March 2003
A recent thread threatened to become a 4 v 2 argument following an overtaking incident approaching a traffic light. From my viewpoint a common irritation from bikes (not bikers) is that (like Volvos) their headlights - sometimes in pairs - are on at all hours, and they are mounted at a height which points straight into a car's outside mirror. This problem is made worse if the beam is on full or misaligned, and if the rider chooses to ride towards the middle of the road, as many apparently suggest doing for safety reasons. Do bikers consider this? Read more
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has simple knowledge of '91 passats please. Bascially several things went at once and it's not fuses:
wipers & screen wash
heater fan(s)
front fogs
rear demister
reversing light
Help!! Where are they all linked? Is this a subsystem with a master fuse or something? Are they all carried alone a certain wire which could have been damaged?
I can't understand the Haynes manual!
Many thanks for any help.
Desperate and struggling to see in the rain...
Andy. Read more
Ok we've all heard the broadcasts
"... and traffic is tailing back on the opposite carriageway caused by motorists slowing to look at the accident"
This is always said with an insufferable air of superiority, as if the 'gob on a stick' reading it out would himself / herself drive at unreduced speed past the scene, eyes firmly glued on the road ahead. There is also some implied criticism of ghoulishness for wanting to look at an accident, which, of course, they would never do.
Yeah! Right!
1) Somebody will always slow. It makes sense to ease off the loud pedal a bit and open the gap in front of you. Maintaining a steady 75 - 80 here is a recipe for disaster. It is called matching speed to road conditions
2) It is a natural reaction. Driving, particularly on M-ways is a pretty mind -numbing experience. The brain NEEDS new sensations if it is to function at its best, fight off tiredness. It is totally ludicrous to expect anybody to drive past a major shunt without taking a peek
Rob P
And then there's the local radio stations that flick on the RDS so that you can listen to two minutes of oh-so-daring and mildly suggestive chatter between the presenter and the traffic girlie.
AAAAAGH!
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I don't
wish to cast nasturtiums, but every single non-male driver who came
along the same bit of road made not one bit of
allowance for the fact it was cold enough to freeze the
whatsits of a brass doodah and braked in exactly the normal
manner. Quite fun to watch really, as I'd walked that
morning!
It's the maintainance. Spoke to a girl in town the other night. Dad bought her a Celica. I hope you check the oil and water I said. [1] Never. Says she. The thing's a year old!
Have you got the gap in between your
front teeth and everything?
No, but i did come from humble beginings... and stayed there!
[1] ...and this is why I never pull.
On my son's 205 the front LH indicator fell apart rendering it inoperative. The front lens was a clear plastic type. As a repair, I fitted a lens assembly from a scrap 205 but the lens colour is red. To balance things up I then replaced the RH one with a red as well. Just out of interest, are the newer ones legal.
Many thanks Read more
Before about 1990 the front indicators on a 205 had an orange lens (I hope yours is orange, not red!) with a plain bulb; after that a clear lens with an orange bulb, for styling effect. It should be possible to find either at a decent dismantlers. As long as the flash appears orange it is legal.
Recieved this query from a friend about a mate of his - what do you guys think? Is the price fair etc? Thanks...
Took a friend to the garage today because her car was playing up and they said her alternator was dicky. Apparently it wasn\'t charging the battery correctly and if she carried on like that her battery would die. Sometimes also the car was only firing on 3 cylinders... New alternator = £145!! So, is that a fair price, and if so, is there any way of getting around the problem..?
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Matt I think the price must vary greatly depending on model of car.
About a year ago the alternator went down on my wifes Maestro TD.
Went to auto electricians Harrison at Hilton near Derby who I can highly recommend.
They tested it and confirmed it was faulty.
Fitted a new one and retested. £50.25 + £24.00 labour total with vat £87.24
As vansboy says an auto-electrical place is the best bet.
In a recent thread the accuracy of on-board consumption was questioned. My experience with SWMBO's Clio 1.6 16v suggests that its figures are (at a guess) 15% optimistic. On longish trips using a light throttle the indicated figure settles at about 52mpg, but ACTUAL consumption over 1000 miles is 40-42. I can rationalise this as follows.
The car measures miles within 2%, but has no accurate idea of fuel quantities - it can only guess on the basis of the float in the tank, and those are notoriously vague. Whether by accident or design, gauges tend to be pessimistic in the lower half (i.e EMPTY means about 3 litres left and HALF probably means nearer 60% full) and that is the range in which our gauge normally works. Therefore the car 'thinks' it is using 25 litres while it is actually using nearer 30.
However the display is continuously responding to throttle opening, as consumption immediately increases when climbing hills, so clearly it is metering the fuel injected - but it doesn't know precisely what the quantity is. Can anyone out there throw light on the method? Read more
Spl - I've only owned one Vauxhall (1984 Cavalier) and no Fords, so can't comment. But I seem to recall many gauges which would read FULL, then after 20-30 miles would start dropping fairly fast to around HALF, then more slowly until a more rapid drop just to warn you that you may run out quite soon (though in fact you won't).
I wonder if anyone can help to advise me on 'Electronic Stability Program' or ESP. According to the Vauxhall manual this program is an optional extra for the Zafira model. I do have traction control as this is a standard feature, but how can i tell if the vehicle has the ESP option? Both features use the same light on the dash if functioning.
So how do i tell? Read more
Thanks for your help.
The vehicle model is the Elegance 2.2 petrol.
Traction control is standard i am sure, but ESP is optional or standard depending on which literature you read.
Cheers..
Just washing my '97 1.25 yesterday & noticed the underseal peeling on both n/s and o/s. There's a small patch bubbling up around a bolt adjacent cill & approx in line with the "b" pillar.
I peeled it back to a sound bit & it ended up revealing a patch about 6cm dia.
Gunked some underbody sealer on it.
Looks like a weak point.
Worth checking on yours as it would probably just rot though the day after the antiperforation warranty expires..
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If thats a seat mounting bolt I would scrape all the underseal away around the area of the reinforcing plate as moisture gets bebind and rots the floor. Very common MOT failure area on Fiestas of this vintage. Be ruthless cos the MOT will be. Lift the carpet and the tell tale signs will be on the inside, Its not too much of a job to repair but will require welding.
I've just been listening to a traffic report warning about big hold-ups on the M40 after an accident.
Actually it was a collision caused by driver neglect and/or incompetence .Somehow the use of the word "accident" neutralises it, and that seems to me to be wrong.
On virtually every journey I see bad driver behaviour ,where it's a matter of sheer luck that damage hasn't been caused. For example, endless cases of stupid lane-changing at high speed on motorways, compounded by no indication.
Perhaps if we stopped using "accident" ,or kept it for the rare cases where it genuinely was an unpreventable collision, it would penetrate peoples' brains better that driving is the most responsible act most of us perform every day , Read more
A few years ago one of our reps got stuck behind an 'accident' on the m6 around birmingham after a tanker load of animal blood burst, the first few cars showered in blood endup crashing, probably due to shock.
I'd say this is would qualify as an accident, yes the original incident maybe could have been averted if there were more stringent checks on the tankers (i dont know the full details so maybe it wouldn't
As the "proud owner" of an imported car I foolishly assumed that as the dealer has specified that the car has "the remainder of the manufacturer's warranty" that this would be the case. It seems that the UK importer thinks otherwise (h says it probably has none)and is being totally uncooperative even in confirming the origin of the car - which I suspect is Southern Ireland. I thought there was a European Directive on Pan-European Warranties" in force to stop this sort of thing? Where do I go from here in asserting my rights? As I have no written warranty or service book I might well contravene the terms of any warranty before I ever see it if I carry on using the car! Oh, it's a Kia and so far the manufacturer, UK importer and "local" dealers have been uniformly useless...
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Depending on the age of the car, the warranty must be valid if
1. It was first registered on or after 01.01.02
2. It is less than two years old (see above for the moment)
3. It was originally sold (not registered - sold) in a country of the European Union
All European cars must have a 2 year, unlimited mileage warranty from first registration that is valid in any country in the EU.
If the car had a three year warranty in the UK, but it was first registered before 01.01.02 (and therefore had to have only a one year warranty which has since expired) then the UK importer has no obligation to you if this was a dealer warranty. (Most three year warranties, e.g., BMW, Peugeot, etc. are backed by the dealer beyond the statutory period).
I am not sure of the position if it is a *manufacturer's* warranty that goes beyond the statutory requirements, as this would seem to penalise those that offer more than the minimum.
However, even if the car is out of warranty, if the dealer who supplied it to you stated that it was sold with the balance of warranty, you would be entitled to a contractual remedy against him. However, you would need to prove this on the balance of probabilities, i.e., not beyond all reasonable doubt as in a criminal case.
As for the terms of the warranty - it is very hard to see how they could hold you to a breach of them if they refused to tell you what they were. Keep hold of any correspondance and, if you do end up with a warranty that they then accuse you of breaching, you would win at court on various technical grounds, based either on an unfair contract or a misrepresentation.
If you think the car was sold in the RoI though, phone a Kia dealer there and ask them about the warranty terms and/or whether your car is on their records there. There may be a list of dealers in your service book, or alternatively use the internet to track one down.
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Leif - I agree entirely. These new bi-xenon soopah doopah light- everything- up headlamps are great for improving safety. But only for the person behind the wheel of the car fitted with them. For everybody else they're a nightmare. Round my neck of the woods there are loads of unlit, but major(ish) roads. At night, cars equipped with these new headlamps appear to be on full beam and it is **most** distracting, especially if you've one behind you. I really don't think that they can be safe and that there should be some kind of legal restriction on the amount of light headlamps can produce.