September 2004
Overheating. water & steam from exhaust, steam bubbling from radiator immediately on starting....compression down on 2 cylinders....removed head....gasket surprisingly intact but obviously leaking between 2 of the combustion chambers and the coolant channels....pitting corrosion in head in these areas...questions are: Should I just replace with a reconditioned head or would it be cheaper to dismantle the head and have it repaired in a local machine shop and then rebuild and why has this happened at only 140,000 miles when I have had the car from new (petrol 8v 1.2) and changed the coolant every two years? Read more
And also a spoof newspaper called the "Daily Splat" which I'm ashamed to admit I read bits of. Those Renault marketing bods must have some beefy budget to play with.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land Read more
Well, say what you like, but through advertising, marketing and styling Renault have managed to distance themselves and carve a slot in a crowded European car market. This has been done on a Fun, stylish and chique basis. Making the most of The French reputation for style. As a result sales in most sectors are good across Europe.
Driving a Laguna, I feel a little different, a bit more taste and style, a gallic shrug if you will, outside the Mr Mondeo man chasing Mr Passat man up the motorway crowd. Thats a Renault marketing and styling generated feeling.
Renault do top to bottom marketing that starts on the cadam screen, and ends on the TV screen.
This probably explains why they fail so badly in the executive "ordinaire" market where this marketing and styling falls flat (Its a more sobre, discrete, conventional thinking market)
Everyone raves about Honda reliabilty and "hondas do not rattle".
I bought new 3 door 1.6 sport December 23 2003,nothing but problems from day 1.
Screeching Brakes,creaking underneath which after many visits to the delaer resulted in new suspension struts on a car of 1500 miles!
New windscreen seal as faulty.
Yes the Honda dealer is helpful but on new honda all of this plus rear body fender not fastened --a Japanese car build in uk.
Thing is i changed from bog standard Astras which never had a problem or rattle they just drove.
I liked the Civic style and fact it helds its value.
Now I may change.does any other new Civic owner had problems ort is just me.
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some silliness removed. If any "non-silliness" was lost at the same time, please accept my apologies.
Saw two this morning.
Why do people buy them? Does anyone have one who can enlighten me?
Surely it must grate after a few months? You know the sort of morning, after a rough night, some bad news in the post, then you step outside and have to get in a car that is the chromatic equivalent of a grinning idiot. Read more
Weirdly there's always more of them on the other side of road though.
Actually, no matter what you're looking for, you nearly always see more cars on the other side of the road. Unless you're overtaking all the traffic on your own side, those on t'other side are the ones going past you
My Corolla needs an MOT shortly, and the front Pads are worn, and the discs have some corrosion - how can I tell if they are worn enough to fail an MOT ? The car stops OK (maybe just a little worse than it was from new - now 3 year old, but with 130k on the clock). Read more
yes it is ! So, off to change Pads & Discs ....
Nissan Micras with reverse parking sensors. What's that all about then? Read more
talking of Noddy cars, the Ford Ka convertible.
What's that all about then?
;-)
I've always tried not to hold up other cars too much when pulling a caravan, but last weekend I made a special effort, mindful of recent threads.
My observations for what they are worth are;
1) There seem to be fewer lay-byes on A and B roads than there used to be, and no advance warning. It helps no-one to try and do an emergency stop into a sudden unsignposted laybye.
2) You can't just pull a caravan over into any old space - you have to be sure it has good solid ground and is long enough, so that means slowing down, even if it proves unsuitable.
3) Keeping up a good speed means anticipating hills and trying to get a good run-up. I could pull in at the bottom to let a few people past, but I'd then be condemning a lot more to a long slow slog up the hill.
4) If you tail-gate a caravan you are invisible, so how am I supposed to know you would like me to pull over?
All that said, I don't mind pulling in even for just one or two cars if a suitable place comes up. And it is really nice when someone thanks me! Read more
Re: tailgating of caravans or any other vehicle for that matter.
If a driver is stuck right up behind another vehicle (which they shouldn't be) it makes their driving more difficult.
They need to concentrate much more on split second braking.
They are less likely to be able to see properly to pull out and overtake.
They cannot see what's going on in front ot the vehicle they're following (unless they are in a truck, in which case it's easy to literally overlook the car in front and not see its brake lights in time).
They cannot use any spare mental capacity to take in the scenery.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
....well I know what I wanted to say but it didn't come out quite right.
I personally hate any kind of radio, CD, cassette etc music when I'm driving. For some reason I find it incredibly annoying, especially radio-talk with the damn commercials every 3.3 minutes for shampoos or intimate feminine essentials promoted by soap opera "stars" Thus my cars always get sold on with pristine sound systems. I can never learn what all those stupid tiny buttons do anyway.
Doesn't mean I don't like it at home, I have over 2,000 jazz and blues CD's and tapes and vinyl (good jazz is at its finest on vinyl), but I can't stand it in the car. I prefer a zen-like quietude in the car punctuated only by swearing at other drivers.
Growlette however drives hers with Pinoy singers belting out Tagalog love ballads, although thankfully she abhors hip-hop (aptly known as "monkey music" where I live). Says it keeps her from concentrating (huh?) Call her on her cellphone and you get a barrage of this along with her shrieking "I can't hear you!".
Anyone else share this antipathy of mine, or am I alone.....?
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Ordinarily a radio 4 listener, my car stereo is currently churning out "French with Michel Thomas" CD4 (of 8) for my daily commute.
Last night I had to rush home so I could sit myself down in the lounge, curtains closed, and revel in the delights of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy on radio 4 at 18:30. Pure magic, it would have been far less pleasurable in the car.
Although it does feature a Ford Prefect (motoring link).
How hoopy I was!
My boss owns one of the above - just three years old. The car is lacking power on inclines, almost as if the turbo isn't kicking in and he has to drop down to second and in some cases 1st gear. The car accelerates on flat roads no problem. No obvious black smoke from back end. His local garage cannot detect any probs using diagnostics. Anything obvious he should check? Read more
Faulty MAF sensor
Check the obvious firsst - disconnected intercooler rubber pipes are also common, the giveaway is loads of smoke and no power with a loud whistling noise.
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
Saw my first today on the road in the City.
Black (of course) 120D?
Strange proportions, its all bonnet. looks okish from the front or back but the profile of a shoe (you know all sole with a bit of arch and heel at the back) Read more
Avant is no good for me as it won't fit on my drive! A3/1 series is the limit.
I agree. The alloy head and iron block are an electrolytic corrosion battery with the water in the coolant acting as the conductor. So...
Why can we not use a non-water containing coolant eg neat anti-freeze, extra virgin olive oil etc?
Or why can we not just add a small amount of concentrated corrosion inhibitor to the coolant occasionally without changing the whole lot and risking an air lock?