a few questions from a newbie

[tim]

1) why do my fan controls sometimes automatically switch to windscreen when i jump out of the car and then back in. ie have it on face, stop car, come back a few minutes later and it changes to windscreen (no a/c, just fan?)

2) does everyone else's fuel light slowly flash on and off? the book says that when the light comes on it has 8L left... so does it ever come on as a solid light or always flash?

[ABC]

My fan controls do the same thing but at completely odd times. I think it might have something to do with the immobiliser. Sometimes when I leave the car to immobilise itself without locking the car then the fan changes but I've never really sat down and had a good look at when it happens and why - just one of those things I suppose.

Fuel light tends to come on and off at first when accelerating and/or cornering but the lower it gets the more it stays on until it stays on all the time. :D

[Rupewrecht]

1) nope! odd!

2) yeah, but it's just that fuel sloshes around in your tank whenever you take off/go round a corner/slow down and the fuel sender picks it up as being fuller than it is coz it's suddenly come on again.

[MrShadow]

1) Yep, mine does. Normally when left overnight. You'll hop back in, and wonder why there's no air, thenr ealise it's done it's trick. Possibly the windscreen is a "default" setting for the controller, and sometimes it resets itself.

You'll also notice, if you listen carefully when you move the temp control, you can hear a motor? When ever you have the temp control set on anything but the left-most position, you'll hear this motor go everytime you turn on the ignition. Wierd stuff huh?

[tim]

1) i don't think it would be the immobiliser, i don't have the factory one connected any more.

when the car was in a car yard, between 1st and 2nd owner (i'm the 3rd) the alarm kept going off, so the car yard disconnected it. the 2nd owner have to get a new one installed (not mazda, just at a car audio place)


mine just does it at weird times, i thought it may have had something to do with moisture in the car, so it goes to windscreen to demist.. but it also does it on hot days, when its parked in the garage all night, when left for 5 minutes....

maybe i'll start writing down when it happens and see if there is a pattern...


2) i thought it was the sloshing around... just checking.

[Trav]

1) the climate controls are an enlectric motro contolling a rotating vacuum switch - ie when you switch one of the buttons, this controls a motor to rotate to a certain vacuum position to activate the air directio/position. This would sem like som earth/power problem to that module witch is causing the motor to go..well..haywire

2)What Dan (rupewrecht) said - note it is a bad idea to drive a fuel injected car and let the tank get too low below a quater (I can't remember why, but I have been told this by a few mechanics), so when that fuel light comes on, you really should fill up ASAP.

[BigMal]

With the fuel all the sediments sink to the bottom and all the water in
the fuel floats on the top. When you run real low you are not only sucking in the water but all the crap at the bottom of the tank.

Not good for the motor

Mal

[MrShadow]

Ahh, Mal, doesn't fuel float on water, that would be why aircraft have fuel drains at the lowest point in the fuel tanks/system? :?

[Trav]

MrShadow - you ae correct - fuel floats on water, but drains of any sort are generally located at the lowest point, otherwise how could it 'drain'.

Fuel pickups in car fuel tanks are generally a littel bit above the bottom of the tank, which is why you have tank capacity and usable fuel specs...

[MrShadow]

Same with aircraft. The fuel drain points are located at the lowest point (so you can check for water/impurities before flight, and drain tanks completly), but the actual fuel lines source fuel from just above the lowest point, for obvious reasons.

[Trav]

hmm- we have another filght buff among us - do you fly MrShadow???

[MrShadow]

Fully qualified PPL(A) and for those in the know, also have Retract and CSU endorsements.

One of my addictions, and certainly the most expensive! :lol:

[Trav]

i was gonna say - forget the car mods - need the money to stay in the air.

I'm not licensed, but have managed to fly most form of prop... and a chopper here and there... The old man in ex RAAF, so it's in the blood, along with jumping out of them...

[MrShadow]

Hehe, that's why the Astina hasn't has much done to it, and I'm always complaining about having no money. :lol:

Not sure about jumping out of them, but flying them, yes.