June 2004
Having posted some months ago regarding a car for my lad to learn to drive in, I've decided to bite the bullet & buy one of the above, an early facelift model from 1999 onwards with the 1.2 8v engine. This decision has been made on safety grounds. However, I have no experience of life with a Fiat - do any of the backroomers have any comments on this particular car?
BTW, please do not make suggestions for alternative cars, I'm just looking for comments on this specific car at the moment. I may change my mind depending on the consensus of opinion....! Read more
.... or rather a lack of.
A friend and I were chatting on saturday night and she thought she recalled her parents owning a car that instead of an indicator stalk, there was a single button on the dashboard that operated the indicators. IE up for Right, down for Left.
So is she going mad? or is there just a car or cars?
JaB
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"So what is the best arrangement of switches on a dashboard...?"
My brother ran a 1985 Isuzu Impulse for a while. Impulse was the US market name I think it was called Piazza in Japan. The indicator switch was a small paddle located on a dash board pod/binnacle. The aircon, and headlight controls etc were also on pods surrounding the steering wheel.
I have a K reg Peugout 405 TD estate.
Is there any special procedure for pressing back the pistons in my front brake calipers? Read more
Not sure about the front calipers, but I used to have a 1988 GTX with rear discs - the back calipers seized and I had to fit two reconditioned ones. The pitsons were not smooth on the surface and had strange notches to fit circlip pliers into. I think the manual recommended turning the piston whilst moving it back into the caliper. This may be just a peculiarity of the rear calipers and the front ones may be 'normal' - i.e. you just get a small G cramp and squeeze the piston back, using a small bit of wood between the G cramp head and piston face to even out the pressure.
Returned back from a trip to Cambridge at the weekend for a wedding. All went well, bride and groom got hitched as expected, and the M6 Toll is a road of dreams!
Anyway, the town we were in is a 'new town' called Cambourne. All over the housing estates are speed limit signs stating the speed limit is 19! They were proper white signs with a red outer ring, so I assume they are legally enforceable.
Looking at my speedo, 19mph seems to equate to 30kph. Are we sliding a bit further into Europe without me noticing?! Read more
I could well be wrong, but I would think that speed limits on private roads have no official status or relevance unless the landowner has given permission for a local council to promote a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) initiative.
Having lost my 2BA open-ended spanner, I looked on the Draper Tools website for a replacement ~ £25.45 (!) for a set of 5 ranging from 0BA to 8BA. Must be because whereas they make metric spanners by the million they now only make BA spanners by the handful. I'll have to be more careful with my remaining BA, BSF, BSP, BSW, imperial A/F etc. etc. (And keep an eye open at car boot sales for an open-ended 2BA!)
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature. Read more
Yo Snail,
If your interested, i have a 2BA/4BA open ended spanner you
can have. Reply if your interested.
All the best,
Pastyman...
Thanks Pastyman, but the crisis is over. I solved the imediate problem by filing out an 8mm A/F to fit 2BA, and I've now been given an assortment of BA open-ended by the wife of a late friend. My cup runneth over!
Hang on to any old spanners you've got ~ they're beginning to be like gold dust.
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
A taxi driver we know owns a Citroen Berlingo diesel. IIRC it's an 02 plate and has done about 50-60k. According to him it's been a nightmare for poor reliability from day one with various annoying problems ranging from a dodgy sliding door catch which never seems to work properly to a broken cam belt which happened last year and was repaired under warranty. This latest problem is, however, the most annoying of all. Yes, the cam belt has just gone again leaving him high and dry with a car full of child passengers!
I've checked HJ's CBCB and there is mention of cambelt/ pulley problems but why on earth would a new cam belt fail after less than a year? This begs a number of questions, not the least of which is can our friend obtain any form of compensation in view of the fact that for the second time in a year he's effectively unable to work now until it's sorted. Read more
You are most likely right Chris, I remember he had the top spec engine at the time as for some reason the lower spec had a longer delivery time.
Hi all,
just taken ownership of a Ford Focus 1.8 Ghia. Anyway - been out in it and it\'s a wonderful car - certainly a step up from the Fiesta!
My question is perhaps picky but will nag me otherwise. In order to keep the car straight, the wheel is just off by a few degrees. What I mean is, if you turn the wheel dead straight you will go right slightly so to make the car go dead straight the wheel needs to be turned left slightly. The car isn\'t pulling or veering or anything like that - in fact, I only noticed it when I was coming to a stop at some lights - the only problem at the moment is that wheel isn\'t dead centre. Anyway - is this tracking or not? I understand it\'s a very trivial problem but I want to get it sorted.
Cheers
Adam
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Just go in and say you think the tracking is out - unless they're busy the fitter will drive the car onto the alignment machine and show you the readings, and advise what the factory reading should be.
If it doesn't need doing then the check is free of charge.
When I fill up, I unlock the petrol cap cover and leave the keys in the cover until I've finished. It occurred to me the other day that as I have my hands full when filling up ~ filler cap in left hand and pump nozzle in right hand ~ I am giving any nearby lowlife the chance to pinch my car keys. I suppose I ought to take the keys out of the cover and put them in my pocket before I proceed to fill up. Wouldn't it be better if the lock was in the filler cap rather than in the cover? That way, filler cap and keys would be in left hand together.
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature. Read more
Why not just place the filler cap on the pump?
Hi
I friend of mine has a Citroen Xsara, which has recently started to develop a knocking whenever he takes his foot off the accelerator. It doesn't happen when torque is being applied to the wheels. It happens in and out of gear, clutch up or down. Frequency of knock is road speed dependant. What could this be?
He thinks it's the gearbox, but I would have suspected a CV joint? It had a new clutch and some gearbox welding at the start of the year because a torsion spring decided it had enough and wanted to eject itself through the bell-housing into the 'box at 70mph! This caused some oil leakage but not much.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Mike Farrow Read more
My 1979 MGB had a engine rebuild some years ago and has a persistent pinking even if I retard the ignition. The cylinder head was gas flowed and the compression was raised. I have been told the pistons would need to be drilled to bring down the compression. Since this engine is often tuned I cannot understand that the compression is so high it causes the pinking. Any thoughts ?
The other more recent problem is the overdrive. When hot overdrive fumps in on overrun and light acceleration.Reverse becomes inoperable. The overdrive is engaged in all gears and it kicks in wihtout moving the switch. The gearbox oil has been changed.
The car only covers less than 2000 miles a year.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Peter
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I recall a conversation with a couple of guys at Dunfermline Car Club about de-rating gaskets. A solid metal gasket used in conjunction to a standard gasket to lower the compression ratio. Surely the MG owners club would know all about this problem. As far as drilling the piston “ I wouldn’t be doing that then”. Super Unleaded is not that common now and I am sure you have tried it to discover it still gives you a problem on light acceleration and cruise. There were a couple of alternative heads available with swirl pots and all sorts of combustion chamber mods to control the burn process. You may recall when unleaded first came out there were complaints about older series engines burning out exhaust valves mainly due to latency in the burn process causing higher temperature exhaust gases, even still burning gases leaving the pot. I am sure the MG owners club will be able help. Regards Peter
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Agree here with Budu's comments.
I'd recommend them. Run a 1.2 16v HLX CVT. Fantastic space inside and the aircon is spot on at this time of year. Granted, it looks a little ugly from the back, but having the slightly wider 185/60 14 Pirelli P3000 Energies at each corner gives the car a more 'agressive', sturdy look from behind and front.
Yes, the ride is shockingly hard and will rattle your fillings; there's a little groan from brakes when used at low speed (even though drum and discs/pads checked at recent Fiat service); two candles would be better than the headlights; the sunroof cover never stays in place; and 3/4 visibility is nil, but I like it. Put your foot to the axminster from a standing start and the peppy little 1242cc will haul you to 40 in light speed with the CVT making optimal use of gearing. Plenty of astonished 'hot-hatch' brigade looks. Great! However, it's not great from 40-60 / 50-70 and overtaking on single roads takes a little confidence!