January 2007
After another thread decended into a debate about diesels V petrols I thought I would ask a logical question. Who likes diesels and motorbikes? Reading PUs postings he is an keen motorcyclist and yet he also likes his diesel BWM.
Motorbike engines are the oposite of diesel engines you find in cars. The are very high reving, without much torque, but I suspect if they developed a light enough diesel engine for a bike it still would not catch on.
Diesel engines in cars have lots of people admiring the amount of torque produced, refering to it as a relaxed ride. It make no diffrence to me if my car is reving at 2,000 or 4,000 at 70 mph, what does matter is how noisy it makes the car. Do the admirers of diesels like them for the motorway refinement, produced by the low reving engine compaired to their petrol equivilants?
If so prehapps compairing diesels and petrols is a waste of time. Diesels may be more refined on the motorway but petrols maybe more refined in towns.
If I am right and compairing diesels and petrols is like compairing apples and oranges, prehapps the diffrence is in their application, much like compairing diesels and motorcycle engines - They are incomparable to an certain extent.
I bet there are lots of motorcycle owners who enjoy hitting 10K plus rev a minute on a motorcycle, but like the low engine speeds the torque of a diesel provides in a car.
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Torque means nothing without RPM Read more
A friend of mine is embroiled in a long-term neighbour dispute whch has caused all sorts of nastiness. The Sunday night before last he filled his VW Polo TDi with diesel at the local garage, and he has the receipt that proves it was diesel he put in. The next morning, very early, he set off to work far away, but when he'd gone 85 miles, about half of which was on the motorway, his car broke down. It was taken to a reputable dealer who diagnosed complete engine failure. I'm not sure of the detail, but I think that all the valves and pistons were kaput due to excessive engine temperature. The garage found petrol in the fuel system. The engine etc of the Polo has had to be replaced at a cost of £3000 plus.
A couple of questions for those that know:
1) Could the small amount of petrol (up to 5 litres perhaps) that it might be possible to squeeze into a 'full' diesel tank be enough to wreck a TDi engine?
2) What would the symptoms of such contamination be? I thought that contamination ruined the high-pressure fuel pump and injectors through lack of lubrication.
Out of interest, the garage where the fuel was obtained has been given a clean bill of health, and the one that replaced the engine is above suspiscion too. Hence the fear of sabotage. Read more
I think warranty direct might pay but perhaps not in these circumstances.
I have recently bought a Honda Accord Aerodeck - 2 litre (1995 M).
The Abs light was lit up when I bought the car - so I knew it had a fault when I bought it - thinking it was probably a sensor fault.
Just noticed that a wire near the pump was disconnected - reconnected it - abs light goes out - but the abs pump seems to make a grinding / loud ticking noise for approx 30 seconds, then the light turns on again. Brakes otherwise fine (obviously ABS is not working).
Am I right in thinking the pump iteself is faulty?
If so, can any garage change a pump (if I find one from the scrap yard)? Read more
Look on eBay for a reconditioned pump from a specialist - still about 350 quid though.
Speed cameras in the Scottish Borders may soon be monitored by security cameras to protect them from vandals.
It is among the measures being considered by the Lothian and Borders Safety Camera Partnership.
There have been seven camera attacks in just three years, with machines being set alight, damaged or pulled over.
BUT will there be a camera to watch the camera that is looking for speeders?
Read more
Or a camera for that one?
Ive been amazed that in the last 4 years, hardly any of the cars ive sold have had a test drive, let alone by the buyer. Heres my list so far:
Vauxhall Astra van, 105k £800 - Never left the driveway
Jaguar XJ6, 154k £1200 - Never left the driveway
Reliant Rialto, 86k £535 - Never left the driveway
Nissan Micra auto, 75k £375 - Never left the driveway
MGF VVC, 26k £5250 - Let me drive him, never drove it himself
Mazda 323, 71k £275 - Let me drive him, never drove it himself
Ford Escort saloon, 73k £750 - Never left the driveway
Toyota Yaris Verso, 33k £4500 - Never left the driveway
Vauxhall Corsa Sport, 56k £2500 - Never left the driveway
Volvo 460, 34k £700 - Let me drive him, never drove it himself
Daewoo Nubira, 35k £3000 - Did have a test drive!
Talbot Avenger, 27k £895 - Let me drive him, never drove it himself
Vauxhall Cavalier MK2, 56k £375 - Let me drive him, never drove it himself
The reason I put the details is that there doesnt seem to be any pattern!
I have never bought a car without driving it but honestly, I dont expect people to drive cars they buy off me anymore. Maybe if i sold more cars than a few each year, this would be different, but even so, its both interesting and worrying that the buying public arent very thorough with their car buying.
Many of these didnt open the bonnets either! Read more
I wouldnt know, my ex wifes was a 4-spd auto and it was in top gear by 30 mph.
Damn thing was never in tune either!
I have recently purchased a 55plate Ford Focus through Ford Direct. My main stipulation to the dealer was it had to be the 115ps version of the 1.6 engine. Fortunately the dealer had one on the forecourt, which he assured me was 115ps. I took the vehicle for a test drive, and put a deposit down. I paid the balance and collected it a week later, and again asked if it was definitely a 115ps, and was assured it was.
However, upon getting it home and looking in the owners handbook, I noticed my engine corresponded with the diagram of the 100ps version. I took the car to another Ford garage, where they confirmed I had been sold a 100ps model.
I have complained to the original garage, as i feel i have been missold and lied to. They are insisting that if I want a 115ps model i will have to pay £500 extra, or i keep the 100ps version and they will throw in free servicing, or I have my part exchange back.
What rights do I have?
Rgds
Read more
I'd be very interested to hear if the O/P has got any further with this one. I must admit, if the dealer had assured me that the car I was buying was a X ps model as opposed to the Y ps model, I'd probably take his word for it. I doubt that I'd ask him to put it in writing.
It becomes very difficult when there is no easy/immediate way of checking. I saw a similar situation in a well known electrical store last week when SWMBO was looking for a new laptop. A nearby prospective buyer was showing great interest in a particular model and asked for the code to be taken off so that he could test it for himself. On opening up the 'control panel' and checking out the hardware, he found that the spec wasn't as described in the literature (128 as opposed to 256MB graphics card). Remonstrations followed, but I suspect that a lot of punters would have taken the store at their word.
Folks :-
On my 2001 Zafira the ABS / TC light came on.
Took it down the garage and it cost £300 to fix (knackered sensor in the front nearside hub assembly requiring new assembly (£192) and 2 hours labour + VAT.)
I'm now told that the sensor is a bolt-on which should cost £15 to replace.
Has anyone here come across sensor going and what exactly did need replacing?
Thanks
Kevin Read more
Thanks - it's appreciated
Congratualtions to the authorities. Last night at about 20:00 the gritters were out. I saw them again at 23:00.
This morning woke up to a fairly thick blanket of snow. The main roads were clear and passable and a 100mile+ early morning journey to wilds of warwickshire passed off qucikly and without fuss despite the conditions.,
Well done.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF > Read more
Still no snow in our neck of the Lincolnshire woods. Mind you, we also have no buses, no trains, no supermarkets, no mains gas, no public sewer, no ...................!
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L\'escargot.
High and nasty!
tinyurl.com/2uf7qx
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There used to be an automatic car park, in Leeds IIRC, that would do this on it's own occasionally, to the distress of the car owners and the amusement of everybody else.
Hi Folks,
I would be grateful if anyone could answer the following Questions?
Where you can find the pollen filter on an Audi A3 - 98 1.6 model- that has air conditioning??
Would a pollen filter that has not been changed mean the car is liable to the windows steaming up??
How easy is it to change the pollen filter? in the A3 is this a DIY job ? and anything to watch out for?
Regards
Andy Read more
A blocked pollen filter will restrict air flow and can cause the windows to steam up.
Easy to change, according to puravent's website.
www.puravent.co.uk/filters/dispfilter.pl?id=10
Browse
Just back from skiing in that motoring area (Triumph) Dolomites which includes (Ford ) Cortina.
Anyway- I love the low revving turbo diesel power of my Passat PD and the relatively low revving power of my BMW R1150R boxer twin. I rarely go beyond 4-5000 rpm in the bike and 3000rpm still enables pretty rapid progress. My brother in law, a big twin fan himself, says I'd be in ecstasy if BMW brought out a diesel bike!
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.