April 2005
i drive a 97 ,2l vectra.when the car is in gear and mobile i can hear a noise from the nearside front end, the noise disappears when the clutch is depressed,there is no noise when the car is idling.thrust bearing ????if so , will i cause any damage if i continue to drive.how much to repair??? Read more
Did anyone see the Money program this week.
In short it was about the rise of and popularity of Hybrid cars.
The prius is very chic and popular with the gliteratti so sales are rising and Toyota is doing nicely thank you. In repsonse GM and Ford have said "me too" and are releasing hybrids.
That led on to SUV's wich are suddenly taking very bad press over there for being so eco unfriendly. So guesss what?
Yup the Explorer is now available with a hybrid power train. GM hot on the trail too.
So thats all right then.
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After revealling the contents of my boot, I have started thinking about whether I should carry a fire extinguisher.
I have never had a car fire, so I cannot talk from experience. Have you ever experienced a car fire and did an extinguisher do a good enough job putting it out or did the car still burnt out.
It would also be relevant if you could state if your car is petrol or diesel.
The only people I have ever talked to who have had and used an extinguisher, used them on other people's cars. What was most surprising was those drivers never offered to replace the extinguisher, presumably thinking this was a free service like the fire brigade.
Let me know your views. Read more
To digress slightly, I'm sure I remember reading that the Fiat Punto had a rally-style under-bonnet fire extiction thingy when it first came out. Or did I dream it?
Just replaced the plugs on my 2001 1.4 vvti corolla. The supplier did not have the correct plugs and gave me a set that are one heat number cooler. Car runs well on the new plugs. Am I likely to do any long term damage by what I have done?
Appreciate your comments. Read more
I have just noticed a knocking coming from the rear wheels of a '93 Honda Prelude 4WS, It hasn't been used for about a week and my own view is that it just a bit of rust bulid up on the discs. It increases in frequency as you accelerate but seems to be getting a bit quieter then it was before a short drive. The car has 180k on the clock and has been almost trouble free for that time. Any ideas would be greatfully received. Read more
Didn't think to try handbrake, but if I left foot brake then it goes away, hence why my thoughts about rust build up. Will try handbrake later. thanks.
I need to get some super resin polish in to some very lightly scratched paintwork. I know it will do a great job but I also know how hard it is on the elbow grease!
So I admit it. I'm wimping out in my old age, but I like the idea of taking some of the pain out of this task, it might encourage me to do it more often!
Has anybody used one of these orbital polishers? Are they as easy as they look? Most importantly though, do they do a good job? Read more
At one point I had two of these polishers sitting in my garage doing nothing.
Found them useless, trailing cables, only good for large flat areas and certainly no chance of gettting into nooks and crannies with them.
Also, when polishing car manually with a cloth, every so often I will give the cloth a shake to remove any dust etc attached to it - can't really do this with an orbital without removing the cover every time.
I've got a 99 Bora 1.6 8v. It started misfiring and running poorly
at the weekend only when warmed up showing 80C+ on the temp gauge. The car runs OK on low throttle openings but when accelerating at more than granny pace or a steady 50mph+ it's misfiring.
The car is in with a local dealer today - just had a phone call with the findings. They're claiming it's showing faults with both lambda sensors, the engine speed sensor and the MAF, and they all need replacing at lets just say over £750.
I'm not convinced that there's multiple components causing the problem, but the dealer are unwilling to start changing individual bits to isolate it further saying it keeps returning the same faults after a reset.
Can anyone offer some technical guidance as to where to start? Read more
Its highly unlikely that all of those parts have failed. Just sloppy diagnosis by someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
The lamda sensor can be checked using a £5 multimeter. Watch it switching at idle (0-1v approx). If switching properly then they don't need swapping out.
A lot of MAF sensors are also swapped on a 'poke and hope' basis. This is plain stupid. Take it somewhere where the technicians know what they are doing.
My first port of call would be the ignition system - possibly coil.
My Y-reg Opel (same as a Vauxhall) Zafira's air conditioning has failed for the 2nd time in 9 months.
I had it regassed and checked for leaks by a Vauxhall dealer in July/August last year. Now, in March/April and the first warm day of the year it doesn't work again.
I've expressed my disappointment to the dealer, and they want it in to have a look at it before they'll agree to fix it at no charge - no charge is what I requested.
What can I ask / check to ensure I'm not fobbed off? When they respond "It's another £150 sir, the xxx has a stone in it, the yyy has rusted away".
The car is regularly serviced by them.
It seems unreasonable (well at least unfair on me) that I may have to fork out another £150+ on getting this fixed.
Would I be likely to get a good job/cheaper job elsewhere or is this pretty specialist?
thanks
Ian
Ian Read more
I never ever turn my AC off. Leaving it on keeps the pipes and seals lubricated and this should prevent leaking. AC only cools the car if the heater's set to cold, so there's no reason not to leave it on all the time. It conditions the air, and you'll clear condensation off the windscreen much more quickly with AC on than off.
Whilst driving on sunday the above mentioned 1.6 petrol 53 plate zafira started to kangeroo when driving at medium speed and feels like it is a bit slugish now. It feels like its missing or over choking, does anybody have any ideas? or had simlar problems, if so what was the cause. Ive booked it in at local vauxhall garage for next monday, hoping that i might get some ideas on here to take to them as to the fault. Read more
The software update is about nine or ten months old IIRC. Whether it gets done automatically or not is largely down to the professionalism of the mechanic doing the work. In order to make sure, I would ask for it to be done as a specific item when you take the car in.
For the EGR valve to register a fault in the ECU memory, the error in the position of the valve has to remain large for quite a period of time. Usually the sticking EGR valve frees itself off before the fault is stored in memory, and the fault memory when read is clear. This confuses most.
Your description of the car almost stalling is exactly what I would expect of a sticking EGR valve (although your particular fault could also be one of a number of possibilities other than EGR).
One way to clear it while out on the road is to make the car accelerate under load for a while, i.e., put it in too high a gear. The valve will open up, to keep peak combustion temperatures down, and any carp will hopefully be dislodged (until next time!)
I hope this helps,
number_cruncher
Hello,
My recently purchased XJS keeps starting the extra electric cooling fan. I don't know if this is usual, but it appears to do it regularly, and from not very hot. Temp gauge is ok and reads just below the N mark, and there's no water anywhere. Could it simply be low in coolant, or could there be a more sinister reason?
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Jaguar XJS V12 - comes with free personalised oil tanker. Read more
sort of - I've got the temp down low on the selector, but it seems only to fire up when it feels like it in automatic mode - that's to say, I don't think the temp controller works all the time. It's fine in manual mode though.
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Jaguar XJS V12 - comes with free personalised oil tanker.
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Hydrogen is not a panacea. It has to be extracted from something else (often coal or natural gas) and this itself uses energy and produces pollution.