November 2008
Watched an interesting clip on a video sharing site of a US news show feature which investigated the age of tyres being supplied as new, and how to tell when your tyre was manufactured. I won't post the link here because it's on a site with some strong content amongst its clips and many employers block it!
The gist of the feature, though, was that some tyres being sold were in unworn, new condition as far as tread went, but could be years old and at risk of the tread separating from the rest of the tyre due to loss of moisture content in the rubber.
This alternative YouTube clip shows how to tell the age of your tyre:
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ITpyCdIdkW8
On the back of that, I checked the tyres on my 05-plate 108k mile car which I bought a few months ago, and found I had three 2007 tyres and one mysterious 2004 one, which surely couldn't have been original to the car at that mileage?
Food for thought, though - how old are your tyres? Would you trust an older one even where it has no visible signs of ageing?
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Hello
Can some one tell the correct size of battery for my 2002 focus 1.8 tdci. I was sold a 62Ah battery but I suspect that might be a bit on the small side.
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ok, will do.
thanks
Tried to put the key in ignition this morning and it wouldnt go all the way in, short by about 3mm, its as if there is something wedged in there, had a quick poke about but nothing came out so assume a pin has gone wayward, so looking at buying a new barrel, OK find one for £48 from GSF.
Now comes the problem, how the heck do I get the old barrel out?, pulled and pushed, poked and proded, cant work it out.
Cheers in advance for your assistance
CBG
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I think I'm in the wrong business, after hours of wiggling and hammering and without the adequate tools to drill out (and also without the adequate brains not to drill the wrong bit) I call out a locksmith.
30 minutes, £85 quid! he did have the correct tools and did as Screwloose suggested, drilled the barrel out with one meaty drill bit. He suggested it was probably an electrical problem that had caused the whole barrel to seize up, if it happens again I now know where to drill.
Ho hum suppose I had better go to work tomorrow then.
Cheers for the advice Screwloose.
CBG
Misses, as mentioned on other thread, thinks she got a ticket going by a 30 camera which flashed at her tonight.
She is a new driver ( Jan this year ) and is sweating it, ive only told her that now she is on notice license-wise. She says that her speedo was somewhere between 35 and 40 and knowing its rough accuracy, id say she prob went through at about 35-36.
Is that likely to be an SP30, £60 fine and 3 points? And new drivers have 6 to play with?
I got an insurance quote and it changes by £5 a month with the presumed punishment so no real drama there atleast. Read more
Its a caution.... when i went on a course, I was told I didnt have to tell the insurance... if I was you I would wait to see what the outcome is before getting carried away!
Being a lover of my own E46 328i SE I have just been chatting with a local garage mechanic who has a customer who has owned the same model of car from new that has covered a whopping 276,000 miles with no engine work carried out on it just serviced at the required intervals. I guess mine is just run in at 110,000....LOL.
Any more site members have any high mileage car stories? Read more
Late uncle had a 1.6 Pinto Siera which had around 470k on the clock. I remember the drivers seat back rest had snapped so he just took it off and drove with no back!!!! He would buy two identical cars for around £100 and then keep it for a long time with just spanner work.
First message, and I know there was a discussion below on a similar vein, but that was for the petrol version.
I've had a Mondeo Titanium 1.8 TDci 125Bhp for the last month, and only clocked up 1500 miles - so I appreciate I might be jumping the gun a bit.....but.....the fuel economy is appalling.
It's a company car, and choosing this car was a delicate balance of what I could get for my money, test drives, economy, tax, looks, safety - and this beat off an Audi A4, BMW 320d and the Merc C200cdi.
It was particularly close between this and the BMW - with the Beamers mpg approaching 60mpg nearly clinching the deal, but I was reassured by the Mondeo claims of 48, and figured in reality I'd be approaching 45 combined.
I've had lots of cars previously, and while I'm no driving miss daisy, I usually get approaching the official figures, on average about 3 or 4 off.
With this Mondeo, I've done mostly motorway miles, mostly around about 70-75mph, and the economy is 38mpg. I really couldn't drive more economically, and I'm gobsmacked that it's so bad. The car itself I love. Bar having to remember to jump back when I put the boot up in the rain, it's perfect. Masses of room for the family, enough boot space to host a party in, comfy but solid drive - it's ticking all the boxes I hoped it would. But the economy is a major kick between the legs. I had an A3 sportsback quattro turbo rocket of a car that gave me 35mpg, and that was on unleaded which is of course much cheaper.
Having to pay more for fuel that doesn't give much extra on the economy feels like I've been duped.
Is anyone else having this problem? Is it a fault? Should I be contacting Ford? Do new diesels always do this at first, and should I give it another few thousand miles? I know someone with the old model diesel, and he says he regularly gets around 50mpg.
Cheers
Dave
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This reply is very late,but you never know,it may be of interest. I have the 1.8 TDCi with now about 15K on the clock. A motorway run regularly returns 50mpg. On a long run 53.3 mpg.
Happened to visit the National Rail Museum at York on Saturday and observed a Deltic Diesel engine. Apparantly they had a high power to weight ratio. There's a good explanation on Wickipedia for anyone interested.
I wonder why they couldn't make an efficient car engine? Read more
It had been over ten years since I had last looked inside a copy of Lightband's book, and I did get myself a copy for a (somewhat deviant) Christmas present to myself. Perhaps it shouldn't have been such a surprise, but, the frontispiece is a very fetching black and white shot of a brand new 3300 h.p. twin-engine diesel-electric locomotive - D9001!
Thanks to the library of the University of Bradford for withdrawing and discarding such a top book! To be fair, I can't imagine too many students being sufficiently capable or applied to convert from the Imperial units used throughout the book!
Hi,
this morning was driving to work and noticed weird sound coming from the passenger side. SO i pulled over and seen there was a water on the passenger side floor. There was water dripping down from above. It seems the dripping isnt a constant thing and worsens if I put the heater on to 3 or 4. When off or on 1 or 2 it doesnt seem to be happening. The first thing I thought of was heater matrix and this is only because my brother had similar problems with a Nissan Primera. I checked the coolant bottle under the bonnet and is full.
Any ideas?
Could it be something related to:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=68...2 Read more
DH, same applies to most cars. Mine lets you do that with the remote too.
Hi there, hope you can help,
the engine on my 2002 Pug Boxer 2.0 HDi has gone bang, the engine is a DW10DT series but the engine code isn't RHY it's DYER, this maybe because these vans are built in Italy by FIAT like the Relay so the nomenclature is different?
....would any normal flavour RHY 2.0HDi 8v non intercooler 90bhp engine fit or is the Boxer something different?
I ask becuase I can not get a Boxer lump but 406/306/Xsara/C5 etc engines are everywhere and cheap too....I expect to chop a few bits and bobs over...my Boxer has the Bosch common rail system so would likie to go for a another Bosch power engine to make things simple! Read more
The Partner unit is more car-based than the Boxer one; but that sounds a workable plan. Without reference to the parts software, I can't say if every one of those parts mentioned is identical, but they stand a reasonable chance.
Keep everything as standard as possible; don't mix and match components and fuelling. "Bitzas" are near-impossible to fault-find at a later date and can often lead to the write off of a vehicle.
I've yet to have a close look, but the concole mounted handbrake lever is loose for the first inch or so of travel, so when going over bumps, the handbrake light flashes. Is this easy to get to and adjust so i can take up the slack? Read more
Thanks Zookeeper, The only console with four fixings is the gear lever one!. the dash console area around the handbrake seems inpenetrable... Anyhoo, I got a dealer to sort it out under warranty for me. Many Thanks.
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The tyre is getting on for 9 years old according to the date, Feb 2000 according to the DOT code. I will be replacing this ASAP and then will use it as a spare.