July 2007
Hi, i brought a 1991 1.9 Gti in Feb to rescue it from a scrap yard, it was a total wreck but now it is getting there. Saturday gone i was spending some time finishing the last little lighting problems that i had in order to put it through the MOT, chuffed that everything was working right i took it out round the block to give it a run, all was fine. It Idles lumpy as hell but the guy before put a £700 fast road cam in it so it hasn't worried me at all, that was until now! I got it back and turned it off. When i went to put it back in the garage i turned the key and not much happened. The starter does move, i put a screwdriver on the casing and tried to make sure the starter moved, the alternator moves but not much and that's it. It won't turn at all so i checked the battery, Brand new so no issues there, battery connections, brand new, immobiliser connections, all sound, engine earth, sound, 12v supply to starter, sound, fuse board (the fuses are fine and nothing smells) so I'm stumped!! I even went to the hassle of rocking the car in gear and bump starting it in case the starter had jammed but it made no difference. I have water, oil and fuel and non of them are in the wrong holes, i can't see what else it may be?
Any help would be brilliant, i want it finished!!!
Cheers - Mike Read more
Ok as some of you know i am trying to get this car of mine fixed. i now have all the problems theoreticly sorted, im just waiting till pay day to get them done.
The one that i am now stuck on is overheating. At first the temp gauge on the instrument panel would not move. I bought a new sender/sensor that the radiator hoses go into and fitted, and now the gauge is working.
The problem now is that the gauge needle does not sit properly at half way and goes up to 110 degrees. It does not go up any further, just sits on that temp.
can anyone help AGAIN. Read more
I only paid a couple of quid for the part from breakers. The car is going to the mechanic for a service so i will get him to sort it all out. Thanks for your help Dox.Once this is all done i am just gonna get rid of the damn thing.
cheers
There is a section of road near to where I live where a 20mph zone ends and a 30 begins. After the 30, it returns to a 20 zone.
All very well... except the 30mph section is three feet long.
On an adjacent road, the 30mph section is ten feet long.
Well done Southwark. Read more
Andy ! - in the style of Peter Kay "Howwww dare youuu" and sniipped - PU Mod.
andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
Hi all, sorry if this has been covered before.
Just bought a new car and I'm gutted because its giving me lower back pain.
How do you correctly set a seat base/driving position with the following adjustments:
Fore / aft
tilt - seat base / wheel
Height
Lumber adj
Are there any consultants about that can set you up in your seat.
Are there any comfort solutions? I'm obviously reluctant to change the car!
Car in question is Vx Omega (leather seats - if that helps) its done 60k and is a 2003 so seat "should" be ok (the passenger seat aches me as well!)
Trouble is, I've had an omega before and that was fine (cloth seats) as was my previous rover 600 that I had for 3 years. How can you assess long term comfort from a test drive where aches might not set in?
Only previous car to give me this was a Citroen saxo I had from new with its small offset pedals and cheap seats that flattened. I found I was sitting twisted with that one.
Omega should be a comfortable old barge!
Yours confused,
David. Read more
The most comfortable car I had for long distances was a Maxi.
It seemed like you were sitting on a bar stool, behind a bus steering wheel.
If you live in Greater Manchester it's not too late to write to your councillor and MP to express your views.
Read more
Nobody likes taxes but the 'green' con lets the Pols increase taxes and say its good for us.
Let me give you an alternative. It is estimated that 20% of the cars on the roads today are unlicensed or taxed.
If we remove and crush them we remove a huge chunk of congestion and go a long way to meeting our Kyoto targets. No need for new laws no need for new taxes just getting Plod to do what they are supposed to do but never actual do which is enforce existing laws.
It will never happen because it does not involve putting new money in the Pols pockets.
Thus the 'green' agenda is exposed as entirely fake.
I don't see a problem with it myself. If you're doing 45mph in a 30mph I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect a hefty fine and penalty points.
Before anyone says anything, no I don't drive exactly at the speed limit.
Chris Read more
"Long trains" is a good description. Lud. Foot flat to the floor seems to be the rule on part of it at least.
This is not entirely unconnected with my recent query as to the cutting out problem; however best to draw a veil over the *connection*, suffice to say I hadn't achieved the expected high standards of cable routing.
Anyway checking the second repair involved starting and stopping the engine several times in succession and I found that after about six goes the engine wouldn't stop immediately but only after several seconds (no idea if it has always done this or if connected to the recent electrical faults)
I think the injector pump or stop solenoid may have been changed in the past as only one of the three loom wires is connected to the pump, however this made testing easy. On the occasions that the engine didn't stop there was about 0.93volts on this cable.
All I can think of is that the rapid stopping and starting builds up some sort of EMF in the solenoid so it won't let go (in my distant employed past I had come across a similar problem, initially modified by increasing the air gap between core and armature slightly)
Not really a problem, in normal use engine would only be stopped once, but it has aroused my curiosity, any thoughts?
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One mans junk is another mans treasure Read more
I was at the Eastbourne Motorshow at the weekend (no, it wasn't all Zimmers and Hondas!).
James May was hosting - and doing a damn good job.
He did a bit of "hosting", then went off for a break before the next presentation. When he returned, he admitted to having had a "couple of pints".
James wasn't weaving dangerously around the arena, but he did seem a little more amorous towards the "car show totty".
This got me thinking....what is the legal blood-alcohol limit for a motorshow host, and can one be charged with being "drunk-in-charge of a motorshow"?
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Colin-E Read more
That could have been the alcohol talking! (or the fact that his fee is paid for by the car dealers!)
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Colin-E
Worra loadofnonsense.
Why is London at the bottom? The congestion charge has eased traffic in town a bit, so is great. It's expensive to park, but fine if you can afford it - and fine if you're driving through. There aren't many no-go areas although some one way systems are a bit irritating.
Cambridge on the other hand you cannot even drive into. Oxford is worse.
Dundee I will agree is a dream - but that's because the locals cannot afford cars. Read more
What a load of rubbish, how can Swansea and Newport be so bad and Dudley and Brighton (the home of parking tickets) be so good. Who comes up with this stuff, why dont they get a proper job !
The B-class is coming up for 18 months old and I think I can afford to change it somewhere between 18 months and 2 years old, avoiding too much negative equity on the PCP. Budget somewhere about £20,000 - I'll go with a PCP again.
Ideal -
5-door hatchback or estate, as although the children are grown-up it's surprising how often we need to take stuff in the back with the seats down). I do 20,000 miles a year and I want something I actually look forward to driving each day. Probably needs to be a diesel although the difference in cost neds to be measured carefully against the fuel saving.
Here's the shortlist so far in alphabetical order, though I'm of course open to other suggestions.
Audi A3 2.0 TDI (A4 isn't being discounted much so is probably too expensive) - very good to drive, and steering and handling more direct than the A4. Rear seats don't fold quite flat. But the combination of smallish body and beefy engine is tempting. I found the 140 had plenty of oomph - haven't tried a 170 but see Skoda below.
BMW 320 - these are being discounted heavily by Drivethedeal who don't do PX - other brokers who do may allow less than a dealer would. Excellent to drive, as expected, although manual gearchange disappointingly notchy. Handling sharper than an A4 though not much more than an A3. RWD which could be a pain on our sloping drive if we have snow and ice this winter. Whi can tell what the weather is doing?
Ford C-MAX - fun to drive - nice high driving position and lots of room in the back - but Fords don't hold their value well and I may not find the PCP deal very good. Mondeo sounds good but we don't need somethiong quite as big as that.
SEAT Altea XL 2.0 TDI - I can't get a demonstrator although I've tried a Leon with this engine and quite liked it. Seats don't fold flat and I'm not sure what it can do that a Skoda can't.
Skoda Octavia estate 2.0 TDI - I was very impressed with this: I was able to go out on my own in both a 140 and a 170. Hard to decide which is preferable: 170 has more poke but the sudden onrush on the turbo (always there in VAG TDIs) was less marked than on the 140. The A2 140 was even smoother. Lots of room: the heart may veer towards an Audi but the head says one of these is just as enjoyable. I didn't find the road noise a problem as TVM did when he went for the Altea.
Toyota Prius - if my driving was all in town I'd have one. Excellent in town and comfortable on a long run - but it's not at its best on motorways. Economy nothing special at motorway speeds, and accelerating to get up speed is as noisy as the B-class. I'm not a boy-racer but I like to get a move on, and this one is for very gentle drivers.
Toyota Verso 2.2 diesel - WilldeBeest has been a great help here (Verso ruminations thread a couple of weeks ago) and it might suit me better than him. Not as boring to drive as J. Clarkson makes out but a bit more prosaic than the others above. We don't need the 7 seats but folded down there is a good flat floor. Also our local dealer (Octagon Bracknell) is excellent.
VW Golf estate 2.0 TDI - I'll wait to try this when it comes out in mid- August. I've tried a Jetta 2.0 TDI with DSG - very pronounced turbo lag and much more so than the A3 or Octavia.
Dismissed:
Renault Scenic and Citroen Picasso - too wallowy round corners, and the Scenic I tried had trim rattling or falling off at only 7,000 miles.
Mazda 5 and 6 - road tests all say how noisy they are and noise is something I'm trying to escape from!
Honda Civic (great to drive but I don't think I can live with the appalling rear visibility); the Accord Tourer, like the Mondeo, is bigger and longer than we need.
Waiting for the new Laguna might be an option, possibly.
Finally the Volvo V50 2.0D isn't on either list as I haven't tried one yet.
Thoughts anyone? Would be very much appreciated. The broker Buy-a-car seem to have some good discounts and they do PX - anyone had experience of them? Read more
How about a 407 SW .........>>
The looks of these cars have really grown on me >>
www.specsavers.co.uk
with either the 2.2 HDI Twin Turbo or 2.7 ....... and those are both lovely engines by all accounts.
Agreed.
Browse
Will the engine turn over by hand with a spanner/socket on the crankshaft nut?