May 2005
Is it me or are there a ridculously large number of disabled car parking spaces compared to the number of diabled drivers on the roads ? Are there any laws that specify a minimum number of disabled spaces in say, for instance, a supermarket ? Read more
As summer seems to be on us again as from today, i was wondering on some tips to keep ultra cool during the heatwave (well 'til Sunday anyway)
Colleague of mine said today the way to max your air-con is to have air directed at the eye level vents only, have the two nearest the doors pointing towards the doors, the two center one blend together. Which means the right one pointing left and the left one pointing right.
The other things to do is make sure all the vents are pointing as far upright as they will go, and to have the recycle air switched on.
The blower fan should be set one level less than max.
Tried these techniques in three cars today, A Seat Alhambra didn't seem very effective whereas a Renault Modus and Seat Leon where as cool as i think i could get them.
So to conclude, any more tips for maximum cooling with air-con??
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...........No need to be chilled to the bone just because it is hot outside.>>
Quite right! Just because it is 80 degrees outside, do you really need to be more chilled than a butchers shop cold store? When you get out of a chilled car, the difference feels far worse than setting the temp to something like a balmy autumn evening. I am also sure that being too chilled might actually make you more sluggish too.
Personal choice I know, but I don't think I have ever thought it being about extremes of temperature, just about being comfortable.
Apparently my new shape vectra has a hydraulic clutch , its just started to judder in 1st gear when pulling away , more so when the car warms up to operating temp .
Is this a difficult job to do , as some garages wont do the job for me ! do i buy just a pressure plate or the complete assembley ?
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Is this a difficult job to do ,
I believe it's the same as the Vectra-B.
To quote from HJ's CBCB, "Clutch replacement remains a five-to-six-hour job involving engine removal instead of the simple half-hour job it was on the Cavalier."
On HJs auction report he states:
"As always the best way to look for a specific car coming up at auction or to pre-check a day?s sale is to visit www.auctionview.co.uk This service also now gives composite price information (average auction price, CAP and Glass?s) and now allows you to buy a selection of cars directly on-line"
I subscribed for 50 searches on auction view, but I cannot see any composite price information.
Can anyone please shed some light. Read more
I check my power steering fuid about once every month, I needed to top it up last night for the first time. It only took about an egg cup full to bring it from min on the stick to max.
Two things, where would I loose the fluid to. Serviced the car last saturday and there was no evidence of leakage.
Secondly, when I bought the new fluid from Seat, I was advised this fluid should be changed every two years. The dealer that serviced my car neither did this in the service nor recommended that it should be done.
Is this accurate, if so where do I drain it from???
Leon Read more
I have to admit I haven't been able to check the PAS fluid level in my car for over a year - the plastic cap is stuck on and I can't get it off! You can't quite make out the level through the side of the container, but it still seems to work OK. :)
Heard an advert for the above company on radio today. They are advertising fixed price of £59 for catalytic converter for any car.
There has been various threads over the last few months which have mentioned costs of catalysts so thus the reason for posting this.
I don't know if there is a catch or whatever, just purely mentioning it in case you are in that situation and need one. Read more
Did you hear the asterisk? It will be any car on
'The list' I bet.
>>
Rishab C - now you're being cynical my friend ;) A FastFit type of place was running a BOGOF offer on tyres in March of this year. So I thought that I'd by a complete set for use later. I bought a complete set of Michelin Pilot Sport II tyres for SWMBOs 330 (225/40 R18 - front & 255/35 R18 - rear) for £350 all in. I thought they'd pull out 'the list' but to their credit it was 'any tyre for car'. Beats paying close to £700 as I had been quoted else where.
Sometimes, the deal is as it say.
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
Hi all, if any of you have seen my recent thread in Technical Matters, you'll know why I'm asking this! :-)
Could someone please let me know what the current Glass's or Cap value is on a 1996 BMW 316i SE with A/C ilo Sunroof?
Also, does anyone have any guestimate as to how much an engine for one of these would normally go for from the breakers?
Basically we've been informed that it's not likely to be economical to repair our current enigne, we know the car also needs 4 new tyres and an exhaust so we're very tempted to get shot of it altogether.
We need to know how much we're likely to get for it as a trade in (assuming it's all sorted) as this is the only way that we are gonna get rid of it ourselves. If it's only worth around £2K (as I suspect) then I doubt if it's gonna be worth our while to repair it at all and we might just offer it to our garage for £1000 or whatever we can get for it in it's current state.
That might sound like a lot for a non-runner, but the car is sub 50K miles and in excellent condition, I reckon it might be worth that to someone who can drop a new engine in, but then I've never dealt with non-runners and their valuations before!
Any advice and especially a quote from the relevant page of Glass's or Cap would be greatly appreciated!
Blue Read more
Had a good look at the link above this evening.
Very easy to use, very informative and from a commercial point of view complete madness.
I was due to collect my new Golf Gti on Monday, but the car has failed to get through PDI due to a fault with the DSG Gearbox.
The Dealership were initially unable to diagnose the problem but after consulting VW have ordered an new Gearbox ECU. The ECU has been ordered but I have been given no indication on the timescale for its arrival.
I'm very dissapointed with the situation. Read more
I was going to suggest you did this, I know its hard but the wait for the new car is nothing compared to the risk of buying a lemon. You'd listen to every little noise and wonder. Good for you for letting your head rule your heart.
I have a N Reg Micra (its the wife's - honest!) and went to start it today and a warning light was flashing. Phoned the dealer and was told this was the immobiliser which would required re-coding. Apparently only a Nossan dealer can do this and unfortunately the nearest is 180 miles away. I don't fancy towing or trailering the car all the way there, any ideas?? Read more
Mark
thanks, we are in the Orkney Isles (Far North of Scotland), hence the distance to a dealer. There are some options here but thought I would try for an easy fix if there was one.
Hi, does anyone know of a HPi type service for smaller traders? As I am new to trading I dont have any trade references that HPi require to start a new account and I only buy and sell a handful of cars a month.
I see that Car Watch carries out a check for £29.95 which is £10 cheaper than HPi and presumably this service accesses the same database but does anyone know of any cheaper services that ensure the car is not on finance/stolen/written off etc? Read more
Try Experian, they are cheaper than hpi and do not require a subscription. Based in Nottingham but I havnt got the number handy
Matt
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Somehow it's a symptom of the "me-first" society we have created (or in my view, was seeded in the Thatcher years) that it's necessary to police the use of disabled bays .
In Ventor, Isle of Wight , where my parents-in-law live , ( one of whom has a disabled badge) there is a disabled bay directly outside their house , which is needed as the road and the gradient are difficult, but for some reason their next door neighbour ( not disabled) thinks it's his property .In fact in their street and the adjoining two, there are five bays and on my last visit they were all occupied by non-badged vehicles. They don't want to make a fuss, but when I called the authorities I discovered complete confusion as to who was enforcing them.
In Bracknell abuse of the bays was so bad, Sainsburys had to have a gate into their disabled bay area , with keys to the gate given to regular disabled drivers.
I understand there is also a problem with fake badges - with the facilities people have at home these days- scanners, printers , laminators - which are only detectable at close inspection.