Morpheus

Good review and comments there. Very interesting.

Hey Chris, I just re-read your first post and it seems obvious that TDI did something wrong. Nevermind their reputation, they screwed up your engine. You drove it 100 yards after they had worked on it and it went bang. What do they have to say? Maybe someone left a fuse out or shorted the connection that I don't know on the Supra but to check the timing? The mechanic could simply have forgotten something. Was it on a Friday afternoon? Never let anyone touch your engine on a Friday afternoon unless you know them.

Not sure about Supras but generally 1996 was the OBD2 introduction. Either way, it needs reading.

Is he? I don't think so atall. Useless at following instructions, yes but ratty, no. Chris, just kidding but have you or others checked the actual ignition timing? I mean eliminated the basics first, as you say the belt has signs of rubbing on the back edge, so it could have ridden up and skipped teeth, as previously suggested. Are you absolutely sure you haven't got any coil bind in the valve springs? Have the cams/springs been changed atall? This could make life harder for the timing belt and cause it to shift sideways under load, then skip if the camshafts are binding. Are you running a stock cambelt? If not you should get a Gates T215RB or HKS equivalent, just to be safe. Another question; is the cambelt tensioner working ok? If the cast bracket is cracked or the bearing is worn, it could misalign the belt. Check the lower timing cover for signs of wear in that area. Obviously requires removal of crank pulley but a good opportunity to change the belt. You really need to thoroughly check the basics first. If you were just coming onto boost when it popped, detonation isn't likely so forget major internal damage, I agree, though if it skipped teeth, it's quite likely. Either way, you have a cambelt problem and it should be changed and all pulleys/tensioner and cams need a thorough eyeballing.

If the car won't start but backfires, the ignition timing is the problem somehow, whether it be from cam/belt maladjustment or fuelling issues, such as a faulty injector/connection. If diagnostics won't communicate with the OBD2/ECU, it's obviously faulty. Since you don't have a distributor to twiddle, you need to check the cam position sensor and related connections first, for obvious signs of physical timing issues. Can you actually read the fault codes from the OBD2 port under the steering column?

Precisely. Premiums have little to do with an individual's actual claims history. The good drivers are paying for the bad; just not quite as much. The worst don't have to pay atall. They just don't bother with insurance and take their chances. Even career criminals get a warning and a ban. Like that will make any difference. I for one have a very strong financial incentive at the moment to crash my car up a tree and claim the market value but I'm too honest and would never do such a thing. I can see, however, that many other less scrupulous people would do this if they needed the money more than the car. It happens all the time and is another reason why premiums are so high. All these dodgy whiplash claims are probably drivers totalling their own vehicles up trees!

So is extortion.

Indeed, it would indicate a never-ending cycle. An ebb and flow, often likened to the breath of God.

Hi and welcome! If you ask me, insurance is one of the biggest scams going, so sod them. How can you quantify use in the event of a claim? If you're both named drivers, the premium will reflect the driver with the highest risk anyway. It's only fraud if he's the only named driver and you drive it.

Bad, bad Mrs. Stig the Tig. Not to worry; MIG is still BIG, ya dig?

1. Wile e coyote - dis_mee 2. Probrox - Probrox 3. Supra steveo - SteveoMKIVSupra 4. Dave - davem53 5. Morpheus - Suprasmart68 6. Robzki - bobzki 7. HateEvent - KCHGH 8. Swampy - Swamppig 9. ajlittler - ajlittler 10. Ian W - INTEGRAted81 11. supradibbs -Jetwrencher32 12. mike33 - killerhusky 13. Chucky@war - chuckywar 14. dodec "j" - gfc 15. supra joe - Turbodup

Was it a five-knuckle chuckle?

If odd means different to the norm or average, then that's cool with me. Now it seems I'm even.

Ok cheers for that. I just read about 'peculiar distances' and such but it doesn't address the fundamental question that I asked, which is how the Universe could be larger than it's own age would allow. Perception of time or distance is one thing but the basic hypothesis that the Universe is 14 billion years old and yet is estimated at 93 billion light years across, makes no sense without changing one or more variables, such as the speed of light or the age of the Universe. The matter of perceived distance is irrelevant to this fundamental question. I'm just interested in how these guys came up with 93 billion light years, as, from a singularity or Big Bang, it's simply not possible in 14 billion years, even at the constant speed of light, regardless of perceived distance, cosmological or real time etc. Throw in the 'fact' that matter can only ever approach the speed of light and it gets really interesting, to me at least. Not only does this mean that the Universe must be far smaller than 28 billion light years across, (if 2x14 is valid), the rate of expansion if it ever reaches the speed of light must stop dead, as no further increase is apparently possible. If no increase in expansion rate is possible, the Universe would continue to expand just shy of the speed of light until maximum entropy had been achieved, i.e. all energy from the Big Bang had been 'used up' and matter itself turns to it's basic elemental sub-atomic constituents. Gravity would then cease to act, as it is clearly a function of mass and therefore of charged particles, like electromagnetism, which would no longer exist at maximum entropy. You would be left with a vast sea of nothingness, except the remnants of matter, except this time, without gravity to collapse them back to a singularity, no further Universes could expand into being, as the Lego bricks have been scattered too far and wide and no-one can be bothered to clear them up at the end of the day. Sorry for the technical jargon! It is assumed that at this point, after the expansion of the Universe is completely exhausted, gravity would become the strongest force in the Universe instead of the weakest and it would all begin to collapse. Gravity must in this scenario, be a function of even the most fundamental units of matter. Some have even postulated that time could go backwards, as if the Universe is a mechanism with no room for chaos or choice atall. This would mean that there is no such thing as chance and that everything is a clockwork, pre-determined event, doomed to repeat itself in exactly the same way forever. Clearly this is absurd, though some people live by this assumption, judging by their behaviour, as if nothing really matters. If nothing ultimately does matter, then I suggest that we work towards giving life meaning. This, to me, is the reason that we're here, as either way, meaning or no meaning, God or no God, it's all the same.

Cool. I have no issue with there being velocities way beyond lightspeed but these guys need to get their story straight, since it doesn't make much sense at the moment.

The OP established the protocol by leaving a space but Probrox quite sensibly added a dash seperator to avoid confusion, which became the standard format.

As requested, yes please.

Please read the first post. Sorry but you broke the rules. This will not be tolerated!

That's Adam shame. Poor Ed. Poor us! Sorry Ed. I mean Great, Great, Great, Great, oh, you work it out Grandad.

Which came first?

See Scott, it all makes perfect sense.

Hence the Toyota Supra.

Sorry, I didn't realise that comedy was funnier in Hollywood format.

Why not see it as even more remarkable that we do exist, despite the odds against it? Makes me wonder if it was designed that way...... Think about it; how many events might not have happened that would have prevented our evolution? The two bacteria that turned a different corner and never met. Your own parents meeting each other. All the potential global killing asteroids that never seem to reach us. That we are largely still here despite possessing biological, chemical and nuclear weapons is even more remarkable. Someone's got to be on our side, I reckon.

This is 'absolutely' hilarious, if you can forgive the ads. "Errrrrwwwwwrat in Sweransea are yow derrring Gwynedd?" An absolute must see. I think this episode includes "Do I shock you?" female painter acted by Morwenna Banks. If it doesn't, watch the others as it's well worth it. http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DdZu6SQdtHns