January 2007
If a 'friend of mine' was daft enough to put say a couple of litres too much into his engine, what would be the practical effect?
This is a 1989 2.0l Mazda 626.
Thanks! Read more
My 1996 1.8 Endura-engined Diesel Fiesta has always taken a while to turn over ever since I bought it a year ago, but it is particularly bad in the cold weather. A 'fast fit' type centre recently told me my battery needed replacement, however a friend with a DIY type charger showed the battery as still being in a reasonable condition. So it could be the battery. However, something I have noticed is that I have never heard the diesel heater in operation whilst I am waiting for the orange glow light to go out on the dash, which generally stays on for around 5 - 10 seconds. Even if I do this twice, the engine is really struggling to turn over. Should the diesel heater make a noise whilst it is working, is there anything I can check? Thanks, as ever! Read more
Thanks DP and Defender. I have just borrowed another 'DIY' battery charger, and considering I have just got in from a 30 minute drive, the LED's on the charger didn't move above the red (low) section, so I assume it is the battery. I would like to get a 2nd opinion but the only people I know with proper battery chargers are the same people that sell batteries, so I'm not certain how biased they'd be!
I found this site earlier today. It gives a daily update on the best gazole (diesel) and essence 95 (petrol) prices all over France. In French, but it's pretty obvious what you have to do. Type in the region or area and out comes a list of supplier locations and prices.
www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr
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I noticed on Saturday that Autoroute services (Aires en Francais) are typically E0.10 higher than the usual prices, and the big hypermarkets are about E0.05 cheaper than the usual prices. I got 1.47/£1 so diesel at 0.98 (cheapest around) came out at £0.67/litre.
I would be very grateful if any one is available to give his or her opinion on the 2006/07 Nissan Infiniti G35. Thanks Read more
Not due for release in Europe until 2008, apparently. It received a very positive review in Autocar, 10-01-07 issue.
Hi guys,
Thanks to local speed humps the front lower ball joints are clonking like a good un'. I want to change them but understand that you need a special socket to remove from the arm. I have been told that they can be undone with the appropriate hickory handled appliance and suitable punch. Anyone have any experience with removal of said ball joints? Do local motorist shops sell the special socket to aid removal or do i opt for the punch option.
Your advice and guidance - as always is greatly appreciated
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These are the views of Robin the Technician with 35 years in the trade. I fix, therefore I am... Read more
Hi Richard,
Thanks for the info. These drop links - are they what look to be a long rod with a small ball joint on each end that sit vertically next to the macpherson strut (I think one end is attached to the anti roll bar?). If so they look fairly easy to replace. I'm not 100% sure if the noise is the lower ball joints but the car does clonk heavily over bumps. I did replace the anti roll bar bushes which were slightly worn but it made no difference to the noise. The wife has now noticed the noise so i've got to fix it.
Thanks
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These are the views of Robin the Technician with 35 years in the trade. I fix, therefore I am...
My glow plug light comes on and goes out as normal when starting the car, however roughly 5 miles/10 min into each journey the light comes on again & stays on until I switch the engine off and restart it. Am I doing any damage still driving the car and any ideas what's up? thanks.
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Everyone knows about the common platform sharers, i.e.
Golf = Leon = A3 = Skoda
Mondeo = X-type
Fiesta = Puma
VW = Cayenne
VW Phaeton = Bentley
Porsche 928 = VW LT van (engine only)
(anyone else spotting a VW theme emerging?...) But are there any lesser known sneaky platform sharers, and more interestingly, how far back does this sort of thing go? Is this one of the reasons that cars have got so much better in recent year, as more R&D money can be spent on a part as it will be going in more models, rather than loads of seperate companies developing stuff independednly, each spending less? Read more
I agree with TVM's view above and would go on to say that any car company that owns more than one brand shares components and platforms so the big ones will be Ford, VAG, GM, Daimler Chrysler. I am not a big fan of it myself as other than badges what differentiates the car - surely they are all the same with just a tweak of damper settings etc.
Where I think it can back fire on a company is when you get Skoda outperforming all the more expensive VAG brands for insatnce in driver surveys for what is the same car as the more expensive VW's and Audi's.
Having said that - in a market driven by badge/snob appeal rather than engineering excellence then it's no suprise the more expensive brands will continue to sell.
In fairness to VW it does work for the more intelligent consumer in that the Skoda Octavia is as good as a Golf and the Phaeton is as good as a Bentley or A8, so you get the engineering without the badge or price.
In response to the original OM of course you have cross sharing now with aygo, C1 and107 and I think Toyota and Daihatsu share alot.
Just been announced that from February 27th the fine for using a handheld mobile phone whilst driving will double to £60, plus three licence penalty points.
If this proves as effective as current ineffectiveness on stopping this practice I'm not holding my breath.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by Read more
Revert to reply number two,I have not seen one patrol or
in fact a police officer of any kind this week its
probably to cold for them.
I've seen one police car in the last week. Unfortunately it pulled out of a side road in front of the car ahead of us, nearly causing an accident, so I'd rather have seen none at all.
There are numerous signs on motorways, junctions etc that prohibit vehicles wider than 2m (for example).
How is this width measured ? Is it across the bodyshell, or across the widest point - perhaps across the door mirrors ?
I've not seen anyone prosecuted for breaking this prohibition - and I've seen numerous vehicles that are wider than 2m in traffic lanes with this restriction.
I do reemember Clarkson whinging when restricted to the inside lane of some motorway in an Aston Martin because it was wider than 2m - but he appears to be the only one to observe this rule. Would anyone with a vehicle wider than 2m care to comment ? Read more
>> Have you noticed how many annoying people there are who
seem
>> to think that somehow pressing the brake makes a car
narrower?
It's true - a car's effective width increases with speed. You can position a car to within half an inch or less of your garage wall, at almost zero speed, but I bet you wouldn't go through a width restriction with 6" clearance at 100 mph. Altzheimer's Uncertainty Principle.
hi, apparently i was reading the other day that if the bulb goes for a burton on the battery charge warning lamp this will cause the alternator to fail as this is the primary circuit that energizes the alternator"magnetic field"on the initial starting/ charging process, so if you suddenly get a flat battery one morning or any time i suppose check the bulb first before shelling out for a recon alternator,does this make sense to all you auto-electricians out there? Read more
Not quite, in some cars the IWL is part of the field circuit so no warning light equals no charge but it won't damage the alternator. Yes you should check the bulb comes on with ignition & goes out when you start the car.
Browse
Again, thanks to all. This prognosis was confirmed by the resident mechanic at work this morning, who told me in no uncertain terms to get the excess out or risk binning an otherwise cheap but reliable car.
Kwik Fit did the honours ( newer oil plus a new filter) for 24 quid.....