December 2007
It's a '94 T5 Volvo 850. A friend parked it up last night, and now it won't start. It cranks ok, and he can smell petrol at the exhaust, but doesn't fire.
Any common problems he can look at in the morning, before I have to go out to him with a trailer? He had a new cap, arm, and leads fitted a couple of weeks ago as part of a service. Read more
Now of course you might all be very grateful, but I do find that the site is incredibly slow. I can post on WW1 forum and Leicester Tigers forum (the only other ones I post on) perfectly well - in fact I have just bunged some long quotations and a photo on WW1 forum with no probs, but logging on to HJ and posting a reply to a post takes an age. I have just tried to reply post and pressed the button about 10 times and get no response - is it just me?
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Phil Read more
Dare I mention the advantages of a hosts file?
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Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
Some very wet roads on Friday night seem to have gotten to the alternator, first sign of which was the rev counter dropping to Zero as I believe thats how the revcounter is driven. Measured the voltage across the battery with the engine running and it was struggling to get much above 12.5 volts. Even when the engine was revved hard the voltage only crept up by about 0.1 of a volt. With everything off and the keys out of the ignition it was still reading about 12.5 volts.
I managed to do 250 motorway miles today with lights on, at the end of the journey still getting 12.5 volts across the battery with the engine running. So the alternator seems to be working to some degree, but something is still definitely up.
With the engine running shouldn't I be getting about 13.5 volts across the battery?
Could this be caused by V drive belt being loose? (seems ok to my very untrained eye)
Or any other suggestions i.e. I've fried some component in the alternator with all the water?
Any help much appreciated. Read more
Checked the connections, still nothing doing.
Took it to my normal garage and they've put a new alternator on. Now getting a healty 14Volts across the battery.
I agree with the comment about it's exposed position, I hope thats a lesson thats been learned on the newer models.
Thanks for the advice
I was out today getting some fresh sea air and it was fresh too. However the small seaside town was busy due to the Christmas Fair and entertainment, fireworks at seven and tuning on the christmas decorations. However I was just there for a strole. Whilst ambling along there were two Police officers stroling in the same direction as I was heading back to my car, they took a great deal of interest in a Volvo S40 and the the Lassie proceeded to write a ticket. I stopped to chat to her colleque only to discover the cars road tax ran out in March 07 so not just a little out of date. So a £60 find was stuch ti the windscreen That will spoil the owners day, mind you he has had 8 months without paying any road tax and apparently unless the officer contacts the driver/RK and gives them the appropriate form then they do not get charged the back Tax. Mind you they may pick up a SORN fine as well. Regards Peter Read more
What I can't understand is, how come all these garages who park their cars on the highway get away with not displaying Road Tax discs? (And I know for a fact that they surrender the old discs to rake in their weekend beer money).
Do garages have special privileges about leaving cars on the road untaxed? Or do they just assume that, since they've not bothered to return the V5, the previous owner will get hit by DVLA?
topic,
`Best car related one liner, trade to customer, customer to trade`
( what have you heard over the decades)
Theme,
Easy going, ;)
Me? looking in on a used car lot 10yrs or so ago.
"Can I see under the bonnet" (bonnet is opened) I lean forward peering at the coolant tank which is empty of fluid, but tide marked with an oily scum.
Bomb site owner, (also staring at the header tank)
" What can`t spee-ack can`t tell no lies" ( Broad Yorkshire accent)
and I`m invited to take the car out for a test drive.
Decline gracefully, but there are others peering around and the bonnet is swiftly closed.
Regards
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Service Desk on me asking whether my wife's car was ready - "Just check for you now sir" ----- 3 minutes later-----"It's having it software updated the computer's backing data up as we spek"
Me - "So is a Bluetooth set up you've got then ?" pointing at the forecourt where her car was parked.
Can anyone help with the likely outcome of the scenario below.
My son's mate is 22 years old. He has his own car which is insured fully comp. He was at a 'do' with his parents last week and agreed, once there, to drive his dad's car home so his dad could have a drink. Although son is not named on Dad's insurance, they both (son and his dad) thought that he would be covered third party by son's insurance.
However, it appears that this is not the case, as regulations regarding cover to drive other cars was apparently recently updated, and you now have to be 25 before this benefit can apply. (No - I didn't know this either)
Anyway, they got pulled over on a routine check, the insurance issue arose, and now he has a 6 point fixed penalty notice. However, to make things worse, the day of his indiscretion was the exact 2 year anniversary of his pass date, and of course, 6 points in the first 2 years incurs a ban.
Therefore, on the basis that it was a genuine error, he is wanting to contest the penalty ticket to see if he can get an understanding magistrate, and a lesser sentence.
What are his chances?
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magistrates have the discretion to do what they want, having been in a similer situation albeit for different reasons (paid for policy insurers didn't start it at correct time, stopped 2 hours later no insurance) i was given a £80 fine and no points, the fine was as a result of it being an absolute offence and the magistrates had to pass a punishment as despite it not being my fault absolute offence means i was guilty anyway, and as such i had pleaded that way. so he may well find if he can present himself as a decent individual he may end up being able to keep his license.
as for insurance conviction it cost me an extra £80 at 21 on a 1.6 205gti.
and with regards to passing his test, surely he did it during the day time so therefore in the evening of the anniversary he passed the timeframe for the 6points rule, this has to stand up as his defence because otherwise, you wouldn't be able to drive back from the test centre as you wouldn't have a valid licence?
chris
I remember returning to Wales one wet and very, very windy Sunday night in the early 1970s not very long after the bridge was completed. It was nose-to-tail with frequent stops. At one point we were stopped in the lee (?) of the piers where it was relatively calm. The tiny mini van in front, and in the full force of the wind, was rocking about so much I seriously thought it was going to go over the edge, across those feeble wires and take a dip in the Severn. Anything much taller would have been a gonner. Was I pleased to get to the end of it that night!
I suppose elf and safety have tightened things up a bit since then.
PS If they can't stop the corrosion of the cables soon then the entire bridge will be gone in a few years.
Hello, I've got 1998(S) Fiesta Courier with an 1800(?) Endura normally aspirated unit in it. It being an excellent starter, it failed to do so this morning. After investigation I discovered that nothing is coming out of the injection pump. I suspect the fuel cut-off solenoid is at fault, but there are three electrical devices on this pump - one on top, one (almost impossible to get at) at the back, and one which clicks when ignition is energised, on the side of the pump, i.e. towards front of vehicle. Which one is the cut-off solenoid?
Secondly, worst case scenario here, I am told that the pump has a separate drive belt. Has this snapped? Is there any way to check this? As the lift pump is incorporated in the injection unit I thought of removing the fuel inlet pipe at filter outlet, putting it into a bottle of diesel and cranking it to see if it will draw it up, but if the solenoid IS at fault, would this prevent the lift pump from operating, thus getting me no further forward?
Any help or ideas would be very welcome.
ian.h
PS. Great website you've got here
slt
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I'm thinking that you've got a leak in the fuel system somewhere, and when the car's left for a while the fuel drains back to the tank, then you come along to start the car and all that's going through the pump is air. If you take the fuel pipe off of the injector pump and pump the hand primer, fuel should come out straight away. If it doesn't then that's your problem. Have you changed the fuel filter lately? I would do this if you haven't, and when you do make sure you replace the top and bottom seal, most people just change the bottom one as the top one's harder to replace, the rubber goes strange and let's air in.
Is it worth all the hassle of buying at auction v. going to Car Giant? I have bought two cars previously at auction and wasn't that impressed with the prices.
My inclination is now to go to Car Giant unless I am guaranteed to save at least £1500. At £2-£2.5k saving, I would say it is worth the hassle.
Any views?
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i bought a c5 diesel estate a few months ago from car giant. i liked the experience.
i got the keys to as many cars as i wanted to look at. when i settled on the c5 i spent more time crawling all over it looking for problems. i was given a print out of v5 and mot.
i asked for a test drive on a busy Sunday and only had to wait 5 mins. test drive was fairly short but did throw up a few problems like window switch not working. paid 250 deposit and went back next weekend and all work was done and it drives very well.
Hi, I have noticed brown sludge in the filler cap of my 2003 Astra 1.6 8v petrol. There is no sign of extra coolant usage, infact I've never had to top up the coolant and the dipstick shows only normal condition of the oil. I have not noticed any decline in performance and I use 10w50 10w/40 oil ## of a good quality. The engine has covered 43000 miles. My question is, can there be any other reason for this brown sludge other than Head Gasket? Any ideas or advice gratefully recieved. Thanks.
## {typo amended - see futher down-DD} Read more
That's the one.
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you should only crank a modern car for a max of 10 seconds
otherwise you will stuff the battery plates and the starter motor could catch fire
:-)