February 2005
Can anyone tell me why the differential housing on the rear axles of army trucks and Land Rovers is always painted white? Thanks!
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She's been offered, by her casual acquaintance, who apparently has a business (name unknown) of importing cars from Japan, a Toyota Previa year 2001, 7-seater I know nothing else about this car) for 4K.
Any comments? Suitable? Shady? Proceed with caution, or RLF? Read more
I've been to the dockside auctions in Southampton where you get a chance to see hundreds of vehicles going for sale. The most noteworthy thing about them is the complete lack of rust. Some have some body damage, most likely caused during shipping.
What influenced our decision to buy an Estima was seeing the state of Galaxies, 806's etc available at the same price. They were pretty much all sheds with galactic mileages.
My advice would be to buy from a dealer who will give you a 6 month warranty in case the cylinder head goes or buy a car privately with a history that shows the necessary work has been done.
My head was replaced just after I bought the car (never felt a thing), along with the turbo and the car drives sweetly. We took it to the south of France last year and I'd hop in it tomorrow and do it again.
...I will be on my way to see Mr Hammond, Mr Clarkson, the Stig and the posh bloke with the floppy hair, all thanks to a very very lovely member of my collection of dads. :)
Even better, it's a Top Gear for American TV, so I don't need to worry about looking like a hippo on TV for all my friends to see!
Polo has a new set of fluffy dice for the occasion, now I just need to decide what to wear!
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Thankfully it's only for American TV I think so I still get to remain gorgeous in your imaginations! And no to the photos too - I had my photo taken for the first time in 10 years at my graduation last week and that's it for another decade now! :)
.......bonnet-mounted fly deflectors?
.......front windscreen canopies?
.......wheelarch "spats"?
.......bench front seats?
.......column-mounted gear change?
.......handbrake levers between the driver's seat and the door?
.......etc?
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature. Read more
Re foot operated washer pump
My 1973 Escort automatic had one as well...it wasnt the washer jets that froze first but the rubber foot bulb. It also had a metal ring surrounding the bulb that operated a switch for the flick wipe.
StarGazer
We've all seen video clips of drivers doing stupid things haven't we - well yesterday on the nearby bypass we came across a guy driving along with what looked like the best part of a 3m length of timber (approx. 2x2) protruding diagonally from his front o/s window. The car's tailgate was wide open and unsecured and inside the boot space were a number of sheets of what looked like plywood or mdf precariously resting on the top of the rear seats and partially sticking out of the back. The guy was doing about 30 mph on a 50mph stretch of in fairly heavy traffic but seemed totally oblivious of the danger he was posing to other road users on either side of the carriageway!
This morning I heard a piece on Radio 5 concerning how little many drivers know about the basic controls and warning lights on their cars. Can't recall all the figures exactly but 1 in 8 had no idea what the rear demister switch was for, about 30-40% had no idea what the air-bag failure warning light was and a similar proportion couldn't identify the coolant temperature gauge!
The mind boggles. Read more
There's a thread on the subject of the dangers of unsecured items inside cars somewhere here. It stemmed from an interesting report on 5th Gear IIRC. Basically, don't carry stuff on the rear parcel shelf, try to secure loose items together, keep heavy shopping (tins etc.) etc in the footwellS behind the seats, make sure any tools are kept in proper containers in the boot, again close to the seat back and secured and don't be tempted to carry large sheet materials etc. inside the car resting on the seat backs etc. In an impact at just 30mph such things become highly dangerous.
Last night's Tonight with Trevor Macdonald looked at alternative ways of reducing road deaths. The main issue being road design. According to accidents stats the A59 between Harrogate and Skipton is the worst in Britain with a serious accident every two weeks. It featured a driver who was hit from behind whilst turning right and pushed into an oncoming car. The right turn is immediately after a left hand bend giving drivers little time to react to a stationary vehicle. The driver's daughter was killed in the accident - the inquest into the death did not look at the road design. A right turn refuge could have been provided at this point for just £10,000.
In another case in the West Midlands the Council's suggested answer to assist children crossing a major dual carriageway on their way to school was to install speed cameras, not a crossing as the accident stats suggest this is not what is needed - how does a speed camera stop traffic to allow people to cross? When the reporter asked the highways engineer to cross the road they were asked to stop filming!
No doubt there was some sensationalism in the story, but it was worrying to hear that road design is not look at as a contributing factor in road death inquests, unlike in Sweden where all factors are taken in to account. Read more
another dangerous one is the a61 harrogate ->ripon. bendy road, some deceptive corners, minimal chance of overtaking (or at least in normal cars)
lots of accidents.
they have put in passing places. ie on the few bits where o/taking was possible they narrow the road and put a painted layby in for sl9ower traffic to pull into. result - less chance of getting past slow cars. people start parking to eat sarnies in the passing places!
they could sort out two corners and make massive safety improvements, instead they mess about - and reduce the speed limits.
Help!
My W reg Octavia keeps fogging up whenever the outside temperature dips below 4oC i.e. when the climate control shuts off. It slightly mists up and then all of a sudden - poof! - we're completely whited out. Pull over, open windows and heater full blast for 3-4 minutes and we're away again.
The thing is, it definitely didn't do this last year or the year before. What would have changed to make it behave like this? Water leak or a blocked filter?
It's becoming a bit of a bore, and a little bit dangerous!
Thanks Read more
You could check the drain hose for the aircon located on the rear engine bulk head nearside below all all the little vacuum pipes and valves. Its under a little flap in the sound proofing and will probable be weeping water already when the air con is running. Cabin filter could be another cheap fix. The air con shut down temperature point can be lowered using software appropriate to the vehicule. Not sure if early SLX models support this.
I've searched the forum back to last April & can't find anyone with a similar problem :(
My Golf's alarm has started to go off at intermittent times (I didn't even know it had one, lol!).
Having read through the forum, I've discovered that my car has just developed the common 'rear washer problem' i.e the water sprays/moves with the wiper. I'm going to check if I've now got water in my boot tomorrow morning! I was wondering if this problem could be related to the alarm going off? As I didn't know it had this alarm, I'm therefore unaware of where the sensors are!
I've had the car for over three years now with trouble free motoring, so I'm very confused as to how this has suddenly developed. Any advice or thoughts re' what I should do, would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Leon Read more
Thanks for that link John, I'm annoyed with myself I didn't read that one amongst the 110 pages I checked!!!
Funily enough, the rear pipe had been fixed when I got the car (staining to roof near the windscreen :( ) so looks like this is the problem.
And yes, it did waken my neighbours early in the morning,they then knocked me up to tell me my alarm was going off!
Thanks for the info ;)
I'm just in the process of booking flights and accommodation for a business trip to Japan later this year. Going to be visiting some Japanese auto component suppliers.
I will be staying in the greater Tokyo area and using public transport most of the time - however, I will have about four days free and wondered about hiring a car to see a bit of the country away from the cities. Has anyone hired a car in Japan or driven in Japan? Also, is anyone aware of any car factory tours? - I wouldn't mind going around the Nissan or Toyota plants and would rather make arrangements now instead of waiting until I get there. Read more
Silly as it may seem considering the fact i work for Toyota 3 miles from the factory i've never been inside!
Hi
Not my car but my mate has an old shape 1995 Rover 214i and is having performance issues. He has just had the headgasket done and a new cam belt. The car has run fine for a couple of weeks and now is seriously down on power.
I have drove the car and cannot get it past 4000revs...its like the rev limiter is kicking in although I dont think it has one!!
We have replaced the plugs and air filter as they were due anyway but has made no difference.
The car is going back to the garage but any ideas would be great so to give them a few ideas or something that can easily be fixed..
Thanks Read more
Blocked exhaust? Maybe they dropped something down there when they had the head off.
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And it's a T34 / 76, the upgunned larger turret version of the original T34. At least 60 years old