October 2008
I generally run my cars on Shell V-Power or other high octane fuel, and have done so for many year. In almost every car i have driven, I have heard some pinking (at least I think its pinking), usually whilst driving at medium speed up a hill.
I thought that with the advent of ECUs and higher octane fuels, pinking was a thing of the past. Clearly I am wrong? Read more
Have a Corsa 1.4 and its gutless under load,the car goes well until I have to accelerate qiickly or drive up a hill.Had the engine electrics checked out and was told there were no recorded faults.
Its not missing,the air filter is ok,I will be checking fuel filter next.
I have noticed an air flow sensor in the air duct between air filter and throttle butterfly.Could this be the problem and is there any more in the air intake.
Has anyone got any ideas Read more
Hi,,i am just wondering about the 2002 Patrol 3.0di auto,,,are they any good as regards mechanically and off road capabilities,,and what would the mpg be like on these,,thanks james. Read more
no electrics on the engine at all
apart from the stop solenoid.
Doesn't that make you go all misty eyed..;)
IIRC some grey's were fitted with a turbo'd version of that engine too, and thats amazon pulling power.
Don't forget WJ the year you are talking about will attract £400 road tax very soon, so buy very cheaply, or get a pre 01 instead?
I did a double take when I saw this one as I could hardly believe it was a genuine plate.
The typeface was similar to Comic Sans, and the numbers smaller than the letters. They were all smaller than the normal typeface.
This is the plate: MR5 1 JO'B
I have no idea what it signifies. Read more
Seems to mean J O'Brien's no. 1 wife...
I am usually a bit of a brand snob when it comes to tyres. Not obsessively so, in so far as I wouldn't care if they were Contis or Pirellis or Michelins or such. Just that as I do a fair old mileage with a full load on most of the time Ive managed to convince myself not to skimp on tyres and have avoided budget brands.
However, one of my cars is needing a new pair of boots and I can see that I could pay as little as £60 each instead of the £110-£120 I would have to fork out for pukka branded ones.
Not especially asking for advice on the wisdom of this as I am more interested in finding out for myself what, if any, difference it makes to wear life, handling, ride quality etc. For those who are concerned that I'll become a danger to myself and others by doing this I promise to take extra care !
What I would like to ask is has anyone else bought cheapo but new tyres recently and been pleased with them or are there any horror stories ? Also, are any particular ones less nasty than the rest ? Read more
Stuartli - thanks for trying - You can never rely on stock levels! I've never actually bought tyres from ebay - once postage and fitting has been added in its always been very close to that of a local fitter (who is easier to contact in the event of a problem)
Last Kumhos I bought were £80 each, from camskill these were £68 each plus £10 per wheel fitting at a local dealer. I like to save money but £4 didn't seem worth the hassle!
Not nice.
Got stopped at a roadblock last Saturday, and to my great shame, the blow-in-the-bag turned up positive.
Off to the caravan, nursing sister took blood, and hey-ho, off to the copshop we go.
Fingerprints, hand over shoelaces and belt etc, and poked down into the cells. along with 15 other miscreants caught for the same offence.
This was 4 hrs after I had had my last of about 4/5 pints.
Oops, and I thought I was ok to drive.
I can assure you that being locked in a police cell is NOT nice at all.
Only silver lining was that the rest of those in the cell were in for the same thing - NOT the local murderers/rapists/ne'er-do-wells who would as soon kill you as look at you.
Bailed on Sunday 11am, court on Wednesday, come back in January.
Lessons learned: never ever ever EVER consider that you'll be safe to drive, as "I stopped drinking hours ago".
The legal bods say I can expect a rather large fine, but will keep my license.
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Penguins are vicious little brutes, smell of fish, and have a very sharp beak.
An ex Girlfriend of mine was bitten on the boob by one once, after volunteering to help clean penguins after a major oil spill off the coast.
A friend of mine has 6 points on his licence. He has just been "done" for doing 51 mph in a 30 mph limit. Is this an automatic 6 points and a ban? If so what are the chances of him being able to talk his way out of the ban? He has plenty of mitigation, i.e. employs 4 or 5 people. If banned, how long is it likely to be? Read more
"I think of some poor guy with a wife and kid goin gto work in an office, doing 34 mph on his way in, and losing £60, maybe a wholedays wages or more, after tax."
34 does not normally mean points - ACPO guidlines = 10% + 2 mph, so it's 35/36 that gets a tug. Even then it's normally possible to avoid points by attending a speed awareness course.
My wife's car bought used in June, auto, Vtec 60k miles. After a few weeks of ownership, started misfiring badly when starting from cold then usually runs okay. One occasion it was almost undriveable and she smelled burning. Ended up having to have the rear brake discs and pads replaced (don't know if this is connected). When the car's misbehaving the warning light for engine management comes on. Since brake replacement she has smelled burning once.
Local garage (not Honda dealer) suspects injector 3 but can't do much until they witness the problem. We've left the car with them for several days but of course it behaved perfectly.
My worry is that more trouble is on the way. If it turns out to be a major component it would be covered by the purchased warranty but this runs out end of December.
Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions regarding this and how I might best get it sorted?
Many thanks. Read more
On engines run on our rubbish unleaded; the valves slowly regress into the head.
This gradually eliminates the [adjustable] running clearance in the system and eventually keeps the valves slightly open when cold until differential expansion in the aluminium of the head achieves a slight clearance.
Nothing is sticking; just the essential clearance maybe hasn't been maintained by regular [27K service] adjustment.
The engine management has no function in this area and won't detect a fault.
Renault Clio 93 (Oasis) (Type 1 Petrol), with replacement E-type 1171cc engine of unknown provenance (previous owner).
I took it for an MOT. Emissions not tested because the CAT got extremely hot.
I did the other work. (replaced rear sub-frame/axle, one break pipe and steering gaiters), and bought and fitted a new CAT from PARTCO.
Took it back for a new MOT. All my work fine, except, the lambda and CO wouldn?t both go within limits at the same time. Then they noticed that the exhaust was over hot, and the cat was just glowing red!!!!
I was advised that the back box might be blocked?. So I removed, examined and put back the exhaust from the CAT to the tail pipe, no restrictions whatsoever!
Changed Oil and filter
The car seemed to be possibly missing a little, so I checked the plugs and found No.1 was thickly furred with carbon. After cleaning, this quickly returned.
Reading this (excellent) site and others realised that the problem is probably that cylinder 1 is not firing properly, and that excessive un-burnt fuel from there is being ?burnt? in the CAT (its job). Obviously this releases a lot of heat!!!!
Found distributor cover was very messed up so, replaced, plugs, leads, distributor cover, rotor arm, and air filter. AND oxygen sensor (in the exhaust manifold) the old one was rather carboned up. Spark good on all cylinders.
So after less than ten minutes running the CAT still gets red hot. Since it?s not taxed I can?t drive it far? even if I dared with the CAT like that. However the engine seemed to be at or above operating temperature when I tested it.
I tested the compression which came out at: 12.2, 12, 11.5, 11.5, on cyls 1, 2, 3, and 4.
This seems a little high, but I think rules out any major problem with the valves or head! (AM I RIGHT TO THINK THIS???)
I wonder whether a leak in the inlet or exhaust manifold gaskets or similar could cause the computer to inject too much fuel on/for cyl 1. ANY IDEAS????
I haven?t had any (computer) diagnostics done. Might this show up much? (it?s a 93 car). ANY ADVICE on BUYING DIAGNOSTICS (to run on pc) to show codes/ performance/ O2 concentrations etc?????
Spark still good on plug 1, even without cleaning off the carbon.
HELP I?m out of tax and expecting my fine in the post any day, fairly skint, and stuck.
What on earth could cause one cylinder to have a bad mixture and/or fail to fire properly.
I am NO EXPERT, and could have got this a bit wrong. ANY ADVICE / IDEAS welcome? DESPERATELY NEEDED!!!!
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Sorry for not saying THANKYOU at the time for all the help. Well I replaced the inlet manifold gasket, and exhaust manifold gasket, after cleaning all serfaces etc, and I think I said before already done O2 sensor, plugs, etc etc. Well she ran better than she ever had; slower smoother idle, lower fuel consumption, more power, and went through the MOT OK. And has gone through again in 2009 as well!
Hi there
I had a post some time ago about my intention to buy and restore an old motorbike. Now I passed my driving test in 1975 and around 1978 I was riding a 125 yamaha on L plates quite legally. IIRC there was no two year limit then.
In 1996 I moved house and send my licence off for the address to be changed. Was issued with another greeen licence then.
Now I come to look at it and the motorcycle section is blank so it looks like the provisonal entitlement to ride up to 125cc has been with drawn.
Do I now have to apply to DVLA to have it added and complete a CBT before I can now ride on the road?
Reason I ask is that I have had different answers. One is that as my original licence was issued before 2001 then No. Other is Yes.
I know I can ring DVLA but I am sure I will get some good advice here.
Many thanks.
Made Make/Model non-specific Read more
Thanks to all for the good advice.
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It was still fitted with the spark plugs that it came out of the factory with as Citroen reckon that they only need changing every 37.5k (or 3 years) - but i suppose its still possible that they could have been the wrong ones !
But as mentioned somewhere else on here it only pinked for a few seconds as it was accelerating and never constantly at high speed.