April 2007
Hi all,
My 2004 Ford mondeo zetec 2.0 TDCI was vandalised the other night in my driveway. Whoever it was came armed with a screwdriver and tried to take off everything they could. I've a little spoiler (more like a lip on the boot) that they tried unsuccessfully to take but they did manage to take something else. I'm sorry for sounding so stupid but i havent a clue what they're called and it'd help if i knew the name of what was gone before i called the garage to get them to fix it! It's a strip of metal/plastic about the width of a finger that runs along the length of the car between the roof and the door frames on both sides. By the looks of it, it seems like they were just popped out with a flat screwdriver. Any idea what they're called and can anyone suggest how to stop them being stolen again (and also how to make sure they don't take my little spoiler or anything ele off the car).
Thanks in advance,
A close to tears mondeo driver. Read more
Can anybody please advise me any faults to look out for on a 2 litre Saab 95 S reg.
What are common faults.
This has a problem with reverse gear
Is it easily rectified Read more
1,Oil leaks from engine
2.Acc and Sid LCD display faults
3.Gearbox sticky or hard to select gears normaly need gearbox overhaul (£1000)
4.Turbo bearings / Seals
Can any BR's give me advice on the likely outcome to the following minor RTA ??
Whereabouts: a minor single lane road that becomes double lane approx 30m from where it meets a major road at a T junction, controlled by traffic lights.
There are no arrows on road to indicate traffic flow. This is because it is a busy junction at certain times of day (with bad light synchronisation) so both lanes are used to turn left.
Scenario: I approach lights on said road. There are 4/5 vehicles queuing in left hand lane, waiting for lights to change. When I'm approx 20m away, the lights change.....I move to right-hand lane, looking to turn right.
As I manouevre around, the first vehicle in the now moving "queue" in the left-hand lane proceeds to turn right (with no indication).
The inevitable occurs.
My question concerns my ability to claim against the other person's insurance for repairs to my vehicle......do I have any chance ??
Any advice appreciated. Read more
Ah so you were in the Right hand lane turning left, and he was in the left hand lane turning right.
Well my old fruit you have no chance of any kind in getting any of your losses paid for. This is as 50 - 50 as it gets,.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Re the the tailgating thread, another hate of mine is the "follower", I have had drivers that for some inexplicable reason like to follow me on the motorway. I speed up slightly and they are still there slow down slightly and they slow down. I have tried flooring it to get a few miles away and all they do is catch up once I have returned to my normal speed and then continue their following. Is it some kind of herding instinct or what!!. I normally have to resort to slowing right down so they have to overtake.and then letting them get ahead.
Mal. Read more
My former colleague lived in WIndsor & one night was driving home from central london, and recognised some sort of royal car ahead early on on the journey. She followed it all the way back to windsor as it was her route anyway, and when they got to the turnoff for the castle, some time later, the royal car inexplicably went round the roundabout twice so my colleague wouldn't be in behind them any more!!
I can see it is used in place of 'Spouse' but can't work out the acronym... Read more
>>egards, e e cummings.>>
Seem to be a lot of Cummings and Cohens...:-0
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
I have a problem with a Holden Astra CD 1999. It has done 140000. It seems to run at the coldest mark when travelling at speed but when you are driving around town it seems normal. Is this a prob with themostat and if so is it dangerous to the car to run cold or do i not need to worry about it.
Also when the car runs warm the car stalls when you push the clutch in and the revs drop from say 3000?
Any suggestions. Thx Read more
Cheers for that DD, SWMBO's 1.8 Zaf has started misbehaving in the idle dept. at 101K and I bet it's the same problem.
There are lots of suggestions re reducing the number of items carried in order to impove fuel consumtion.
Other ideas range from a personal diet to only half filling the washer bottle to carrying minimum fuel.
While I was reconfiguring the Focus for max load I needed to remove the rear head rests.
I was surprised to find that each weighed 1.2kg.
There has never been three passengers on the back seat and 99% of the time there are no rear passengers so IMO a minimum of 1.2kg weight saving can be made with a bonus of better rear vision.
I think the other 2.4kg can be saved for routine use.
Perhaps I sould remove the whole back seat? :-)
Read more
A few years back a car dealer a know who used to specialise in unusual cars had a mini up for sale. It weas called 'swifty' and had featured in some motoring mags. The owner of the car had remade the front wings by hand in aluminium and replaced the side windows with perspex, all to save weight.
With kit cars the extra weight of a passenger makes a noticable difference to performance.
A pet hate of mine, what I do if I am being tailgaited badly is increase the stopping distance between me and the car in front to take account of the fact I can't brake hard if an emergency situation occurs. I do this by gradually and gently easing off the accelerator pedal until I have enough of a gap. Usually this doesn't make the situtation worse but sometimes you get the odd moron who obviously thinks I'm 'removing the urine' rather than ensuring both our continued existence if the worse should happen. If the person in question happens to be one of these retards I then do the following:-
As soon as the obstruction clears I drop the car into a lower gear and accelerate with maximum effort to the limit-if they've been particularly bad I also give them a good soaking with my windscreen washers. I then take satisfaction in seeing the tailgaiter sat there with an huge empty stretch of motorway in front of him, wipers going wildly and wondering what happened. The benefits of a debadged RS4 avant in this circumstance are not to be underestimated as even smug gits in their 'high power' BMW's are left floundering (yet to see an M5 driver doing this). Oddly enough it always seems to be drivers of low end underpowered diesel rep cars that are the worst offenders. It's terribly childish I know but it does give me immense satisfaction to 'drop them' as easily if they were riding a bicycle.
So my question is this, doesn anybody have a better way of dealing with this menace that isn't as juvenile as mine? If so I'll do that instead of winding up the nutcases! Read more
Some very interesting comments, unfortunately tailgaters don't read this or the highway code. What i can't figure out is this; if I speed up which usually means breaking the law, get a good distance ahead, they simply speed up, catch up and tailgate again. After a couple of these I give up and just slow right down hoping they will overtake. They never get the message. Sometimes they seem to only want to tailgate for company. I have often overtaken to get away from them and they then happily sit on the tail of the vehicle i have just overtaken. Weird. Major offenders are white van man and young women drivers. Why? Concrete.
Does anyone have any opinions on after market cruise control units to be fitted to drive by wire vehicles? Read more
Neil,
If you are asking for your Zafira, then, the best way to do this is to get the Vauxhall garage to install the revised indicator stalk and clutch switch and re-program the ECU for cruise control while they are looking for your fault light problem which you mentioned in Technical. All the wiring you need for the Vauxhall system is, most probably, already there.
It's also worth asking your Vauxhall garage if there have been any updates in the ECU software - these typically do improve driveability and reduce problems with engine management light faults on Vauxhalls.
Number_Cruncher
Hey guys looking for some advice on what car to get the misses.
We currently have a seat leon cupra which she uses for work but is doing 12000 miles or more a year in it and only gets around 25-30mpg and it eats tyres, the insurance is high, road tax is high etc etc but it is fun to drive!!
Cause of the above I am looking to get a car that is more economical in the order of 50mpg, reasonable servicing costs, lower road tax band either B or C and and was really looking to spend no more than £5k and obviously I would be looking at second hand cars at that price.
My thinking was a Honda or Toyota (Aygo or Yaris).
Anybody have any recommendations on what cars I should look at,
Cheers for any help.
Brian
Read more
If you are looking at Aygo, why not go for Ford KA?? It has a 1.3 engine, I've had one myself previously and known several people with KAs, all have been very happy with them, not a single problem. A good choice for urban start-stop driving. Group II insurance, therefore cheap. Also, cheap to buy even new.
Browse
Gutter strip sounds about right to me. Try the scrap yards, yours might have been a flashier finish chrome effect, but the scrap yards should have standard ones which will be less likely to be nicked.