July 2001
Bought a Focus back in June (see earlier thread "Used Car Value").
Since collecting it from the dealer there had been a stange "clonking" sound coming from what sounds like inside the dashboard ahead of the driver which only occurs whilst driving. It's not continous, only seems to occur whilst steering or driving over bumpy road. I took the car back twice and the garage claimed they couldn't hear anything, so I paid for an RAC Inspection which confirmed there was a problem and pointed the finger at the the front anti-roll bar bushes.
I took the car back armed with this extra ammo and immediately the garage agreed there was a problem and after putting the car on a ramp told me aswell as the bushes being worn the gearbox mount under the engine was loose and could also be the cause, so they said they would order both parts to replace them.
Collected the car yesterday with these new parts fitted and guess what? "Clonk" as soon as I've driven out of the garage! The problem is no different, and to make matters worse the garage is an hour's drive from my home and they obviously don't have a clue what the problem is!
Anyone have any suggestions? Read more
interesting article on the vw tech bulletin site - many vw's now have fly by wire throttles (no accelerator cable). The software has been programmed, on Automatics only, such that touching the brake pedal causes the engine speed to drop to idle (over-riding the throttle position). Apparently this is a bit of a problem for left foot brakers who tend to gently rest their left foot on the brake pedal during slow manouvres whilst trying to increase engine speed with their right. Read more
VW drivers may not understand the technique, but us Minor owners do. The pedals on a Minor are ideal for heel and toe gear changes, which with a slightly weak synchromesh (it's 43 years old) is jolly useful!
Cheers
John
This is a serious request for info.
Does anyone know where spares can be found for body panel rolling anvils?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Guy. Read more
Nice try but I prefer LPGTI - ha-ha.
It's for an Alvis Special using an ally-body not built for the particular vehicle.
Further to thread earlier with a reply from HJ suggesting they are looking at this site I can only say I am not surprised given the quality of some US motoring websites.
Having acquired a passat I have searched the web for various passat related info. As a result I came across the american passat owners club website at auto top 100.
Mostly the site is full of fanatics who make the Taliban look like girl guides especially if a passat is criticised. They seem to spend a small fortune on cosmetic improvements of doubtful taste however there are mechanical items too, such as "can I fit two turbos to my car"? or "what does it mean when the oil light comes on"? or even "will I damage my key fob by putting it in water"?.
There is the odd useful item thought its good for a laugh mostly.
Also the tdiclub.com website is worth a look although this crowd appear even more fanatical.
I can only assume these spooks are looking for good motoring info and quality debate or have mistaken this for a porn site.
regards
Mark Read more
HJ,
I think a number of people knew the answer it's just that *no-one* wants to help an owner of a porker no matter how rusty their discs.
Had he/she owned a Citroen or VW it would have been different, very different.
Ta.
Guy.
PS. .....and I don't even dream of driving one let alone owning one.
I have a BMW 520SEi 1994 Auto that has recently started to suffer rom intermitent dash instruments failure with all or some failing at any time and starting to work with no pattern.
I have checked all cvonnections to all instruments and changed all fuses with o luck
Anyone can help? Read more
I believe you can get exchange dash units from BMW dealers to cure this. It might be worth checking Euro Car Parts before ringing your dealer. There is a service light resetting tool suitable for all models for about £15 by the way.
My mate just paid £50,000 for a widescreen telly..... mind you it does have a BMW M5 attached to it....... B@stard......... Read more
Maybe "Crossroads" would be more appropriate, or isn't that on any more. I lost track when I banned 'er indoors from watching soaps.
Thought I'd start a new thread as the servicing one was getting a bit big. Read more
Having owned an old Mini a couple of years back I was douptful about the New MINI. I remembered how much fun it was to drive with its 40 bhp, direct steering and chuckability.
But when I saw the new MINI in the flesh I remembered the crash that wrote off my old mini - a Sierra estate ran into the back of it in a motorway queue. It ended up about 2.5 feet shorter with buckled door frames. The drivers seat snapped, and I was chucked around the cabin collecting cuts and bruises. I bought the wreck for £25 - to get the bullet racing mirrors and stereo out. Even though the car looked good on the surface it was totally rotten underneath - 10 years old at the time. The Sierra had a broken bumper and a buckeled bonnet, the Granada it pushed me into had a crunched rear valance and bumper. I bought another mini afterwards but had to sell it a couple of weeks later as I wasn't happy driving it.
I afraid I had to remove the rose tinted spectacles.... The old mini was and is great but isn't any more than a fun novelty compared to current cars. I agree with the classics being best sentiment though - I've got a Mk I Escort and a Caterham Seven (1950s design but with 1990s running gear). I'd love an original Cooper S 1275 as well.... And I'm only 25! (I do listen to Radio 2...)
I think the new MINI looks good, and should be considered an evolution of the old mini rather than the revolution the old mini was. It's much better built than the old mini, safer in a crash, much better value and has captured the spirt as well as could be expected. Got a test drive tonight so might have changed my mind by the morning..... I don't trust magazine road tests much.
Piers
I've just been digging around to find out when the DVLA are refunding the VED for cars under 1549cc. I found the following:
www.dvla.gov.uk/gved/gved_1549cc_rebate.htm
The relevant paragraph of which is:
"How do you get your rebate?
For the moment, do nothing. For those keepers of vehicles with engines of 1201 to 1375cc, the rebate invitations will be sent from DVLA in July. For those keepers of vehicles with engines of 1376 to 1549cc, the rebate invitations will be sent from DVLA in August. The Rebate Application (form V925/2) will tell you the exact amount of your rebate and, if you return it promptly, you can expect to receive your money within 4 weeks."
I still think this is one of the biggest farces of inefficiency I've ever seen. Not only did they needlessly overcharge people in the first place but now they are writing to everyone involved to ask them to write back so that they can write back to everyone involved with a cheque to cover the money which they never needed to charge in the first place.
I didn't think that you could make anything so complicated but I've just spent the weekend filing in my wife's tax return! Read more
This was a pre-election bribe to buy off the fuel protest lobby.
The 70 mph speed limit on motorways is so far out of date. A few years ago I had the misfortune to own a Morris Marina 1.3, the brakes were so bad, it took slightly less than one bank holiday weekend to stop it. The handling was appalling bouncing all over the road,it was lethal at 70 mph. Todays cars with their superior braking systems and handling characteristics are far far safer at this speed. The point is that the same speed limit is in force today as it was then. It causes unnecessary bunching and my observations on motorways is that the idiot drivers are not the fast ones but those that drive with absolutely no thought in what they are doing. It is a pity that there cannot be extended speed limit variations as there are now in foggy and adverse weather conditions so that for instance in the middle of the night or when traffic is lighter the speed limit can be raised above 70mph thereby keeping the drivers far more alert and actually safer. It is very difficult to hold a modern car on an empty road at 70 mph for long periods at a time. Read more
Brian wrote:
>
> There was an attempt a couple of years back to ban
> motorcycles with more than a certain horsepower. I seem to
> recall that it would have taken the Triumph Bonneville off
> the market.
Not quite: there was some toying around with the idea of a 100 bhp limit. This was exercised to some degree in Germany and France. Clearly though, most of the resurrected Triumph motorcycles from Hinckley exceeded this limit and so there was opposition from within the UK.
As for the German and French markets, I'm led to believe restricted bikes for one country were designed to be derestricted, whereas the other market required considerable and expensive efforts. Perhaps this was a rumour spread by Triumph when I went on a factory tour a couple of years back.
The Triumph Bonneville, original or contemporary, would not have been affected.
Twice recently I have witnesses bicycles doing time trials on dual carriageway trunk roads once on the notorious A14 and once on the A11. I consider these roads are not the place for cyclists with their heads bent down not even looking where they are going to. A couple of years ago one was killed when he hit the back of a stationary coach that had broken down. And there have been a couple of fatalities in this region recently. Any other form of racing would be frowned upon why should these unstable circus acts be any different. Read more
Brian wrote:
>
> Sorry to be pedantic, but how do you leave a paint mark on a
> car that you "nearly hit"?
OK Brian, I am sure you know what I meant.
To give you a precise answer what actually happened was that the driver of the car on the main road reported to the police that he was almost hit by a white Escort which flew across very close in front of him. As you can appreciate there were a lot of white Escorts competing in those days. I believe the police found a white paint trace on the front of this guys car which they subsequently proved came from an Escort. Thus it was likely they did actually hit, (;-) but not enough to do any panel damage. Again I am led to understand that the police then checked every white Escort competing on the event and pinned it down, however that was done, on one crew, it turned out to be one of the leading runners. Bet there were quite a few worried drivers though.
Hope that has cleared up your question, as the Civil Aviation Authority would say a near miss. Though presumably a near miss in English is actually a collision, so that gets us no closer finding a term to describe this incident.
Over to you sir!
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