September 2003
This phrase has come up a bit lately with regard to the choice and suitability choice of our cars and it set me thinking (always dangerous I know!). Does this argument betray something about the mindset of those who use it ? Do some (NOT all) of these people buy cars primarily in the belief, even hope, that those around them will be envious? Is that what it's all about, driving around feeling in some way superior ?
I'm all for respnsible choice and would certainly buy a car like an SUV if it fulfilled a genuine and practical need but as for making others envious, I really couldn't care less about that sort of thing. Read more
OK, folks, opinions please. I have owned a Golf VR6 for nearly 7 years since new; I also own a 7-year old MB E320 Coupé since nearly new. I love 'em both, they're in very good nick and I shall keep them for a long time yet. The former has done 35k, the latter 40k; no, that doesn't mean constant short trips, because I don't use them unless I can do at least 5 and usually 10 miles (i.e. I actually extend local trips to warm everything up properly), and most of the miles have been either 20-mile round trips or much longer journeys. The question is, should I change the belts now? When I first raised the matter with the MB dealers who sold me the Coupé, they told me it was a chain, not a belt (they were wrong), and that it wouldn't need attention until 80k. I am nevertheless mindful of HJ's general advice on this matter in particular, so am ready to act. Read more
Many thanks for correcting me. I did have a residual doubt about that.
There is a J plate 730i being offered privately near me. I haven't looked too closely but it looks clean and has decent Continental Ecocontacts fitted, usually a good sign.
Is Beemer of this age a good buy and what should I look for? And what would be a real world price? The guy wants £1800 ono. I've already checked the Car-by-Car guide which says they can be a good buy. Any owners out there? All comments greatfully received. Read more
a 728i done just 9,800 miles in 5 yrs .. subject of interesting letter to HJ "Ak the Expert" in today's Telegraph Motoring, from owner praising local BMW dealer for quite extraordinarily generous treatment in view of car's low mileage and excellent condition - they replaced radio and sat-nav modules, also aeriel, free and only charged percentage of labour cost.
i have an 1993 savanna 140k most of the time it starts ok but recently she turns ok but wont start.i,ve checked that diesel is reaching the injectors ...its not ,then a few minutes later she starts ok and drives ok, help please
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Lexie,
Had a very similar problem on this exact car a couple of times (different ones).
I get the impression from your post you seem to think this is something intermittant rather than the usual sluggish diesel problem.
Obviously things like glowplugs, fuel supply, air ingress, cranking speed, engine condition all need to be considered but there could well be something specific to your car causing this.
My first experience was a few years ago where a new customer asked me to check out one of these as it kept cutting out, most frequently just after starting, on leaving the drive or just up the road. It drove them mad and despite attempts from two garages the problem continued. The last guy to look at it said the next move was to replace the glowplug control unit at about £100 fitted. He admitted this may not help and then he said the car would have to go to an auto-electrician...and to allow £200 minimum for a lengthy check through the wiring.
Because I like a challenge I offered to take a look, keep the investigation cost to two hours labour, and discuss things with the owner after that.
They drove the car to me...perfect. I spent over 90 minutes doing everything possible to make it stop but it was perfect. And then for some reason I found it was possible to make the engine stop by pressing on the passenger floor carpet in a certain way...like a passengers feet might!
Found that the standard fit key operated immobiliser (found by opening the glovebox and looking up on the nearside of the centre console) was quite crudely connected to divert the main engine wiring loom power feed into wires under the carpet and up to the key position.
It was the connection under the carpet close to the nearside sill that was intermittant and the lightest touch would cut all power to the engine compartment.
I joined the loom together with heavy duty screw terminal conectors, leaving out the immobiliser, and the car was perfect.
The second time I had this poblem of course it was a simple matter to make this check/repair and sort the problem.
Yours may not have the same immobiliser, even if it has it may not be the problem...but well worth checking.
So my first step would be to get a voltmeter on the stop solenoid (and the glowplugs of course) when this is not starting and see what is happening.
Good luck,
M.M
A while ago (within the last 6 weeks I think) I read about new police powers in the BR to stop individuals from driving their cars anti-socially or playing loud music etc. However, I cannot find the thread.
Having suffered a night's poor sleep (along with several neighbours) due to some inconsiderate prat who seems to have diappeared off the face of the earth leaving their car alarm going off all the time, I contacted the Police who say there is nothing they can do apart from contact the owner - if they can.
Having said that I asked the question, can these new powers be used by the police to take appropriate action straight away?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
If not, does anyone know how you can open the bonnet of an L reg metro without causing any criminal damage to disconnect the battery?
H
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I am reminded of another story, which I have always liked. As a close relaive is involved I can vouch for its authenticity.
Several years ago we lived in a remote country house in the home counties. Our immediate neigbours consisted of a country house hotel, a bungalow set in large gardens with its own 4 acre field and a farm across the road that had been bought by a multi millionaire.
The farm was basically put in the hands of a manager who seemed oblivious to the wealfare of his neigbours, indeed this was evident from the 24 hour use of an audiable scarecrow (a gas powered device that emitted shot gun like bangs to scare away birds from the freshly sewn seed).
After several complaints to the local police, who oblidged as much as they could by going to have a word with the manager in question, didn't work; my mother, who was not a force to be reckoned with, traced this device inside the farm and switched it off.
The farm manager was apparently away at the time and had no idea that this device had been disabled. You can imagine the fury he must have felt when he returned and found that the birds had most likely made off with a sizable quantity of seed.
The local copper came to see us to ask how things were with regard to the nuisance, and when my mother told him she just took matters into hand and disabled it, he congratulated her saying it was nice to see people doing things for themselves!
We never had noise problems from that farm again!
H
Hi
Does anyone know wehre it is possible to buy cars second-hand which have been adapted in some way for disabled drivers? My daughter has just passed her test and is looking at trying to save some money by getting a car which has already had some or all of the adaptations done (steering knob, left-foot accelarator, remote controls for indicator, wipers, lights etc.
Cars supplied under motability (for which she does not qualify) which have been exchanged would seem to be the best bet, but we don't know where to start looking. We have seen one link from the DDA site but that is mainly for private sales. Any help welcomed. Read more
Try www.justmobility.co.uk. I recently sold my converted V-Class through them. They always seem to have a good selection of used vehicles.
Dont forget the VAT relief on new converted vehicles that can sometimes bring the cost down to little more than a 2nd hand
one.
Also try www.lewis-reed-cruiser.co.uk/
Hi,
I bought a set of clocks for my HCS engine with a tacho but cannot for the life of me get it to work!
It will do half readings fine (from 1 coil) but I cannot get both coils connected together working properly. If i use diodes from the two coil outputs so they don't interfere with each other, then i don't get any reading, probably because the switch of current from one coil to the other is instantaneous, so they are never both 'off'.
Somebody told me to use the flywheel sensor output, but isn't this just a position sensor and will send out too many as it goes round each notch in the flywheel?
Does anyone know therefore how I can 'double' one of the coil outputs to get a correct read, or create a gap between the current switching between coils, having them both connected to the tacho somehow?
Many thanks for any help or suggestions. James Stevenson, did you get your clocks working in the end? just asking as you've got a similar engine so might have had the same problem.
Regards
Mike Farrow Read more
Hi
Finally got the thing to work (well, at the moment!)
I did what I said I was going to do 8 months ago and drew out the circuit diagram. Anyway, anyone who needs to do a conversion of a tachometer from single-coil to a wasted-spark ignition system (EDIS) on an escort of this mark (maybe fiesta, etc???) might want to read this.
Basically, there's a potentiometer on the circuit board of the tachometer (you can't miss it!). This is used for fine-tuning the needle so it reads the right rpm. If you follow the tracks from this potentiometer (two pins are joined together here so it acts as a variable resistor), you'll find that it is in parallel with a reisitor, a capacitor, and two pins of the IC. Make a note of the value of the resistor (mine was 146k). Unsolder this resistor and replace it with one of double its value (I used a series of resistors attached on a seperate board [to make 292k] and piggy-backed this to the tacho board). Anyhow, that seems to do the trick.
I still can't believe Ford charge an arm and a leg for a unit like this (I was quoted near £300 recently!!).
Mike Farrow
I have received a nice invitation to pay the £25 for \'failure to submit a SORN\', how can I get around this? the DVLA fine collecting agency in Glasgow is uncontactable by phone as it\'s always to busy. (9 attempts)
I am the registered keeper, but the car has been at a garage for two months having repeatedly failed it\'s MOT and is awaiting parts, it can\'t be taxed as it\'s not got an MOT, but then it\'s not on the public highway either.
I am minded to fight this what are the chances of getting the bigger £1000 fine and conviction if I do?
Tractorboy Read more
As others suggest - If registering SORN take the form to a post office just as you would to tax it. It removes all the hassle as you get a receipt saying you've done it.
Hi,
a while back I posted a question regarding road tax, and public service vehicles. The thread is here www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=14211
Now tonight I spotted not one, but two police vans in the same location as my last spot. This time there was an officer in one, so I tapped on the window and told her that I would like to know why her vehicle and the one behind her had not current tax disc showing.
In a very moody way she told me to take it up with HQ and wound the window up, and drove off. How rude. So I followed her, and to my delight I discovered that 6 of the 7 police vehicles parked on the public highway outside her nick have no tax disc what-so-ever.
Now before I start to make mischief, could someone please tell me which are the relevant laws to quote.
This may seem petty, but GMP are not that fantastic at detecting real crime, but seem to be very good with traffic offences. One rule for them eh? Read more
I have a note from July that says the Parliament Advisory Council for Transport Safety reported a 12% drop in Traffic officers in the last 5 years.
So why doeseverybody think it is more than this?
DVD
Renault Megane Scenic, 52,000 miles, cambelt replaced at 40k, the car lost revs whilst my wife was moving slowly in 2nd gear, car and wife came home C/O RAC with diagnosis "broken cambelt or toothless cambelt". On inspection i could see cambelt was OK so handed car over to a more capable mechanic and he tells me that the CAMSHAFT has broken, head, pistons and valves also damaged.
Car has been regularly serviced, oil content never below halfway between markers (uses very little oil).Can anyone suggest why this should occur, apart from a manufacturing fault Read more
Degsy,
It isn't unknown for the shock of a snapping/slipping timing belt, and the associated mayhem, to cause the camshaft itself to break.
I would be looking at the timing belt extra carefully to see the chicken/egg here.
M.M
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A somewhat tenuous link to motoring, and even that - SUV ownership - is being discussed elsewhere.
I'm closing this thread.
Mark.