October 2002
one of the remote central locking keys (N.A.T.S.) have failed on my micra. The dealer said that it will cost £70 + £20 reprogramming charge!! Does anyone know of a company that do repairs? Read more
Has any reader got experience of 'Supagard' paint sealant?
I am thinking of having my seven year old Golf (metallic) treated with same so as to give it a new lease of life appearancewise. Apparently the treatment carries a three year guarantee and eliminates waxing and polishing.
I did try the Autoglym diy proceedure but somehow got it very wrong and gave up after an expensive trial.
Also...any thoughts about Supagard's 'Fabricgard'? (Perhaps a little belated for that treatment?!)
Read more
"..acted like small lenses and burnt your paint"
So how does paint in contact with water get burnt?
They "say" that the bubble of water left on the painted surface acts like a magnifying glass when the sun comes out and strikes it. It focus's the suns rays and thus burns into the paint.
Honda civic sedan, 92-95. 1.5 Vtec.
Okay, heres the ku. Ive already got a k&n induction kit, got a performance exhaust... but thats not enough for me... i need more kick, more power.
I know some of you are probably thinkin, uhh get a better car. but no! i love this civic for so many reasons
anyways, i wanna know more about chippin the "ECU. n what kinda difference would it make? where could i get it done? etc etc
-wot else would increase my bhp?
brainstorm people... ur the experts, not me.
thaaaank u
*later* Read more
Buy a pre-loved enthusiast-owned Citroen BX 16vGTi, pocket the money you save, and then enjoy the performance in straight-lines and curves (if the insurance man and law will let you).
£ for BHP (and un-modded) you will find it hard to beat, I'm assured.
It looks like Mercedes Benz (USA) have lost their court case and been forced to extend the warranty on some engines to 10 years/150K miles.
Apparently, they used to recommend low viscosity oils, typically 5W30, in order only to increase their Corporate Average Fuel Economy. And this, coupled with extended service intervals and the use of non-synthetic oils, have led consumers to launch a class action due to premature engine failures. They now only recommend higher viscosity fully synthetic oils.
Makes you wonder why we are all now being told to use lower viscosity oils. Is it mainly to reduce the fuel consumption figures also, to the detriment of engine life? Read more
That's my point, Merc were telling their customers that the engines needed lower viscosity oils, but in reality, it was Merc that needed them to use the oils to satisfy the mileage requirements. Merc told their customers the engines would last many years, but they didn't. The lawyers are now turning their attention to the 'sealed for life' automatic transmissions.
Last week I took my 1997 Mitsubishi Carisma (34,000 miles) to the main dealer for its major service.
Having got the car back from the service I have noticed that sometimes it is impossible to get it into 2nd gear. It was absolutely fine until I took it for the service. It does not seem to make any difference whether the car is hot / cold.
I therefore took it back today and asked them to look at it.
They took it for a drive and admitted it was sometimes hard to get into 2nd gear and recommended that they stripped the gearbox to find the problem (they guy said it could be a syncro hub worn???). He said it would be 4 to 5 hours work to strip and will cost about £300 to investigate (plus the cost of rectifying the problem).
As part of the service the gearbox oil was changed - might this have anything to do with it?
The cam belt was also changed - do they have to lower the engine / gearbox to change this?
Call me a cynic, but I am convinced that something they did on the service has caused this problem.
I have told the garage that I will let them know whether I want them to go ahead.
What do you think I should do??
Regards
Jason
Read more
If they lowered the engine/gearbox then they would have disturbed the gear selector linkage. It is possibly not been refitted correctly or if they didn't remove it they may have strained/bent it.
**** Thread closed. Discussion continues in Vol 2 ****
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=8850
None of the current car progs are as good as good old Top gear of a deacde ago.
I keeps hearing that Clarkson is coming back to top gear.
Is he or insn't he?
Paul {Forest of Bowland} Read more
Did anyone else notice Clarkson's reference to "Jumping from 5th Gear
into TopGear" when he was driving the Zonda??!!! Wonder if he
did that on purpose!
The presenters are still at it.
If you missed tonight's 5th Gear, Tiff said of a six-speed 911:
Top Gear was too long but it came alive in 5th Gear.
It'll get personal soon!
Mother out law has had to surrender her licence due poor health, and we are now getting rid of her 91/J 1.4 Astra Merit. One problem is the temp gauge does not work, possible source of awkward questions ie have we stuffed it to cover up hot running. Likely cause is loose connection, but where the h** is the sender?. There is something low down on the block/crankcase at the cambelt end but guess it is more likley for the oil light.
All contributions gratefully recieved.!!! Read more
Thanks DD, well hidden under the manifold so will have to wait 'til the weekend.
Ive not been using my car much since I got to university other than occasionally making a 1 mile trip into town. Bit of a silly question I know but am I going to do any real damage if it does get a proper run every 2 or 3 weeks? Read more
Earlier thread. As for engine temp, have a mk2 Golf with trip computer which gives oil temp. Never used to rise above 80c on those trips....normal oil temp 90c when not under load.
Tim
p.s. Its the skateboarders whick overtook me going down the hill which freaked me out!
Well, it had to happen sooner or later and today I had my first proper collision. :(
Was stationary at a roundabout when I heard that sickening thud at the back of my car.
Had a look at the scene and it just looked like a cracked number plate and a tiny chip in the paint. Seeing as his car was undamaged, and mine looked OK, the other guy got back in his car and was getting ready to drive off! Nice try mate, I had to open his passenger door to get name and address, also took his reg number just in case.
I'm pleased I did, later inspection has shown that the boot floor is popped up and cracked along the rear, the bumper is mis-shapen around the nuber plate, and the metal backing 4 - 5 inches behind the bumper was deformed by the bump, gonna cost £££ to fix, gotta get some quotes tomorrow.
My advice to anyone, even if the damage looks like nothing, make sure you swap details anyway, it may save you a fortune!
I'm off to go and have a good cry now... Read more
What a load of hassle I've had today.
I was expecting to have my nice A-Class for a week, so I'd put a tenners worth of Diesel in it, but I decided that I'd better let the bodyshop know that their car smelt like a petrol station forecourt so I rang them. Whilst I was on the phone the lady told me that DL's engineer had seen the car, said that he has agreed on the figures etc. but that he couldn't authorise it because of a discrepencie (which he hadn't been told much about) with the other driver's claim form.
So they asked me to return the courtesy car today as it could take a couple of days to sort out. Not very chuffed I returned it, and she explained that the engineer had said something about the other driver claiming that he had hit a W reg Fiesta, as our's is an 02 reg DL obviously thought that we were trying to pull a fast one.
Anyway, my dad rang them earlier and asked whether he had to sue them or the other driver for the damages, and they said that they would ring back. Fortunately they've rang back and said that they've now concluded their enquiries and are happy to authorise the work. They're letting the bodyshop know and will send a letter out to us confirming this, so I have to return the car to the bodyshop (hopefully) tommorow!
Yet more hassle in what should be the most straight-forward of claims! Never mind, at least it finally (hopefully) looks like it's coming to an end.
With any luck I'll be able to take a different A-Class tommorow as well, my back seat passengers felt sick today with the smell, so I really am happy to lose out on a few quids diesel if I can just take a clean car!
Just in case I've not worded the above correctly, I'm still very happy with the bodyshop so far, they had 4 Mercs in today :) Including a Merc Signature used car, getting ready for the forecourt! If it's good enough for them then it'll do fine for my Fiesta. :)
I recently parked my 2002 metallic grey antracite golf under some trees. When i arrived back i found that it was covered in bird crap. I attempted to remove this with warm water but it was that tough i started to use a very light scouring pad!
Bad choice as i have removed some of the laquer and is looking pretty terrible in 4 places!
What is the best cure for this? Any ideas? T-cut or wax? Read more
It is my considered opinion that waterbased paints used on modern mass produced cars is utterly substandard & the public have not yet realised just what has happened in the name of environmental necessity.It is drastically reduced in thickness,
the elastomers have been removed & the lacquer ( reduced in thickness ) used to ostensibly cover the inadequacies of the base coat.
This is why such companies as Armorfend are so successful in coating frontal areas of premium qualty cars with 3M transparent plastic to offset the inevitable stonechip/scratch damage.
Simon T.
Browse
Surprisingly enough I was in a 'Mr.Minit' in town the other day, and they were indicating that they could : they had a catalogue, but said I needed to come back 'during the week' so that they could ring the suppliers to ensure that they could do it.