tracteurtom

Goodness me, what a load of drivel ! Does it crank  with the spark plug removed ?  Is the engine free to turn by hand with the plug removed (it should be)? Does one cable or connection get hotter than the rest (indicating a duff joint ?) or do they all get hot indicating an overloaded motor ? Dont crank or try to crank for long periods without a rest as you will damage the starter motor, they dont have a long duty cycle. What is the starter solenoid on these motors ? that could be the problem - does it get hot ?  Measure the volt drop across it. Another possibility is that there is way too much oil in the engine, causing too much drag. Another load of drivel - sorry  ! 

Ee EJC, those chooks are well looked after !   I know its common practise in the UK to worm chickens, but no so in France it would seem.  I have an ever expanding collection of chickens (and 12 turkeys are due in 2 weeks !) and I asked a local farmer about worming - vermifuge - and he (and his wife) looked at me as though  I had two heads - don't waste your money lad was the translation, barmy anglais! I'm sure your local vet will be able to best advise you what to do.  Let me know how you get on as I'm still not sure that sans vermifuge is the correct approach, particularly with dogs and kids around.

[quote user="Payrac-man"] French regs are just not as good as UK regs and I sleep better at night now     [/quote] Disagree, but cant be bothered to explain apart from you need to study the regs in detail and understand why things are done in certain ways.  There is nothing wrong with the French regs, they are different in many areas to the UK IEE regs, and both need applied properly and not mixed and matched.

I thought smoking was banned, if not why not.  Lepers on society I say [:P] Come on you cant expect to post something like this without comment from the anti smoking brigade !

Cabman,  If you connect a lead permanantly to the positive pole of the battery, you need to fused it, otherwise there is a big risk of fire if it accidently gets shorted to deck. Otherwise your idea of wiring in a  pos and a neg directly to the battery that allows you to connect a charger is good.  I did the same on a kit car that sat in the garage for months on end and I used one of those intelligent float chargers that allows you to keep the charger permananently on,  this - in theory - is also good for the battery.  However  I think you have another problem because, one day the battery is going to fail and charging it wont be of any use.  You need to suss out how to connect another battery to the tractor and the suggestion of using one of those "race"  (ha ha does it go faaaasssst !) connectors is good but may be unnecessary if you can get access to the starter motor ?  If you can, then  just jump lead to the solenoid, but beware of all the safety stuff and never ever connect the battery charger here or leave a jump lead clip unattended here, because if the croc clip slips and shorts the starter you could end up with the tractor starting in the middle of the night and if you left it in gear............................  [:'(] Another problem with the Anderson style "race" connectors is you will need very thick cables (40mm2 min) and connecting these to the tractor battery is messy and difficult to do safely (easy on a race car with a tiny battery) and even then you might find that the losses are too great to crank the heavy diesel engine at a rate fast enough to start.   That said, these connectors if fitted to your tractor, turn it into a very useful tool for starting dead cars !

So long as your rent out price reflects thats its a pokey hole (come on be honest ! ) and that you make it clear in your sales blurb its not suitable for families then no problems IMHO, but then, I'm always told off for being too matter of fact !  [6]

As its LHD and registered in France, sell it in France as cars here fetch double what they do in the UK.  Then buy yourself a bargain in the UK.  Check out the Autotrader in your area.  I was looking in the £1000 bargain section of one the other day and cannot believe what you can get for that money, if these cars were LHD they would be 3-5000 euros in France.  The UK, it seems is awash with used cars and  probably explains why people can afford to risk leaving them illegal at the ferry / air ports (its not mine guv !).  [:@]

[quote user="londoneye"] 1.    If the grass is too long and you can't find it, wait for rain to wash it away ! [/quote] LOL - thats just what my kids says when I tell them its about time they did a pickup!!  [:D]

When we came to France 3 years ago we had a Toyota Lucida, a jap import.  It was a superb car and the whole family loved it.  However, I gave up on trying to register it in France, it just was not worth the hassle and then there was the issue of spares.  I ended up taking it back to the UK and swapping it for a Kangoo that was a breeze to register in France.  Not the best outcome, but then the jap imports are cheap to buy in the first place so, its another case of you pays your money........................

Many thanks for the replies (Chris the 98% thing is a great conversation piece!).  I'll go and dig a hole somewhere secluded, just need to get the dogs to go there and problem solved! [:)]

Polytunnels seem to be more popular than green houses here.  I think the cost is probably (usually is!) the driver and a large polytunnel can be had for a few hundred euro vs a 1000 ++  for a greenhouse of a useable size.  Let us know how you get on in the research as I too am looking and a polytunnel is winning so far! 

We have 3 dogs and a large garden to which the dogs have free access.  We always pick the dog muck up and put it in a plastic bag that we then put with the household rubbish.  It has been suggested to me that I could dig a large hole away from the house and put the muck in there, cover with soil after each deposit, and nature will slowly dispose of it for us. This to me sounds a much better plan than the plastic bags, but will it work and are there any other hazards I need to be aware of ?  Any advice on this anyone ? Cheers Phil

Hi Mark, I'm still searching for a 4x4 workhorse.  Could you email me the details?  You never know, that AV notice may not be required! cheers Phil

well Ab, just 'cos its difficult to do doesnt mean it doesnt need doing!  Get the head relubed before using again.  Does it start easy?  when it stops, will it restart?  This could be any number of problems. fuel or electric related, assuming you've done the stuff detailed in earlier postings.  Also, are you using new fuel?  Modern unleaded stuff soon goes off.  Did you run it to empty before you put it away for the winter?  If not, maybe the fuel has set in the carb and is blocking some important bit, who knows.   However, sort the basics first - full service and see how it performs, before ripping the motor apart.  If its still faulty then try to access whether its electric (sparks present?) or fuel related first. Re the manuals, yes I know the french manuals are a pain but I think english versions are available via the american Stihl site, they are for chainsaws.  Just ignore all the cr*p warnings about  this manual is for US tools only etc etc, all a load of brown sticky stuff if you ask me, just 'cos its got different warning stickers on!

Give the motor a full service (sounds like you've done most of it).  Blow out the engine cooling fins and plastic covers with an air line gun, remove covers to get full access.  Your user maual should tell you how  and what needs changing at a service and also on how to set up the carb (H/L/T) screws, assuming it as these.  Also check that the strimmer head it free and not seized.  Have you been keeping the head gear correctly greased?  Is the FS85 a pro or hobby machine?

I saw this in a gite in the Dordogne last year, what they had used was wax.  I guess it was warmed and then flowed into the cracks and it seemed to have made a good job of filling in the holes. I think the boards would have to be stable so that the wax doesnt crack. Anyone else tried this, any tips?  I'm tempted to give it a go.

Could you be interested in a Parson Jack Russel?  We had a litter in March and they are ready 5/5/07.  We have 1 male left to sell.  Excellent linage (parents show winning, and father french travail champions)  Full LOF, vacs and chipped.  Email me if interested or want more info.

Have you pruned the trees?  Opening them up and cutting back the key fruit bearing branches by half gives the tree a new lease of life.  Its obviously too late to do this for this seasons fruit but if you hack away after the fruit  (what ever may be left) has dropped,  the tree will respond and - fingers crossed - set itself  for next year.  I was amused to watch some locals last year gathering cherries on neglected overgrown trees, they simply lopped the branches off,  2 jobs done in one, forever practical these country folk! However, as Chris says, if the blossum was hit with frost then thats it for this seasons fruit.

Perhaps you could explain the point of keeping Alpacas ?  To me they seem to by a british fad, cute yes but useless for anything apart from the fleece - and very very expensive (far more than their practical worth).  Why not be a bit more french and keep sheep or goats, pick the right breed and the fleece is as good as Alpacas or keep a meat or milk variant and that seems far more practical IMHO.

In these situations a rebuild of the PC would be a sensible starting point, using all the latest drivers for the hardware and minimising the software on the PC - only install stuff you use.  If the PC has not been rebuilt for some time you should notice a big improvement in performance and - hopefully - the USB functioning.   If after that USB still doesnt work, then it looking like a hardware fault, could be anything from a motherboard / BIOS problem to a faulty cable / connector, or even, dare I say, user error (it often is!!).  Try using the memory card  on another PC, does it work then?  If you can do this sort of thing yourself then I guess you would have sorted the problem now.  Unfortunately paying someone to rebuild a ME PC is just throwing money away, invest it in a new PC and make Microsoft even richer.  There are some excellent deals to be had if you are not worried about buying the latest and fastest.

I heard the same, I guess it applies to young snakes and their eggs?  Can't see a chicken taking on a big ish snake?  My chickens have caught plenty of mice and lizards.  Its funny watching them run round the garden with a tail hanging out of their beak and the other chickens chasing after for a bit of the catch - no chance!! and to think my mother told me chickens were vegetarian!  Apparently the Goose is the only vegetarian amongst the poultry commonly kept.  Also have you noticed how like the Jurassic Park dinosaurs the chickens are?  I guess the film makers used the chicken as a model?

Several things to check, but as the previous post said, ME is not a good OS to start from.   Do you have any USB devices working on the PC? Are you using a USB hub?  I would try connecting directly to a M/B  USB port and see if that helps. Connect to either a USB 1.1 or 2.0 port as noted in the instructions of the reader.  Win 98 and ME (I think) do not have inherent USB drivers and therefore you need to install.  However, PC stuff these days assumes a minimum level of H/W and S/W (check the info on the card reader - is it compatible with your set-up?).  A USB 2.0 device should be backward compatible with USB 1.1 but its always a risk.  Ensure you have the latest motherboard bios and drivers and check that the USB ports are enabled in bios. Ensure your install of ME is fully patched.  Microsoft no longer support 98/ME so in any case you should be looking to update ASAP. Just a ramble really, but there may be something of use.   As always with these types of problems its easier to actual do the fixes than write about them! A further thought, if you are using a USB 2.0 connection, make sure you are not using the lower grade USB 1.1 cable/s.

[quote user="Martinwatkins"] @ pcwhizz - do your allotted hours apply only to a dial up connection.   I thought that the ADSL I'd signed up to was unlimited...   (Haut Debit but no TV in my case) [/quote] Yes dial up in France is very much a secondary service these days.  You pay a 50 hr or 100 hr / month contract and they have the cheek to charge you 5 cents / minute if you go over your allocation.  Not my fault I cant get ADSL is it!  [:@] as the lady at FT said to me - you shouldn't live in the countryside!

Hi Martin,  I also use club-internet (on dial up) and find that the service is somewhat irratic at weekends and early evenings.  I assume this is system overload as it can take several attempts to get a working connection.  We are still too far away for a broad band connection and I think this is not helping my connection, other than that, the service is fine - just dont go over your alloted hours (it hurts the wallet!).

OK smarty, so I cant spell!! I'll edit the original.  Thanks for the Spelling Test, its like being back at skool  [:(]