June 2003
A family members 2.5 V6 (N reg) Vauxhall Omega has got some strange problems.
The car seems to have a gearbox problem. Driving along, it will all of a sudden drop out of gear, a quick stop and re-start clears it. Any ideas?
Also, recently, the car has refused to start intermittently. When the car does start (whether after problems or not) it revs on its own and along with this comes a kind of growl, quite loud, which sounds like exhaust baffle or induction roar. Again, any ideas?
Any help would be appreciated, as this car has got to do a 600 mile trip to France in a month, and we don't know where to start!! Read more
I have a 1997 2litre Nissan Primera. When I push the brake pedal really hard (with the engine running) I can feel the pedal come to a mechanical stop before it is anywhere near the floor. The brakes don't feel really up to the mark under an emergency stop either. I have checked the pedal to floor dimension and it agrees with the manual. There is no obstruction under the dash that could account for this. Any ideas? Read more
Again, thanks to all whom have taken the trouble to log on and provide comment/advice. I should have pointed out that the pads and discs were replaced a few months back as an attempt to solve the problem.
I was able to try another Primera yesterday. Although I couldn't get the pedal to feel "physically stopped" like mine, I felt the braking performance was similar to mine (i.e. nothing in reserve under emergency breaking). The ABS could be felt to operate momentarily on both cars on the dry road used to test.
I then removed the ABS fuse and road tested my car a short distance. Applying emergency braking resulted in wheels locking and clouds of tyre smoke! I replaced the fuse!!!
My conclusion is that the action of the ABS gives the impression of inadequate braking. When the fuse was removed there is nothing preventing the full effort on the pedal acting on the wheels, leaving black marks on the road and giving the impression of good brakes. With ABS enabled, the car probably stops in as short a distance (with no drama) but heaving on the brake pedal beyond a force necessary to get the ABS to cycle produces no reduction in stopping distance.
I'm sure everybody reading this realises that’s how ABS is supposed to work, but I haven't read it described in such a manner!
Rest assured the ABS will remain enabled.
Can anyone give me a trade\auction price I could expect to pay for Audi A3 1.8 T Sport S or T reg with 60,000 miles on the clock? Read more
£8k auction? dealer price £9.5k?
My sister has one of these and they are very nice. Our Leon 20VT is better though. HJ's Leon VT is currently for sale if you're interested and is within your budget
Hi all , im in the process of buying a skoda favorit estate , I think its a K plate . Can people please give me some advice on these cars , do they have a timing belt that needs changing , what else should be done to prolong the life of the car , it has currently done 50,000 miles and thats genuine . Any advice please ? Read more
Can't speak for the Favorit but we recently bought a 1996 'P' Felicia and are very happy with it so far. No rattles, squeaks or whistles and it's nice and roomy inside for what is a small car. Ours has done 38k from new, is virtually spotless and we only paid £1200 for it. The more I drive it the more I like it.
A friend is having problems with her ex and the CSA. The details are not necessary, but basically the CSA won't make an assessment for 1 year as he has just gone self employed (bought into a solicitors partnership). He is now driving around town in a new Porsche Boxter while paying just £10 per week maintenance, down from £80. My friend would like to know if the car belongs to her ex.
The DVLA website states the following:
Release of another vehicle’s keeper details
You can obtain the name and address of the registered keeper of a vehicle if you can show reasonable cause for needing the information.
Does anyone know if the above would be grounds for them releasing the information, or could anyone suggest grounds that would result in them releasing the information.
TIA
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How do insurance brokers have this info?
I don't know, but whenever I phone up a broker for a quotation they only want the car reg no, and then ask if it is a so-and-so and am I Fred Bloggs at such and such. When I added a friend to my insurance for a fortnight they only needed her name and DOB. They had address and driving record to hand instantly.
see
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3022362.stm
Kia claim they got 5 stars in other tests. Read more
Agreed Nortones - and I don't think designing cars to be safer inside and out is nannying either. Drivers and pedestrians taking responsibility for their actions is fine but whilst a drunken driver might have to pay a fine or go to jail for injury/ killing a pedestrian that doesn't bring the dead person back to life does it! Even if the accident is the fault of the pedestrian is it better for the innocent driver to have to live with the knowledge that they killed someone ?
As has been pointed out above, there are many ways in which cars can be designed to be less dangerous to anyone unfortunate enough to be hit by one. Why anyone should object to that or call it nannying is quite beyond me.
Hi,
I've got a 96 N reg A6 bought a few months ago. The trip computer display although it's working fine is no longer back-lit which I'm guessing is a hard to get at bulb replacement requiring the dash to come off. Should the outside temp gauge and gear selector display be back-lit too or have the bulbs on these gone too?
All suggestions gratefully rec'd Read more
Hi - I have a 2000W Corolla 1.4VVTi with 30k miles and fTsh. Its a great car - much better than my previous T reg - they sorted most of the things I didnt like with the pre-facelift.
Anyway ... I only have one problem with the car. For some reason it is pinking. I change gears at the right time and I avoid Supermarket fuel.
The car is due for its 30k service - but this doesnt include plugs etc.
Any ideas what could be causing the pinking and how to cure it ? It does it most of the time, not only when going up hill. Is it harmful for the engine ... which otherwise is very very sweet, fast and does 45mpg avg.
Thanks ! Read more
Further to the above - carbon build up is not much of a problem on modern cars. Two suggestions:
1. ECU or sensor problem is leading to over-advanced ignition (this is easy to check with a timing light).
2. Spark plug heat range is wrong and/or you have a faulty plug. Try a new set of NGK's one 'heat range' lower - won't cost much to try it.
Any driving instructors out there? Can anyone tell what it's like to be an instructor? Advantages? Disadvantages? Earnings? Running a franchise vs working for yourself? (FYI: I'm 49yrs old and live in Surrey.) Read more
Did your ex-collegue take his DI skills to another driving school?
Or did he give up on the whole idea?
I must say that this was about 6 years ago.
He was based in North East London with BSM (I beleive). He passed his DI privatly then went for a franchise (his brother did the same).
Lots of waffle about how much they could earn, but he found out the hard way that his franchise fees were almost double his turnover. He Rapidly became disheartened, then left, tried for bit on his own and still couldn't make any money so he became a motor cycle courier and the last I heard was working in a Motor Bike Shop.
16v mondeo Si 1994 had MOT. Needed 'Brake adjust' and a new wishbone (wife has to take car to garage for me). Drove it next day and on braking slightly sharply from about 40mph cars front end felt strange grabbing to RHS.
Wife returned car to garage, who said new wishbone was faulty ( was it the right type?), replaced it adjusted tracking, ? adjusted brakes.
Front end of car still seems to lurch to rhs with anything more than gentle braking. Tyres are fine. I am now thinking of taking it to ford dealership ( who have allways been good in past but are that much harder for me to reach with work etc) what could be the problem?
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if the garage fitted a later level front lower arm thay should be replaced in pairs becouse the bushs in the arms have been modified and are now bigger if you have odd bottom arms this may make the car pull to one side under braking
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Could also be the gear selector switch or gearbox ecu.