July 2008
Anyone going to this tonight in Harpenden? Is it any good? Read more
Hi folks,
Have pretty bad coolant leak. Haynes manual doesn't really cover or illustrate anything about these cooling system components. The leak is at the metal pipe (piping runs almost directly over the drivers side wishbone and then runs straight on to meet a rubber hose). Any idea how to repair that? Do I need to replace the pipe?
Thanks. Read more
Just looking for any current road issues for the second part of our journey down to the Gower on Sat. I'll be travelling Teeside - Derby on Fri which I do regularly but haven't driven down to Wales for years and wondered if there were any current road/traffic issues to avoid?
Planned route would be A38/M42/M5/M4 I think
BTW I'll be towing our 'van, so no suggestions for routes down narrow B-roads please! Read more
I'll be doing Leeds-Cardiff for the third time this year on Friday and it will be my usual route:
M1-A42-M42-M5-M50-A40-A449- M4 - both A roads are dual carriageway.
If the M1 is busy I sometimes use the A38 as it means leaving the M1 at junction 28 rather than at East Midlands and the A38 is usually quiet.
Before getting to the M42 using this route you use the A446 (single carriageway for about 5 miles) or hop on the M6 Toll for a few (expensive) miles.
Don't use the Severn bridge - you'll get caught in everyone going to Devon - it's also further and you will have to pay to cross!
The DoT is to authorise councils to penalise drivers who park more than 50cm or 19.7" from the kerb.
Councils will also be able to charge drivers who park by a dropped kerb. Read more
Having read the article in the Daily Bellylaugh it does say "...where there has been a complaint" !
Previously I've expressed disappointment in these e-pages about the fuel consumption of my 07/56 320d (ie without the latest fuel-saving tweaks): I'd never been able to crack 50 mpg on the computer. On Monday I hot-footed it to central Manchester - about 175 miles on the M40/M42/M6, then A556/M56 etc(I think). Anyway, I pressed on and seemed to be doing 80/85 when I could. The computer showed 52.3 mpg!
Took it a bit easier on the way back, and overall for the return trip got 50.4 - maybe truly around 48/49 mpg. So I take it the engine is loosening up after 19,000 miles, and of course currently economy is helped by the hot weather - quicker warm-up from cold. Does my reasoning make sense? Read more
If yours goes anything like mine, it should stay at its best for a long while yet.
Although the motor in mine got smoother and quieter after 30K miles, it was every bit as quick in-gear at 60K miles as it was at 1500 miles.
The auto box on my 1997 Audi S8 was repaired a year last Feb and after 25,000 miles went again. It was out of warranty but they said it should not have happpend so charged about a 1/3rd of the full cost to sort it out again. Its now showing signs of going again after a further10,000 miles. I dont really want to go back to them for a third time but I'm not sure who else to go to (they actully have a good reputation locally). I remember HJ recommending a place down south (Herts???) that was good, but cannot remember the name of it. Can anyone in the back room help?
Thanks
Bill
{typo in header corrected} Read more
If you are in London than try to email or give a call to Automaticgearboxrepair company, more details you can find at:
www.automaticgearboxrepair.co.uk
Hope this one help!
I've been toying with the idea of chopping in the Cooper S (05/05) for a new one. The local dealer offered me £2K under what the car is valued by Parker's and 'the other' price guide - and, incidentally, wouldn't budge.
How reliable are these price guides that Joe Public can buy? Read more
I really can't imagine one Porsche or Bentley owner (never mind "lots of") trading down to a MINI
Well, I too don't think a Bentley owner is trading down to a Mini, but I do know someone personally who traded down from Porsche Boxster to MX5 :)
From PistonHead forum, I came to know that last year this time around, there were waiting lists for buying Aston Martins. This time, Aston dealers are almost starved.
2004 / 54 SWB 1.9tdi 85ps VW T5 tranporter 79k miles good nick, FSH.
Value? Trade in and retail pls.
thanks
Read more
Entirely made up figure with no rational basis in fact for retail price: £6,795 + VAT
Price of closest match on the Trader (10k fewer miles) - £6,795 + VAT.
Make of that what you will.
Hi
I was on the motorway doing a steady 70mph and without warning the engine cut out. There was no sound or judda made when it happened. I popped it out of gear into netural and back into gear, brought the clutch up slowly and as you would expect it slowed the car down slowly.
When the RAC mechanic looked at it on the road side he checked the engine over and said there was nothing wrong with the engine, he then attempted to get it restarted. He got the engine to turn over and probably got it to hold about 600-1000 revs for about a minute whilst he had his foot on the accelerator then he turned it off. His diagonsis was an electrical fault. He said there might be something preventing the fuel getting to the engine.
It now will not start and its at the garage.
Has anyone experienced this or know what the problem might be?
Thanks
Seftonpark Read more
Thanks for that. Just had the garage call back, the cambelt has jumped about 5 teeth and has damaged 2 valves. He said that is how the RAC got it to turn over on the roadside, because it was only two valves. His estimate for repairing it is 500-600 quid.
Well, I picked up my new ( to me ) Vauxhall Signum 2.2 petrol Design at lunchtime today. It's a 53 plate with 34K on it and is absolutely immaculate. Silver with black half leather and with the rather odd "fridge" option.
It's been out to work already this afternoon / evening. I've already added a hundred miles to the odometer. It will be used to transport mainly just me and my work stuff for around 40k miles a year both in this country and abroad. I need the loadspace for all my kit and have been using a 51 plate / 02 Mondeo Ghia X Diesel estate. The Mondy has 150k on it and has been a gem of a car. No problems ever and has only had two lightbulbs in addition to normal servicing. I didn't trade it in because it is probably not worth much now and I may well just keep it as a "spare" as my wife also has a longish commute now, and neither of us can afford to be without transport if one of the cars is not available for some reason. Don't know, we'll see.
The Signum is my first petrol car for 12 years. ( If you don't count the Westfield which had to go when its lack of a third seat became an issue ) I have to say I have really enjoyed the feel of the petrol engine today while accepting that it will cost more to run. The trip computer is suggesting that it averaged 35mpg today but we shall see what the reality is when I calculate it accurately. Interestingly enough a fully comp inc. business policy on the Signum was almost exactly the same price as for the Mondeo.
On a practical note, the clever folding seats are a real benefit to me giving a van like loadspace. The travel fridge cum entertainment module cum fold down other thingies has already been consigned to a shelf in the garage and will probably not see the light of day until I come to sell the car. At which point I shall of course declare it as indispensible.
The general appearance of the car is not displeasing in an anonymous sort of way and the interior is quite modern by comparison to the Ford. The standard privacy glass at the back is handy given that I usually have a load on view.
Seats are comfy. Sort of buckety things with plenty of adjustment. Handling seems quite tidy too but that may be enhanced by the sportier set up to the suspension on this model.
Kind of weird twin exhausts look fearsome but meekly feed back into the one normal pipe. I'm sure they are nothing other than cosmetic but the car goes well enough with a suitably fruity exhaust note. Actually overtook something on an A road on the way home. Not done that for a while.
So, first impressions are that for a mildly tarted up Vectra, it's really quite good. Not that I have anything against Vectras you understand. I think I'm going to like it. More to follow in due course. Read more
Insightful analogy C ! Maybe I'll just keep it as a mistress, it hanging on hoping that I'll get that divorce eventually !
;-)
Browse
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I defy anyone other than a tree hugger to do Classics on the Common and not enjoy it. There's no counting of rivets or boring competitive rivalry, and ordinary folks & kids far outnumber the petrolheads. It is packed with nostalgia and infinite variety -- grandpa's car, dad's car, those cars I drooled over as a teenager, etc. There are plenty of SWMBOs there like the woman of mature years who swooned over my 1984 Capri at a filling station once, because it brought back all those back-seat memories.
I gather from a friend who exhibited his 1944 Jeep that there was a bumper crop of exhibits yesterday and the visitors were overflowing the exhibit area. A great event on a balmy summer's evening, and all those pubs and restaurants too. The founder and organizer, Peter Madden, has now retired, and we only hope that his successors will enable the event to go from strength to strength.