December 2002
Hi
I need to access teletext (type) messages giving me information on flight arrivals at Heathrow and Gatwick. At home/office I use BBC pages 441-446 and ITV 181-186. I have tried email on my mobile- too erratic. The BA system is designed for 9 year olds and is often unobtainable.
The portable TVs on the market don't have teletext.The reason I need it that I operate an airport car service and it is very useful to see when a flight is estimated to arrive, or has landed.
Any ideas chaps/chapesses would be much appreciated?
Best wishes drbe Don
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Any car geek out there would like to give an opinion on this?
I has my Toyota starlet EP82 fitted with a new clutch couple of weeks ago. On sunday morning while trying to reverse the car stalled and jammed the gears and wont even start. The Garage come over, unjammed it and towed it. Later on they called and said it needed an engine overhaul coz of some conrod bearing or whatever. The car is now has a noise in the engine block "knok knok" which gets worse on acceralation. I need an opinion on whats gone wrong and if its related to the initial fix problem.
Regards Read more
A Toyota specialist once told me that earlier diesel Hiluxes were known for occasionally seizing solid if left idling for any length of time when cold - something to do with inadequate oil supply to one of the main bearings. Nothing to do with Starlets I know, but just shows that even Toyota aren't perfect.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
Anybody had any experience of the above?
My dad has a new Mondeo TDci (115ps) LX auto estate on order, to be delivered in February. This despite the local dealer (the car is coming from a leasing company) saying such a combination didn't exist!
However, the power of the internet (Ford's own UK website) has shown that you can get one (shame on you Mr Dealer!) under the bizarre moniker of "Durashift 5-tronic".
Is this a tiptronic-style device, or some sort of clutchless manual? Currently my dad runs a 99T Vectra 1.8LS auto estate (which he is very pleased with) and is a big fan of self-shifters - from talking to him he's not taken with the idea of "fancy gimmickery - I just like to put it in Drive and off I go".
Still, it's impressive that auto diesels are becoming popular again - 10 years ago only Peugeot and Citroen offered them on non-prestige cars, if I recall correctly. Read more
It's probably a freak incident, but from what I can make out it's a new engine and gearbox design, so it may be better to wait for a few months to get the bugs ironed out. My dad is lucky as it's a leased vehicle - I doubt he'd buy one if it was a private deal.
Hi gang - my 1991 Volvo 940 SE turbo has developed a noticeable oil leak which concerns me.
The oil appears to be dripping from the bottom of the black cam-belt cover but no traces of oil runs are visible externally so far as I can see so the leak appears to be behind the cover.
A local guy has had a quick look and reckons it might be the crank shaft oil seal which is a job that apparently requires tools he doesn't have.
Does this make sense and, if so, is it urgent, complicated, expensive ?
If it isn't the above, are there any other likely possibilities as to where the oil is coming from ?
Any help/advice offered will be very gratefully received ! Read more
Thanks again Peter - I did only mean the breather tubes etc. Whilst I wouldn't trust myself with the cam belt I wouldn't mind taking off/cleaning/refitting a few pipes providing I can find them ! I'll check the Haynes manual and see.
BTW - glad I'm not the only one who finds parts of the manual ambiguous :-)
Is £500 going to turn the head of someone to report people they know to "have had a drink" to the police?
If I saw someone obviously worse for drink I would make determined efforts to stop them but I draw the line at "snitching".
Those that would, probably would regardless of the £500 or is the cash going to make a diffence?
Or is it like the lottery, not the principle just the amount on offer that counts?
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Agree.
HF
SWMBO is in the process of sprogging and I think that I will shortly be needing to get a roof rack (or rather box). We already seem to have little room with our rubbish and will be hard pushed to squeeze everything in when the next one comes along.
Does any one have any advice on what to look for. I have heard of Thule but are there any other makes that are better (value for money). As it will not be used the whole time it would be best if it was easy to (dis)mount.
Any advice would be great as the sales are soon coming! Read more
Yes - look at www.roofbox.co.uk - it has loads of useful advice on roofboxes, bars, cycle carriers etc.
(No connection, just a satisfied customer!)
From the pages of "SuperBike" magazine (January 2003 edition -
Copyright acknowldged)
DOUBLE STANDARDS OFFICER?
Emergency services 'zine reveals Northants plod idiocy
Our mole on the inside sent in an edition of the emergency services
magazine, called "999" (no, not the Ducati kind) where an article
featured Northamptonshire Police and its war against speeding
motorcycles. Operation Scramble specifically targeted speeding bikes
and detailed their their policy of stop-checking riders for various
offences. Rockingham and Santa Pod were suggested as alternative
suggestions for speed related malarkey. Strange, then, that a mere
seven pages later an article on the new Mini Cooper S is printed,
heralding its 135 mph capability and seven second 0 - 60 times. The
article went on to say "the important figures I like to quote are the
50 - 75 mph overtake time" and last time we looked, 75 mph was illegal
and surely not important at all. So next time you get pulled by
Northamptonshire Police just say you were testing the important
overtaking figures they suggested in 999 magazine.
--
These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads. Read more
BrianW: Sorry.
M.B: I can't actually see what you're replying to. But yeah. I agree there's lot of leeway given.
--
These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
After having the rocker covers replaced on my Omega 3.0 a few months ago, I noticed a strange whistling noise on startup combined with a slightly rough idle. This has progressively got worse and now you can easily hear it several meters away from the car even with the bonnet closed. It sounds like air blowing through a thin metal pipe - probably a bit like James Galway on a bad day :-) The noise does reduce once the engine is up to normal temp, but the idle is still not as smooth as pre-repair.
At the time someone mentioned that VX had sent a TSB about this and it was to do with the connection between the copper pipe that connects the EGR valve to the manifold. Apparently, once removed to change the rocker covers/gaskets it doesn't re-seat properly due to corrosion on the manifold and as a result you get a lumpy and/or noisy idle.
As I can't seem to get any further info from my local Vx dealer about this (work was carried out by an independent) I'd appreciate any info from the backroom.
Thanks in advance.
Chad.R Read more
Cheers Robert, I'll give CD Bramhall a ring and see what they say...
Chad.R
Can one of you people out there tell me where I can get Metal plates?;not the old black and silver but white front and yellow rear;they seem to have disappeared recently and before someone tells me they're not legal-the material is not specified in the regulations-requirements are size,letter spacing,colours and manufacturer's name and address.They can be pressed ali or riveted numbers. Read more
JC
When I worked in the parts factoring business I used these people. Maybe worth giving them a call.
Signam Ltd
Automotive, signage & equestrian products
Telephone and fax
Tel: (01926) 417300
Fax: (01926) 417333
Address:
Harris Rd
Warwick
Warwickshire
CV34 5FY
HTH
Charles
I notice that if your car runs on LPG then you can get a reduction in the roadtax. However, just my luck, I bought my X reg car in Feb 01 and it seems that I can only get the reduction if I had got it from March 01.
Is this indeed the case and am I just going to have to put up with paying the full price (all for the sake of buying one week too early!).
Any advise is gratefully recieved.
Many thanks.
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At least that is the case, it rarely costs more than £10 to fill the gas tank. What makes this worse is that the government give you rebates for LPG conversions, but only to a small list of conventional cars. So because I do not drive a conventional car, and because I bought my car one week early, I am a little worse off.
Oh well. I suppose if they introduce the rumored congestion charging in my city I might not have to pay anything.
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