September 2007
My trusty old 1994 Vitara's ignition lock is becoming unreliable. It is prone to jamming in the off position, have used wd40 which has helped. Is there a specialist oil for locks available out there,
Thanks as always
Mark W Read more
my 53 reg 1.6 5 door match golf. the re mote central locking will not work unless within 6 inches of a window i,ve tried the obvious by replacing the batteries in both remotes but it doesn,t make any difference. over to you screwloose! Read more
You comfort module should be next to the steering column under the lower dash panel.
Getting it plugged-in and read is the first step.
This post isn't about the rights and wrongs of the crash itself so hopefully won't be consigned to the Top Gear thread, it's about how it can take this long for investigators to conclude what any halfwit can see from the 30 seconds of footage - the tyre blew.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6994946.stm
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The BBC hounded Primetime unmercifully over this in fact making one of the owners ill. Has changed my understood perception of their impartial policy forever.
Richard Hammond knew the risk, undertook thorough training but the BBC should have realised it was a potentially lethal risk he was taking.
Jet engines do not snap shut on power, you cannot de-clutch the drive and events happen very fast if things go wrong. 3,000 trouble free runs proved that what went wrong was completely unforseen.
Thank goodness Richard Hammond survived and will continue to do great work.
can anyone tell me what is the correct behaviour at these "priority over other road user" traffic islands as I find sometimes the driver who has priority driving straight at me as i exit the island as they have clearly been driving well above 30mph or accelerate. Is the rule that the priority user should not have to brake or lift off at all.
Or should you wait if the non priority driver is clearly going to arrive in the "chicane" well before the priority driver does. What is the etiquette and if an accident occurs just at the exit of the chicane who is to blame?
The one stretch where i encounter this on my commute creates untold problems both ways as its very difficult to assess the oncoming speed and its a challenge (especially if the priority user accelerates to you) to get through without causing these "mock" headons.
I note the sign is an "information " sign not a mandatory one so what does that mean on the road?
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Bus stops and timetables Lud.
Driving between Lyndhurst and Ashurst yesterday the traffic slowed dramatically once we left Lyndhurst in response to 20mph limit signs on the left of the road, followed by a sign indicating re-surfacing. Pretty normal? except this was for the new pedestrian/cycle path constructed over the summer not the road. Sadly our 'leader' slowed each time he passed one of these numerous signs. Read more
Still, they're good for 35 unless the bumps are quite bad.
Car manufacturers need to take note of this problem. Low-speed desert racers, geddit? If you don't you're a halfwit.
My mate with the fire-breathing Scooby Imprezza (huge turbo, chipped, tuned stainless exhaust, 6 pot calipers, big drilled discs, 18" alloys etc etc) has just sold it and bought another car.
An 03 plate BMW 525d - is that an extreme change or what?
Can anybody beat that for a radical change of daily driver?
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I went from a Moggy Minor to a Renault 11 turbo... on the test drive I simply couldn't believe that the car had got up 90mph that quickly. Gave ample opportunity to test the brakes.
The Commission for Integrated Transport is recommending the fitment of speed limiters to company cars.
What a fantastic idea - get all those reps and company car owners stuck in lane 1 and 2 and leave the rest of us to get on with our lives more efficiently.
Of course the recommendation also comes with big increase in VED for high CO2 vehicles and company cars will be the thin end of the edge and it will spread.
So question - how many years before we are all driving 3 cylinder 1 litre diesel cars in this country just to be able to afford to stay on the road - whilst of course it will make minimal impact as housing and industry (not to mention rest of the world continuing to drive what they want) continue to grow and produce greater quantities of CO2.
I reckon about 7 years max.
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Then it's the poor judgement that needs rectifying!
Agreed
- if you were faced by someone on your side of the road and closing
fast would you really want him to be unable to accelerate?
I would rather they knew enough not to get themselves into the situation. Thinking they might possibly with a bit of luck, a following wind and did I remember to refill the NOx bottle manage to reach the gap in front of the lorry before hitting me is not what I want them to be doing - I want them to not hesitate before braking to drop in behind the lorry or, in the worst case, minimise the closing speed for the ensuing head on collision!
BTW it was me on the wrong side of the road and if you ever drove the original 1.8D mondeos they would accellerate in third to the rev limiter but when you put them in fourth there was, as I found, no go. 4 & 5 were geared for economy and there was an enourmous gap between 3 and 4.
Having just returned from another driving trip to France, about the twelth in the last few years, I am again amazed at the difference between Autoroutes and Motorways.
In the 250 miles or so between my home in Glossop and Dover I encountered about 5 or 6 sets of roadworks, the one on the M1 near Luton, where 3 lanes came down to 1, added at least one hour to the journey.
Off in Boulogne. Up into Belgium to visit a war grave then down into Brittany. 500 miles of autoroute, almost all of which is two lane. No roadworks.
Any ideas why?
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you don't
want to annoy your customers.
Unlike our government who seem to go out of their way to annoy their 'customers' as much as possible - reducing 2-lane roads to 1-lane roads, bus-lanes on maotorways, traffic lights on roundabouts, speed-humps left right and centre, etc., etc.
Well the Ford Focus is having a nip and tuck..
www.forddesktops.com/default.asp
Plenty of pics here. Seems the Fuel and Temperature gauge are upside down though..
s Read more
Although I find the Mk2 Focus styling pretty bland, its the rear end styling of the hatches I've always thought of as a bit of a disaster. I'm surprised with the exception of the minor mods to the rear lights this hasn't been significantly altered by the facelift. I've always thought that when the wagon is better looking than the equivalent sedan/hatch its a sign something's not quite right with the design: jag x-type comes to mind.
Just bought a Clarke parts washer.
The instructions say not to use flamable liquids.......
Can I use diesel ?.........
Or can I use water with some cleaner added? Read more
I've got one of these and used the clarke concentrated solvent stuff. It's seems just like concentrated washing up liquid and i've not found it man enough. (It does clean your hands well though!) I emptied it yesterday as it was filthy and am toying with the idea of paraffin myself. Its always worked well for me and dirt does sink in it if you leave it, so to me this would be pump friendly too. Decided - i'm going for it!!


Local locksmiths (still plenty around) will sell you a tiny container of graphite based lubricant - its the best thing for lubricating a lock.