August 2008
Hi, occasionally the revs will drop and the engine dies. This usually happens on slowing down for a roundabout/junction or low speed manouvering.Idle is 600/700 revs most of the time but sometimes hunts between 400 - 1500. I have had the throttle body cleaned and new plugs and plug leads fitted. Any pointers would be apprecated.
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Hi,
Just bought this for my g'friend. only 58k on the clock and is S reg. Everything seemed to be in good condition. However, 2nd gear is really hard to get sometimes and as she has only passed her test v recently, she is finding it a bit of a pain. Any ideas what it could be? All other gears are fine.
thanks
Mark Read more
Cheers for the reply John!
The bite point is quite high (as in you need to bring the pedal up away from the floor)
The missus is beginning to moan about it now too.. so any help would be appreciated!
Hi,
I hope someone really can help me with this.
I am hiring a beautiful 1960's VW Camper van to go over the Isle of Wight in. Only thing is the excess on the van is high and I want to take out Excess insurance (to cover the excess)......... only one problem though, it seems all the companies out there will not cover a vehicle of this age? I'm not sure why?
Anyway, does anyone please know where I can get this cover for this type of age vehicle...... please!!!!!!!!!
Many thanks,
--
Phil Read more
Try insurance4carhire.com - they will give you a daily rate or an annual one - £49 for Europe for a year. Also I have used Peart brokers in Kendal who are classic car insurance specialists.
A friend and myself have often considered going 50/50 and buying a convertible...It would be my daily driver (I only drive 5k miles pa according to my last MOT certificate) and a fun weekend car for her...she drives 40k + pa in her company Passat TDi. Given all the recent talk about falling car values, should we look to buy now or wait until the depths of winter? We shall initially look to buy privately, unless a garage can offer us a deal we can't refuse a couple of days before the end of the month....private sales displayed on Autotrader seem to be valued 20% above Glasses part/ex values on the Vauxhall website.
Her last convertible was a Spitfire (I also had one of these in BRG, plus an Alfasud with opening floor rather than roof, and more recently in '97 an Elise during my first MLC). The only alternative to an MX5 would be an S2000, but the MX5 wins on points (just).
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I started looking for an MG TF 160 last March and bought in October. I was specifically looking for a certain year and spec so kept my eye on the prices and nothing really altered throughout the summer and into autumn. Granted last year was a washout and not really convertable weather, but this year seems no different.
The MX5, like the TF, is likely to have varying specs, models etc and you will want the right one. As there are not 1000s sold every month it will probably take time to get what your looking for so it will probably be winter before you buy anyway :-)
I test drove the MX5, Z3, MR2 and Alfa GTV spider as good measure when I was looking for the TF and would say that the MX5 and TF are proper old school roadsters - I liked the others but they didnt have the right feel. I went for the TF due to mid-engined, rear wheel drive layout and the fact that you can get a 160bhp car that will do 0-60 in less than 7 seconds for the 9K I paid for my 3 year old one. I am pleased I did now as there will be no body part probs now they are being made once again!
The MX5 is a good car though and is in some respects the car the MGF should have been from the beginning - obviously with a bit less interior character!
The saga of the dates on my insurance certificate has reached stalemate and at my age I haven't got the energy to fight a matter of principle anymore as no harm has been done - or has it?
Summary: On 27th of the preceding month I renewed my car insurance by phone and paid by credit card in good time for a 1st of month renewal date. I failed to notice the non-appearance of the insurance certificate in the post until 13th of the month when I phoned to chase it up. Insurers advised that they had sent it to me in good time but it must have got lost in the post, but nevertheless they would send me a duplicate one at no extra charge.
The so called duplicate certificate arrived on 14th stating that my cover was starting from 13th and not 1st. Showing therefore, in spite of my paying, no cover for 12 days. No amount of me going up the chain of responsibility will get them to give me a certificate dated from 1st. They are happy to send me a confirmatory letter which might (or might not) have been adequate had I needed to produce evidence of cover, but they just will not backdate a "duplicate" certificate to the 1st.
In this case I haven't knowingly been disadvantaged so will leave it there.
Can they do this? Read more
>service not provided
The only service not provided is an ins cert. Not insurance.
Exactly. An insurance certificate is simply a statement issued by the insurance company confirming that insurance is in place for the specified period. Of course they can issue another one - I've had one once in exactyly these circumstances when the original was lost in the post. They simply print off another. It's got nothing to do with backdating. If insurance is in force for a given period they are obliged to supply you with evidence in the specified format (ie a certificate) to that effect.
Likewise I remember once when the first certificate contained an error - it said TPO when it was supposed to be fully comprehensive. They just sent another corrected certificate - obviously for the whole period because that is what I had paid for.
My sister's TDCi Focus has started to show the glow plug warning light on the dashboard. Usually occurs when the engine is "labouring", but not neccesarily always.
It is intermittent and doesn't appear to affect the drive in any way. She has had the glow plugs changed, with no change.
Any ideas? Is there any commonly known problem that she needs to know about (or worry about?!)
Thanks in advance.
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It wasn't the glow-plugs; [what garage did that!] it's an fault-code warning. Get the codes
read.
Yes, get your money back from whoever did that and get a Ford dealer to read the fault codes, should be half an hour labour.
I have a 2001 astra automatic 1.6 and its got the fly by wire throttle so I bought the cruise control stalk which fitted very easy but the lead coming from the stalk I cant find anywhere to plug it in???? I removed the instrument display looking behing it and cannot find any lead which would plug to it. I had most of the dash apart but no lead. Please have you any suggestions???
many thanks David
{moved to a stand alone post, as the post it was originally tagged onto was the Astra-H} Read more
How about the one I made yesterday?
{which is now merged with yesterday's question}
What is the law relating to stopping (engine running) a car on a one track public road to open and shut a farmers gate that crosses the public road?
We had a handbrake failure on a car that was stationary, engine running, in neutral (automatic car), hand brake fully applied on a hill, while the driver shut the gate behind him. The car rolled back as the driver finished shutting the gate and caused a lot of damage. Do we have a case is this particular situation?
Many thanks. Read more
Yes, a case against who??
Also under the Construction and Use Regulations is the requirement to keep the braking system in efficient and working order. That includes the handbrake.
It applies to a person who 'Uses', 'Causes' or 'Permits' a vehicle to be used on a road.
I don't know if I'm reading this right but the OP sounds like an aggrieved employer.
You will be pleased to know that not only the employee but also the employer commits the offence of 'Using' providing the employee was using the vehicle in connection with the business of the company. It is an 'Absolute Offence'.
Hi all
A collegue told me today about her other halfs car that has a very nice set of alloys
the last few weeks there have been a spate of attempted and succesfull alloy wheel thefts in the area
However
This car is kept in a residental street, and it turned out a month proir to the above that 1 or 2 wheel nuts where missing of the one wheel, now as they where placed on properly by my collegues other half (also my mate) its apperent that someone attempted to remove them and must have been disturbed for whatever reason
It was only the other day when my collegues dad was admiring them he noticed that one wheel had missing nuts when questioned about this my friend was adamant that they where on properly and of course went to inspect and they where missing.
I know they you should check your wheels on a reguler basis, but it wasnt that noticble they where gone only on a close examination but what really upsets me is that some narrowmined people dont relise of the dangers just leaving one or two nuts in a wheel can cause, although i dont condone it but taking the whole wheel would not cause a death, to a inncocent party.
(Sorry to Rant) Read more
I know I've said it before, and it will be of no consolation to you for me to say it again, but it's a sign of the times. Things haven't always been like this, and eventually morality will improve. Morality goes up and down in cycles, but unfortunately the cycle time is very long and I don't expect a significant improvement in my lifetime. What's needed is a policy of zero tolerance so that people know where the line is between right and wrong in all matters. Unfortunately at the moment that state of affairs doesn't exist. And, equally unfortunately, if we did have a policy of zero tolerance there would be lots of complaints. At the moment there are regular complaints on this forum that, for example, being given a parking ticket for just exceeding the time limits is unjustified. It is justified ~ there's a line between right and wrong and exceeding a parking time limit is wrong and should be punished accordingly.
However, I'm convinced that the time will come when petty crimes/offences/misdemeanors (or whatever you want to call them) which are now seen as being acceptable by a lot of people will cease and all levels of crime will fall and your wheels will once more be safe ~ just as they were when I first learned to drive.
I Drove SWMBO's Leon yesterday and experienced a noticable hesitancy during a constant throttle position, more noticable in the lower gears.
As I drove along it alternated between feeling like it was being held back and then picking back up to what it should feel like at a constant throttle i.e smooth.
The car has a full SEAT service history, has covered just over 30,000 miles and was serviced 600 miles ago.
It still accelerates as it should, just this strange hesitancy on a constant throttle.
Anybody got any ideas on what it might be? Read more
"Serviced 600 miles ago" - this is probably significant.
I would also agree with Screwloose's theory that air may be getting into the fuel system. If the "service" included fuel filter replacement, as it should, I wonder if they replaced the 2 'O' rings on the plastic Tee on the fuel filter? I wonder also if they got them in the right order. They are coloured blue and black to distinguish them - but they are very nearly the same size.
Any shortcomings here would cause the symptoms you describe. If you are tempted to have a look yourself, bear in mind the Tee piece is fragile. Don't disconnect the hoses attached to it - it's not necessary. Best of luck - an honest answer from the dealer would be interesting...
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>>He recommends increasing idle revs by 50 - 100 as next move.
That is the symptoms being disguised rather than the fault being cleared. Bad move IMO.
Is the KE jetronic ECU receiving electrical power?
Is the primary fuel pressure within tolerance?
Is the coolant temperature sensor resistance within tolerance?
Is the EHA working correctly?