April 2001
Has anyone any idea where I can buy replacement seats for my S reg Polo.
I find the seats as fitted to firm.
eric Read more
A word of thanks to the kind people who replied to my question of 31 March. Ironically, the charging light flashed intermittently within 2 weeks of my question being aired. Subsequently, I replaced the alternator - a devil of a job on the driveway but there you go! I have now gone 2 weeks and 1500 miles without a blown bulb, something of cheer at least! Still...I suppose one cannot complain at a piece of "modern" equipment lasting 128,000 miles! Keep up this wonderful source of entertainment everyone and thanks once again. Read more
I have a 95M 2.0 20valve Cavalier which, for the past year, has been giving sensor problems - two crankshaft sensor replacements, one idle control valve replaced and a camshaft sensor replaced. Now the crankshaft sensor has gone again. The Nottingham Vauxhall dealer I've been using thinks that when these Cavaliers get 4-5 years old they show this problem and they think it's due to the way the sensor pick-ups or cabling are routed. There seems to be some sort of electrical spiking that disturbs the sensors. Their only solution is to replace the loom (apparently the newer looms have different routing or pick-ups) and they think this may sort the problem. However, by their own admission the cost of this is substantial (in excess of £500) and hardly seems warranted for a car worth about £1500 which I was intending to change.
I know this topic has been touched on before in Back-room but suspect that knowledge may have updated - does anyone have a better idea what it is that's going wrong and a cheaper way of fixing it? Does Vauxhall have any answers? One might have thought they'd have sussed it since I think it's a fairly common range of faults. Read more
David
Thanks! The problem is usually shortly after pulling away (often at road junctions!) when engine is relatively cold and suddenly seems to stop and cuts out - this is almost violent. However it's also a problem in normal running usually about 2000rpm with light throttle adjustments - you can feel a jerk or a surge and the light comes on but no further problems and this often happens only once in a journey. However it does sem to get worse as time goes on and may also cause poor running when accelarating hard at 3000rpm plus.
At present it's with a specialist firm in Nottingham who reckon they've checked everything as far as they can and can only come up with a cam-shaft sensor failure (Vauxhall main dealer reckoned it was a crankshaft sensor about a week after replacing the cam-shaft sensor!). Specialist have traced loom as far as they can and all seems OK - they wonder about a dodgy batch of sensors.
It's going back to Vauxhall dealer tomorrow to check sensors and replace.
Dave
Andrew
thanks for your reply - the specialist guys reckon that the ECU seems OK but I take your point about these Cavaliers - I've heard the same thing but loom replacement seems over-the-top. I'd have thought modern electronics might have been able to determine something a bit more specific!
Dave
My father is trying to sell his SAAB 9000 CDE. Car is a '94 L 2.3 turbo auto with leather, aircon, electric seats etc. 87000 miles, full SAAB service history 2 months tax, just been MOTd. He's asking around £3700. Is this reasonable? There was a thread here a few weeks ago about big luxo motors, and consensus seemed to be that this sort of car is a good buy, given a proper service history and decent conditiion etc., so why's he had no luck so far? Not even a sniff. Read more
Unfortunately, I have to agree. I used to have a similar model (2 years older with 120K on the clock, full SAAB history) but the best I could get in part-ex was £1500 for a much much more expensive car (BMW this time!).
Parts costs were horrendous, and that's the major problem with the depreciation and level of general interest in older ones.
I've got a '93 Saab 9000CSE which has done 104,000 on a standard service schedule. I may also be getting a VW Polo 1.0 which has done around 70,000 on similar servicing. Both will be run into the ground-is it worth, at this stage in their lives, starting six monthly oil and filter services? Read more
Paul,
Yes, as all the other guys say, well worth the six month change interval. An oil and filter is the cheapest contribution towards a long engine life. Our ten year old BX turbo-diesel has covered over 200,000 miles on the same engine and turbo, never even needed the head off. It has had oil changes every 3,000 miles since about 120,000. I will continue this to the very end. I also change the oil and filter at 3,000 miles on my Xantia TD (90,000 miles) and hope for a similar engine life.
Use quality branded oil but no need to go mad, carefull buying around £12 a gallon will get a sufficient standard.
David
This subject may have come up before. After a couple of days without rain today it is raining quite hard but there is no fog or mist or lots of spray being kicked up. However the traffic on the M4 and on the normal roads seem to delight in using side lights only coupled with spot and or fog lamps that dazzle. I was under the impression that the use of spots or fog lamps with side lights was against the rules. Am I wrong? Read more
In the area I drive in it's not company cars that are the trouble but those driven by boys who have not yet learnt which is the front end of a baseball cap.
Would you recommend the Hyundai Coupe Automatic.
I am a disabled driver looking for a decent auto - I drive a Mazda MX3 at present Read more
I'd look at Hondas and Toyotas.
HJ
I saw this article in my local paper and I thought the ?Back Room Boys? would be interested:
? Leaps forward in car engine and fuel technology have been so successful in reducing exhaust emissions that 100 modern cars now produce less hydrocarbons than one petrol lawnmower.
According to a government index of vehicle emissions, small two-stroke engines of 50cc or more are rated 74 for carbon monoxide and 338 for smog-inducing hydrocarbons. Cars which meet Euro III emissions standards ,(such as the latest Fiesta or Rover 45), rate just 7 for carbon monoxide and 3 for hydrocarbons.
Buses, lorries, and taxis stand out as the major contributors to urban motor vehicle pollution. An older articulated lorry produces as much particulates as 350 new petrol cars and the nitrogen oxide of 284 new petrol cars.
The current generation of petrol cars produces around one-sixteenth of the toxic urban pollution of their non-catalytic converter forerunners.?
What do you think? Read more
i agree wholeheartedly
I would like to buy an series 3 SWB Landrover are there any specialists in Sussex???? would appreciate any info concerning the vehicle. Read more
Richard,
I have just started my 4th Land Rover "running restoration", a 1980 Ser3 diesel SWB. They can give a combination of huge pleasure and pain (and not just the ride!). As others say there is a huge amount of info available, start with a couple of magazines and find some local contacts. They must have the best supply of parts available for any vehicle from a complete chassis to the smallest washer. Easy to do all routine work and very satisfying to improve. But beware they hold their price and there are some total dogs about, with MOTs, at about ten times their worth (as scrap virtually). Lastly there is a lot of info on the internet, just search on Land Rover Series 3, try this site for a start.
www.fourfold.org/LR_FAQ/FAQ.top.html
Hope you find a good one and have some fun,
David
Hello,
Could anyone kindly enlighten me on the legal position for storing (or not storing) small quantities of deisel on domestic premises ? What I have in mind is 2 or 3 five gallon, well sealed cans, in a garden shed, well away from any house, road, habitation etc. I know, and understand, the requirements re petrol, ie no more than three galls I believe, in a special can or cans, at a minimum distace from a public road or a dwelling etc. Do the same restrictions apply to deisel ? Read more
Re: Oil Tanks for central heating.
Building regs dictate a certain distance from the house ---I think from memory about 6 meters
Browse
Swap it for a Rover 400, perhaps not such a good car overall but the seats are marvellous, - We have one as a pool car at work and I can testify that the phrase " Relax - its a Rover " as used in the ads some while ago is appropriate. they are the most comfortable seats I have ever experienced in a small car.