August 2004
Engine oil was changed at National Tyres using Duckhams QXR oil 10W-40 on Honda Civic. I couldn't find the same brand/grade from the shops I visited. Any advice or suggestion on alternative for topping up? Thanks, Dump. Read more
Having just returned from holiday this evening, and driving across Fance in "now it is, now it isn't"-type rain, I've tried to find a definition of what weather actually constitutes the wetness necessary to lower the speed limits on French roads - does it actually have to be raining? Does a wet road after a heavy downpour but with rain not actually falling mean the speed limit is reduced? I've tried googling the answer with no luck, just statements that the speed limit is reduced "in the wet". Does anyone know of a definitive test that Monsieur le Plod will apply prior to booking the unsuspecting?? Or is it, as I suspect, subjective rather than objective? Read more
You're welcome, Mike.
I have spent the last 10 years of my working life (and probably the next 10) dealing with *yawn* automotive regulations so can generally find the answer to these sort of questions...
Rebecca
PS Would have put you out of your misery earlier but was on hols.
I only have two Ford manuals to judge by but are owners manuals dumbing down?
Obviously lots of useful info in the manuals but two examples follow where I think the basic data should be supplied.
I am much more likely to need this info rather than even the oil filter type.
I should not need to phone round to get this information.
From RTFFordM I am now a much wiser owner of a MK II Mondeo.
Is it unreasonable that I might have to get a new battery or some tyres fitted?
Battery. The battery requires minimal maintenance. The level of battery fluid is regularly checked as part of every service,
No mention of battery specification.
So I have to trust it will be replaced at service time. If it just happens to fail some other time then I am vulnerable to being sold anything that fits.
The Focus manual says when replacing a battery, the current and capacity of the new battery must correspond with that of the old battery. WOW!
Tyres. I read that I cannot fit snow chains. Tyre size is specified and a little * says Summer tyres TR HR or VR depending on engine.
So one again I am vulnerable to being sold anything that fits.
Are other makes manuals similar to Ford?
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Hehe - like the Opel handbook - no mention of fuel requirements, whether it takes leaded or unleaded ...
I was interested in looking at the post that many cars that are Japanesse are built in the UK and suffer build and reliability problems as a result. I thought it would be nice to know where all cars in the past and present were built, and what engines (if not their own) they use(d) with specific dates.
For example, the Toyota Yaris is being built in france. Or that the Avensis diesel uses a peugeot engine and is built in france (I think).
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This efficiency not only drives reliability up, but also drives costs down, so increasing profit.
Only if the overall increase in profits exceeds the cost of the efficiency improvements, which is not always the case, from personal experience!
I presently own a 125cc motorcycle with a 4 stroke engine. It has covered 21,000 miles to date in two years and I am having a slight problem. When I take the bike for a journey of high speed (i.e. 60mph plus), if I travel around 100 miles the bike breathes excessively and engine oil comes out through the breather hose. If I travel 120 miles at high speed, the oil goes from full to just above the min mark on the dip stick. However, around town riding and short bursts of riding at 60mph (i.e. for 20 miles) does not exhibit this problem and has used no oil to date with this type of riding.
I am worried because I have looked after this bike with very frequent oil changes and services with out fail, and hope this does not mean the end of this wonderfully reliable bike. I have never thrashed the bike from cold, and there is no smoke from the engine at all.
Your comments would be much appreciated.
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I read the haynes manual for scooters and there is no information about the breather system. It says to empty the breather as a matter of maintainance, and that is all. Perhaps it is just a thing with scooters, that at high speed (8000rpm), they just breath and for that reason there is a breather pipe with space behind the air filter to keep the material until emptied.
My garage checked compression, and it is fine. When I open the oil cap when the engine is running, no air comes out. My mechanic in Brighton (Gerry Ingram) says all bike breath like this, and assured me it is not a worn engine.
I bought a Stilo last June. 14 months later and the drivers side electric window has jammed twice causing the window to explode showering my wife & two year old daughter with glass twice. The first time the dealer fixed it FOC, this time I am still waiting to see.
Fiat customer services have yet to even offer a real apology. Has anyone else had such a fault or bad tratment off Fiat??
I\'m beginning to wonder if they believe me - I think they think the car has been broken into! Read more
It should be easy to check, by law all electrically operated windows on new cars have to have a fail safe where under a specified pressure (do not know what this is) the window has to retract automatically.
This pressure is much lower that the tensile strength of the window glass. Therefore it should be easy to check if the window retreats by applying pressure with you hand to the window when operating the window in the up position.
If it does not return or you feel significant strain then there is a fault with the window lift system.
Carse
I have a P reg 2.0 litre Subaru Legacy which has developed a 'flat spot' in engine response between 2,000 and 2,500 rpm. As soon as it hits 2,500 rpm you can feel the power come back in. It's a non turbo petrol engine but it almots feels like 'turbo-lag'. I though at first it was caused by cheap supermarket petrol but switching to a proper brand has not helped. Could it be fuel filter, HT leads or...?
Thanks. Sad Chicken
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>>Could it be fuel filter, HT leads or...?
rotor arm or distributor cap. Could be.
I was just wondering what people's worst test drive experinces were?
I drove a 2 year old Honda CR-V today, with the usual blurb of 1 owner 27k miles, fsh etc etc, and on the surface looked like a very nice car.
During the test drive the car accelerated very poorly ("Its a characteristic of the honda VTEC engine sir!" yep sure it is!!!!). When i pushed the brakes, there was about 10cm of travel ("normal with brake wear sir"). This progressed to the brake pedal touching the floor during an emergency stop ("normal for brake wear sir"). On the way back to the showroom a loud whine started at 40 mph which was clearly coming from the front of the car.
Back at the showroom the dealer proceeded to tell me that the noise was probably nothing, a bit of brake binding, and that the movement of the brake pedal was normal for a car with 4x disc brakes (Yeah right, not only is that rubbish, i think its also an MOT fail point). Needless to say i walked away!
Sid Read more
Many moons ago when I was nobbut a lad,my father and I went for a test drive in a Simca 1100. It broke down, but nonetheless he bought one. After taking delivery, not the demo I hasten to add, it too broke down en route home. Needless to say it did not remain in the household for long.
I see BMW are going to fit Peugeot engines in the next Mini which is to be launched in 2006.
One questions how much further they are prepared to lower their technical integrity to achieve ever higher profit margins in order to appease their company accountants.
www.autocarmagazine.co.uk/news_article.asp?na_id=2...0 Read more
DaimlerChrysler,Hyundai/Kia & Mitsubishi are producing engines together soon, its called GEMA (Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance) and the cost saving is said to be massive.
Hi All,
Just wondered if any other Nissan Primera 2.2 DCI owners (New shape) have had the same fault as I have just experienced.
About a month a go I set of for work and soon as I put my foot down and the turbo kicked in the engine managment light came on and the car went on to limp home mode (Complete lack of power no turbo)
I limped to the Nissan garage where they said there was a wire which had broken down which had something to do with the turbo.
All repaired and fine UNTILL I went on holiday with family this weekend when the same fault occured. I called the RAC who were excellent and arrived in 15 minuites. They showed me where the same wire had come adrift. The Garage on the last repair rather than get a new conector just cut back the wire and resoldered it so it would have been constanly pulling and again the wire broke. They were a renault dealer who just took on Nissan franchise to)
the RAC man spent 30 mins getting a spare bit of wire, Soldered it and made me a temp repair which is better than the dealer repair.
Today I went back to the dealer and saw the new (and thankfully experianced)Nissan service forman who said that it he had heard of this before and the conector was make to short from the factory. It is the wire conector in the top right of the engine that controls the fuel injection of the diesel when the turbo cuts in. He is now ordering me a new part which should arrive tomorrow.
Has anyone else had the same fault!
(The car is 2003 Nissan Primera 2.2 DCI SVE 136ps)
Cheers
James
PS Well done to the RAC. Excellent service! Read more
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I have heard of this idea too, but different sources say diffrent things. I was under the impression that it was OK to mix similar quality oil of similar 'make-up', i.e. minieral and mineral, synthetic to synthetic. However, was told that it was bad to mix Mineral and fully synthetic etc.
My car handbook says that it is Ok to mix different oils, but others specifcally state that the SAME oil must be used for top up.
I'm no mechanic, so could be totally wrong.