August 2006
Did anyone else see the piece in the DT on Saturday regading the North Wales Police Deputy Chief Constable's blog, and to think that this guy is a public employee!
www.north-wales.police.uk/nwp/public/en/blogs/view...2
5
I quote: "Is it now time to banish motorcycles completely from our National Parks?", so if I lived in Exford or Keswick or Dolgellau or Whitby (yes Whitby!) I would not be allowed to ride a motorcycle - ridiculous! I suggest it should be questioned as to whether someone who makes such an ill thought out statement should be able to hold such a senior office.
To declare an interest - I have an aftermarket exhaust on my ZRX 1100, it is more efficient than the standard one and being made of titanium is much lighter than the steel original, that would probably have rusted through by now anyway, however it is road legal, if the powers at be have an issue with the noise emmitted from EC approved standard or road-legal aftermarket systems then surely they should campaign for a reduction in the allowable noise limit rather than suggest banning a whole category of transport.
Yes, many motorcyclists run illegal race cans that are rather noisy however to suggest banning motorcycles because of an inconsiderate few is like banning cars because because of the Saxo brigade's big bass booming or banning football because there is the odd punch up after a game.
Seems to me that Deputy Chief Constable Clive Wolfendale should get his boys out with noise meters tackoling the issue? No, of course not, they have not got time because they are too busy enforcing often inappropriate speed limits, penalising almost innocent motorists based on a 1/1000 sec snapshot in time that bears absolutely no relationship to the other 99.9999% of their journey and doing nothing to deter - yet alone catch - other road users who are drugged up or drunk, perhaps driving illegal, untaxed, uninsured, unsafe vehicles - or riding noisy motorbikes!
Regards.
Read more
I have a 2001 ford fiesta 1.6 zetec s, i used a power washer to clean all the rubbish out of my wheel arches about a year ago and after i had cleaned them i turned the ignition and the indicator clicker was going crazy!! it was clicking really fast but the indicators werent flashing, eventually it calmed down but now every time its starts raining or gets damp it does it again occasionally!!! any ideas what it is??? Read more
Years ago, flashers were thermally operated.
The current flow heated something which broke the circuit until it cooled down again enough to make a contact again. Thus when one of the bulbs failed, it clicked more rapidly, because the circuit did not stay broken as long.
So, one of the first tests you could usefully do, is to take out one of the indicator bulbs to see if your car does this. If it does, your problem could be caused by a bulb failing to make contact. You, being in the car, would not see the faulty bulb.
I have not tried taking a bulb out on my recent cars, and I always change my bulbs before they wear out -- when they look black. Flashers may no longer be thermally operated but, I guess, the speeding up clicking process will probably still take place (electronically?) to indicate that something is wrong. So clean the bulb contacts and make sure they are contacting properly.
I am importing a 2007 ford focus from the US. I am having a difficult time getting insurance. The dealer wont supply it until i get a registration. The only info i have on it is the VIN. Any suggestions to help me out i only have 2 weeks left!!
Thanks Read more
But you can import a RHD vehicle from Europe, and save money. But anything from USA will be LHD so you're not saving when you factor in depreciation. And import costs will be quite high (type approval, VAT etc).
So I agree this thread must be a windup. i hope it is because the OP surely cannot think this is a good idea.
Folks,
I know this is a common problem (but I can't find out how to search the back room database effectively yet)...
Since it was 2...My Micra Twister 1.0L (98/R). Has had the following problem:
In the morning (almost exclusively) if it doesn't start first time, it doesn't start!
Luckily, I've always lived on a street with a hill and I can bump start it 100% of the time (which is fine unless I stall it right at the bottom of the hill). Point here is it would always catch and start.
Last 2 days, however, it wouldn't catch first time and wouldn't bump either (got the wife to give me as tow start yesterday which was a funny experience as she had never done it before - big terrano pulling little micra all over the road).
Wish I had got something done in the warranty. However, found several hints about resoldering throttle control PCBs and suggestions about air flow sensors. Would appreciate some sound advice on adjustments or which bits to replace (hopefully I can get them from the local scappie).
Thanks... Read more
Folks,
Thanks for all your help...The Silver-Dart lives again...
Swapped in another throttle body from the scappies and running fine now.
Best regards to you all...
ScottieDog
Has this been mentioned elsewhere?
I have just read the letter in HJ's column in Sat's DT about the Civic handbrake "failure" on the m/way hard shoulder. I am (almost) lost for words! How the person can have the temerity to write in to complain!
It is up to the driver to ensure that the car is securely parked, how could the car roll more than a few inched without the driver being aware of it yet alone across three lanes of a motorway!
Why-oh-why were they not prosecuted for dangerous driving, not taking due care, wrongful use of the hardshoulder etc etc?
And then to admit that they let that car roll down their drive way demolishing a wall in the process, thank god a child was not playing in the path of the out-of-control car!
Sheer incompetence!
Am I being harsh? Read more
Must be something wrong with this guy's handbrake. I had my Civic for 35,000 miles and not once did the handbrake slip - not even slightly.
Do you think he knows that to get it to work you have to pull the lever up until you encounter resistance? Or does he think that the little red light looking a bit like this ( ! ) means that the brakes are off, and so he moves the handbrake lever down until it goes out? (A bit like the guy a few weeks back who asked why he had to turn his Passat's traction control on every time he started the car, because the yellow light stayed off otherwise...)
What. A. Plonker.
Hi all. My 2000 X 1.8 petrol Mondeo has started to give out this rattling noise from the front of the car, which I can best describe as sounding similar to what you'd hear if you had a coke can or two dragging under the car (hence the title of the post!). This only happens when accelerating from really low revs (eg putting your foot down at 18mph in third) and only lasts a couple of seconds, but is obviously slightly worrying! Not much more I can say, the only symptom is the noise, if you had ear plugs in you wouldn't notice as there's no loss of power or strange feelings thru the pedals etc. Any ideas appreciated! Read more
Demon...
My 1.8Lx had a fairly loud rattle which was a collapsed Cat (I lost my heatshield years before). I checked it by tapping the Cat with a large mallet to see if anything was loose (and whatever was loose inside the Cat rattled back at me).
Didn't cause problems for a few weeks but on the day I took it in for the new CAT the car would hardly perform (garage said it had started to break up and block the exhaust).
Only other rattling I got was creaky rattles from the front wishbones on uneven road surfaces.
Hi
Essentially I'm trying to establish whether Peugeot will do anything for a car that has just gone out of warranty. My girlfriend's sister has a 206 hdi which now has 37,000 miles, apparently her father topped up the oil adding nearly a litre in June (she didn't notice the oil level monitor until it started to flash) when the car went for its 36,000 mile sevice the (local vat registered) mechanic reported an oil leak coming from the back of the engine possibly from below the rocker cover (the entire engine is soaked) and had advised her to go back to peugeot as the car was just out of warranty (may 06) this was a few weeks ago. She has now left it for me to sort out.
What does anyone think? are Peugeot likely to cover it? Mechanic reckons it will be a full day stripping.
And has anyone experience of oil leaks like this in a 1.4 hdi and what the likely culprit is. The car drives normally.
Thanks all advice appreciated. Read more
Some while ago I had two new tyres on the front wheels, which clearly needed balancing as judged from the severe steering vibration. I put them on the back.
Having just fitted two new tyres on the back, I have swapped the half-worn pair back onto the front, fully expecting to have to have them balanced.
I am surprised to find that they are now in perfect balance, with not a trace of shimmy at any speed.
So is the following theory true ?:
Wheels are imbalanced because the circular periphery of the tyre is slightly eccentric with respect to the centre of the wheel. Running the wheel for a while on the rear, where this might not be noticed or matter, causes slight preferential wear in a way that re-centralises the tyre. Like spinning it on a lathe.
Read more
Technically, this thread covers the theory of static and dynamic balancing in a reasonablr rigorous way for a non-mathematical forum - there isn't any more to it than the description in this thread. Most off-car machines since the 70's or so can do both types of balance at once.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=42992&...f
It's not unusual for tyres to change as they wear - for tyres which are initially OK to become unbalanced, or vica versa.
I can imagine if you have put the tyres on the back axle, the back axle, being heavy, will tend to stay still, and may help even out any imbalance, by forcing the heavy spot to wear more, where the lighter independant front suspension will be more likely to be shaken around - but that's just an educated guess.
Number_Cruncher
The audio system (Model 9000 with touchscreen ) in my Mondeo is not selecting 'external input'. Has anyone else had this problem please?
Read more
I'm going to be getting a new (well, 6-18months old) car soon and the choice has come down to Skoda Octavia, Mazda 6 or Mondeo. Will probably be a diesel (for the first time) as they're by far the most common, at least in the better specs/trim, and the price difference isn't actually that huge. Got a drive in the Mazda6 2.0 TS2 in 2 days and drove a Mondeo 2.0 (130PS - would probably get Titanium X) and ST TDCi today. Very impresssed by both, mid-gear acceleration "wow" and "Yahoo" respectively! RAC giving insurance quote not much more for the ST though tyres would be pricier.
OK - here goes.... any opinions? Read more
As stated elsewhere, just catching up after computer problems. The heart finally won and signed for a 13month old Mondeo ST TDCi today. £1,000 less than we'd seen for one that was 10 months (though 55 rather than 05) and has upgraded drivers seat electrics and DVD player and headrest screens for the offspring so am ignoring what it'll be worth in 3 years - sob! But it does drive wonderfully. I'll maybe report again in 6 months. It's going to be a long weeks wait.
Browse
.jpg)
I think mountainkat you will find that North Wales police have been targeting bikers for years: they bought a helicopter specially for this purpose.
I have had a few biking holidays in North Wales, but not any more. We clear off down to the South of France now (and Germany for the Nurburgring), with the added bonus of not getting rained on every day!
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"