January 2005
I have a Volvo 2.0litre turbo which runs very well under most conditions.
However it has developed a habit of being reluctant to start when cold (starts OK when hot). When cold it turns over for 15 to 20 seconds before starting to fire. It then starts on 2 or 3 cylinders and runs roughly for another 5 seconds before all 4 cylinders are in service. It usually puts out a small cloud of black smoke like it's been over fuelled as it starts; a bit like a carburettored engine being given too much choke.
Once started and run for 10 to 15 seconds it runs normally; smooth operation, idles correctly.
Any of you guys had experience of this or have any pointers? Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks in advance. Read more
Is it me or is there a conspiracy to ruin perfectly good TV motoring programmes with awful rock 'music'? I surf the channels quite a bit and often seem to find interesting programmes only to discover that they contain endless mindless noise masquerading as background music. Do the programme makers assume that anyone who's interested in cars and/or motorbikes is also a fan of this 'music' or is there some other reason for spoiling what are often very interesting programmes? The other day I even came across an angling show accompanied by some really dodgy heavy metal! What's going on? Turn that racket OFF!
(rant over) Read more
Yes indeed... on 11 you don't need anyone playing...the guitar just does its own thing if you trip over it!
Thought I remembered someone here was Tap trained.
M.M
I went to BCA in Blackbushe for a couple of hours yesterday, and noticed a Mondeo Estate, a car which I'm interested in, but wasn't in a position to buy at this time.
It was a new shape LX, I think Y reg, a 2.0 TDDI(115 bhp), with 130k warranted miles, in dark metallic blue, and it looked okay to my untrained eye. As it was in the Lex sale, I assume it had a fullish service history.
However, it only went for £2400, which I think was a sale, not provisional. This seemed amazingly cheap, and I'm wondering if I missed anything, either with this particular car, or Mondeo estates in general.
Any ideas welcomed..... Read more
On a serious note the sad thing is a car like this could be bought and sold at a third of the mileage and 3k more. Fortunately, as far as I know the fleet you mention gives mileages to the BVRLA to support the anti-clocking databases. No-one likes a rip off.
One of the brighter ideas to come from our enlightened traffic managers....
tinyurl.com/45vje
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"O-o sige po" (Yes, sir, sure):
"dapat may element of surprise." (it's appropriate/necessary there be an element of surprise).
"Talaga ng ganoon, there will always be criticisms," (Really, it's like that/normal/to be expected).
I can't see this one flying, any more than the bus-only lanes did or the famed Prison Bus, which for a brief and glorious while collected jaywalkers and took them off to Police HQ where they had to clip the grass with nail scissors for an afternoon. Pity really. Imagine a 4 lane carriage way. The first is taken up with hundreds of people all competing for a bus (there are no bus stops, buses stop anywhere they like, usually in the middle of the road so they don't lose ground to other buses in the face for passengers - drivers get paid according to the number of passengers they load. The second and third, and often the fourth lanes can be full of quadruple parked buses blocking the entire road honking their horns and looking for passengers.
Love it or leave it, I guess.
Yesterday my pc began to behave oddly on startup after deleting some old programmes. It now gets part of the way through the sequence and then asks if I want to boot up normally, or in safe mode etc. When I choose normally, I then get another screen asking if I want to start with Windows XP. After saying yes to that, everything then goes on as it should and it runs with no problems. What have I stuffed up, and how can I recover? Read more
Is SP2 necessary?
Reading this may assist you to make up your mind:
www.pcw.co.uk/features/1159142
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
This afternoon, Lady Stripey and I were in town, cruising the Stripemobile towards a T junction. We were travelling up the 'leg' of the T towards the crossroads. As we neared the junction, a woman driver appeared from our right, turned into our road, cut the corner, swung across our path (causing us to brake) and slammed straight into the car park of the building at the left hand side of our road without looking, slowing or signalling.
She was a policewoman, driving a marked police car and the building is the nick. No, it was not an emergency. She dropped her (male copper) passenger, bid him a farewell then backed out and continued on her way, following us until she got bored.
What does one do under these circumstances? Read more
I got pulled up on the M11 on SHMBO's scooter, my normal bike being in for service.
Plod was disappointed when I pulled out a full driving licence (probably, as in the previos posting, dating from before he was born) despite still having her L plates up.
how do i centralise the steering wheel in my 1994 punto 75 SX Read more
Or you've put the tracking out of line by hitting a kerb or bump.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
Am I the only one who thinks the new long wheelbase A Class looks like a hearse. I see a black one regularly and I keep expecting to see a coffin in the back!
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\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\" Read more
A bit like the PT cruiser then..
Just recently I seem to have run a couple of red lights. The reason was that I had the whole family in the car and there did not seem to be enough time to bring the car to a standstill safely without skidding or throwing them all into their seatbelts in the time allowed for the amber light.
I'm speaking of a 40mph or 50mph zone not a 30mph.
Is there a fixed time for the amber light irrespective of the maximum permitted speed of the road, and if so, shouldn't the time be varied to permit a safe and smooth deceleration?
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive? Read more
At the crossroads where the A4135 and the A46 cross there are traffic lights. Approaching them from either direction on the A46, a trunk road, there is a localised speed limit of 50mph. The road is generally 60mph. Approaching them from either direction on the A4135 there is the national speed limit(60mph).
I use this crossroads using the A4135 twice daily. The lights are quite well set up and react to the volume of traffic on each road very well. Approaching them going towards Tetbury the visibility is very good. The road is fairly straight and if the traffic away from Tetbury is heavy then the green is on for a "long" time. There are obviously many factors to be aware of approaching lights including people turning right. I am waiting for someone travelling towards Tetbury to take these lights at 60mph, on green, and then realise that the apparantly straight crossover has a nasty kink in it. There is a handy wall to stop them! This crossroads needs the same speed protection on all approaches. I think amber timing should be tied to the legal speed allied to the road, and in this case, the legal speed should be suitable as well.
If anyone is trying to find the site on the map, the junction is in Gloucestershire, the A46 is between Stroud and Bath and the A4135 between Tetbury and Dursley.
news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/...m
Remains to this day the number one selling electric vehicle in this country (ignoring milk floats) but was a PR disaster.
20 years on are we any closer to mass produced electric cars?
What will it be like in 20 years time? Read more
Hybrids look attractive, but I wonder whether they might turn out to be technological dead end?
They add a huge load of extra machinery to car, increasing complexity and adding weight ... and the fuel saving they offer is really only in some driving conditions. They're not much use for the long-distance motorway driver.
We don't yet know what the lifespan of these hugely complex machines will be. Whatever it is, it'd be interesting to see how energy-efficient they really are over a full life-cycle.
They might come out well from that sort of assessment, but I'm very suspicious of such baroque technology.
Browse
Yes I wasn't sure whether you had that type or not. Not so easy to test but a remove and a good clean and refit would not go adrift. Also is the opertunity arises when the car is cold and it is dark and there is someone with you. crack the bonnet open and get someone else to crank the car to see if you can see or hear arking where the HT may be breaking down. If it fails to start it may be approprite to establish whether you have a spark at all by removing numer one or 4 and having a peice of copper wire handy to insert into the plug cap and allow it to ark to eath/chassis. Regards Peter