November 2002
Top Gear had a pretty accurate list of camp cars but there were a few missing.
MGF,MX5,MR2 any convertible such as Astra/Escort/Golf (particularly in white).
What else should be on this list ?
Perhaps HJ could incude this list on the car-by-car breakdown ? Perhaps it would stop people making the same mistake as JC ;-) Read more
I'm considering importing my next car (as you might have guessed from my contribution to the "New Mini Help" thread). I'm looking for a Ford, but the final spec isn't yet decided.
In the FAQs, HJ suggests ringing european dealers (more or less at random) to find out whether they are ready and willing to quote for UK imports. But to make my life easier, is there anyone out there who can name willing Ford dealers (not import agencies) in France, Belgium, Holland or Denmark. You don't have to have bought from them - just the name, web site or phone number of a Ford dealer who will give me a friendly reception - preferably in English.
I've got these already:
www.fordbrugge.com ("Garage Canada" in Bruges)
www.ford-delta.com (Ostend)
www.macampagne.be (Izegem, halfway between Lille and Bruges)
www.groupe-delesalle.com (Calais)
www.groupedelesalle.com (the non-export site for the same garage)
Ian Read more
The wife recently phoned the Police about a car that tears round our area at sixty or seventy on a regukar basis. [it's a 30mph zone]. They said his number plate didn't exist.
They came out today and caught him speeding on our street - the last she saw was his car being driven away by a copper and him being taken to answer questions at the local station.
The car was a lowered, well-looked after hatchback probably worth 4 - 5K. Quite a speeding fine for the p******, I think.
Discuss. Read more
Have seen a guy racing up and down a nearby road several times today in an oldish TVR. This evening walking my son home from school, the moron came roaring up behind another car and - although it was impossible to overtake - proceeded to harass the other driver by loudly revving his engine and accelerating rapidly to within inches of the car. What is it about these people ? Are they brain dead ?
hi..can anybody tell me how to disable my vw comfort system in my
golf mk4..thanks Read more
VW are bringing out a mod to fix the forced entry
problem, will probably cost about £100,
VW expect their customers to pay for VW's design flaw? Great - not!!
Last week SWMBO filled up the 306 with petrol instead of diesel. Managed to drive 1 mile to work and then after work managed to drive about 3 miles before the car gave up the ghost and I received a telephone call.
Car recovered on the end of a rope and fuel pumped out the next day at a local garage.
I noticed that after that the car spluttered a bit before running cleanly after a glowplug start and then seemed to start and run OK. Today I noticed that when starting the engine warm and then a glowplug start it would start and immediatly cut out on 2/3 occasions before eventually starting and running OK.
Has anyone experience of this? My first thought is that the running on a diesel/petrol mix has trashed the glowplugs or that there is still some petrol sloshing about. However the glowplug theory does not hold water as the car starts OK when cold.
Any ideas out there. Its going up for sale this week!!!!!! Read more
Very sensible advice! I'd put good money on either there still being air in there or it pulling air in now... caused by whatever they did to drain the lines. On our fleet this is a fairly regular occurence (among 900 + vehicles) and it never seems to do much harm once they're drained & refilled - I don't think its going to have hurt anything at all over a few miles.
there is a box connected somehow to the manifold on my mondeo zetec 1.6 which is blowing, it is situated just infront of the fan and has a couple of pipes connected to it. I have contacted local ford dealer today who said they cant fit it in to look at until a week wednesday, dont realy want to wait that long. The reason for this question is to determine what this box is called so i can purchase a gasket for it, thats what seems to be causing the fault. I should be able to fit it on my own ( hopefully ).....any ideas would be a big help..... Read more
Cheers for that info David, is it an easy to do job for a novice? and where is the best place to purchase one ( a dealer ).....any idea on the prices of them too?
I have an 'N' reg Rover 100 Kensington and the central locking solenoids keep failing. I have had three of them replaced, at a cost of £100 a time (£40 parts, £60 labour) and have had the repairs redone at least once each time under guarantee. I have
just had a third one put in the nearside rear door and now the off side rear one is on the way out.
My garage say that this is a problem with these cars and I will just have to keep having them replaced. Is that all I can do? I would be happy to have the whole system replaced if this was likely to be a cheaper and more reliable option in the long run, but no-one seems to be able to give me any advice. Has any one any ideas?
Car details edited into the drop down menus.
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Hello, I am amazed at what a common problem this is.
Mine as a slight variation on the above probs,, so wondering if anyone can give me some advice please.
My boot lid light on the dashboard stays on, as has doen for ages, a few months ago the central locking starting playing up, I don't think it was at the same time that they stopped working. The car's keyfob buttons have stopped working long ago, so I manually use the key to lock/unlock the door.
I lock the door and then the door immediately unlocks itself, it usually takes a couple of attempts to lock the door, but once locked it stays locked.
The alarm/immobiliser is activated and deactivated with the key locking/unlocking action. This was a problem for months, but I lived with it. But now its got worse.
When I unlock the door the central locking does not kick in, the drivers door manually unlocks, but the alarm does not deactivate so you can't go anywhere. I have to stand there for ages locking and unlocking the door until it eventually kicks in and unlocks the door, deactivating the alarm in the process.
So, my question is do you think this is related to the boot mechanism? Or the actual central locking mechanism, I haven't got loads of money to experiment or change all the central locking over just in case, so any help you guys can give would be much appreciated.
SWMBO has recently purchased a 1990 Toyota Corolla GL Estate (1.3 litre). The car is fine apart from the fact that it idles much too fast (1400 rpm) and is a bit heavy on fuel. I assumed that this would be a simple matter of adjusting the fast running screw on the carburettor, but when I came to do the job, it was obvious that (a) the idle adjusting screw was not playing any part in the idle setting as it wasn't contacting the throttle linkage and (b) the carburettor was a much more complex beast than I was expecting, with a dashpot, cam breaker, choke breaker etc.
Clearly the whole carb appears to be out of adjustment and it's a job beyond me and my Haynes manual. So, I'm wondering if this is work that I need to go to a Toyota main dealer for, or can I entrust it to my local friendly independent (who is a Citroen specialist - I've used him for years and have been unable to track down a local Toyota independent)? Clearly I can ask him if he thinks he's got the necessary kit and info, but I thought I'd ask here first. maybe the Tune-Up guys can offer an opinion - Is this the type of job that a general motor engineer can handle or is it too specialized? Obviously, with a motor of this age I'm reluctant to pay main dealer rates unless I really have to!
Grateful for any thoughts on this
RM Read more
Brian is still very much part of the Tune-Up operation (which is NOT a franchise by the way, it is a licensed used arrangement as far as the name is concerned,with most of the operators being former franchisees of another company). It is just that he has decided to comit to a static operation instead of mobile.
Regards, Adam
Sitting in the car on Saturday at Hedge End Retail Park, near Southampton. For those who don't know, Hedge End has been specifically designed to prevent traffic flow (with the in and out flows having to cross!) so after my shopping, I was queueing to get out.
At the end of one of the aisles, I was waiting to get into the traffic crawling past, which didn't move for about five minutes. As my wife and kids were in the car, we decided on a few verses of "The wheels on the bus". You may or may not know the hand movements for this, so I'll explain a couple (stick with me, there is a reason for this). There's a bit where your hands go round 'n' round and a bit where they go "chat chat chat" (i.e. like a hand signal for someone nattering).
Anyroadup, the song finished, the traffic moved a car length and suddenly from behind came the roar of a car engine, the screech of a set of tyres and a woman with her kids in the car screamed round the front of me and tried to cut into the traffic. I moved forward and cut her off. She jumped out of her car and shouted at me that I'd been taking the p*ss with my hand signals telling her she's have to wait (round and round) and that she was gobby (chat, chat, chat).
Cue explanation from me.
Cue deflated balloon impression from her.
V Read more
I once made the mistake of taking a tape of this bl***y song with me on a family holiday to the south of France. We had to have it on all the way there and all the way back. I had my own psychotic response in the queue for the ferry at Calais and slung it out the window. There was such a fuss in back seat that I had to pull over at the first services on the M20 and buy another tape, containing an even more irritating version.
Hi,
My sister has a 1999 T reg Ford Fiesta which i think is the MK4? I have been considering an MK5 and I did a VIN number check on both these cars and it said Origin as 'GERMANY' - does this mean where it was supplied from - i.e. grey import or does this mean where it was built...
What confused me is the fact my sister had a crash and the mechanic said they were good as they were built in germany...however i was possitive they were made in dagenahm - also it said on the VIN check PRODUCT SOURCE BRENTWOOD, ENGLAND (OWN ASSEMBLY).
Infact...heres the entire VIN check details for ease..
W COUNTRY OF ORIGIN- GERMANY
F0 MANUFACTURER - FORD WERKE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, KOLONIA GERMANY
B BODY STYLE - 3 DOOR SALOON
XX CONSTANT - CONSTANT
B PRODUCT SOURCE - BRENTWOOD, ENGLAND (OWN ASSEMBLY)
A ASSEMBLY PLANT - DAGENAHM, KOLN, IPIRANGA
J MODEL - FIESTA
B SAME AS POSITION BODY STYLE - 3 DOOR HATCH
1D YEAR AND MONTH (YYYY/MM) OF BUILD - 2001/11
****** (blanked for security) SEQUENCE NUMBER SERIAL NUMBER
****** (blanked for security) ENGINE SEQUENCE NUMBER SERIAL NUMBER
What does it mean? - this is the car i was going to buy from Motorpoint and was told it was a UK car...i aint so sure now..
Read more
Not any more they're not!
Nothing is built at Dagenham now, only parts that are manufactured for companies within the Ford group. The last complete vehicle, which actually was a Fiesta, rolled off the production line about a year ago.
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Your gamble that'd I'd get bored first paid off...
This time!!!!
;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.