May 2004
Lexus are developing a range of V6 & V8 diesels, - does anybody know when they are due for release in the U.K. market??? Read more
Off at a tangent from Mattster's Inside or Outside? lane thread see
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=22...7
Recently noticed a strange phrase when checking O2 Trafficline for road holdups and incident reports. (dial 1200)
There have been many cases where you get an incident report like the following made up example:-
"M1 J11 to J13 Northbound the Heavy Vehicle lane is now open" (or closed whichever is the case)
Briefly discussed this one day with DVD after the first time this had been heard and we wondered if it was a crawler lane type situation, but it's so frequent now and has occurred where I'm sure there is no crawler lane see PS below.
So what's the deal with the "Heavy Vehicle Lanes" handle?
Frankly I'm confused,
FiF
PS Just checked the live info (see post date/time) and amongst others we get "M5 Southbound between J7 Worcester and J8 the Heavy Vehicle Lane is blocked" Read more
I demand a re-count....
DVD
How do i go about getting my rear windows blackened/darkened for security purposes its a vectra estate, cheers Steve. Read more
Corned beef hash is illegal ?
Hello
I have recently bought a 2000W 306 (2.0HDi GLX with climate control a/c). A couple of questions.
First - all the time ignition is switched on (either 1st or 2nd position) the interior heater fan is running slowly, its only quiet and comes from the passenger footwell/airbag/glovebox area.
The air flow switch doesn't really have a specific 'off' position so maybe its normal? it just a diagramatic label for normal mode speed and auto position, no "off" or "0" position as in some other cars.
1) do other 306s do this? - I assume it continues when engine is running but can't hear it above eng noise
2) is it the heater fan or another motor running?
2) is there a true Off position?
3) if not normal, any ideas on problem or cure?
The second minor issue is the indicator relay switch clicks of its own accord! I can get it to do it when I touch the indicator stalk so obviously a loose connection in the wiring at that end. Is this common? I haven't got the tool to remove the steering column surround but can get to a set of multi plugs, i'll give them a poke, will get it done under warranty unless anyone here has an easy solution.
Many thanks in advance. Mike.
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54mpg sounds about right. May improve slightly during the warm season if you don't push it too hard.
For a few months I have been putting it off, but tonight the offide rear wheel is definitely leaning at 3-4 degrees, the handling is getting obviously bad, and tyre wear evident. I will attempt again tomorrow to get a decent rear axle for it.
Has anyone any hints as to the difficult parts of the job, and any tricky bits? I have been told by several mechanics to put a 2ndhand axle under rather than attempt to change the bush/bearing concerned. Anyone ever tried this?
Mate's pickup on standby, trusty 309 (off road for months , but still a first time starter) coming out of garage tommorrow. Mind you, I will be going past the Ford garage, and may come back with a Focus estate??
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Update
That nice Mr Haynes lies
I could not believe that the entire axle was held on at the front only, and have now found a photo showing the way of releasing the rear mountings which isn\'t referred to in the text.
This appears to require (I think) a Torx 50 which is 70mm long, not a standard one. Can anyone confirm before I go out and buy one.
Re the mechanical (and electric) albatross and for those of you keeping score, it is now
1 dead 405, with me having the need to take the petrol tank off as the front mounting bolts are seized(which means putting the thing back on its wheels)
1 dead Fiat, with the glowplug controller costing £78 vat, and a suspect glow plug
1 dead 309, with the battery traumatically failing 2 months after guarantee expiring
1 dead Honda, with me leaving it in the yard and saying \"if they steal it, they have to get it going\"
1 nearly dead Mitsubishi, with the me not stopping when I agreed the pitman arm would be a pig to remove, and would grind it off rather than apply heat, receiving 1 split lip and a chipped tooth when my ball joint puller slipped
And my PC has just failed giving an error message that looked like a virus
And I can\'t do the crossword
If I wasn\'t depressed before.................
Sitting in the sun for an hour, drinking Aussie red wine through a straw has helped
A police transit van (riot type) made an emergency stop on our street last night and left skid marks 25m long - the van was not chasing anything and had no blue lights or sirens on. I suspect he was doing in excess of the 30mph limit and had to pull up sharply due to a car emerging from a side street in to the road. There was another transit van parked outside a house opposite so cars exiting the junction couldn't see without edging out. Is it possible to work out an estimate of the speed of the van from the skid mark evidence alone? Read more
> the highway code stopping distances are a lot longer than most cars can achieve.
A common (and popular) misconception.
There rarely is such a thing as perfect conditions and as always these things come down to generalisations.
The table in HC is based on a co-efficient of friction of about 0.66g.
A poor road surface in an urban situation, heavily contaminated with oil and tyre rubber will perform a lot less than this and could give a .mu (the sliding co-efficient of friction) in the region of 0.4. - I have known less.
Equally a good road surface like those orange coloured rubber strips that can be seen at the entrance to some roundabouts will regularly give better than 0.8 though I have never achieved the 0.9 that they are supposed to generate.
Putting some figures to it:- 30 mph slide to stop @ .mu 0.4 = 22.9 metres, .mu 0.67 = 13.7 metres, .mu 0.8 = 11.5 metres.
So the road is a fairly variable factor.
Brakes are an improvement as they can arrest a spinning wheel much more effectively than when I was a child but of course that is not a lot of use if the tyre cannot grip the road and utilise that force.
Suspensions have also improved but only in as much as they allow the tyre to stay in contact with the road better.
The pneumatic tyre is quite good at doing that anyway at urban speeds so not much help there.
So, modern technology does not make much difference in 30 mph or similar areas. There will be differences at motorway speeds that are measurable and probably savings of several metres.
My uncle has been offered his brother in laws ex-lease Vectra 1.8 SRI saloon at 26k miles for around £5,500 in a month or 2 time.
He wants to know what I think of this, I am not sure what the Vectra is really like. The Car-by-car makes a Citroen look reliable.
It looks like regular cam belt changes, engine problems and rust could be the weak points.
He has a 1997 Suzuki Vitara at present which is beginning to show its age, I guess it may be better to run the Suzuki into the ground and get a proper car, or even a newer Suzuki with the Citroen engine.
Any thoughts? Read more
adrian m:
refer to
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=21...2
valuation of writtenoff cars
www.theiob.org.uk/digest/v/valuation_of_motor_vehi...l
"Usually the policy provides for payment of the ' market value' of the vehicle (or words to that effect). How do we establish that? So far as the Bureau is concerned, two points are now clear. First, that market value is not the second-hand value of the car (unless the policyholder was in fact intending to sell it before it was stolen or written off) but what a replacement of similar age, condition and so on would cost. Second, [See: VALUATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES para 2] there are different markets. The appropriate one is not, as insurers often assume, the market for private sale and purchase of vehicles, through newspaper ads and the like, unless there is evidence to suggest that that is the market in which the policyholder intends to buy a replacement. As a general rule, the appropriate market will be the public one, so the policyholder gets what it would cost to replace the vehicle through a motor dealer. How do we find out what that would be? All relevant evidence has to be considered, but in particular we have to rely on standard trade guides! "
Just noticed the digital mileometer/trip meter on my 406 fails to light up, is this just a bulb or something more serious? any help please.
Duggie Read more
Hi
On the 405s & 406s you dont need to touch the steering column, the clock set can be removed, its a tight fit but you can get it out the gap.
If you do drop the column slightly its a good idea to apply locking compound to the bolts & nut because these do work lose.
So just why is the inside lane of the motorway called the "inside" lane? Looking at the motorway as a whole (all 6 lanes), the "inside" lanes are in fact on the outside. Even if you just look at one carriageway (3 lanes), there's nothing that particularly defines inside or outside. The only defining feature is that you join and leave by the "inside", but there's no linguistic reason why you can't say you join and leave by the outside.
Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability. Read more
I thought the convention was to start numbering at the timing
chain, Cliff? (What you do on a 'V' engine, I
don't know!)
>>
No, I've met engines that number from the "back".
I've owned two V engines, but I can't remember. I think they number 1-4 down one bank and then 5-8 down the other.
Is it just me or do other people get wound up by self-righteous lane disciplinarians? I'm all for observing good lane discipline where appropriate on the motorway, but these people are a pain. You'll be behind one in the fast lane and they'll keep zipping in and out of the middle lane, as if they think they can single-handedly correct others' driving behaviour.
If I thought I could improve peoples driving habits I would. However, it simply isn't going to happen. Some of you are probably saying "that's not the attitude" or "people learn from others' example", but let's be real.
These manoeuvres are in fact (a) pointless, as they never stay in the middle lane long enough for anyone to overtake them - I tried today and he was back in the fast lane in the same position in half a second, and (b) potentially dangerous as they are zooming all over the place when everyone is is sedately (in traffic) keeping to their lane.
Mattster
Boycott shoddy build and reliability. Read more
The mainproblem it seems to me is that there are simply too many vehicles for the space available. I was undertaken by somebloke in a white van who used the hard shoulder for the purpose. I used to love driving but now it is a dangerous and expensive occupation with road rage abundant.
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Arnold2 - where on earth did you glean that information ??? Do you seriously reckon that Toyota, who are now the most profitable car manufacturer in the world (last year £8.31 billion profit), need to pawn their reputation for superb reliability by fitting Peugeot engines.!!!!!
Toyota`s aim is to capture 15% of the world auto market within the next decade and to achieve their objective need to continue to demonstrate that their in-house engineering & technology are second to none and they most certainly don`t need to outsource to any third party manufacturer.