was going to say book by it's cover, not very 'motoring' though is it.

Further to recent conversations, just explaining my way of thinking really, and something that set it off.

On discussing whether old or young drivers are the worst, my train of thought was how awful it is to generalise, and to put people in little boxes

Young - all boy racers with no manners (not true)
Elderly - all doddering (with no manners or thought for anyone else either) - not true

You never know, one of those old geezers could be a former racing driver (even I know it's not all formula 1)etc. etc. ;) Whatever, you get the gist..

I look like I'd be all girly and drive some so called hairdresser type car - but I'm not, and I don't (unless it suits to play that card sometimes to fob someone off "oooh no, I really couldn't make a decision on buying that lovely double glazing, you'd need to talk to my husband")


Anyway, once, I had a car to drive (through work) that had been worked on by a team of apprentices - amazing paint job, would get you noticed wherever you were, chrome exhaust, even a chrome engine. The outward appearance of this car raised a few hackles, drew far too much attention for my liking, and worse lead some people to believe it was a really souped up machine. Unfortunately it wasn't, it was a true sheep in wolf's clothing, and I hated it (for that reason I'm not even going into any more detail) I couldn't wait to get rid.

That's what lead me to say that appearances can be deceptive, and I'm sure it's not just me who's experienced that? Anymore examples (motoring ones) ? Read more

A little challenge, all thoughts / comments welcome,

I have a 98 Ford Galaxy which very intermittantly stalls as you dip the clutch changing down to 1st or 2nd gear on the approach to a give way or roundabout. Sometimes won't do it for a week, sometimes several times within an hour, sometimes it nearly stalls (Rev counter hits the stop but recovers in less than a second).

It doesn't exhibit any other problems at any other times. Never seen it do it cold although its so intermittant that may be a red herring.

Ford dealer looked, changed a few bits (including coils) and I gave up throwing money away.

My own ignornace may show through in my further descriptions of whats going on :

A small local garage reset the Cars error log on its last service. It had been misfiring and a spark plug had apparently broken down. The car ran fine afterwards except for the intermittant stalling which was still present.

On the last visit to my local garage, to look in this stalling, the Cars error log now reports a code that translates into a 'Vehicle Speed Sensor' problem. They are ordering a replacement sensor as its only c. £15 and minutes to fit. Apparently it could also be wiring between the sensor and ECU which will cost a lot in labour to trace.

Why would a faulty speed sensor exhibit these symptoms ?

Also, and more interesting, my local garage spoke with a technician from Ford (or probably a dealer contact) who asked straight away, after hearing the symptoms, whether the radio / cassette had been changed !!!! and if so was it changed to the correct model !

In fact it was changed a couple of years ago and while I can't be sure the two co-incide we've certainly had the stalling for a couple of years . . . weird huh !

The replacement radio is Ford but a different model and the column mount audio controls ceased to work form the point that the radio / casette was swapped.

Now, and I have no idea what I'm talking about now, apparently the vehicle speed sensor is wired through the radio as well as to the ECU. This is so that the volume can be increased slightly as the car gets more noisy at increased speed.

The Ford Tech said he'd seen another case where swapping out the radio / cassette had led to these kinds of problems. In that instance they put the old Ford radio back in - jobs a good un !

Now, I can see that if the speed sensor is wired to Radio & ECU (possibly to ECU via radio internals) a radio swap could affect the function of this sensor / signal system.

What I don't understand is :

Why might speed sensor problems cause our Car's symptoms in the first place ?

If the problem was that the ECU speed signal is derived via the radio, and the replacement radio & wiring didn't relay the signal on to the ECU properly (or interferred with the signal), why might it be so intermittant ?

Anyone shed any light on any of this ?

Does it all sound like a load of tripe ?

Any and all constructive thoughts or comments greatly appreciated. On a serious note, my wife taxis our three young kids around in the Galaxy and a stall at the wrong moment when pulling on to a busy road could be very dangerous.

Thanks & regards

Ian Read more

I have a lot of oil residue under the timing belt cover on my 1995 Micra 1.3 SLX Auto.I asked the garage to fit a new gasket last service but they jsut tightened it and cleaned the residue away. It was ok for a while but now it\'s starting to come back again. Should I insist on a new gasket this year or is there another solution? Read more

Hi,
My dad got a caught last year, and is soon to be tested so that he can have his licence back. But no-one can tell him what the limits are for this test (ie what readings his tests have to result in, in order for him to pass). He is particularly worried about the liver test. Of course he has been drinking since he was banned - he goes to the pub, to parties, has drinks with the wife - but not to excess. He doesn't know at what point he should stop/cut down on drinking in order to pass...
Can anyone help? Read more

Some considerable time ago, a thread was running about the legal situation when driving in a Supermarket car park, as to the question of if the rules of the road apply. Though there was considerable response to the posting, the question was not resolved.

I would wish to ask again,
Do the rules of the road apply when driving in a carpark which is private (not adopted public highway) but to which the public have access?

Is anyone aware of any ruling or court precedent, which would cause the normal rules of the road to apply in a private car park, Supermarket or any other ?

Thank you, Pete. Read more