April 2008
Unlawfully killed as a result of drunk driver Henri Paul.
Who would have thought that someone caning it through the city streets late at night with a few drinks inside him and passengers without seat-belts on might have been to blame for their deaths.....
Anyone care to guess how long before you know who starts an appeal? Read more
My Focus has done 70k miles and its got a real strange problem that I'm going to try my best to describe...
3 months ago I got a strange rattling noise that only occured when the vehicle was moving forwards/backwards in gear (it stopped when the clutch was applied). At first I thought it was a heat shield lose or exhaust problem so booked it into KwikFit and on the way down to Kwik Fit the noise stopped. They looked at it anyway and fixed a loose heatshield in case it was that but otherwise couldn't see anything wrong with it.
2 weeks ago I was driving along the motorway and it started again. I took it down to Kwik Fit (was actually already going in for two new tyres anyway) and got them to look at it and they couldn't see anything obvious but said it sounded like it was coming from the gearbox. We booked it into my local garage and on the day I took it down it stopped happening... subsequently they couldn't find anything wrong.
Driving it this weekend the noise started again only this time even louder and more of a whirring/scrapping sound then the rattle previously heard (like a metal rubbing on metal noise), and again just as I was about to take it down to the garage its stopped again.
The noise is really loud (audiable in all gears except 5th) when it happens and is constant through all gears when in gear although this weekend it also happened when freewheeling with the clutch applied. The car drives perfectly ok and changes gear smoothly without issue. There appears to be no effect on performance when its happening, but it sounds fairly terminal (loud enough for pedestrians to look at your car as if its about to grind to a halt).
My problem is the mechanics are having to guess what the problem is as every time I've taken it to them the noise isn't happening. They say there is no play in any of the bearings and are baffled as to what it could be. I don't want them to start stripping the gearbox down at great expense in case its not that. Oil levels are all ok and there's no signs of any leaks anywhere!
Any suggestions anyone? Anyone experienced anything like it before?
Cheers
Ando Read more
Hi,
Am I doing something wrong or am I correct in saying that the cruise control on a the later Vauxhall's won't accelerate unaided?
So if I'm cruising on a motorway and something happens that causes me to have to cancel the CC, I can't just tap a button to resume the same speed again? I have to go through manually setting up the CC eachtime? Read more
The Volvo's "resume" button is marked with a little circular arrow
As is Vauxhall.
img179.imageshack.us/img179/1674/cruiseli1.jpg
I can't claim any records in this respect but a neighbour of mine has had her little old Ford in almost daily local use since 1983 ('A' prefix).
Who, out there, can beat this? Read more
Crikey that's an average of over 60 000 miles per year for 40 years!
Yes, it's amazing what people will believe, isn't it.
I've had a TR7 since 1981......which I guess some people will also find difficult to believe!
What's the best deal buying, selling or p/ex people think they've done? Often I've found that when I buy it appears to be a seller's market and when I sell it appears to be a buyer's market. What do other people think?
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Whenever I buy/sell, the salesperson tells me it's a bad time for buying or selling at the moment, but next month will be even worse!
I was just browsing the MS Virtual Earth blog to catch up on the latest news about the development of maps.live.com when I came across this interesting piece entitled "Texas Shredder meets the Mazdas of the Cougar Ace"
tinyurl.com/65uyk2 (virtualearth.spaces.live.com/blog/)
Which led me to a Wired article about a ship which suffered a little pumping mishap en route carrying around 5000 new Mazdas from Japan to USA.
tinyurl.com/2xnrlu (www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/)
Now, the Wired piece reads like Clive Cussler, describes a fatal accident and contains some quotes which would not make it past the swear filter on here (not by a long chalk).
It also describes how over 4000 perfectly good, brand new cars that had simply spent 2 weeks at a 60 degree angle, never touching any water, were shredded.
What would you have done with them??? Read more
I can see that 4703 Mazdas might become that !
A mate is going self-employed, and most of his work will be for his old bosses who are in the US. He'll use the car for Dad's taxi runs, viewing the relatives, trips to airports and offices around the S of England etc. No regular commuting.
He reckons he'll clock up 12k a year, he thinks he's best off with a petrol estate, and he really only wants Ford. Question is whether it's a Focus or Mondeo. He's got the obligatory two kids plus medium sized dog.
So, BRers, which car/engine combo? Read more
There won?t be much in it purchase price wise. Probably depends on 2 things.
1. If your mate wants to save a few bob in running costs
2. If the focus is big enough ? how big are the kids and how often is he travelling fully loaded with them and the dog (and the wife?)
Because the focus is that bit smaller, it's just that little bit cheaper to run. Insurance is a group or 2 lower, it's bit less juicy, servicing it is a bit less, tyres and other consumables are a bit less.
But we are not talking big savings here to be honest, maybe £300-500 a year, I would guess on that mileage.
I have had both (Mondy was a hatchback though) and they are both very good.
Currently running a 1.6 petrol Focus Estate and it?s brilliant.
Might also come down to the amount of motorway work. Some find the focus a bit noisy for this, but point-to-point it?s more fun.
Hi I have a mondeo 2.0L tdci 2002. This may be a silly question, I need to put a new battery in it. Is it just a case of old 1 out and new one in.
{year/engine details added in - 2 sticky's and one other prompt missed} Read more
Hi, Thanks guys, It doesn't matter about radio code as I will be putting in a
kenwood KVT-627dvd
ABS model. Fitted new master cylinder (pattern), replaced fluid & bled all wheels, now after 20-30 pumps on the road all 4 corners seize. Undoing one bleed nipple releases them all. The pedal is very high so the ABS cuts in early. Any ideas other than faulty cylinder (it certainly looked & fitted the same as the old one)? Thanks in advance.
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Turns out there?s an adjuster on the rod that actuates the master cylinder, but you can?t see it unless someone pushes the brake pedal then it pokes out of the servo. So get them to do this, grip the outer locknut with mole grips and adjust with a socket. I had to also put thicker O ring to take master cylinder further back from servo.
Trouble is you don?t know how far to back things off until it?s all bolted up and road tested. By unclipping the air filter top & ducting & wiring it?s just possible to pull the master cylinder out far enough without draining it; be careful.
I think the pattern cylinder was to blame but it was £60 instead of Ford?s £172. Might be worth measuring against the old one before fitting and rejecting if not the same.
Anyone care to recommend where I can get the front wheels on SWMBO's Modus checked out?
Front passenger side is wearing badly (2nd tyre that's done this so defo something amis).
Prefer not to go to a place where I'm likely to get fleeced in to buying some new tyres etc when it's not necessary e.g. national chain type garages.
Anyone know of any independant garages which could do an hoest assessment?
I live in North Bristol but will be in Backwell (south of Bristol) all day tomorrow and Tuesday - will have time to get car looked at during the day. Backwell is near places like Nailsea and Clevedon or I could go back into Bristol.
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I may do - problem is I was hoping to just 'pop in' somewhere. With a dealer I would have to ring and make an appointment and as I work away from Bristol during the week it's not as easy as it sounds.
Also I fear that a dealer would also be looking to relieve me of ££££'s unecessarily.
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Ah well locked in the absence of any representations to the contrary.