August 2001
i hope to buy a classic car, but what kind. i have looked at the following cars... ford prefect, rover p4, rover p6, triumph 2000, ford anglia, triumph herald, and of course the good old morris minor, but i dont know what to buy, any advice would be very helpful, and any other models that i should think about, the only problem is that i have about £1000, and the car must have mot, i am looking for a running restoration. Read more
One for all the Citroen Xantia enthusiasts in the back room. What do you make of a diesel automatic (non turbo)? Nice 96N LX SD auto with about 60k on the clock going for 3k at a main dealer near me. Worth it? I realise there is a main delaer premium on price
Thanks
Marc Read more
Does anyone know anything about a modification to '94 Xantias to stop water getting under back seats. I'm certain the water is coming from the sun roof. Is the mod easy to fit , is it expensive, is there any other solution?
I put my Xantia TDI in the garage and went away for two weeks. On my return the 12 month old battery was flat.On charging it the front lights came on and flashed. My friendly Citroen specialist explained that the alarm must have been triggered(there was no noise jut flashing headlamps) and he explained how to reset it. After this I have switched it off. He said they sometimes do this ? Should I leave the alarm of now. Anyone else had the problem?
Peter Read more
Be *very* careful with alarms and flat batteries in general - especially Clifford devices. These are fitted with battery back-up sirens so the general summer routine, as experienced by yours truly, is as follows;
You leave the country;
Your Clifford alarm works wonders, warning thieves with the odd "please move away" etc;
The battery gradually loses its oomph;
The alarm senses this and sets of both sirens;
The battery fails and the main siren goes silent;
The battery back-up siren goes on and on and on (as it cannot "see" the Clifford ECU it assumes battery disconnection and will not stop after 30secs as the main siren does.)
Your neighbours go mental;
You return to find it wailing away and turn the battery back-up siren off;
You jump start your car to find you can drive it but cannot lock/unlock or stop the main siren from sounding.
This happened to me! There are two factors - 1. Never let the battery go flat as the alarm sees this as a thief disconnecting the battery; 2. Don't jump start the car! Jump starting will push a large current through the alarm and shock it into "safe" mode where it will simply alarm and not respond to the fob but will not immobilise! In this instance, the police caught me driving my Golf GTI with alarm sounding attempting to take the vehicle out of the village and into the hills to ponder over with ear defenders on!!! They recognised me so helped me cut the siren cables (along with most of the wiring loom as it is all in black cable!)
Once this has happened the only solution is to unplug the ECU (if you can find it) and charge the battery - then reconnect and it will reset.
I'm looking to buy an automatic family sized car as a 2nd vehicle. I have seen the following around the £2000 mark with about 70k and FSH :
Mondeo
Volvo 440/460
Xantia
Cavalier
Any advice on these or further suggestions from the forum? Incidentally, what are the pitfalls of an auto box on an aged banger?
Thanks Read more
">A61<"
"> Alfreton <"
Where are these perishing, frostbitten mudtracks and villages you speak of? All my maps finish at Luton, any unexplored landmass above is marked "Here be dragons (and pies)". Subarururu and DEVO? Are these vehicles as quick as my disseall transit (in racing white no less), I think not. Why, only the other day, a Subururua driver refused to nip in front of me at the bollards by the Roverhive tunnel, I can only assume he recognised a superior "street machine" and declined competition. Nothing whatsover to do with the miniscule risk of collision and subsequent writing-off of the Subbyruu.
Only a Northerner would consider purchasing a number plate consisting of his/her name (remember, no sexism here). Such vulgarity is on a par with Rugby League and living in Cheshire,
HH
M
(Part time desperado)
It's raining in my green and pleasant land, so i've just watched a film on Uk Living. Sad, i know but it was so unbelievable i had to see what happened in the end ! It was called ' Runaway Car ' and starred Judge Reindhold ( spelling is iffy but he was the thinner copper in Beverley Hills cop ). Him, another bloke and a woman with a baby were trapped in a car in which the accelerator stuck, the brakes burned out, the gears were stuck and the ignition switch jammed and the key snapped in it in the process of forcing it, how unlucky can you get 'eh ? She was driving by the way.
Anyway, after a rollercoaster ride in which they'd popped the bonnet open to try and climb out and disable the electrics whilst balanced on the engine bay at 90mph, and used a patrol car to try and slow it down, winched the baby out of the sunroof with a helicopter, they eventually ran out of fuel. Hurrah i here you shout ! BUT, after the gas ran out the car kept rolling ! Surely if everything that had gone wrong had actually happened the car would have come to a screeching halt being stuck in gear. The car had a column change so it was probably an auto, but whatever it was wouldn't the car have stopped rather quickly when the fuel ran out ?
They crashed in the end, but lived as they were only doing 60 !
This film was based on a true story so it must have happened right ?
Answers on a postcard to.....
Regards
Ash.
p.s would pouring water on the engine have stopped it sooner ? Read more
Ashley wrote:
>
> '. Whenever the camera pans to a shot of a wheel it
> immediately gets blown out by a bullet, but they couldn't hit
> a barn door at ten paces.
I could never understand that!
They're a 'crack commando squad', but they can't shoot straight?
And they can all weld? What use is that in the commandos?
I own a 1991 W124 260E, and am not impressed with Mercedes' idea of reasonable charging nor good customer service.
Where can I find a non-franchised specialist, where they are enthusiastic and knowledgeable, do a good job and don't treat you like an imbecile? Read more
The club E mail address is www.mercedesclub.org.uk
Regard
Andy@ www.mercedesservicing.com
i have noticed that the time i put a question on is one hour earlier then my clocks say, IE if i put a question on the forum at 2.30 which is what my clock says, the forum says it came on at 1.30??? Read more
>>What your server doesn't get updates from the Nuclear clock at Rugby?
>>How very lo tech!
Actually the server time in GMT is updated every night from unix time servers - very lo tech compared with your solution!
S
I use less than half a tank of fuel a week but out of habit allways top up to the brim on the weekly shop. Would I gain more in terms of economy if I ran the car between half full and near empty on a regular basis??Any other technical advantages? Read more
Er*********** (d*mm, there I go again).
You could probably have some electronics that quite easily converted the varying non linear float reading to a linear gauge reading.
Alternatively you could actually have the gauges marked 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 etc to actually relate to 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 of the tank, rather than 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 of the dial.
But of course you would have to weigh the costs of that against the safety, cost, convenience and environmental benefits for the motorists :-(
Now that the police are using the motorising as their milking cow through all these cameras, what is the "profit" to be spent on? Not chasing burglars I'll be bound. Why do we not hear more of cruise control on new cars? Sounds like an obvious means of fighting back on long road stretches at least. Read more
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!
More objectionable insults and intimidation ;-(
For my next car I need something at least as alrge as my current Vectra Estate automatic. I found the Vectra very thirsty (c 28mpg) so does anyone know of large diesel automatics? I don't think that the Mondeo has this option. I suspect that SKoda Octavias do, but this car doesn't have much rear legroom for our growing children. An MPV would be OK.
John Read more
If you're looking for rear leg-room DON'T go for the C Class estate. I have one and the kids hate sitting behind me as I'm over 6 foot. Great (auto) car otherwise.
If the budget stretches go for the huge E-class but they are hard to find.
Browse
John,
My concern exactly!
David