September 2008

Pugugly

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7638888.stm Read more

Ian (Cape Town)

I bet Lamborghini just love what this says about their brand.
Just at the look at the place.....I wonder what shade of onyx he went for
in the bathroom


Apparently bogroll is twice as expensive as it should be in the UK because there are so many different colours available (as opposed to plain white) ... to match your bathroom decor!

Crazy, considering its purpose...

By the way, in the USA you can buy the stuff in dayglo orange or camoflage (sic) pattern, to stop you getting shot in hunting season when folk assume you are a white-tailed dear. True story.
bathtub tom

Thursday nights motorway cops showed a pair of women causing havoc, and self inflicted injuries on the M6. During this item, police were seen to instruct members of the public not to photograph or video the scene, whilst being videoed for the programme. I can understand the police not wanting certain members of the force not to be identified for security reasons, and also their reasons for stopping the public taking pictures for reasons of good taste. Were any members of the public shown on this item asked if they objected to being broadcast, and if not, how can the police justify this apparent hypocrisy?

Both the saloon and estate Volvos appeared to have an area on top of the centre of the dashboard covered in black cloth stuck down with tape. Is this covering something Joe Public shouldn't know about, or is there a simple explanation?

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Pugugly

A request has been made by the OP to lock the thread. He specifically asked that the thread remained in place for others to read. Closing or locking a thread is the OP's prerogative. Its being exercised for the second time in as many days on a thread of this subject, I think there is a message there !



Thanks


Rob - Moderator (no 4).

Jody Anderson

Hey do you have a new list for 2018? Read more

Rudedog

I regularly drive along a country road that has had it's limit reduced from 60mph to 40mph. At the beginning of the road someone has covered the 40 roundel with one that says 30mph and has the word SLOW written within the red circle.

Now I'm assuming that this sign is fake (there are 40mph repeaters about 100 meters from this sign). Now this road is quite busy and will have been passed by many police vehicles, and yet it has remained there for over 6 months.

Is this something that I would report to the borough council that the road goes through (Bromley)?

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Dwight Van Driver

Tis indeedy 30 mph

RTRA 1984 S81

Speed limit on a 'restricted road' = 30 mph

Restricted road = a road with street lights not more than 200 yards apart - no specific speed limit Order is required.

If it was nsl then there would be NSL (or 40, 50 etc) roundels attached to lamps at intervals.

None of these and lamps always assume 30 mph unless signed otherwise.

dvd

mikeweathers

Oil leak from back of engine, oil ends up on exhaust pipe just in front of catalyst
Thought it could be oil pressure switch but have re-installed about 6 times with no sucess

Either:
I am missing something regarding the reinstallation
Or:
The leak is elsewhere

There is no room to see or do a lot, can anyone help?
Is there a knack to sealing the switch (it looks like a parallel thread)
Is there a point on the back of the engine that could leak
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mikeweathers

sq

OK, new switch it is
What do you recommend for sealing the switch threads?

mw

DP

Father-in-law was lucky to escape injury the other day when the heated seat started smouldering in his Golf. It was on its lowest setting, and he felt it get uncomfortably hot followed by a burning smell. He turned it off, jumped out of the car, and found a 2p sized burn hole in the seat pad, and singed trousers. Undoubted comedy value of this aside, it's appalling IMO, and surely the system should be protected by some kind of thermal fuse cutout to avoid this happening.

VW dealer is denying all knowledge of this as a known issue. Has anyone heard of this before?

Car is well out of warranty, and has done 130,000 miles, so little chance of recompense from VW, but this is surely a major safety concern.

Any views/experiences gratefully received.

Cheers
DP
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Hamsafar

I follow VW forums, and it is definitely a known problem which was only addressed by VWoA (VW of America). The problem is actually caused by the switches not cutting out IIRC. In the UK, we still have pathetic consumer protection laws.

steveo3002

some friends have just had the headgasket replaced by a trader that recently sold them the car

i had a quick look over it and notice theyve reused the old headbolts

should the 1100 k series have new bolts fitted or is it just a reccomendation? Read more

Lygonos

If the rockers are still covered in Gloy and the coolant is filthy I wouldn't be surprised if the HG 'repair' was actually 3 or 4 bottles of Radweld....

midlifecrisis

The time has come for me to stop looking at pictures on Autotrader and actually trade up the Getz for a Focus. Question is, which is the better value.

1/ 2005 05 Reg FORD FOCUS 1.6 ZETEC CLIMATE PACK -- '05' REG 38K FSH , £5475

2/ 2006 06 Reg Ford Focus 1.6 litre LX 17k £5,495

Assuming that both offer similar p/x for the Getz and both are in similar condition.

As a wild card, I saw this: 2006 06 CHEVROLET LACETTI 1.6 SX 5DR HATCH 5 Door
SILVER, 33700 Miles. Is the Focus £2000 better than the Focus, bearing in mind this will be a second car for 'er indoors to do the school run. Read more

MikeTorque

2/ 2006 06 Reg Ford Focus 1.6 litre LX 17k £5,495 is the best value, assuming it has a FSH. Also it should still have warantee cover whereas the 05 Zetec will be out of warantee.

The additional features of the Zetec Climate are the quick clear windscreen and heated door mirrors, fog lights, alloys and stiffer spring settings, whereas the LX offers a slightly more comfortable ride & lower mileage & manufacturers warantee.

Also consider the colour of the cars, could you live with it or not.

Test drive them both to compare and then consider your options.

Forget the Chevy.

Manatee

A colleague has a year-old car that yesterday lit up the DPF light. Colleague looked in handbook, which apparently says "you must drive at 50mph" but doesn't specify any duration (put yourself in the mind of a non-technical person here). She managed to touch 50 on the way home (there was traffic) but the light stayed on.

This morning it was joined by the engine management light. As it happened, the car was going in for service.

Dealer has effectively blamed driving style (car has done 15,000 miles in a year, does 2 x 20 mile commutes every day, and the owner doesn't hang about) and not following the procedure of "driving on the motorway for half an hour", which is not mentioned in the handbook. Dealer will charge £80 to "strip and clean" the DPF and effectively is telling the owner it is her fault.

IMO this is outrageous - the car is effectively not fit for purpose, is under warranty, and the owner is being charged for the 'fix' which won't of course 'repair' it in any way in that the feature remains.

How long can the industry sustain this nonsense?

Is it still possible to buy a non-DPF diesel? I think I'll hang on to mine.

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rtj70

My last car was a EuroIV Mondeo TDCi. Slightly higher CO2 emmisions vs non EuroIV. Fuel economy not what I expected but not that bad.

Current car is a Mazda6 with DPF. It has shown one or twice symptoms of DPF regeneration. I tend to accelerate hard but do not speed* - so could save fuel but it's the fastest legal way from A-B. So maybe I'm being lucky. At times I can do a lot of town driving and short journeys and around 14000 miles since new almost a year ago.

* It amuses me those right behind you and then you accelerate and they're nowhere near. But then catch up and want to go faster. To have caught up they were speeding but did not accelerate.