June 2005
I have a Handbrake warning light on continuously when the engine is running.I have checked the fluid level,cleaned the multiplug on master cylinder and replaced handbrake switch but problem remains. The car does not have ABS or wear sensors. Brakes work fine but has failed MOT due to the warning light, any ideas anybody? thanks. Read more
This featured on E Bay about a potentially extremely dangerous situation with an Audi TT when the gearbox siezed solidly and nearly caused a serious accident. Not unexpectedly Audi main dealers response has been totally abysmal.!!
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=...g Read more
my clio failed mot on headlight pattern and aim low.the light was badly condensated,would this be the cause.normally they adjust it for me.ive dried it out . Read more
dryied out the headlight and took it back for the mot and it was fine.it was just the condensation?
With the onset of the rainy season where I live we are getting 4-5 inches of rain nightly. This year this has brought out in vaster numbers than usual the toad population.
Each toad averages the size of a size 10 boot and has no road sense at all, so that each journey down my street in the car is a series of squelches. By mid-day next day with the heat of the sun there are a large number of dessicated corpses about 1/2" thick being toyed with by stray dogs.
Should I:
(a) contact the local witches' coven for help - the witch community here is very active; Growlette is one herself;
(b) try to summon up some ethical reason why I shouldn't drive and walk to the pub in my wellies instead while navigating armies of leaping toads; (nope, strike THAT one);
(c) think positively how leathery toad skins can be recycled to give millions of people gainful employment at US$0.25 a day making handbags to be sold in Hong Kong to European tourists for hundreds of dollars under designer names like House of Toad; or key rings, or cigarette lighter covers, or Filofaxes;
(d) start a contest with the neighbours to see how many toads each of us can nab in our cars between here and the end of the street. I've got 5 bucks says I can get 30 - that sort of thing.
The last one sounds like rhe most fun.
Gentlemen, start your engines.
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Reminds me of a bit of film on TV whilst living in Oz....shows a car driving down a road in northern Queensland zig-zagiging trying to hit as many toads as possible.
StarGazer
While getting rear tyres fitted at a national tyre chain, they checked the tracking, and said it 'way out'. I believe the guy said 4.5 degrees, and indicated that the front wheels were pointing outwards, roughly equally on each side.
I said that was odd, as I'd recently had front tyres replaced after 42000 miles, and they showed no signs of uneven wear. The guy said something like 'oh, tracking problems don't necessarily show up on the tyres'. In general, the guy seemed rather non-credible - he said things like 'dunlop and firestore tyres are rubbish, pirellis are great' (guess which brand they sell), and also said that the first set of tyres on a car always last much longer than subsequent sets, which sounded rather dubious. So I'm relunctant to take anything he said about the tracking at face value.
Is 4.5 degrees 'way out'? If so, could the tracking be so far out and not show any visible effect on the tyres? Does tracking cause any problems other than tyre wear?
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From the "Tyre Bible":
Toe in & out
'Toe' is the term given to the left-right alignment of the front wheels relative to each other. Toe-in is where the front edge of the wheels are closer together than the rear, and toe-out is the opposite. Toe-in counteracts the tendency for the wheels to toe-out under power, like hard acceleration or at motorway speeds (where toe-in disappears). Toe-out counteracts the tendency for the front wheels to toe-in when turning at motorway speeds. It's all a bit bizarre and contradictory, but it does make a difference. A typical symptom of too much toe-in will be excessive wear and feathering on the outer edges of the tyre tread section. Similarly, too much toe-out will cause the same feathering wear patterns on the inner edges of the tread pattern.
4.5 degrees is excessive and I doubt that this figure is correct given that you have not experienced uneven wear.
Most cars setting should be less than 1 degree.
While changing the brake shoes on my Carina e recently i noticed both bleed nipples were snapped.
While i was careful changing shoes and did not need to bleed after at sometime i will have to.
Is the nipple an integral part of the wheel cylinder? ie, can it be removed to a bench to dismantle?
If so what is the alternative to drilling it out? are them EZZI outs any good?
Any suggestions very welcome. Read more
Thats exactly what i did, changed the two cylinders complete.
Makes the job easier ok , thats if the flared nut (bell mouth?) comes without a struggle.
I found that if you give it an initial"twist" with a vice grips and ease it the rest of the way with the appropriate spanner(10mm), and plenty of WD40,they come off quiet easily.
Seems a shame really as the pistons and bores were in excellent condition on the old ones.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
just had the RAC call me and tell me about my volvo quite a long list here
Essential things
1) Front headlight blown - gonna be sorted by dealer
2) Rear pads and disks almost gone - gonna be repaired by dealer
3) Rear tyres need replacing - replaced by dealer
Non essential
4) stone chips on windscreen - gonna be repaired
5) All doors seals slightly damaged or insecure - gonna be repaired but not replaced anyone know how much replacements cost?
6) oil level low.
7) front signal light not working - sorted by dealer
8) center core fixing insecure - gonna be fixed b dealer
9) minor scratches on doors from seatbelts
10) front disks nearly gone (10k miles left)
11) slight steering vibration (why?) both front wheels gonna be replaced
12) rear off side tyre needs replacing (why not the other side too?)
13) a/c not cool enough - needs a regas - gonna be fixed
:/
what would cause the right wheel to wear down more than the left?
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What sort of Volvo and the year? If the dealers going to sort all those niggles out it cant't be bad but if you are buying why not choose one that has no low oil level. I've had a few Volvos and never had a problem with the oil level.
I shall be spending some time at altitude,while on holiday (up in the alp's)what, if anything should I do regarding tyre pressures?
any advice would be appreciated.
Joe Read more
Nothing. I've been driving to and in Austria for 25 years and have never done anything special with tyre pressures other than pumping them up for the long fast drive through Germany, then dropping them back to normal when I've arrived.
If this is your first time, what you WILL notice is that you lose power in a naturally aspirated car - you're down to 75% of engine power at 6000 feet IIRC, and I can assure you it will be obvious! If you have a turbo, in theory it will just work harder and give you the same power, but in practice (and from experience) you will still notice a drop.
Not really a question, more advice that people can search the forum for.
Following a recent post and advice from Corsa:
If you have a 16V Ecotec Engine, get the cambelt changed every 40K miles max without fail. At the same time make sure that the tensioners etc and waterpump are changed. The water pump needs to be changed as these are prone to wear and fail causing the belt to break. Vauxhall DO NOT do this as standard practice, despite the fact that my local dealer said they were aware of the problem. Ex fleet cars are the most vulnerable, as maintenance often does not include required belt changes (a friend at well known company containing the words Support and Fleet advised me of this) so even main dealer FSH could be worthless. Cost: £210 indy or £400 plus for vauxhall. Make up your own mind. Read more
Big Vern,
As Dave said, it seems to vary from dealer to dealer. I originally paid £180 too, but tensioners not replace, resulting 11 months and 3000 miles later in huge diesel like rattly sounds from under the bonnet.
Advised by bods in the Back Room and others to change the whole lot again, including water pump. £400 from new Vx dealer was a verbal quote and 'could be more once we've looked at it'. Questioned both new and original Vx dealer about changing the whole lot, but both said that although it's a known problem, it's optional and not recommended. They obviously don't want people to know there's known problems with their cars.
Should also have mentioned that £210 quote included proper full, full service, which goes some way towards the £70 more than you paid. Forgot this mid rant I'm afraid.
Problem is now sorted. Thanks to decent advice here :)
I have just bought one of these with only 23,500 miles. All the dealer stamps are in the book (yearly). But I can't find reference to a cam belt change. Is this required purely on a mileage basis? Read more
Cheers, Ed, good idea, the dealer (Honda in Ewell) says that post July 1998, the interval changed from 5 years or 60k miles to 8 years or 72k miles.
Nick
Browse
The MOT should show if you have a real problem, so if everything works ok, why not disconnect the bulb??