May 2002
Read Hj's Yaris D-4D road test with great interest but was amazed to hear he was doing 44mph in second (which was good for 50) and doing 77MPH in third. John, John, John, please help me to understand this correctly. That poor little engine must have been screaming its guts out. As a Yaris D-4D owner (first in the country, methinks) I could never put my car through such punishment. Are the figures you present correct? Are you sure the speedometer was reading MPH and not KPH? I find your figures very hard to believe. Explanation please. Read more
In the Saturday Telegraph on 27 April, HJ said "The twin-chain systems on VW VR6s and smaller Nissans can stretch and break". As the owner of a Mk III VR6 Golf with 25,000 miles on the clock, I'd be grateful for any further advice or information about this. One would think that normal servicing procedures should take care of any risks, but perhaps extra measures are called for. Read more
VR6
Vento racing series a few years ago (the only way VW
could offload VR6 Ventos).
They were a popular Q-car, saw many people caught out speeding by navey blue VR6 vento that looked very plain even with the BBS alloys, not so plain when the blue strobes started though :o)
HJ - I got a C70 recently, great car with some nice touches particularly the superb alloys. Horror, as I see they have balanced the wheels by clipping unsightly weights to the outside of each wheel - which I can already see has damaged at least two of them. I complained, asking why they didn't put them on the inside (even Kwik Fit do that!) and got a jobsworthy answer along the "that's how they always do it" line. Eventually, Volvo customer service sent me £100 toward a re-furb but surely it is totally unecessary to do this in the first place? Read more
I have noticed that new BMWs and Audis have plastic coated weights which must minimise the potential damage of lead and alloy in contact. However the clip still appears to be metal so it's not the perfect solution. My recently purchased approved BMW was fitted with new tyres (wrong speed rating as well!) and they have also used clip on weights which drives me mad but most people rarely look at their wheels let alone care about balancing weights hence the number of mashed alloys on used cars.
I've just realised there are no timing belt threads yet, you can't have a tech forum without one so...
Had a sporty petrol thingy in a couple of days ago. Customer asked for the timing belt to be changed at 36K (genuine mileage and original belt) because the car was 6 years old.
While getting the bits for the job someone was saying to me it was a complete waste of money and only mileage could affect a belt.
Well forget the technical for/against but the slack on the old belt was amazing. With the camshaft locking pin inserted a massive movement of the flywheel existed (as seen on the timing marks).
Made me quite worried I had agreed to give the customer a lift back home in his own car and ended up putting a good few miles on it.
David W [Moderator]
----------------------------
mailto:david_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk Read more
Dizzy you said
"though I assume that stainless is still 'relatively' more difficult to machine than mild steel as I was suggesting."
Yes totally correct in that assumption, just that the gap has narrowed significantly.
The Vauxhall technical rep has driven my friends car and it is to be swapped for a new car.
Edit by David [Mod]...Here is Godfrey\'s post that started this topic on the old forum......
New Astra 1.8 CDX problems - Godfrey H Mon 29 Apr 02 22:41
A friend of mine has a new Astra which has had driveability problems from new. Symptons are engine shunt and kangaroo hops when changing gears at speeds below 25 mph. Main dealer is giving my friend the run-around. Anybody had a similar problem or know of a specific problem for a particular production batch?
Read more
Driveshaft was very bad after long trip... yes I know, shouldn't have done it.
Peugeot main dealer £190 total (urgent as I use the car for part time job.)
If the other side fails will a recon part be worth fitting at a local garage? Or even a new one? Prices? Read more
So from feedback looks like you were shafted in more ways than one at yr main dealer
I am going to Scandinavia soon where I will have to use headlamps all day, and I do not want to be stuck without knowing how to chanbge a Xsara 2 lamp. Looking at the Citroen Xsara 2 Complex headlamps it appears that bulbs are changed by removing one of two caps on the back of the lamp unit. (The handbook shows which lamp is which, but not how to get to them).There appears to be little space to get to the back of the lamp unit especially on the diesel where part of the fuel gear is close to the back of the lamp. Has anyone experience of changing the lamps? Can the whole unit be released just by undoing the torx screw behind the top of the unit? Read more
I hope your headlamps don't prove too much of a struggle, Tynesider.
In case, like most of us, you are also finding Windows 2000 a bit baffling, here is a link to information on the special Tyneside edition. ;-)
www.angelfire.com/nv/vdsl/plus/geordie.htm
I read mixed things about the XM. On one side, far too complex and unreliable, and on the other, huge (especially estate)comfortable and economical, and not as bad as folks make out.
Anyone got any experience to share?
Rob Read more
Not you Rob, sorry. I've edited my note and hopefully made it clearer now.
Be warned I am only posting this as it is slow today... I think I have a slow puncture, when there is no obvious nail / screw / whatever I tend to ask for an inner tube to be fitted as I feel that I would rather spend the £7 or whatever to get it fixed once as opposed to having to make several trips as the first fix did not work. Is there any schools of thought about a patch being better that a tube or visa versa with regards to performace / balance etc? Read more
Dizzy
And the slicks gave you maximum road contact in dry weather!
:o]
There was a thread in the old forum on stainless steel bolts, with some excellent advice given, especially from FiF who pointed out that there are fundamentally different types of stainless steels and that some (the ferritic type) will in fact corrode. FiF recommended using a magnet to check that the stainless steel is not of the ferritic kind if resistance to corrosion is important.
This magnet test can also be applied to stainless steel exhaust systems. The cheaper ones are ferritic and WILL corrode in time, these usually being in a grade known as Hyform. It will probably be some years before they corrode to a point of failure but they can soon become subject to surface corrosion and this is irritating when it appears on the tailpipe that was so nice and shiny when you bought the system.
The better systems are in austenitic grades of stainless steel such as S309 and especially, but much more expensively, in S321 (I hope my memory is serving me correctly on these grade numbers!). Several exhaust systems on the market have S309 silencers and Hyform pipes which is a reasonable compromise where the main purpose is extending the life of the system to, say, ten years instead of two and surface corrosion is not of concern.
Whatever the grade, it is vital to maintain the exhaust mountings in good order otherwise the system will suffer from stress-related failure.
Hope this helps someone sometime. Read more
Smokie,
I was surprised at the very limited range of Vauxhall systems shown on the Double-S website www.stainlesssteelexhausts.co.uk/ but they do say that they can make a system for non-listed cars. Obviously this would mean a bit of a wait; this was '4-6 weeks' when they made my very complicated Royale exhaust some years ago.
.jpg)
>>She never let me drive it anyway.
And I don´t blame her, she probably saw how you treated the MINI.
A highlight of my last trip to the UK would be the words ".....and let me show you how it goes round roundabouts".