December 2002
I know these sometimes miss out short cuts like A5-A14 via Catthorpe rather than M6 but I was staggered to discover they sometimes route over private property.
During planning for next year's caravanning holiday, MS AutoRoute selected a route from Lochalsh to Kinlochewe by a road which I know to be private property and only 6'6" wide. As the narrow bridges on this stretch have no sides, this would have been terminal for a 7'3" caravan!
Are SatNav or PC route planners worth the money if all routes have to be checked manually against a paper map ? Read more
I've just put a deposit down on a new VW Polo - currently offered with one year's free insurance before 31st. I bought through a VW dealer, only to be informed that, because the car is discounted, I can't have the free insurance too. Admittedly, I haven't seen the full t & c's of VW's insurance offer, but their official website lists the major exclusions and a discounted car (from Dovercourt, London) isn't one of them.
I'd appreciate any advise as to whether I should take the matter further. (They're not delivering, either, so I'm not minded to overlook this...) Many thanks.
frmarcus Read more
MMD: Thanks, I'm going to take this up with VW. I seem to recall that, on enquiry, I was told by the dealer that I couldn't have the advertised discount and advertised free insurance; but, even so, this may run counter the VW's advertising and appears ambiguous at the least (in that it's attracting people's attention unjustifiably)
frmarcus
Does anyone have only knowledge of this diagnostic tool www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/ , or know of any alternative available?
I\'m toying with buying one for the Audi A4.
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I've got VCDS and it's the dogs doo dahs. I paid £260 from Gendan who are one of Ross-Tech's authorised UK distributors. You will of course need a laptop computer, it's pretty useless if you haven't got one. The software is actually free to download and use, but to have access to the full version and to receive support and updates you will need a licence. Buying from either Ross-Tech or one of its distributors means you will be supplied with a cable which has a built-in dongle. It automatically activates and authorises the first time you plug it in to a vehicle.
VCDS is very fast, especially on CAN equipped vehicles. It can perform many functions enabling the user to accurately diagnose faults as well as to enable features you didn't even know your car had. All in all it's well worth the money.
What's the diference?? I think l understand they are mutually exclusive in effect doing the same job but how/why/who am I? Read more
OK, as soon as you mentioned large part of wiring loom... I'll pass. Thanks for your time jc.
Cheers,
dan
There have been a lot of discussions here about poor cold-starting of Vauxhalls fitted with the Isuzu diesel engine and many answers have been attempted.
A friend of mine has suffered this problem for at least two winters and tried 'everything'. Everything, that is, except having the valve clearances checked. Someone recently told us here that re-setting the valve clearances on his engine was the answewr (sorry, I've searched but I can't find the relevant posting) so I suggested to my friend that it was worth trying.
He had his valve clearances checked during the week and it was found that valve seat recession (sinkage) had led to some valves being held open slightly. This made cold-starting very difficult because he wasn't getting full compression but once the engine started and warmed through a bit it was fine, except that it smoked terribly immediately after starting.
The clearances were reset and the engine now starts immediately. It turned for less than two seconds this afternoon (on a very cold day) before firing on all four. Apparently valve seat recession on Isuzu diesels is well known within the trade for causing cold-start problems.
Another success story for the forum! Read more
Had a similar problem with same engine about 100K miles ago. Same diagnosis and no starting problems since. (Trouble is, the same Vauxhall garage seems to mention the same diagnosis for most other faults despite there eventually being other things to blame.)
Its worth your friend being wary of the starter motor now since I think the strain of turning over the engine caused mine to go. These are not particularly cheap in this diesel being a "geared device", so I am led to understand.
Splodgeface
Is there a set rule or timescale for moving threads to the archive? The most recent threads on there are 14 months old...
I only ask because, having been on here a couple of months now, I'm finding it very time-consuming to trawl through the discussion or technical forums browsing for anything of interest that may have been talked about in the past. Say if I'm looking at page 38, when I come back to the front it puts me in at page 1 again. Is there an easy way to jump more than 2 pages of thread headings at a time? Read more
K you are very welcome to my shovel - just dig deep enough and I will jump in, honestly!
Still feel very embarrassed about that - but glad it's given you a bit of a LMAO K!!
Take care and see you soon, I hope
HF
Went up to Beaufort West (480kms) on Thursday (early), came back yesterday, with the outside air at 42C+ for a lot of the journey.
The car (astra 4 dr 1.8 auto) did superbly - 150/160 km/h for much of the trip up there (me alone), and 120-140 back (4 adults, 2 sprogs - me being less laddish!).
It was so hot that to open the window felt like opening an oven!
Never pushed it too hard - stopped to look at the Boer War blockhouses at a few places on the way up.
On the open road, the temp guage was at a quarter - when we slowed down for towns, hit close to red-line!
Interestingly, despite the end-of-year migration to the coast for thousands of "inlanders" , we saw NO police on the road on the return journey...
Also had to put up with the morons 4-up in old 1300 golfs/lasers/corollas doing full-out 110 on the flat, 80 up hills, and screaming-engine 160 downhills! (all figures in K's!)
The Italian-tune-up effect was evident - the car was superb from 150ks out of cape town, and was noticably better after a good 'hoon' - so much so that I still have an indicated 480 on the odo, and half a tank of juice left after coming back!
Also (one for the techies) will the constant high-temp running loosen the crud etc in the cooling system - should I flush and refill now?
Ian (CT)
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Ian,
Spent a month in SA this summer doing my pilot's license in George. Drove from Cape Town to George in a Toyota Tazz 1300(Avis) which cost us about £3 a day to hire. I have a photo of the speedo with the needle on 180kmh (no cars around, straight road etc etc). IMHO South Efreekan drivers are the best I've experienced-courteous,cool-headed and not grumpy about letting faster cars past. Had a fanatstic time and very jealous of you now with the 3 degrees C in Bristol that I'm suffering!
I'm having a problem with the clutch on my ML 270Cdi 6 speed. The car is 2 years old and has only done 14K mls and I think this lack of use may be causing the problem.
Sometimes the point at which the pedal meets resistance when declutching is nearer the floor i.e the amount of free play varies and on occasions the pedal does not return and I have to put my toe under it and lift it up. It doesn't happen all the time nor can I make it happen "to order" so I cannot demonstrate it to my dealer. There are no fluid leaks and it does not feel as if there is air in the system.
Any ideas? Read more
jud - yes I think so. My Dealer is talking about fitting a new slave cylinder to see if this cures the problem.
Hi folks,
Has anyone found any websites where you can put in your details and get out a list of cars in price order? Its a pain having to fill in all of the details everytime you decide to have a look how much a different cars going to cost.
Bill Read more
Hi Bill
Not quite what you asked about, but egg.com allows you to get quotes very quickly. If you go to autotrader.co.uk and find the cars you are after, get the plate numbers and enter these in the egg system, the database will find the exact car and quote you on that. you can change car in under 30 seconds.
The problem with your question is that there could be hundreds of different specs for each model, so you need to know the exact one for them to quote you.
Hope this helps
Jonathan
I have just changed a 2 ltr turbo diesel Rover for a similar Peugeot (worth about 4 times as much). When I rang my insurers they said I would be getting a small pro-rata refund which suprised me. Then I checked in the back of a motor mag and found that the Rover is Group 11 and the Peugeot is Group 5. Bearing in mind the relative performance, spares costs etc can anyone say why there should be this large discrepancy in the grouping? Read more
>>Then what on earth are insurance brokers for.......
Exactly what you think. However, for them, or their computers, its a lot of work requoting for many different cars. And given that cost control is a function of all businesses, as soon as you ask for quotes for more than one or two cars they stop taking you seriously.
From personal experience the third quote is guessed.
And as for computers being powerful enough or not, that isn;t the issue. It is, at its fringes, a subjective business. And the best quotes are usually at the fringes.
If you decide you want to be insured with the Norwich Union, then it is fairly easy to get a range of quotes. However, a small difference in style of car, age or value of car can change the insurance market you are looking at.
DVD asked me a while ago about what brokers are for and the best use that can be made of them. I haven't forgotten DVD, it'll just be waiting until I have a quiet moment to put the thought into it.
Browse
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I'm thinking of getting a GPS system for my new car (a DIY one attached to a personal digital assistant). Does anyone have recommedations about best buys, please, or where I can get best buy info on the net?
Many thanks!
frmarcus