October 2008

Robin Reliant

If the present financial crisis continues it is hard to see how the motor industry will survive without a major manufacturer going to the wall. Anyone got any idea who the most vulnerable is?
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Lud

The car industry is a very complex, powerful, constantly changing world cartel. It will survive. And it will use its considerable muscle to ensure that we too survive, not too wounded financially, to carry on feeding it.

So comforting, having the powers that be on your side.

jc2

Brake warning light on panel stays on permanently;plenty of fluid-brakes work well-new float switch fitted-hand brake switch checked & light stays on when hand-brake switch disconnected.Any ideas?? I can only think wire is earthing somewhere. Read more

jc2

No;nor ABS-as I say,I can only think of a short in one of the wires-my next idea is to isolate(cut) each of the wires in turn to trace which one.Power supply comes from ignition thro' warning light to float switch on master cylinder.The other side of the float switch is connected to earth and a further wire goes from float switch supply to the h/brake switch and earths when h/brake is on.

LordMuck

Hello all,

I've read a number of responses to similar questions regarding this but none quite seem to relate to the problem I have with my own.

I have a 2001 Ford Focus on which the rear passenger side door steadfastly refuses to open. The button on the door will not budge from 'locked' and nothing happens to it if I use the key or the fob (although they have a problem all of their own!).

Can anyone tell me if this is an electrics problem or...well, anything?

Thanks for your help!
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FotheringtonThomas

tinyurl.com/44et6x

"The car will be painted in soft "feminine" colours and include interior design features aimed specifically at women.

Alarms will be fitted to warn of flat tyres and there will be an automatic gear box, a navigation system and audiovisual entertainment systems for child passengers."


Etc. Read more

Lud

Since the Persian ladies themselves are criticised if they are seen even 'carelessly veiled' - allowing a lock of hair and a nice set of eyelashes to show - let alone unveiled, it seems a bit unfair to allow their cars more freedom than they have themselves.

Veil these cars decently!

TimOrridge

Following on from my sluggish battery thread

I have found the possible cause for this. On saturday morning I stopped car after a drive and the engine was not near 70c but rad fan was on. Didnt think much of this so came out to car after 2 or 3 hours and battery was flat as a very flat thing. There were no lights or anything totally drained. So after a jump lead was connected the rad fan kicked in again even before I had started engine. So for the time I have removed the lead to the fan but what would the possible cause of this? It has happened before w while back but it had "fixed itself".

Any ideas welcome? It has had a new thermo switch last time which hasnt seemed to help? Could it be a short in the fan or wires? It seems to be intermittent Read more

mak

Further to my previous post.
Is the fan running with the ignition turned off? If so, I would look at the 'thermal-switch' which was for models with radiator fan run-on. If fan constantly running with ignition turned on then must be the radiator thermo-switch.
I think these make a great 'bangernomics' car, I have had mine for nearly 14 years without any problems and starts first time. Like everything else, needs regular servicing and maintenance. Parts are easily sourced through GSF.

MAK

Ben 10

Drink driving
Speeding
Dangerous driving
Tiredness
Arrogance?

Two young innocent children killed. Their father, a broken back.
Charges admitted. Guilty verdict.

Is 7 years 4 months in jail fair? I don't think so. The maximum could have been 14 years. With good behaviour he could be out in 3.5 years. He did not show good behaviour prior to the incident so why shouldn't he serve his time. Its about time ANY sentence given is served. But in this case, he should have got at least 14. Then with the current "good boy" system he could have made parole at 7 years. The sentence handed down yesterday, in full.

This could have happened to anyone of us travelling on the M6 that day. At some point he would have hit someone or something, and eventually he did. Its a shame he didn't crash without involving other parties, but he did. So he needs to pay the price.

My heart goes out to the boys' family, as it should have been a pleasant day out that turned into a nightmare. No sympathy for the goalkeeper in question. No wonder there is anger at his sentence.
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Westpig

AB,

Far too simplistic.

Imagine someone sat at home, they've had three glasses of normal strength beer, but have yet to eat anything since breakfast and is over the drink drive limit, just...when their elderly female neighbour knocks on theirdoor in a panic, she thinks her hubby is having a heart attack. They nip in, concur and decide the fastest and most efficient way to get him his medical help and hopefully save his life is to drive him 10 mins to hospital.

They do so. En route one of the town centre vagrants always drunk, steps out in front of them and the vagrant is killed. Vagrant turns out to have had severe liver failure anyway and was 3 times the legal drink drive limit if he'd been driving, so well impaired.

Life imprisonment.... i don't think so

(Not saying that course of action was the most wise, just highlighting the difficulties of over simplifying the debate)

p.s. not saying vagrants don't have rights either

Mapmaker

At 80 (modern, devalued) dollars a barrel. So much for oil-can-only-ever-go-up. I predicted on here in the "predict the oil price by Christmas" thread that it would either be 225 or 75 - the bubble has burst, so I guess it's more likely to be 50 by Christmas.

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=64...9
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RobertyBob

Of course the oil price is going to go down... I've just had to buy 1000 litres of heating oil.

:-(

Petel

Does anyone out there have a current list of which Ferodo disc pads fit which vehicle please? Have been unable to find a referrence on the net or to get any sense from local motor factors.
Thank you. Read more

Petel

Many thanks to Hamsafar and Cheddar.
I had searched on Federal Mogul but it did not bring up that page.
Had also quite forgotten that Halfords also do Ferodo.
Thanks to you both.
Rgds.

Car

Mid last year I visted a garage to look at a couple of cars but in the end purchased a vehicle elsewhere.

Just out of curosity had a look at dealers website recently and some of the cars I looked at are still listed, one at £1600, was originally £2600 and DVLA website indicated vehilce was last taxed 18 months ago!

I thought that the general practice or best business practice was to get rid of cars that had not sold after a number of days for the best possible price even if it meant making a loss on that particular car?

Is there any reasons why a dealer would want to keep such old stock? Read more

Badwolf

There's a tyre-fitter type place near me that also sells cars (Stuartli may know of it - just think "It's Friday, it's 5 to 5, it's time for...!). They've had a 51 plate Jaguar X-type for the best part of three years. I just can't fathom out why they haven't cut their losses and shipped it off to the auctions. They've dropped the price by at least £3k and still nobody wants to buy the blighter!

Cheers.

franco

I was looking up the fuel efficiency for older diesel cars for city driving and on a site selling old LTI fairway taxis I came up with a figure of 25 - 30mpg in town for a 2.7 litre diesel. Now I don't know if this means stop and start traffic driving or driving at 30 MPH, but this is roughly the same as I get from my old Golf, which is a 1.3 litre petrol. I know that diesels are more efficient, but a 2.7 litre diesel doing as well as a 1.3 litre petrol in town does surprise me.

Can I assume that this kind of MPG for a 2.7 litre has something to do with the lighter weight of taxis relative to other cars or is this just an average MPG to be expected even from a big diesel engine in town. Would something like an Audi, or BMW diesel with the same engine size be doing much less than 25 - 30mpg in town? Read more

franco

As it happens I seen one of the cabbies on youtube complaining about the TX4 not being too efficient with diesel, but that could be probs with just his car.

Thanks for the example on the 1.9. I suppose that size engine would be the safer bet. Normal 2.5 litre and above cars seem to be a few hundred kilos heavier than a London cab, so it would probably be a stretch to think I could get decent MPG from a big car for the type of driving I do, but if I thought there was a chance of buying a big diesel and paying roughly the same in fuel as I am now I would take a chance.