September 2008
Two different but equally alarming observations of dopiness on the M40 in Buckinghamshire the other evening.
1.
In fading light, when almost all the other vehicles had lights on, a twilight-grey Audi A6 was trundling along at 60ish in lane 3 of 4 with acres of empty space to its left and not a light in sight; in other word, getting on for invisible. As I passed, I looked across to see its driver (40ish, female and alone in the car) evidently engaged in a conversation on the phone that required a good deal of gesticulating. She seemed still to have a hand on the wheel, but plainly not much mind on the job - not the one of driving anyway.
If challenged, I'm sure she'd have insisted that her hands-free device made this safe. I would disagree.
2.
The other car was a Volvo S60, and this one was showing some lights - just not enough; the offside tail light wasn't working. Unremarkable, except that I know a bit about the S60 and not only does it have two bulbs for each tail light, but the computer (even the bare-bones one in my S model) gives you an unmissable and specific warning when one of them fails. So this driver (youngish, male, didn't look dim or impoverished) had been ignoring the message about the first bulb long enough for the second one to go. At this point, the message would have changed to 'Multiple lamp failures'. And he still didn't fix it.
There have been threads here about the difficulty of changing bulbs on modern cars, but an S60 tail lamp bulb costs about 80p and can be fitted without tools in about two minutes. And Swedish cars (the makers' marketers tell us) are supposed to appeal to those of a higher IQ than the average car buyer!
There. Feel better now. Nice cup of tea...sit down. Aaaaah.
}:---) Read more
My Daughter's Polo has a 'Lights On' buzzer that's not working. It should buzz if she leaves the lights on and opens the driver's door. Also it should work if the lights are off, but she activates the either side parking lights via the indicator stalk and opens the driver's door. Neither activates the buzzer. I read that the buzzer is integral to the instrument cluster, cannot be changed, but rarely goes faulty anyway. Apparently the most common fault is the driver's door switch, but I've tested the switch and it is definately working. Does anyone know if the buzzer is activated by a relay? I've looked at the Haynes wiring diagram and it doesn't show how the buzzer is triggered by the door switch. I'm guessing it's the same buzzer as for the low oil pressure warning because I can't see another. Any help to clear the fog appreciated. Thanks Steve. Read more
If I recall it works thro the ignition switch so the buzzer only works with key out of steering lock.Iwould think the quickest and cheapest option is to fit an aftermarket buzzer wired from the lighting circuit to the door pillar switch.hth
Hi,
I am about to move house that will see me have to drive the kids to school up a hillside and across it (for about 5 miles) on a B road well above the snow line in the Scottish Borders. I am considering a Freelander 2 (Will the higher spec Terain Response system be neccesary?) or an X3 or possibly X5 (second hand obviously!) as I am basically looking for a smallish 4x4 that can cope with the snowy roads, and also drives well round corners in normal conditions. Does anyone have any experience of these cars or indeed others in snow? Read more
Off on a slight tangent, some of you AWD owners may find this interesting:
tinyurl.com/3kyxan
I get an error code of P0093, 'large fuel leak' on Toyota Avensis. Also getting black smoke from exhaust. With constant 58mpg there IS no fuel leak. I've replaced the pump, cleared the EGR valve and filters, all of which work for a while. Then ping, back comes the error message, and fuel consumption remains good. Occasionally the engine loses all power, but comes back if you switch on and off. At a real loss as to what's the root cause. Anyone with any ideas? Read more
Definately injector leak past problem. Requires a leak past test to verify faulty one (s)
hth Mickeybo
From the BBC:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7635486.stm
Summary (sorry for the shouting, just cut and pasted):
1. DON'T MISREAD THE HORN
2. DON'T CHANGE LANES IN SLOW-MOVING TRAFFIC
3. MAKE EYE CONTACT WHEN YOU CAN
4. LIMIT YOUR COMMUTE TO QUARTER OF AN HOUR
5. REMEMBER, YOU DON'T OWN THAT PARKING SPACE
6. DRIVING IS A MENTAL WORKOUT
7. LATE MERGING IS OK
8. TAILGATING SLOWS US ALL DOWN
9. TREAT ALL CYCLISTS THE SAME, HELMET OR NO HELMET
10. LEARN FROM LEWIS Read more
May I suggest an 11th , buy a Rover 75............
I have a 2004 BORA 1.9 TDI and ive just noticed that there is some thick oil in the tank where you top the water up. The oil level is ok theres no sludge in the oil cap the heaters work fine the car is not smoking and is running perfectly. If you look in the oil you can see its only on top and there is clean water under it also you can see the water coming back through from the engine is clean aswell.Does anyone have any idea what this could be as i am worried sick thinking that there is something drastic wrong somewhere but what i can't understand is the car is running perfect Read more
Agreed, if the car still runs OK, oil cooler (on oil filter housing) is most likely cause.
The biggest challenge is cleaning out the cooling system once the oil cooler has been changed. You need a suitable detergent (with no salt in it).
Just had a test drive in the new Fiesta. Really good car to drive and, if I was buying a new supermini, this would be top of the list.
Has anyone seen the new Jazz anywhere?
I test drove a 1.25 today and it didn't feel underpowered. Really good car.
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Then again I don't do that many miles to let economy worry me too much.
What do you think?
I think that if your mileage is low, your major cost will be depreciation. If cost is a concern, then your main priority should be to minimise depreciation, and that isn't achieved by buying a new car.
Hi Can anybody tell me how to go about overhauling the rear brake calipers, the foot brakes work fine but the handbrake is inefficient, new pads were put on the car 2 months ago. any help appreciated, Eamo.
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The handbrake cables may be too tight. I come across this fairly frequently. The levers on the calipers must be allowed to fully return after each operation to take the next 'bite'. Slacken the cables right off and ensure the levers are fully returned. Pump the footbrake several times then tighten the cables only to the point where the handbrake can be lifted slightly before the levers start to move even if this results in a long handbrake movement.
The above mentioned car (54 reg) went for an MOT today, the tester refused to carry out the emmissions tests due to a noisy engine. He felt there was an internal defect and would not consider taking the engine up to max revs in case the engine suffered severe internal damage.
To my ear the engine is chattering, there is a puff of blue smoke on startup but fuel and oil consumption are very good. It also runs smoothly at 70mph.
Can anyone offer advice on what it might be, I assume it could range from a big end up to a loose chain.
Many thanks.
Peter Read more
Or Millers Power sport additive
Good day folks.. looking for some neutral input here. My Vectra C 2.2 sxi running great goes into dealer for ann. service it has done 44K miles (passes all checks etc). post service engine started misfiring, Eng Mgmt Light lit, dealer replaces spark plug, seems to be ok for a day then starts misfiring again but does not happen all the time so after 2 further weeks running the engine finally seemed to be in limp mode ?, had reduced power, uneven idle and also seemed to be running hot, I had hot fumes coming from engine at traffic lights. Left car with Vauxhall dealer again to be told that it needs mainfold/cat part but there are none in the UK ! (this was 3 weeks ago).
When I asked why the Cat would fail after just having had it's annual check etc the response was "they can fail anytime." I am not so sure and the dealer and Vauxhall Customer Care have a 'don't bother me attitude' when I question that or even ask for a courtesy car !! (I am having to hire fm 3rd party). I was going to replace the car with an 08 model but now I am having 2nd thoughts about buying another Vauxhall, esp as they cannot seem to supply a spare part for one of the most driven cars on our roads ! .... am I being paranoid ?, should I just take my car out and have Kwick Fit do it !!
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Another good reason to make motorcycle riding compulsory; give people a sense o vulnerability. One of my "usual suspects" was stopped by the Police the other day, not only content with overtaking a Police car in a 30, he nearly clipped a kerb on an island, he had no brake light, no indicators - I was surprised he only had a ticket to fix the faults, seems the cops were in a hurry as well.