November 2002
OK, so I bought one for the daughter despite HJ's description in the car-by-car breakdown. I had always thought Peugeot diesel was noisy when cold, but the Fiat makes it sound like a sewing machine.
Then I discovered you can't drain all the oil out of the engine, as nearly a pint is held in the oil cooler. This is cleverly situated just behind the front "bumper", so as to be handy for those five miles an hour collisions. And the rubber hose linking it to the engine, so conveniently placed to rot and fail.
Anyway, daughter loves it. When I borrowed it one day I noticed that the temperature gauge was only coming up about a quarter, and was liable to vary a lot when the heater was on (which seemed cold). I know the diesel will run cooler, but not this much. Recent radiator by the previous owner and full of antifreeze, so I diagnosed it was probably a failing thermostat. Years ago I used to take them out and test them before replacement, but you always lose some coolant, so I just decided to swap the thermostat. With £5 in my pocket (the Peugeot one was only £4) I popped down to Halfords. My suspicions were aroused, when they didn't start it, and weren't really willing to get one. I realised it must be like the later Cavaliers, where the thermostat was nonremovable from a simple housing.
My local motor factors agreed to get me one from Fiat. There are two types. £70 and £55.
I am testing this one!! Anyone any ideas of an alternative supplier. I may just buy the daughter a pair of thermal tights.
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Hi Everyone,
I've been considering a Volvo S70 as my next purchase, with a budget of up to £7k(ish), S-plate or younger. However, I notice that S80s are now becoming available at around this price - possibly more 'leggy' examples - though that doesn't really put me off. Can anyone advise which they feel is the 'better' car? I realise it's a rather vague request, as 'better' means different things to different people. The S80, being a more modern design, has its attractions, but I've read a few criticisms regarding build quality. At this price point, could the older car be a safer bet?
Many thanks,
David
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does anyone know if you can attach a diferent make cd changer to a different make head unit Read more
But if you've come by a second hand CD changer there's a fair chance it will need the same make head unit.
I have a Sony head unit and changer, and the changer is controlled by a Sony Bus, which is basically a dedicated 10-pin cable from one to the other that won't fit anything else.
SOURCE is www.motorcyclephilippines.com
The median age of a Harley buyer, is now about 45, up from 37 in 1990. Some dealeres say the majority of their customers are over 50.
For now, Harley is as solid as one of its half-ton Electra Glides. Since going public in 1986 the company's earning have grown an average of 37% a year and increased 26.4% last year to $1.43 a share.
Harley's are even the top selling heavyweight motorcycle in Japan.
Company At A Glance
Founded: 1903
Headquarters: Milwaukee
Number of Employees: 8000
Number of Employees who ride Harleys: Approximately half
Number of motercycles sold in 2001: 234,461 (+14.6% vs. 2000)
Number of motercycle models: 26
Price range (MSRP): $8,000-$22,000
Motorcycle Revenue,2001: $2.63 billion (+17.1%)
Consolidated revenue, 2001 $3.36 billion (+15.7%)
Net income, 2001: $433.7 million(+25.9%)
Earnings per share: $1.43 (+26.4%)
In 2001, a dreadful year for many American companies, Harley-Davidson's overall revenue grew 15% to 3.3 billion. The company is careful to keep production closely in line with demand-which keeps the supply of many bikes tight-but it still expects to sell more than 250,000 motorcycles this year (2002).
.......and to think I practically had to beat my broker over the head to buy me some shares.....
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Ian,
You've just described the typical sports bike rider!
Could anyone tell me the differences between an AH3000 engine and an MGC engine. The reason is that I have a full race MGC engine to dispose of and have touted it round both AH and MG sites. One person has replied to say that they are two completely different animals. I was under the impression that the 'C' engine was a natural progression on from the AH. Also can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between a 1098 and 1275 A series without pulling the head. Engine number is missing,you see.
Thanks Read more
The AH 3000 engine was substantially revised to the MGC/Austin 3 lite engine. Are the parts common? Try the MGOC club website.
The 1098cc engine has a manufacturer's type no 10H, the 1275 12H. I recall that this may be cast on the block or cylinder head. (my surplus Haynes manual is some use:-)Also the 1275cc engine has two additional cylinder head nuts holding down the head. Take the front of the engine as the thermostat end.One at the thermostat end of the engine between and slightly behind the 2 rear bolts holding the thermostat on and one beside the second bolt at the rear of the engine holding on the heater pipe connections. (I do Not refer to bolts along the side of the engine in a row but just behind that line.
In other words a 1098 has 9 cylinder head bolts, a 1275 has 11.
Hope this is correct for the engine year you are looking at!
madf
My friend jsut narrowly escaped wwith her life because she crashed into a tractor with its lights on as brightly as possible. Many car drivers choose to 'forget' they have their main beam switched on on quiet country roads. Many car drivers seem to pull out onto a main road where it would only be safe to do so if their car had a 0-60 of nanoseconds. On the motorways, some choose to enter the motorway at some ridiculously low speed, 45, 50, regardless of the traffic approaching. People accelerate from the hard shoulder to 30 or 40 and then join the motorway itself regardless.
I could go on
Point is, I lose my licence for exceeding a oathetically low speed limit. I wonder when all driving offences will be magically covered by the doctrine of speeding? Read more
So what happened exactly? How did she manage to crash into the back of a tractor with an unlit trailer and be dazzled at the same time? Was she oncoming to the tractor or did it pull into the road in front of her?
A driver should be thinking 'tractor - does it have a trailer on it or some other attachment that will stick out in front or behind that I can't see and would therefore give it an extra wide berth. Or worse, what is that, can't see a thing so will have to assume that it is enormous until proven otherwise.
If she'd hit an unlit and unreflected trailer on her side of the road because of the tractor with the dazzling lights then that is a whole different kettle of fish and a much tougher situation to deal with safely.
teabelly
I come from southern England and just experienced something that?s really wound me up.
About 2 months ago I had my car parked in front of a friend?s car out side my mum and dads house. To give a vague idea, its a long street with speed humps, residents cars parked up both sides with a road that?s on a hill which joins in the middle. Imagine a 'T'. Anyway whilst in my m&d's we heard a huge bang, minutes later a neighbour knocked at the door to say my car had been hit. It turned out that a joy rider had sped down the hill into the other street & ploughed a car into the side of my friend?s car parked behind mine. But just scratching & removing some of the paint from my rear bumper (Luck hey).
The police were called and there was witnesses who saw who was driving and what happened and could name the driver & where he lived. The joy riders had driven on after the crash and then dumped the car half a mile down the road, nearly killing children in the process. I believe fingerprints were taken and they knew from that who it was.
But with all this evidence they claim they do not have enough 'evidence' to charge and have as we just learned 'closed the case'. But then they are extremely quick off the mark to dish out petty speeding fines without a second thought. Not that I agree with speeding of course, but some situations are ridicules.
I was just interested to here others views on this and weather any of you may of experienced similar things with car crime and lack of response. Or weather it?s just my town.
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Parked my car today and walked to the station (quarter of a mile) and in my Meldrewish manner counted the untaxed cars en route. There were three. Got back 5 hours later and walked back and 2 of them had been clamped and dire warnings and penalties stuck on the windscreen. One of them had not been taxed since the end of January this year! Good work by somebody but whether it was the council, a DVLA hit team or Plod-U-Like I do not know!
This is volume 2 of an excellent thread. Please continue it from here. The previous thread will not be deleted, and is here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=7058
For posterity, here is posted one of Volvoman\'s better ideas which started the thread.
In the short time I\'ve been using and contributing to this great site I\'ve been amazed at the tremendous expertise which is offered by all you technical buffs in response to virtually any motoring/car related problem. Not so long ago there was a very good TV series called Trade Secrets in which professionals in various fields gave their Top Tips for making life easier and doing things better/quicker/cheaper etc. If it hasn\'t been done already and I\'ve just missed it, couldn\'t all you technical buffs and enthusiasts do the same on this site so that we can build a Top Tips section for people to refer to on all aspects of car repairs, maintenance etc. The tips could be categorised in various ways and would I feel be a very valuable resource which all back-roomers could access. What do you think lads ? What about it HJ, Mark ?. Read more
Vaseline will pick up dirt and the mess may be transferred to clothing. I use glycerine for the same job.
Following up on my earlier posts, I have today received a letter from the Woolwich. It is a standard letter which fails to address or answer any of the points I made to them, simply confirming what they say is the amount of arrears and informing me that I may capitalise these arrears if I wish. Oh and pointing out that until I capitalise, the arrears will continue to be subject to a monthly charge.
They have completely ignored the issue about sending mail to the wrong address, and the fact that they have failed to communicate with me for such a long time so that I was unaware of the debt. They have not provided me with any of the missing correspondence that I requested, neither have they commented on my query as to whether my ex-husband's responsibility on the mortgage has now ceased.
In short, the letter seems to have been written so that any third party would have no idea of the circumstances behind it, and would simply be led to believe that I had allowed a debt to build up on my account.
Alyn - I would like to contact you at your website about this, if this is still ok - may I please email you there?
Anyone else - comments gratefully received as this is scaring the hell out of me.
Thank you.
HF Read more
pulling the volumes together
What is the CI bit for? this car seems very well spec'd for the insurance group (5 or 6) any thing to look out for on the 1.8 115 BHP model??
Thanks Read more
I probably would HJ, unfortunately the only Toymota that I've driven at present is a Yaris T-Sport. Nice quick little car, and I suppose if given the choice, I would take it over my standard Fiesta, but not over a Zetec-S mind...
I wouldn't mind driving the Corolla to find out what it's like, but I still couldn't bring myself to spend money on a car that doesn't have either:
a) A Blue Oval Badge
b) A Blue and White Propellor
c) A 3 pointed star
or even...
d) A shiney Jaguar badge :) Ooops, that's a Ford isn't it? :)
Browse
That's exactly what my Dad said.
It's just when you read how quick SjB's is. It's difficult to ignore that.