September 2006
***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 152 *****
In this thread you may ask any question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.
It does not need to be motoring related. In fact, in this thread it should not be.
No Questions About PC's. They now go in another Thread.
No politics
No Speeding, speed cameras, traffic calming
No arguments or slanging matches
Nothing which we think is not following the spirit of the thread
Nothing that risks the future of this site (please see the small print for details www.honestjohn.co.uk/credits/index.htm )
Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.
However, as has been said a couple of times, there is a wealth of knowledge in here, much of which is not motoring related, but most of which is useful.
This is Volume 151. Previous Volumes will not be deleted,
A list of previous volumes can be found here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=18847
PLEASE NOTE:
When posting a NEW question, please "Reply to" the first message in this thread, i.e. this one. This keeps each question in it's own separate segment and stops each new question from getting mixed up in amongst existing questions. Also please remember to change the subject header.
Read more
Just been past a garage with a 806 2.0 lx , 02 reg for £5995
Is this a good price? seems quite cheap but it is a automatic and 2 litre petrol but on the other hand i proberly only do 15,000 a year if that , most of the week is short 3-5 mile journeys with a long motorway journey at the weekends. Read more
It's done 23,000 miles has all the mot's and service history to verify it. I didn't notice the electric wind mirrors proberly not because i started it up and they didn't unfold, it does have the manual sliding passenger doors though.
To me it looks a good deal on paper i'm just slightly worried the engine won't be up to the job, however i'll find out on a test drive. I'm not looking for somthing fast but would like it to cruise nicely at 80 on the motorway without any problems.
2001 1.4 model. The rear passenger side tyre wears on both shoulders in the same way as if it is overinflated. It is not and the tyre on the drivers rear side wears normally.
This means a rear passengers side tyre lasts about 10k miles.
However I have has the alignment checked and they can find nothing wrong.
Any ideas would be welcome what to look for next. Read more
cheap import tyres do this lots you look at the tread quickly and think its got lots on but when you come to inspect them properly they are indeed going bald on the shoulders.
This seems to have happened a lot more in the last 18 months.
remedy? get named tyres even if they are camacs.
Had my Accord in for a service a fortnight ago at my local Honda dealership. Very mundane, nothing to report. On my way home yesterday, SWMBO phones me; the garage had left a message for me to phone them pronto. I waited until I got home and listened to the message. It related to 'the wheels we have for you' .
Totally in the dark, I telephone to dealer and gave my name. 'Oh yes sir, when would you like to bring the car in?' Feeling a bit dim, I reply that, unfortunately, I have no idea what they are talking about. After being put on hold, the service receptionist informs me that the alloy wheels have arrived and are ready to be fitted. I plead ignorance once again and tell them I hadn't ordered any alloy wheels.
After being put on hold again, the service receptionist finally informs me that when the car was in for a service, the technician had noticed some corrosion around the centre cap of one of the alloys. As a result, a replacement set of four Epsilon alloys were ordered under warranty. Being fitted tomorrow.
Last night a quick search on the Honda forums revealed that corrosion on these alloys has been a problem. BUT, I hadn't mentioned it when I took the car in.
So, well done to Pentraeth Honda, Llandudno.
Oh, and before anyone appears stating that it is the least you would expect, it made me feel all warm and gooey inside.
So there.
--
let me be the last to let you down.... Read more
Update. Car in first thing. Offer of courtesy car not needed (the walk did me good). Car ready by lunchtime. Spanking new wheels fitted and car cleaned. I'm one very happy boy.
HJ, please feel free to paraphrase the OP and mention dealers name in your column if you so wish.
Incidently, I didn't buy the vehicle from the dealer, but they have serviced it. And, will continue to do so.
--
let me be the last to let you down....
The breakdown cover that came with my approved used motor has expired, so i just tried to re-activate my old RAC breakdown cover that i put on hold last year. They won't honour the 2 months that was left until renewal date(which i would like to use now), and insist that i renew for 12 months from now instead. So, if i have to renew for 12 months now, i'd prefer to buy from somewhere else. Any recommendations?? Read more
Britannia Rescue;even cheaper if you're a civil servant or have a close relation who is.
I have been trying to drive more economically. One of the tips I have come across on the web is to leave the car in gear and ease off the accelerator when going down a hill. I have read that this will only work for modern cars, where the ecu/computer cuts off the fuel. In such cases, it is better to leave it in gear rather than put it in neutral.
Whilst drivign down hill, I have tended to put it in neutral. I drive a 95M 1.6 Escort zetec. My question is will the computer/ecu cut off the petrol when the accelerator is not depressed, or is my car too old to have such a system? In my case, would it be better to leave it in gear and ease off the accelerator, or to continue leaving it in neutral?
Thanks for your help.
Ish Read more
what about that goverment thinking on white van man, back for retraining on greener driving, did it work any body know.. ithink its down to forward planning.
The alternator died recently on my Sharan. The replacement new item died after less than a week. Fortunately it's a company car and won't cost me anything to have it fixed. However, what puzzles me is that there was no indication from the dashboard lights that the battery wasn't charging. When the ignition was switched on a battery icon lit up but when the (diesel) engine started it went out. The first indications that anything was wrong was when the engine was a bit sluggish on the starter motor and the electric windows a bit slow winding up and down. I thought that if the alternator failed then all manner of warning lights would start flashing.
Keep upright Read more
I wonder if the one way drive pulley is failing, and has been transferred to the new alternator. These seem to pack up at about 60k miles onwards, often by coming apart - to the detriment of anything which gets in the way.
659.
tinyurl.com/pt4f6
Not sure if the link is allowed so have disabled it, but a test I will look forward to the results from!!! The future draws closer!! Read more
I saw something on TV a few weeks ago and the reporter had just come back from Japan. The latest GPS systems used over there not only show the roads, but also a respresentation of the traffic on them. This appears to be a version of the system in the link.
HJ's column last Sat, there was a chap featured complaining about a £30 penalty for a six minute parking trangression, he claimed that he had over paid on numerous previous occasions. I have sympathy with this view, this along with the speeding / European Court of Human Rights story got me thinking, the following is slightly shaky in concept though I wonder if it would work:
Park in the said car park, buy a ticket for say 2 hours, come back to the car after 30 mins and drive away, write to the council (or whoever) saying:
"
On xxth of XXX I parked vehicle reg XX06XXX in XX car park between 10:00 and 10:30 a total of 30 minutes however I had paid for 120 minutes (copy of ticket enclosed) therefore if on a future occasion the same vehicle XX06XXX is found to be parked in XX carpark with a valid though expired ticket in trust the remaining 90 minutes of unused, though paid for, time will be accounted for before a penatly notice is issued, Yours ...... "
Read more
Are there any decent pubs yet other than hippie ones in
Bristol or Bath or, cough, anywhere in between?
Wheatsheaf in Corston on the A39. Cracking food and Butcombe
Riverside in Saltford (er... on the river)
Um, that's about it though. If you're ever in Bath though, New Inn in Monmouth Street does fantastic beer (Wadworth pub)
Insured with deleted - as you are calling them gits. DD on my tdi. Phoned this morning to get a quote on a Vr6 and the gits wont insure me until i'm 25 ( nearly 2 years!!). Yet they'll insure me on a 2.0 16v...
Now i'm sure they said themselves ( a few months ago when i phoned them) that if i owned the car they would be oblidged to insure me.
That true??!
Read more
try
www.ecarinsurance.co.uk
they are good and i found them very cheap
Thanks for replies. Looking at Madam's old passport, i have a funny feeling that the current one will run out in late October anyway, so we'll declare the current one lost and replace it.
Thanks