May 2003
What does it signify? Occasionally see what looks like an upside down washing up bowl replacing it! Read more
Every so often I seem to develop an annoying tickly cough - and I'm starting to wonder if it ties in with my using the car's air conditioning system. I suspect that if fungi are thriving in the system, a sudden through drought will be an excellent method of dispersing spores.
Has anyone else come across this problem? Read more
The only unpleasantness I can think of in this connection is
when Saudi taxi drivers smoke with the aircon on. That, combined
with recycled BO from a wide selection of previous users, IS
uncomfortable.
Ahhh yes I remember it well. In the kingdom I had a variety of Oriental cars most with aircons that needed re-gas ever month. Company paid so it certainly was preferable to chewing dust with the windows open. I have not had any problems with aircons during 25 years or so.
First problem ever with my 98 Vectra Dti this morning.
After a good run yesterday it simply wouldn?t start this morning in the drive. The engine was spinning over well but with no signs of even beginning to fire.
Eventually for the first time I called on my breakdown service and Green Flag arrived in 50 minutes and immediately suspected a fuel problem.
He was correct and after bleeding the Vectra finally fired up and ran smoothly. We discussed what might have caused it and he suggested a new filter even though the present one was changed 4000 miles ago.
I mentioned that I had heard of trouble with the bleed off pipes but he wasn?t aware of it and said mine was the first he had ever had to attend.
Anyway two hours after he had left the car was reluctant to start and took some churning over before firing. Tried this evening and again it wouldn?t start and eventually I topped up the filter with diesel as the level was slightly down and eventually got it running but knowing that it ain?t going to go in the morning.
There was a post from Vectra a while ago who had similar problems and cured it eventually by having the spill off pipes replaced and they only cost £6.00 and 15 minutes to replace.
Looking at these pipes they disappear under the camshaft cover so I presume this has to be removed.
Has anyone out there had experience of changing them. Does the cover have to come off and is there any other likely reason for my problem?
alvin
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Great , thanks for the info.
I do have a Haynes manual so I'll have a look.
Cheers
Carl
i am thinking of getting a new corolla in the near future. Has anyone had any experience with the 1.4 engine? Has it got enough power or is the 1.6 the better option? Economy is quite important to me.
Jus Read more
I thought I'd try and wrap this thread up !
Choosing the 1.6 over the 1.4 WON'T get you a car more relaxing on long trips - the problem is the short gearing on all the Corolla's, apart from the 1.8 Sport. If you read HJ's review on the new 1.6, you'll see he found the same thing.
In fact, I find the 1.4 a sweeter engine, and the fuel consumption difference is noticeable. The vvti 1.4 performs better than any other 1.4 I've driven, down to the Cam Phasing VVTi design which means the power doesn't drop off at higher revs like other 1.4's - i've bumped the rev-limiter a few times in fact, as the engine is really sweet above 4,500 rpm !
It's just a bummer Toyota didn't put a 6-speed box on the thing - but I reckon the 1.4 is the better of the 2 (the 1.8 VVTL-i is the best of all, and I would bet its' fuel consumption at 80mph plus is better than either !)
Surely because disks are hot, often wet and made out of a ferrous material it is inevitable that they rust/corrode - But when taking a car for a service/ brake check the corrosion is pushed as a reason to replace them.
Does everybody get told their disks are corroded?
Do you change them?
How long do you expect them to stay free from corrosion?
My relpies are: I get told they are corroded but do not see this as a reason to replace them. When they are replaced I expect them to stay corrosion free until they get wet.
Staying on the subjet of brakes: Do you change the fluid when it is 2 years old, when the lowering of its boiling point indicated the presence of water, or both?
My relpy is: When it boils to soon. Read more
If a car is presented to a garage and it has corroded discs, when they clearly must have have been used on the trip there then they would be failing in their duty to advise you of such condition? They are not all out to make easy money.
However some places (normally fast fit type places) reward their poorly paid staff with a bonus on parts sold etc; if this is the case then it is suggested using the services of a local well recommended garage instaed who will normally give genuine unbiased advice.
Brake discs are a consumable item on cars now beacuse of harder pads (asbestos free) wearing the disc much more.
Also, light surface corrosion is acceptable, heavy corrosion or pitting is not!
Hi everyone! As you may have noticed I’m fairly new to the forum and I’m sorry if you’ve covered this one before. Everytime you read a car review in the press these days, or watch one of the car programmes on TV, there is a lot of talk about free-revving engines. Could you please explain to me how you can tell if an engine is free-revving? I realise this may be a stupid question, but I am just curious. Are Vauxhall engines generally classed as free-revving for example, or what about the engines in the new MINIs? I drive a Cooper S (not allowed to rev it yet though, only done 1000 miles!)! Honda engines seem to be generally classed as free-revving…..but what does it mean?
Thanks everyone, Andrew.
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ever heard a fully balance 998 a series (mini) engine, with a decent cam and a race head, very free revving indeed
My son had a minor radiator leak on his Peugeot 306 Td. He put in a tin of 'RADWELD' which appears to have cured the problem. However I am advised that this is only a temporary solution and a professional repair or a new radiator should be fitted as soon as possible. Please advise. Read more
Many thanks for your replies. My son is having a new radiator fitted this Friday.
I've had the misfortune to drop my Palm M105 pda on the floor and the flip up cover has broken off.
I'm sure i'm not the first person its happened to - I found a couple of reviews commenting on the fragility of the cover, but i'll be blowed if i can find anyone selling replacements.
I can google loads of sites offering faceplate covers in every colour of the rainbow at £20+vat, but if you try and follow the links either they are all dead or all take you to a page on amazon telling you they haven't got any, and what they are selling is the whole front of the pda, which i don't need.
does anybody know where i can get a plain black flip up front cover for a palm m105 ???
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up Read more
pulling the volumes together
Hi,
I'm about to have my hood mechanism repaired thanks to a seized joint. I have been told that the mechanism should be maintainace free. The car is a Peugeot 306 Cabriolet.
However I want to use a good lubricant that will prevent anymore damage to the hood mechanism. However I don't know what lubricant I should use here. WD40 comes to mind.
Any ideas anyone?
306 2.0 SE Cabriolet Read more
ShereKhan,
You don't have to lubricate hinges every 4 months, i was generalising, i once had a car which had dropped on the hinges due to lack off lub' but the car was 6 years old.
Cyd
i use silicon on my roof rails with no detrimental effect to the paint work.
Following on the tappets hot or cold question, I did a test yesterday comparing tyre pressures hot and cold. I know they are supposed to checked when cold, but cold can be below zero or a warm summer day.
I found a consistent difference of 2 psi as between the pressure after a long run and the same day when they had cooled down. I image the hot temperature would be more consistent than the cold, so why aren't pressures specified hot? And how are you supposed to get to a garage without using your tyres?
Another experiment. Has anyone ever wondered whether the pressure of the spare tyre increases when it is loaded? It does, by between 0.5 and 1 psi. Read more
The problem with cold pressures is if the car is parked in the sun then one side may be warmer than the other and can easily add 1 or even 2 psi to the warm side. If you check the pressures when warm after a run then you will get a true reading. Regards Peter
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Hazchem Scheme and something like The Transport of Dangerous Substances Regs. I binned my notes on this some years ago. Drat.
DVD