s Ka – battery low/failing to start after a fortnight’s rest. My old battery from the Merc didn’t hold enough charge to act as standby, so that has gone. New battery and a couple of tyres is in the pipeline, but does anybody have any experience with THESE .

The blurb that comes with them says they are fine to boost a flat battery and turn the engine over for several seconds, on 5 occasions. That should suffice as it normally starts on the button every time. They don’t seem big enough for what they promise, but they must do ( trade descriptions and the like ). Does anybody have any experience of them in use at all??

[PlaneMan]

No experience of it but I was looking at it earlier. The reviews are really good but we all know that Amazon reviews can be skewed.

[JayCeeDee]

Yes, that was a concern of mine.

I started looking at THESE reviews but they’re all double or treble the price, which makes it a serious purchase, as opposed to a bit of mad money. That looked the best of the sensibly priced ones – unless they lost their capability/usability at that price point.

[Tippon]

JayCeeDee wrote:

…  does anybody have any experience with THESE . The blurb that comes with them says they are fine to boost a flat battery and turn the engine over for several seconds, on 5 occasions. That should suffice as it normally starts on the button every time. They don’t seem big enough for what they promise, but they must do ( trade descriptions and the like ). Does anybody have any experience of them in use at all??

I bought a cheap one from ebay a few years ago when I was having trouble starting the bike in the cold weather. It started the bike perfectly three or four times without a recharge, and started a small engined petrol car too. I used it twice to start a diesel ka, and the first time it got quite hot. The second time, the inline fuse melted through the casing and the battery was too hot to touch.

I didn’t know, but diesel engines need a much bigger draw than petrol to get started. Either only use it on petrol engines, or make sure that it’s rated for diesel

[The Duke]

Diesels take a lot more effort to start than petrol. My MiLs 1l ka came to my rescue a few years back, my 2l d needed to have the ka attacked for a few mins and some raving to get enough juice In it to start.

The battery in the ka was about ⅓ the size of the laguna.

[JayCeeDee]

The new battery for the 1.3 petrol Ka will be 50Ah – the one in the 2 litre diesel Merc is 100Ah. Looks like it’ll be for the Ka only!!

Cheers guys.

[The Duke]

I just got a 1.3 ka myself for my girl. I collect it on monday. Bought it unseen, on my bil word its in good shape. It was his RAF sgt friends wife’s, so got it for £100, which is probably its scrap value. But at 45k miles and a decent mot, with no flags on the old one, it should of been about £600 so saved daddy a few quid.

And they are silly cheap to insure for kids, not so much for me, 260 for me, or 500 for me and the girl. Her current shit box (307 iirc) is £1700 to insure .

[JayCeeDee]

The wife loves hers ( 52 plate ) with 32k on the clock now, came to us with 23k when we got it 5 years ago from a customer – first big bill was this year, £800 for two tyres, steering/suspension bushes,power steering pipe replacement ( £250 on it’s own ) and a few other minor odds and sods. I was going to px it, but the wife thought about it and said to get it done. She knows it’s history, calls it her “point and shoot” car.

iirc it’s about £180 to insure for her with me as named driver. Haven’t got insurance for a young’un in years – in those days we could still insure it as our own with other/named drivers and let our son use it.? It would have been 2k in his name!! Been out of touch with insurance costs for him, but at 34 now he’s looking for an A4 or a C class saloon in the near future because working for Jag/Land Rover he spends 3 days a week up in Coventry, but lives in East London.

Edit – she’ll probably notice the difference in the driving of the two cars – if the Pug has a bigger engine, but with more body weight – the Ka is lightweight, free revving with a good sized engine for the cars’size, but a lot more involved. If it had been the 1.0 or 1.1 she’d have had to work more with it.

 

[PlaneMan]

Used to drive a 53 plate KA, great fun. Not much power, 60 odd bhp IIRC but handled like a go kart.

[The Duke]

The pug os similar output iirc its a 1.3 with 59hp 12 years ago. The same as the ka.

My mum had two of the originals, the 1.3z ,like ice just got, and she upgraded to the posh collection one, leather seats, aircon, electric windows and the bigger 1.6 engine. The small bump in power was cancelled out by the added weight. The 1.3 model was better. I loved that ka, i squashed 7 of us in it, one wedged in the boot, 4 in the back. It effected the acceleration somewhat, but oh my it effected the breaks more. Lol.

When i pick it up Monday morning at about 8am, ill have about a 2 hour drive home to get to know it.

Question for you, does the ka have an aux in? I know the new one does, MiL has one. Not a patch on the original ka.

[JayCeeDee]

I’ve just checked her car and she has one of the higher range of radio/CD units, the 6000CD RDS/EON. There is no sign of an AUX In socket, or ( from checking in the manual ) on the rest of the range above it either.

This is it HERE

[The Duke]

Cheers. I doubt it does tbh, I’ll just take some earphones for the journey home.

Just insured it, for me and her as a named driver the insurance was £520, however for her and me as a named driver its only £365. I have no idea how that makes sense. She is still on a provisional i have 10 plus years of no claims, so you would expect the former to be cheaper. Not moaning though, cheaper, and she gets to start her no claims off.

[JayCeeDee]

Yes – the same sort of thing with me. When I first got the Merc, the wife didn’t want to drive what she called either “My pride and joy” or “My toy” depending on her mood.

When I didn’t know how my treatment would affect me, I added her to the insurance and got it £30 cheaper, ( not a full year ) which I took off the next year’s policy. Probably something to do with a lack of testosterone!!?

[The Duke]

My wife only has a provisional, that she got in the 90s. She has no intention to ever drive, but she has always been on my insurance. I think when i was a new driver not knocked about £100 off my policy.

Also declaring your married knocks a few quid off too.

The strange thing in this instant is its cheaper for the non e driver to be the policy owner over someone with many years clean driving.

Another quirk of insurance is for the past ten years or so every policy I’ve had has been around £280, no matter the car. So i got a quote on the ka for jist me, and it was £260.

Also i called the other insurer of the pug, (its a 206 not 306 i mentioned earlier). Anyhow on that car I’m the lead driver, with my lad and girl as named.for me and the lad it was 200 cheaper than me the lad and my girl. As she didn’t need to be on the insurance anymore i thought I’d take her off. The girl said ok, but your premium is going up by £80 plus a £25 fee. Makes zero sense, but needless to say, she is still on the pug too.

[Bob Williams]

The earlier Battery talk brought back an incident from my working days as a workshop foreman. My boss was an old mate who had a working farm and wanted me to run the garage while he ran the farm and fetched parts if needed, also ran the Recovery service from the big old truck sheds up at the farm. His twin lads were the bodyshop guys, had been doing it since they were small, taught by dad and carried on way past him. Youngest lad was my apprentice mecahnic, daughter was secretary, a real family business. Motto on the vehicles: “A Family in Business for Family and Business.”

Anyhoo, one day one of the twins was charging a battery for his car from a big old wheeled charger we had, in the customer reception room, against my advice. He ignored my other advice about switching off the charger before removing the leads. The cell caps were all unscrewed and gassing: BANG! as he knelt over the battery. Fortunately for him, I was behind him, grabbed him, told  “KEEP YOUR EYES CLOSED OR LOSE THEM!” and led him to the sink, filled it with water and dunked his head in it. Then told him to open his eyes whilst they were under the water. When I dried his face afterwards, the skin around his eyes was red, but he could see. I took him to the surgery and the Doc washed out his eyes, gave him drops to take. Got him home to his mum, who grew up across the road from me, was and still is an old friend from childhood. I gave him a tremendous b******ing and pointed out his mistakes could have blinded him. Went back to work.

That lad was the accident waiting to happen. Following year he dropped a trailer on his foot and broke it, crashed two different cars. His twin brother was just as careful as the other was careless and unlucky. I knew these lads and their sister from babies, was an unofficial “Uncle”. They are in their early fifties now, still email me.

Batteries, especially the older, capped cell lead acid ones, can bite you if not treated right.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Author]

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