December 2003
A friend who lives in a remote area of West Scotland, has bought an Audi TT with the 225bhp motor that requires 98 ron fuel. The problem is that his nearest garage selling super unleaded is 100 miles round trip away.
Is there any additive product on the market that would boost normal 95 Ron to super unleaded ???
He is lucky to live in an area where Gatsos are unknown, so enjoys the blast to get fuel. But at what cost !!!! Read more
Mondeo with Michelin Primacy 205/55 R 16 91H tyres.
They are just at about 'worn out'(33,000mls) and intend replacing them.
The steering wheel frequently rocks, fairly pronounced at times, but decreases as speed increases.
It has been getting steadily worse.
More than 40mph and there is no rock.
I thought it was due to road surface
Ford agent reckons Mondeos are like this and gave an example of a new one, which did this even at higher speeds and was due to wide tyres.
Is it because the tyres are worn out OR something else?
Any recomendations for replacements?
Thanks Read more
Suggest you take the worn tyres to the "Ford Agent" and ram them up.......oh yeah you get my drift!!!!
Another fine example of Main Dealer incompetance..
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn/problems.msnw?Page=1 - Pictures say a thousand words.....
My old (93) 306 makes a knocking noise from the front nearside suspension when I drive over cobbled streets and speed bumps, anyone any ideas on what it might be before i take the spanner to it? is it reasonabley common / expensive to fix? Read more
The P bushes are displayed in the Rogues Gallery of knackered car parts....click the link below to see....page 2 I think.
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn/problems.msnw?Page=1 - Pictures say a thousand words.....
Hello, I'm a newbie to this site. Omega 2.2 CD Auto, 2002 reg.
Tramlining is the worst I've ever felt, plus steering wheel is 5 degrees right of centre. SWMBO refuses to drive it on rural roads! and I keep 2 hands on the wheel. Tyres are P7 225/55R16 V95 12K miles, so not badly worn (though have been overinflated in the past). VX dealer advises that steering/suspension is Ok, and advises me to replace tyres with others that are non-directional. ie do not have to be fitted with outer side out, or fitted with arrow going in driving direction.
They advise steering wheel can be centred if and when steering gets retracked. 1. Am I getting fobbed off even tho' warranty still applies? 2. Are there better tyres out there that cope with tramlining.? 3. Is off-centre steering wheel suspicious of other damage?
thanks, Tony
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Well, Goodyear telephoned earlier, and discussed the problem.
He said he thought it would be due to the profile of the tyre rather than the tread pattern, the width of the tread is very flat and the load evenly distributed across it, and the sidewalls relatively straight, he says it is a very high traction tyre (which I very much agree with) but a tradeoff is this problem on my car, which is probably to do with it's dynamics.
He said the NCT5 is designed as a comfort tyre and may not be prone to this but he couldn't say for sure, as he would be talking out of his tree.
He was very helpful and honest (no spin or excuses)
Well, I told him I was very pleased with these tyres aprt from that, and that the government was really to blame for allowing the roads to become so third world.
Looks like I'll try NCT5s next unless something else takes my fancy!
Brother-in Law’s wife’s just got a new Vauxhall Corsa Sri with all the usual bells & whistles. He rang last night to ask what extra security I thought he ought to fit as her job can take her into some less than salubrious areas.
Off the top of my head, the only recommendation I could give was a “strongarm” or one of those steering wheel discs. Even then I was doubtful, as my experience is that you use them for a few weeks and after that they tend to wind up the floor because of the fiddle of putting them on and taking them off.
I was assuming of course that the Corsa comes with full immobiliser and alarm etc.
Any thoughts out there?
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I was assuming of course that the Corsa comes with full
immobiliser and alarm etc.
Yep, the immobiliser and alarm is standard fit on the SRi.
Anyone know much about these cars? I have heard through the local grapevine that a 1994 example supposedly with a 4 litre v8 engine (I thought they had straight 6s) is for sale for around £2k. It hasn't got an mot though (yes, the odd alarm bell is ringing!). Is there anything really hideously expensive that can go wrong with them or any other reason why I shouldn't touch it with a bargepole?
teabelly Read more
Teabelly,
Not sure as I don't detect a possible confusion here; if so, apologies.
If your reservation about the air suspension results from my previous post, I was referring to the air suspension on an LS being £2500 per corner (plus fitting, incidentally), not a Soarer.
My Focus has recently developed some kind of electrical fault, which I first noticed as flickering headlights, but it seems to affect all the internal lights and radio as well. The problem is intermittent, so I presume it's some kind of loose/dodgy connection. It went in for a service the other day, and I asked them to take a look, but they couldn't replicate the problem so they just checked the headlight earthing points, and nothing has changed. I noticed this morning that the courtesy light was flickering before I turned the headlights on. Also, a couple of times this morning, all my dials maxed out before going to zero, then returning to normal. Can anyone please shed some light on what's going on? Read more
Thanks guys, I had a feeling it might be something like that. I'll have to wait until the weekend to get some daylight to check it out. Oscar - I'll have to get back to you with that info.
Ok, *this is not a speeding thread*!
I am looking for answers based upon my technical query (in fact if necessary please move this to the technical thread mods), not opinions on whether or not it is legal/morally right to do this!
I often find myself driving home from a night out in Reading, about 45miles from from my home town of Watford. It is usually the early hours of the morning, the motorway is deserted and as such i 'make progress' by sitting at about 95mph in my M Reg 1.6 Escort.
My question is this - am i damaging my car through doing this? The revs at this speed are around 4000 in 5th gear.
I am aware that my fuel consumption at this speed is ridiculous, but i am wondering about the long-term effects of driving at a constant speed at high revs for an extended length of time. Read more
In my Mondeo (98) both the rev counter and speedometer are inaccurate. The manual says 23.6 mph/1000 rpm giving 3000 rpm at 70 mph. At 70 mph on my GPS, the speedo registers 77 and the rev counter around 3250rpm. At an indicated 95 mph the rev counter shows 3750rpm. So 1) I bet you're not really doing 95 mph, and 2) I bet the rev counter is over-reading too. Nevertheless sustained high speed running particularly in older cars with higher mileages in my experiences causes them to run at higher temperatures which in turn burns oil so my advice is to check your oil levels regularly and if possible use a good quality one and get the car serviced often. I also think that at those higher speeds, the engine of an older car is far less efficient than a newer one so you will be burning a disproportionate amount of fuel
Anyone seen any mpg figures for the 1.3 diesel in the new Panda ? Read more
Using the same engine the VX220 got 113 MPG
www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=88&i=5447
Having narrowly avoided a wing mirror which parted company from a motor bike this morning and last week spotted a very long length of plastic pipe in the road my question is who is responsible for clearing the accumulation of exhaust, tyre and bumper bits which litter the verges and how often are they supposed to do it?
A colleague a few years back hit a glass fibre fish pond in the same stretch of road causing considerable damage to his motor and hilarity at his insurance company.
Any odd bits of rubbish been spotted by the back room?
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I once dated a policewoman who was on a pursuit driving course. Besides the excellent advice to look at the vehicle at the front of a queue of traffic, which is the cornerstone of anticipation, she also said she was taught to swerve for nothing at high speed.
And by nothing she meant nothing and no-one. This seemed really callous to me until I swerved violently to avoid a hedgehog one late night in Spain.
The 3 girls in the car screamed because I nearly rolled it. I'd endangered the lives of 4 people under 25 for a hedgehog. I felt like a right (insert your own hedgehog pun) and there was much soul searching and apologies afterwards.
I try to swerve for nothing at high speed now - where does the IAM stand on this I wonder.
Browse
If that £3 per bottle is mail order including postage,then that is cheap,and could well be cheaper than Millers sells it for,so that price could be open to debate.The best price I have seen it for is about £5.
On the subject of the lead additive product......
The only reason I mentioned it is because it could be easy for anyone who has not used Millers additives before,to get the wrong stuff,hence the mention of them both.I only mentioned Castrol because,like I said,I use it in my Mini autograss car.I didn\'t want to confuse people,but what I will say is that I\'ve used Millers products before,and not just additive,and found them to be excellent.
For what it\'s worth,Millers products can be bought direct from the plant at Brighouse in West Yorkshire,but you have to buy certain quantities for them to make it worth while.This I know, as I enquired about their oils for my Mini,but found out that their \'deal\' was no cheaper than buying it locally,despite the fact they wanted to advertise on my car. What a cheek!!!!