October 2003
I have a citroen zx 1360 cc 1975 it started to run rich I can't find the screws to adjust on the carb,any ideas.Regards Shep. Read more
Ive just purchased an imported honda prelude and woz wonderin if any1 cud help on few fings....?????
My rev counter sticks and speedo aswell but guy who sold it said they need calibrating cos its import.. Speedo reads MPH tho!!!!
Also any ideas about cheaper insurance cos most want kings ransom!!!
Whats best and good value alarm system to get for these motors????
Fanx Read more
Thanks for your help on this matter..
I now think its just the rev counter stickin. Im in Watford so any idea where i can get this conversion done??
i bought the car private and feel ive got a great deal only paid £1500 and its got 71k on the clock.
Insurance woz cheapest at Direct Line so fanx Maz for Tescos. They were slightly dearer.
There's always plenty of stuff here about other people's mistakes but what about our own errors of judgement ?
I'll put my hand up to a couple to start.
Just after I got married to my first wife we were invited to an Italian wedding in East London. I drove and was determined not to drink but one glass of wine followed another and soon I'd had too much. We were miles from home and stupidly I decided to drive home through London. It was late and there wasn't much traffic but I came up to a large roundabout (Old Street ?) and proceeded to drive the wrong way around it. It was only as I took my exit that I realised what I'd done and how lucky I'd been. Totally my fault and very lucky to get away with it at the time. Lesson learned - I've never driven in that state since!
On another occasion I was in a slow moving queue of traffic and paying rather too much attention to the perfectly formed rear end of a passing female to be able to stop and avoid hitting the car in front. The road was wet and I just skidded into the guy. My fault again, driving too close and not paying attention !
More recently, I turned left at a junction failing to notice the large white police car I should have given way to. I was in a hurry to get my son to school and just hadn't seen them for some strange reason. The cop pulled me over and advised me of what I'd done. I didn't arfgue, accepted the blame and he let me go with a stiff warning in my ear. I still think it was only because I hadn't given him a hard time that he didn't give me a ticket.
So come on folks - what mistakes have you made when driving ? Read more
I've had a real trawl back through my 25...ish years of driving and was beginning to think I was a perfect driver when I eventually came up with one. I remember once carrying out a manoeuvre and nearly forgot to signal first.
Hang on a minute though, if I only nearly forgot that doesn't count does it. I'll get back to you.
Does anyone use super unleaded when their car runs on normal unleaded, for extra performance? My Honda dealer suggested Shell Optimax for my Civic Type-R, if the price differential is relatively small, as it is 98 Ron as opposed to other super unleaded which is 97 Ron.
Has anyone noticed the difference? Is Shell really better than the others? Is it worth the extra 4-5 pence per litre? Does it have any long term effect on the car?
Based on 12,000 miles per year, I calculate it would cost an extra £100 per year. So if there really is a performance difference it could be worth it. Read more
I record all my fuel usage and mileage:
My conclusions fwiw:
1. Supermarket fuel varies but on average I expect to get up to 10% worse fuel consumption.
2. Ordinary Shell/Texaco/BP give best consumption.
3. Optimax makes no difference.
1.6 Fiesta with no knock sensor so higher RON rating makes no difference.
madf
I prefer a car with a boot rather than a hatchback. In my opinion they are quieter and should offer greater security for goodies in said boot.
In the USA the 5 door Focus was rare but there were many 4 door versions
In South Africa most Corollas were booted and there were lots of Jettas (Boras) around.
However it seems that we do not get the option of a boot from some makers.
e.g. I have seen the following in Aus and South Africa
Fiesta (Ikon) , Yaris (Echo), Corolla and Corsa and there may be others.
Years ago the Austin 1100 (Victoria) was also not seen in the UK
Ford learned the hard way with their - You will have a Granada with a hatch - and Vauxhall and Volvo to name but two loved it.
Some of the motoring press certainly comment on the Focus saloon and the Bora / Jetta as not the one to buy but there are many Boras in my area..
Is it something strange with the UK market that we are not supplied with booted versions of the above?
Read more
Yep - and they ain't cheap!
www.autostyle.co.za/universal_stuff/universal_html...m
I have a 1997 AX 1l petrol, which went through it's 72k service 6wks ago. Since then, there is a fluttering kind of noise coming from under the bonnet as the engine is idling - could it be the new timing belt, if so is it supposed to make a noise?
I also have been getting a rattling noise which sounds like a loose piece of metal - my dad says it is pinking, but I can hear it going 60mph on the motorway, though it does seem restricted to the higher gears. This sound has been there since I got the car in 2000 but I will be trying to sell it next year for a bigger car and would like prospective buyers to have a 'quiet' test drive as far as possible...
can anyone suggest reasons for these noises?
thx in advance Read more
Thanks for the advice - just filled up before I read this so will have to wait a while to try it out, will let you know if it helps!
Cheers
I have an '03 Mondeo TDCI 130PS and within the first 300 miles I noticed a hesitation at around 1800-2000rpm on light throttle.
A search on 'TDCI' has put me on this site where I read that many others with this model were experiencing similar if not worse problems.
I decided to book my mondeo into a main dealer so that they could sort out this slight hesitation.
Two days before the car was due in, and with 4000miles covered, the engine refused to start on the first turn of the key. The engine would only start on 3-4 attempts of turning the engine over although when it did start, things felt perfectly normal.
This starting situation doesn't improve on each starting attempt since. I take the car to the main ford dealer and tell them the problems. I collect the car at the end of the day being told everything is fixed and the car would still not start, even outside the dealership!!
I go back into the service reception and a technician comes out to see for himself that the car doesn't fire up on the trun of the key. He said it seemed like a fuel supply problem and that they would want it back for another days worth of testing.
There doesn't seem to be any posts on this site that give a solution to this problem and it sounds like ford still don't know what causes it.
Apart from this problem, the car runs superbly with in excess of 45mpg combined driving.
Steve Read more
Hi Kurnal,
Since my software upgrade, the hesitation has gone completely and the car feels silky smooth. I don't know what software they have uploaded but ford say that they receive an upgrade disk every 3 months or so.
I think I notice a little more black from the exhaust under acceleration although this clears after running the revs to 4000rpm and I use normal quality diesel.
As for my starting problem, I've done some tests to see if I can find what might be causing the problem.
1. Changed keys incase the immobiliser was the problem. This had no effect.
2. Depressed accelerator continuously while turning engine over when it wouldn't fire up. The did nothing and the car still started normally after the third attempt with no signs of extra fuel being in the system.
3. When the engine fires up on the first attempt, the key only needs to be turned for less than a second. When the engine hasn't fired up on the first attempt, I have tried turning the key for each subsequent attempt for the same amount of time. (ie. no need to continuously turn the engine over). The car still fires normally on the third attempt regardless of how long the engine is turned over on attempts 1 & 2.
Hope this makes sense, but I think the problem is electronic and not mechanical.
Steve
Today's stupid question !
I would expect that any competent MOT mechanic would not miss an obvious thing like a damaged rim, but is there a section on the MOT form for that kind of thing ?
I saw in the rail station carpark a '52 reg. Fiesta with scuffed rear nearside rim, with a wedge as big as my fingernail missing. I would imagine that the car is in positively dangerous condition.
It confirmed my predjudice about alloys. Read more
Yes - "Roadwheels" about half way down the VT30
groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
Has anyone heard this before please?
Speed humps have recently been installed on the local road. We now find that a noise like two spanners chinking together, occurs when the tail of the car comes down off the humps. (This is not the rear springs clunking, it only does that when cornering at low speed)
Car is a standard 93 Uno 1.0ie (fuel injected) in overall good condition and in daily use. At first I thought it was the wheel spanner contacting the inside rim of the spare wheel but this is not the case. I now suspect that it is something to do with the float mechanism inside the fuel tank.
Can anyone throw any light on this please?
Thank you. petel@clara.co.uk Read more
It's not the tail end of the exhaust catching the speed bump as the rear bounces downward is it?
School run has been much discussed in the Back Room over the last few months and many suggestions made as to how reductions in the traffic can be achieved. Locally several schools have set up 'walking buses' whereby several parents operate a rota to escort a group of children to school on foot. All in all they seem to have been well received and, although not the total answer, have made some impact on traffic around those schools.
The headteacher of my younger son's school sent out a notice a couple of weeks back asking if parents would be interested in a 'walking bus' scheme for our school. Initial feedback was quite good so he arranged a meeting to get it off the ground at which the local council co-ordinator was booked to attend.
The school is one of the largest primary schools in Essex and has 850ish children on role.
At the appointed date and time the attendance was:- the headteacher, nine parents and, er, NO ONE ELSE!!!
Even the council co-ordinator failed to attend!
The head was clearly embarrassed by the whole situation but made the best of it and knowing him for some years he won't give up that easily. He has achieved some remarkable changes to the school over the last 20 odd years and has come through far worse but it must be very difficult seeing that lack of support.
Daft thing is you'll see more parents in one group moaning about the traffic problems than bothered to attend that meeting.
Cockle Read more
While I quite accept that there are many reasons that people drive their children to school and there are many different types of geography around the country that may make it necessary, the point remains that at our particular school very few come from a distance. Up until three or four years ago it certainly was not the type of school which attracted children from the 'leafier' areas of the town, in fact, it has one of the most deprived catchment areas in the county.
I certainly wouldn't hold up the 'walking bus' as an answer to the problem of congestion, just one of many things which may help to ease the situation, eventually.
What really irked me rather than the lack of response from other parents was the fact that the Council Road Safety Officer failed to attend, having accepted an invitation to do so, and ,as far as I am aware, without apology. Everyone has their right to either join in with the scheme or not, but the one person who is paid out of the Council Tax to facilitate these things doesn't.
As an aside the consequences of some schemes cannot be realised until after they have been implemented. In a nearby town the local council added a cyclepath to the footpath by dividing it up with a painted line, IMHO never a good idea anyway. This was to make it safer and more attractive for the older children to cycle to school; result, more cars at that particular school as many parents now believe it to be too hazardous for their younger children to share the pavement with the increased number of cyclists!
Time will tell whether the scheme gets off the ground and whether it is ultimately successful but at least we will have tried.
Cockle
Browse
.jpg)
Shep,
Watch my virtual lips -- as DD said, your car does not have a carburettor. It may look like one to you, but it is a single-point fuel injection unit. Mixture is controlled by an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in response to inputs from various sensors on the engine. There is no adjustability - if it is running lean or rich it requires knowledgable diagnosis, and rectification could involve anything from a dodgy connection, through a replacement sensor or sensors, or even an ECU fault.
As these components can be very expensive correct diagnosis is essential.
Regards, Adam.
Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.