September 2002
Interesting problem with starting the car that I think is connected to the automatic gearbox.
The car is a 1992 J plated 2 litre petrol with 60,000 miles on the clock.
Intermittently, when turning the key to start you hear a click from what sounds like the gearbox and nothing happens. Move the gearstick from Park to any selection and back to Park and it will start. Sometimes even this doesn't work and you have to put it in Drive, push the car a few inches, then back into Park, and it starts.
I'm baffled ! Any ideas ? Read more
Just a quickie, last night stopped in a supermarket car park in my auto 2.0 GLS omega. As I put the transmission into Park and pulled up the handbrake (using the button as I always do), upon releasing the button I felt a short but very strong sudden "jump" or jerk of the handbrake lever. No other problems though, and handbrake seems fine but it seemed at the time that it tried to jump out of the ratchet just as I released it. Could it have been the auto box settling into park lock?
Simon
_____________________________________
SVPworld (incorporating PSRworld)
www.svpworld.com Read more
If the Omega handbrake is similar to the Carlton's, with manual shoe adjustment, then when the shoes need adjusting they can "float" around the backplate and allow the drum to turn slightly, with the shoes, until the the latter reach thier stop. This can pull the the handbrake on tighter or release it slightly depending on whether the car is trying to roll forward or backward, respectively.
I'm thinking of buying a 1991 (H plate) Toyota Corolla 1.3GL 5 door estate in good condition, 75000 miles and a Toyota dealer service history. Two questions:
(1) Should I? I understand it's a reliable model and HJ's car by car breakdown doesn't show up any nasties other than a vulnerability to rust.
(2) How much should I offer? Parkers website indicates £640-£780 for a vehicle in good to A1 condition. This is lower than I had expected (which is good for me I guess). The seller has indicated he wants 'about £1000' which looks like its over the top.
All opinions welcomed...
Rich Read more
If any one out there remembers the old ZX Rally Raid that Citroen whipped everyone else with in the Paris-Dakar and Sahara rallies, would you know where I can get hold of a copy of the huge boot spoiler it had? Or know anyone making copies?
See:
web.ukonline.co.uk/Members/jr.marsh/sport90.htm
if you need remembering.
Thanks
Dom F Read more
Been there, they don't do much.
If you have the time to fetch it from Germany...
cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1765527...5
An Audi V8 Quattro for a grand? There must be a catch - but there are three others on Ebay Germany, all around the same price.
And if you were wondering why I am looking at German auction sites - it's a quiet day at work.....
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com Read more
IRRC a set of ignition leads for an Audi V8 is over £700.
(with acknowledgements to Rita).
Today\'s haul:
forget nodding dogs, I can get you a nodding HORSE!
A concertina tube for stuffing your umbrella in and hooking over your internal grab handle;
A \"symphonic air feshener and deodorizer (sic)\". This uses quote activated charcoal to release elements for catalytic process into the interior air with no more smell unquote.
I succumbed and bought this one as a change from those dreadful sickly things misleadingly termed \"California Bouquet\" \"or similar but which make your car\'s inside smell more like the waiting room of a Beirut brothel.
But today\'s award goes to the plastic wanger thingie that clips over the hole of your open can of Fanta to stop it spilling when you put it in the cup holder of your BMW motorbike (as previously described), thus providing the rider with the liberating experience of being able to go round corners with his soda unspilled.
Read more
I thought Cape Town was in South Africa not South London !
Has anyone got an idea of the bhp of a vauxhall corsa 1.2 8valve 1998 sohc.
Just bought it and not expecting a lot of power but just interested
cheers Read more
The 12v 1.0 was a big improvement over that one.
You mean the one that's a cylinder short of an engine? :o)
No, it isn't a new pasttime.
Having seen a Omega rattle thread reminded me of an irritant with my '98 45k Omega MV6 which someone may have come across.
When cornering at low low speeds (e.g. 90 degrees onto my front drive) and probably applying a little brake, there is a momentary rubbing noise - bit like a chair being scraped over a wooden floor - from the rear - hard to tell which side. I suppose it probably also coincides with the bounce down the camber and over the pavement, but I get it sometimes on flat roads too, again probably coinciding with one side of the car dipping.
The obvious would be the mud flaps grounding - but inspection of the under-edge shows no clear sign of contact with the tarmac. So although it COULD be them I just wondered if anyone had any other quick things I could check. It's always done it btw, since I bought it at 22k. Read more
Now why didn't I think of that. Something to try over the w/e.
Have asked H-J about the heated seats on my Saab 9000, compared to other 9000s they take ages to warm up and then are not as warm. H-J has suggested that I let Saab specialist have a look due to risk of fire. However, I am used to working in safety critical environment (aircraft) and would appreciate ideas as to what might be the problem.
Read more
Mike, Thanks for the reply. The rotary switches are new so I guess that the thermostat is a good place to start. Do you have any idea where it is? Perhaps I am being naive in assuming that the new switches are OK but I have no data to test them against. By the way the car is a '94 model.
Government adviser David Hardcastle (wonder if he holds a driving licence and who is he anyway?) says that the government should agree to implement road charging, in the Sout-East at least, within 2 years to prevent grid lock. I am obviously missing something here! We already have road charges in the form of onerous taxation on every aspect of our driving and the money is handled in a way which makes Enron look quite honest. As I understand it, less than 30% of the vast sums extorted from motorists are actually spent on the roads and infrastucture. I don't have any problem with paying charges to use some roads, once what we have already paid is spent on what it was collected for. If they were more honest about the budget they wouldn't need to top it up with pathetic "s************s", located on long straight stretches of safe road, or dual carriageways with 40 limits, which you join from single lane roads with a 60 limit. Read more
Moron Kengestion Charging!
Independent - Hard to Credit!
As the BBC reports:
Congestion charging is 'inevitable'
Wednesday, 11 September, 2002
"Congestion charging is inevitable to prevent roads like the M25 motorway around London from becoming gridlocked, according to a leading government road transport adviser."
"David Hardcastle's team of consultants have made a preliminary recommendation that road pricing should be introduced if the M25 is widened at least in the south east and preferably throughout the country......"
"....Postponing the decision on charging could plunge the south east into gridlock and cause grave damage to the national economy, he says."
From:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2250679.stm
Is this the same Mr Hardcastle who is a director of transport planning at engineering group KBR?
Study backs M25 charges
by David Williams, Evening Standard Motoring Editor
.......We are proposing the application of area-wide road-user charging, and preferably a national scheme, which will tend to hold the traffic levels at what they were before the widening took place." He does not say how much the charge should be but wants satellite "tracking" devices on all cars.......
......Mr Hardcastle, who is also director of transport planning at world-renowned engineering group KBR, in Leatherhead, Surrey, says: "Drivers aren't charged for the total costs they impose on society. The outcome would be very grave if ministers don't follow some form of congestion charging. The economy would be hit........
From:
www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/classifieds/motorin...7
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I wonder what it will do to the economy of KBR as they also seem to design and manage transport telematics, traffic control and tolling systems................
It sounds as though the gear selection linkage is out of adjustment. There is normally an inhibitor switch somewhere, probably on the gearbox close to where the gear selector linkage goes in, that allows the starter to operate only when the selector lever is in Park or Neutral.
There is probably an adjustment means somewhere on the linkage and this needs to be set so that, when the gearbox itself is in Park, the lever is also bang-on the Park position on the console.
Alternatively, there could be wear in the inhibitor switch which is preventing electrical connection. On the older gearboxes (and possibly on yours as well) the inhibitor switch was adjustable in the amount that it could be screwed into the gearbox, i.e. it needed screwing in enough to disengage the starter circuit in any gear other than P or N but not so much that prevented starting in those two positions.
Have you tried starting from the Neutral position? That should be OK because it is usually the Park position that gives the problem that you have. This is because the lever is at the full extent of its travel in Park and the end of the gear lever slot can stop the lever going as far as it needs to, especially if the linkage is out of adjustment.