October 2006

daveyjp

You backroomers were very helpful in providing a lunch venue when we went for a weekend away to Northumberland in May 2005.

Our next venue for a weekend break is North Norfolk. We will be leaving mid morning and expect to be on the A17 by lunchtime. Do any backroomers know of any decent pubs off the A17 between Spalding and Kings Lynn which does good lunches?

Ta. Read more

daveyjp

CGNorwich - too your suggestion on board and 'The Mermaid' at Surfleet was excellent. Good location, good service and good price.

Agree the A17 was very boring and full of speed cameras mostly in the places where you have a good chance of overtaking the wagons meaning most drivers don't even attempt to overtake. Even with the cameras road deaths on this road were up about 25% (Oct 2004-Sep 05 41 deaths, Oct 05 - Sep 06 51 deaths). Did about 450 miles on the trip and driving around North Norfolk was a real pleasure. Very little traffic and well signed sensible limits. Managed 55 mpg over the whole trip, my best return for this car and shows how motoring at around 50mph for miles and miles really improves economy.

As ever there was the odd numpty like the Mondeo man yesterday who overtook on a right turn refuge, then deliberately took the wrong lane at a roundabout to undertake a wagon. 30 miles later on he was still only two wagons in front of us, exactly where he'd been when we first noticed him!

MikeTorque

I saw an advert in a motor mag about a product that claimed to help the internal heater heat 50% faster. The product is called something like Hotter Heater or similar, just add to the radiator coolant and away it goes.

Has anyone used this product and if so how effective is it and is it safe for all engines petrol/diesel ? Read more

Aprilia

Yes, but "work" appears to mean reduces engine coolant temperature. Looking
purely at the heater , surely the temperature should be as
high as possible for optimum (heater) performance?


Imrpoving heat transfer between block and coolant, and coolant and radiator results in more efficient operation of the radiator (and heater matrix); i.e. the whole system is operating more efficiently which means greater heat throughput from the rad.
BazzaBear {P}

This one pop-up needs something doing to it. In IE it pops up as full screen, with no top bar, so there's no way to close or minimise it without using task manager. Needless to say, this gets very annoying, very quickly.
. Read more

Dynamic Dave

Thread locked.

As has already been mentioned, please address this problem to HJ, and if there is genuinely a problem he will take it up with the advertiser.

DD.

::EDIT:: I have just made HJ aware of this, so no need to mention it to him yourself.

Peter C

The heater fan on my 97 Astra now only works on the No 4 setting (highest). Any ideas on the parts needed and how best to get at them ?

Cheers

Peter Read more

Peter C

Dave

Thank you very much for the information. I will take a look tomorrow. If i can't find it I can now speak to the garage with more confidence.

Cheers

Peter

LinuxGeek

I've got a strange problem with my car for past few days. It decided to not start the other day while I was away from home but with the help of a mate we managed to push start it. It looks like car isn't charging up the battery. I put the battery in another car and the battery got charged up no problem and started the car as normal and then I drove the car for good half an hour or so hoping that the battery would get fully charged but instead it was totally flat after me leaving the lights on for a bit (while i was driving the car). Now its not starting up at all. Could it be the alternator? If so how expensive it is to buy a new one or a re-conditioned one is good enough?
Thanks for any suggestion and advise thx. Read more

jc2

Surely it would be better to fix the fuel leak from the pump.

barney100

Round Basingstoke way we have been cursed with dual carriageways being painted out for who knows what reason. the A30 towards Camberley used to have lots of dual carriageway but now much of it has painted road hatchings to turn it into single carriageway. Bits of bricks and bollards protrude in random places waiting for you to strike them. Extra sets of traffic lights in places that worked fine without have appeared. Those stupid islands that cut roads in half and entreat....no...ORDER YOU ...to give way to oncoming traffic in the middle of nowhere. I vote for N. Hants as the most baffling and ill thought out road ''improvement'' area in the whole country. Anyone think they have a worse county council for roads? Read more

barney100

Yes I have been to surrey..in fact I go twice a week to work in the Guildford area. Watch those speed traps on the hog,s back I have been warned.

jdelmo

A few days back in a post relating to an E- type Jag, someone mentioned a website that can be used to search for registration plates and the cars that they belong to. Does anyone know of, or can anyone remember the web address? Thanks. Read more

jdelmo

Cheers DD, that was the one I was after. Thanks to others for trying.

If anyone is interested, the website www.mycarcheck.com lets you search for cars by typing in the registration plate. Only tells you which cars they're on but an interesting / useful resource all the same.

Tomo

(Thread headline changed from vague to specific. HJ)

I took Sonia the Sonata for her service today.

On the site there were about a dozen Hyundai coupes with 55 or 06 numbers for sale, effectively new. They have other dealerships, and there were a fair number of similar MX5s. Now firstly I believe a new MX5 is due, which could be relevant, Would I be far adrift in speculating that a a new Hyundai coupe is in the offing? Secondly, with the winter and the awful Christmas looming, how on earth are the poor salesmen going to unload a parcel of semi-sporting cars in this not particularly car-oriented town? (The Volvos I can well imagine going here, gawdelpus!).

(I think I'd like a Susuki Swift Sport, but the dealer is about 40 miles away and would I get permission to trade in Sonia, an eminently satisfactory if sometimes boring machine?)
Read more

Vansboy

The Mx5 has an 'extra' bonus currently, if you already a previous model owner, of £750 discount or a hardtop. It would appear that plenty of new model potential purchasers, were awaiting the one with a folding hard roof. Available now!! Hence an abundance of soft tops available.

As for Rx8, been around a while now, only limited 'special' models created by Mazda, so not quite as new as say Audi TT. So pre registered stock is there for you !!

& mentioning a dodgy left leg - you won't want an Rx8 then!! On right hand drive models, youve a rather clumsy protrusion, into the footwell, into the side of your lowert leg!!

Guess this wasn't worth re-working the transmission, to cure this design error - afterall, more LHD will be sold!!

VB

BobbyG

www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5058602.html

Above is an excerpt from paper today. The full story is that tragically last weekend , a traffic policeman was killed on this stretch of road whilst travelling to a call. He was driving an unmarked Mercedes but had blue lights etc on.
Witness statements stated that he crashed into a car that was turning across the carriageway from a side road.

It transpires that proposed road upgrades involving new junctions and bridges have been under discussion for the last 5 years but were put on hold pending "environmental research" principally, the effect this would have on the local badger population.!!!

So the authorities are now going to impose a 50mph limit on the stretch.

For any of you that may have travelled this road, it is a 60 / 70mph unlit dual carriageway, but when it becomes a 3 lane motorway as it approached Glasgow, you've guessed it, it becomes a 50 mph limit!!

Some decisions just don't make sense! Read more

daveyjp

Similar story in our local rag last week. Panda car attending an incident hit a learner at a set of lights and the Panda car flipped over. Resident demands for reduced limit (it's a 40 zone), speed cameras, road narrowing everything short of machine gun outposts! My point was exactly as this case. How would reducing the limit slow down a police car going to a shout?

AlanGowdy

Enough's enough. These poor people have already willingly saddled themselves with vehicles that are tricky to park and manouvre in busy streets, drink fuel like there's a hole in the tank and handle like barges yet often have less interior space than a medium hatchback. Why add to their woes? Read more

jase1

I would argue no politicians have really accepted it's true.
Cos if they did, they'd increase RFL on 4x4s to £1,000:-)
Instead they drive them...


Could look at it another way.

The current theory is that we are going to need to cut CO2 emissions by over 70% to sort out the mess we're in. That just ain't gonna happen, so it's just as likely that these guys know we're all screwed so are raking in as much taxes as they can in the time we have left, while on a personal level just saying "to hell with it" and driving around in Hummers.

One more reason for not having kids -- you don't have to care what's going to happen to the next generation.