September 2004
I\'ve just heard on the news that this afternoon, four police cars crashed on the M61 near Chorley. Read more
Hi everyone. Not posted for a while, but this one has got me thinking.
I know that in a rear end shunt, the shunter, not shuntee, is usually at fault (should keep distance, anticipate braking etc.). But the other day I was following a car down a steep hill in heavy traffic and not once did its brake lights come on. Neither did they come on at the next set of traffic lights we both came to, also on a hill. So therafter I was watching carefully, for quite some time might I add, and I came to the conclusion that both bulbs were out (older car, so she didn't have an eye-level light). There is no way she (yup, 'fraid it was a woman) could have driven all that way without braking, given the route we were travelling: I matched my speed to hers and I had to brake, frequently. This was no simple anticipation of traffic conditions and slowing down through the gears.
So, my question is: what if she had braked sharply and I'd gone into the back of her? I would have had no warning, even though I was keeping a reasonable distance, but because of the flow of traffic most of us were fairly nose-to-tail. Does the keeping your distance still hold? And even if it doesn't, I wouldn't have been able to prove her lights were out if I'd been unlucky and smashed both of them.
I tried to attract her attention, just in case she didn't know, but failed. No doubt she's still driving around blissfully unaware - or perhaps she has Cyclops Syndrome, that nasty disease that?s on the rise again now it's winter, and it?s a particularly nasty dose of it.
(Oh, and another thing: I?ve just swapped jobs and my occasional foray into the city centre has become a daily two-way journey. How do you lot who do it regularly cope with all the selfish and cynical driving? Tips please because my stress levels have risen alarmingly!)
Carole
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Tried telling a patrol car that one of his brake lights was out a couple of years back.
Reaction: "Thanks, but you're the fifth person to tell me so far!"
Evening.
Is it possible to fit an A4 gearbox to typ 89 audi 80?
Assuming both engines are 1.8.
Any problems with speedo? Read more
Was a bit of a shot in the dark allright
Thanks for the info Ian.
Could be an expensive mistake - unleaded in the diesel tank and diesel in the unleaded. Take care if you filled up in Hull.
www.thisishull.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?command=newPa...6
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Its bound to happen with thousands of deliveries being made every day unless its made technically impossible.
My son in law used to drive tankers for Wincanton badged as Esso I think. The driver is not supposed to lift the manhole covers but he points out that with girls in charge this isn't practical in many locations. He tells me that you become neurotic in keep checking the fuel line from the tanker to the connection to make sure you havent got it wrong. But..it still happened at his depot and the driver is in big trouble when it does. Even bigger trouble if he doesn't recognise his mistake and immediately inform his depot and have the affected pumps shut down.
All his deliveries were in the night when often there is just one person on duty locked behind a door. He also tells of one filling station in the West Midlands late at night when some lowlife were shooting air guns at the tanker while he was discharging.
Also yobs on their way home coming in to give grief to the driver. No wonder it can happen..
I have been to a RapidFit (Ford) garage to see about an oil change for my Rover 420SLDi Turbo. They recommend their 15/40 oil which appears to be a mineral oil, their 10/40 also seems to be a mineral oil and only their 5/30 is semi-synthetic. Rover recommend 15/40 or 10/40 to PD2 standard.
As I do not know the history of the car, I will not put mineral oil in it but the mechanic seems to think it is OK. It seems to me to be a backward step. I cannot find out any further information.
Any BR's help? Thanks in advance.
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Here's an interesting forum for Rover owners, one of whom wants to know if it's practical to convert a 1992 K-series 214 manual to an automatic...:-)
www.rovertorque.co.uk/techeng.html
One on using synthetic oils in diesel engines:
www.leeric.lsu.edu/bgbb/7/ecep/diesel/a/a.htm
The Mitsubishi Carisma that is.
I've just been looking through the Mitsubishi web site and went into the car configurator thingy and built my self a fully loaded Carisma.
It appears to be a lot of car for the money, but there are more than a few negative comments made about them. Has enyone out there run one long term? and as the subject title says - "is it really that bad?"
Thanks Read more
The Volvo connection arises because Mitsubishi and Volvo built a new plant in Holland
They formed a new joint company at the same time, too, Nedcar.
Events move on though, and with the new S40/V50 being produced down the road in Ghent, Belgium, I recall that Volvo have now / are in the process of selling out to Mitsubishi.
Agree with the irony over the name, as the Carisma is dull, dull, dull, both to look at, and drive, I'm afraid. Although also now behind the times, I've found the sister S40s that I've driven to date, especially in 2.0T guise but excepting a horrid 1.9D, to be much better cars to drive, to be in, and to look at.
Takes Allsorts though.
What do you people think about facelifted Citroen C5 ? (www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=149 Any good ? We all know there were many problems with that limo, but maybe now would be a good time to give it a chance this time around. I\'m for ride comfort, so I guess there would be no other option for that kind of money... Read more
Right, though I must admit '215' seem somewhat rare. Look at most middle-class cars, Mondeo, Vectra, Laguna, Avensis, they all come with '205'.
My daughter started her first insurance policy in her own name in July this year. She's 19 and has had a full license since January 2003. The policy is with Tesco and cost just over £800 fully comp for a 2002 Peugeot 106. Unfortunately today she hit a 5 door Clio and damaged both doors on the drivers side. As contact was the rear corner of the Peugeot it has only suffered a broken rear light unit.
The other driver was very understanding and is going to get an estimate for the repairs and let us know how much it is so we can decide if it needs to be an insurance claim.
In order to come to a decision, does anyone know how much Tescos are likely to load the renewal next year if a claim is made? Read more
Here's something to throw a spanner in the works.
My "friend" who has crashed a number of times in 1 year (her first year) for some reason or other, had to switch insurers because I think she was insured with Vauxhall. Anyway, that's irrelevant.
The most notable crash was exiting out of Uni, onto a road, on which a Porsche Cayenne was traversing. She pretty much wrecked the front end of the car. How much was her premium with 2 claims and not even 1 years insurance? (She passed at Christmas)
Get ready
£1200
I'll be lucky to get that in my third year of driving with (hopefully) no claims.
That to me, is, quite frankly ridiculous.
/Rant over
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Adam
I hope to be in a position next year to hand my Mondeo TDCi to my wife and replace her (my) Toledo 1.8T Sport with something a bit quicker as the company will be paying for fuel. Insurance is quite reasonable on these two cars considering I am 27 and my wife 23 (£540 - 850 fully comp).
I have recently been out in a German colleagues Audi RS4 Avant which is now pushing out 470bhp (std 380bhp) and I was hooked. I have also noticed that you can buy a 3-4 year old BMW M5 for arounf £25,000 with reasonable mileage, which also sounds a decent price.
My concern is service costs, I have done 18,000 miles in the Mondeo since new (6 months old), and so would prefere to stick with a car without a cambelt (my old SEAT Leon TDi had huge cambelt service costs).
Can anyone tell me what experience they have had with service costs on these cars, and any problems that may arrise once upto and past 80k miles?
Neil T
Mondeo Ghia TDCi 130 Estate, SEAT Toledo 20VT Sport, Various Montegos... Read more
It would be nice to get an idea of actual service costs still though.
Eye wateringly expensive i should imagine.
A 1998 renault scenic turbo-diesel with new glow plugs starts easily from cold only when facing downhill; other car positions mean long spells of churning the starter motor. This "interesting" problem is an absolute pain in the neck (and ears) and is spoiling what is in many ways a nice car. Any ideas would be most welcome thank you. Read more
As Roly has said, it is an air leak into the low pressure system - no fuel will leak out but small amounts of air will get in, giving rise to this fuel drainback overnight.
Perseverence is the only option here - checking every inch of the fuel lines and the corresponding connections - all of them.
Best of luck.
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
(Apologies if this is about to be a post that Mark needs to delete, but even after thinking about it for 24 hours I can't let it go...)
PDC..
If your wife/mother/father/son etc was attacked at random in the street and later died, would you just accept it and say "Get over it, you're born and at some point you die"? I doubt it. You'd want it investigated and the person at fault brought to justice. I can't see how this is any different to someone being killed on the road.
I had some small involvement (I didn't do it!) in the investigation into the death of a prominent restaurant owner earlier this year, and the scene was sealed off for weeks! At last the family could have some sort of closure over why on earth their relative had been killed, and relief that the person responsible had been caught. I didn't hear anyone complaining about the fact that they couldn't have a chinese meal on a friday night, or they couldn't walk and go about their business on that piece of street for a few weeks.
I can see that I just don't think the same as many people on this thread, so I'll leave it there.