The Don

Ha ha, I think everybody should leave WCC alone (he he though i did enjoy reading this post), if the man is happy with the dough he spent on his automobile and if he thinks its worth the money and it has given his van something, well thats the important thing, He can sleep satisfied, WCC bro, don't care too much about what everybody else has to say, as long as you are happy with your product thats whats important, The Don

Well Azeem, its like this, risk is always relative, and like Shak and Pericles I also urge you to approach this issue logically rather than jumping to rash conclusions, This is the info we have, We have quite a few wira's running arround, and we have the experiences of those owners, I have never owned a proton, I have seen a few well maintained ones as well as a few crap ones (mostly gov owned), so I think if you are serious about this car, you can ask a few people who have owned them. From the little info I have from forums etc. most say they are pretty decent cars, and good engines. We have a 2 year warranty on the whole car and 10 years against corrotion. So both those depts are covered. The only things to worry about apart from that are upholstry and plastics etc. Coming loose etc etc. Then you have all the other cars in the same price category and you can compare and contrast what they offer compared to this car at that price. Remember a lot of jap cars with low genuine low milleage have met with accidents and repaired. Some of these accidents are very light, like fenders bumpers and doors damaged, and it has got auctioned off, but I am realiably informed there are some with chassy damage etc being bought over as well. Not to say there are cars which are in perfect condition in the re con market, I am just warning you about the others. Then there is your needs, what do you want in a car, what are you gonna use it for, would you do a lot of heavy running on relatively bad roads etc etc ?. he he then my friend you can happily decide if what you need is a Gen 3 or something else The Don

Ha ha, I think Proton has come a long way, I am sure anybody would tell you, though the old Wira's are not as hardy as their Mitsubishi equivelents, they are pretty decent cars. These Protons are the first Proton is manufacturing completely independently, not copying designs from Mitsubishi, so it would be very interesting to know how they perform. Mind you some of these cars have Lotus tuned suspention (I think Proton owns quite a bit of Lotus thesedays) plus I don't think anybody can complain about the design so I am quite optimistic. Personally, I think for 2.6 million, brand new and with all available options, it certainly doesn't look a bad deal, just my 2 cents, The Don

Hi Bhara, Care to share with us what place this is and what is the brand of the product you installed. Regards, The Don

Hi Duncan, You are not completely correct in your observation, some European cars attract a premium especially the Mercedes Benz, and a few other makes. But other brands loose a lot of value and do not have much of a second hand market, Regards, The Don

Ha ha, I think Memphis people who made these remotes remembered guys like you too, so I think a lot of them check if the car is on neutral before starting the engine, I remember going to that place in Darley Road mentioned in this post, and they told me their system at that time didnt have that facility, but that was a year back and i didnt get that system. The Don

Good for you Ruwds, I hope things go well as well, I have changed a few Laptop rams myself in my time and I think the process is relatively easy, as long as you know what you are doing. The Don

Machan Ruwds, (I am calling you machan thinking you are a guy if not appologies ) Can I suggest a small thing, now this might be something very small, but unless you are 100% sure about what you are doing get your Ram installed professionally especially in a laptop. Because in a desktop if the Ram card doesnt sit properly in the slot and there is a short circuit and the motherboard goes bust for a bit of money you can replace the motherboard, but in a laptop that is a very expensive matter. Also machan if you are buying Ram in the UK only buy recognized brands like Kingston, Micron, Crucial, etc etc, do not buy unbranded dodgy ram, can seriously cock your laptop up, especially if you using it as an upgrade in conjunction with already installed memory. all of these arent that big problems with dekstops but with notebooks they are, take extreme care and caution, wish you luck . Wonder where i am coming from ? well i know a good friend of mine tried to do a "ram upgrade" and managed to damage his mobo in the process and that was the end of a 120K laptop ........ Regards, The Don

Hi Guys, I am usually reluctant to comment on automotive matters because I am no expert, but laptops, I am probably not an expert but I know a thing or two about them, If you want performance from a Laptop there most important things to consider in laptops are HDD speed and memory, because those 2 are what lets laptops down most. Most Laptops come with 4200RPM HDD's and you really feel the difference if you are used to a desktop. You should atleast get a 5400 RPM HDD (The new seagate momentus I hear is quite good, gives performance pretty close to a standard 7200RPM Laptop HDD) or a 7200RPM HDD, which are sometimes included as standard equipment on IBM T Series Laptops (the newer ones T42 upwards). More memory means less swapping and since HDD performance is an issue in laptops this further aggrivates the problem and I suggest getting atleast 512MB Ram to run Windows XP and other applications used for photo editing. Also I know this by practice, Laptops get shipped with all sorts of different factory applications for monitoring and whatever not that make them excessively slow. So the first thing you should do when you get your laptop from the manfacturer is use the operating system CD you get with it to reinstall the OS minus those applications, and then only install the applications you want (feel sorry for the guys who only get a restore CD), believe me the results can be mind blowing, and I am speaking with a lot of experience here. Now about Laptop brands, every brand has pros and cons and I know people have their own preference. My own is for the Compaq business class laptops because I think they are pretty good laptops at a decent price. Infact undoubtedly (and I am supported by reviews in every single Computer magazine I read here) the most value for money Laptop out there is the Compaq NX6110, does not have enough 3D performance for gamers, but for office use exceptional keyboard, exceptional battery life and the price is very reasonable, sometimes as low as 1600 singapore dollars or 450 pounds for a Pentium M (centrino), which I think is an exceptional deal. I currently use a Dell .... why cheap as chips, and I don't use the Laptop much so I don't need blistering performance or anything. I play games on a Xbox (that also very very very very rarely) so I am satisfied with that. But let me tell you something about Dell, Dell is a computer company who does not include a single new innovation in their products. If you look at their motherboards, they are all pretty close to the Intel reference design, the reason they can give you their computers for so less is because they spend very little on research and Development, and they use direct marketing and thus dont have to pay sales commissions. And Dell products suffer from build quality issues, not much of an issue with desktops but Laptops if you are planning on using one for a while it can be an issue, for example its usually the hinges that crack away first, touch pad buttons keyboards etc, though I must say can't fault the electronics, though I do know older Dell screens have a relatively high tendency to suffer backlight faliures, and faliures of the slim ribbon cable that connect the VGA card to the screen. IBM stopped their PC business earlier this year, and most of the business has been taken over by Lenovo, but I don't know if you have noticed but most IBM's we were getting were probably made by Lenovo in the first place (because its all made in china) while IBM was providing the technology and doing the research. And what I am about to tell you is fact. No other Laptop manufacturer has provided more inovation in the Laptop industry than IBM, they were the first to introduce colour screens, first to fit a full size keyboard on a laptop, came up with the track point, and I think are also the first to integrate fingerprint security to laptops. Their laptops also have a technology to protect data on HDD's in case of faliures, cos the laptops senses it is in the process of falling down and braces for impact, good stuff all arround. And anybody who has used an IBM will tell you they aren't pretty, but sure as hell sturdy and duarable, so if you can afford one, and dont give much for bells and whistles and Looks IBM's are a sure choice. I also think Toshiba and Fujitsu and even Acer make pretty good laptops, Also when chosing a laptop and when it comes to choosing a processong, you can get ones with mobile processors and then ones which are called desktop replacements, which have bigger screens, bigger keyboards, and sometimes even use desktop processors, they are sometimes a bit cheaper compared to their mobile counterparts, and are ideal if you are only going to be mobile very rarely. Also the new Pentium M processors are known to outperform their desktop counter parts as Fuzzo will tell you and thus are certainly the way to go. The AMD desktop processors always have a lot of respect from me, but their current Turion and Sempron range suffer from the lack of a good motherboard chipset which seems to inhibit their performance, so if you are a AMD fan, better wait and see if VIA or somebody comes up with a better motherboard chipset, cos they don't do very well against the Pentium M's on benchmarks atleast, of course i might be a bit out of date, hope this info helps everybody, The Don

I am with Pilla Duncan, when it comes to Laptops IBM's are a bit like Toyota Hilux's, they are rugged, reliables, no frills, but plenty of thrills, some of the best equiped and best made laptops i have ever come accross, a bit on the expensive side, check out the T Series, and possibly T43P though I think there is a new model out now, Regards, The Don

Thusha just out of curiosity what was causing the problem with your AC idle ? The Don

Everybodys principals go for a six when they get to power and realise the "possibilities" Not to say there are a few honest decent people there as well, but probably not that many.

Thanks Dunca, I knew you would say that, I have been in autolanka for a while and I am no stranger to your modified Hilux. I am a great admirer , May I ask what model it is LN106 or 107 ? I'm a great 4x4 enthusiast myself and for some time planning on getting myself a base of some sort and modifying it to fit my needs, the cruiser is beyond my budget, and though the defender has always been a favorite of mine I fear the Lucas electronics and maintenance cost, so have kind of thinking about getting an old 106 and working on it from there. Any suggestions ? and is there anything I can do to make the ride a bit more comfortable on the road because pot holes are a back breaker in them Also I know this is out of topic but I do not know if you remember but I had some noisy tappet problem with my car and we were talking whether it could be oil preassure etc. Turns out the chambers of the tappets on the head is worn and thus not providing a good fit and loosing oil preassure, because i tried replacing the tappets but the cure was temporary and the noise came back. Then by chance I stumbled upon an identical engine, and got it off for a price not too bad in my opinion and its being fitted on now, so hopefully the problem would be solved and I would have a spare engine too if this one develops problem, thanks for your help with that, Regards, The Don

Hi Hola, may I ask which EG8 was sold for 8/= the one that is asking for 1 mil in the classifieds ?. This is just my humble opinion macho, so don't think too much about it, but maybe the number isn't so important, as in if you can find even a slightly older car in unmolested condition with low milleage etc. then maybe that would fully satisfy her needs, and might leave a few bucks in your pocket for other things too. I guess at todays market the AE100's etc must be right on your budget or over I was going to suggest a starlet and then i saw she hades sedans. I guess the protons are not a bad option considering the cars would be relatively new, though the wira design is pretty dated now. I wonder how much the lancers of the 96 era go for now. The Don

Hi Duncan, How would you classify the Hilux 106 or the 107 ? cheers, The Don

Sad to say our Hola would also suddenly realise he was born inside an S Class and Drove a 7 series before walking so he might want to "continue" his life style after he gets ellected (which is what necessarily happens so everybody or so it seems) The Don

Good to know your Sons ok, Is it a case of the engine not starting, but the starter motor is turning it (I thought for a long time as to what official terms might be appropriate but could not find one ), Could it be an ignition system faliure if thats the case ? I once had that problem and the ignition unit had to be replaced, Good luck, The Don

Hi, As far as bullet proff vehicles go, personally I do not see why people can put to good use existing bullet proof vehicles, I mean everytime a government comes to power they buy a new lot, and the old lot must be somewhere probably parked in some ex ministers garrage ..... But no point even discussing this I guess, cos though we are in a supposed democracy its not like anybody really cares for the views of the people or their interests for that matter, I think its our fault in a way because we keep ellecting the same lot ! But for the sake of everybody including us motor enthusiasts, I hope peace prevails in Sri Lanka so we can all have a decent chance of getting home safely in our beloved automobiles. The Don

Hi Guys, With all the respect in the world for everybodys opinions about politics, I think its an unavoidable subject, cos though we might be saying we don't like to talk about politics, everytime we bitch about fuel prices, or about import duty, or the speed limit or anything like that at all ......... well thats "politics" whether we like to admit or not. Recently I had the not so wonderful task of going to the Bangladeshi High Commission to get a short visa. And the Bangladeshi high comission is right infront of the Korean Embassy. And while I was waiting the Bangladeshi High Commissioner arrived Merc S320 (might not have been the commissioner, might have been a counsellor, I dunno), and then after sometime I saw some senior official in the Korean embassy arrive, Toyota Premio, I don't know if its some inferiority complex we have or whatever, but it seems people from 3rd world countries like ours seem to be obsessed with excesses like that, our people are starving while our leaders need mercs. I mean in India I am sure V*P's travel in armoured vehicles but they are armoured ambassadors not mercs. In the UK most ministers use their own cars, even Gordon Brown drives an old Vectra. Now I am all for protecting our leaders especially our millitary personel, I think our soildiers should be provided with body armour, and their vehicles provided with ample protection and generals etc provided with armoured vehicles all very important. But I am not sure how 120 million rupee price tags on Mercs can be justified when the government claims it cannot afford to provide ordinary soildiers with simple body armour. Surely there is a fairer way to achieve this, and armour plating vehicles can be done after they are manufactured as well, I mean whatever we do it must be sustainable for the country. I know I love my country, but sometimes I wonder what kind of junk some of our people are on thesedays (no reference to anybody in Autolanka, but you know what I mean) The Don

Hi Shaks, As promissed I am reporting back on the progress, sorry for the delay but I have been all over the place. The oxygen sensor from what I have read I could replace with a standard 2 wire sensor which can be obtained via ebay or something (made to fit american emission control standards but I asume it would work. My mechs will try removing the sensor and searching for a replacement in Panchikawatte, but nobody seems to be too eager to do it, I asume a lot of people feel its unnecessary. Unfortunately haven't had the time to oversee it myself, so I dunno whether it will get done (back at work now) About the tappets, well they tried replacing the noisy ones only this time but though the noise is less it has not gone down completely. The problem seems to be that the chambers in the engine head in which the tappets sit in are a bit worn as well thus not providing a tight enough fit. The obvious solution for this problem is to have the chambered re sleeved and bored, but quite by chance we stumbled upon a new engine for the car in pretty good condition, does not seem to have had very many miles put on it at all and looks all but new, so we've decided to do an engine swap and keep the old engine for spares, I mean it runs perfectly well apart from the tappet problem and pulls like a dream, but its obviously suffered a bit from a less than attentive first owner so this way I get to maintain it the way I want to, and plus Its a simpler repair, and plus I end up with a lot of spares which is always nice when you run a rare engine, and good for whoever who owns it after me as well as he or she will get it with a lot of spares (I have quite a collection of switches and stuff which I have just purchased just in case, cos it is an old car, and some parts are not that easy to find being a coupe), not that I would be selling anytime soon , cos I have done a lot of work on the car, sorting out the transmission, and some other problems, as well as the air con system and the car is as original as it can get cos I have spent hours hunting for the exact parts to replace the faulty ones, and slowly but surely it is coming back to its former glory. The only thing I think I would replace now would be the automatic climate control system (the same one as that comes on the evo's 1-3) because some of the switches aren't as smooth as they used to be, and after that me thinks I would be satisfied with its operational condition, have been an expensive labour of love I have also decided to opt for mineral oil instead of synthetic since the car sits dormant a lot. If it goes into regular running I might go back to synthetic, maybe 40 instead of the reccomended 30. thanks once again for all your suggestions, they have been very helpful Regards, The Don.

Hi Shaks, Yeps has been in SL for about a week now, being avurudu season it has not been that much of a holiday, delivering parcels I was given to bring home, visiting people and trying to sort out car issues and to add to that trying to sort out a short holiday for my parents and going to see my sis who is studying somewhere else has been quite hetic ! Would have loved to have met everybody here too, sob sob unfortunately that might have to wait for another time I talked to my mech who originally sorted the tappet problem out, I think my problem is two fold, first, I think I used oil which was too thick compared to the reccomended (though this has always been the oil used on the car). Mitsubishi reccomends 30 I used 50 so that might have contributed to the problem, so I would probably go down to 40 cos I think 30 is too thin for such an old engine. It sounds like one of the tappets is sticking or so it seems. Anyways I am handing the car over tomorrow for him to sort it out. There is engine flush available at laughs quick lube and places, though I do not know if thats a good idea, whether it would do more harm than good. he he and don't worry about your comments, they have always been most helpful, and the dude who gets your car is a lucky guy I would have bought it myself, but my dad scratches the corners of my small thing so I have nightmares what he might do to a Cefiro I will report back arround next week and let you know what the diagnosis was and the solution, Regards, The Don

Yeah I know, even last time I had to get a set used, and I think it was only the tappets not the rocker arms though not sure, cos my mech did that all for me, good bugger but he has not started work yet !!! I have gone to see him 3 times over the last few days, The car has 173K KM's on it which is quite high but genuine milleage (i mean my old mazda said 132K but no way in the planet was that possible ) So If I am to switch to mineral oil what do you suggest ? and should I flush it using engine flush and then change to mineral oils ? I think if its the tappets again, I am going to buy a new engine and replace this one cos it might be cheaper cos last time i paid 750 per tappet and there are 16 of them !!!. Regards, Abeetha P.S. needless to say I really appriciate your advise etc. and you taking time out to write stuff.

Hi, My Chassy is a CA3A the engine is a 4G91, the grading is ASTI Z Hmm ....... yesh what you say about the tappets does sound familiar, I fear the tappets may have broken, atleast a few of them ....... I wonder where these can be sourced, last time i had to buy them used. Well the car was on Mobil 1 when I got it so already on synthetic, but I changed over to Caltex on a reccomendaion, don't know if this was a good idea though, and for the record I did flush before changing oils. But I have heard mineral oils are a bit better for older engines, Thanks for all the help again bro, Regards, The Don

Thanks macho, But how do I find the part number, even the agents have problems finding part numbers for my car cos its a domestic I thought oxygen sensors were standard equipment cos on ebay you can see sensors for sale which they say will fit any car of a certain generation, thanks again for help, Regards, The don

Hi Guys, I guess fuzzo and skakster would remember that I got myself an oxygen sensor for my car, but I tried fitting it in and found out my car has a 2 wire oxygen sensor, and the one that I got off a proton is a 4 wire !!! yikes, thus I need to find myself a after cat oxygen sensor, any ideas where I can start looking ? Also the noisy tappet problem I've had seems to have returned !!! I sorted it about a year back by replacing the tappets with some used ones, which my mechanic thought would do the trick, but after a year (I wasn't in the country all this time) I find that it has come back, Its running Caltex fully synthetic which i wonder is a good idea in such an old engine and milleage (and its run less than 5000KM on that oil), and some have suggested the problem is with my oil pump and not the tappets. I would like some suggestions on that too, for I am weary of relying on mechs advise alone, cos I have been taken on a few rides of late, and plus the car gets so little use maybe that has contributed to the problem too ? Thanks a lot in advance, Regards, The Don