March 2004
Hi
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
A few months back we were WRONGLY sent a standard CC PENALTY NOTICE. This wrongly stated that the car was in a certain place at a certain time.
You can only appeal in writing - our daughter did this (after over coming the initial anger/frustration an worry that her car may be cloned) within the specified time scales. She gave minimum but appropriate details and could back them up by a letter from her work place and others that are insured to drive that car.
To their credit they responded within seven working days I think stating they accepted her appeal against the CC Penalty notice.
HOWEVER, THERE WAS NO EXPLANATION WHY IT WAS ISSUED AND NO APOLOGY.
Now they are thinking of extending the zone. I do not really mind as long as they get it right.
Read more
The matter of Unsprung Weight was recently mentioned in a Discussion thread about the De Dion suspension and it brought to mind my own introduction to the subject. The following story will eventually get to the point!
I bought a Ford Special (kit car) as an uncompleted project in about 1965. It had a lightweight fibreglass body mounted on a 1930's Ford 8 chassis and suspension. The suspension comprised two transverse leaf springs, one front and one rear, and it had feeble lever-type dampers.
The springs each had seven leaves which made them too stiff for this now-lightweight car so I took out three leaves from the front and four from the rear. This gave fairly good roadholding and an acceptable ride.
The tyres were very thin, 17" crossplies I think, so I went looking for wider replacements. I found that VW beetle wheels would fit but, even better, so would the fat 15" wheels/tyres from a Porsche that I found in a breaker's yard -- and these came with beautiful chromed-dome hub caps. I couldn't resist!
Unfortunately the wide 15" wheels with their massive tyres ruined the car's roadholding on all except very smooth bends. The car would go sideways in a series of small jumps at the slightest provocation, below the speed at which it would have skidded on the original skinny wheels.
What I think happened was that a wheel would bounce when it hit even a small bump on a bend and its weight had a momentum that couldn't be handled by the weak leaf springs and lever-arm dampers, so it would continue bouncing. The problem was, I think, caused by the so-called "unsprung weight" that the suspension wasn't able to handle.
Reverting to lightweight wheels and tyres reduced the unsprung weight and brought back the original level of roadholding and comfort. I have never been tempted since to think about fitting wider wheels to a car. Read more
I seem to remember that one car builder experimented with a dual-chassis design in the late 70s or thereabouts, with one chassis connecting the unsprung weight components, and the other having everything else hung off it. Not sure of the details, but I think it may have been banned before it even raced.
Found these on Friday afternoon when travelling to Ikea in Bristol.
At J15 Northbound (towards the midlands) on the approach to the M4 Eastbound, where the approach road bears right underneath the M5 you come up the hill again and someone has completely forgotten to mark out the temporary lanes! Dangerous or what?
The scene was similar to that at Brands Hatch where all the vehicles were swerving in and out to get the best position! You don't know where you're supposed to be or how much room you're supposed to give vehicles on each side.
If the contractor for that area is reading this SORT IT OUT BEFORE SOMEONE IS KILLED!
Talking of Ikea, they've got some really wierd names for their designs.
I don't want to repeat any just in case I get accused of swearing!
Hugo Read more
Hugo - you should contact the Highways Agency and complain. (08457 50 40 30 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm weekends and all Bank Holidays.) They will take the details and have the contractor call you back.
Last time I complained about bad TTL sequencing on the Stocksbridge byapss - basically lights were letting through 4 vehicles in one direction, and 40 in the other, so there was a 45 minute tailback into the lights.
I was called back inside 45 minutes; the contractor had been onsite, agreed that the lights were not working correctly, removed them and replaced them with a man with a Stop/Go board to reduce the jams. They had suspended the works until the next day (this was at 1pm on a Friday afternoon).
So the system does work! :)
Seriously, give them a call - what you report sounds very dangerous.
This may surprise some folk... A chap fitted blue LED windscreen washer lights, as used by boy racers et al. He was seen by the Police who, understandably IMHO, fined him. The motorist, who is too old to be a boy racer even though his car is an ageing Fiesta, didn't want to make a fuss, and stumped up the fine. But at the same time, he casually enquired about the legality of these little passing phases.
As you will see from the report, the Police do not consider them to be illegal after all, even though they are blue lights on a civi car facing in a forward direction!
www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=...3 Read more
"I have my headlights on when driving on the motorway regardless of time of day or conditions" --- above.
Dipped headlights in the outside lane of a three lane motorway shine on the rear-view mirrors of the cars in the two inside lanes. Having lights on in the middle lane does it to the inside lane. That is the nature of the dipped headlamp design. The beam is not dipped to the nearside.
Is that a good idea? Not in my book. Dipping the inside mirror at night and losing rearview visibility is bad enough without using it in daylight.
hi, ive now got a new problem with my diesel fiesta now.
when its cold, as in after ive left it overnight when i start it up in the morning,
1. its a pig to start, sometimes it will start, fire a couple of times then die, yet other times it will start fine!
2.why is it that i have to press down the clutch pedal to aid in the starting of it?, with the clutch pedel not depressed it sounds like its "draging", i never had to do that when i had my petrol engined car.
3.if i just let it tick over, it sounds like its misfiring & its also making a "pinking" noise & has got rough idling?
when it gets warm it fine, anyone got any ideas??
--
shaun the sheep
ford fiesta. 1.8d. j reg. 91'. Read more
Have you checked that the glow plugs are getting power for long enough ie at least 5 - 10 seconds. Connect a voltmeter to any glow plug & switch on ignition. You should get almost 12 volts for at least 5 - 10 seconds if the engine is cold. If you havn't got a meter just connect a 12 volt bulb between a glow plug & earth, it should light when the ign is turned on as above.
If you don't get voltage to the plugs for sufficient time you may need a new control box.
HTH.
my Mk4 fiesta 1.3i keeps on misfiring during tick-over. The cylinder nearest the gearbox doesn't do anything, when i remove the spark plug it doesn't affect the tick-over. I have removed the head and checked the cylinder bore this was O.K. reground the valves. then done a compression test (pumped compressed air into the sparkplug port and checked the inlet and outlet ports for leaks) which was O.K. checked the spark O.K. I can't think of anything else it might be any ideas? Read more
i have run the car now for a couple of weeks the misfire is still there but now the fuel consumption seems to be a lot higher and the exhaust has lots of carbon around, is it possible this could be some kind of electrical sensor fault, is it worth me getting a fault code reader as these are only £20 does anyone know if they actually work?
Hi
We test drove an R reg Barchetta today and really liked it, but what's it like to own one?
This one had a nice pool of water in the bottom - it had just been raining heavily. Do they all leak?
And HJ says in his review to make sure that it has its "Red Key" - what's that? Read more
Oh, and also check out www.fiatbarchetta.com/club/uk/
One for DVD and co I think;
Bus station with entrance and exit from a street at either end, traffic flow through it in either direction and a police station in the middle, accessible from either end.
Traffic signs at both ends have the empty red circle indicating no vehicles along with an attached sign reading 'No vehicles except buses and for access'
What offence are drivers committing who use the bus station as a thoroughfare, ie; travelling from one end to the other and not into or out of the police station 'access'?
Any ideas?
PP
Read more
As PU states LA appears to have made a Traffic Order prohibiting what is mentioned under RTR Act. Section 5 said Act makes it an offence (something like "did cause a m/veh to proceed along a road which has restricted access") to disobey the Order and RT Offenders Act the punishment of up to 1000 pound fine - no disqualification or points.
The sign mentioned is Diagram 617 and as such does not come within the scope of a sign that S 36 RTA 88 refers i.e Fail to conform to Traffic sign which does attract points and possible disq.
DVD
I am thinking of buying a Jaguar for my next car i will have about £8000 to spend which will buy me one of the last XJ series or one of the early XJ8's and was wondering what would be the best buy , i have heard that the Jaguar V8 engine did have some problems when they where first came into production can any one advise me on what car i should go for and any tips when buying one of these models.
Thanks Read more
Speaking as a non-Jaguar owner (but someone who always ends up looking at them a car change time) the XJ8 has a nicer more modern interior and I'd be tempted to look at these on this basis alone. The early 8 pots apparently suffered from a problem with Nikasil lined bores which may result in them starting to burn a lot of oil. If I'm right this was down to the level of sulphur in our petrol. A wiser man that me may know some way of identifying an engine which is suffering from worn bores. I believe that if the engine is still alright now then it is unlikely to go.
That said there may be some value in looking for an pukka XJ6(X300) rather than a bottom book XJ8(X308?).
Beware all ye thinking you don't need breakdown service with Merc.
This week on calling MB 24h when my car won't start, I get a request for a credit card but it's only a precaution in case the cause is a flat battery, that failure isn't covered and the cost is £184! Anyay the car starts, I cancel the call-out before they arrive, find the card has already been debited, they confirm it will be credited. Then a letter arrives later from MB advising it is being charged!
Has anyone else come across this insidious procedure which exceeds the full annual cost of any breakdown service I've ever seen.
Read more
I don't understand this.
I have called them out before when I had a stone stuck in the brake shield. I managed to get the stone out 5 mins before the service24 van got to me and the bloke just laughed.
I have had to call them out twice with a non-starting car, which is now fixed at last and they have never asked me for a credit card or anything only apologised if they cant get to me within 45mins.
Browse
.jpg)
OTOH, Brian, low bridges are no threat to people upstairs if the driver forgets where he is!