May 2003
''On the other hand, if you need to brake from a massive speed on an uneven and partially loose surface, you will survive.''
... so they've developed a luxury rally car ?
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up Read more
The steering rack on my 98 Primera 2.0TD appears to be leaking, I can't see where at the moment, but the power steering fluid level looks OK and had not dropped in the last week.
Assumming the rack has had it, what is the going price for a new one? I have been quoted £400 from a Nissan Main dealer, but obviously Nissan buy them in from someone else
If the bellows leaking, or perhaps the oil seal where the steering column attaches to the rack, are these availible seperately? Read more
After a great deal of looking around tonight by torchlight, I have found that the numbskulls who last changed the oil did not tighten the oil filter properly !!!
Oil is running down the filter and dripping onto the rack in the wind when the car is moving, seeing the rack covered in oil, I thought the worst
The passenger seat on our Fiat Punto will not click into its mounting. That is, it slides up and down on the rails and thus cannot be used. Is there something simple and obvious that I can do to fix it or is it a trip to the Fiat dealer?
Read more
Robin
it's probably one of two things -
a) - something stopping the locking mechanism engaging (old biro, mint imperial, that house key,small childs finger etc.etc). If you can get under the seat, you may be able to fish it out
b) the mechanism may be broken, in which case you may be able to bodge/weld/braze something according to your abilities, but if your car is a recent model with seat airbags, this starts to be a definite dealer job
hth
mike
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
The dorks who fitted my number plates, drilled the holes thro the blue Euro GB bit, and then fitted white plastic screw covers.
Now its no big deal I know, but for the sake of a few pence i would like to tidy it up. I have seen plates fitted with blue screw covers, but cant find them in my local halfords or motor spares shop. Anyone seen them for sale?
Ta Read more
I think that the Scots and the Welsh have a good case for not wanting to be seen as part of GB when they travel abroad, given the recent trend amongst the chattering classes to now refer to the mother country as England.
Does anyone have experience of fitting and using an aftermarket reversing aid (e.g. the type with ultrasonic tranceivers in rear bumper)? Do they work as promised?
I know there are magazine test reviews available, but I'd be interested to hear actual user experience.
Cheers. Read more
Thanks, I'll follow these leads.
I wonder if the combined brilliance and depths of knowledge in the backroom can solve this one for me?
1999 Mondeo 1.6LX. Like the car and want to keep it a few more years. We cover lots of long motorway journeys and have begun to hanker after cruise control.
Does anyone know if it is possible to adapt and fit the cruise control system with steering wheel buttons as fitted to some 2.0 and 2.5 Mondeos? I suppose there might be such great electronic and/or mechanical differences as to make it uneconomic, but does anyone know?
Thanks!!
Andy Read more
The days when wiring looms had tons of redundant wires for accessories not fitted are gone. 10+ years ago the emphasis was on lineside space, so the number of loom options would have been kept to a low. Now the emphasis is on sequenced JIT delivery so it really doesn't matter how many variants of loom there are. The bottom line is that redundant wires add cost and weight to the car un-necessarily. Similar principles apply to just about all other areas of the car too.
Ever seen a BMW X5 driven slowly on a motorway? I haven’t. Is there perhaps a paragraph in the owner’s manual which reads:
Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a powerful and expensive ‘off-road’ vehicle, which has been designed to be driven rapidly. DO NOT DRIVE SLOWER THAN 90 MPH!!
Read more
I think the plate says it all just remove the second
5 and you have the driver :)
306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
He knows that and does not care! One of his friends drives an Audi RS with plate R5 OFF , and another one has a Porsche Boxster with the plate B16 EGO (I think or something very similar?). The point is, these people want you think that they don't care what others think - but want to show off anyhow.
I'm in desperate need for a radiator for a rover 214 96/97 model (bubble shape)
What I need to know is can any other radiator be adapted to fit as I can get a radiator for a 216 automatic but need to know if it can fit or be made to fit first.
If not any ideas where i can get a cheap one I tried all my local breakers to no avail.
Also need a bonnet and the front slam panel ideally in dark blue anyone who can help please!!!!!!!!!!! Read more
Without doubt, if there is sludge in the coolant header tank then the gasket is on its way out. If the vehicle was driven any distance with a busted rad then it will have cooked it. Sorry but I speak from bitter experience!
Andrew
Simplicate and add lightness!
Just got myself a VW Passat 1995 1.8 petrol.
The manual says it should use 95 RON Premium unleaded.
This confuses me as I think 95 RON petrol is standard unleaded, and Premium unleaded is 97 or 98 RON.
Anyone got an answer on what I should run it on? Read more
"Premium" unleaded is the normal 95 RON cheapest stuff, the 97 RON unleaded is the "Super" unleaded expensive stuff. IMHO The best stuff to use is Shell Optimax which has a higher RON (equivalent to 99/100 I think) and IS more expensive, but it keeps your engine clean internally, you get more mpg and the miles per £ works out cheaper (greater increase in mpg than difference in cost).
HJ - I see you often get annoyed by the fact that people, often new ones, will come to your site and ask a question in the backroom which is answered quite obviously in your FAQ section.
I don't think the primary reason for this is anything to do with your website itself but because of several reasons which aren't your fault but create the problem you see.
Firstly, I'd guess a good few people who enjoy your column or have some motoring issue and have recently acquired a family computer spot your website address in the Telegraph and go for a look there. No doubt suitable impressed by the car-by-car breakdown etc but many people who rarely or are very new to the internet don't actually realise what the term "FAQ" even means (I know it isn't a "net" term as such but it only seems to get abbreviated here). Demonstrated successfully by my stepfather recently on introduction to the internet after suggesting the site he was looking at, whilst good, should have a list of questions that he and other people would want to know. A quick explanation of several net abbreviations and stepfather makes a few steps towards "connectivity". Maybe "Answers to your motoring questions"?!
Secondly and more importantly, I think you're a victim of your own excellent website. I can't tell you the number of times I've been looking round a site, very interested and thinking of all sorts of questions only to click on the FAQ and finding, say on a website about ignition problems,
1.Is it legal to breed penguins in the UK?
You get very used to FAQs being absolute crap and accordingly not bothering to look at them. In fact the one for my online banking appears to have been written by someone with a passion for penguins as well...
Perhaps that helps to explain why many people simply bypass your excellent and ever-expanding FAQ site - I'm just worried you'll come on here after a bad day and blow a fuse when someone has asked "Where can I buy cars in the UK at close to mainland European prices? Also tell me import warranties and import finance."!!!
All t'best
Dan J Read more
V - this shows the other side of the coin to
MBs urgings for us to complain to the prop if we
are not happy. .....
Still, a litigatious society is what we are becoming...
Smokie: On the contrary. I think you may have misunderstood me.
I urge people to raise their problems with any business (large or small) in a polite, firm, assertive manner - but not to walk away in silence nor to be agressive and stroppy. Without talking politely and positively to each other, both parties are likely to become losers.
The client who phoned V is demonstrating precisely how not to go about complaining; although even then he did learn where the problem actually lay and V learnt why he had not had feedback from that client. A little positive outcome from a nasty ill-mannered client.
A large Company with lots of staff ("customer-facing-support") might be expected to phone and chase up the client with the kind of service Growler gets in Phillipines (Did Sir receive the draft we sent 2 days ago? Has Sir any comments or amendments? Can we be of help and pick up your amended copy?). But then that would cost a lot more in fees and you would whingers posting here that they had been fleeced for this service.
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>>... were going to
Hehe - I bit the germans had a damn good laugh with some of British leyeland's finer products ...