October 2004
Can anyone tell me what pinking is? Read more
Let me paint you a little picture; dual carriageway 40 limit with two side roads joining from left, junctions about 1/4 mile apart, between the side roads a single carriageway service road for the houses, 30 limit, running parallel with the dual carriageway. Service road joins the side roads at either end at a T junction giving way to the side roads. Traffic trundling along at 20-25, me in my Transit, MGF behind, police traffic car in front. Guy in the MGF decides he's far too important to wait, exits into service road and screams down it at about 60 to try and beat the traffic at the next side road. Policeman shakes his head and watches as the MGF speeds along with driver busy watching the gap in the main road traffic he's aiming for. Sadly the MGF driver wasn't watching straight ahead otherwise he would have seen the Range-Rover waiting to join the main road at the next junction, sees it too late a ploughs straight into the side of the R-R with a squeal of brakes and a lot of blue smoke.
Policeman in front shakes his head quite a bit more, puts on his blue lights a pulls over, probably already licking his pencil.
I've seen the MGF do this little trick several times before, today he choose exactly the wrong time to get it badly wrong, or from my point of view exactly the right time and with exactly the right witness!
Cockle Read more
Nice one, only wish Mr. Policeman would notice some of the motorcyclists who weave in and out on the motorway at great speed putting their bikes through gaps no self respecting Maltese bus driver would consider.
I know the for and against Optimax argument has raged over many posts but I have noticed that Sainsburys sell unleaded 4 star for just 2p more per litre. My BMW 530 handbook recommends 98 octane. I only recently noticed this weeks after buying the car and running it on 95 octane. The Sainsbury's unleaded 4 star is 97 octane. Is this a poor man's Optimax?
Incidently my 3 year old 530 runs well on 95 but I must try Optimax soon and compare it.
Read more
If your handbook recommends 98 octane then that is what you should be using. You will not obtain optimum performance or economy on anything less and may even damage your engine.
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\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
I've finally done a deal and sold my damaged Rover 100 as seen in the classified section for £200. The guy who bought it will be using it for spares for some sort of mini clubman kitcar thing he's building.
One snag, I'm in Shrewsbury he's in Huddersfeild (about 115 miles) and I need to get the car to him. Although the car drives fine and is taxed and mot'd it is missing both headlights and front bumper hence making it unroadworthy. I hired a Transit locally 6 months ago to move house for a very reasonable £40 for the day. The transit seamed huge inside, I got all my worldly belongings in one go. If the Metro did actually fit inside then this has got to be the cheapest way to move it (he's not worried about bodywork getting damaged as he's only interested in the oily bits).
Before someone suggests using a trailer I don't have a towbar, nor does anyone I know willing to lend me a car with one.
Had a look at ford and what van? website but can only get load bay length and volume.
The car is approx 153cm wide, 140cm high, and 346 long. Any idea if it would fit much appreciated. Read more
>> "I never speed in built-up areas but do so pretty
much everywhere else"
I just spat my coffee everywhere. I can only assume that
either he was drinking when he said it or you were
drinking when you heard it.
And before you start spluttering, No Dosh, I did follow you
around Warwick town centre the other day - remember ?
It doesn't count when it's raining :o)
My daughter's car started loosing cooling water about 10 months ago but never any sign where it was coming from until we traced it from the expansion tank overflow due to too much pressure in the system. Even if I leave the car to cool down for 2 weeks (away on holiday) before checking the water level there's still pressure (definitely not vacuum) in the water system. Apparantly these systems are notorious to vent the air out of but I tried the upturned bottle (bottom cut off) sealed in the expansion tank cap hole to act as a header tank above the level of all hoses etc. The results were as follows; a lot bubbles started to bubble up through the bottle within seconds of starting the engine, it took 25 minutes for the thermostat to open and bubbles continued all this time and at the same rate after the thermostat had opened, they only stopped when the engine was switched off and did so within 1 to 2 seconds of switching off the engine. As soon as the engine restarted they started again and stopped as soon as the engine was switched off. Initially I hoped the initial bubbles were air venting from the system, then I thought because the thermostat was closed the bubbles were the result of boiling water but they continued after the thermostat opened and stopped immediately the engine was turned off. Which has led me to conclude it's a head gasket leak or crack in the cylinder head or wet liners. We don't get steam out of the exhaust shortly after starting the engine nor do we get water in the oil (except the normal for short local journeys). It has got a bit worse over the 10 months but not catatrophically which leads me to think the worse and it's a crack not just the gasket. Can you think of anything else it might be before I take the cylinder head off, I'm desparately looking for any easier answer, not least because the cost of a replacement head is probably a repair too far.
Thanks Read more
Pressure reatined in the tank for 2 weeks!?
Definately Head Gasket - the TUD 1.4 is a little prone to this.
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
I guestimate 1 in 3 private registrations I see are altered in some way - spaced incorectly, studs used to alter certain letters or numbers, size variations - for example 7's made to look like 1 or I.
Whilst obviously hardly a major crime do the police actually bother to stop any of these offenders? - judging by the numbers abusing the system I doubt it.
P.S. I am not knocking private plate buyers in general, I have one myself. Read more
I agree that in general these personalised number plates do little more than identify the driver as a prat, but recently I've noticed a worrying trend towards fitting school buses with personalised plates - obviously to conceal the real age of the things and not worry parents that their little darlings might end up in a ditch!
Graeme
I planned to test drive a private sale car and 'phoned my insurance company (Direct Line) to extend my cover for the day. I know that I have 3rd party cover for a car not owned by me but I'm not driving somebody else's car with only third-party cover!
DL: "Is the car already insured by the owner?"
Me: "I assume so - I haven't seen his insurance certificate if that's what you want to know"
DL: "We can't extend your policy to cover this car as it's against the law for a car to be covered by more than one insurance policy - if you want to drive this car you'll need to get added as a named driver on the owner's policy...."
...
Surely not! Of course I didn't bother. Why should a private owner add (at the risk of his NCB) a potential purchaser to his insurance.
This sounds like a load of codswallop to me. Thoughts? Read more
A problem this as I would not buy any vehicle without first driving it myself. The seller could be masking all sorts of problems with hid driving style.
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\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
Hi,
A elderly friend has a much loved Renault Fuego which he has owned from new that is fully road worthy and in perfect condition despite being 20 odd years old.
But he's after some new tyres. It has as from new Michelin 200/65/R's on Renault alloys and it looks like he can not get any 200 width rubber. So my questions is dose anyone know if you can get this width tyre? Or any orther suggestions?
Many thanks,
James. Read more
Can anyone remember the fantastic advert (filmed in the desert if I recall properly)?
The battery finally succumbed after another 2 months of non use.
Jump started ok but battery would not hold charge (8 years old so not complaining). Alarm became very confused to the irritation of neigbours and did not want to reset properly until I discovered that manually opening and closing the passenger door would reset it permanently! Trick worth remembering.
No problem , new battery, and now fires, starts and and ticks over at first touch. HOWEVER for the first 2 -3 minutes engine refuses to 'pickup' when any load is applied or accelarator is opened anything other than very slowly. It then runs and drives perfectly. Ambient temperature is not a problem 22 deg C down here today!
I first thought that ECU was retraining itself (after flat battery) but have now done about 50 miles and fault still reoccurs. Petrol is now all fresh. It is worse if car has not been used for more than about 60 minutes.
It does need servicing and plugs are 35k old (previously they were good for 50k) and has never exhibited any sign of misfire or similar problem in the 85k since new.
Any good ideas please??
(or is it sulking that it may have to go back to the UK?)
pmh (was peter) Read more
Problem solved at last! But worth a laugh at my expense and may save somebody some time in the future.
The problem persisted despite new plugs (just about due any way at 35k), search for sensor connector problems and vacuum leaks. And then problem started to manifest itself as intermittent loss of power at about 3500 rpm in 5th causing loss of about 10mph, which could be cleared by dropping a gear temporarily and then changing back. No problems in round town driving after the 4 -5 minute warm up period.
ECU diagnostics showed no error codes. But the mpg had apparently dropped from a normal 44 mpg.
Open Air filter box and find that some animal had made a nest incorporating large non degradeable eucalyptus leaves and bits of air filter in bottom of box and air inlet piping. No sign of animal tho' but probably frightened off by mechanical activity. Presumably the intermittent nature was due to animal adjusting its position for added or less warmth as car warmed up. New filter and all cleaned out and ran almost perfectly. A small hesitancy continued to exist, but this was solved with a replacement MAF.
I should have included in the original post that car had been unused for about 6 weeks before the problem occurred, and somebody would probably suggested it. The flat battery (and ECU power down) and battery replacement was just a red herring!
pmh (was peter)
I have a 1998 406 1.9td with 70k miles with a varying idle speed. Most of the time it idles at just over 1000rpm(which I think is too high) and occasionally it drops to approx 850-900 rpm for short periods. What should the idle speed be at normal operating temperature? What would be causing this variation?
I have also discovered some dampness around the spare wheel... any suggestions?
The car is becoming increasingly reluctant to start even when warm. I have to let the glowplug light extinguish and then another few seconds before it fires up. Do the glowplugs need changed? How do I check them? Read more
I had water in wheelwell and under back seat of my '96 150000 miler, an ancient bump to the back bumper caused a leak in the left side of the boot where the bumper nuts enter the body. Look under the left storage bin and see if there is water in that well, I used silicon to seal the holes in the well and where the water entered. The water tracked through holes in the storage well along the wiring loom and black sound damping material. You see lots of these 406's with this type of bumper knock so I hope it's of some use.
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