November 2008
I was wandering around the car accessory department of a supermarket the other day and saw a set of jump leads that work from the cigar lighter socket. Are these things any good? I would be a bit wary myself but just wondered if any BR users had any experience of them? Read more
What brought this about was my wife being about to jump into the car yesterday with the nippers in the back and I noticed the front right tyre looked a bit soft - 12psi !!!!
Put the "space saver" doughnut on the back, took the rear tyre and put it on the front (FWD car) and took the offending tyre off. Couldn't find any obvious problems so advised SWMBO to take the car back to the place where we bought the winter tyres suspecting a duff valve.
The problem was the centre of the valve was loose. Quick tighten up and all is good.
I remember my Dad had a Dunlop set from 10AD from which the end of the tyre pressure gauge unscrewed and could be used to retighten the valve centre.
Are these still available ? I would like to get the set again as my Dad swore by his. Read more
Dust caps with core tool are available at most accessory shops+Halfords but a better device is the four way tool from same places-besides core remover,it also cleans internal/external threads and can remove damaged cores.
Hi, I got my son new alloys ( second hand ) when I tryed to fit them I noticed on the existing wheels. On 3 wheels the locking nuts were flush and on 1 wheel they were sticking out about 10mm. The flush wheels had 2 counterbores in them then a taper, the locking nut looked as if it was locking on the 1s counterbore, not the taper. The other wheel had 1 counterbore then a taper, the locknut was locking on the taper.
The new wheels have 1 counterbore then a taper. But the thread is sticking out about 12mm.
Is this enough to hold the wheels secure.
I can put a second counterbore in the wheels at work or I can m/c the taper on the locknuts back to alow he thread to come through more.
How mutch thread should be out.
Gratefull for any advice
Cheers Shug. Read more
I'm considering buying a 2006 Focus Diesel that has been parked on a drive for 3 months. I've discovered that the vehicle has never been driven during this time because it is untaxed (SORN). Good practice would have been to take this car out at least once a week to at keep things ticking over and lubricated
I've already been told that the battery is flat which may necessiate a new one - I'm ready for that. However, my concerns are more around whether the brakes/gears/wheel bearings or something worse may have seized up. I've no mechanical expertise so wonder whether it's worth paying for a full RAC vehicle check. I'll be test driving the car on Saturday so If everything sounds and appears normal maybe a check isn't necessary?
Any advice would be much appreciated
PS In terms of driving the car away, if it is currently SORN what do I have to do as a new buyer. Do I have some grace period to drive off and get the tax sorted? Read more
What if the seller is a dealer?
Hello.
My 2WD Mazda Bongo has a rear axle whine even tho' it's only covered 67k miles. The diff oil level was down by around a pint, and the remaining oil was very black. The whine is annoying but not the end of the world! I know that diffs can run for many years like this, but the noise is spoiling an otherwise civilised drive...
So, does anyone know of any product that can GENUINELY reduce axle noise (no, I'm not talking about saw dust!) so that the inevitable can be delayed for a couple of years?
Thanks.
Read more
The garage did an oil and filter change but used 10W/40 oil instead of 5W/30.
They agreed to replace the oil with the correct 5W/30 type engine oil one day later.
I am not sure whether or not they used a new filter when they replaced the 10W/40 oil with 5W/30 or whether they kept the oil filter they fitted when they used 10W/40 oil to start with. Read more
That's about 25 minutes longer than needed.
This weeks Beano (sorry, I mean Auto Express, though the former is probably more factual) has a Used Car test on the mk5 Golf. It says when talking about servicing and running costs "while all diesels and most petrol engines are chain driven so there's no need for a fresh cambelt"
Is this correct? I thought they were all on a belt, and a 40k change interval at that! Read more
Hi screwloose,re your comment about FSI pistons,,could you elaborate? I had read some comments on FSI engines and sulphur in petrol but i had thought they had applied a fix with ECU software and/or recommended ultra low sulphur petrol? Whats the story and does it apply to all FSI engines?? ( i was looking at one as a replacement for my '92 golf)
Does anyone have a link for the story from USA of the man who put his old car on Ebay expecting $500 ... it went on to make about $200'000.
Caught the end of the story on Sky News but cant find it anywhere. Read more
Prices at auction for 'muscle' cars and classics in the US are stratospheric at the moment and have been for ages.
You don't know what to believe, really. Either the place is on its uppers or there's still a heck of a lot of somebody's money washing around over there.
Help!
When driving in 4th gear and above the car is fine if driven in a "spritely manner" ie not changing up to 4th before 60 mph 5th 80mph (not on the roads obviously...)
If I change up and am going too slow EMS warning light will come on within 2-3 miles.
In 6th gear the light comes on regardless of speed.
Once light is on there is a severe reduction of power, no acceleration and engine won't go over 3,300 rpm.
Stop car and turn off engine and restart and fault clears.
History.
This is a second hand replacement engine put in by a bunch of muppets in Essex - won't say who as I like my house centrally heated not petrol fired!
They took 18 weeks to do it. It's never been right since and although it's under warranty I don't want them anywhere near it ever again.
Please Please help.
Read more
The code definition would never be as simple as "turbo solenoid." It would define a specific effect in that circuit that the ECU had noticed was outside its pre-programmed parameters.
The info is in the detail of the code definition. Then the hands-on testing starts.
Hi, my first post here, hopefully it's OK. My front wipers are playing up in intermittent mode, I've eliminated a problem with the screen and blades but still when in this mode the wipers will get stuck on the screen. Usually it's just towards the top of the motion and then they won't return so I have to either flick the arm or put them on full motion.
I believe that the rear wiper uses the same relay as they do run in sync when working fine and this seems to be working OK. In fact if I put the front and rear wipers on intermittent then the rear works fine and the front seems to work on 1/2 mode, ie - when the rear makes a full sweep and return the front just go up and then when the rear goes again the front go back to the original position.
Can anything think what this can be? Could it be the relay, motors, wiring or something completely different?
Thanks! Read more
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Most sane manufacturers use fuses in their cigarette lighter circuits. If anything on a car blows fuses, it's the fag lighter. [You wouldn't believe what kids put in them; especially the vertical ones...]
I think the lighter-to-lighter leads are meant for charging, not cranking. It would work, in theory - if you've got a few hours....