October 2002
OK - If you've read the thread about my accident, you'll know that my courtesy car is an A170 CDi. I love it, I thinks it's very quick, comfortable etc. etc.
BUT, it STINKS of petrol inside. Does Diesel smell like petrol? I've never used a Diesel before, but didn't notice any smell when I filled it up this morning. Yet inside the car, is the distinct, sweet and strong smell of petrol.
I thought maybe a previous abuser of this car had spilt a can of petrol in it, but would petrol still smell if it was spilt on the fabric a few days ago?
Also, if it is petrol, what cost free method is there to get rid of it? I was thinking soapy water and a quick spray of Febreeze or something to try and clean it up, 'cos I don't wanna go back to the bodyshop and whinge for a new car, 'cos they have been very good to me so far. Any thoughts please people? Read more
Further to recent posts regarding governments preferring to persecute motorists rather than educate pedestrians and kids.
The advert is just saw was set to the tune of Bee Gees Stayin Alive and features animated hedgehogs crossing the road.
I think it is not memorable enough and doesn't catch the attention.
As somebody else said, I cannot find their name now, but ITV's Tarrant on TV shows some memorable commercials, especially from Australia. Some come on guys, lets get the message accross.
Ben Read more
As someone suggested elsewhere in this forum, maybe enhanced driver training, retests and incentives for more training would be required. You cannot solve all problems with speed humps, taxes and "Caution, uneven road" signs
Have just replaced camshaft cover gasket on Omega 16v 2.0 Ecotec engine.
No problems until a couple of days later when oil warning light comes on when starting. Additionally tappets are really noisy. Now I know this is usual from a cold start but this is noisier.
On having a peep with the oil cap of it`s clear that the oil isn`t getting up to the cams. The oil level is fine as is the oilk.
Are the gasket and this problem just a coincidence or was I just born unlucky.
Any ideas? Read more
This has got to be a coincidence (unless you've done something unbelievable like leaving a spanner under the camshaft cover).
Presumably you replaced the gasket because it was leaking oil - so oil must have been present a couple of days ago.
If there's no oil getting to the camshaft now, you've either got a blockage in an oil feed or a faulty oil pump. Either way, it could be fatal to the engine if not fixed immediately. I would drive the car slowly to your *nearest* garage for a second opinion, or if I was being ultra cautious I wouldn't drive it at all.
PS What's an oilk?
OK so the hatch and possibly the driver's door seals leak on my daughter's Fiat Cinquecento. We don't want to pay dealer prices, partly out of sheer cussednous, so does anyone know of a supplier of this material by the yard.
Doctor Chris Read more
You might just manage to pick up decent seals from a vehicle dismantler - assuming the present ones are damaged.
Graeme
This may be a silly question and apologies if it is. I've never had a car with power steering before and just wonder whether it is normal to hear a soft "whirring" on full lock in both directions. The car is a 1998 mondeo 1.8LX.
Thanks. Read more
all the cars that I've had with power steering have made a variety of hisses/whirrs/gentle grumbles on full lock, as have all the commercial/emergency vehicles I've driven. Always sounds a bit unnerving, but I remember I was once taught on a driving course that holding a vehicle with PAS on full lock for over 30 seconds (eg if you got bogged down somewhere or something) was likely to make the steering go "bang" in a terminal manner, so the nasty noise has always served me as a remender to pull the lock back a bit.
Hope that helps
ES
My sister in law has had 2 Hyundai Accent's 1300 under the Motability Schemes during the past 6 years.
Would anyone like to recommend suitable replacement,, size, cc, and close to same price .... automatic is essential, but no coversions necessary to the vehicle. Annual mileage is 8k max Read more
Surely another Accent? They are nice reliable easy and light to drive cars. Excellent value for money.
Mark
What's all this about?
I have a diesel and am dersperate to know whats going on with this cooking oil thing. Is it totally legal? Is it a new liable fuel for the future?
How on earth can cooking oil be combustable, i now diesel isn't that combustable but at least its part of the fractional distilation process!!!
Some technical minded person or even someone who's tried it must be able to shed some light on this? Read more
Look at Dieselveg.com where they will sell you a conversion kit if you want to run (most of the time) on pure oil.
My mum's in the market for a new motor. She's not really sure what she wants, but I think she will be after a small hatchback/supermini, no more than 3 years old and with no more than around 30k on the clock. She is tempted to have a turbodiesel.
What should she get?
Read more
slightly off topic Joe and no inference that any of the following relates to your mum but it should make her smile.
From todays Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,77...l
........ told the story of a woman in a car being driven by her elderly mother. Her mother goes through a red light. Not to undermine her self-confidence, the daughter doesnt mention it .
Then the mother goes through a second red light.
The daughter feels she has to say something.
"Mother - that's the second red light you've gone through."
"Am I driving?" responds the mother.
Which makes me think that, given our ageing population and the
fact that people like Heston are now coming out about
Alzheimers, there may be the ending of the stigma and the
beginning of a boom in jokes about the elderly. And as they say,
the old jokes are always the best.
Happy Motoring Phil I
HJ, in last weeks DT, you discussed the plight SQ was having with their xenon headlights as VW wanted £150 a time to switch them from left to right hand drive.
The information your reader has from the dealer is wrong when they stated tape could not be used because the lights get too hot. The beam pattern from a xenon headlight is generated by a lens in front of the bulb, not from a fresnel style of pattern on the headlight glass front as with traditional lights. In the case of normal lights, the patterns on the glass can be obscured using tape in the right places to stop the left side of the beam rising where it normally illuminates the kerb.
With xenons, this is not possible because the focal point is further back inside the headlight fitting.
You suggest that the "old trick" was to "manually turn down the beams". I'm not sure this would have ever worked properly as the main portion of light would have had to illuminate a patch just a foot or two in front of the car before the left lobes of light were sufficiently angled down to avoid dazzling Euroman.
Obscuring the left "riser" with tape was the proper method. With xenons, there is usually a small mechanical lever at the back of the light to physically move the internal lens to properly switch the light from left to right. It's just a shame VW want to charge so much money for doing a simple job because the lever is not easily accessible. Similarly in my Audi S3, one side is simple, but the other requires removal of the battery to access the lever!
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Coming along the A57 last night I saw one of the
worst I have ever seen.
Old tin can BMW 318 or whatever (that hideous shape which
came out around N reg) with one headlight out and badly
adjusted fog lights blazing.
The remaining headlight was about 5 times as bright as it
should have been (probably some kind of wiring fault) and the
fogs were literally blindingly bright.
Owner seemed oblivious, after all he drives a BMW, yawn.
What a W****R
Richard, is that the stretch of A57 between Markham Moor and Drinsey Nook ? If so I'll keep an eye shut for him !! (Ref. the suggestion from mike1)
This morning, on a blind corner up a steep hill the tanker in front of me suddenly cut out and stopped. He turned his hazzard lights on, so clearly there was a problem.
Faced with either waiting indefinitely, or chancing the corner, I chanced the corner, as did a stream of cars behind me.
Afterwards it occurred to me to wonder whether sounding the horn would have been of any use in warning any unseen oncoming traffic. Should I have sounded it continuously, or in pulses, or would it just have been a pointless gesture more likely to anger the tanker driver and everybody else?
In fact, apart from as a sometimes irresistible way of swearing at people, what use does the horn have? Unlike a headlight flash, which is pretty directional, a blast on the horn radiates to all and sundry. How often are you distracted by a horn that may have come from anywhere, and was probably just someone tooting to a mate anyway?
Anyone got any thoughts ?
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instead of
patronising TV adverts showing a car on which the rear breaks
have clearly been disconected ...
And the front wheels are locked (invalidating everything they say about stopping distances) but the driver keeps the brake pedal pressed anyway. And the message is that 35mph is the wrong speed because it is 5mph over the posted limit, even though the scene has a busy urban street (with a pedestrian crossing?) and kids in the road such that 30mph would be criminally fast. But it's OK to drive into children at 30mph because they might survive.
I was annoyed by that one too Tom.
GJD
Browse
What a shame i can't do that with the A-class, it would all spill out! :(
I had to give them the car back today so when I go to give them my Fiesta back and pick up another courtesy car I'm gonna reject the smelly one. It was making me feel ill, and my rear seat passengers felt really sick after we'd been sitting in it without the fans on for a few minutes...