December 2007
passed a fiat sissyentro on the m1 today 300 yard before a service station on the hard shoulder,two people stood by the car,man near fencing safely, girl at back of nearside rear corner light not watching traffic but ringing the services on her blue screen mobile,i passed her in my recovery truck and at one time would have pulled up to offer assistance(i wouldnt now as i would probably be classed as some old perv) i hate to see people oblivious to fast moving traffic especially these days as i see so many people driving and texting ( my step daughters ex boyfriends best mate died while doing this so its a bit near the heart) anyway i passed and had to call into the services for an old mans needs,anyway i was in the truck having a coffee when said veeicle pulled in next to me closely followed by the 4th emergancy services,i spoke to the female about her use of the phone on the hard shoulder and how she could have been killed,she said it wont me want me i woz on the grass wont me,i explained again that she could have been my daughter and i was just trying to protect her life next time round,
the 4th service provider said to me ,"youve made your point mate ,ive told her the same because i saw her too
i drove on steaming.....
would i ever tell anyone again in the same situation?............no
let the government do it
muppets.........
im still wound up by Read more
Hi All
My 51 plate, 40K, pug 206 2 litre HDi has developed a whine from the engine compartment.
This whine changes with engine speed even when the car is not being driven, other than this the car is fine. I wonder if it could be the alternator is there any way I can pin point the problem.
Regards Read more
thank you for your replys, I tried with the more load option, I must confess it didn't make any difference. Not sure if that is good or bad!
Thanks again
just noticed on my vaux zafira that one of the rear door central locking doesnt lock with all the others i have to lock it manauly was wondering are they on difrent fuses for all or are they on difrent fuses for every door
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i no it seems a bit silly but how will i test the solinied on the door can i test it with a peice of wire with a light bulb or some other way
please let me know many thanks
My 97 A8 has a clear rear screen with miniscule heating elements in there - not the usual visible black horizontal lines of earlier models. Tell tale light lights when switch is pressed, but I'm damned if it demisits efficiently... Fuse seems OK, any other suggestions guys? Many thanks.... Read more
I read an Auto Express article many years ago about cooking food on a car engine. Foil wrapped parcels of "suitable" food were placed around the engines of various cars and cooked through with varying degrees of success as the cars made their way through daily traffic (jams).
I remember the Rover SD1 sent a wobbly pensioner into a dreamlike state on a South London zebra crossing as the smell of "proper" fried bacon wafted through the radiator grill. Other results varied from the indifferent to the downright disgusting - the perfect fried or scrambled egg has yet to be produced on a car engine (or anywhere near a plane).
Anyone got any similar anecdotes of using a car engine for secondary functions such as cooking? Is it possible to boil water for a cuppa a-la- Ivor the Engine ?? Read more
talking of cooking and vehicles during ww2 the germans used to call the sherman tanks "tommy cookers" cause they had petrol engines instead of diesel , they were also affectionately called " ronsons" too cause they lit first time !!!
I need to get to Westbourne Park tomorrow, which is apparently on the Hammersmith and City line.
Normally I'd get the first nice, easy fast train after 9am from Basingstoke to Waterloo and tube it, but looking at the tube map, it looks like an awful faff to get over to there.
Someone at work suggested I drive to either Shepherd's Bush or Richmond and tube it from there. What would you do? Is there parking at either of those stations? I think Richmond would be easiest but I have never driven to either one. Read more
Don't worry Lud. Didn't go in the end - woke up feeling rough and couldn't face the stinky train. Thanks for the advice though. I'm well prepared for next time.
Drove to Reading instead and finished my Christmas shopping.
Evening all, and merry christmas. Last week I put around 45 litres of diesel in the tank, that was as much as it would take (wet shoes) and 350 miles later I'm on the red again. I just drove from Bristol to Taunton and back, 120 miles all round, and I could actually see the needle dropping as I was driving. I've checked for leaks and there are none, I've cleaned and blocked off the EGR valve and it's made no difference, brakes aren't binding, engines never smokey, so what the hell is happening to all my fuel? I did think the sender wasn't accurate as when I filled up last time from the red, I got around 45 litres in as I mentioned, but the tank capacity is 55 litres, so I thought the gauge was reading slightly low. Please help!!! Read more
Would a faulty waxstat system cause my problem?
Bought a BMW 535i (Sport) from the first owner with 73k miles and FSH. It looked as if it was sagging a bit on the driver?s side and the tyres were worn unevenly. The answer was seemingly obvious and professional opinion concurred, so it was new shocks and springs all round (BMW MTech OEM factory spec), and while we were at it, I replaced the tyres and refurbed the wheels.
To cut a long story short, the cant is still there. A ?body audit? shows that the car is not sagging, but sitting up 30mm nearside rear and 10mm nearside front. Has the car had an accident ? Not to my knowledge and according to the bodyshop, ?If it has it?s had the best repair we?ve ever seen.?
None of the professionals in my neck of the woods seems to be able to suggest what might be causing the skew, or to cure it. Ransacking the web has not produced a solution either. The best anyone has come up with is ?It?s just one of those things?. Can you or any of your readers help ?
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Thanks for that. I will get into action and report back.
A Merry Xmas and HNY to all listers :-)
Had a bit of a shock when driving yesterday as my seatbelt suddenly came undone. The clip in the "receiving end" seems to be dodgy and it keeps letting go. Will hold if you really force it, then difficult to undo!
Its the assembly with the pretensioner fitted. Planning to go to the scrapyard tomorrow and pick up another, but we only really need the clip part. Does it come apart or do we need to get the whole pretensioner aswell? Can't really see on the car - does look as if its fitted with a treaded bolt, but without taking out the seat, we cannot see what head its got - if any. Bound to be a star headed one just to make life difficult!
Any advice much appreciated, Thanks!
{Date in header picked up from a previous post of yours} Read more
Thanks for replies.
Just thought I'd update that pre-tensioner assembly has now been successfully replaced. Rang our local VX dealership this morning for a quote - £125+Vat and they can't get one until the new year. Went to the scrapyard 10 minutes up the road and found a same year Astra, stolen recovered (no accident damage so tensioner should be fine) and they charged £10+vat.
Took careful note of the safety key advice (also listed in the Haynes manual), and fitted to the old one prior to taking off, and the replacement until it was installed. Pretty easy job really, only took just over an hour.
Thanks again for all replies!
Just watched The English Garage on TV and saw them working on a BMW block.
The block threads seemed to have gone and they re-tapped all of the the block threads to a larger diameter, screwed in brass inserts and then re-threaded the brass inserts so that the original diameter bolts could be used.
Never heard of doing this before, but how would you get the torque with head bolts screwing into brass? And what do you Engineers/Techs think of this sort of procedure?
Regards Read more
I can recall seeing brass thread block inserts ages ago. (40yrs or so).
I.D. mentioned trunnions, the brass bit never deteriorated, but the steel parts rusted and caused failure.


I contacted the Highways Agency about reducing the number of deaths and injuries on the hard shoulder. I did not imagine the figures you stated were that bad. I was prompted by witnessing someone driving along the shoulder for about a mile before leaving at an exit. If it had been dark and someone had been broken down, this idiot could have gone straight into someone.
Many of these drivers are not concentrating or are confused. I suggested that a spanner symbol be painted at regular intervals or coloured to make it stand out from the main carriageway like a bus lane.
They gave me a patronising answer that trials were ongoing to reduce collisions. I have not seen any evidence of this, has anyone else?
Thus until the hard shoulder is marked out in some way, these accidents/collisions will continue to happen.