January 2006
I need to change the front vented discs and pads on my 1999 A6 1.8T saloon. Can anyone help with advice as whilst I know the basics, I need to know if there are any unusual aspects of this work on the Audi, being ABS. Thanks Read more
Latest loan car is a three cylinder Polo 1.2S. Seems very well equipped with front fog lights , heated powered mirrors , air conditioning.
The three cylinder engine looks tiny, the plastic cover having gone AWOL.Thank goodness there is no cambelt on one model.Lets's hope it sets a trend back to chains.
I was more impressed by the hill climbing ability of this version than the 1.4FSI I had last year.Gear change and steering very positive.
Only gripe is a too high (non-adjustable) drivers seat.
Looking forward to the run back across the Cat and Fiddle (if the temperature gets a above freezing that is).
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I wasna fu but just had plenty. Read more
After 5 years and 70,000 miles, something has finally failed on our Toyota Yaris - the bulbs that should act as the 'lights on' indicators on the instrument panel have failed!
Does anyone know how to get at these? Is there a Haynes manual for the Yaris, or perhaps they haven't bothered to produce one since nothing seems to go wrong....
Any help would be appreciated. Read more
From Freedom-motors' FAQ on their rotary engine. I'm intrigued, especially about the last sentence...
>How can you expect an increase in power by adding water to diesel fuel?
>Answer: Adding water results in further cooling of the incoming charge. The addition of water to diesel, gasoline or alcohol primarily benefits the engine by increasing volumetric efficiency by 20 to 25%. In the case of diesel, water also reduces the tendency to detonate and significantly lowers NOX emissions. California is making an 80% diesel 20% water fuel available at commercial filling stations. Read more
The do say that one of the symptoms of HGF is that the car runs better and more economically (until the engine gives up the ghost!). Reason? - water in the fuel charge.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
Please note Luton Chavport car park has no security cameras covering the car park itself.
There is one on entry and exit but none covering the car park. I leave you to decide what happens to the cars parked there 'at your own risk'. Read more
I normally use short-term at Luton and have never had a
problem, having said that I try to avoid relatively narrow gaps
and older cars on either side.
Don't blame you. My boss returned there to find his offside rear wheel arch scuffed.
Been to the Alps & back. The transfer to and from Chambery airport was with 'a local english guy'. Commercial transfer companies exist but cost a lot. Most ski resorts have a 'local englishman' who lives in the resort for many weeks as they are addicted to ski-ing and take all their annual leave in the winter months. These guys usually drive to the Alps from the UK and subsidise their addiction by doing odd jobs - they clean appartments, they mend stuff, they guide newcomers through the hiring of boots and issuing of passes and finally they do the occasional airport transfer.
So the answer is ask the company you book with if there's a 'local english guy' who can help you with the transfer. Even big companies use little people to do odd jobs. Read more
Ok - prompted by this:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4638790.stm
and other tales recently of traffic wardens being gits, I have a theory as to why all traffic wardens are inherently evil. Bear with me.
Traffic wardens are controlled by managers who are simply interested in meeting targets. They have to post X tickets per week and any warden who fails to do so will be in trouble. Repeated failure ends in sacking.
There are only so many illegally parked cars to ticket, so wardens have to get more inventive to meet their targets, pushing rules and finding any reason to punish someone who has strayed a few seconds over their time limit.
Any traffic warden with half a conscience will not ticket a vet who is attending an injured whale, a hearse, an ambulance etc. Only the ones who could sleep comfortably at night if they had spent all day strangling kittens would do that. So they meet their targets, and the traffic wardens who resemble decent human beings a little more do not. They get fired.
So the traffic wardens you have left are the evil ones.
Now repeat. Every time this process is run through the "nicest" wardens fall off the bottom and the nastiest ones remain. It's almost like "survival of the fittest" but more, survival of the evilest. The group of wardens that survive this process over and over again are simply the ones with the least conscience.
Have I oversimplified this, or does this describe how there is no such thing as a good traffic warden?
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AngryJonny (was E34kid) Read more
And for those of you who are perfect and have change...well,
what I'm saying is the one time you forget the change
or it runs out, what are you meant to do?
I know I am driving into central London tomorrow afternoon so have ALREADY made sure I have at least £15 in pound coins in case I end up parked on a meter instead of in an NCP.
>>However, a total lack of flexibility may result in other people being less than polite to them.
They do not set the rules, only enforce them.
I will not give them a chance to give me a ticket!
I arrived home last night from a weekend away to find our faithful 406 (1 owner, 116,000 miles, MOT'd late November) sitting on the driveway collapsed on the front right with a broken coil spring. The car is undrivable and I shudder to think what would have happened if it had failed on the motorway.
Does anyone this be due to speed bumps as my missus goes over a few of them in the course of her day as a physio doing home visits?
I can see my next few evenings will be taken up replacing both front springs. Any hints or suggestions from those who have gone before would be very welcome.
Canuck Read more
might be worth checking the strut top swivel bearing for roughness and rubber/metal bonded mounting as they can separate and cause knocking noises.
I believe all peugeot partners of that vintage are being recalled to have a clamp fitted to the strut to prevent coil spring dropping so don't know why 406's aren't included.
Daughter's 94 1.4 golf engine has been cutting out occaisionally. No warning and no pattern to it. I doubted what she was saying at first but now it's happened to me. Engine just dies with no prior warning. Did it to me whilst driving & was fortunate that I could pull over safely. I think this is almost certainly electrical ans strangly (I think) when the egine dies the oil warning light flashes. It wouldn't start again immediately but adter waiting 5/10 mins started no problem and drove away perefectly normally.
Any ideas gratefully received. Read more
islandman
You'll need a bit of luck for it to show itself
on demand.
Testing is easy; the hall-effect material is a conductor in the
presence of a magnet and an insulator when it isn't.
As the magnet rotates with the engine the signal circuit simply
switches rapidly on-and-off. Any 'scope can show/record it.
When they go faulty, everything works normally - then suddenly -
nothing.
You'll be chasing this fault for ages; I'll stick my head
on the block and say it's a 75% chance that's what's
the problem.
On a '94 you may be just too early for a
factory immobilizer.
Thanks Screwloose
Yes -- no immobilizer but there does seem to be some sort of after marker alarm --- which doesn't appear to work! As you say I could end up chasing this for a long time so perhaps best to bite the bullet and try what you say. -- Fortunately my daughter is now back at Uni and leaves her car at home - for me to drive from time to time so at least it wont pack up on her at present. Cheers
1987 3.5 EFI (not hot wire)Ranger Rover. Recently tickover has become uneven, and when engine has been working hard for ten minutes or so, it dies and won't start. Good spark, fuel pump running and there is fuel at the engine. Leave it for ten minutes or so and it will start and run normally. It only seems to happen when it's been working hard for a bit. With normal gentle driving it seems ok. I definitely think it's temperature related.
Any ideas? Read more
tn
Glad to hear that sorted it. Thanks for coming back with the outcome.
Browse
Have a look on www.toyotaownersclub.com/forum/
It has some good links on the Yaris and it does tell you how to change the bulbs etc;