July 2008
Hi all,
Can someone confirm what the speed limit is between Rodbaston Drive, through Gailey to Station Drive (Four Ashes) ? Am I right in thinking its 60 mph ?
Cheers
Rich Read more
If you go here
tinyurl.com/5kgam9
and scroll past over the long and very thorough discussion of oil, you will find an excellent summary of why under-used cars deteriorate. Search for "Garage Queens".
Then go back and check out one of the best analytical discussions of oil that I've seen.
[This belongs in Technical Matters, but I could not see how to post it without putting a make/model in the heading.] Read more
My Golf GTI mkII had a digital display that included an oil temp option - and the hand book warned aginst working the engine too hard before the oil reached operating temperature. I remember being surprised how much longer this it took to reach normal - the coolant gauge would have been on normal for 10-15 minutes (depending on the nature of the driving).
MPZ
Ok so having had an A6 1.9tdi previously which I loved, I decided to treat myself to a low mileage upgrade. It was pretty cheap, had massive service history and in retrospect far to many gadgets to go wrong.
My last Audi never had any major problems despite getting to 185,000 miles and this one only had 64,000 when I got it. All has gone well until just recently at 77,000 miles.
I was on the motorway and decided to overtake someone, a car was coming in the fast lane but I knew the amount of power I had available to overtake. I put my footdown which took the 5 speed auto which was in 4th down to 3rd, the revs increased as I went past it got close to 4000rpm so some way off the redline when I felt like I was going to go through the windscreen, the power failed massively, I pressed harder on the accelerator and the car slowed even more causing a problem as the car behind me saw no brake lights and had no idea of the deceleration. In the end I let go of the accelerator the car jumped up into 4th and away I went.
I tried this again the next day and noticed that when I get to 4000rpm there is a loss of power, if I keep my foot down on the accelerator the rpms drop and the car slows down by a good 20mph and black smoke comes from the back of the car until i let go when the gear goes back up and all is normal. I have found it does this 2nd and 3rd, but have yet to see it in 1st. Dont know if it woudl do it in 4th as I would be going to fast to legally test it.
So do I have a dreaded autobox failure? But why 4000rpm? and why black smoke out the back? Or is it a diesel pump failure or could it be something as simple as a coked turbo? but then the turbo sounds great when revving in idle.
Finally, I noticed about a month ago that the cars mpg has dropped. Once when accelerating up a hill it would go no lower than 12-13 but now it drops to 8mpg.
Any help much appreciated, but please let it be good news. I really cant fork out £1500 for a new autobox.
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Thanks for the response. I noticed today that when at the lights I pulled away quickly to get in front of someone.
The revs went all the way up to about 4000 and then just as I felt the engine start to lose power the gear changed into second. The car then continued to make a lot of noise like it was accelerating but out the back a lot of black smoke was appearing the car was barely accelerating at all and the rpms were struggling to.
Once again..., as you say Lud, but it will probably end in tears.
Like to think neither boring nor old applies, although the latter is a lot closer than ever it was.
Now, isn't it past your bedtime? :)
UK train fare is most expensive in Europe.
Going anywhere by National Express coach is more expensive than using my car.
Only mega bus offers some very low fares but cost of travelling to megabus terminal negates the savings!
Trains are almost luxury (they are always crowded around London in peak hours).
Comparatively, plane fares are often cheaper!
Most other countries in the world offer cheap public transport. Why UK is an exception?
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Every country I know of in Europe have discounted fares of one sort or another, the price of tickets seems to be nothing to do with it, they are simply there to encourage people to travel - I've been to the Czech Rep several times and their public transport fares are really low, yet even they have a discount scheme!
Problem we have is that we are struggling with capacity anyhow so encouraging more is not a good idea unless they are on the quiet trains!
Hello,
I have recently purchased a nearly new honda accord with only a few thousands miles on the clock. Having driven it a few miles, I have noticed that in slow moving traffic I find it hard to brake smoothly because of what feels like a fair amount of free play in the pedal before the brakes do anything. I can't tell if they're coming on slightly or not but the effect is that they feel a bit all or nothing. I have no problems when I want to brake more quickly or brake hard. The brakes seem strong (certainly better than my last car) just not easy to use. Will it be possible to adjust this sort of thing or am I stuck with this?
Thanks Read more
I wonder if this is a new problem with the Accords? My 05 model year Tourer has great brakes, but the Accord just got heavily marked down in the AutoExpress annual survey for poor brakes. I wonder what they've changed?
Accord came 12th BTW, the Octavia won again.
Hello this is my first post so please be kind.
Right then my car is a Fiesta Zetec 1998 1.25 16valve 3door P reg (petrol), and i had a little knock in it. It was done at 30mph and i was driving along and clipped the curb and the car jumped a bit only to hit a wall (front/left) which was just standing there. It was one of those places where this is no walkway for people and only cars for a short time.
Anyways I'm worried because although this happened a while ago i was getting round to fixing it and back up and running. Only problem is i worried it will cost to much and if it does I'm screwed and stuck in a rut!
I'm hoping to get help here to get a better idea and help solve this problem.
Ok here are the pictures i took; (hosted by imageshack)
img501.imageshack.us/img501/4171/020gz9.jpg
pic 1. slight dent in the middle, and closest to u at an increased angle
img367.imageshack.us/img367/8121/017rg7.jpg
pic 2. bird eye view on the right side
img388.imageshack.us/img388/3239/015ir4.jpg
pic 3. bumper unhooked due to wall impact
img386.imageshack.us/img386/5430/014ht1.jpg
pic 4. scuff from wall and dent (however i'm not worried about a new paint job)
img258.imageshack.us/img258/4320/018yi6.jpg
pic 5. wheel is now slightly pointing outwards more an before which is my biggest worry
although someone has looked underneath to see if anything damage because of this and they found nothing as in seems the wheel took most of impact. I'm wondering what else it could be tracking/ alignment maybe??
img529.imageshack.us/img529/8287/013qd1.jpg
pic 6. front left light, btw both lights still work fine just light fitting snapped
img392.imageshack.us/img392/2818/012pt6.jpg
pic 7. center dent which has affected the radiator alignment, however radiator is fine
finally img366.imageshack.us/img366/5697/019ce8.jpg
pic 8. just bird eye for front left light fitting
Well thats them all i hope that someone here with a little bit more experience can point me in the right direction and maybe then i can be hopeful i can get it back up and running.
Thanks
Kratos
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Hi doctorchris, to answer your question i have had a few operations on my arm and so i have not got round to sorting out the car problem. I took the photos soon as i could do at the time. Since that time the car has been stored away but i'm at the point now to weather i fix it or find it to be too much to fix.
Thanks for your thoughts so far
A smallish inside page item in today's Telegraph informs us that parking in London is the world's most expensive.
Please: tell us about it. And about the clacking robots, strangely bearing human identities, that pursue the enforcement of countless thousands of unjust parking fines, many based on nothing but a photograph of a number plate taken from a moving van, with a nerveless zeal worthy of their nearest moral equivalents: the pimps who used to run Soho clip joints. Read more
Just a wild stab in the dark Lud, and please forgive the implication if I am wrong. Have you had a ticket this week perchance ? You do seem rather "energised" by this !
;-)
?99 Mondeo 2.0 petrol estate.
Paid £1150 for it 3 years ago with 91k miles on it. Now showing 118k. Not a huge annual mileage I know, but during that period that?s just the same mileage I would have done had it been a brand new car.
Everything from 2 miles to the shops, to 1500 miles in a week on holiday. And it's been totally abused: Apart from one oil and filter change when I first got it, it's had ZERO servicing. Been washed 3 times. But it's never let me down or refused to start. One day it did begin underperforming - running on 3 cylinders, but still got us home fine. Needed a new coilpack and plugleads - diagnosed, supplied, and fitted the same day for £75 all-in after I dropped it at a local garage without prior appointment. Also had the power steering fluid cooler pipe replaced after it developed a pinhole leak. That was about £130 all-in. Probably wouldn't have bothered with that job except my driveway was getting a bit stained...
And that's it.
As for consumables, it's gradually had 4 new tyres as the originals wore out (£35 each), 2 sets of front pads and 1pair of discs. No exhaust sections. Never bothered changing the cambelt.
All I've done is drop it in for MOT each year. Had to have a brake pipe replaced one time, but that?s pretty-much a ?consumable? regards MOTs these days?
It accelerates embarrassingly briskly, has done 120mph when called upon, but if kept to no more than 80 will return 42 mpg on a run (no fluke - achieved repeatedly), which I reckon isn't bad at all considering what people get from non-VAG diesel vehicles of similar size.
It's reasonably refined and quiet, rides comfortably, handles well, accommodates spouse and 3 kids and plenty of luggage including a baby's accoutrements, and in its time it's also (internally) transported such things as a fridge-freezer, a bath, rolls of lino and carpet, and a (fully-built) wardrobe.
It?s pre-2001, so (currently) isn't about to see a doubling of the price of a tax disc!
It's hard to think of another vehicle which would have had this breadth of attributes but would have cost so little overall to run. And it's still going. To the extent that if the clutch goes, I'd have half a mind to spend the 500 quid to put a new one in.
From time to time I hanker after a mk2 Octavia or a 2001-on Mondeo. I can afford one, but especially when I read about the kind of problems encountered on the likes of even new examples of the just-superseded Laguna, I end up failing to find a convincing justification. At the moment, my shed is doing everything I need it to, and costing peanuts to do it.
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Number 8 - You want the latest technology and safety
Yes, I had that one in at no 5. When 5-year-old cars cost under £1,000 they're perfectly possibly the same model as the current one! So the only benefit is the smell. Mmmmmm
Yes you can be very unfirtunate with a new car but for pitys sake and
older comparable car will statistically be more unreliable as it ages.
The problem is, the statistical difference on a maintained car is small. The difference between the five-year-old and the new Mondeo is likely to be tiny. And you're not driving a statistical car; you are driving a real car. If it's a lemon and cost you £40k, you'll keep throwing money at it. If it cost you £1,000 you won't.
You can come up with as many reasons as you like, but they all come under reason 5 - you want one because you can afford it (or the bank will lend you money) and you like the status that comes with it.
hello----i have a 130 tdi Highline i am going to fit and new temperature coolant sensor (G62) ---could anybody tell me where is the sensor positioned on the engine
many thanks
rob Read more
rob
It's hidden down the extreme O/S back corner of the engine. Not at all nice to access
Browse
I believe it is NSL north of the A5 but being part single and part dual carriageway that would make it a mix of 60 and 70.
Pretty sure it is NSL south of the A5.