June 2001
I want to buy a Jaguar XJS and will only do this if |I can convert to LPG. the XJS has limited boot space but is there enough room for a tank?
If I do this how much will it cost and is there any grant that will help towrds the cost of this?
Gary Read more
Had a very frustrating day on Friday. Put the Justy in to Mr Clutch to have the slipping clutch sorted (an intermittent problem but like to solve things before they totally go wrong) Anyway I got the phonecall at lunch time that I had been expecting there was something else wrong. A leaking main oil seal from the gearbox causing the clutch housing to be "swimming" (their word) in gearbox oil.
Their solution working days and £200 - £250 to fix it. Seemed rather a lot as the gearbox was already off the car.
Rang my Subaru dealer in the north who is normally expensive who informed me that the clutch change would have been slightly more expensive (as use Subaru bits) but the oil seal is a quick job and wouldn't cost more than £100! (remember main dealer labour costs!)
Typical! trying to save money and has cost me a lot more has anybody else had similar problems?
Cheers Tom Read more
Maybe I better ring Mr Clutch and insist on inspecting the newly sealed gearbox on its return to make sure that it has been sealed I had been expecting to be told that the fly wheel was scored but they couldn't get away with it this time!!! there was still plenty of wear on the old plate and it was just slipping from oil contamination.
I'm giving my company car back as it is only a perk and I don't really need it, the tax implications are dreadful.
I only drive 6 miles to and from work, and I reckon the best thing to do is to buy an old ( uncatalysed ) car for this purpose, question is - which one ?? I think Volvo 340s seem to last longer than any other car of this age, have you readers any reccomendations ? I only want to spend £500-1000 quid
Cheers
Mick Read more
I asked the same question of HJ several months ago. I now have a Fiat Panda H reg 30,000 miles 2 owners, £350 with a recent exaust 4 recent tyres and 10 months MOT, plus no rust, or tax, well you can't have everthing! So I saved £1650 on what I was prepared to spend. Stand for Parliment HJ!!
Bill
I have a very high mileage 1995 Mercedes C class with an irritating cutting out problem.
It's absolutely fine when cold but when it has warmed up it is unhappy idling and wavers around the idle point usually ending up with a stall.
This is making stop start commuting a total pain as it just cuts out in traffic all the time.
The car is maintained regularly - but not by a Merc garage- and recently had a service but as the problem only happens when warm they spent forever looking for it unsuccessfully (very annoying).
I have fair mechanical knowledge but am a bit inhibited as this is my first fuel injected car.
Does anyone have any ideas?
At least then I can be forewarned should I bite the bullet and go to a merc garage or specialist.
cheers
tt Read more
Hi TT
Don't know if you still have this prob but my 1989 230te has recently started to do the same but not quite cut out, i changed the distributer cap and roter arm but still the same, then changed the plugs for Bosch super 4's and now its seems to idle lovely, if that still does'nt work its possible your ignition leads need replacing as they start to break up with high milage and allways seem to play up after a good run when stationary.
Good Luck
Paul
A superkarket chain in Germany Edeka has apparently bought up all the Daewoos from what where returned by the dealer network when the firm collapsed in Europe.As from tuesday they will be selling them from the supermarkets immidiate delivery for about half there previous price.All are zero KM and covered with a one year gaurantee.If you do not mind LHD it is a
cheap way to drive a new throughaway car.
I also have a number of Trabants for sale both with 2 stroke motors and with the 1.1 Polo motor some are Estates some have tuv and some are scrappers .the 1.1 s are in very good condition.
Plus we can supply all Chevrolet (corvettes,camaros,blazers tahoes etc. models at far below anything you would pay in the Uk incuding so called importers
regards Andy Bairsto Read more
Andy - found on a local school past pupils page - is this you?
Andrew Bairsto 1985/90 andy@bairsto1974.freeserve.co.uk I have just completed an MSc in Information Technology at Loughborough and am set to go travelling for six months in January.
Couldn't email you as the address is not valid.
In David Lacey's letter under the very long thread which becomes 'Psychology of the Smell' he mentions drivers of automatics confusing the brake pedal with the accelerator. This crops up in my snail-mail bag on a regular basis. Someone has just had a crash in their automatic which "ran away with them" and they want support from me to blame the car. They never get it. The problem is that any engine might suddenly increase revs at any time, either due to a minor fault, a hiccough, or because the ECU decides it needs to increase revs to protect the cat from unburned fuel. So any driving instructor or any car salesman who tells drivers to only use their right foot when driving an automatic is directly responsible for these accidents. The one and only way to retail full control of an automatic at all times is to use the left foot for the brake (or, if the driver is disabled, to have an extra hand control for the footbrake). Left foot for the brake, right foot for the accelerator prevents the right foot hitting the accelerator pedal with the force needed to brake a car. Last week at a test day I drove 24 cars of anything from about 75bhp to 485bhp. Some were manuals. Some were automatics. If I experienced no confusion at all switching from left foot braking an auto to left foot clutching a manual then it can't be a problem for most people. Yet driving instructors, even so-called "driving experts" and car salesmen all persist in telling automatic drivers to forget their left feet and drive only with the right.
HJ Read more
Fair enough, I'm not an advanced driver and I find some of the so-called 'roadcraft' defies common sense. Left foot braking seems fair enough to me but I drive an auto for my everyday and a classic manual most weekends so I don't want to vary my driving style too much. Whatever works for people and ultimately makes the individual drive in a safer manner is a good thing.
Our dealership has recently become an Air conditioning service centre. I was fairly sceptical about the viability of this but having run for a couple of months, I can now see the benefits. Air con is a creature comfort, taken for granted as long as it works. Performance drops off over the months and the driver gets used to it. Gas naturally depletes and escapes - more so if the system is not used reguarly. I thought the a/c was fairly strong on my '97 A4, but after a recharge (The system was found the be some 200g down on gas) the system is much more efficient, probably saving me fuel. So, if we do a recharge, the customer has a direct benefit from the work by the means of better a/c operation. I would suggest a service interval of 24-36 months for the a/c system.
Just out of interest, I thought it might be an interesting exercise to couple the machine up to a NEW car and see what amount of gas we could get out, compared to the data label placed under the bonnet. Again, no names but it was some 175g short! (And before any smart-arses say it , the car make didn't begin with an 'R'!) Was this just an oversight on the production line or is it the manufacturer cutting costs? So customers may not be realising the FULL potential of their a/c systems from day one! Read more
It's always been a bit of a problem, as I've even seen some overcharged cars that the main dealer hasn't been able to correct as it only cuts out on high pressure on hot days, but the condenser fan runs at high speed all other days. I did an '94 LS400 the other day and got exactly the correct amount. Was it a good leak tight system? Or did it have too much to start with?
hi All
I have been driven in a car with these Zenon lights and was very impressed with the dipped beam performance so started to think about retrofitting them to our current Golf3 estate.
There appear to be auto-bulbs from Philips & Bosch that claim to be Zenon ( circa £20 ) from Halfords but I notice that Mercedes, BMW & VW want six or seven hundred quid for Zenons as an option.
Now VW are offering "bi-Zenons" on the new Passatt just to add to my confusion
There is a firm that advertises in VW Driver offering "real" Zenon gas lamp conversions but they want about £300.
Anyone got the real info on this ?
Thanks
Martin
"blinded by the light" as the song goes.... Read more
I gave up cycling at night because the increased dazzle from these modern headlights made a spill over the invisible kerb or worse pretty much inevitable.
Sharp cutoff is all very well but it doesn't allow for curvature of the road or bumps and potholes which means that half the time car lights point higher than the average they are set for - and self-levelling only evens out the effect of weight distribution, not the changes of surface orientation.
Increased brightness may give you a better view, but they worsen the view for oncoming traffic. Net effect on road safety? Probably negative (especially as with the brighter view you probably travel faster, concentrate less...)
I seem to recall about twenty years ago there was a legal limit on headlamp brightness. Whatever happened to that?
And don't get me started on the bastards who've lost the use of their dipswitch or those who only turn off their foglights in fog!
I have the opportunity to buy a 1968 Morris Traveller for £250. Although it is running it has no MOT and needs some welding underneath. The body panels and woodwork appear sound and there is not a lot of rust evident though the chromework is poor.
What potential problems should I be looking for and what sort of budget would I require to restore it to a good overall condition? Read more
Marcus
Yes, if it needed bodywork or interior then it shouldn't be expensive. Bodywork is not cheap, and/or it's very time consuming if you do it yourself, and are prepared to invest in the kit to do it. Although you see some very expensive Minors, in general they are not expensive cars, and if you put any cost on your time then restoration isn't a paying hobby. It's an interesting hobby, but don't try to make a living out of it. The key issue is what state it's in underneath, and I guess you weren't able to check that.
Big advantage of Minors is the ready availability of reasonably priced parts (often better availability than newer cars) for the 1000 models on, although for some series 2's and certainly the really early MMs some parts can be rather more difficult to obtain. Definitely ones for the Minor fanatics.
regards
john
Browse
Try "belay-workshop@supanet.com". Ask for a quote.