August 2005
A friend with a 4 yr old Honda Civic reports that every evening his chores include the removal of a fuse from the car. If he doesn't do this he ends up with a flat battery in the morning, he says that the RAC advised him that the fuse was in the a/c circuit.
Has anyone else heard of this, and better, a fix?
Moved from discussion. smokie Read more
I've just realised that there is still an AA key on my keyring. Is it now redundant? If I broke down I wouldn't dream of looking for an AA kiosk because I would be straight onto my mobile. Do AA kiosks still exist?
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L\'escargot. Read more
Used to go out to fix the AA boxes and some of them where in the middle of nowhere. You would follow a single-track dirt road for x miles and there it would be in a telephone box. The thing that really used to annoyed me was the fact that there was nothing but tress for miles around about and you would go into the telephone box and it would smell of wee and on one occasion someone even left a number two in it some really sad people out there. Drove me crazy.
The Omega is going in for it's MOT today.
Earlier this week the Brake Pad warning light started to come on, particulrly at the start and end of journeys.
I know this isn't an MOT fail, but I put it into my friendly mech anyway for new pads.
Just collected it, and he hasn't changed anything as all pads had at least 1/3rd left on them.
What causes it to display the Brake Pads warning? (It isn't a wire running through the pads themselves apparently).
Is this likely to be a spurious display?
Should I worry?
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I didn't cure anything. The car passed it's MOT with the warning display on. I am not about to go cutting sensor wires, the display reminds me that (sooner or later) I will need to get the pads changed.
I've been looking at the latest tyre test from AutoExpress - available as a pdf download (thanks, colinh for the pointer).
I found it interesting, but something about it surprised me. They tested tyres for wet & dry braking, wet & dry handling, aquaplaning, rolling resistance, noise - even price - but they did NOT rate tyres for wear. Surely if we want to know all those other things, we are going to want to know how well a tyre will wear and how long it might last.
Is there any particular reason why they might not have tested wear rates? I take it that other tyre tests do look at this?
And can anyone tell me if there are other tyre tests available online - particularly British ones (since I assume that in the US tyres are not always the same - and probably have different names anyway?)(Yes, I know about Tyres-Online)
And - while we are on the subject of tyres - if different tyres have different braking characteristics, does that mean that when car mags like What Car test the braking of cars, the difference between different cars may be due more to the OEM tyres fitted than to the brakes themselves? Read more
www.testworld.fi/?sivu=rengastestaus&kieli=en
www.thetyrepressuremonitor.com/tyrenews.html
www.tiscali.co.uk/shopping/which_reports/which_tyr...l
www.ltsa.govt.nz/factsheets/32.html
www.nokiantyres.com/vehicletesting_en
www.tyresave.co.uk/tyreinfo.html
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
Morning all.
I wonder if you can help, I have got a VW Vento that I'm trying to sort out and for some reason one of the rear seatbelts is torn / chewed. I'm putting it in for an MOT hence need it to be replaced. Got in touch with all the big VW scrappers but no joy. VW want £70 +vat for a new one!
I have heard of a coach company that replaces the webbing on seatbelts e.g uses the other original parts. But I cant remember the name of it!!.
Any suggestions please ?
Checked, and unfortunately the golf does not share the same part (different drop angle)
Cheers
PC Read more
German and Swedish appear to have an auto rear belt for a Vento at £26.50 + vat.
www.gsfcarparts.com
Alternatively, try Quickfit Safety Belt Service, Stanmore
0208 206 0101 (as listed in HJ's Useful Websites, see link from Home page)
I downloaded the AutoExpress tyre test yesterday. In "my documents" instead of a little Adobe/pdf icon, I see just a general file icon. And when I double click on it to open it, I get a message telling me that "Windows cannot open this file" and that it needs to know what program created it. (I run XP by the way). So I manually select Adobe Acrobat from a list of programs, and it opens fine.
So - why doesn't Windows recognise that this is a pdf file? Read more
unprompted by me and with no added costs>>
My son, an IT support specialist, once told me that if I ever installed AOL on my system (not that I ever intended to do so) I would be utterly and entirely on my own...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
having problems with my 1996 n reg 1.3 fiesta every time i slow down at junctions it cuts out the only way i can stop it from happening is to drop the clutch and give it a couple of revs to keep it going its probably something simple but i`mnot mech minded. any help would be great
csitrev. Read more
Hi there,
this is not really an urgent post. I was just pondering about some minor niggles on my volvo S60 T5. 1. When I start the car up, hot or cold, it turns over ranging between 1.5 and 2 seconds before starting, is this normal? there is no problem with starting, i was just wondering why it takes so long.
2. I was at a set of traffic lights yesterday and i hadn't realised that the lights had gone to green, and pulled off a bit too sharpish and stalled the car. The car then turned over for about 5 or 6 seconds and then started, i was just wondering why this was? thanks Read more
Occasionally on mine, the car will take a few turns to start over. (The battery's on it's way out). If I'm a bit too quick and let go of the key before it's caught, I'll have to turn it for about 3 - 4 seconds longer for it to start.
I imagine this is something similar to your problem 2.
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Adam
Can anybody help me out on the following:-
1. My warranty is due to expire @ 60k and due to the high milage I have done 55k in 18mths in a 1.9TD Octavia estate I will be without the Skoda warranty in about a month. Skoda don't offer extended warranties so can any one advise as to where I should look bearing in mind I do approx 30k a year
2. Any Octavia owners exeprencied a wobbling through the steering wheel when braking from approx 50mph to roundabouts on dual carriageways? I am also getting a whistling from the nearside front screen when on the m/way. It sounds like the passenger window is slightly down and letting in the air- It is not and it is driving me bonkers! My local Skoda dealer has drawn a blank on both queries
Thanks - 1st time poster
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Have a look at www.briskoda.net/forums/ and post your questions there. Lots of experts will probably be able to help you.
Mrs andy's much loved Picasso (I know - don't laugh) is nearly 5 years old, and we think it might be time for a change. Looked at a Mazda 5 today, and was impressed with the fact that all the seats fold flat, and also the sliding doors. However, don't really want to take the initial depreciation hit, so when can I expect to see 'nearly new' models appearing on forecourts?
Also - anyone any opinions on the other smaller 7 seaters - expect i could get adeal on a Zafira at the moment, also Toyota Verso and the Touran. Any thoughts?
ta Read more
You can easily get 10% off the cost of a Corolla Verso
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I would thimk it very unusual for the a/c to cause a battery drain on this car.Does this Civic have a remote alarm system fitted ?If so ,I would suggest that the boot light be checked to see if it goes out when when lid is shut.