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GARAGE TIPS
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If you want to remove the dealer advert graphics from your 4 x 4 spare wheel cover then it can be easily done by using a small steam cleaner such as steam buggy or polti steamer, leaving it looking brand new and plain. Ed WARNING – This |
It is important to use good quality tyres on Thanks to Mike Cook for this
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To remove tar from your car, take baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) and add enough water to make a paste, then rub on tar. Works great! Sent |
Use baby wipes on car dashboards, Contribution from David Barns. |
To remove surface rust from chrome bumpers and Thanks |
Another method of cleaning chrome is a little household ammonia in If you don’t have ammonia paraffin or
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One way to free rusted nuts and bolts, particularly on aluminium parts, is to pour on a small amount of fizzy cola drink. The acids and carbon dioxide in the drink will help to eat away the corrosion and release the hold on the threads. Wait until dry before trying again to move the nut. Cola is is ideal for loosening jammed parts but ensure it is cleaned off |
Clean windscreens with a cloth dipped in a bucket of warm water
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Don’t be tempted to use washing-up (dishwashing) liquid to wash your car. They can contain salt which corrodes metal. |
Cat litter can be used for absorbing oil spills in garages etc.
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Never work on your car in a closed garage with the engine running. The carbon monoxide fumes from the exhaust can kill. |
Never wear loose clothing, ties, jewellery and keep long hair tied
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If you get stuck in snow or on ice, don’t spin the wheels as this will melt the frozen surface making the problem worse. Place gravel, an old sack, or twigs, etc. under the front of the driving |
If you have trouble starting your car due to dampness on winter You could also lay a piece of old blanket or carpet under the bonnet, over
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Broken fan belts on some cars can be replaced in an emergency with tights (pantihose) or stockings. Simply put it around the pulleys on the engine and fan (leaving out the dynamo is easiest). This will allow you to travel further but the battery will not be charging. The belt must be replaced quickly This was also |
To stop a radiator leak in an emergency, place a piece of chewing Alternatively Sent in by Paul Pilbeam (Be careful when opening a hot radiator though!)
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Those are good, but I have an even better solution: PLAIN BREAD……. Years ago, a rock damaged the radiator in my car while I was enroute from Vancouver to Calgary Canada, the great Rocky Mountains. It was about 9 pm on a Sunday night, at one of the highest mountain passes, with a blizzard headed in my direction. This was a recipe for disaster. I pulled into a gas station to find it closed. I had no idea what to do till I went into a restaurant attached to the gas station (it was closed as well, but a couple staff members where still there). I told them my problem, and they gave me a piece of bread. Simply press the bread onto the radiator, and you’re done. The flour plugs the hole, and the bread toasts from the heat, and will stay there indefinitely. Worked like a charm. I was able to drive the next 600 miles home, and missed the blizzard. (The drove the car for a good 6 months with the bread in the radiator, because I was young and broke and couldn’t afford a new radiator…. I wouldn’t recommend waiting that long, but it still worked).
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If windscreen wipers stop working and you happen to have a potato handy!!!! cut the potato in half and rub the face up and down the windscreen in front of the driver. For a short time, this prevents the pattern of drops which is impossible to see through. Repeat the process if travelling further. |
Small paint brushes or toothbrushes can be used Thanks Krystal G. |
If you get a hole in your petrol tank you can fix the problem by sealing the hole with soap (carbolic is the best). This can last up to three days. Contributed by Paul
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To check the accuracy of a car speedometer in the UK, ask a passenger to use their watch to count the number of seconds between the emergency phones on a motorway, assuming they are a mile apart. With that figure divide it into 3600 ( the number of seconds in an hour) and the result is the real miles per hour. Example a car at a constant speed of 60 mph will take 60 seconds. 70 mph – 51.5 seconds. 65 mph – 55 seconds. So a car at 30 mph will take 120 seconds but don’t try this speed on the motorway! It even works on trains if you can spot the mile posts. Even works on model trains if you know the number of feet around the layout – say 70 feet multiplied by 87 (the accurate scale is 1:87 – not the UK 1:76) = 6090. If a model train takes 120 seconds to compete a circuit, it is doing a scale 50.7 mph. Peter Jones |
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