August 2007
Hi all,
Does anyone happen to know what the parkers guide price is for a '96 plate ford fiesta, 3 door, 1.8 diesel. Power steering, sunroof, driver airbag, 103k on the clock, but in immaculate condition otherwise.
Any feedback would be great,
Cheers,
Read more
For the umpteenth time in the last fifty-odd years, I'm about to change the engine oil and have always followed the practice of doing so on a hot engine since the oil is supposed to drain more freely when hot. But hang on a moment -- since the whole point of modern multigrade oils is that viscosity *increases* with temperature, would it not be better to drain it when it's cold? In addition, if the engine has not been run for a few hours -- or days -- then the oil will have drained off the up-and-down and round-and-round bits back into the sump. And when the oil runs over your fingers as you remove the sump plug, you won't get scalded either. Yet I see that warming up the oil is still recommended in certain quarters. Is it really just a matter of viscosity, or have I missed something? Read more
"Is there any evidence for this view.."
Well when my Laguna went bang one of the mechanics put it down to the 18k service intervals !. Shell back in the late 90's had a whole field testing unit working with MB in Germany looking at the relationship between oil quality and mileage. Running Taxi's in Duseldorf on various grades and them taking them apart and puting back together.
Cars tend to follow truck technology back in the late 80's it was 6K service intervals on Mineral now you've got Trucks on 90K intervals some like the volvo's on Varible doing in one case 118K thing is a truck is designed with reliablity in mind not cost. Note VW are going CR because PD is to expensive to make. Most makers are of the view the customer won't pay for it. Plus cars have a design life whch is all to short will we expect to see as many Volvo in 20 years time as 740's .....
Paul
Dont know if this is nationwide but now our barriers are open to eastern block countries the route i have to take to go for mots passes through a largely immigrant new to this country area and these people all aged 17 to about 27 and all male think it is quicker to walk under your wheels than wait for gaps in traffic or the little green man to come on.
I can imagine if these people have either no basic road sense or dont care and think they are harder than a mondeo then we are going to have problems with bodies scattered on the roads in the very near future. Read more
Years ago I was coming down a hill and saw the motorist in front of me getting mooned by a youth in the middle of the road. He had to brake hard to avoid him. When I got down to that part I slipped the clutch, gunned the motor, and swerved towards the twerp while beckoning him out. He backed off. Didn't fancy a 3lt 6 where the sun don't shine!
Does anyone know of a reliable Ford specialist within a reasonable radius of Sunderland. My daughter's Fiesta 1.25 Zetec hesitates when using throttle at low revs. Doing a forum search suggests it may be the throttle position sensor at fault but I would rather the car be checked for fault codes and properly diagnosed than just have one component after another replaced. Read more
Rattles advice spot on, wiring loom connectors are a well known problem. The fuse is the purple 3amp fuse marked ecu, remove for ten mins & reconnect & start but allow to idle only for 5 mins before you touch the throttle or drive. helps it relearn its idle. Do it when its hot.
Make sure it is running on Zetec 5-30 oil
Doc
The future is green?
tinyurl.com/2uhmkj
It looks like I might need a Sat Nav after all so I can pay more attention to the road rather than the speedo. :-(( Read more
Visible cameras clearly have a value in adjusting our driving habits in traffic blackspots. Lets not pretend that all people actually stick within the signed perfectly reasonable speed limit despite a obvious hazard.
However the covert placement or camouflaging of cameras does suggest that they are seen as a quick revenue collect by the relevant "road safety partnership". In line with a previous suggestion I agree that the £50,000 would be better spent on a police officer. I think the government needs to look at increasing the number of traffic officers on our roads. The standard of driving is currently appalling and dangerous driving seemingly goes unpunished.
One bright and sunny morning (they usually are here in Israel), I came downstairs to find that my right (as seen from inside the car) headlamp had been made off with. As there are no second hand ones around, and a new one costs almost as much as my car is worth (no doubt the reason for the theft), I am considering buying one next time I'm in the UK. (I can use the car in the mean time as it won't start raining here till October at the earliest - eat your hearts out.)
Would anybody know whether an offside headlamp for a RHD car would be suitable for my nearside headlamp on my LHD version, or would the glass pattern throw the beam the wrong way?
Thanks for your help
Pug Eyed Read more
Many thanks for your considered advice.
Well, I've just gone out and doubled the value of my car: bought a new headlamp (in a box no less) and filled up with petrol, which costs the equivalent of 71p per liter.
Can I ask a really stupid question?
My car pumps out 184g CO2 per KM
It will do about 900km on a tank of lets say 70 litres of diesel.
now a gramme of CO2 weighs the same as anyother gramme so 184g x 900 km = 165.6 kg
70 litres of diesel - I think a litre of diesel is about 0.85kg - so therefore my 70l of DERV weighs about 60kg
While I realise that adding another oxygen moecule to things will add weight, can it really add so much? Including the PMs and other gasses emitted, it seems that my 60kg of fuel when burnt will emit about 200kg of by-product. Can this be true? Can some intelligent person explain? Read more
Saying an engine *can* produce 120g/km is very different from saying that it can produce no
more than 120g/km. It's daft to set an arbitrary limit on something that varies in
normal use!
It's very silly.
My sister is a right-on ecofascist vegetarian. She lives in Norfolk and needed to get to Woodford (East London) from Norwich.
The day she was going the train from Colchester to Chelmsford was out so she needed to get a two trains and a replacement coach, plus a tube, which took over three hours. This with her boyfriend.
They own something like a Vauxhall Astra. The stated reason for the journey was that she was worried about her CO2 output. When I pointed out the several trains and half-empty coach would produce more CO2 than her car, she said that the train was going anyway. Funnily enough she doesn't accept that argument when it comes to my long-haul flights to Thailand. (not to mention the train journey was significantly more expensive)
Anyway, these CO2 numbers were based on average outputs, but I think the proper approach is to drive at 1500rpm in top gear (say 50mph) along the motorway to further reduce emissions.
Meanwhile Red Ken is going to allow anyone with a sub 120g car to congest London for free soon. So get your Mini Cooper D, drive it like an idiot, emit as much CO2 as a 4x4, and you won't pay a penny.
FWIW, the ecofriendly alternative to off-peak train services (which are often underutilised) is probably a network of long-distance taxis, as they have in parts of Asia. Pack five people in a car with a small engine and you'll be much less polluting than a train.
Not sure if this should really be in discussion:
A 51 plate Mondeo went past me last night, I watched it come up in my mirrors as it looked odd and after it passed I realised it was going crabwise, ie it's nearside rear was more to the left than the front. I've read on here about Mondeos needing sub-frame tracking after work underneath - is this the effect of it not being done and why wouldn't the driver notice? I estimate his speed to have been 85 - 90 mph. Read more
Andy, I have seen this where the rear sub frame bushes have been replaced & a nurd has refitted it without aligning up the subframe with the tools or a good eye.
Doc
1995 K11 Micra
A week ago I had the CV boots replaced. One of them was split and caused an MOT failure. T
Now there is a slight knocking noise a) On the motorway, over 50 mph b) right-hand roundabout at 30 mph.
The mechanic mentioned I might hear a "clicking" noise.
Something that will settle down or should I take the car back? There was no knocking noises apparent from the CV joint before this work.
Thanks
Mike Read more
really?
I'm thinking about replacing all the bushes on my car with Powerflex polyurethane bushes.
Do these have any significant disadvantages compared to conventional rubber ones?
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Maybe a green issue also. Rubber is bio-degradable, polyurethane will remain in the environment virtually forever.
Browse
took me 6 months to get rid of the last one power steering and 5 doors (r reg)
its the road tax puts em off see £99 for a paltry 6 months
as said value it for your local area via the autotrader and good luck