The clutch on my '78 Princess 1800HL is dragging between changes. Could anyone tell me how to adjust it as there seems to be a lot of free play from when the slave cylinder starts to move and the clutch starts to clear. Also what should the ride height be?
Thanks Read more

In todays Guardian the last item on the page

books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,795737,0...l

Happy Motoring & mind the river bank Phil I Read more

I have spoken to a (non-franchise) car dealer who has an 80000 mile Rover 75 CDT Club SE built in 2000 for sale at £9995. He's an hour and a half from me, so I don't want to make a wasted journey, but here's the info I have so far. He tells me that the car was one of the fleet run by Rover management itself, has full Rover history (last serviced at 73k and says he will do another before it leaves his forecourt), is in immaculate condition, has no outstanding finance, did mostly motorway miles and has never been in an accident. He says he can put me in touch with the previous owner to verify this and can do any RAC/HPI check.

All sounds fairly good, so my only concern is with the mileage. I know this is a BMW-sourced diesel engine and general consensus seems to be that this is a good thing. But I'm trying to get a clearer idea of how reliable the engine will be. Does anybody know how long this engine has been in use, or which Beamer(s) it's been used in? What kind of mileage can I expect it to be good for? I expect to do 15k a year, but I'd like to hold on to this car for around 5 years. Is it likely to pack up after 150k?

I'm also wondering whether or not I should hold off till the new year to let used Rover prices ease. I have a Renault Clio dci Dynamique to trade in, to which I had added an alarm and climate control as options. It's eleven months old with 7100 miles, and I think waiting till the new year might actually increase my cost to change as depreciation on the Rover now won't be as steep as it will be on the Clio. The new list price on the Clio was £10150 including options - I'd like to get around £8200 for a trade-in, but maybe I'm being over-optimistic. Any thoughts? Read more

It strikes me that it would be very helpful if buyers had an idea of the costs likely to be incurred sorting out what seem to be fairly common problems/faults in the cars they are thinking about purchasing. Obviously we can't list the cost of every repair and part for every car but there seem to be common faults in many of the cars mentioned on this site and many are hideoulsy expensive to put right - something the owners don't disover until it's tool late !
Would it be possible for us to compile a list of say the most commonly occuring faults or repairs needed on these cars and the approximate costs of putting them right ?
For example, I've read a lot about the Omega here and it seems they suffer from certain common problems which are very costly to put right (e.g. faulty digital displays & climate control; complex dashboard removal/refitting; expensive leads which need to be changed regularly @ £150 plus!) and it is this information that has made me think again. I don't see this ever being a comprehensive list, just a guide to the most common, expensive repairs for each type of car.
What do you think guys, HJ, etc. ? Could it be done ? I think it would be a valuable and eye-opening exercise ! Read more

For months now my 2.0 Carlton Diplomat Auto had trouble starting after long journeys when it has got really hot. After it had cooled a bit it would start fine.

So, I was convinced it must be the starter motor, so last week a sourced a replacement from a scrappie for £12. He tested it on a battery and it worked fine. On Saturday I took it to my friendly Morecambe garage who fitted the new motor. So, to make a long story a bit less long, this was fitted and worked okay (not quite as good as the old starter).

Fast forward a few hours, I drive 100 odd miles to Newcastle. Upon reaching my destination, I turned off the engine. Surprise surprise it refuses to start again - the new motor didn't solve the problem. So I started the car by shorting the motor - it starts fine, so its obviously not the motor, but something in the inhibitor circuit.

After giving it a bit of thought I thought it might be switch on the autobox that stops it from starting in everything but Neutral and Park - could that be getting really hot and not be working?

Your thoughts please... Read more