September 2006
8< SNIP 8<
Spam post from Zedmedia removed. DD. Read more
Is this possible to do?
I have a GS300 Mk2. Am leaning towards Supra Twin Turbo Auto, as I'm after a coupe that offers decent handling, reliablity, monster performance and looks cool too. Want the auto, as I am a very lazy person.
(Yes, I like the fast and furious movies!!)
Any other cars you can suggest? Budget is going to be 7k.
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What is the worst job you have ever done on a car? By that I mean either the most difficult in itself, or where the most has gone wrong / held you up.
This is prompted by my ENTIRE weekend spent changing the cambelt, fuel pump belt and water pump on the Mondeo. I wasn't expecting this to take an hour, but neither did I expect the 14 that it did take!! Problems encountered:
Seized air-con belt tensioner. Still seized - after unsuccessful use of Plus Gas, had to remove the belt by taking the crank pulley off. Made refitting interesting as well as said crank pulley is a double item also driving the alternator belt. The alternator belt has to go on first. A juggling act like no other, but it's done and it works for now. Replacement tensioner required, but that's a job for another day!
Went to drain the cooling system down only to discover that the aftermarket rad the car is fitted with has no drain plug. Spent over an hour trying to get the bottom hose off (those stupid cheap spring loaded hose clips) removing most of the skin from my knuckles in the process before giving up and using the block drain plug instead.
Over torqued cam pulley made things touch and go with my home made pulley holding tool (cowboy workmanship which is evident all over this car).
No 1 glow plug was not only seized in, but located in such a way in relation to the injection pump and its plumbing that it was an eigth of a turn a time job to both remove and refit it.
Blanking plug for crank timing pin hole fell out of the socket when I removed it and fell down between the air-con pump bracket and the side of the block. Had to remove and carefully support the air-con pump while removing the mounting bracket to get the plug back.
Water pump gasket came off the block only after much careful scraping, and then in hundreds of tiny, well baked pieces.
The lower cover on the cambelt refused to "snap in" to the upper cover. You wouldn't believe how much time I lost here.
The mother of all air-locks was present in the fuel system when re-starting. I have bled the fuel system on this car several times, and this is the one and only time it has decided to soak me and most of the engine bay in diesel when I eased the filter outlet pipe off. At this point I started shouting and swearing at the car believing it to be personal. That's when you know you've really had enough! ;-)
Anyhow the car is now back together, running and all is well, but what an oddyssey! I have no urge to ever tackle this job again, which for someone who normally enjoys working on cars is quite unusual.
That said, it did confirm a couple of things I suspected. The seller of the car (a local-ish dealer) hadn't replaced the tensioners when they did the belt (QH belts, Ford tensioners), the water pump was slightly leaking, and the horrible chattering noise of late on idle was clearly linked to this somewhere 'cos now it's gone.
Good end result, nightmare getting there!
Anyone else had a "never again" job?
Cheers
DP
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Rover P6, same rear brake calipers as the Ford Zodiac MKIV , horrible!!! Even worse on the Rover as they are inboard.
As a driver who wears glasses, I was following the thread about variable focus lenses with interest. Why has it disappeared - or is my eyesight so poor that I can't find it? ; - )
Is the problem the use of tradenames? Read more
I had great trouble , for the first few days when getting varifocals.just thinking about ,that they write on door mirrors, objects may be nearer than they seem, could be warning given to varifoals. just to add some coal to the fire.
I have three young children. Youngest being 4 and the eldest 11. My son is always nagging that i should buy one of the new lamborghini. I tell him it's impractical because it only has two seats and there is four of us.
which exotic car can you recommend that not only seat four comfortably but have a wow factor with the kids.
it is nice to have this info handy for when i win the lottery. ;-) Read more
I would buy three cars if I were you - honestly.
Touareg 5.0 diesel V10 (to ferry the children)
Bentley Flying Spur
Aston Martin DB9
Together, they can all be bought for just over £250000, but what is the problems when you have millions.
Deepak
My wife is putting her A6 on eBay soon. 98 R reg, 1.8T, 145000 miles. FSH, mainly Audi but 2 more recent specialist services. Interior excellent, 7 months MOT, recent decent tyres all round. Has the smaller size alloys which were reconned about 2 yrs ago and now starting to look slightly tatty. A few stone chips and a couple of scrapes to the bumper. Small area of rust re-appearing by front wheel arch base, probably from previous bad repair ( 10p sized, we had it fixed before for about £150) Small ding with small paint crack on rear. ABS and hand brake warning lights come on for a second or two sometimes. Silver with air-con and electric sunroof. Anyone care to guess what it might fetch? Read more
Mr Woody,
Forgetting the fact you don't need such a big car again, and forgetting fuel consumption, would you buy one again?
I bought a Fiat Punto from british car auction and found that the engine is leaking a bit of oil , vehicle gettting too hot even if i just drive 4 miles. I am a first time buyer and have not got enough money to handle the repair cost of mechanics please guide me what to do to have minimum loss or is worth repair.
Really a bad experience from auctions
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Might not be as bad as you think - my Megane recently had the symptoms of a head gasket failure, i.e. overheating, lots of bubbles in the overflow tank etc. The breakdown service agreed with me. However, when I got it back to my friendly local garage, it turned out be a simple combination of stuck thermostat and faulty radiator cap which meant the system wasn't properly sealed. Had it been the gasket, it would have written the car off. As it was it cost £127 to include the cost of diagnosis, and I've had no trouble since.
I suggest you get a proper diagnosis before you panic.
hello,
has anyone bought a new toyota aygo - what your thoughts good /bad
do you know of any garages doing a good deal on them ? Read more
I test drove one at the weekend as we are considering one as a 2nd car and wanted to be as economical and sensible as possible. I liked it, modern styling, 60 odd mpg, group 1 insurance ( 1yr free insurance on offer, plus 3 yrs free servicing) The base model is only available in red but we're seriously considering it to replace an 8yr old Audi A6 which now only does local journeys and is starting to cost money in repairs. The Aygo retains its value well too, only downside a slightly hard ride. Didn't feel too small either, but boot is tiny, with a high lip.
Had my 2.0l / '99Focus' oil changed at a "rapid fit" place. checked the oil it is over the max mark on the dipstick by about 4mm, will this cause any damage, i need to travel about 25 miles to get back to the "rapid fit" place to get it drained will this do any harm?
cheers
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The oil pump puts oil under pressure through the galleries in
the crankshaft through the oil way in the shells.
Except on engines with splash lubrication. I had an old prewar Ford engine that had speciall scoops on the big ends, to dip into the oil and splash it around inside the crankcase.
I'd also observe that the recommended oil level cannot be all that critical. A car climbing an alpine pass has to have an engine rated for constant running under heavy load at a considerable angle. The downhill bearing might be a lot lower than the uphill.
I am part exchanging one of my cars on wednesday, or that what was going to happen.
The dealer called me after having done the deal to say my car was showing that there was outstanding finance. The finance having been arranged in March this year. I have owned the car since last November and paid cash, for which I have a handwritten signed receipt from the previous private owner.
I am hoping that the dealer can discuss with HPI on Monday and get confirmation that this is an error.
Is this something that anyone else has had happen. If so was it quickly corrected and what if anything did you have to do?
Thanks.
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Well it is good news for the OP and he is the one we are concerned with here! He's been lucky - other people have to take their chances!
Mitsi GTO Twin Turbo?