June 2005
Morgan of all people are to develop a high tech fuel cell, in conjunction with several other companies and with D.T.I. funding, which will power 4 electric motors at a cost of £1.9 million.
www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/291205/Fuel+cell+sp...m Read more
I needed to have my car recovered last week due to putting a hole in the sump !!!! and called my breakdown service (I know that I am not allowed to name them, but they drive DELETED {So, you're not going to name them, but you still think it's ok to mention what colour vans they drive - think again. Mentioning their colour is as good as mentioning their name, hence the deletion. DD]
When the driver and tow truck arrived I was informed that due to a change in their rules they are only allowed to tow a maximium of TEN MILES to the nearest garage. Luckly I was fairly local to my main dealer, but I asked what would happen if I was in the middle nowhere in Scotland, and was told the same rules would apply
The driver told me that now that they are a PLC with profit to make fot the shareholders, the accountants have been in and looked at everything that they can cut back !!! No doubt there is cover where I can be towed anywhere, which used to be the case, but you can bet that they want even more money for that!!!
My wife had an accident last Novmeber where the car couldn't be driven. They wanted £140 to tow the car home, and wouldn't even come out unless you pay up front with a credit card. Thankfully she had her purse with her, otherwise that would have been it.
I certainly won't be renewing my policy with them, and wonder if anyone else knows of other breakdown companies with similar rules to avoid.
Read more
To be fair the terms and conditions do state that Relay will only be provided if your vehicle cannot be made driveable at the roadside, or if a prompt local repair in an appropriate garage cannot be arranged, which is usually defined as four hours from the first patrol arriving to the car being repaired.
However although this is the rule, it isn't often strictly enforced.
Sudden change in temperament of all my indicators,has happened once while driving on an A road.All four of them stopped working,did not respond to the indicator stalk,however the bulbs themselves were working since pressing the hazard control turned them on.
However after stopping and turning on the engine again somehow they started working again!Thankfully.
If this were to happen again while on a long trip,what would your suggested course of action be??
1)Stop on the roadside immediately and call for breakdown services.
2)Keep going until the next exit driving on to a quieter road,then call for breakdown services.
In the second alternative,would that be construed as an instance of putting others at risk?
Alternatively is this a valid indication to call for the breakdown services and would they place this lowest on their priority of emergencies,meaning many hours spent waiting for them??
Any senior backroomers know how they prioritise the calls they get.I know that pregnant women and children get the highest priorities but would the nature of the vehicles fault or its location have any role in it.
Also any ideas on the possible reason for this happening?
P.S-The car in question-a 1999 1.6 Nissan Almera GX. Read more
is this a valid indication to call for the breakdown services
The last time I had to call the AA, the patrolman told me that his previous call had been to fill a woman's windscreen washer bottle. Said he could not refuse, since the car was unsafe without washers.
Hi guys, I'm just thinking aloud really, but I was wondering what you guys think of the MG ZR/Rover 25 cars. With their values now seriously hit, I was thinking about trading in the 1.6 Focus for a 1.4/diesel one of the same 51/02 year and releasing some £££...do you reckon they'd be significantly worse? (I understand space, but quality/drive etc...and what's the diesel actually like - someone told me the 111bhp version is the 75 one, which has an old BMW engine??? Cause I may choose to go derv...)
And another question is, would I actually be getting value for money? I mean, the value is depressed now, so in a few years time, would it be significantly worse, or do you reckon they'd stabilise? Read more
It's a shame isn't it? I wouldn't mind if I hadn't gone along so excited at the thought of buying it only to so bitterly disappointed!
Blue
Just a little bit of fun,
Who is the first to give the registration number of the car in the two pictures:
www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~ijl/pictures/mystery/i...l
(Click on image for larger version, click again for full scale image if you have broadband)
StarGazer Read more
It was designed by production designer (also for the James Bond films) Ken Adam. It was built by Alan Mann Racing around a Ford V6 and automatic transmission. The wheels were specially cast to look like wooden ones but with brake drums hidden inside.
All the dashboard parts, boa-constrictor horn etc were taken from various Edwardian wrecks.
I think there were 5 cars built, the racing car from the start doesn't survive but the others all do.
Friend has 2 keys for his car but only one of the plips operates the central locking / immobiliser.
Having followed advice on a previous post, I have checked using my camera phone that the plip is actually transmitting which it is.
I assume this means that it has lost its "code" or whatever. Does anyone know if this can be done without going to a dealer? I remember reading a post somewhere about pressing the internal locking button in a certain sequence either gave you the key number or let you program but I can't find any link?
Scenic is the original one, R Reg, the one that you had to turn the ignition on within a short space of time or you needed to plip it again.
Any thoughts? Would hate to pay a dealer to do a job that could be done myself ! Read more
Cheers RF its off to the dealer then!
Hello,
Girlfriend's clio has an intermittent fault which the garage can't help with.
It sometimes turns over but doesn't start (and doesn't with continued turning over). If the electrics are then turned off (ie key out of ignition) and the car re-started, it then starts first time as usual.
Suggestions? It has a new battery.
Thanks! Read more
Reply posted at www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=28...0 ("Clio Engine Turns But Wont Fire")
I have leased from new a '52 Toyota RAV4 VX D4D (now 19000 miles).
The lease is up at the end of August and I'm wondering whether to buy it from them - what would a fair price be for it?
Also the car has accumulated a couple of scratches (not to metal) and other blemishes:-
How fussy can I expect the lease co. to be once they collect (assuming I don't buy)? Will I be billed for "tarting it up" to maximise their profit at resale?
In other words - What's "fair wear and tear" for a 3yr old car and would I be better off attending to these things before they come to collect?
If so any recommendations as to who to approach (West Yorks).
Thanks in advance
Andy Read more
Also depends on your agreed mileage.
If you agreed 12,000miles pa (36,000 miles over three years) and you have done only 19,000 miles there is a lot of extra profit in the car for the leasing company. So if you don't want to buy it, give it a good clean and hand it back.
Any comments from them about condition then tell them to give you back the extra profit less the repair costs.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
An as-yet inconclusive discussion has developed on the MB Club forum about whether or not copper grease should be used on wheel nuts. Any opinions?
Secondly, having checked the manuals for both my MBs I find that the recommended torque for wheel nuts is 110Nm on both of them, and the owner of a different model has reported the same figure; it's the same for my Golf. Is this pretty much standard or does it vary widely between marques and models? . . . and a few minutes later, courtesy of Google I find a useful tabulation of torques at:
tinyurl.com/eylmq
(The associated PDF file seems to me unavailable, so this link displays the HTML version, imperfectlyj
And the Haynes manual shows different ranges (not single numbers) for front and rear on my Capri 2.8i. Read more
The industry standard torque recommendations are for non lubricated nuts.
Check www.norbar.com/Calculators/Torque-Tension-Calculat...x...
O/s front parking bulb has blown. The car has HID lights and in the book it says remove the rubber cap and pull out the bulb to replace. Sounds easy, but space is somewhat confined. However I can reach the back of the bulb but it will not come out. It was difficult, but I managed to twist it but still won't budge.
Am I missing a trick? The back of my hand is already fairly bruised!!
Thanks Read more
I have a similar problem in the Vectra. I replaced a N/S headlight bulb a while back and it was flagged at a recent MOT as not being seated correctly and therefore would fail the headlight alignment test. Thankfully I must have passed the attitude test as he let me away with it.
I could not get it seated correctly given the space available, Haynes suggested removing the relay box and battery, but I could not have been hassled messing around with the alarm and radio codes etc etc so I removed the grill the indicator and enough of the headlight fixings to allow we to get my hand in through the wing. Sounds allot but was quite quick with a t-bar and small sockets.
Think outside the box.. or indeed outside the engine bay!! he he he
Browse
Whilst I'm not a big fan of the styling and it's not my cup of tea, the Aero 8 is a massive departure in the way its designed and built so, in effect, Morgan have already replaced their traditional cars.
The Aero 8 has even now been "federalized" and is on sale in the USA.
Although they did rather dismiss John Harvey-Jones I suspect they did/have recognised the need to change to survive. They've just done it in their own time and way.