December 2003
Over the past few years I've bodged and hacked my way around the engine bays of many cars and have been unlucky or unskilled enough to wring the heads off several bolts. Apart from trashing all but 2 of the long cylinder head studs in the engine of an Austin Cambridge, all these incidents have been steel bolts going into alloy castings. So it was with some trepidation that I changed the thermostat on the Synergie yesterday to cure a persistent coolant weep from the underside of the housing and erratic engine temperature.
Anyway, the thermostat housing is a plastic moulding with 3 metal collars where the bolts hold it on to an alloy casting, and far from being a problem, the bolts turned almost immediately and spun out nicely. This seems to be due to a dark coating on the bolts, and the most difficult bit of the whole operation was liberating the new thermostat from its reinforced plastic bag.
So, thank you to the guys who have finally acknowledged the existence of electrolytic corrosion and done something about it.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land Read more
I\'ve got a Peugeot 306 and I\'m having problems with the front door lock. There seems to be resistance when I put the key in the lock to try and open the door. Its been getting worse over the past 6 months and now its very hard to actually get the door open without doing it from the passenger side.
Does it need oil or washing out somehow or is it just worn?
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers, Read more
A week or so to go to the new law re handheld phones, and I am pessimistic about its enforcement.
I've just done a local 18-mile round-trip , mid-morning, where for once I wasn't driving so I could take more ntoice of others on the road and their behaviour. In this time I noted 10 people using their phones, including van and lorry drivers .In one case the car was wandering across the road while the driver dialled .If these people haven't learned yet , will they ever?
Apparently their need to have inane conversation is greater than my need for safe behaviour from them.
Given other laws which are regularly flouted, though easier to observe, such as re lights -belts- securing children , what chnace is there of this law making any difference? Read more
One other point, aren't those little headset things not classed as
hands free kits and therefore now illegal in the car?
Nope. The law only states that you are not allowed to hold your phone. It should be fitted in a cradle. Portable earpiece hands free kits are still permitted as you don't need to hold the phone to use them.
Which way round the M42 do backroomers recommend when travelling up the M40 to then go on up the M6 to the tundra-like wastes of Lancashire?
I normally go anti-clockwise to M6 Juntion 4 - and it normally takes a mighty long time to get to Hilton Park. Would the clockwise route via the M42 westbound/M5 be worth a try?
That never looks too clever either as you see them all crawling up from the M5 to join the M6 at Spag Bol Junction.
I'll be hitting the top of the M40 about 6.45 p.m.
CF Read more
Hmmm.....still have to cope with the M42 between the end of the M40 and the M6, this can be just as bad as the M6 itself
Ian L.
I have a T-reg vectra 2.0di estate,air-con,70k miles and well maintained.I am going abroad for up to a year and the car will be kept in a secure,dry,lock-up.
Any advice on what to do in the way of preparation before storage so that the car will be pretty well ready to drive out in a years time ???
Many thanks for any hints,suggestions and advice offered.
gatso. Read more
Stored son's 1994 1.1 Fiesta for 1 year.
Did nothing but drive it round yard and leave it running for 30 mins once a month.
When recomissioned , no problems..
madf
Please can someone help me! I'm a student and have been running a 1.1 mk3 (L reg) fiesta on a shoestring but i think I've finally met my match. Basicly whenever I try and start the car using the "cold start" procedure or otherwise it floods the engine. The engine turns and ALMOST fires, but doesn't. The only solution is to remove the fuel pump fuse, turn the key, floor the accelerator then replace the key. The car runs fine and starts normally when the engine is hot. Does anyone know a low cost solution to this? The fuse trick is not only embarresing but is also giving me a very sore arm!
I also had a bit of a wheel arch damaging incident a while ago and am looking for wheel arch covers, does anyone know where i could get any near london (or my mail order!)?
Thanks a lot, Sam Read more
Yeah, that sounds like problem alright, but i don't understand why that should suddenly happen? It's a problem I've never had before!
hi all,
got a Corsa 1997 model, brought new radio and want to get my old CAR300 out, i have undone the grub screws what do i do next, please help.
Sam. Read more
got it thank you very very much, i am very pleased with the help i have recived, just getting old cage out now
Sam
According to the adverts for a well known brand of auto light bulb a 40 year needs twice as much light as a 20 year old and a 60 year old needs 11 times as much light to do the same task as as a 10 year old.
Is it not ironic that the boy racers are driving with lights approaching a zillion candle power and the ould'uns make do with sidelights?
Perhaps people over forty should not be allowed to drive at night due to their restricted perception, unless they have twice as many lamps as a nova.
How many people would admit they have difficulty driving at night?
Read more
Blimey, I thought all my problems had been solved with Vitamin
V and a bunch of root canals plus some creative bridgework...looks
like a trip to the optician\'s is one the cards now......
Is that the vitamin \"V\" which comes in little blue 100 mg tablets?
..........................................................
\"Rude, crude and socially unacceptable\"
Local dealer wants to charge £150 plus for a complete lever assembly. £2.00 worth of cable surely there must be an alternative? Read more
Previous neighbour had a Renault van where this failed. As you say, its not a cheap item to replace. It failed at only about 65k miles.
He also had a steering shaft UJ wear badly and had to buy the whole column which was some crazy price (about £400, IIRC!!).
Just out of interest, I just wondered what the concensus of opinion was amongst forum members about the frequency of changing engine air filters on diesel engines.???
I ask this question as I have just had my E46 320d serviced and actually requested that the engine air filter be replaced, only to be told by the local "main stealer", that it was not necessary at only 13.5k miles from new.
Surely a slightly blocked filter is going to impact on fuel consumption to some extent, so any feed back on this subject would be much appreciated.
Many thanks.
Dude. Read more
H'mmmm,
variable here is what environment the car is driven in.
If it's doing motorway work, then the air filter will probably last between service intervals without appreciable degradation in performance.
If however, it's picking up leaves or being driven down an unmade road frequently then I'd at least inspect it mid service point.
Browse
see
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=84...3