Another 300 has a near miss!

Post by **petefarrell360** » 27 Dec 2004 11:21 pm

Ok guys, only just got back after an interesting evening, went out and collected a mate to go and play a couple of games of snooker on this lovely Bank Holiday. Drove into the town and my mate suddenly shouts "DOG, DOOOOOG!..........." as we pass a petrol station, in my blind spot of where the door mirror and pillar is, a dalmation (luckily not 101 of them) has decided to run across the road towards my car, hit the brakes and swerved away from it and it bounced off of the side of the car, somewhere on the front bumper and wing, most probably the wheel though. It was very lucky not to have been hit by the front of the car or run over. Pulled over and it had already got up and run away.

No one came out looking for it, as I had expected someone from the petrol station to run out, as it had probably got off of a lead or something and run off. So we followed it up the road, where it ran out infront of other cars, no road sense at all. It went onto a business park where we lost it for a while, until I found it eating out of a bin bag! It seemed ok, had a collar on, but I couldn't catch it, it just barked at me when I got close and ran away. We followed it back to the petrol station, where it went into a small residental road, and two of the staff from the petrol station tried to bring it close enough to catch with some food. It still just barked and ran away. After about 45 minutes of chasing it it gave us the slip and ran off into the housing estate.

I just hope it is ok, it seemed uninjured, but it must've taken a good knock. I'll report it to the Police in the morning. I was lucky it wasn't like Hugh's incident, whereby the car was wrecked, though I could've very easily been in a wall or house on this particular road, or a row of parked cars that lines the street. I can't see any actual damage to the panels, but it is dark. However, my speedo has stopped working, not a broken cable as I had suspected, as it occassionally shows speeds up to 40 mph, then drops off again. If you stop it sometime re-engages up to about 40 mph again. I think the force of the dog has knocked the sensor which engages into the hub out of position. I'll have a proper look tomorrow. Anyhow, drive safely, it's often not what you do that'll cause an accident or near miss, it's what appears infront of you, be it Seat Leons, Cats, Trolley Parks or Dogs.

Pete

Post by **petefarrell360** » 27 Dec 2004 11:27 pm

Ok, I thought I remembered the speedo sensor being on the right hand front wheel, eg offside, where the dog hit, but, after consulting the old handy Haynes manual, it appears to be on the left. Any thoughts on the problem then, could just be coincidence, doubt it, but why should it work partly up to about 40 mph?
Pete

Post by **SteveP** » 27 Dec 2004 11:31 pm

Glad everyone is safe

Strange thought the dog wasn't on a lead - and why the owner wasn't about, unless the dog had escaped. Did it even know that it should avoid big moving objects such as cars travelling at speed?! Seems a bit dense..

Speedo seems a bit strange, do you mean that this has occured since the impact?

Steve

Post by **petefarrell360** » 27 Dec 2004 11:36 pm

The dog did seem very unaware of danger of any kind. No lead, but there was a collar, so I'd imagine it has escaped from a garden or house.

Only noticed the speedo after the impact Steve, and it was in a 30 mph zone, so after the impact it would've never gone above 40 mph obviously, until back out on national speed limit roads, where I then noticed it.

Yeah cheers mate, glad everyone including the dog were ok, could've been worse.

Pete

Post by **Chris_C** » 27 Dec 2004 11:43 pm

Glad your alright mate, can't help you with the speedo, but I hope everything else is OK

Post by **petefarrell360** » 27 Dec 2004 11:44 pm

Cheers Chris, I'll take a proper look at the speedo and everything tomorrow. May be unrelated, but I think it's too much of a coincidence for the speedo to stop working so soon after! I'll keep you all posted.
Pete

Post by **SteveP** » 27 Dec 2004 11:47 pm

hmm thats a bit strange that its only working on speeds below 40mph, I'd expect it to be working fine or not atall! Maybe it has been slightly dislodged on the impact.

Driving last Saturday at about 2am and got scared when the backend stepped out quite badly when turning right at a junction, corrected it in time - must've looked quite impressive to the car behind though

Careful people, its slippy out there as well

Steve

Post by **petefarrell360** » 27 Dec 2004 11:51 pm

It does seem odd, I instantly thought snapped speedo cable, until it momentarily sprang into life again, then dipped down, slowed down for a round about and it picked up again, hit about 40 mph and it dropped, lifeless again, but it doesn't always pick back up again when you loose speed or stop. We'll see tomorrow hopefully!

Careful now Steve, no special driving displays! Yeah you're right mate, it's very slippery out there, the road was as greasy as anything just in the damp. Be careful with the remaining 300's everyone!
Pete

Post by **5lab** » 28 Dec 2004 12:09 am

there is something in a speedo that smooths out the 'blips' generated by the magnet - if this fails the speedo goes wobbly below 30mphish - could be this that failed. simple way to diagnose is drop a speedo in from another car, go for a spin, if it works fine you know hwere yer problem is

glad yer ok. i felt it was just instinct to swerve..

Post by **petefarrell360** » 28 Dec 2004 12:15 am

Ok, cheers Hugh, I'll try that then before I look at anything else, spare unit sat in the corner here that I know works.

I know what you mean about swerving being the instinctive thing to do, so it was probably better I saw it at the last minute, then didn't overdo it!

Pete

Post by **special** » 28 Dec 2004 12:26 am

if you turned sharp it could well be that the speedo cable has pulled slightly give it a good shove to make sure its in properly

the speedo on 1.4 and 2.0 are the same i was not aware of any magnets in the speedo but i supose i could be wrong (that would be a first)

Post by **5lab** » 28 Dec 2004 12:29 am

the speedo has to have a magnet (i think) to convert the rotational force in the cable into an electrical current to make the needle move upwards. thats how bike speedos work anyways

Post by **special** » 28 Dec 2004 12:36 am

its just the cable that turns the needle (there is no need for an electric current)

Post by **5lab** » 28 Dec 2004 12:40 am

hows that work? if that happened the needle would go round and round and round!

Post by **Duvel78** » 28 Dec 2004 12:40 am

Wow, happy to see that you're alright Pete! A cat with Hugh, now a dog...