May 2007
Romanian Police took 5 years to find 60Kg of drugs in a siezed Porsche - unbelieveable.
tinyurl.com/39njoe
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Roger
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
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Hi, Mazda 626 (reg 2000W). Initial gear changing is fine, however as time goes by it becomes more difficult to change at road junctions etc., until first just does not engage. I will have to take it to a dealer, but, would be interested to hear your opinions. Read more
I have a Xedos and it suffered from difficulty with getting into reverse - other gears were fine. Oil changed for thinner one and it was marginally better. Required a stripdown and replacement of 1,2 & R - 40K mls later still fine.
I noticed recently that I was getting steering wheel shake when applying the brakes, particularly when braking from higher road speeds (50-70 mph). I thought that the discs looked a bit worn and as one of the symptoms of such shaking is a warped brake disc, I decided to change the discs & pads. Imagine my surprise when it made the judder much worse.
As I've read that any dirt/rust between the hub and disc could cause the disc to run out of true, I took the discs off and wire brushed and cleaned the hubs before refitting the discs. I also double checked that all the bolts were done up to the correct torque. The judder is still there. The pads are new (obviously) and the pistons & sliders all seem to move freely, so I feel that the brakes are being applied together and at the same time.
The symptoms are steering wheel shake when the brakes are applied; even when done gently (which is severe enough to make the dash rattle!) and also the brake pedal to pulse as if I have ABS fitted (which I don't). I noticed that there was a small amount of movement in the offside track rod end, but whether that is an effect of the juddering or the cause I'm not sure. The car recently passed an MOT and no mention was made of this movement and the tester is a harsh one where road safety is concerned. I've no way of testing if the discs are running 'true' and I wondered if anyone could suggest my next course of action.
Thanks in advance for any assistance. Read more
I double checked the handbrake and there was no problem there - it was definitely the front brakes. I borrowed a DTI from a friend and tested the run out as mentioned in the Haynes Manual. I'm supposed to have a maximum of 0.02mm - on one side I had 0.02mm, on the other it was 0.15mm! No wonder the car shook under braking. I turned the disc through 180deg to see if I could improve matters and it went down to 0.08mm but still shook like mad. The only option I had left was to refit the old discs & pads. Now I have normal smooth braking except the odd occasion when I have to decelerate from higher road speeds in a hurry, when I get just the slightest trace of wheel shake.
I will keep the new pads to replace the current worn ones in the future, but is it worth doing anything with the discs other than scrapping them? I've had them too long to return them for a refund, plus I'm not sure (from reading other posts) whether they can be guaranteed to run true and so are really faulty.
First in an occasional series of fascinating posts ;-) We're here to talk about cars rather than moan about other road users so I thought I'd get things moving in that direction.
What's your favourite BMW?
A company with a proud heritage, producing many fine vehicles over the years, perhaps overshadowed by BMW bashing and the fact that they've made a huge sales success in the UK.
Personally I love the old BMW 700 coupe from the mid 1960s. Years ago when I was considering if it would be cheaper to enter historic motorsport, or just throw £20 notes into a burning barrel, I noticed these little cars with their delicate styling and 700cc boxer twin engines in the rear. Surely an interesting alternative to the Mini Coopers and Austin A35s?
Abarth were doing fiendish things with little Fiats, more carburettor than engine, surely a lightweight BMW would be an interesing project? I went to a classic car show at the NEC a little later and spoke to a few people on the BMW owners club stand. I was met by a collection of blank looks and denial that anything interesting could have been made before the 2002.
The 600 and 700 were available as saloon and coupe, and were characteristic of their time - think Fiat 850, slim roof pillars and a front end like a VW Fastback. Google is probably your friend when it comes to more info, I've certainly never found one for sale (this was before ebay.de and internet favourites folder) and never found anyone who remembers them let alone owned one.
Despite all that, and the fact that modern BMWs do nothing for me, I'd give a 700 coupe space in my fantasy garage.
Your favourite BMW? Read more
Yes TVM - agreed. Aped by Honda in the early 80s with the "CX500 orbuT" - beautiful cars.
Hi all
It seemed that the screenwash pump on my Y reg Mondeo estate had packed up, so I fitted a replacement one yesterday, but this doesn't work either; when operating the switch the wipers come on but there's no motor sound from the pump.
The 'new' pump is in fact secondhand, so it may also be faulty. Another option I've considered is a blown fuse, but there doesn't seem to be one for the screenwash pump, and none of the fuses seem blown anyway. The only other thing I can think of is a wire has come off somewhere.
So does anyone know where the likely failure points in the wiring are please, or the best way of testing where the fault lies?
Thanks very much
Dan Read more
Which way did you get to the pump? Was it from underneath having removed the undershield or did you remove the wing liner?
RichardM
I'm considering buying myself an old banger and converting it to be purely electric powered. However, I have no idea if I would be allowed to do this and the car still be road legal, or if I would have to get it tested somehow and certified - does anyone have any idea, information or links to point me to?
Also, if anyone can suggest possible cars and good sources that would be useful. I'd be looking for something small and light where the body etc is in good condition. The ideal would be one where the engine is knackered but everything else is fine.
TIA! Read more
Totally agree - as for availability, whilst in Amsterdam a few years ago these were everywhere and I saw quite a few with for sale signs in them and they were very cheap (euro vs £) so it might be worth looking on websites for dutch car sales (if you don't mind LHD - which you could convert).
I would dearly love to see plans for an elictric conversion. I consider the Aixam is the ideal vehicle due to its lightweight construction. With the advent of Lithium Ion (Li-on) batteries which the Americans have tested and proved that they can get a vehicle to do 450 miles on one charge.
If I were to do such a conversion I would add solar panelling across the roof to deal with the UK's increased amount of sun.
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These are the views of Robin the Technician with 35 years in the trade. I fix, therefore I am...
I don't know if this has been mentioned on here before, but it would appear that there is a design fault on many VVTi engines, in my case the 1.0 on the early Yaris. I'm not completely sure of the part, but it is something like the timing chain cover. Rather than using a gasket, Toyota used a sealant which unfortunately appears to be attacked by the oil and starts to fail after a few years. (This info from a technician at my local dealer)
Apparently the 'fix' for this is to replace the cover with a newer design and use an alternative sealant.
My Yaris (now 7 years old) had this problem at the 40k service but as it was still under warranty it was fixed FOC. However, either the new part was not available then or the job was not done properly as I have just had the 70k service and am told it is starting to fail again. To me, this sounds like a design fault and I would have hoped Toyota would if not repair it FOC, at least do the work 'at cost' but the dealer is quoting me several hundred pounds to fix it. Does anyone know if there is a better way to get this done - apparently I also need a lot of rubber bushes changed so the total cost will be a fair chunk of what the car is worth. (Around £1500!!!) I'm a little concerned that a car of this age needs this much doing to it - surely these parts should last a bit longer than this? I've had and known older cars that haven't needed these parts doing.
(Another aside - the car-by-car breakdown lists knocking from the front as a sign that the anti-roll bar bushes are failing. I've had this for over 3 years and mentioned it while the car was still in warranty. The garage claimed not to be able to find anything and told me it was OK. It's not got any worse but I'm now wondering if these parts have been bad all this time and should have been done under the warranty)
It's still a cracking little car to drive but I really am worried that the build quality seems very poor and that Toyota may have done their image harm if these problems are as wide spread as they seem to be. Read more
>>At that price I would get a stainless one made and cut just behind the CAT.
In my limited experience of these things, stainless steel makes slightly "different" exhausts. I don't know if it is the different rigidity/stiffness of stainless, or if they make it a bit thinner than the standard mild steel, but the two cars I've had a stainless exhaust weren't as quiet inside the car after the change, and it didn't improve much with use either (despite being assured that it would) as the insides of the exhaust became coated with carbon/muck.
The biggest disappointment was a Volvo exhaust fitted by a competant Volvo dealer, and that had a mild steel downpipe (allegedly) as part of the specification. They argued the point years later when the downpipe had rusted through, but did replace it under warrantee when I produced the original bill showing the part numbers used.
At the other end of the spectrum is our Morris 1000 - it can now blow raspberries for England on the over-run.
Quite satisfying, in an odd sort of way, but the "feature of the model" is exaggerated with the stainless exhaust.
Have found a couple of scratches on my red Fabia that are too deep for t-cutting. I remember that there used to be Colour Magic etc that were coloured polishes.
Do these still exist, are they any good, or is there a better product to try that would either take the scratches away or colour them in? Read more
I tried Colour Magic with my last car but wasn't very impressed.
Clk Sec
would like to know the easiest way to change the timing chain on a fiesta , this question is aimed at the more experienced cliantel who peruse this site , short cuts and stuff , its done 130k and rattles like a skeleton in a biscuit tin falling down a flight of stairs Read more
thanks andrew for taking the time to reply to my question, it looks a lot less daunting than i thought it was going to be, ive got a week off work so i should get it done by then, im not a mechanic as you can prob appreciate but if i dont have a go il never learn, either that or a blown engine immenent!!! cheers ...paul
I have been told by my Audi VW garage that I need a new coil pack for my Audi A2 1.6 FSI but the part is on back order till 25th may 2007 I have checked with the main dealer who tell the same story, I find this to be totally unacceptable I am told there is a manufacturing problem meanwhile I can not drive my car and have to hire a car at great expense!!! I understand that this is not the first time that this has been a problem with VAG is there any thing I can do to resolve this problem? Read more
Yep common problem i'm afraid so you will have to wait, your lucky you haven't got long to wait, few years ago BMW had problems with thermoststs on 525's & some were off the road for months waiting for a new design of housing to be manufactured!
I have in the past customers that have kicked up such a fuss with a manufacture direct that they then produce a part like magic or if the part is current I have experienced a car being stripped on production line for parts but it's a question of whether your stress levels can cope.
Coil packs in general are becomming a very common problem on most makes except japanesse so why can't the rest get it right (cheap manufacturing!) but I also belive that the long milage between plug changes puts added stress on the coils as the plug wears. Over the last few years at work I have changed plugs at half the milage service intervals & seen a drop in coil changes ( except renault)
Regards
It was 100KG 5 years ago....