March 2008
I need to remove the exhaust heat shield which is held in place by "special nuts or... bolts" according to the Haynes manual I have.
How do I undo these special nuts/bolts? They look like rivets to me.
Also
I recently took my Focus for its M.O.T here in the UK. It failed on one of the checks only:
When the handbrake is applied, it applies only 11% percent pull on the rear right hand wheel. 11% is below the legal minimum requirement.
In other words the parking brake for the right handside rear wheel has a "low effort".
The parking brake effort for the rear left hand wheel is fine.
THANKS
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
How about adding the year/engine info,
Like we have asked you to do! PU
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Just in the process of purchasing an August 2004 reg 1.2 Litre (second hand) Fiat Panda Exclusive.
Unfortunately it only has 1 key and , as the car is to be driven by both my wife and my daughter, we're going to need a 2nd key.
Not wanting to pay outrageous Fiat dealer prices, does anyone know how I can get a spare without paying through the nose - and preferably without having to lose the existing key for more than a few hours ?
We also need an owners handbook and wonder if there's a better or cheaper source than purchasing one from a Fiat dealer.
In case it helps, we're in the South Manchester area.
Chris Muriel, Manchester Read more
get the seller to reduce the selling price to allow for the key and book cost.
FIAT will do replacement books, for a price, but the book giving the servicing schedule will say "duplicate" or similar words that I can't remember at the moment.
It's possible that the transponder from the key is loose in the footwell (!).
Unless it's an exceptional deal I'd walk - there are plenty out there without "issues".
Hi we have a 99 passat 1.8 20v that has an abs brake warning light a brake warning light like the fluid level is low and also a beeping sound.Have carried out a plug in and no codes showing up,has anyone come across this problem?
{year & engine details added to subject line, as per the 3 separate ignored requests} Read more
I'm looking forward to the continuation of this thread - I think we may have the same problem on a 2000 1.8T. I'm only an amateur (and the professionals have come up with nothing yet) but my suspicions as to its origins lie in an electronics problem with the ignition. Firstly the radio went dead & didn't respond to any laptop checks. Fortunately the ignition problem was discovered before the new radio was delivered & the radio came back to life - but then the abs problem. Firstly quite intermittent & random (eg i could do 100 miles with no problem, then it'd be on for 200 miles etc) but recently I haven't gone more than a few yards before the beeping starts.
Hi
I am looking at this on monday anyone own one good / bad it has had one owner and 40,000 miles, 1.8 petrol, what is a guide price do you think
{tweak to subject line to include car using drop down menus, and nature of question being asked - DD} Read more
Hi
Well the car had not been to well looked after by the 3 other owners so came away , so will keep looking around , I also fancy the Honda Jazz but notice they hold there price but a great little car and with the back seats folding up could come in very handy .
Is anyone else enjoying the current re-runs of the Professionals on ITV. A feast of MKll Granadas, Capris & SD1's etc for the car voyeur. Much better than Life on Mars.
www.personal.u-net.com/~carnfort/Professionals/pro...m Read more
De Tomaso Pantera in the Cuckoo Waltz
What fuel consumption efforts and mistakes, including purchase, have you made over the years?.
1) 1967 Mini van, fuel consumption (best) 38mpg on east coast run. Fitted a Mangoletsi ? Manifold modifier, which basically just seemed to do nothing except cut performance as it reduced inlet manifold diameter. Had every fuel and oil additive going but no gain, wasted money.
2) 1979 Yamaha SR 500, fitted Dunstall megaphone and promptly lost around 15MPG. by having to re jet ect, to avoid a massive flat spot. came to the conclusion that the original exhaust was `tuned` to the engine, but didn`t put it back ;)
3) That `really economical`, much loved 2CV that actually could be forced down to 30MPG on maintained full throttle on the M1. (sold after 87,000 miles after losing me a fortune in mileage claims)
4) Its replacement, the 1.6 petrol auto Maestro that eventually got down to 23mpg on long runs as its main jet wore due to the rubbing needle. Sold in desperation as it needed leaded petrol too.
5) The saviour of my finances, in the early 90`s recession, the new Maestro Clubman D, that could get 60MPG, drew max car allowance and ran for 130,000 miles.
Boring after that as i had learnt a lesson, but for some reason as the years went on and fuel consumption became less of an issue for the pocket, it became an issue for the mind....
I think its just me really, can`t blame Yorkshire for that ;)
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1965 Ford Zodiac Mk3 auto - fuel bills for month were around £16 (I used to keep a log) good old days at 19mpg scrapped it for 2CV in fuel crisis of 70's-- after numerous small cars back to Japanese barges - 207bhp at 22mpg but Oh the luxury - 24 if I drive real smooth.
my focus 1.6 estate speedo dropping each morning for 15 minutes up down etc then seems to right itself help please 02 reg
Moved over from Discussion and the subject line re-written to include year and engine as well as a suggestion as to what the fault could be ! Read more
I would have thought it should be covered under the warranty - it's certainly the first thing to try !
Search this forum for 'vss' (posts > and < 1 year) and you'll find plenty of posts from me and others about this issue.
Anyone planning an escape from the road tax injustice on 2+ litre petrol cars?
A couple of my friends are, but more out of "feeling robbed" or rather, denying the money to the government, rather than the actual cost.
We were discussing it last night and the view was to get out before there`s more general awareness hitting residuals.
Any thoughts?
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DP - does this take account of the fact that your 11% employees NI threshold
will rise from the 2007/8 level at £34 840 pa to the 2008/9 level at
£40 040; an increase of 11% on £5 200 = £572 a year extra ?
www.bytestart.co.uk/content/taxlegal/9_15/national...l
Sorry, I made a typo. It's £10, not £50. Yes, it does take into account the new NI arrangements. Anyway, it more than offsets the extra road tax.
Excluding inflation of course....
Cheers
DP
I used to have a Rover P6 V8 which has now found its way into the hands of a professional panel beater and restorer. He's made it look so great and it apparently still runs so well at 33 years old I was thinking of buying it back off him and importing it to the USA.
The breadth and depth of knowledge in the backroom never ceases to amaze me... so I'll give it a shot.... does anybody here know about the legalities of this?
As an aside, I met a guy who was over here working on secondment. He actually imported his British car and drove it around with no problem on UK license plates for the six months he was here, and then shipped it back. He said it was cheaper and easier than renting a car for six months or having to buy and sell a car here. So it must be possible...
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>Illinois
Even worse. Emissions regs not only vary county by county but also believe it or
not by ZIP code.
I know that much, where I used to live (10 miles away) I had to have an emissions test, but in my new place I don't.
hi
hope someone can help.last week i cleaned the engine bay with a power washer,next morning started car as usual,started up for a minute but did not sound good..then cut out,tried again no luck,thought i could smell something burning so disconected battery,no fuses blown but under fuse box there was a few wires making contact with each other,seperated these and taped them up correctly. however i am not getting power to the glow plugs,and the strange thing is the glow plug light on the dash is staying on permentlely but fuel light beside it is going out after a few seconds like the glow plug light should,anyone know where i should start looking for the problem?
can anyone tell me where the timer for the glow plug is? greatfull for any help.
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thanks....i will give that a try.
Browse
The heat shield on my 1999 1.8i is held on by these strange hexagonal grips/bolts. The bolts are not screwed on but pushed on and the inner surface grips onto the ribbed pin or screw that sticks out from the bodywork.
Despite the fact that they're not technically screwed on, I found that unscrewing them (either by hand or with a wrench) seemed to be the best way to loosen them. Wear thick gloves though, as the metalwork is pretty sharp in places !
My heat shield was coming away and rattling, so I removed the bolts, placed larger washers over the pins and pushed the bolts back on to hold everything in place.
Good luck getting the heat shield off without removing the exhaust - you're probably going to have to cut/destroy certain parts of it to get it off I would have thought and you'll struggle to replace certain parts too, unless you're able to at least lower the exhaust to make room.