October 2006
Last night when I parked up I noticed a piece of trim was missing from my 2005 Mk 6 Fiesta, I don't know it's name - below the bumper there are 3 grilles set in the front bumper/spoiler - on higher spec models they have foglamps here. My offside piece is missing - any idea what this is called and is it easy to replace?
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www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006...l
www.pipstechnology.co.uk/products.php?section_id=1...2
A more efficient way to pick your pocket? Read more
A change of policy means that speed cameras can be located areas as an accident prevention deterent, rather than waiting for someone to be killed first and then reacting after the event.
The facts are simple, people are dying on our roads every day. We all need to drive responsibly and that means driving as outlined in the highway code and legal limits set for each road by our legally appointed representives. If you exceed a limit you choose to put your life and everyone elses life around you at a higher risk of injury or death, and if you cause an incident as a result of exceeding the speed limit you only have yourself to blaim. Speeding increases the risk of serious injury and fatalities occurring.
Dear Honest John
The three-year warranty on my VW Phaeton will be up in January 2008, but I have already started thinking about buying an extended warranty as I wish to keep the car for several more years. I am looking for a package as good as the manufacturer's warranty and would be grateful for your advice.
Kind regards
Deepak Tripathi
Surrey, UK
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The dealership may well decline to do the job at the
warranty company's rate, of course....
'I need twice that a minute just to get out of bed, squire....'
From New Scientist, 29 October:
Navigation, power and communications systems that rely on GPS satellite navigation will be disrupted by violent solar activity in 2011, research shows.
A study reveals Global Positioning System receivers to be unexpectedly vulnerable to bursts of radio noise produced by solar flares, created by explosions in the Sun's atmosphere.
When solar activity peaks in 2011 and 2012, it could cause widespread disruption to aircraft navigation and emergency location systems that rely heavily on satellite navigation data.
Particularly intense solar activity occurs roughly every 11 years due to cyclic changes to the Sun's magnetic field ? a peak period known as the solar maximum.
Solar flares send charged particles crashing into the outer fringes of the Earth's atmosphere at high velocity, generating auroras and geomagnetic storms.
Radio noise
Charged particles from solar flares also produce intense bursts of radio noise, which peak in the 1.2 and 1.6 gigahertz bands used by GPS. Normally, radio noise in these bands is very low, so receivers can easily pick up weak signals from orbiting satellites.
In 2005, however, Cornell University graduate student Alessandro Cerruti discovered a puzzling failure in GPS reception while operating a receiver at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
Along with Paul Kintner, from the university's electrical engineering department, Cerruti traced the problem to a radio burst induced by a solar flare. They found that GPS receivers operated by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Brazilian Air Force experienced similar disruption during this burst of solar activity.
The researchers say the problem has escaped detection before because GPS systems have spread in popularity during a time of relatively low solar activity.
Drowned out
Discovering the disruption was surprising. "[Other] people will be surprised at the next solar maximum," Kintner says. Both the number and intensity of radio flares will increase and could drown out GPS signals during this period, he says.
This may be a problem for aircraft navigation as the FAA uses reference GPS receivers on the ground for air traffic control. Kintner says these "will certainly fail" during these intense solar flare radio bursts, which could produce noise drowning out signals. Although planes can fly without GPS, outages force the FAA to increase the distance between aircraft and slow take-offs and landings, delaying flights.
GPS is also used for emergency rescues and also to synchronise power grids and cellphone networks. One solution, says Kintner, would be to increase the strength of GPS signals. But this would mean redesigning GPS satellite hardware and software
Cerruti presented details of the problem at a meeting of the Institute of Navigation on 28 September. Details will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Space Weather
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Ah but apparently every 12 hours or so it will get dark and you will be unable to read the road signs!
Hello
My 2001 1.8 Zetec Mondeo is making a knocking noise when I go over a bump. The noise seems to be coming from the rear offside. Any ideas
Thanks
Andy Read more
Where abouts is the clutch pedal position switch? Is it a matter of adjustment or replacement.
Thanks
Andy
Hello All,
Would like to replace my air mass flow meter on my 98 A4 2.4 V6 (engine code AGA). A good start would be to know where it is located ! . Can anyone give me any clues or even better any pictures and instructions,
many thanks
Benno
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many thanks Aprilia, will look tomorrow,
Benno
Some of you might remember the thread where I whinged about being a one car household and how the wife was gradually trying to destroy what was "my" car. The good news is we have now bought a second one.
Now I'm not the most experienced when it comes to buying used privately but I went through the motions of prodding various bits, looking wisely at the oil and nodding sagely at the paperwork. It seemed to intimidate the vendor and enabled me to force an unimpressive 4% discount out of her.
Anyway, we've ended up with a 1998 Honda CRV 2.0 petrol with which the wife is very pleased. I wanted an oil and timing belt change so initially booked it in to an independent but then came across Honda Happiness.
This scheme enabled me to get the timing belt changed and a service (including oil, filters, brakes adjusted, coolant changed, sticking tailgate lock sorted and about 30 other items checked) for £200 all in at a Honda main dealer. And Mr Happiness himself gleefully told me that it was over 5 hours of labour and what a good deal it was.
And I actually think it was...I was pleasantly surprised!
But the main bonus is that my Scooby is now emptied of child paraphernalia and shoes and I no longer have to try and get in the drivers seat with my nose against the windscreen and my knees round my ears because the missus went out in it 10 minutes previously.
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I want to have a new household Items too,but there are no brand to choose in the shop.
I never thought I would be writing a thread like this, but I must be getting old or something.
One night earlier this week I was woken by a skidding sound and a loud bang. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked out the of front window and saw a car on it's roof at the entrance to our driveway, inches from the garden wall and about two feet away from my car. I called 999 and got help and dashed outside.
Amazingly, the three lads inside had all got out through the windows and nobody was seriously hurt. I have no idea how they did this, and they are so lucky not to be hurt - they managed to avoid the wall, the kerb and a further wall on the other side of the drive. It was wet, and while we were waiting for the boy's dad to arrive he kept saying "but I was only doing 35" ... round a bend, down a hill and on a wet road!! To get the car upright and onto the recovery truck it had to be winched up and swung right over my car - I don't think I breathed for about a minute!
The problem is, this is the second time this has happened in the last few months. Last time, it was the house opposite that had it's garden wall demolished as a car came round the bend too fast and lost control.
Our road goes round in a loop and we live just before the first bend, which is at the top of a hill. In the winter it rarely gets gritted and it would be funny to watch people come skidding round the corner, if it weren't for the fact that, as we've seen, people get it badly wrong, people get hurt and things get damaged. My dad quite often puts his own sign on the bend to warn people to slow down, and people in the road have had to put out salt/sand in the past because it's rare to see a gritter.
Anyway, my point is (I'm getting there...), as much as I detest speed bumps, our road is crying out for something to slow people down before something more serious happens. Has anyone sucessfully got something done in their road? I have emailed my local councillor (I think I am actually turning into Victor Meldrew but the other night's incident was very scary) who has passed it onto the highways department.
If one thing has come out of this incident, I will no longer say that all older, small french cars are flimsy. The car that flipped was a 106 and I am amazed at the way the roof didn't collapse and enabled the boys to get out.
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Maybe reverse into the drive?
SWMBO always drives in forwards: last year her car was hit by the person in the house opposite as boith reversed out at the same time. I managed to stay married by not saying smugly that it couldn't have happened to me - but I do always reverse in.
Mate has a T reg Audi A4, 2.5 TDi, 140k and its' turbo has just gone.
To fix it with a new turbo will apparently cost 700 quid inc labour + parts at local independant.
But then it's major service will be due at 160k and it's a cambelt change so a £700 job at local independant specialist in a years time.
He's married & in his mid-30's and first child on the way, due April next year.
Wife has an H reg Clio, possibly also due for replacement bearing in mind the above (will a pushchair fit in the boot etc.)
Should he fix the Audi and keep it for a few more years (bearing in mind the above situation, he's not made of money) or should he fix the Audi and sell it, and buy a newer car with less miles for say £5k or so, something that will be family suitable and borrow the money over 3 years.
I reckon that to get the balance of expenditure/reliability, he should get the Audi fixed, then sell it in the new year, he should get £2k for it, then buy a newer family-type car for £5k that he can use for the next few years.
He (I suspect) thinks he should keep the Audi, but at it's age & mileage, if something goes, it could be a bit of a money pit. The ancilleraries must be due to go soon, alternator, water pump (if that is driven from the cambelt then surely the whole front bumper assembly will have to come off again, it could go after the cambelt has been done ????)
Options and opinons people please. I'll send the link onto him....
cheers,
Stu
BTW, if it's relevant, he's had the Audi for 5 years, since 65k so knows it.
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Managed to speak to him and hear the full story and he's decided to keep it and get the turbo done (although it's been sitting in his garage for a month now with shagged turbo as he desperately hopes that one will come up on e-bay...).
Turns out he's only doing 10-12k / year so the cost of the various service items coming up will all be spread out so about 1 per year. I thought he was still using the car for work so was doing 20k/year but I was wrong.
Thanks for all the comments.
cheers,
Stu
Not sure if there is any mileage in this one or if it will be killed stone dead, but there have been a number of threads (Avensis Vs Passat interior quality got onto the theme) recently discussing whether the Golf, A3, Octavia, Leon, Altea etc are one in the same car with different badges - apparently there are 17 different models across the different makes within VAG - all with same platform, bits, and engines.
4car.co.uk has just posted an article basiclly saying they are the same and you should choose according to your requirements, i.e. if you are image conscious then buy an A3, luggage = octavia, comfort = golf plus.
Is this marketing genius or does it cheapen the Audi and VW branding ?
My argument has always been that if you want one of these, and they are all pretty good cars then buy Skoda because they will be cheaper, will be the same car and according to JD Power etc, they also know how to treat customers properly. Read more
This discussion is getting very esoteric. Surely the simple truth is that VAG sell several different brands on thr same platform because they appeal to different types of people and therefore they sell.
If they stop selling well (and SEAT looks the most vulnerable, without a very obvious image, unless they sell particularly well in Spain), then VAG will pull them.
I really don't think it's any more complicated an issue than that.
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Did they tell you what it's called??