May 2007
Did anybody else read yesterdays telegraph motoring section and see this beautiful car?
Ive always hankered after one of these since my youth and it had all the best bits as well.
I then turned to page 3 and saw audis latest concept car ,looks like a very large brazier on the front,wonder if it will be coal powered? ugly doesnt do it justice--------- Read more
BBC Reports:
MG Rover's Longbridge factory in Birmingham is due to reopen on Tuesday under the Chinese ownership of Nanjing Automobile Corporation. Three new MG TF sports models are expected to drive off the recommissioned production lines at the opening ceremony.
The West Midlands plant has been inactive since MG Rover collapsed in 2005 at a cost of about 6,000 jobs.
But some critics have doubts about how viable full-scale production will be.
Read more
Subject has been posted earlier. Continue with discussion there please.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=52412
DD.
I have a 1995 Peugeot 306 TD. Problem is that car wont start, battery ok and I get the old clicking noise. Dont know a great deal about motors but think "starter motor". Apart from clicking noise, there is also a clicking noiose coming from the relay box under the dash. This stops after a while.While this other noise is going on, clock display and sidelights start flashing. Mad eh? Also if I buty scrapper starter motor will it have solenoid attached or not? Ta. Read more
This is almost identical to the problem I've had recently and posted about on here.
Basically it was a dodgy earth connection due to the wet weather.
Fiddle about with all of the earth cables, clean all of the connections etc.
Eventually my started but then stunk of fuel due to being flooded.
Our alarm lights were flashing like a prozzers knickers every time we put the ignition on. Once we got the car started, we were able to use the key fob to lock the car, set the alarm and then turn it off again using the fob. This has stopped all of the lights going mental and the alarm sounding even when the engine was running.
Does anyone know what the purpose of the plastic arrows that are found on bus/lorry wheels is ?
As seen in this picture www.rics.org/NR/rdonlyres/B7E4A3BF-CBB1-4513-B1C4-...g
MTC Read more
Having had a lorry wheel come loose (but not off, thank goodness!), I think these yellow pointers are a brilliant idea.
Wheel nut rings like AEC etc. used to fit didn't hold the nuts in place, if I remember right, they just covered them. That too is a safety thing as rotating exposed wheelnuts on lorry front wheels can do a lot of damage to car or bus bodywork if they make contact. Anyone who saw Hypnodisc on Robot Wars will know what I mean!
The transport company I worked for many, many years ago had more than one case of lorry wheels coming loose. I know that heavy vehicle wheel-nuts are prone to working loose but I always had a sneaking suspicion that sabotage was a factor in some wheel-loss cases.
Hi all, I have a 75Amp caravan battery in the boot of my 05 Mazda6. I'd like to trickle charge it to keep it topped up. I have a mains charger to give it a full charge overnight.
Its been suggest I could simply take a fused supply from the cigar socket straight to the battery. The cigar socket is only live when the ACC is on using the key.
Otherwise any other suggestions? I don't want to fry the modern electrics and worried about CAMs and Buses and things.
Jim Read more
j1mbo did you mean to charge the battery whilst touring so you can use it
on a daily basis in between pitches as it were?
That's what I do. I have wired in an optional second battery near to the main battery, with heavy duty cable and a cut-out switch. That way I could drain the caravan battery overnight, secure in knowing I could still start the car, and then charge up the second battery at normal alternator output.
But you can only get out what you put in. Trickle charging a spare battery isn't going to recharge it from half-flat overnight. And if it did, you would have half-flattened the car battery in doing so.
What do you want to do - trickle charge a basically unused battery in order to keep it always 100% charged, or recharge a battery that has serious use on a daily basis?
I have noticed that these are getting pretty cheap now. You can get a 1997/8 CLK for around £5-6k. Do any owners or BR's have any views about them? What are the servicing intervals and what are servicing costs like? If I bought one that had done 80k miles am I looking at big bills in the next couple of years? We would want to be keeping the car for a few years (4 - 6 years, say, unless it was totally unreliable) with an annual milage of about 7k.
I've looked at pearchorlemon.co.uk and Parkers and most owners like them, but the reviews generally refer to people who have bought them fairly new. Is an 8 year old one going to be a good long-term purchase? Read more
If you check out Mercedes warranties they are pretty comprehensive on the bodywork. Mine has just been done at 7 years old for minor rust problems..and I mean minor ... under warranty. The only stipulation was a fully stamped service book (not necessarily Mb main dealers.) Before you buy therefore check out the dates the cars are warranted from and make sure the service book is up to date.
Went to W Sussex and back yesterday on a flying visit. Leaving London late afternoon through fairly light traffic but the usual bank holiday stuff, people jerking from lane to lane and not knowing which way they were going, but fairly light traffic, then on the A29 some rather good stuff cruising over the limit, always nice that.
On the way back though, oh dear, bucketing down, aquaplane city, lots of deep standing water everywhere even in the ruts on the dual carriageway, reduced to the speed limit a lot of the time and even below it, I must be getting old. Just as well there wasn't much traffic. Two huge pools of standing water in the outside lane of the London-bound A3 Kingston bypass.
On the curves of the A24 coming down into Dorking, in a dark place, ran suddenly over an enormous tree branch lying in the road, and a couple of hundred yards further on avoided a smaller one. Half expected damage but the car continued to drive normally although the bumps were big enough to do harm, and there still seems to be air in the tyres today.
I can't ever remember doing this before, but I stopped in the middle of Dorking and dialled 999 for plod to mention this branch. I felt that if someone was going fast or of a nervous disposition or unlucky in their car this hazard might cause a crash. Read more
Did the same. Amberley back to Bucks (via Godalming/A3) - no traffic at all you'd
never guess it was a bank holiday.
Do you drink in the Sportsman or the Black Horse?
Car production at MG Rover's Longbridge factory in Birmingham is due to restart on Tuesday under the Chinese ownership of Nanjing Automobile Corporation.
Three new MG TF sports models are expected to drive off the recommissioned production lines at the opening ceremony.
Read more
I don't know why people think Chinese stuff is so bad. Nearly everything is made
there now from Goodyear tyres to Apple Laptops.
>>
This is true, but you dont pay 'Chinese prices' for either of these items, because the parent companies watch over the manufacturers like a Hawk to ensure proper QC.
Having said this, I have heard that Goodyear tyres have been complained about recently since the Chinese made ones have come onto the market.
To all you VTEC lovers out there.
Honda have filed a patent on AVTEC for a fully variable valve timing and lift system.
The only one currently on the market currently is BMW?s Valvetronic, which also removes the need for a throttle butterfly. Every other system as of today has fully variable valve timing, but valve lift is only switchable between two fixed profiles.
paultan.org/archives/2007/04/17/honda-files-advanc.../ Read more
I may be wrong but I believe some recent Porsche flat sixes have an infinitely variable lift system.
I cannot help thinking that Toyota seem to recall alot of models due to faults.
Is their quality haylo slipping a bit ? Or are they now worse than anyone else ?
www.whatcar.co.uk/news-article.aspx?NA=225708
{please do not post direct links to 'What Car' , ie, leave off the http part of the link - DD} Read more
Yes, the Focus is doing very well these days and earning Ford a good reputation across Europe I think - quite a turnaround. The Corsa is more of a surprise, but credit where its due.
The caption to one of the photos says, "originally wanted a Jaguar engine for obvious reasons."
Good job he plumped for something more authentic, not a flathead but at least a traditional Ford smallblock. I thought most of the character of these things was the lumpy-idling, rumbling old-school V8, a modern smooth DOHC V8 would not be in keeping, IMO. (But each to their own obviously). :o)
Some good clips of similar machines with flathead V8s on YouTube..