December 2005
I saw this on another forum before and I just have to post it here.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4534844....m
I challenge you to read that without laughing in disbelief.
Go on - I dare you.
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Some of you may remember my other thread about my rover 111i being noisy, and having no go and I finally got time and took it into the garage this morning and the front pipe has gone (theres a big hole in it). I have a friend who has scrapped her 111i and said I can help myself to anything, can the front exhaust pipe just be changed over or does it need to be done professionally?
many thanks
Julie Read more
Thanks everyone. Hubbys going to change it over later in the week. I'm only getting 70 miles to a tank of petrol so hopefully the petrol consumption will be better when its changed.
thanks again
Does anyone know anywhere one can obtain genuine BMW paint for aftermarket use, other than through a BMW franchise? Looking for a "touch-in" pencil and a spray can of a base metallic paint.
Thanks. Read more
Barchettaman,
Very kind. Many Thanks indeed.
Rgds,
Graham.
Just had a first ride in the new Discovery 3 V6 Diesel.
Stunning.
Ah! When I win the lottery.................
Splodgeface Read more
One of those Range Rover Sports will do me. Saw one
today, awesome in black.
Look a bit compromised to me, something to do with the big black bit at the base of the windscreen obscuring the dashboard.
Every time the oil gets changed on my c22o diesel the oil high light comes on for a couple of weeks even though I tell them to put in the exact aopunt of oil...6 litres according to the handbook. This is a great problem because the very experts disagree on how to check oil levels on the dipstick, some say cold, some warm and others anywhere in between. Different engine temperatures give different readings on the stick. I have started this thread before and even the good folks in the backroom cannot agree. Read more
>>the biggest problem with plastic dipsticks is that they seem to oil repelling on one side and oil absorbing on the other. Accuracy is impossible !
its not possible to get perfect accuracy,reason why a max min.is applied to dipsticks,I also think people worry too much.min level on cars I have owned are approx 1/3 pint between max/min not much to worry about IMO.I always go on 2 approx mm above/below line and never had a problem,though agree with an earlier post electronic checks are not as accurate and would rather trust a dipstick anyday
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Steve
Mrs Dipstick breaks down twenty miles from home. She calls the AA and then me. I go out to wait with her.
It's very dark, chucking it too, as in so hard nobody is going to stand out in it when there's a car to sit in. I park in front of her. She has just hazards on. We're on a main street through town but no streetlights in the immediate vicinity.
Police car pulls up. "Don't do that, it's dangerous. Put your car BEHIND hers with hazards on and sit in hers. If someone hits yours you have a buffer."
I move mine behind hers under police instruction.
We wait a while. Another police car pulls up (What are the odds, eh?)
"You've parked on a double yellow line."
"I know, but it's safer, one of your colleagues.."
"Rubbish, you can never park on a double yellow line."
"Yes, but one of your..."
"I can't sit here all night arguing with you. MOVE it."
I put my car in front again, and we sit with the lorries just whizzing past. The first police car appears in the distance...
Well, in fact they were in a hurry and went the other way quickly, more important things to worry about. But if she HAD stopped, what the heck was I going to say?
All very well saying "get names and numbers" but in those circumstances one just doesn't! Well, this one didn't anyway.
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They didn't offer to tow your wifes car out of harms way then?.A few years ago,my car broke down on the motorway.The police who stopped weren't interested in helping,and drove off.Fortunately another motorist stopped and gave assistance.
I have a '97 2.0 litre vectra(ecotech), I have a misfire on number 1 cylinder, very good spark at all the others, have replaced plugs and HT leads, have also done a continuity check on low voltage side of coil pack both are same 2ohms can the fault be in anything else but the coil pack, that I can check before replacing it? Read more
You are correct in your diagnosis.Common failing.
Andrew
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Simplicate and add lightness!!
I was looking over HJ's police auction report.
Looks like some cracking bargains
This one caught my eye.
Ford Focus 1.8LX 5-dr, Y reg, 108k miles, white, £1,000s
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>> The Vectra's, Volvos and BMW's that I drive on a
Roads
>> Policing/ARV unit are absolutely cream crackered at 100k.
>>
I'm surprised about BMW being included in that comment. I've done
high mileages in Cavaliers, Mondeos and 406s and they are basically
dead at 120K in 3 yrs (and I'm gentle with cars).
My cars still looked good on the outside but they
develop fault after fault.
But I would have have expected a BMW could shrug off
that kind of mileage?
I'm surprised about Cavaliers being included!
As I have mentioned previously one of ours did over 200,000 on the same clutch and same engine, despite being driven very hard. The only things which went wrong were the coil, and some sort of relay plug-block thing for which we just bought a replacement for a few quid. And one exhaust.
Others did well over 120,000 with no problems; and looking on the license plate lookup at DVLA I saw the 200,000 1990 example was still running as late as 2001.
Could someone tell me how much difference there would be for a 17 year old just-passed driver in insurance terms between a 1.0 car and a 1.4 or 1.6? The reason for this is that I have been advised to go for a larger engined car by my instructor who says they are easier to drive and to keep up with the traffic. Would there be a huge difference in price between groups 3 and 5 insurance and what are your views? any car suggestions also? Read more
I remember when I was 17 we were all really shocked at the cost of insurance - £150 tpft on a 1980 Golf in 1988. but then I remember every single one of my friends having an accident of some kind in their first year...including rolling cars, hitting lamposts, rolling into ditches etc etc...and this was not in fast cars - VW Beetles, Polos, Metros etc. Almost all of it was down to going too fast for the conditions - especially country roads in winter or at night or both...
Having a car is not a right...alot of young people don't seem to understand that. If you want insurance it will cost you and if you can't afford it then don't drive until you are over 21 or 25.>> erm no...it is based on risk. Sexist? no again, based on
I will be making the trip fom Surrey to Telford.
I know all the options from home to the M40.
I need advice from the M40 onward.
The route appears to be M42, Toll road ....then?
Is it then onto the M54? Is it obviously signed because my maps are far from clear?
Or onto the A5?
Final destination is approx the junction of the A442 & A6223 NW of Telford.
Are there any difference with the return trip routing?
At present I do not know what time or day I will be doing the trip so I guess avoid week day rush hours or is there more than rush hour traffic.
SWMBO can read OS maps so we can go really agricultural if reqd / recommended.
I do not currently have an OS map of the areas concerned as I rarely venture that far north so I feel a little lost without that trustworthy publication. Read more
Stay on M6 for about a mile after the end of the toll section to J12, the A5 at Gailey.
At first roundabout go left onto A449 which leads straight back to J2 on the M54.
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Thanks for that detail. My maps show restricted junctions etc in that area and I was guessing there was a shorter route from the toll road to the M54
It is not easy to work it out on Michelin as junction nos are not marked. Multimap shows it much better.
Local know how has sorted it out.
>>I'd guess that the brand new UK Road Atlas your local filling station is doubtless knocking out for about £1.99 will be more than adequate for your needs unless you're planning on using greenlanes for the last sections
I have a collection of these. It is easy to see the route once it is presented by you good folks. I like to have it reasonably sorted, prior to the trip, rather than trust to local signs on the day.
My best map has a double page of the Birmingham area at one and a half miles to the inch but guess what? The M54 just gets in and the end of the toll road area etc does not.
Thanks all.
Browse
Thank you, HJ, and quite so. I only asked because a hitchhiker in California once expressed surprise that I carried no weapon. His turned out to be a razor blade in his wallet, more virtual and less practical than the bits of sharpened Toyota leaf spring in the jeans back pocket the Lagos area boys used to make my blood run cold with...