November 2006
Hello,
If coolant is ok in specific gravity terms, i.e. is proving the required protection from freezing should it still be changed on an age basis? I am getting differing views on this.
To put it another way can it's corrosion resistance and lubricity diminished even if it's anti freeze properties are intact?
Thanks.
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Dear all,
I have a little problem with the above. Since buying it from the main dealer last year, I have had trouble free motoring until now. Just before I bought the car, Renault fitted new brake pads to the front. However, as the cold weather has started, the breaks make a slight irritating squeal when I brake. Not a problem as it doesn;t happen all the time I brake, probably every 3 presses of the brake pedal on average. The garage have checked the disks and pads, and everything is is ok? How can I eliminate this squeal??
Secondly, this has baffled the garage. I would like your opinions. When the car starts from cold, there is no noise apart from the engine. However, after 15 or so minutes moving, there is a slight squeaking noise (like something rubbing together i.e. rotational sound) coming from the drivers side front. It only does it the the steering wheel is slightly off centre to the right, and when I turn right. At higher speeds 30+ the noise goes. It is getting annoying not knowing what is causing it. The explanation at the garage is that as my pads and disks are ok, is that there is a build up of rust etc on the edge of the disks, and that when I turn right, it is slightly rubbing and causing the noise . The mechanic has been out in it and heard it himself, and as they cannot reproduce the conditions in the garage, they are at a loss what it definately is. They have checked all the joints etc and every thing is ok. Any ideas? But surely if the explanation of the mechanic is true, it would happen when I turn left ??
Could both be releated? Read more
My Merc A class produced squeeling when turning right. After I changed the disks and pads the problem disappeared.
A quick search on the Forum shows this has not been discussed before.
There was a piece on the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2 today of an urban myth that the chips fitted to the Ford 5000 car radio can be adapted and fitted to a Freeview box so it can unscramble the Sky tv signals.
This is causing large number of Ford cars, mainly Focus models, to be broken into. Smashing the window and removing the radio takes about 10 seconds. Usually it does not set off the alarm as they only have door sensors fitted. In an evening as many as 15 Focus cars are damaged, and AutoGlass are having difficulty finding and fitting enough replacement windows - some having to wait several days before they can be repaired.
To set the record straight: It is impossible to change the purpose of the chips in any way.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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If I was going to spend time hacking into anything I think sky would be my last port of call a bank might be my first.
Police will be able to fingerprint drivers at the side of the road
snipurl.com/130n4
This should be a good thing if it is used to id rogue drivers and those who are banned Read more
and laws were most numerous when the commonwealth was most corrupt.
Tacitus, Annals
Fabulous quote PU. Nothing new under the sun.
tinyurl.com/yxs9hh {Shortened link to icsurreyonline.icnetwork.co.uk/ - DD} Read more
Can't help but remark that if BAA or whoever didn't charge such a vicious amount of money for the short-term parking at Gatwick this wouldn't be so much of an issue. Isn't the minimum charge getting on for £3 these days? (And that for a villainously small space, too.)
Gatwick used to be a very handy kind of park and ride for business trips to London, for those of us based in offices in the Crawley/Gatwick area, and even if this wasn't actively encouraged then certainly it wasn't discouraged - but no longer. From our offices it is now no more expensive to take taxis to and from Three Bridges, and a lot less aggravation.
Is it just me, or where I live? ALL of the roundabout warning signs have disappeared. Where I live, giving way at a roundabout just does not happen, mostly with "new" drivers. Read more
I think you may find those are the actual British, eProf...
I've been doing a bit of part-time work for a local hotel in Suffolk driving one of their 2 private hire vehicles. I probably do about a days worth of work every two weeks and have quite enjoyed it as a supplement to my (sometimes erratic) freelance income. As I work from home anyway it's easy for me to fit work in at short notice. Most of the clients are either hotel guests , local people or businessmen going to airports and nearly all have been pleasant travelling companions. There is no ( or very little) picking up drunken youths who promptly vomit in the car. The work is better paid than most semi-skilled part-time work . I've carried a few people recently who've complained about the shortage of private hire vehicles locally so I'm now considering licensing my own car and going into business myself. I will still carry on my freelance work but having a second string to my bow does not seem like a bad idea. If the business does well I may devote more time to it and eventually may have a business with a saleable value, unlike my current one, which though reasonably sucessful is completely reliant on my individual skills and thus has no re-sale value. My car is a 7 year old Saab 9-5 which, though smart and tidy, has a low value and thus racking up large mileages will do little to dent its worth. What I would like to do is, assuming it works well, replace the Saab with a new\newer car and go for the upper end of the market. I would ideally need a 5 or 7 seater with luggage spac, reliability and ideally a reasonably prestigious image (probably therefore no minibus types) Any suggestions? Read more
cheers drbe....it's all on the list, and if it wasn't then the missus would make sure it was. ;O)
Wouldn't mind, but I don't smoke. I drink the occasional G&T. However, I like my tucker, so now sticking to cardboard sandwiches and other delightful pap.
The incomparable James May, a Jag and someone else touring France to test the wine and cheese, 8.00pm today BBC2. It's a bit of a surprise to find something that might be of interest on the box these days. Read more
>>The XJS still looks good even now 30 years on>>
The last time I drove one and over quite a considerable distance at the time was in France...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
the thread on the go about middle lane hogging has prompted this
there's a slip road on the A38 in Devon, that I periodically use (and has been like it since i was a kid) that does not have a very long slip road before joining a dual carriageway.
If you've got any sense you welly it down the slip road, to get some speed up, so you can have a number of merge in options, because it is often difficult to get out.......... and you really do not want to end up stopped at the bottom of the slip road, worrying about : 1,someone ramming you up the jacksy ....... and 2,how on earth you are going to instantly accelerate to a speed that matches the traffic on the dual cariageway.
it is amazing how many people will travel in the inside lane on the dual carriageway, have nothing in the outside lane, see you indicating and trying to merge and utterly refuse to consider moving lanes to let you out....
lorries and (generally) other professional drivers will often adjust their speed to let you out....... but some muppets wilfully refuse........it begs the question, Why?
I really don't want to be sat their thinking i'm going to be annihilated on the slip road or desperately trying to get 6,000 revs plus out of wifey's diesel in a despearate attempt to get some speed up
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there's a slip road on the A38 in Devon, that I periodically use (and has been like it since i was a kid) that does
not have a very long slip road before joining a dual carriageway.
>>
i agree with mapmaker's earlier comment that it is a question of anticipation and coutesy to allow cars to join the carriageway from slip roads. (and similarly get out of the way of cars queing up to leave at an exit - an example of such blocking behaviour is commonly seen at the m25 clockwise exit to join the m1 northbound. )
on the other hand, if you have seen the very short "on and off ramps" to join the freeways and highways in america, and the speed at which you have to get or off those sliproads (in nose-to-tail hogging and very fast traffic), you feel grateful for the design of the uk motorway junctions.
Hi all, I have spotted this on a breakers: tinyurl.com/y6c9pj . it's basically electronic climate control, that fits in to the same dash fascia as the standard manual climate control: tinyurl.com/yyvdce
The question is: would this actually function just by replacing my current controls (A/C on, recirc, Heated Front/Rear screen, temp cold/hot, fan 1-4, fan position). I would assume that it plugs in to the same sockets where the current manual switches are?
thanks in advance Read more
Sounds grim L'escargot. The climate in my Passat works great. It only blasts if you switch to demist on the screen.
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\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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Thanks for the responses on this, I looked back through the receipts and found that the coolant had not been changed in 8 years and the change interval is 4 years.
However when I drained it it was as clean as the day it was put in, I bought some Halfords (I guess Comma) 5 year stuff, one ltr bottles are on 3for2 so only cost 10 quid and gives a 60/40 mix with deinonised water. Job done.