any car

can anyone advise , i own a cordless impact gun , on the side it has a screw that comes out and the manual states its a lube point

no mention of how to lube or what to use and how often , the screw opening doesnt really open it up much so im guessing oil/spray

wondered if anyone could help

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Hi all, just bought a 2.0 Auto Mk1 mondeo and have a few minor niggles.

This one is quite annoying and hopefully quite simple to resolve :D

When I start the car it is fine, then after about a minute, if I stop and then go to pull away again (lights etc) the revs drop to the point of stalling, if I boot it I can get away ok, but if I drive sensibly, it stalls.

Also happens when going into reverse, so I have to park in nice empty car parks and streets because reverse parking is impossible, either stalling or high revs to get into a space, not simple in an auto with no clutch to control the speed.

Have seen a few forums with basic info on it, but wanted some proper advice as to where to start before I replace 23 components that have been listed as the cause everywhere else.

Thanks in advance.

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I have bought this car and the speedo does not light up so in the dark i cant see my speed. All the other dash board lights are working fine. At one point I had to get a jump start. At that point the light worked fine but after turning the lights off when i fog home it went back to not working!! I have put it in for its MOT but they obviously did not notice this.

Unfortunaetly I had to pay out alot of money for work to be done to the car so I really dont want to put it back to the garage.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?

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Hi all,

We have a 2001 Y Reg Ford Focus 1.6 which we bought 18 months ago, and ever since then it's had squeaky brakes, and now the brakes make an occasional click when pressing the brake pedal.

The car has been booked into the garage 5 times for the same squeaking problem without a solution and it's beginning to drive us mad.

I'm not sure if it's pads or shoes on the back, but all the pads/shoes on the car are in good order and the brakes work well. It's recently had an MOT with a main Ford Dealer who gave it a thorough examination.

1. When we first got the car the brakes squeaked so we took it back to the garage where it was bought and had the brakes stripped down and cleaned - the squeak stopped for a while but then came back.

2. We took the car to Kwik-Fit who also stripped the brakes down and cleaned them - they still squeaked afterwards.

3. We took the car in to Benfield Main Ford Dealer and they too cleaned the brakes but didn't cure the squeak.

4. We took the car back to Benfields for them to try again - the brakes still squeak ! ... they said it's damp getting into the brakes, but the brakes still squeak on a hot summers day !

5. The car then developed an occasional click when the brake was pressed so we went back to Kwik-fit to so if they could do something about the click and the squeaky brakes - they didn't cure the squeak, and blamed the click on the wheel bearings and quoted us £320 for new ones.

We've since asked advice at 3 other garages about the click, and although they're not sure what it could be, they say it's not likely to be the wheel bearings.

Can anyone offer any ideas to where we go from here ? We've been reluctant to change the pads/shoes because they are in good condition, and the garages tell me that it would be a waste of money. If I knew that new pads/shoes would definitely be the answer then I would pay to have them done.

HELP ME BEFORE I GO NUTS !!!!!!!!

John

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Is this a forestaste of what is to come for the UK market , given the US is 6 months ahead of us?

U.S. auto sales slumped again in September despite sales incentives and falling gas prices in what Ford Motor Co. (F) called the lowest sales month for the industry so far this year.

"Consumers and businesses are in a very fragile place," said Ford marketing chief Jim Farley.

Meanwhile, General Motors Corp. (GM) Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said he expects the U.S. auto market weakness to continue into 2009 as consumers worry about credit and gasoline prices. GM said September marked its best monthly share in 2008.

"We again gained retail share, and our total market share looks to be above 27% for the month without an increase in incentives," said Mark LaNeve, GM's North America sales chief.

Ford, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Honda Motor Co. (HMC) and Nissan Motor Co. ( NSANY) reported declines well below expectations - 35%, 32%, 24% and 37%, respectively - while GM rode its now-expired employee-prices sales promotion to keep its decline to 16%.

George Pipas, Ford's head of industry analysis, said showroom traffic was extremely weak and sales fell off sharply in the last 10 days of September as consumers focused on the crisis on Wall Street and the debate over a bailout in Washington. Pipas said the recent developments were "tantamount to a natural disaster" in terms of the effect they have had on business.

GM sales of cars and light trucks for September dropped to 282,806. There were 24 selling days, one less than a year ago. Sales of trucks and sport-utility vehicles fell 19% while car sales declined 9.8%.

GM launched an employee-discount promotion on Aug. 20 in honor of its 100th anniversary, which stemmed sales declines that month and prompted the incentive's extension through September. Nineteen vehicles also were added to the list of eligible vehicles.

GM announced new incentives Wednesday to replace its employee-pricing program. The auto maker plans to offer discounts of up to $5,000 on some pickups and SUVs, including several 2009 models. Discounts on new models have been a rarity in the auto industry, but conditions are different this year, as consumers are slammed by plunging home values, high fuel costs and reduced availability of credit.

Toyota's fifth-straight month of sales drops shows how the Japanese giant - once considered almost immune to the economic forces that have battered its Detroit-based rivals - is now also suffering. Toyota sold 144,260 vehicles in September, compared with 213,042 a year earlier.

Toyota, which is battling GM for the crown of the world's best-selling auto maker, said passenger car sales fell 28% and SUV sales slumped 38%. Toyota division sales fell 36%, and Lexus recorded a 32% decline.

For Toyota, the last five years have seen particularly rapid sales growth, as the company expanded in the U.S. and other overseas markets. But the past 12 months have delivered more bad news for the auto industry than anyone imagined, making it difficult for Toyota and other auto makers to use emerging-market sales to offset huge U.S. losses.

As for Ford, it sold 120,355 light vehicles, down 35%. Truck and van sales fell 39%, with SUV sales tumbling 57% and F-series truck sales dropping 42%. Weak truck and SUV sales recently led Ford to push back the launch of its redesigned F-150 pickup truck that once was expected to drive the company's recovery. Ford said Wednesday the first shipments of the new F-150 will soon arrive at dealers; ridding lots of the older model is ahead of schedule, Farley said.

Honda's sales fell 24% to 96,626 from 127,200, with cars off 22% and trucks sliding 27%. Dick Colliver, Honda's executive vice president of sales, said no one has been immune to the turmoil on Wall Street, including Honda.

Chrysler's sales fell 33% - in line with declines of recent months - to 107, 349 units from 159,799. The company, which is a heavy seller of trucks and SUVs, reported a 34% drop in truck sales, while car sales declined 29%. Inventory fell 15% from a year earlier as part of a planned reduction in manufacturing and capacity.

German auto maker Daimler AG (DAI), a 19.9% stakeholder in Chrysler, has said it is in talks to sell out to Cerberus Capital Management LP, the private-equity giant that bought its 80.1% Chrysler stake a year ago.

Meanwhile, Japan's Nissan posted a 37% September drop to 59,565 vehicles from 94,269 a year ago. Car sales fell 34%, while truck sales tumbled 42%.

There is hope that falling oil prices will help boost auto sales, notably pickup trucks and SUVs, and a $25 billion low-interest loan program approved by President Bush on Tuesday also has given some hope to auto makers. The loans are meant to accelerate the development of fuel-efficient vehicles and are expected to principally benefit GM, Ford and Chrysler. The loans could save the auto makers hundreds of millions of dollars and could make bankruptcy less likely.

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