June 2007
Reading the motoring news, it appears VW wants all its petrol engines to be at least turbo charged, if not both turbo and supercharged. This is seen in the current 1.4TFSI which is both turbo and supercharged and comes in 140 or 170bhp. VW will release a 1.4 turbo producing 120bhp in the summer to replace to the current non-turbo 1.6.
How will this affect insurance premiums, especially for young people? When I was looking for our new car the VW Jetta looked good, but the 1.4TFSI with 140bhp was group 13 IIRC and difficult to get a quote for my young wife.
140bhp is not powerful in this day and age, but the acceleration between a normal engine and turbo/supercharged is where there may be issues I suppose.
Just me rambling on anyway. Read more
As some backroomers will know, my wife acquired a Suzuki Swift about a year ago. An ABS sensor failed yesterday and, according to the local dealer, it is not a simple replace the sensor job, because it involves the drive shaft as well (obviously on one of the front wheels). The chap from the service department was quoting me a replacement price of around £360, until I told him the car was still under warranty, which took the wind out of his sails (why did he not know/check this out first of all?). He then said the the part(s) could not be obtained until Friday, so I said we would leave the car with them. Later in the day, however, he rang my wife to say there are none of these parts in the country and they can't get one for at least a month.
I am not filled with a lot of optimism for the future ownership of this car. Read more
Why is it difficult and/or expensive to surround this ring with a protective cover?
This is not exclusive to Suzuki though is it? Citroen's setup is no different.
On the way home from work today, I followed a very alarming vehicle. There was something very wrong with it, causing it to drive diagonally. On top of this, the driver seemed incapable of taking this into account, and therefore on the odd occasion would lunge suddenly across the white line, or towards the verge. She also occasionally bottled it on slight corners (despite taking most relatively normally) and screech to a near halt.
I reported this to the Cheshire Constabulary when I got home, and was told by a very disinterested sounding lady that they would follow it up with the registered keeper.
I'm not normally one to be a busybody, but this really was a case of when it cause an accident, not if. It was a metallic grey MG TF btw, , and had the word 'spark' looking like a model designation on the opposite side to the TF badge, but no idea why, it's certainly not a standard MG badge.
So... what do you reckon I'll hear about it (if anything)? Read more
Next time report the driver as "swerving about all over the place probably drunk"
and include any "evidence" you can think of to support this. If they're not drunk
they'll have questions asked. If they *are* they'll be off the road. It's a "win-win
situation".
.*********
Better to be honest I think, tell the police what you really see the problem as and let them look into it.
M
Can anyone help - How do you get the clutch pedal off to change the clutch quadrant
Shouting modified ! PU Read more
The shaft through the pedals has to come out ? there is 2 ?U? shaped clips on the shaft ? I usually make up a length of 1/8 welding rod and put a hook on the end and pull them off ? take the stop lamp switch off and the spring clip on the master cylinder rod ? the shaft pulls out to the centre of the car ? there are some spacers and spring washers on the shaft take note of where the go ? disconnect the cable from the clutch fork at the gearbox then the pedal will drop out to change quadrant and pawl ? carefully changing the parts on the pedal ? assembly is tricky the shaft only locates one way in the offside of the pedal box, the shaft has a flat on this end ? this is tricky fitting all the spacers and washers ? and the clips do go back with some perseverance ? fit the cable to the gearbox fork last ? As it is your first time doing this job I would recommend taking out the drivers seat ?
i need to do the brake fluid change on our vw's , i was just wondering if any of the premium brands are worth the extra cost or should i just grab whatver is cheapest?
my cars use dot 4 type
{Typo in subject header corrected - DD} Read more
I use Commer from Wilkinsons, about £4.80 - £5 a litre. Good stuff, good spec, never had a problem. A litre should allow enough for you to have a good flush through in most cars.
My reverse lights have stopped working, bulbs appear OK, I suspect the switch, can anyone tell me where it is located, and is replacing it an easy job, for an average D-I-Yer. Thanks ( P.S. I have disregarded the possibility of a fuse problem as in the handbook diagram for the fuse box it does not list a fuse covering these lights, if you know differently please tell. ) Read more
Do you have power at the switch? (2 pin plug by the clutch fork) the switch is a very common fault. If you have bridge it with a split pin if the reverse lights come on the switch is your fault and you have 2 faults.
Regards,
Merlin
A friend sent me the following story, which I thought I would share with you all.
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?Yesterday was ... errrr .... interesting.
Having had loads of grief at SVA with the Ace (it took 3 attempts to get it through) we then started the registration process. Took all the paperwork into the local DVLA office(Nottingham) the next day and were told we needed an inspection, and we needed to present the car on the 5th June at 3:20 pm, and it had to be trailered there.
Ok, we can do that, but the Nottingham SVA office doesn't have a car park big enough to park a Previa and trailer in, or even to turn one round in, and it has double yellow lines everywhere other than in its puny car park.
So, I pulled up outside at 3:00pm only to find another van and trailer parked outside, so, figuring he was also there for an inspection, and given that I was 20 minutes early, I pulled up some distance behind to wait for his inspection to finish.
I'd been stopped a matter of seconds, in fact I hadn't even turned the engine off, when a police transit came creaming up the road beside me and screeched to a halt across the road in front of me, blocking me in. A second one screeched to a halt beside me and a third one arrived, followed by a traffic car, and pulled across the road behind me, completely blocking the road.
At the same time a Freelander, which was trying to leave the DVLA office, decided it would be a good idea to try to get past the police vans by driving up on the grass verge. He suddenly got pounced on by two officers, one of whom put a baton through his windscreen and one of whom put another baton through his side window. He was promptly arrested and dragged off in handcuffs.
Simulteanous to that little piece of action, two more officers jumped out of the van beside me, drew their batons, and ran over towards me, and with perfect symetry one of them shouted "Don't Move" and the other shouted "Get out of the car". Huh? I have no idea what this is all about and now I have no idea which one of them to listen to!
So, I was promptly placed in handcuffs and sat in the back of one of the police vans. Nobody told me why at that point, but they took the keys for the Previa and the Ace from me, and I could hear another officer outside ordering a tow truck to impound both my cars and the trailer.
I'm beginning to get a bit pink fluffy diced (edit by DD - next time I delete!) off now so when one of the officers stuck his head through the door of the van to "check on me" I told him I though this was a tad heavy handed just for parking on a double yellow line! His response was something like "you know exactly what this is all about mate". Huh? I don't actually, and I'm not your mate!
So .... I sit in the back of this van for about 15 minutes, waiting for someone to tell me what the hell is going on when someone decides to check on my ID. His response, when they figure out that I am who I say I am, was "hmmmm, thats strange". Strange? Who's he calling strange ... and what is going on here ??? and who's the bloke in the Freelander who's about to buy shares in Autoglass??
Another 15 minutes pass and then the DVLA Inspector (the one I've got the appointment with) sticks his head through the van door, looks at me, looks at the office he's with, and says "what the hell have you arrested him for, the bloke you want is in that transit" and points to the transit and trailer that was in my way in the first place !!
It turns out that the DVLA Inspector suspected the the appointment in front of me was trying to register a ringer, and phoned the police with the information that the driver they wanted was in a van parked outside the DVLA office with a trailer on the back. As they turned up the only van (actually the Previa, as I took great pleasure in pointing out to them, isn't a van anyway) they could see was mine. They also had some information about a 4WD vehicle being involved (actually the Previa, as I took great pleasure in pointing out to them, isn't a 4WD either), hence why they were so keen to stop the Freelander.
The most pathetic thing is that in the half hour this was going on not ONE of the 20 or so officers moticed the white VAN parked up the road with a trailer on the back containing a 4WD Nissan Navara !!! What a bunch of muppets !!
In the end they got the right bloke and I was released, as was the Freelander driver, and they even told me I could leave the Previa where it was even though it was on double yellows. How gracious of them considering I couldn't move it anyway, it was still blocked in. One of them had the good grace to apologise and in the end I managed to see the funny side of it.
The DVLA Inspector, who's opinion of the police dropped dramatically in 30 minutes, even took me inside and made me a coffee. He didn't make them one !! lol
Anyway, on the plus side, the car did get inspected, albeit about an hour late, and because I'd had enough grief by this point they even rushed through the registration for me so I got it registered there and then, despite their assurances two weeks earlier that it would take a minimum of 48 hours after inspection to register it
Like I said .... you couldn't write the script !?
Read more
Did anyone say "You're nicked, Sunshine" - it's in the manual.
I took delivery of my new Ibiza TDi FR today. First impressions: it feels very quick, and after reading the "How do I drive a diesel thread" over the past few days, I can report that it has a VERY usable first gear.
Other things: bit disappointed at lack of remote locking, but v pleased with i-pod plug in slot! Nice white dials, it's SOOOO great to be back in a 6 speed proper manual rather than DSG and yes, it's nowt exciting but it does have lovely alloy wheels with red brakes.
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Bill P.... you're right, on the surface, but Crewe (4 miles) is growing: Air Products, Caudwell phone group, Whatever British Rail is called now, Bentley etc. etc. plus you have Stoke (15 very quick miles) which has loads of industry and Manchester (30 slower but easily gettable toable miles) which is self-explanatory. Also, Chester is 20 miles away, a big financial hub these days (eg MBNA).
howdy,
was asked a question today which got me onto this thought. if you are looking at buying a car, but you suspect something, is there anyway you can check to see if there are any outstanding speeding issue's with the reg. no. ? Read more
It isn't relevant as long as you have proof of when it was purchased.
hi all,
just a quick question. does anyone know where the switch for the cooling fan is positioned on a scenic megane. had one nip in today said he'd had the Rad repaired but the garage it went too had left the intake pipe off. subsequently he heard it fouling on the fan. once he fitted it he noticed that the fan was not working when at working temp. i took a feed off the battery and the fan itself works perfect. any suggestions please? Read more
there is no specific switch for the cooling fan .Operation of it is controlled by the engine management ecu.If a pipe has been fouling the fan then it is possible that a fuse has blown.Check engine bay fuse box.hth
Browse
The 16v point is a good one, once 16v designated sporty, now it is std technology.
The idea with the latest turbo charged petrol engines is to increase torque though also to lower the revs at which max torque is produced, after all the engine speed that at which maximum torque occurs is where each individual cycle of the engine is at it's most effective so if the revs at which this occurs can be lowered (though a healthy level of torque retained) then frictional losses are reduced and efficiency further increases.