I thought I'd let you all know how I got on with the Audi 'box I posted about a while ago.

I agreed with the rebuilder that I pay £150 for the reconditioning of the gearbox. The differential unit would be returned without the 'new' bits, end of story. There was a minor upset when they failed to return the drive flanges with the differential, then returned the wrong ones. The rebuilder's mechanic threatened me with 'black belt' when I returned to pick them up. I took the sump off the 'rebuilt' gearbox - it's full of crud. The rebuild seems to have involved nothing more than spraying the casing silver. I don't want anything more to do with them.

I've lost £150 at the hands of a disreputable rebuilder. As I almost lost five times this amount, I'm philosophical about it.

The story has a happy ending - I got a good second-hand unit from a crashed car (from All Audi in HJ's good garage guide, highly recommended). Smooth as silk, £250.

For anyone who ever finds themselves in a similar situation, I would say only trust a rebuilder with a VERY good reputation.


Regards,
Albert Read more

A long time ago, we had a friend who had laid up his fairly powerful motorbike for the winter, and replaced it with a murky green Robin Reliant. He had not, you see, passed any driving test apart from the newly introduced bike test. His lady wife, also a non-driver, found she preferred the comfort of a roof over her head for most of the year, so the Reliant came to be used more and more, and the bike less and less.

Our friend enthused about the Reliant to anyone who would listen without laughing: there was no rust, he could mend any dents himself, it was so economical, comfortable, versatile, a little noisy but quieter than the bike etc etc etc.

Eventually he decided he could afford driving lessons, and although it was a struggle to adapt his driving style he successfully passed his test. Within a week, the Reliant had been replaced by a shiny black Cavalier.

A mutual friend expressed surprise at this. I explained that he had just passed his test, and until then had not had much choice. She was astonished: he had convinced her that he drove the Reliant through choice, and she had no idea he had not passed his test - because this, of course, was rarely mentioned.

So, chaps, if you're not already driving the car you aspire to, do you let on? Or do you make the best of a bad job? Read more

I work in Central London and my journey to work is approx 3 miles. I have a parking space at work but sometimes go by bus. The whole route is either single or double yellow lines, Red route or bus lanes.

The bus lanes in the morning rush hour are simply used as loading bays for delivery vans and often the bus never even gets into the bus lane except for stops. If the yellow lines denote a restriction it is totally ignored; even the red route frequently has vans parked on the solid red line.

I have never seen a Council 'Meter Maid' (of either sex) before 9am and the many police in Central London ignore illegal parking; given the current security situation that is perhaps understandable.

Ken Livingstone is shortly to introduce a £5 daily congestion charge to enter Central London and other towns will surely follow. I am convinced that a simpler solution would be to rigorously enforce parking regulations during the rush hour. As most of the roads in cities are covered by CCTV it would be relatively easy to do this. Read more

Looking ahead, I'm thinking of getting another car in the style of my current Omega. The wife gets the Omega, I get a new car.

My thought processes are that I like a car that is: a good mile cruncher (35K or so motorway miles pa); utterly image-freet as long as it's comfortable; reliable and reasonably chaeap to service; unlikely to be the object of desire for our light-fingered friends.

The Omega obviously fits, but my question is whether anyone out there in HJland has experience of the Nissan QX.

Vin

PS, On account of becoming a dad again a couple of weeks ago, I'd like to invite all of you out for a virtual wetting of the baby's head. You all go out, have a pint, let me know, and I'll send you the virtual money. Read more

I have a 1997 Jeep Cherokee 2.5TD Ltd which seems to have a problem that no one can rectify.

This problem is with the ABS warning light which only comes on when you turn left and accelerate, straight line and right hand corners are no problem.

I have had our local Jeep garage test it and they originally found the near side rear sensor was not picking up the pulse therefore this was changed but within 300 yards and my 2nd left turn on came the light again.

I have tested for a trapped or tight cable but this has not cleared the problem, has anyone any ideas.

Dave Read more