October 2005
Off the wall. Does anyone know of a Black Forest tradition of giving the gift of a carved angel to a child ? Trying to trace some historical references. Read more
Wondered what the law is in regard to zebra crossings that are not on the public highway i.e. on private access roads with no Belisha beacons installed either side.
The access to the local supermarket cuts across the footpath bordering the main road so there is a crossing painted on the road for those pedestrians wishing to go straight on. This is within the curtilage of the supermarket so not installed/maintained by the highway authority.
The reason I ask is that I have several near misses on this crossing, the mums/local lads are either concentrating on their shopping lists or whether they can pull out on the main road without stopping, leaving not many brain cells to look out for pedestrians. Should I get knocked over would a valid defence on the part of the miscreant be that the crossing has no legal standing, it is just a normal bit of road, and I shouldn't have deliberately walked out in front of a car? Read more
There are no "private" roads at Heathrow. For the purposes of the road traffic act they are all normal roads, policed by the met, traffic wardens, speed limits, the full works.
There are however other laws that mean they can stop you using them, but thats not a RTA law at work.
ive been trying to keep on top of the rust issues on my mk2 golf
over the years ive tried pretty much all the high street brands, i thught id come on and mention one product that has been good to me
hammerite underseal with waxoil, its a fairly thick black goop thats applied with a brush, one extra little trick ive found is that say if you have a crusty seam where you cant treat between 2 panels..brush on a good coat, then warm it with a heat gun, the underseal turns almost oil like and runs into seams/gaps then sets up again once cool
any other rust tips ? Read more
Re Hammerite - I used to treat the chassis of my Land Rover 90 with this - the smell used to give me an instant headache - must have something strong in it.
Didn't BL claim they used a revolutionary new underseal for the Metro when it was announced? Maybe there's a few drums of that stuff going cheap on Ebay! (**joke alert**)
Cheers, Sofa Spud
Just took delivery of new Passat 2.0 TDI PD 140 yesterday. After 2 miles of driving, filled up with diesel. Got home and detected strong smell of diesel. Later noted diesel dripping from under car. Called dealer who expressed surprise!!. Took it in today and after 1 hour of checking was told that tandem fuel pump was leaking and needed replacing. No spares available in UK so must wait about 1 week for spare to be sent from Germany.
Any others experienced this with the new Passat. Could this be related to the earlier recall of TDI based VW's due to ill fitting bolts on the fuel pump housing???
arlowood
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All this tells me is when I change my Mondeo I wont be looking at a new model Passat
Sorry to hear of your troubles and thanks for sharing.
Which connector under each of the front seats needs cleaning to keep the airbag light off - I don't wish to clean those which are not involved. Pushing them together firmly cures the problem for a while but I would like to reseat them several times to clean the contacts. Read more
Thank you for the info - the 2 pin plug is at least the easiest to deal with and it explains why the garage pulled it off its mounting and not the larger one!
Hi,
My Girlfriends Ford Ka failed its MOT on an inefficient nearside rear handbrake and footbrake.
I removed the drum and the shoes were shot (the friction material had split from the steel.) I replaced the shoes and thought the problem must be sorted.
After several failures / restests I finally figured out that a spring on the automatic adjusters had stretched and was stopping the adjuster working correctly. I manually adjusted the shoes and the brake passed (hand and foot) with flying colours.
The original problem was the shoes - I just created a new one by not recognising the inpact of the damaged spring.
So my quesion is, how could this happen? Surely the hydraulic cylinder would take up the 'adjustment' on applying the footbrake? The brakes are diagonally connected so surely there was sufficient pressure in the cylinder or the front brake would not have worked correctly?
The handbrake I think I can explain. There was such a lot of travel on the handbrake lever attached to the shoe, it was actually hitting the centre of the hub (where the bearings are held.)
Thanks. Read more
Keith,
I think that it might be possible, depending upon what type of pressure reducing valve is fitted, or indeed if a differential pressure valve is fitted (although I haven't seen one for years). The pressure reducing valve *could* have shut off the flow to the rear brake before the shoes had travelled far enough to touch the drum.
I think that because the locking of a front wheel on a bike or motorbike is such a catastrophic event, sometimes, people don't realise that the reverse is true for motor cars.
In a car, if you lock your front wheels, you continue in a straight line. Possibly not the best course of action, but definitely not the worst. If you lock the rear wheels, the car is *unstable in yaw, and you could go anywhere. I have mentioned on this forum before about my brief experience with an overly powerful rear brake during an emergency, and can confidently say that such a configuration is not at all safe.
While I am sure that Sierraman holds his views sincerely, he is, alas, misled.
Number_Cruncher
* Even rally drivers, who exploit this yaw instability to improve the turn-in response of the car do so by taking a hand off the steering wheel and pulling the handbrake rather than by altering the bias of the brakes.
Don't know if anyone has had experience of this, I am guessing it is not an uncommon situation.
I have just bought a car privately and so am going to be selling my old one (the VW Polo, once I get the central locking problem fixed!). I have switched my main insurance policy to the new car as that's the one I'll be driving. I need some insurance for the Polo to cover fire, theft, and me driving to the MOT station and back.
First question: my current insurer (Diamond) won't offer any cover for unnamed drivers taking it out for a test drive, is it standard to rely on the potential buyer's policy and their cover for driving other cars? Presumably this would only cover third parties and wouldn't cover any damage to my car should they have a bump?
Second question: considering it was previously costing me £180 for the year to cover the Polo, fully comp, to be driven regularly, I was surprised to be quoted £26 for four weeks insurance as an additional car, third party fire and theft only, when the likelihood is it will do 100 miles if that during the period. Is this fairly standard? Are there any insurers who specialise in good deals for this type of short-term second car insurance?
Apologies for the naive questions, I've never sold a car privately like this before, would be interested to hear your opinions and expertise!
Thanks
Ellie Read more
I should think the Polo's worth IRO £2.5K - not a fortune but not an amount I really want to risk losing entirely should something untoward happen to the car. I asked Diamond about 'overlap' insurance but they don't offer it. I guess £26 is hardly a lot of money, it just surprised me that it was so high compared to the costs of my annual policy.
Sounds like it is just one of those things, I suppose I just thought it might be a bit easier, and a bit cheaper! (I'm selling a 2.5K car to buy a £4.5K one so we are hardly talking meabucks here :) )
Guys/Girls
I was hoping I could get some advice from anyone who has actually had a independent vehicle inspection carried out on his/her vehicle?
I am thinking of buying an 2001 Alfa 156 (2.0 T.S), I have owned two 156's before. I would like to know whether or not you felt that the inspections were of benefit to you, i.e. Did they inspire any confidence, or would you use the inspector (AA, RAC or independent) again.
Finally I keep reading about the 5 page report I will receive following the inspection, is this just 5 pages of ticks and crosses or a proper report?? - can anyone possibly provide me with an old report that they received following an inspection so that I can make up my own mind??.
Any help would be appreciated
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I actually have my own car inspection company check it out www . Check with a mech . Co . Uk
Chrysler 300C CRD Road Test
Thu, 27 Oct 2005
My advice is to get your order in now before they sell the whole year?s allocation.
Hmmm, no thanks. Too much 'in your face', really. OK, we all know it IS its sole purpose, but... where do I park such a monster anyway ?
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I am the only Pole over here. Read more
Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane on the M6.
Went through this area of the M5 twice yesterday, cones are still lined up at the sides of the carriageway, the only activity were several teams installing cameras to monitor the 40mph speed limit.
Why after over 20 years of 50mph for Mway roadworks are they now nearly always 40mph?
StarGazer
Browse
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I do not know.
A common recommendation is to discard and refil the tanks of motor mowers after the winter lay off. This would point to less than 6 months.
Another pointer
machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=000230090&r=2189&g...2