December 2003
Back to page 11 of the Daily Mail again. Research reported in the British Medical Journal shows that drivers of silver cars are only half as likely to have a serious accident as drivers of cars coloured white, grey, red and blue. Black, green and brown are the worst risk.
How's that for a story? Perhaps HJ could persuade the Telegraph to put in a feature about it. Read more
I've been looking at another Website forum and a chap has asked the question : what causes a bulb to go black after a short time, IE: tail lamps. A fault or quality??
Curious to the answer as no one has yet answered to the question.
Autumnboy Read more
As most check out the connections to the light cluster`s at least I assume so.And the problem seems to occur on cheaper bulbs it may not be down to the connection`s apart from inside the bulb.apart from complain to manufacturer what can you do.except pay more?
Did anyone else see page 11 of today\'s Daily Mail? An old chap (I presume he is old)selected reverse by mistake and did wheelies up the bonnet of an MPV behind him. I don\'t think I could do that with my Legacy! Read more
Rob... the Galaxy is just small fry to Polo. He likes to take on big lorries.
Mind you, I doubt even I could manage to reverse all the way up someone's bonnet and not notice. Of course old people are safe to be on the roads!! :-/
My daughter has emigrated to Winnipeg and has the use of a \"Chevrolet Cavalier\" which she might be able to purchase. Does anyone have any knowledge of this model?
In the UK she ran a KA which she was happy with but in Canada small cars are frowned on. Any suggestions?! She basically has the proceeds of the KA - £4000. Read more
Thanks very much - that gives us a start!
James Hill was jailed for 8 years today for killing 2 young girls when he lost control of his car during a road race on a the A46 near Grimsby. Apparently he had been banned from driving 5 times before, has previously been jailed, twice, for driving offences and was 3 times over the limit. I can't imagine what the parents of the girls must be going through. Was 8 years enough for this man?
He will be free in 4 years and although he was banned for 15 years this apparently won't stop him getting behind a wheel. Read more
With a couple of exceptions (Steve42's suggestion of chip readers in cars) this has been a thread on sentencing and prisoner rehabilitation. Sorry folks, thread locked.
No Dosh
mailto:Alan_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
Several threads recently on blue lights in various odd places. Saw some yesterday evening that capped the lot:
Blue rear number-plate lights.
Why, please? Read more
Our latest fashion: blue turn indicator lamps in clear lenses. Try seeing them when the sun is in your eyes.
They do have one saving grace. Their owners tend to use them to show they've got them whereas about 90% of Philippine drivers either don't use turn lights or have them but they don't work.
I bought a 'T' Reg Mazda 323 (1.5 engine) on 11 November from an independent dealer. The car had 32,000 miles, 1 previous owner and a FSH. Within a day or so two faults became apparent:
(1) jerky throttle response and intermittent flat spots - lifting off the throttle would sometimes result in either too much loss of speed (felt like engine braking was coming into play even if I lifted off at 40 mph in 5th gear) or slight 'run on'.
(2) brakes squealing when applied at low speed (eg when inching forward in a traffic queue.
I hoped that the poor throttle response might be due to the car needing some long runs so I ran it for a few weeks, gave it a shot of Redex and made sure I stuck to Texaco petrol.
After a month the dealer rang me to see if I was happy with the car. I explained the problems and booked it in to be looked at. The service manager said that they could stop the brakes squealing but the problem might recur because "brake pads can't contain asbestos anymore". The car was with the dealer all day on 18 December. When I picked it up one of the mechanics explained that the jerky throttle response had been because of it being "coked up" and that they had used some kind of throttle cleaner. When driving the car that evening I noticed that the brake squeal was as bad as before and that although the throttle response was smoother there was still the occasional 'flat spot' feeling, most noticeably at 15 mph in 2nd gear.
I visited the dealer today (19 December) and explained that I wasn't happy. The service manager suggested I bring it in on 23 December and we would take it for a run together so he could see what the problem was. He also said that the flat spots might be a characteristic of the engine rather than a fault (which sounds to me like a version of 'that all do that, sir').
I'm wondering if these flat spots and squealing brakes are to be expected on a 4 year old Mazda. I'm also concerned that when the service manager goes out with me on 23 December the intermittent flat spot might not manifest itself.
This is the first time I have bought a car from a dealer (have always got cars from family members in the past) and I have no technical knowledge. I would really appreciate the thoughts of any backroomers on how best to proceed in this situation.
Thank you
Pete Read more
I was assuming that the seller was going to pay for this - so whether they run it round to the dealer or hire a suitable code reader shouldn't matter to you.
HI
I have an almost new celica 6 speed. The gear change is very notchy and quite difficult to change fromm 2nd to third gear. This is the same when cold or hot.
The car has about 1000 miles on the clock.
Do you think this will settle down or is it worth changing the gearbox oil to a fully synthetic oil to help smooth it out?
thanks for any ideas
alan Read more
I would give it some more miles and give it some use,chances are it will settle down.
This summer, the engine in my 1990 Rover 214 sometimes made a 'ticking' noise when running (from the cylinder block, not the injector), the speed of which varied with engine speed. It could happen when the engine was either cold or hot, and would seemingly randomly come and go. At the time I suspected it was the hydraulic tappets on their way out. After a search on the 'net, I read that the tappets could be making noise because of the engine oil being aerated, so I did a full oil / filter change and the problem was sorted. In the last few days, though, the noise has come back again, even though the car's only done around 1000 miles since the oil was changed.
Has anyone else had experience of this? I realise that with the car having done 107,000 miles it's probably time to get a new one but a lack of cash doesn't allow for this at the moment!
Cheers
Ian Read more
That should not cause an M.O.T failure.It doe`s sound like tappet`s and could from what you have said be a possible oil pump problem as it comes and goe`s.As you have already given the flushing I doubt another attempt will affect it.The same thing can occur if the tappets are worn.I think that more likely but once they start it is not normally poss to prevent them wearing more but it doe`s occur slowly enough time to get them sorted around 3/6 months depends on mileage
I'm looking for a small automatic to replace my J reg Clio which I bought in June and drove for a whole 5 months before the autobox failed.
I learn from this website that Renault autos are not reliable, and I know old Fiesta autos are not worth looking at - any other tips as to what to avoid? At the moment I'm looking at a 1999 Polo - do VW autoboxes compare with the rest of VW's longlasting build?
Any advice gratefully received... Read more
Stick with a Japanese brand,the bulk of their cars are produced with auto boxes,they know how to make them work and continue to work.
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