May 2001
I am very new to car. I have started taking driving lessons. Planning to buy used cars some time in Nov 01.
Could you please suggest, where can I get the best deal and which model should I go for. My requirement is small famly car, which I also require to travel daily on long distance.
Is buying from used car dealer safe? Which is the best place to buy used cars?
Thanks in advance!
Take Care
AM Read more
Has anyone experienced problems with erratic tickover on a Vectra 1.8 16v? Mine has started to idle between 1200 and 2000 rpm with increasing frequency but not all the time. The engine management system does not report any faults so my Vauxhall dealer is unable to diagnose and repair. Any ideas? Read more
When I raised this issue I had forgotten that the inlet air control valve had already been replaced about 12000 miles before. The problem has been cured by the simple measure of re-programming the ECU. Now the car runs better than ever. If there was a problem here how come it wasn't picked up last week when the dealer ran the diagnostic check?
Many employers permit an employee to make a financial contribution towards the lease cost and thereby upgrade their company car.
Surprise surprise, the employee still pays tax based on the P11D value of the enhanced car.
Therefore, the employee pays tax because of the benefit of the "free" use of a nice car, even though he/she himself/herself is paying part of the leasing cost!
Can the Insland Revenue not devise some form of apportionment or adjustment to compensate for employee contributions towards the cost of any benefit? Read more
Details of this major change in company car benefit tax are in the appropriate FAQ answer at www.honestjohn.co.uk You can hop straight to it from here. Lots of drivers of big, flash company cars are going to get stiffed if they keep the cars. Also there will be no more cuts in benefit tax for company drivers who do high mileages. All starts April 2002.
HJ
As you know from other threads I do not agree with speed cameras but a visit to www.astucia.co.uk really does get you in the big brother state. All you speeders out there give yourself nightmares.
This company makes intelligent road studs which in the main appear a damn good idea for many of the examples they give. Yet what they do not say on the website is they are developing a road stud which looks like any other, yet can measure speed, contains a camera, and can communicate via radio to the "road authorities" ie police. Read more
Gwyn Parry wrote:
> statisically excess speed is a factor in every accident.
Two separate studies, by the Transport Research Laboratory (report 323 Broughton et al ) and the AA Foundation for Road Safety Research (Carsten et al) report that the % of urban accidents where speed is the cause is 6% and 4% respectively. If you include all accidents where speed is one of the contributory factors then both reports increase the number to around 22%. Clearly not every accidents.
The most significant cause of accidents is inappropriate driver behaviour. Selection of speed is one aspect of such behaviour, of course, but such accidents have been included in the 22% figures above.
I think my cars running a slightly rich mix (spark plugs were fairly black when I changed them) so... I know where to change the mixture but which way do I turn it?! Is in more fuel/richer mix or is out?
The car's an '88 Audi 80 1.8 carb. I think the model of the carb is a Kleihn II or something similar to that.
I know it's a bit tight fisted but I resent paying somebody to turn a screw!
Thanks in advance,
Mark Read more
Ok, now you've uncovered my ignorance re: engine tuning I'll get the yellow pages out.
Cheers,
Mark
Again in last Saturday's Telegraph, someone in the letters column damaged his brakes because Mercedes, to their eternal shame, have supplied a steel spare that is thinner than the alloys, so that unless you use the shorter bolts supplied, they hit the caliper causing expensive damage. The same thing happens on cars fitted with steel wheels because the bolts are too long UNLESS the hub caps are replaced when the spare is used. (they act as washers)
I think this is a really bad design fault. They claim you should read the hand book. Yes of course, but it means that anyone borrowing the car has to read it too. Get real Mercedes. Bum design is what it is. Read more
Surely it is in the interest of manufacturers (except Vauxhall) to consider redesigning their spare wheels so that they don't need to supply an extra set of bolts.
There were an estimated 2.22 million cars sold in the UK last year. That's 8.88 million unnecessary bolts in the UK alone.
Does anyone know where I can find a workshop manual for the Nissan CD20 diesel engine (turbo), as I have a Primera with it fitted. I have the Haynes manual, but this only covers the petrol models.
I have tried searching the internet, but with no luck Read more
Is this the engine they fit to London taxis.
I am a relatively new reader of this excellent form of motoring exchange so forgive me if this is old hat.
I have just read an article by a motoring journalist extolling the virtues of LPG from economy to environment. What are the views of the backroom boys ?. Are there any users who have converted to dual fuel who can pass on their experiences. How is it on high performance motors ?. Read more
LPG is not a cheap solution for cutting fuel costs. I have several thousand miles experince in diferent dual fuel cars. In real world motoring the equivalent mpg can fall into single figures especially on motorways and with a load. This removes the price advantage of LPG. In addition, one car received a mild rear end shunt and it was off the road for three months. Only specialist workshops will repair LPG cars and the nearest one willing to accept the car was 80 miles outside London. The cars cannot be put back on the road until a qualified LPG engineer has inspected the vehicle. There is an accute shortage of these engineers and an a small shunt which should have taken around 10 days to sort out turned into something very unacceptable. Diesel is the only way to go to reduce fuel costs.
I know it is a minor gripe, but having had a dip beam bulb blow the other week on my Vectra, I had a problem as I had used my spare about 3 weeks before and, being a lazy pink fluffy dice , had not got round to replacing it.
At the time I was on holiday in the sticks, no Halfords nearby and local motor factors sold mainly tractor spares :-) only single filament bulbs around were H1/H3. I was forced to go to the friendly GM dealer. After being charged £12.16 for the bulb plus I had to fit it myself, I looked twice to ensure the dealers name was not Dick Turpin.
I understand Vauxhall have used H7 bulbs since the introduction of the Astra 4.
What is so special about this bulb apart from allowing a dealer ripoff? Do any other makes use it? Was I just unlucky in that nobody locally stocked it? Read more
Thanks to everyone for the constructive comments, as usual I might add.
Just as an update, I finally got round today to replacing the one missing from the spare bulb box, so I investigated all the options.
My car appears to have 4 x H7, not H7 & H1 which is what the book in Halfords also alleges.
The blue and all weather upgrades are definitely not for high mileage so that eliminates them, which left the last option ( called brilliant?) to upgrade @ £22.99 per bulb! Hellfire!
So I got a standard Bosch H7 @ £9.40. Considering that is not too far away from the agent price maybe I owe Mr GM dealer an apology?
The above car which is a 1998 40K has an oil weep seemingly from the sump gasket at the rear near to the bellhousing. An alloy sump is fitted. My query is that on aprevious 405 I had the same problem in exactly the same area. It had a steel sump but despite changing the gasket twice and using high temp silicon sealant the second time it still weeped. The sump was refitted correctly and new seals and sealant applied to the rear big end cap. The rear crankshaft oil seal was replaced and not leaking. Am I missing something blindingly obvious or is this just a common fault I'll have to live with?
A previous thread discussed the difficulties of acess to fit cam belts. What about a simple cluch cable? Air con. pipes right across the bulkhead access point. The French do have a sense of humour don't they? I lost mine fitting the cable!! Read more
In my early days of motoring, ALL engines leaked oil but, a great help was to check and clean the crankcase breather. Are these modern engines fitted with a breather to reduce crankcase pressure ?
.jpg)
Wonder if Atul is going to do his own maintenance and has he seen how much the insurance will be!