u/camerajack21
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553points
camerajack21
camerajack21
Depends on the country. The video isn't in the UK but tons of our passenger cars are diesel, even small ones like Ford Fiestas.
camerajack21
It's not that the parking brake begins to apply as you lose air pressure, it's that air brakes work backwards. Strong springs apply the brakes and air pressure releases them. So as you deplete air pressure there's nothing to release the brakes and they stay on.
camerajack21
Almost all diesels have a vacuum pump because there's no throttle valve and thus no intake vacuum. As long as the engine is running it's creating more vacuum. Basically all commercial vehicles in the UK are diesel.
Even my 1988 Scirocco has a one way valve in the vacuum line off the manifold. You don't immediately lose vacuum in the booster once you go full throttle. You need to deplete the vacuum in the system by activating the brakes on and off and back on before you'll lose the booster.
Anything larger than 3500kg GVW (with some limited exceptions) in the UK runs air brakes. Again these run off a compressor driven by the engine. They also fail safe, so if there are any faults with the system and you lose air pressure they lock on, and they lock on hard. This bus is probably sitting around 15000kg GVW so is absolutely using air brakes.
camerajack21
It's £50/year but gives you access to up-to-date byway mapping of the whole of the UK and pays towards helping keep byways and UCRs open.
camerajack21
I'm still running swaybars front and rear. Not too fussed about the rear one as it's very thin anyway but I'm in the process of designing a disconnecting front swaybar to fabricate. Nothing off the shelf available due to how the OEM bar snakes around the front control arms and engine sump.
camerajack21
It's between Oakhill and Old Frome Road, I can give you a TWUID no. If you're a member of GLASS and have access to Trailwise2.
camerajack21
Yeah the EGR is mapped out and blanked, I get low 30s mpg (UK mpg) mixed driving, the tyres and roof basket don't help. Before either of those it would do high 30s on a motorway run.
camerajack21
Glad I have the 2.5TDI in this. I've read a lot about the 2.7T and they sound like a lot of fun until they're not. The 2.5TDI is pretty solid by comparison.
camerajack21
Factory air suspension
camerajack21
It's base spec so 8v carb. I booted the Pierberg for a Weber though and I've done a couple of suspension mods and slowly tidying it up.
camerajack21
Yah still got the full air suspension setup.
camerajack21
Still rocking full air suspension at the moment and hoping to keep it that way.
camerajack21
The 2.5 TDI is way more reliable than either the 2.7TT or the 4.2. I don't think you guys in the states got the diesel though.
camerajack21
It's the 2.5 V6 TDI auto. I wouldn't mind a manual with the optional low range transfer case but they're getting pretty rare to find in the UK now. Also my project car is a 1988 VW Scirocco so this is my daily and the auto is nice for commuting.
camerajack21
Can you not just drop a gear or something? Almost all autos have some kind of manual mode or hold-down gears. I put mine into Sport mode on long downhills and it drops a gear while locking up the TC for some nice engine braking.
camerajack21
Wild that something as basic as a shifter cable is NLA for a car only 25 years old. I guess you're in the US? Pontiac was a domestic brand as well. I'm in the UK and can get pretty much any part I need for my '03 Audi Allroad, although some of the Allroad specific parts at a cost. My partner's mk4 Golf is hilariously cheap and easy to buy parts for.
Same with my '88 mk2 VW Scirocco. The Scirocco parts are a bit hard to come by but all the mk1 Golf bits underneath are all cheap and easy to get hold of. The shifter is a rod linkage rather than cable and I picked up a linkage rebuild kit for about £25-30 I think.
camerajack21
It's typically better to leave it open. It's gunna burn anyway and if it's open when the fire service gets there it lets them tackle it much more effectively. Usually once they get there the bonnet release cable has melted through and the bonnet can't be opened.
camerajack21
MK4 Golfs were available with 4Motion, but they have totally different rear suspension and different floorpans compared to normal FWD A4 platform vehicles.
camerajack21
Absolutely bonkers. Back in the mid 90s when VW first went to electronic throttle with the introduction of their TDI engines they were programmed to not rev any higher than 1500rpm (maybe 1800rpm?) if the brake pedal is pressed at the same time as the accelerator. And the brake pedal switch is a dual switch with both a normally open and normally closed circuits whose logic must agree with the ECU or it'll throw a code/engine light. This stuff really isn't hard.
camerajack21
For richer people living in cities maybe.
In my work car park of about 8 or 9 employee vehicles only two are automatic. At my last job there were zero automatic cars in the car park. My parent's car is manual. My partner's parent's cars are manual. All my friends bar one have manual cars. I have an auto but my partner's car and our other car are both manuals.
They're still pretty rare in the UK unless brand new or luxury vehicles.
camerajack21
...do you mean pawl?
camerajack21
Aldi uses them in the UK. They're E-ink like Kindles so it's very hard to tell they're digital unless you see one actually change, or one malfunctions.
camerajack21
In the UK the offence of refusing to supply a specimen of breath or blood for testing (if a police officer believes you to have been drinking) is worse than the drink driving offence. However, the roadside test is not evidential, only an indicator that you need to be taken back to the station for a go on the big boy if you fail it.
You're well within your rights to refuse a roadside breath test, but you'll automatically be arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence and will have to either breath into the evidential machine or have blood taken anyway. You're better off just doing the roadside test and hoping you're under the limit. Or just not drink drive in the first place.

FWIW I think the US is the only place that uses green for diesel and black for petrol/gas. Everywhere else it's the other way around.