July 2003
I found HJ's latest road test on the volvo s60/v70
www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=89
made very intersting reading, especially the technical progress that seems to be making "driving" idiot-proof/fool-proof.
I was also intrigued by all the services that the Volvo-on-call system provides, but was puzzled by the statement:
"If you lock your keys in the car you can call the centre, provide a code and the centre will remotely unlock your car."
How on earth would you manage to lock your keys in these Volvo cars nowadays? I thought modern cars were incapable of being locked off in that manner. Can anyone enlighten me?
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I have a VW Mk2 Golf.
I recently suffered the problem of a sheared brake caliper bolt, I got a garage to drill out the bolt and re-tap the brake housing thread.
The caliper bolt was always tight and I assume that the bolt had weakened due to thermal load and constant undoing and retightening.
Bearing this in mind should I replace the road wheel bolts as these too undergo thermal loads and constant undoing and retightening through the course of time? Read more
Hi Andrew4,
Your brake caliper bolt sheared not because of frequent tightening and loosening, but because it was seized in place and the strength of the metal was not equal to the strength of torque used to loosen it. I don't recommend putting it anywhere near brake bolts, but Copaslip is used elsewhere to prevent this seizing.
For your wheel bolts, no. Why change them? If you think about each wheel I bet you won't loosen and tighten the bolts more than a dozen times in the life of the car, if that.
Set of tyres every 2 years, maybe? The odd puncture, say every 18 months / 4 tyres = 1 change per set of wheels in 6 years.
Leave them and rest assured, mate.
No, you haven't won 25 billion dollars .... I'm here on business...
I arrived on Saturday nite, and went into downtown Lagos .
On sunday flew to Port Harcourt, and from there on by road to Aba ? about an hpur?s trip. And what an hour it was! The road is a two-lane-a-direction dual carriageway, but in places where the surface is too potholed, the cars on one side simply drive across the resevation, and start a new road in YOUR carriageway!!!!
Alos, due to a complete lack of road markings, there are normally three cars traveling abreast. Overtaking on the inside is a standard procedure. We almost collected a stationwagon at one stage, and only frantic braking and swerving avoided the collision. Lovely.
We are being driven about in a Nissan 4x4, whiuch is quite a useful vehcle for the roads here. Airco is essential, as the outside temp is pushing about 35-40, with humidity to match.
The roadside is littered with wrecks, and the last 10 miles or so into Aba are a mechanic?s dream ? hundreds of cars/trucks/graders/tractors etc parked up being fixed, cannibalized, etc. Apparently Aba is the place where all the old vehicles get sent to die/be fixed?
I went out for a walk this morning, and saw various great cars ? a LHD BMW 635, yours for peanuts. Shame about it having been concertinaed front and back!
I went to watch a soccer match at the Aba Sadium, 25 000 suporters to watch Enyimba play Kano Pillars. Even the State Governor and his entourage pitched up, in a convoy of brand new Peugeot 504s and Toyota Landcruisers.
I was standing pitchside with camera, and he made a point of walking up and saying hello, and having a chat.
(I was the only white bloke in the stadium!)
The game was pretty good, with Enyimba leading 3-0, due to a succession of goalkeeping errors, when disaster struck? the opposition took of their keeper, and the substitute?s first move was to bring down an opposition striker. PENALTY! But the opposition walked off at that stage, knowing that they would thus be losers by a ?walkover? and only suffer a 3-0 loss. Apparently this is standard procedure here ?
Camne back to Harcourt the next morning, saw 3 accidents on the way ? a truck off the road and wedged axle deep in the swamp; a car which had gone off the road and the driver through the windscreen, and a truck full of wood which had overturned.
Great stuff!
More later in the week. Read more
Just heard about a horrible incident. the local 'pro' football clubs are poor, so many of them travel by road as opposed to air* when they play away matches. Given the size of the place, this can take up to 2 days! (Kano, the side which I watched at the weekend, had travelled 16 hrs in a toyota bus to get to the venue). Unfortunately, there is also a lack of banks/credit card facilities about, so the teams have to carry all their expense money, hotel cash, player's pocket money etc in cash, which can be quite a lot...
Armed bandits roam the countryside, and know this, so there have been several armed robberies of football teams. Last week, a young talented player was shot dead by one of these gangs, in a robbery.
Because of these bandits, it is not uncommon to be stopped while driving by an inpromptu roadblock (a tree, and a pile of old tyres) manned by the local police/army/militia.
The excuse is they are their to keep an eye on travellers' safety, but it is effectively a money-making racket.
These poor guys stand about in the sun all day, wearing a variety of ragtag uniforms (i've never seen two dressed the same! It can be anything from full-dress uniform to cam with helmet at the same roadblock) and beat-up weapons and collect a bit of beer money from overloaded vehicles, foreigners, etc etc.
Not complying, or attempting to drive on, is not wise, as you are likely to receive a grenade=launcher round ...
The other thing is that vehicles are all 'engraved' with the registration number. This is on everything - windscreen wipers, door locks, bumpers, dashboards, mirrors - the full monty. Suppose it puts an end to chop-shops!
Oh, and back to the 419 scam..."Over the years, Brad Christensen has been deluged with every type of "URGENT" offer imaginable from Nigerian scam artists. Finally, he decided to fight back by conning the con men. With humor and imagination as his weapons, Christensen preyed on the scammers' abundant supply of greed and ignorance, taking our 419 friends for quite a ride, and always at their own expense. What follows are some of Christensen's more creative exchanges?" www.quatloos.com/brad_christensen.htm
*I've flown with Chanchangi Airlines in a deadbeat 727, maybe the clubs believe they are safer on the ground!!!
I have a Golf PD150 with 13k miles. Goes like a train and consistently getting nearly 50mpg. However, under load, particularly when hot, I'm experiencing a slight misfire. VW have checked and diagnostics show up nothing amiss. The problem started when the car was filled with petrol instead of diesel and driven. The tank and fuel lines were properly drained by VW and I was informed there would be no further problems. This all happened 2-3k miles ago so I thought any petrol still sitting in the tank would have gone by now. Anyone experienced anything similar or any idea's how to cure? Read more
Apologies Sean - I appreciate all the help you have offered.
I have no intent on defrauding anyone. However, I am keen to layout as little cash as possible to rectify the problem. I know in my area there is a good independent that charges half the labour costs of the dealership. Looks like going through them will invalidate the warranty though.
With regard to progressing with VW, all my comments refer to what I was told at the time of the incident by VW Assistance and the dealer who drained the system - all of whom knew I had driven 100 miles. Their exact comments (consistent to both) were if the car restarts and runs, it'll be fine.
Since then it is true to say I have not tried to progress - my comments around how to approach VW were actually a compliment to your obvious knowledge versus the advice given by VW at the time of the incident.
Again - apologies and thank you.
Hello all,
I have an Audi 80 F-reg, which a couple of weeks ago decided to leak water into the footwells.
Any ideas why this is?? The car has no air con and it was a dry day so water wasn't coming in from the out side.
I have had a quick look but can't see any leaking pipes and it hasn't done it since.
Many thanks for any help Read more
Delayed response from blocked drain connected to sunroof? if it has one. Drains down the a pillar via plastic pipe, which can get blocked. My offer to kick off:)
Genral comments please
Who\'s got a Galant and what do you think? Read more
I've had a couple recently, very good value for money at auction. Both 2.5V6 with 90k on the clock at 3 1/2 years old, one man/cloth one auto/leather. Good to drive, all the extras. Watch out for the big service at 54k.
PB.
Hi all, my first post in this forum and I would very grateful if someone could help!
I have recently purchased a '97 16v 306 XSI. The car is brilliant and I am very happy with it apart from a couple of niggling issues.
The first one is pretty obvious what the fault is but I was wondering if anyone else had the problem? basically the front brakes squeak like mad, and under hard braking they sort of whine/rub. The brakes were checked (by previous owner - I have receipt) at a garage last month, cleaned, and reported that they were OK, but the noise is still there. Should I try changing the pads before going the whole hog and changing disks as well? Any ideas how much disks/pads cost?
The following two faults are a little less obvious. Firstly, when the car is decelerating, when it hits somewhere between 2000 and 2300 revs the car will jerk, then it is fine again. It doesn't do this when accelerating. Its also noticeable if I change gear and let the clutch out when the engine is around that rev range, which causes the gear change to feel very jumpy! Any ideas what this might be? The car has only done 52K and has been serviced every 5K from new.
My final problem appears when accelerating. When I hit around 3250 revs, there is a slight vibration noise somewhere from the front of the car, then it goes away. It doesn't appear when decelerating. I'm not sure if this is some vibration from the exhaust or something?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Rob
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i changed the disk,but i was advised to change the pads as
well,so i did.the brakes dont sqeak now.
You should always change the pads when fitting new disks anyway.
Bad news. Booked car in for new front wheel bearing which was picked up on last service. Dealer now says the gearbox needs replacing as the noise is actually a diff bearing.
Does anyone know if the diff bearing can be done on it's own? Seems a bit drastic to replace the whole gearbox! Read more
Hi all
I've got a Galant v6 and have wondered if the sound I hear is normal.
Souns a little like a quiet jinglely sound when accelarating, don't hear it when free reving though.
It's a V6 with 70,000 on it and seems fine apart from this, is this a characteristic of this engine or something else?
Thanks Read more
Hi
I'm not sure but I think that it's not pinging, the sound is like a metallic slight clatter only under load. I'm thinking it may be exhaust related??
Anyone who\'s ever quibbled with the cost of insurance for learners, or newly qualified drivers, just take a look at this. I couldn\'t quite believe it\'s for real!!!!
www.2pass.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=admin;...0
\"Appearances can be Deceptive\" Read more
As said before, the most worrying issue is the complete lack of basic knowledge about a motor vehicle and how to drive it.
You can know the highway code like the back of your hand but if you still can't manage gears or use a clutch what happens to your awareness of other road users and such.
And to 'fink' that you may have a chance of passing a driving lesson when at this level is beyond belief.
Browse
Mostly by locking them in the boot!
You approach car, unlock the boot by the fob without remembering to also unlock the rest of the car, put keys down in the boot while attending to contents, slam boot shut. OOOOps!