August 2006
Rant mode on.
It becomes more and more clear over the years that the government doesn't need to build more roads, the money would be more wisely spent in driver education. I have recently returned from the annual holiday, which necessitated a drive from Dover up the M20/M26/M25 route to junction 10 of the M25, thence south. It's like entering Moron City when you hit the M25. Thanks to a combination of aggressive drivers of what they like to think of as fast prestious cars, and those others who find difficult in working out a) that they are on a motorway b) that there are actually four lines available for driving in c) that the speed limit is actually 70mph and d) what day of the week it is, the whole road may as well have been two lanes. Not much fun when you have 120 miles to drive, and have already covered 360 miles that day (not all driven by me I add). It's clear that the 5-lane stretch of the M25 round by Heathrow will be wasted, to get a true 5-lane you would have to go up to a physical 8-lane layout.....
Today, due to the South West Trains strike (don't start me on that!) I drove to work from Petersfield to Putney via the A3, leaving home early. On long stretches both before and after the M25 the inside lane was quite clear yet no-one was using it. The traffic was light to moderate, and there would have been no issue with performing a normal transition between lanes when appropriate (i.e. the chances of being baulked when wishing to overtake slower vehicles such as lorries) were minimal. There were no points where the inside liane beacomes a slip, so no issues there. Virtually no traffic joining, so no need to worry about continuous streams of traffic entering the road.
What is up with people??
Rant mode off. Read more
I have an '05 Clio 3 door. The passenger seat forward/backward seat adjuster has locked up and the seat just glides backwards and forwards - it doesn't lock in position.
This happened after the seat back was released to allow access to the rear seats. The seat back locked back into position, but not the fore/back adjuster (which is linked).
The handle to adjust fore/back is also locked in the up position.
Does anyone know if there is an easy adjustment to release this ?
Or is it another dreaded visit to a disinterested Renault dealer ? Read more
EMU light comes intermittently usually when I ease of the throttle as I come off the motorway. Cancells when I switch off. I can potter about the highways and byways all day and the thing stays off. Car is 2000, has done 94k, has always been a bit of an oil burner, rattled at start up but I still getting '40 mpg and still runs sweetly when warmed up, so I am thinking can't be too much wrong, faulty sensor perhaps? I don't want to fork out 50 quid at a vauxhall dealer to have it checked out but I am I being too complacent ?
I do have a plentiful supply of paperclips though. Read more
Among the things that are happening while you decelerate on a slip road are;
The engine will rock forward on its mounts - check to make sure the wiring loom isn't rubbing anywhere
The manifold absolute pressure will be very low - check the piping to the MAP sensor, (I tend to take the piping off, and check I can blow through it - same with the stub on the manifold - make sure it isn't blocked) and check the sensor's output with a voltmeter.
The best way forward is to find out what the trouble code is (I'm sure you'll find someone who can read it for less than the extortionate £50).
Bear in mind, that obtaining the trouble code is the starting point for further diagnosis - the trouble code tells you which area of the system may be at fault - it can't distinguish between a simple wiring fault like a rubbing wire that takes ten minutes a cable tie and some insulation tape to fix, or, the expensive sensor at the end of the wire. Too many mechanics just blindly fit the device that is mentioned in the trouble code, rather than checking it out properly. Sometimes, they are right to do this, but that's only a fluke, it isn't diagnosis.
Number_Cruncher
This is a medical / car question. Basically, I understand following car accidents people can get what is known as DVT- deep vein thrombosis.
Anyway, which sites would be able to give me advice about this in medical terms, in addition to protein c+s deficiency which my sister has. I would like information on this as she is thinking of taking a long driving trip, and I would appreciate any information or medical sites that might be able to steer me to clear information.
Many thanks
Greg Read more
Here is a good peer reviewed website for medical information www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000559.htm. Your sister's best source of information is either her GP or her haematology (haemophilia) consultant if she has one.
DVTs usually occur after stasis or if there is a hypercoagulable state as in protein S and C defieincy. As for DVTs post car accident then it depends on the accident. If a patient has an accident that leaves them immoblie in bed for a period of time then they are at risk yes. My advise would be that she talks to her consultant or GP as their advise will vary according to her past medical history and risk factors.
hope this is of help
Picked up my golf gttdi from the dealers on thursday after having it serviced.
When i got home i had a look at the sheet/receipt that they give you and got a bit worried that they had put the wrong oil in my car( 140bhp pd).
When i phoned them up the service manager said that he had looked at the job sheet and according to that the right spec oil had been put in but a mistake had been made when writing out the receipt.He said that i had been lucky really as i had now had a cheap service as the oil on the receipt was half the price of the pd stuff.Do you think that this sort of thing can happen or have they just put a bag over my head and kicked my butt out the door(so to speak).
Read more
The obvious exceptions being VW PD engines with their heavily loaded
injector cam, so called "long life" servicing regimes, and Fords needing
5W30 to avoid sticking valve problems.
Exceptions? Take all VAG PD's, Seat, Skoda, Audi, VW and all Fords (inc PD Galaxys) and you have a significant proportion of the total, then take MB and BMW who both quote a required oil spec, it seems that most cars need to be use the manufacturer specified oil.
Just mulling over the merits of the japanese diesels, and wondered peoples thoughts.....
Avensis - seems to be several different bhp of engine - are there differently priced options, or a series of updated engines fitted over time.
My price range is prob the early current-shape avensis diesel - 110bhp it seems, is that enough or is the car underpowered ? What other (better ? ) engines are there ?
Can the early current shape engine be "chipped" to produce better performance ? What about the other engines ? WHat are insurance Co. attitudes to this - what approx is the price premium increase, and do they require some kindof engineers report to verify the Bhp of the mods ?
IF I was feeling flush might think about the accord 2.2 diesel - but reports on Car-by-car breakdown of high oil consumptiuon and poor mpg - what do owners find here ???
What are the likely probs of these modern diesels as they get older and the miles go on - I know earlier diesels were simple things, hence little to go wrong, but will these high-tech engines be "pig" once the yget older, and cease to be worth repairing - Hence should one really be buying a higher miler car, as many of these diesels will be, or will one be in for a big bill over 120Kmiles say ?
Thanks for peoples knowledge - as always good on this site ! Read more
Steve, I know exactly what you mean, but I do have to disagree. My sister has a 1.9 non-turbo 206, and it's fine for everyday driving. Except. When you try to pull out onto a busy road, or overtake, you realise that there's nothing left. At all. I nearly got rear-ended by something on the A46 in Cov - I'd simply not appreciated that I'd been driving it nearly flat out. A 17 second (or something like that) 0-60 apparently correlates quite nicely with my usual relaxed driving style.
I drive a 140 HP Accord diesel. I don't use the power most of the time, but it's very good to have. Overtaking effortlessly and quickly (and therefore safely) is very easy. I feel that this is well worth it. Necessary? Probably not, but it feels justifiable to me.
Gord.
Dear all, i changed my fiesta for a ST220 yesterday. Its a 53 plate and is in fantastic condition with only 21'000 on the clock, and was bought from a large national car supermarket. The v5 which i was shown showed the car to be an import as did an hpi check which i did independantly (for my own piece of mind). There is only one discrepancy which i don't understand at all. The service book shows that the car was PDI'd by a franchise ford dealership (it still bears the trade plate for this franchise on the car), however, when i phoned the dearship today the salesman, who was most helpful, checked the reg and said that it was indeed an import and that the dealership had no record of the vehicle with them, he also said that he would do some research for me and get back to me.
This has got me worried, as i now am wondering if the service book has been faked.
As i said the car was bought from a large reputable supermarket. Does anyone have any explanation as to how the service book may be like this, do main dealers sometimes dabble in imports on the side to keep things off the books? Or can an import be PDI'd privately by a main dealer on the UK when it hits the shores here.
As a happy aside, the car is incredible on the road. An absolute peach, and very understated.
cheers
smoke Read more
As a happy aside, the car was bought new in the UK was taken to germany by a member of the armed forces, and then brought back to the UK. So all sorted, its a UK car. Is booked in for a major service (37.5k) so will get that done and enjoy it.
Sid
I'm selling my 2003 Toledo TDi SE (see classifieds here). It's been advertised for just less than a week, I've had a couple of casual calls, but this evening I had a call from a guy who seems seriously interested in the car. I'm in the North East, he's in Edinburgh, and the earliest he can get down to see it is Thursday. Because I work through the day, he can't be here until after 6 to view the car.
We've already negotiated on price on the phone, and he's asked me about payment should he wish to take the car away on Thursday. Having read the advice on this site (How to buy and sell cars on the left), I suggested I could only accept a Building Society cheque or cash, as it will be outside banking hours so I wouldn't be able to check a draft was genuine.
This is the first time I've sold a car privately, and whilst I realise I can make a little extra from this deal, I'm a little apprehensive. If the guy brings cash, I can't pay it in until the next day. Is there any way I can be sure it's genuine? He certainly sounds very much so on the phone, and clearly he's travelling a significant distance to view the car. The other issue is that I have a px offer from the dealer. I already discussed with them when I did the deal, and they are happy to honour the deal without the px. I am supposed to be picking up my new car on Friday, so it would certainly be short notice for them to do the paperwork. Should I delay picking up the car (which I don't really want to!)
Your advice very much appreciated! Read more
Not bad advice if you dont handle much cash; but I have seen notes that have beaten these checkers.
You cant beat experience of cash for the feel of a note, and the print (especially on the back).
If doubtful, exchange the cash, keys and v5 at a bank where they will tell you if any notes are bad. Any body handing over notes he knows are dodgy will not go the bank to do it; so just decline his cash!
car was driving fine then went to start it and it wont fire up .....phoned up breakdown as i had my kids the weekend,he said soilnoid was knackered....so off iwent to get a new one then bloke in starter motor shop said "before i sell you one make sure the flywheel isnt leaking into your starter motor,so i went home to take alook ..no leaks around the said areas,but now i got a terrible rattle on start up that goes after 3 mins to 5 mins and becomes a funny whistle when accelarating.....now the whistle i thought maybe was the turbo????anybody help out please..The car starts up still but u can tell the solinoid is going has sumtimes it doesnt start for 5 seconds with the key held at point 3 on the barrel...the motor has done 116,000miles.....i changed oil 2 mths ago and was driving lovely until recently ...and the water keeps going down as well ?
many thank you for reading Read more
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I'm thinking of getting my Astra Van (Z 1.7cdti) remapped. Been looking at figures on chips, tweaks, modules, etc.etc...but so far the best returns i can find are by remapping instead of plugging things in. Any thoughts - recommendations? Read more
i would recommend this fine engine is left as it is ................
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Lud has a habit of writing what I want to write but can't.... it's annoying but saves me typing I suppose.
Absolutely. I believe a rule of thumb for moving back into the next inside lane, if not always the inside lane, is 10 seconds ahead (assuming, and most decent drivers are good judges, that you can determine that fairly correctly).
I am the first to admit it can be a challenge on a crowded motorway, but it's such an underrated skill that immeasurably helps traffic flow.