September 2003
I have had both driveshafts replaced on my 46,000 mile X reg Mondeo on warranty.
The replacements are Ford supplied 'exchange' units and were significantly cheaper than brand new parts apparently.
I'm basically interested in the difference in life expectancy between these 'exchange' units and original new parts, any ideas?
PP Read more
My 406 has covered 73K and has suffered warped front discs almost since new. Tally to date is 7 new sets or disc skims and they are still not cured. 'Repair' lasts 4-5K before they start to go again. I'm not heavy on brakes (70K on my other car and only recently had 2nd set of discs + pads) and I don't keep the pedal down after a hot stop. Thankfully it was under 3-yr warranty for most of this work. Is this a common prob with 406s, and is it completely beyond P's ability to cure? Lovely car otherwise!
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No company will offer a decent warranty on brake discs. What if a customer brakes very late all the time and constantly gets through discs. Everyone knows that pugs eat through discs but no-one seems to know exactly why and I'm pretty sure Peugeot don't really want to know either.
I always knew cows were smarter than they let on... news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/3101264.stm
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In my experience cows tend to glide rather than fly, although they glide a bit like a brick.
On Menorca a few years back I happened to comment to someone that it was remarkable how the cows there were like mountain goats in the way they grazed along the cliff face. About a week later one fell off the cliff and fell onto the beach below, must of fallen about 150', but it managed to get about 40' from the base of the cliff when it hit the sand. Frightened the life out of the Swedish family it landed next to!
Someone went off and fetched the local village policeman and a hour or so later, pretty quick for Menorquin standards, the farmer turned up with a tractor and trailer and carted it off.
Strong smell of barbeques for many days after.......
Cockle
Someone in my family has recently purchased a new ford mondeo and has experianced some problems with the boot closing. no mater what amount of force you place on it it won`t lock.
If anyone else has had this probelm i have found out that if you open the rear passenger door an then try it closes fine.
Well look at that Read more
Do you mean the boot won't latch correctly onto the striker plate? There's been a thread about this before I'm sure. Try doing a search. It can be adjusted apparently to ensure it latches properly.
A lot of new shape Mondeo owners seem to complain of irritating rattling noises from the boot area (myself included). This has been been put down to the latch adjustment
Perhaps someone can help with a two-part question.
Changing brake discs on our KA3 (Japanese-built)Honda Legend Coupe and after some difficulty getting someone who could obtain the correct size as per what is currently fitted on the car not what is in most catalogue listings for the Legend, I picked them up yesterday. I took an old one in for comparison and everything matched up except the hub centre diameter which is bigger than the old one. The parts shop assistant admitted he hadn't seen quite such a difference before but surmised it would be OK.
Lined the new one up today and sure enough it is just under a centimetre wider all the way round the hub although it sits fine on the hub when screwed in and is a perfect fit round the wheel bolts. The old one has an internal diameter which doesn't quite make a tight fit with the hub. There is surface corrosion on both the outer rim of the hub and on the inner part of the old disc suggesting they are not meant to be a tight fit. My first question is whether this new extra difference in internal diameter matters?
Second question: what is taking the load when applying disc brakes? Is it the wheel bolts on the hub and those two little screws that attach most brake discs I have seen?
PS: The pattern parts are made by Mountain who seem to be a respectable Japanese manufacturer. Read more
Thanks to all and apologies if I initially failed to describe this properly. By concentrating overly on the diameter of the concave part of the new disc being greater than the flange, I overlooked the hub hole still having a tight fit on the spigot/locating protrusion from the flange. That presumably allows braking force to be transferred as well as via the wheel nuts. The flange itself, which had a close but not tight fit on the concave part of the old disc, can now be seen to be acting simply as a mounting plate for the new disc. Applying grease to the mating surfaces shows there is about 1cm extra diameter around the flange compared with maybe 1mm between the edge of the flange and the inner concave of the old disc. All the other disc dimensions are right, down to the Min. and Max. width stampings. The KA3 Legend (Jap-built rather than at Cowley) seems to be the only one using a four-stud 282mm disc rather than the more usual 262mm and five-stud 282mm or 285mm discs on the saloons and later coupes. I had the disc off and measured it which is why I had to turn down the first Japanese 'specialist' who insisted it should take 285mm discs. My second specialist hunted through four catalogues to find an importer which listed the KA3 with the correct size disc. Funnily enough, all listed the correct size pads.
Maybe I should have gone to Honda direct which quoted me 'just' 20% above pattern price for an exhaust a few months back but I am saving up for their £100 sidelight if I don't find one in a breaker soon.
Genuine question - over the years I've had a range of tyres on my car from Goodyear Eagle to Michelin Pilot, BF Goodrich and now Kormoran (the latter 2 being owned by Michelin I've been told). I drive a 940 se turbo estate and have had the tyres on in different combinations at different times and on both front and rear axles but have never noticed any difference whatsoever in roadholding, noise, fuel economy, wear etc. whether on local runs or motorway driving. I don't drive to extremes and if this is the reason I'm not noticing any difference I just wonder if it's worth the average motorist driving an average car buying expensive tyres they don't need and won't derive any benefit from. Read more
At the cheaper end of the market, you get what you pay for. On my previous car I fitted a set of Tyre Technic Remoulds. They were a third of the price of Michelins but only lasted a third of the mileage, so no cost saving there. At the expensive end of the market, you DON'T get what you pay for. Michelins are generally 20-25% more expensive than other top line tyres, based on their historic reputation for longevity, but modern Michelins don't even last as long as Goodyears, so they're not worth the price premium.
The exact car / tyre combination can give wildly different results for roadholding and ride, even within one car model range. Unfortunately tyre tests are carried out using one common vehicle, great if you own that exact model but useless otherwise.
I've got a strange problem with a 306XSi (1995). No matter what I do, the boot won't lock (with either the central locking or the key itself).
Anyone else had this problem or know of how to fix it? I really don't want to take it to my Peugeot dealer as I can't afford a second mortgage....
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Might be worth flooding the lock assembly with WD40 - otherwise remove the tailgate inner panel and see what is/isn't happening.
It doesn't sound similar to the problem I encountered.
Westminster Council have gone mad with their parking charges - some meters are £4 for 3 minutes. 6 hours in a car park is £30. Its nuts. No wonder no one is coming into central London. Soon the centre of London will be completely dead. Read more
Sounds familiar, when I was in I.C. in Kings Hospital er indoors found it cheaper to stay in London for 2 weeks than paying for travel to and from down South especially as parking charges were crazy and the parking wardens little Hitlers.
Ho Hum
Drink Lager Talk Piffle
Does anybody really fall for these tricks? Read more
Hmm - perhaps I won't after all then...
Hi all, newcomer to the Back Room here. I have heard that cherished numbers are a good investment, offering a better rate of return than many financial products in the current low interest climate. I have seen several plates in the format 'xyz123' for £2-3k, which strikes me as reasonable. What are Backroomers views on this? Any pitfalls I need to be aware of?
Any help much appreciated.
Jon Read more
Jon,
I have no idea of investing in number plates, but was daft enough to buy a kind of personal plate for the Jag - cost me £699 to get my initials+date+CAT....JAG was too ostentatious and was £999, from memory.
If I put this reg into the Personal Number Plate Search at the bottom right corner (Find MY Plate) of the page you are reading this on, I get a price of £2995 for the nearest plates to mine.
What do you think I could sell it for?
Matt35.
Rodney - this time next year we will be millionaires!
hi p p if you had the driveshafts replaced under warrenty they will only be covered untill your existing warrenty on the car runs out . as for the reason for them going in the first place . the retaining clip on the driveshaft gaitor snaps allowing water into the cv joint washing out the grease . so keep an eye on your new shafts and if you see a clip broken get it replaced.