December 2002
Reading the \"Driving too gently\" post, I realised that I really don\'t know much about driving a diesel. Always had petrols before.
I now know about the heating up time before you turn it over. I heard that you sould NEVER EVER let a diesel run out of gas or its an expensive Garage job (but I still don\'t know why). I now know you can\'t put any old oil in it, but thats about it. Oh and I know never to put petrol in it!!!
What else should I know. Is there any good general advise that will help me in getting used to a deisel?
Thanks
Patricia
x Read more
I am about to trade my much loved ZX Volcane td for a Xsara hdi. The volcane has been great and probably the best car I've ever had.
The new car is 18 months old has 40k miles with fsh. Its an sx so has a few more gadgets. What should I look out for, I'll be doing the deal this weekend. The car is costing 6.5k along with the volcane from a citroen dealer. How does the xsara compare with other cars around that price?
Has anyone bought a 110 xsara? I hope to put at least 150k miles on it and keep it for 4 years. Read more
Door locks can be a bit funny, but then they aren't horrendously expensive.
I find that the car eats pollen filters, i.e. they are filthy by 6 months.
Received a new insurance quote on the astra - gone up 58%!!!
So I phone the clowns, point out that I haven't claimed in the three years I've had the car, etc etc.
Their attitude was simple: Our prices have gone up.
Yes, I KNOW your b***** prices have gone up! And by close to 60%! That is why I'm calling. Please justify it.
Nobody could give me an answer.
Eventually I was put through to a head honcho of the brokers, who admitted that she has been fielding calls on this matter for the past week, and that the other company are a bunch of morons.
Hopefully brokers will be able to get me a better deal elsewhere...
What amazes me is that the insurers must believe that they will get away with it - and given the stupidity of the general public, they probably will in 90% of the cases!!! Read more
9-11?
They didn't try that one, but thnx for the tip ... :)
Alvin,
Here's the figures:
1995 Astra saloon 180 Auto
Paid R55 000
Insured (presently) for 43 500
Insurance was 235 a month, and now up to 372.
As far as how crime affects us - hijacking and auto theft are quite high, but if you have an alarm/immobiliser/tracker, premiums SHOULD be less.
I am trying to find a car to replace my wifes ageing Metro. I am considering base models of the following a new Yaris, new Ka, new Micra (old style) or a 2nd hand Metro (M reg). To me it looks quite an easy choice and I should go for the Yaris until I start considering the costs. The Yaris is about £7k, the Ka and Micra are both £5k while the second hand Metro is about £1k.
Is the Yaris really £2k better than the Ka or Micra? Residual values are not really an issue as the car (except for the Metro) is a long term car for five years or more. The Metro is being considered purely that it is cheap, and to get through a couple of years.
We have test driven the Ka and Yaris, my wife considered them to drive in a similar way, to be honest I was not impressed with how they drove as they we too underpowered.
I would be grateful for opinions. Read more
Don't be so prickly, Cardew. My comment wasn't a personal attack on anyone, just a light-hearted expression of my views. I wouldn't buy a new car unless I had no better use for the money (in my view). If others do then that's fine and I can understand their reasons for doing so. People have different priorities and tastes. Surely we are grown up enough not to take offence at a remark that was obviously tongue in cheek? I like old cars and I'm happy to tinker with them, anyone can call me a nutter if they like, and I'll smile, as long as they accept that my opinion is as valid as anyone else's.
Is the ride height critical on a Rover Metro? (inter-connected Hydragas)
My workshop manual gives 341 +/- 10mm
but I have just had it pumped up and it measures 325mm.
(Wheel centre to wheel arch)
The garage says the correct setting is 12.5 inches!
What effect will an incorrect height have?
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We always set it to 350mm to allow for any 'settle'
Front hub centre to wheelarch lip.
MG-Rover Questions? forums.mg-rover.org/
Anyone any ideas-
My golf1600 mk2 driver(h reg automatic)with carb and transistorised ignition loses power after 15 mins driving and misfires so badly that it stops. After a 3 minute "rest" it starts fine and goes for another 15 minutes. I've changed the plugs, dist cap and rotor, hall sender, control box all in the last year but the problem has restarted again after being ok for 9 months,would the parts nedd changing again or is there somthing I'm missing?
cheer Phillip of Exeter Read more
I don't think its freezing then(some people think whenever a carb cuts out it is down to this). Your carb could be worn out or just badly adjusted. Try Gunston colour tune plug (put it in instead of spark plug) and see what colour it shows with the engine running.
Back in August I ripped a tyre and damaged an alloy wheel on a damaged dogbone island at a BP filling station. The staff at the filling station were excellent and led me to believe that BP would pay the bill. It has taken me nearly 4 months and 7 or 8 letters to get the cheque out of them (in full including in the end £100 for inconvenience) but the levels they appeared to be prepared to go to to avoid paying were astonishing. First they said that there was no damage to the island (there was sharp metal sticking up from it)then the island design was approved - then they accused me of speeding onto the forecourt. In the end they also got their loss adjusters invloved. The only way I got my money was to have taken pictures (before they repaired the island), got the name and address of an independent witness and sent them a small claims summons.
If anyone else has this sort of problem - be warned even the biggest companies will go to all sorts of lengths to avoid paying even if their staff have told you otherwise. Read more
I carry an aging Kodak DC40 digital camera in the car, for just such an eventuallity. It's come in handy more than once (and not just for me). You could carry a cheap single use camera instead.
For the sake of argument, say a regular visitor to a neighbour has pranged their car, causing damage which has made said vehicle unroadworthy, yet still uses it on a regular basis. Assume said person also drives like a complete nutter, including such idiocy as exiting a narrow passageway between properties in which he parks (blocking a right of way) at high speed - usually having set off with much wheelspin, as seems to be the norm for their departures. (i.e a blind exit on to a road at speed)
What do you do? Can you do anything? I'm sure this idiot is going to kill someone with their driving, as well as their car being a danger due to its condition. But is it best not to do anything and leave them to it? Read more
If it's unroadworthy, a discreet anonymous call to the boys in blue may help. Or a baseball bat to the back of the head. (only joking, honest!)
Her indoors wants to put her car in our garage, which is full of my hobby stuff. Since the garage contains our CH boiler it tends to be somewhat warmer than the outside. I try and persuade her that the car should be left outside in the winter, as bringing it into the garage, wet and salty, will make it rust. Whereas the summer (remember that?) is when it should be garaged to protect all the plastic bits from the UV. What is the wisdom of the denizens of the backroom on this vexed issue? Read more
BrianW: easy, put the motorbikes in the front room.
HJ - I noticed in the car by car a little while ago that you mentioned rust on the weatherseal on the A-pillar of the 99 - 02 Fiestas.
Well, my 6 month old example appears to be suffering from this, as well as a problem at the very top corner of the driver's door where it must be closing against the rear passenger door, hence chipping the paint, leading to a nice little spot of rust (fortunately invisible when the door is shut so far).
I'm taking it in for the repair next week, but have two questions:
1) Is the rusting A-pillar very common, if so, is it likely that the repair will fix it permanently, or once the car is suffering is it unlikely to ever be fixed?
2) As part of the driver's door repair, am I entitled to ask them to perform any necessary adjustments on the door to stop it contacting the rear passenger door? As it's fairly obvious that this is what has caused the problem.
Any advice, thoughts, or criticisms on my choice of buying a Ford will be appreciated, well, except the criticism bit because I won't take any notice. :)
Blue Read more
.......or cup your hand and move around wheel arch and at same time direct hosepipe onto the palm of your hand deflecting water onto the collected dirt.....
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On the GM 2.2 diesel the glow plugs don't come on at all if the temp is above 0 Centigrade. This is in a Saab where I suppose 0 degs is a warm day and the glow plugs are needed at minus 30!