January 2002
Previously posted, but it seemed to get lost amongst a log thread...any views please
In France punctures are routinely repaired using the 'old' english method of just inserting a single loop of rubber from the outside of the tyre. ( This is at major tyre quick fit establishments as well as small garages).
The rubber insert does come from a sealed pack, and appears to covered in a sticky goo. It has the advantage of being very easy and quick and cheap! The tyre does not have to come off the rim. £5 about 18 months ago. Also the tyre does not get rebalanced (I always mark stud to wheel). No problems.
I believe that this method of repair is not legal in the uk, but stand to be corrected.
I do however ensure that a tyre repaired in this way never goes back on the front, and preferably remains as a spare.
Interesting question of liability in the event of an accident in the uk? Read more
Thanks very much to all who replied to my last thread, but I'm back for some more advice, if that's ok.
(reposting this as a new topic as the old one is about 7-8 screens back now)
Due to the prohibitive cost of a decently spec'd multimeter, I decided against testing the current drawn by the existing glowplugs and just got some new glowplugs in there (the haynes recommended champion ch158, rather than the halfords ones (which had only been in abt 20,000 miles, btw) - may be just as bad, certainly more expensive, but not quite £36 a plug!).
And yes, I replaced all 4 :)
Thanks to David Withers for recommending BERU glowplugs, but according to their website, they don't actually manufacture a plug for my engine (it's the isuzu one) - but please correct me if I'm wrong!
Anyway, things aren't really improving at all. Obviously, it's got warmer, so the engine has been considerably easier to start anyway, but the new glowplugs didn't cure it right in the middle of that chilly spell. It seems to be *really* tricky to start when it's dropped below 0°C, I don't know if that suggests anything in particular?
Any further ideas? Can anyone think of anything I've overlooked in this whole diagnosis? Failing that, can anyone suggest a decent diesel specialist who would actually like the work in the Merseyside area, as if I hear "that's a common problem" from my local VX dealer again, I'm likely to be up for common assault :)
Thanks once again to everyone for your helpful replies last time,
-David L Read more
I had the same problem with my Isuzu engined Astra. I also went down the glowplug route but it turned out to be the valve clearances, fixed by VX for about £35 (including detective work) and I'm still on the original glowplugs at 134k
The exchange between KB and Kev on the Jump Leads thread made me think of the several phone calls from a customer over the past few days.
All I was saying on the jump lead thread was that the cheap leads are often so poor at passing current they will not enable the start, particularly of a larger or diesel engine.
Hence when I have a call about a car stuck somewhere that won't start and I'm told it can't be the battery because they've tried it with jump leads.....well then I try and find out if they were decent leads or nothing is proved.
Communication is the key to helping someone over the phone and logic the key to problem solving. This is what I was faced with the other day.
Phone call about a 1.9 Turbo Diesel that wouldn't start. "Since it's been very cold it has taken ages to start and been really lumpy, now today it turned over a few times and then the battery was dead" the guy (regular customer) tells me. So I'm thinking battery and/or glowplugs.
For various reasons I couldn't get to him quickly and he said it was easier to use a local mechanic where the car was stuck.
Next day I get a call again.."We changed the glow plugs and charged the battery but it still won't start, it's just the same". Now my head is racing to think of all the other things it could be. Wondering abvout the starter motor or a diesel system fault etc. After a few minutes he happened to mention the huge cost of the glow plugs at £15 each so they'd actually only changed two. I asked if those were the two that failed test. "No", he says "we changed the two that were easiest to reach, the others looked pigs to get out". I had to explain there was every chance they had replaced two good ones and left in the duff plugs.
I was still puzzled it wouldn't eventually start with a fully charged battery so asked how long it had been on charge (expecting to hear overnight). "Oh the mechanic jump started us and we used the car to fetch the plugs (a 7 mile journey), we didn't use the heated rear window much so thought it would be fully charged" Now this on a day when you needed the heater blower on full and the headlamps on!
I got him to put the thing on charge the next night and it turned over OK so we've booked it in soon for a sevice and proper diagnosis of the glow plugs.
Ho hum.
David Read more
Quite a few years ago I had a case of the battery running completely down on a long journey.
It was a filthy night and I had everything on, lights, heater, rear window, wipers, radio.
The traffic was very, very slow and I got home about 8.
Tried to go to get fish and chips, but the battery would not turn the engine over.
Put it on charge overnight and it was perfectly OK. the slow speed and high load had just run it right down.
Has anybody had any experiences with TyreSafe tyre sealant which was featured on BBC Tomorrows World last year?
Website www.tyresafe.co.uk.
They claim that "this product is not a "get you home" fix it. Once TYRESAFE is applied, the product will seal punctures permanently. "
My concerns are that should you install the sealant, and then have a puncture, and "permanent" seal is then made. If one later had to have a blow-out or something go wrong on the tyre resulting in damage to the car - how would the insurance company treat such a "permanent repair". Would I have to inform them that I have placed a sealant in my tyres which could hide potentially dangerous damage to the tyre, without being aware that any damage had been done?
Reason for asking: My car is converted to LPG, and then tank is in the spare-wheel well, and yes, you guessed it, I don't carry a spare. So, I was contempting on getting some of this tyre sealant put in my tyres.
Thanks Read more
The danger with this type of product is that, if you get a nail in the tyre, the sealant will stop air loss but the nail, being left in the tyre, may cause greater and greater damage until you get a total failure.
It is therefore essential to regularly check the tyre for embedded objects, since their presence will not be revealed by a slow leak.
I have been offered a Bentley Turbo R, 1990 with a factory installed ZYTEC ENGINE/INTERCOOLER, 410 bhp. Does anyone know anything about these engines compared to the standard Turbo?
Regards
Eleanor Read more
According to Glass's Guide Checkbook, the ZYTEK engine management system and intercooler was introduced as standard kit to the Turbo R and Azure in July 1995, boosting power from 384bhp to (they don't say what). Eleanor's potential purchase would seem to be an earlier incarnation but, because she's posting from the States, it must be catalysed. Anyway, it's pukka kit.
HJ
I am contemplating buying a used 2001 Vectra LS. Is it worth paying an extra £300 for a 2.2 LS as opposed to a 1.8?
I appreciate that the larger engined car will cost more to run and insure, but is the new 2.2 engine considered to be more reliable (cambelts etc) than the 1.8 Ecotec?
I have read the car-by-car breakdown and know that HJ does not recommend these cars, but I rather like them.
Any advice would be greatly received. Read more
I would counsel against buying any Vectra. Its by far the worst car I have had in the last ten years when I have had Sierra, Cavalier, Rover 214 and Saab 9-5.
My 1998 CDX 2.0 had a long list of faults in three years and 60k. Those I can remember - air bag warning light stayed on permanently (twice) needing new loom, milometer packed in, seat back seams popped open three or four times (including on delivery) and needed the body shop who had a knack of "re-zipping" them together, air con broke, speakers needed replacing (twice), side rubbing strip/door trim fell off, used oil (although could be the 16v Vauxhall false reading problem), noisy idle (never resolved), interior trim around mirror housing dropped off. I am sure there were others - at one stage there were six faults at once and - would you believe- it took six visits to the useless main dealer to resolve.
Odd thing was it was a company car and when it was sold on the prospective buyer called me and I told him all this and he bought it. Nowt as queer as folk!
I have three, and none agree (poetic with it). I propose to get the best one I can. Please, what might that be? Read more
Avoid circular aneroid jobs - the last one I was given was 10 psi out. I have three metal cylinder ones, one of which started life in the walnut-fronted toolbox which slid from below the glove box of my father's old Rover 105S (a fine motor - I remember in those pre 70limit days the instruction book included a missive which went something like 'for sustained speeds above 90 mph inflate the tyres by 4 psi . We do not seem to have progressed much in 40yrs. They all virtually agree with each other.
Last night I pulled out on to the one way street that I live on and started up the hill at about 15mph to be met by a "man in black" on an unlit bike with his baby in a snuggly on his chest going down hill the wrong way on a one way street at about 30mph... it was a near thing and I am still shaken by it he snaped back my offside reaview mirror as he went by I Ride a push bike myself and alwas obeythe one way streets and other rules of the road and have a well lit bike and wear reflective clothes at night why can not all the other cyclists do the same! When I was kid it was an offence to drive an unlit bike and it was enforced... when way the last time you say a cyclist give a ticket?
In London Last Fall, cyclists are widely regarded as
on a par with pigeons, given that they routinely run red lights as if they didn't exist, go up one way streets in the wrong direction, swerve out in front of cars with no attempt to check if anyone is there first and ride around after dark with no lights.I'm not talking of the odd one; I'm talking of the vast majority !
Outside London may be a bit different, but London cyclists are a peculiarly perverse bunch of organ donors. How else do you explain the idiot I
saw cycling the wrong way up the Earls Court Road with 40t trucks bearing down on him, or the one I saw cycling around Hyde Park Corner with a cocker spaniel tied to his bike on a 20 foot length of clothes line vectoring wildly? The parent of the child sitting on the back of his bike while cycling around Marble Arch as traffic veered around
him as he cycled in an unpredictable manner through the maelstrom of fast moving vehicles should have been banned from having children.
If cyclists are to be permitted on the public roads, mixing with licensed, faster moving and identifiable vehicles, they should at least have to be similarly identifiable and insured.
As to stopping distances, cyclists can stop a damned sight faster than much heavier motor vehicles.
The sooner we have bike free zones, fully enforced, the better for everyone.
(Rant mode off !)
~randolph Read more
Tonight 10 pm I passed a very well lit cyclist. Rear light highly visible - and front light almost as good as a small motorcycle!
Mind you, s/he was on the main carriageway of the A4, NOT the cycle path, so needed to be well lit.
There are a few out there, apart from those who post here.
I am intersted in perhaps getting one of these cars (either myself or through my companies lease scheme). After visiting a couple of dealers they seem to sell these cars as soon as they have them and dont keep demonstrators.
Has anyone out there driven one (or owns one,) if so what are they like?
Particularly the power and noise from the engine and the experience with VW dealers.
Thanks in advance. Read more
I'd agree with Nipsy. I recently bought a Golf SE PD 130 Estate with alloys. It's a great car to drive - despite being an estate it handles like a hatchback. The engine is superb - it knocks the spots of the 2.0 litre petrol. Heartily recommend the car though I hear they are currently very difficult to get hold of. As for VW servicing I've had the car taken back recently for a leaking rear washer hose which short circuited the tailgate sensor causing the alarm to trigger. The service was very good despite the short notice.
Fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong.
Hope this is useful.
Mark
I have a quantity of MotorCraft oil filters, part no EFL 90, which were originally intended for the 2 litre OHC Pinto engine fitted to the Ford Cortina range.
These filters look the same physical size as those fitted to the 2.5 litre Ford DI Deisel in the Transit. The filter part number quoted for the Diesel Transit is EFL 386.
Does anyone know what the difference is between these filters? They look the same on the outside. Are they interchangeable?
Mike Read more
Mike
Do not use EFL90 on a Transit. Only EFL386 is suitable. EFL90's can be used on most Ford OHC(pinto), DOHC, and V6 applications where space allows on the latter.
Hope this helps
Charles
Browse
Sitting on a shelf in my garage is a tall, cylindrical tin labeled Dunlop Tyre Repair Kit. It contains a tube of rubber solution, a few lengths of rubber about 6mm diameter, a pointed probe with an abrasive shank and another tool, rather like a crochet hook. The puncture hole was cleaned with the first tool and then coated with adhesive. A length of rubber was inserted into the hook, lubricated with adhesive, and the hook together with rubber was pushed into the hole. The hook was removed, leaving the rubber behind. The excess rubber was cut off, leaving it level with the tread. About an inch of rubber was inside the tyre. Needless to say, such kits have long disappeared from the shops, but in my younger days I used the kit many times.