August 2008
On M25 today on way to Ikea. Driving in middle lane from Brentwood to Lakeside. I was 3 cars behind blue van (Hiace type of van) All making reasonable progress at 60 or so. Suddenly, puff of black smoke and blue van veered into outside lane as overtaking car approached at speed. Van lurched wildly as driver tried to gain control. Overtaking car managed to brake well without drama, middle lane car nearest van also braked well as van veered back and across middle lane, inside lane and onto hard shoulder. Of course, it was a rear offside blowout, tyre shredded. The van diver did so well to keep it all under control. So did the other drivers. I cadenze braked to alert others coming up from the rear. It all turned out so well, when it could all have gone horribly pear shaped.
End result? Got my gnarfsnarlbikboxballutrog shelves. On way back, van man still on hard shoulder but with RAC van there. I gave a hoot and a wave and blessed him under my breath! Read more
Is there anyone out there with the knowledge and equipment to custom build a small radio for use in a car please?
Thank you.
made make/model non-specific unless you have an AC 1.6 de-luxe of course ! Read more
Tried a Google on that, four possibilities, four emails sent, one response, three weeks on, no further forward.
Back to the original post please -------- Anyone?
Thank you.
Hi All,
My 1st post, if this is in wrong category can admins please move?.
I hope someone can help....as subject suggests I have a 2001 2.0 DTi estate that does not seem to be a happy bunny when warm. When cold the car will start and idle perfectly with no EML showing, the car will also drive OK altho does feel as tho its in safetly boost until warm, once warm though the EML will flash for a second, revs will drop to 3K.. and eventually engine cuts out.
From cutting out it did initially take several turns for it to start again, however, after replacing crank sensor it seems to start a little easier. If car is then parked and left for a few moments, it will fire up first turn of the key again.
I have checked all vac hoses, I have even replaced the vac motors with ones I know are working, replaced crank sensor, checked all other wiring and all seems ok.
Apart from the diesel pump which i doubt(Hopefully!) is the issue, does anyone else have any ideas?
thanks in advance.
-Mork Read more
Fuel pump ECU failure is very common on these, especially it would seem at the 110,000-120,000 miles point. It might be worth a trip to a diesel fuel injection specialist......
I wonder what affect, if any, the Chancellor's comments in the Guardian today about how dire the economy is, and there is worse to come, will have on car sales and car prices in the coming weeks and months?
Surely, people will be very worried about such comments - I don't recall any major politician uttering such dire warnings in the past let alone a Chancellor - when he says this is the worst state the UK economy has been in for 60 years? Can it be worse than the 80s? The 70s?
What does he know that we don't?
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> 3.7 auto jeep cherokee,
That's downsizing?
I doff my hat to you MB -- that's impressive.
Good luck with the Jeep.
I've just bought this car from auction it has no service book and no MOT (a gamble I know but I got it cheap) how do I do about finding out its service history, and how do I get a new service book which I can get stamped?
The reason I sound so thick is because I have been driving company cars for the last 15 years and have got out of touch with the aggro of private ownership! Read more
Its now insured I know it has a current MOT (Iv ordered a duplicate for £10) but I havnt got a tax disc
Its all coming together!!!
The changeover period from one owner to another is a grey area, I know they used to give you a week opr so to get it sorted, but I suppose there are so many uninsured un taxed cars on the roads nowadays that us 'law abiding' types will have to suffer the consequences
new to us rover 200 , 1100 engine
seems to have a misfire only when warm at low revs around the 2-3k range more so under some load
plugs and dist cap look decent
is there any common faults with these that i should look at ? if not would you agree plugs , leads and dizzy cap would be the next thing to replace ? Read more
right update time
bought the parts from unipart , £65 trade (over 100rrp) for plugs , leads , cap/arm and an airfilter...bit steep i thought
the parts guy said these engines are spec'd to have platinum(or some other fancy metal ) plugs , so i bought em and swapped it all over , the car didnt have these special plugs before so im hoping that may have been the problem?
went for a quick spin and its okay for now ...lets see
by the way...not one answer on the rover forum lol
FYI, was chatting with a friend last night who works at a Citroen dealership and got talking about the car market. He said they were doing pretty good as people were buying the small Citroens.
He then surprised me by saying that a VW dealership in South Wales had let 100 of its staff go in recent months. I assume it must have been in dribs and drabs.
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The Ford dealer I take the Focus to is good at adding work.
It's got to the point where I listen out for the mobile from about mid-morning...
"Hello, BlogsFord here, it needs this, that and t'other so that £190 fixed price service will now be £400+."
At least I've not had to go back between services - about 13k miles a year with only one visit to the garage isn't too bad.
Hi everybody
My friend is having some problems with the driveshafts on his 218. The inner gaiters are both split, and the outer joint on the left side is knocking badly. Does anyone know where to get spare parts? And how hard/easy would they be to fit without going to a garage?
Thanks Read more
I'm looking at family size diesels for my son. He fancies a SAAB 9-3 (post 03 booted model.) I've suggested he looks at VW Bora, SEAT Toledo, Honda Civic. Want to avaoid paying extra for badges but I think I'd struggle to get him to look at a SKODA Octavia.
Any observations/advice welcome. Read more
The B5.5 Passats (up to 05 / 55 plate, the model before the current one) are getting cheaper now and IMHO you'd be hard pushed to find a better family barge. An early one will slip into this price bracket.
Look for full VW service history (i.e. a good chance the correct oil has been used in the engine and the cambelt has been done at 60K / 4 years). I'd suggest looking for a Sport spec model (6-speed manual, hi-torque engine and lowered suspension, this doesn't affect ride unduly and improves handling).
Also the mk3 Mondeos are a cracking buy and a better driver's car than the Passat.
My alarm seems to be going off for no particular reason at the most anti-social times of the day and night i think the nabours now hate me,is there any way of turning the darn thing OFF if there is could someone PLEASE tell me how,i and my nabours would be eternally gratfull
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thanks for your reply i will try as you suggested and let you know.
snipquote - obviously you didn't see the pop up box, or maybe thought you were exempt from snipping/summarizing?
Browse
On the M42 N/B near Solihull this afternoon there was a broken-down Mazda Bongo on the hard shoulder, bonnet up and driver standing behind the Armco 20 feet away from the car.
The hard shoulder was still in use as a running lane with "50" signs showing above it and all three other lanes. I was in (the conventional) lane 2, just about to draw alongside an artic in lane 1, the cars running on the hard shoulder all braked and swerved out behind the artic very sharply.
I thought the whole of the hard shoulder running stretch was under constant scrutiny by trained CCTV operators with the power to change the overhead signs as soon as they spotted a potential problem? They must have taken their eyes off the ball if Bongo man had managed to stop, get out, open bonnet, decide against any repair work, and climb over the barrier all unnoticed...
I stopped at the next-but-one refuge (it took me that long to move over to the left through the heavy traffic) and called the HA using the emergency phone, upon answering they asked me to have a look at the outside of the phone and tell them what serial number was written on it!!! I thought that information came up on the operator's screen, but then again so should the breakdown.
Maybe they were all outside having a fag break?
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