August 2004
hi i've never sold a car before and wondered who i have to notify and what i do with the tax (if anything)??
The car is 14 years old so there's none of the new forms and stuff. Appreciate any help. thanks Read more
Just had a visit from some of the wife's friends - a retired couple (early retired, I should say).
They've just had their MGF 1.8 trailered back from the South West after the head gasket failed whilst they were on holiday there. They car is a second car and the husband is pretty gutted - he bought on his retirement in 2001 and its been treated like a new-born baby ever since. Driven gently and checked before every trip. Just 20k on the clock.
The car is just out of warranty and main dealer has quoted £750 to repair. Lucky, because he bought it and had it serviced with them they are making noises about paying half the cost.
I suggested he has it repaired and then gets shot of it. Read more
When I replaced my BMW M51 head, it had to be retorqued, what a pig of a job, it took an hour to do, at least to stripp all the pipes and brackets and umpteen bolts and then retorque and reassemble and reseal the vacuum pump etc...
Now, when the dealer did the head gasket twice, they never bothered, they said noone bothers these days, but when I used their own CD manual I got off ebay, it gives explicit instructions to, in fact, I think the dealers are all corner-cutting and useless, lazy and thick, even when they seem friendly and competant,
I need help from people that know !!!
My garage can't sort this one.
Rover 416, petrol, Rover engine, manual g/box 50,000 miles 40mpg.
At small throttle openings, the engine & car jerks forwards / back like a kangaroo start.
For example, the engine could be on the over-run and you press the throttle slowly & gently to take up the drive & accelerate you would get maybe 3 seconds of 'kangaroo'.
Sometimes I have to dip the clutch to break the cycle.
Most noticable in lower gears, obviously.
The upper engine mounts are sound and the rear anti-rock engine mount is brand new. New plugs & spark leads from plugs to distributor and diagnostics find nothing.
Have cleaned throttle butterfly, its pivots are unworn & action smooth. No detectable manifold leaks.
Any help you can give to prevent whiplash injury would be great !!!
Thanks, Vinnie. Read more
>>He thinks the mixture may be too weak, it does 41mpg driving steady so he may have a point.
That MPG is about right for the 1.4/1.6.. I would also try. as has been mentioned. Dizzy cap and rotor arm as they did carbon up
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Steve
My L-reg Discovery sometimes starts to violently shake at the front,with a lot of loud rattling from under the front passenger side, usually between 50 - 65 mph. The steering wheel ossillates so much it is hardly steerable, I have stopped it by braking to 30-40mph, & by speeding up sometimes as well. It lately does it on long,slight right-hand bends, but at one time was set off by going over a motorway type flat bridge. Last year it took three visits to the garage to stop it - though they didn't know why it had stopped precisely! This year it started again after a spare wheel was temporarily fitted, & didn't improve after the new wheel was fitted, or after a subsequent visit to sort out the persisting fault. The garage is reputable, & have tried everything-at considerable expense. I'm sure its to do with a mismatch in balance between the front wheels, as its the front wheels & steering that are affected. Can anyone advise,please? ult. Read more
Gil
Not wishing to detract from the wealth of knowledge and advise this site generates, may I point out
tinyurl.com/62esz
the home of absolute fanatics on Landrovers of all sizes and shapes, from whom soemon may solve your problems.
DVD
The Haynes manual for my 1997 Astra says that the ignition timing is not adjutable. However, the car has a distributor and another Haynes publication (Engine Management) indicates that the timing can be adjusted. The latter manual suggests that the timing marks on the cam-belt housing and the adjacent pulley should be aligned using a strobe, and that the mark is not TDC but is the correct value BTDC. But when I aligned the cam pulley mark to TDC, I found that the bottom pulley/cam-belt housing marks are also aligned, indicating that these marks are in fact TDC and not the correct timing values.
So the questions are:
1). What is the correct value for the ignition timing for the X14NZ engine?
2). Am I correct in thinking that I need to scribe a new mark on the cam-belt cover to reflect this figure (presumably 5 or 10 degrees BTDC)?
Read more
According to my Haynes manual for the Corsa the X14SZ uses a Multitec Distributorless Ignition System, (The C14NZ has a distributor). Don't know if this helps.
good morning all,
just bought a nearly \"new\" JVC 12CD multichanger, off a \"mate\"??,which i fitted securely into the boot yesterday. Whenever i hit a bump, pothole, or even one of the smallest imperfections in our road surface, the cd jumps and stops then sorts itself out and carries on, another friend commented that i had bought a record turntable in disguise!!, his unit is just shoved loose under the passenger seat, and never misses a beat.
is there anything i can adjust, i cant actually see anything apart from various screwheads stuck in the casing, come to think of it now, \"mate\" always used chrome cassettes in his car!! i wonder why?.
thanks
billy. Read more
I have also fixed loads of dodgy CD' drives (playstations, Audio hi-fi's, computer cd drives) by cleaning (carefully) the lens, plus cleaning the carriage rails. Then they got so cheap you just chuck em now - not worth the effort.
I wonder if these guys have been watching the BR Big Brother's Garage - probably not - they didn't list the Alfa 156!
www.wanadoo.co.uk/motoring/dreamcar.htm?linkfrom=m...r
Hugo Read more
Have you tried the Car Top Trumps on the site? That took me back a bit.
I got to seven points until I got a Toyota Camry, and with a car as mediocre as that I was on a hiding to nothing.
Noticed front crossmember coated in "oil". Closer inspection revealed leak from power steering rack. Doesn't appear to be coming from any of pipes or joints.
On the underneath opposite where the steering column enters the rack is a plastic screw-in cap to the front of the rack (checked this is secure). Behind this to the rear of the rack is a metal cap of some kind with what looks like a recessed hex head to it. I think the leak is coming from this.
As the car is not worth much, I am tempted to kust to keep an eye on it. It just looks like a seal problem rather than a serious one e.g crack in the casing. I think it must have been leaking a while as power steering tank has not really dropped at all in a long time.
My questions are:
Is this a common fault and I am correct in assuming this is the cause of the leak)?
Is it easy to fix - can the cap/ resealed be removed without dropping the rack?
Is it serious assuming the very low leak rate?
Ta
Read more
Try your local motor-factor for an exchange.
Drive back from my local German pub after nice lunch, several Wiessbieren and an apfelkorn or three (well it's a private sub-division, so no worries about the occasional indulgence) . Very hot afternoon, need car later so leave it outside house under opposite neighbour's coconut tree in shade. Get out, lock it, Bang, whack! Coconut has plunged from tree, dented roof, bounced off and walloped me on the jaw in the rebound. *****y painful, those little mothers weigh, let me tell you.
I should have remembered it's August and coconut-falling season. Catherine who has been watching this is creased up and in danger of wetting herself. Felicitous murmurs of sympathy, first aid kit, dabs of alcohol, there there, where does it hurt, nice cup of tea etc?
In your dreams.
When she stops laughing she has the temerity to lecture me about bad language. I say it is Sunday, thou hast just been to church and thou shalt not mock the afflicted (Book of Growler 4:8)
Moral (distorted topical): beware of coconut trees offering gifts.
This could be an expensive one, since the dent-ist will undoubtedly have to remove the headlining.
Read more
Ouch! Am I right in thinking that they (coconuts) are a significant cause of death in tropical paradises such as yours? A certain symmetry, perhaps, especially in view of the summer we're having...
Does any body on the BR have experience of running a new Saab 9-3, I was interested to know how they drive, performance, economy, reliability, cost of serviving, dealer attitude etc etc...in addition given that new Saab's are based on a GM platform has SAAB reliability and performance been comprimised in any. Any replies will be appreciated. Thanks Read more
Oh come on guys
They took a Wartburg 3 cylinder 2 stroken engine renown for its unreliability and made it reliable. Similarly the Ford V4, the Triumph etc. They stood up to Ford on the rallies. They lead on built in rollcages. They lead on knock detectors, and turbos.
Sorry, that was when they were Saab. Sorry
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Your old log book - V5 - has clear instructions, on what to do, paperwork wise.
You leave the tax on the vehicle, unless it's being scrapped or you wish to claim back the unexpired FULL months, left. You get another form from the post office, to do that & send it off.
Make sure you get ALL the information required from the new owner, or you will be getting parking tickets a speeding fines, through your letterbox, let alone the new type log book!!
A car of this age, at a guess, will be a cash deal.But if it was cheque, make sure the bank clears it first.
VB