Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Kam’s Column - 21/01/03
Hello Again!
It has been a fast paced week in the news, but the dominant story here in the workshops has been a local one. I am, naturally, referring to Derby’s 3-1 victory at the weekend – maybe this season won’t be such a write-off after all. Perhaps it is the start of the great team’s re-emergence to claim their rightful place at the top of the tables – better late than never I suppose!
Slightly further away from home, 30,000 British troops are now to be deployed in the run up to a war with Iraq, but even as they are getting their webbing and packs sorted, the Iraqi officials seem to be co-operating to a greater degree. I suspect that our troops will go out there, but I hope that they’ll do little more than pick up suntans and run some drills in the unfamiliar heat of the Middle East. It’s all enough to make a grown man reach for his security blanket…
Down at Heanor this week, sparks of a different sort were flying. Mr Holmes’ (name changed to protect his innocence) imported Toyota MR2 was blowing fuses like you or I would blow bubbles. He’d taken it to other garages and received new fuses, new batteries and even a brand new alternator (fitted because the old unit was, apparently, over-charging…) which as you can imagine had cost him an arm, a leg and part of his sanity as well. Desperate, he brought it to Kam after seeing our last article in the Trader (which incidentally has been solely responsible for a rush of troublesome electrical jobs).
“Kev, I can’t even work out why the fuses keep blowing, but when they do, the rear sidelights and the dash board illumination goes. The only factor seems to be Beethoven.”
“Beethoven?” I’m certain that this was the first time that a long dead composer has been blamed for blown fuses.
“Yes Kev, Beethoven’s Ninth in fact – you know, the one featured in ‘A Clockwork Orange’. Just as it reaches crescendo, boom and all the lights go out. It’s really starting to bug me…”
That had to be a co-incidence, surely? I promised that we’d give Mr Holmes a call once we’d had a sleuth about.
Scott and I got straight down to the job, and very quickly we discovered the first problem – a direct battery feed down to the back of the car. This was a time bomb just waiting to go off, so that got disconnected pretty sharpish! Everything else looked OK, the connections were good, the battery was the correct one and the fuse box was in perfect condition. The only thing that looked different was the stereo CD player.
A quick call verified that the in-car entertainment was a retro-fit item that had been installed by a reputable firm. So that didn’t yield any direct answers. Just to check the problem, I popped Beethoven in.
Nothing. Well, actually, I lie. A glorious swell of sound, but no fuses blowing. I put the lights on – and still nothing. There was no problem.
“Actually Kev,” piped up Scott, “you’ve missed the rear speakers.” Gently turning a knob produced a deep rumble from the rear and then – pop! The fuses went again.
It took an hour and a half to get the stereo out of the car. It was a mega, gigantic system quite capable of filling the Albert Hall, let alone an MR2. Still, whatever you like I suppose… Once the system was removed, the problem was instantly apparent. The people who had installed the stereo had done a very bad thing – they took a direct feed from the battery, tapped it through the rear lights/dash board fuses and on into the stereo.
So why didn’t the fuses blow every time the stereo was used? The answer is simple – when only the front speakers were in use, the load on the system could be managed by the fuses. Turn the huge rear subs on as well and – boom! The load was just too great.
Once Scott and I had rewired the system safely, Beethoven and his Ninth sounded better than ever before. In fact, just about everybody downed tools to come and have a listen!
I have to admit, regular reader, that after the success of restoring Beethoven’s symphony, I had a near catastrophe. As I was going to pick up a customer’s car, I kerbed the Rover and caused the Stunner tyre to blow out! Not a nice experience, however I am consoling myself with the knowledge that the black cat who ran out in front of me lived to fight another day (and I thought that they were meant to be lucky)! As I saw the cat, I swerved to avoid it, hit a big puddle and clipped the kerb.
However, since the tyre was still under the manufacturers’ warranty, it is getting replaced free of charge! That’s why I choose Stunners for all of our courtesy vehicles – not only are they superb tyres, but they keep the cost of minor mishaps to the absolute minimum. I’d hope by now that you know that I would never recommend something this highly unless it really was the best…
Until next week,
