March 2003
I own a 1972 Peugeot 504 convertible, with a torn roof. It\'s about 5 inches long, (the tear not the roof), just above the drivers door. I can\'t imagine what a new convertible roof costs, I do know I couldn\'t afford it. Does anyone know a good way to repair these?, other than sticking a patch over?
In the old days (15 years ago) there used to be a liquid weld product for trim that bridged the gap between the two sides and joined the 2 together. No one has even heard of such a thing these days!
Plus, any names of suppliers for Peugeot parts very gratefully received.
Thanks Read more
My cam belt bust last night whilst travelling at 70mph, engine cut out, rolled to a halt. How much damage is likely? The car is '93 model, not worth a lot, I don't want to fork out £100 replacing belt if engine is going to need replacing. Any way of checking? There was no hint of a problem before it went, and no dodgy noises now. The starter just turns rapidly without catching. Advice please. Not a mechanic so keep it simple.... Read more
MB - the factor missing from this example, which for PCs is more extreme even than for cars, is that if you 'upgrade' your equipment you are buying into increased depreciation, which would almost certainly remain small if you fix an old banger. Definitely true for a 1993 Pug 405. The logic we are discussing is the principle behind Bangernomics, which in its cheapest form consists of buying a decent example of a model which has reached its price nadir, keeping it going until it fails an MoT, then repeating the cycle.
In December I purchased a 2000 156 2.4JTD with 7500 miles on the clock. It had undergone the appropriate annual services and was fully serviced prior to purchase. By my reckoning, that's 3 oil changes in a car with 7,500 on the clock.
Needless to say, it has tended to smoke like a goodun when the opportunity presents to take it above 3000rpm. This will partly be down to the injectors being gummed up on such a low mileage and partly oil consumption. The oil level hasn't dropped significantly in 2,500 miles but it has dropped. Unless my dipstick has got longer....
A dose of Winns injector cleaner on 1/4 tank has helped with smoking and I will continue with Millers Diesel Power Plus when I can get to my local stockist. Since the Winns treatment it has barely smoked at all, even on hard acceleration on Dual Carriageway after an 8 mile shuffle across rush-hour traffic.
Now I've always been one for 6k oil changes, but this engine is unlikely to have bedded-in yet. I'm planning to stick with the current oil until the next service is due at 19500 miles (12k from the last one) to give the lump a chance to settle in properly.
Can anyone see any disadvantages to this approach? Am I worrying unduly about the engine not having bedded-in? Any other ideas / advice?
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Yellow loop up, grey shiny bit with brown goo at the bottom. As I mentioned, either it has only used a little oil or my dipstick has got longer (and here is the bit I should have added for the pedants.....) and it has burnt a lot.
|:o)
Iv'e just had the front wheel alignment adjusted on my car and the steering wheel is a little bit off centre, not very much and I could live with it. I understand that this often happens and it's just a bit annoying, but is it ok and not a sign of the tracking or anything not been done correctly by mechanic.
I'm not too bothered about having it centered if not neccessary.
Any opinions welcome. Read more
I don't know if this alignment pin is standard but it sounds like a real good idea.
Most places seeem to guess the straight ahead position of the wheel, looking from the outside, where it must be very difficult to set the wheel accurately.
I suppose that is why most steering wheels are now mounted on a hexagon nut rather than splines, to ensure the rack is centralised.
Over the months, several Back Room people have asked if we could have an occasional poll about some topic or other which is occupying their minds.
One or two, and in particular Wowbagger (hi, Steve), asked if we might do it as a regular thing.
So as from the beginning of next week (barring hiccups) we\'ll be running a poll (kindly supplied free of charge by www.alxnet.com ). Wowbagger\'s suggestions included \"How long is it since you last read the Highway Code?\", so that will be the subject of the first poll, but if anyone else has suggestions for subsequent polls, post them here in this thread and we\'ll use the best ones. And if a particular issue comes up, we\'ll consider changing the poll mid-week in order to run a \'special\'.
The Back Room Poll will appear at the top level of the forum.
Martyn [Back Room moderator]
====================
mailto:webmaster@honestjohn.co.uk Read more
After reading the discussion about falling insurance costs I wonder if anyone out there has had the same problems as me.
I recieved a new quote for my car insurance last week and it had gone up by nearly 1k.
I now have a bigger, more expensive car but this rise seemed an awfull lot so I queried quite why it had gone up so much when I had made no additional claims or picked up any convictions.
Their answer was that as I put my Dad down as a named driver, he's 55 with full no claims and a clean license, the premium had gone up. I always put him down as a named driver as he often borrows the car but the problem this year is that in december 2002 he was hit from behind whilst sitting at traffic lights at regents park driving his own car. He has witneses to this accident but the claim is ongoing so I am being penalised for somebody elses stupidity.
The point is that the insurance company have said that when the claim is finalised and it is found not to be my Dad's fault I will not get the extra premium back.
I have tried several other insurance companies but they all say the same.
How unfair is this.
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How about this one...
I sold my old Alfa 156 1.8 8 months into a 12 month policy. My new Alfa GTA was still sometime away. No problem said the insurance company, when you get the new car call us, we`ll activate that policy, you pay the extra (higher group car) for the remaining 4months, then you`ll have 5years NC discount.
When car (eventually!) arrived, phoned them, they said sorry, cant insure you, grouping too high, so I asked could they credit me with 5 years NCD? No sorry, cant do anything about the 8 months you earned, goodbye. So I had to go back to 4 years NCD costing me £100 In lost discount
If l want to find in depth engine data e.g. component dimensions of conrods, cranks etc.. do l have to own the particular workshop manuals for each vehicle l might be interested in OR are their other sources (Almanac/bible)?
Cheers,
Dan Read more
lol.....must have been old stock!!
MG-Rover Problems? forums.mg-rover.org
Had the diesel siphoned out of the four 7.5t lorries in our yard again in the early hours of today. Two of them have 100 litre tanks, one is 120 litre, one is 150 litre. So that's £350 worth. Just like last week. And three weeks ago. And eight weeks ago. I fitted locking fuel caps to all the lorries yesterday, today they're all bent and laying on the floor.
The yard is square, with brick-built units on two opposing sides, a 7ft brick wall with 7ft high metal gates at the front, which are locked at night, and a 7ft chainlink fence to the rear, bordering a water authority underground reservoir. What appears to be happening is that the fuel thieves are getting into the water board property, then either lifting up or pulling down the wire fence to get into our yard. We have sensor floodlights but no CCTV, and the yard is located at the end of a 1-mile long industrial estate road. Short of sleeping in one of the lorries with a baseball bat, or spending lots and lots of money on cameras, has anyone got any suggestions as to how we can stop it happening? The police are patrolling the road every hour at night at the moment, but it still happened last night without anyone seeing anything. Read more
The more I read her - health and safety issues, guard dogs must be with handler etc - makes me believe the old big lads, balaclavas, baseball bats and watertight alibis scenario might be best.
Is it just me, or have others noticed this as well?
I received a quote a few days ago for renewal of £333.50 FC on my Xantia 2.0L 16v (quite a pricy one to insure). This was about £40 less than last year. Uninsured loss recovery service thrown in as is unlimited no claims protection.
OK I am now 35 as opposed to 34 last year, apart from that nothing else has changed.
My only speeding conviction was April 99, 45 in a 30 by a camera.
My most recent fault accident was November 2001 (well it wasn't my fault I got stiched due to a technicality and had to share blame).
I have had no incidents in 2002 at all. Is this their way of saying "Well Done Hugo!"?
I am with NIG through a local broker. I've stuck with them as their ULR service left me £2K better off as a result of that bump in Nov 2001). They were 2nd to none!
H Read more
Mine's down by £200 this year, with a different insurer, from £837 to £636. (I haven't decided on whether to go for Liverpool Victoria or elephant.co.uk)
I actually want the bonus accelerator because I'm looking to change my car in 10 months' time anyway, so don't mind that it works out more per month.) In a year's time I'll be 25, in a much lower risk job, and earning more money.
My premium isn't due for just over a month though, so I'll probably wait until I know who my new flatmate will be and whether to include them on my car insurance before actually choosing one.
I was involved in minor accident this afternoon and have been left in total disbelief at the police and other drivers actions.
I was stationery at a very busy roundabout waiting to pull out when a car from behind hit me pushing me straight on to the roundabout. Fortunately the cars on the roundabout swerved and managed to avoid hitting me.
Not one driver (apart from the guy who hit me) stopped to check that no one was hurt. To top this a police car at the next roundabout exit with a perfect view of my car (bumper hanging off e.t.c) and the crumpled front of the car that hit me blocking the roundabout did not stop to help.
Is it expecting too much of people to spend 30 seconds getting out of thier car to check that no one is injured ?
Sorry for the rant but having whiplash and a car thats a write-off has put me in 'feeling sorry for yourself' mode ;-)
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Well I say it broke down...
I have recently had the head gasket replaced and the incident on Tuesday night happened as I was overtaking an HGV. Unfortunately the accelerator stuck open so I had to kill then engine, put on the hazards and slowly come to a stop. Then I had the HGV overtake me (lol).
A rubber cap off the acc cable bolt came loose, slid down the cable and wedged the throttle open. So technically it wasn't a breakdown as such (attempts to promote Primera's reliability!) but didn't fancy completing the job on this main road and risk getting killed into the bargain :-)
A note to Primera owners - if your radiator looks a bit dodgy then replace it asap, mine went and it overheated and the head gasket went 'just like that'. I've learnt a very expensive lesson.
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Thanks, looked for these in Yell.com and couldn't find any locally. Those i phoned dont want to do old cars, only current production models. But, did find trimmers in Yell. And, at least 2 relatively close who think they could sew in a panel or patch. i shall go visit next week. So, thanks.