August 2005
A nerd first - posting from the meet!!!
decent turnout', photos to follow...
-- Lee .. A festivus for the rest of us. Read more
I have one of the above, and would like to change the oil filter and oil myself. The handbook that comes from FIAT keeps such sensitive information secret as to the location of the sump plug and filter (not easily seen from under or above the engine). Haynes apparently don't have a workshop manual for this model, so can anyone advise me on how to locate a suitable manual, or failing that,the location of the aforementioned items.
Thanks
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Can't help you with a 2001 version, but yes, the sump plug takes a large allen key (12 or 13mm, would have to check the one in my toolbox) on the 1995 ones
A mate of mine has a 1995 Rover 414 (later shape)that is showing some of the symptoms of a blown head gasket. I say 'some' as the coolant expansion bottle is full of 'mayonnaise' yet it is not overheating (even in traffic) and there is no signs of oil/coolant mixing on the dipstick or under the rocker cover.
There is no signs of coolant being pressurised by combustion gases either.
I pressure tested the cooling system by pressurising it to 20 psi and it sank from 20 to below 10 psi in under 10 minutes.
The owners would like to know if it is worth repairing as the car only cost under a grand. I presume the engine is the somewhat fragile K series and if so do they have wet liners that can leak from the lower seals?
What is the spares situation likely to be since Rover went belly up?
Thanks in advance
Andrew Read more
Add some Barrs leaks and run it till it dies say I...
madf
I'm going to need to do an HPi check on a car tonight, I'd like to check the mileage as best as possible, previous insurance write-offs, finance etc. but I'm also very tight and don't want to pay HPi £38 for the privelege and I'm sure I've heard of them even cheaper thab the £20 jobbie from Car Watch UK.
Anyone got any recommendations? Also, does anyone know if the Car Watch UK one is as good as the HPi check for £38? I know the old "get what you pay for" probably applies but I don't see how checking a database can be done better by one firm than another.
Blue Read more
Having seen the logbook I think I must have entered it incorrectly on their website, I'm sure it's WF0 not WFO.
Blue
where have the 10,000 or so rovers that where stocked up gone?
very few seem to be on the market?
I presumed they would be even harder to shift on 55 plates as even the most novice of buyers whold know they havent been produced for over 4 months and will have been sitting collecting dust (or rust in Rovers case).
the last few contacts I have in the trade have heard v/little over the past month or so.
any ideas?
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It was a good media story and pic (aren't they all) but in reality there never were 10,000. Many were not even MGR cars, many were ex-lease/second hand so won't be spotted coming on the market and others have been sold since but 10,000? Never.
But it did make a good story and that's what counts to the news media.
I need a cheap (£1500ish max)car for my wife, two babies, buggy and baby stuff. She will be doing a very low mileage.
Is it best to go for something like a Ford with cheap servicing or something Japanese for the reliability?
Saw a 96 Toyota Carina E, 75k for £800...
Any suggestions much appreciated.
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you haven't seen my wife.
I have just bought a car in a colour the maker calls "Acid Rush". I suppose that is what the designers were on when they thought up the name. It is actually a metallic colour similar to the contents of a baby's nappy. Another colour in the same maker's range is called "Zest". It is a metallic bilious green.
Are these the stupidest names for car colours? Why do manufacturers get all pretentious about the colour names instead of just using simple names that we all understand? I think the marketing people must be living on another planet. Read more
When I was a lad, my dad took me to see a new house.
One of the bathrooms was advertised with a sunken bath.
That really attracted him. Set into the floor and all that.
We got there, and it was an ordinary, orangey-yellow bath.
The manufacturer had called it "Sun King".
J-reg 1600. Is it possible to check the cambelt condition? How? This car has residual value only. It looks hideous, but it goes, currently, and I'd like it to keep doing so for a while. I'm told the cam belt was changed about 25,000 miles ago, but suspect that it was really the *fan* belt! Read more
Something in the engine makes quite a rubbing/rattling noise on starting, which goes away after a minute or two.
That could be almost anything.
1. A loose cambelt which quietens up when the engine has expanded slighty. If this is the case, then an old cambelt is liable to snap if loose because it is flapping around.
2. Hydraulic valve lifters - although these rattle/clatter rather than make a rubbing sound.
3. A dry alternator belt. Try putting some chalk or spraying a small amount of wd-40 on it to see if the noise goes away.
Follow up to a point raised in Huw’s Boulogne thread.
Returned last week from holiday in France where we found it becoming difficult to access supermarket fuel. Around Gex (Ain) neither Carrefour nor Intermarche any longer have a cashier. All pumps are card only 24/7. No doubt the same in other areas, particularly away from the main tourist centres.
My Abbey debit card certainly would not work in either place; did not try other cards. Can anybody give a definitive answer about what characteristic determines whether UK cards are accepted. For that matter what do French folks who don’t have a card do.
In the meantime I’d advise anyone going over there not to let their tank get too low.
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I've had that problem with ASDA, The one near my work place (Bury, grtr Manc) used to have the "fast lane" pumps (credit cards, debit cards only) and the ones where you fill up, drive up to the window and pay. To use the "fast pumps" you had to goto the window first and they had to Validate your credit card or debit card before the machine in the pump would except it, I only had to do this once, but still crazy???
IIRC the RR Merlin had a twin stage supercharger and was cooled using glycol (an oil based compound).
I scored 7. Some of my answers were based on ignorance of questions on specifics but I thought some of the general answers were wrong.
I'm not losing any sleep on it as I did not bother reading the blurb at all:-).
madf
Browse
You can put my name down for pretty much any meet providing it isn't on the Orkney Islands or anything like that.
As long as it's planned in advance (which it always would be anyway) then I at least (and a lot of other people) can create a free evening in the diary and get down there.
--
Adam