August 2003
Over the past couple of weeks the car (1992 1.2i nova 73K) has developed a noise, which I initially thought was a wheel bearing. However on investigation it seems the differential is on it way out. I\'ve put the car on axle stands and found excessive lateral play in both drive shafts (at the gear box end), also when the car is run in gear (on the axle stands)a noticable humming noise eminates from the gearbox which increases with speed in any gaer.
Can anyone please advise what my options are, including approx costs and whether it is safe to drive the car. Bearing in mind the car is only worth a few hundred £s.
Thanks
Virgil Read more
Apart from 20BHP does anyone know what the technical differences are between the 90 & 110 BHP HDI engines?
Fullchat Read more
The 1868cc (DW8??) diesel engine I think clachnacudden mentioned is in fact not an HDi but a reworking of the old 1905cc XUD unit. It was also used in the last N/A diesel 306's. Its not direct injection but IDI. The HDi is the turbo engine, this one is the equivelent N/A unit.
Just for Mark our mod, who seemed to be extremely jealous of his semi-namesake Mark Evans - famed for his tv programs 'a car is born', 'a plane is born','a car is reborn','a racecar is born','a chopper is born' and something to do with a barn ??!! he has a new series starting on Discovery Home and Leisure that looks like a motorbike is reborn.
Sadly (except for Growler?) it loosk liek it's a heap of American junk that gets the treatment.
tinyurl.com/kasx
Mark Evans is taking on the challenge of restoring a 1942 Harley Davidson WLC motorcycle. The first project is to strip down the bike.
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Love this thread!
It seems to me that those who ride a Harley should have a natural affinity with those who drive Morgans.
That is the message to all those complete plonkers and retards that visit Devon and Cornwall year after year, enjoy the fantastic scenery and unspoilt views, then add their contribution - a bag of rubbish neatly tied up and thrown to the side of the road!
WHAT IS WRONG WITH HOLDING ONTO IT UNTIL YOU REACH YOUR HOTEL ETC??????????????
It seams that these holiday retards think that Devon and Cornwall are full of village idiots. Well they're nearly right - we get a lot of idiots in the summer months. If they want to see one, I can advise them to look in the mirror!
If you treat our counties with respect you're welcome, otherwise go and spend your holidays at your local rubbish depot. At least you can't spoil that!
H
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fag butts? i`d make them eat them. The things seem to have an extraordinary half life , some beaches seem comprised of more fag butts than sand. And the people who sling the contents of the car ash tray out of the window , well , do they honestly not mind living in a world surrounded by rubbish ? And the still lit fag ends flying out of the window and heading straight for my jacket when i`m on my bike , probably all been said before.
Are retreads false economy or great value? Read more
If we are talking remoulds here, never again. Back in my poor student days I had an old Fiesta. Literally scraping the barrel, when the two fronts needed changing I went for two remoulds. I know what make they were as well but won't elaborate here as not sure I'm allowed.
Anyway, wheel on rim and onto the balancing machine. Wouldn't balance. Kept coming up with errors on the machine. Anyway, boyo takes the wheel off the balancer and on the sidewall of the tyre "hidden" from view is a huge bulge sticking out about two inches and approx 6 inches across.
My response was literally **** that thank you very much. I decided to go with less beer for a few weeks rather than risk my life.
Perhaps this was a "one in a million" unlucky tyre but I'd never go down that route again.
Hi all,
Spotted a 1998 old shape vauxhall astra 1.6 auto for sale £2895 ono, 18000 miles on the clock? FSH etc.
Any problems with these? Read more
I would *guess* that it is the 8 valve as the
autos always seemed to be.
PROBABLY.
The 8 valve engine is
very reliable and good for vast mileages if looked after.
YEP!
It also doesn't suffer from all the cam problems and frequent
belt changes that the 16v engine does.
75000 kms belt changes on my 1.8 4-DR- I suspect a 1.6 is the same.
>>The gearbox is
also generally reliable (as opposed to the Ford CD4E) though don't expect smoking tyres away from the lights.
THE OPEL/VAUXHALL BOX IS OK IN A 4-SPEED. DOES IT HAVE THE SPORTS SHIFTER?
My only concern with this car is its very low mileage.
Has it only ever been used to pootle to a
shop 2 miles away? Won't necessarily make it a bad
buy but it might need a damn good engine rinse and
a good thrashing if so...
CAN TAKE A GOOD THRASHING!!! - ALSO, A DECENT LONG-RANGE CAR, VERY COMFORTABLE. I FIND IT HAS GOOD FUEL ECONOMY, DOESN'T CHEW TYRES, PLENTY SPACE.
My cenral locking handset has become very unreliable, and I am worried that it will stop working completly. I have replaced the battery but things are not much improved. Any advice on possible cause/fixes and/or where to find a replacements would be much apprieciated. Read more
Inside all these is a PCB, which is prone to small cracks in the copper tracks.
If you can locate the cracks it is possible to solder wire links. This is a perfectly acceptable repair in most Aerospace Applications, so there is no reason why consumer electronics shouldn't benefit.
H
Further to my recent post about a Fiesta, it seems that I can't quite get the discount I want.
So I went to the Toyota dealer to see if a Yaris would be a viable alternative (and lots cheaper.) If not I might just bite the bullet and pay a little more.
The first thing my boyfriend noticed was that the front bumpers of all the cars in the showroom, and the cars outside with sold stickers on them, as yet unprepared, were 'hanging off' with comparitavely large gaps between the bumper and bodywork.
Anyway I had a good test drive, from a very nice salesman. (The toyota dealer gives me the impression that they are smaller and more customer focused.) I had mixed thoughts on the car.
The main problem was that the steering pulled horribly to the left, and the steering wheel was crooked when driving along a straight road. This seems really bad for a new car.
It seemed a bit gutless, even compared to my 1 litre micra, but I would be getting a 1.4 diesel or 1.3 petrol I think.
I really liked the interior, but it seemed a bit dated compared to a Fiesta.
Everyone on this site seems to rave about the Yaris. Are the faults I have seen uncommon? Read more
Leanne
Get all the info and prices for the Yaris that you're looking ant and take them back to the Ford dealership and haggle some more!
Alternitivaly phone around all the dealerships within a 100 mile radius and play them off one another. My dad did this with a car he bought and in the end his local dealer offered him a gold, rather than silver coloured car, which was a cancelled order - he got it for peanuts (comparitively speaking). The dealer did not make a profit out of that sale.
H
Hi,
Ive got a couple of really small dents that I'd like to sort and was wondering whether these sort of companies are any good.
Sounds like it's a really good solution but would like some advice from peeps who have used dent devils etc before.
If not, is there an easy way for me to pop the dents out myself?
They are on the front wing and boot and are about 3 cms in length.
Thanks guys
Chris Read more
I've had two repairs done, one satisfactory and the other perfect.
The satisfactory one concerned a dent on the upper OSR panel of my Golf, which must have been caused by a truck door being opened on it. I didn't actually speak to the guy who did it, but my then partner said he had warned her that it was a particularly tricky job and that the result might not be perfect, which is fair enough, and you have to look really hard to detect the residual flaw. Can't recall the name of the company (could have been Dent Devils), but it was a mobile service, which I picked up on when I saw him visting the local Vauxhall dealers regularly.
The other job was done by Chips Away (St Albans) and I couldn't fault it, but it was mostly paint repair (vandal scratch and scraped bumper) plus one ding removal. Significantly, when I took another job to them they turned it down because they were not confident that their techniques would be successful. That's the kind of attitude that impresses me.
I've heard and read many times that the quality of work varies considerably among these franchise operations. So, if you can, you'd be well advised to go on local personal recommendation, and talking to local car dealers might be a good place to start, because they use these services all the time. Bodyshops use them too for parts of jobs for which their heavyweight services would be OTT.
Advice would be welcomed.
I want to replace the indicator/main beam switch on my 1997 omega.
To do so I have to unfortunately remove the steering wheel and consequently the airbag according to the Haynes manual; the latter makes me nervous.
(a) is there another way to avoid disturbing the airbag
(b) do I need a puller to get the steering wheel off
(c) provided you wait for the capacitor to discharge is removing the airbag relatively safe and straightforward. I wouldnt want the expense associated with a replacement airbag
Many thanks for any suggestions/advice
Ian Read more
Glad to know it worked out OK; mine had the same problem of random full beam operation when cancelling indicators. I got into the habit of flicking the full beam switch as I cancelled the indicator; but SWMBO wasn't kee on driving it in that condition.
Browse
Yep the gearbox oil level is OK, as for the inner drive shaft joints they seem fine as well, the play is evident where the drive shafts go into the gearbox i.e. after the inner driveshaft joints and it seems to be the same both side 2mm lateral (up & down) play.
Having thought about the options today, I think I'm going to go down the second hand gearbox route and fit it myself. I wiill keep you informed of progress and costs.
Thanks Hugo and M.M for your advice.
Virgil