January 2009
Would this symptom mean head gasket problems and also how rapidly would the coolant level in the reservoir drop if coolant were getting into the engine and coming out of the exhaust pipe (the white smoke) ??
thanks bud Read more
I know the subject of Costco and tyres has been discussed before but if anyone is interested they are doing 20% a set of 4 tyres. All Michelin off course. The offer ends 15 Feb.
I stand to save £95 on a set of 4 Primacy HPs - and would be glad to see the back of the Yokohamas with ridiculous tramlining capability. Read more
Hi,
Can anyone tell me if replacing a handbrake cable is straight forward on these?
Im assuming I just slacken it off under the centre console and unclip it underneath?
Also im planning on replacing both sides as its only the RH side thats gone, but is there a seperate part for middle cable going to the lever or would this not be worth replacing?
Seperate question, I need a new clutch and heard its a pig on the Hdi. Ive been quoted £85 labour and £105 for the part, is this reasonable?
cheers Read more
How many people are killed or seriously injured as the result of driving on side lights only. I recently nearly put a car into the central reservation, when changing from 2nd to 3rd lane. The weather was terrible, heavy spray just getting dark, I checked the mirror, nothing, indicated, pulled out slowly, only to have a dark BMW race past me missing me by inches.
Why had I not seen it? I followed the BMW for a couple of miles until he/she turned off the motorway, looking back I could see he/she was driving on sidelights, or to make matter worse, one sidelight.
I doubt if the people who drive with sidelights ever bother to check if they are working, so they could be blindly unaware that they have no lights because their dashboard lights are on.
A resulting front end crash could destroy any evidence that the car had no lights on, leaving the other party to pick up the insurance claim.
I seem to remember driving in France a few years ago, seeing a roadsign that showed rain and a car with its headlights on.
How difficult would it be to introduce a simple lights policy law, instead of leaving it to the cheapskate drivers who put themselves and others at risk.
Surprisingly its not the bangers I'm referring to, the majority are reasonably new, some very expensive models.
Maybe old habits die hard for some drivers. Rant over!!
Read more
Parking lights...
Took dog for a walk this evening, not one single parked car with parking lights on.
Let's call them marker lights, for that is what they are.
Can't see vehicles in poor visibility...
Probably because every Thomas, Richard and Henry has 1000 megawatt DMF DPF Xenon LED lights on.
Open eyes.
Works for me ;-)
Need advice please, I serviced my focus today and part of that was a plug change, all of the plugs came out ok apart from no 3. I soaked it in wd40 for a while and still had no joy removing it. I needed to go out so decided to leave the plug in until tomorrow and try again in better light.
The problem is that when I started the car up it ran 'lumpy' and the engine management light flashed on and off and the car was severely underpowered.
On return home I managed to remove the last plug and replace with new (this makes a full set replaced).
The car runs superb now but the engine management light is permanently on (doesn't seem to have any power loss or running probs).
Should i take this to a main dealer and ask them to check out/remove the code or will it sort itself out? i believe that the wd40 was probably the culprit. Any ideas what this will cost?
Many Thanks Read more
As the car was running lumpy the vehicle was probably over fuelling due to poor spark. This being the case the Lambda sensor would have registered a code which lights the EML.
The codes would need to be erased and the EML re-set to reflect its current health
Carse
Hi all. I'm thinking about lowering my peugeot 405 (1993 SRDT) by about 30mm. I've read that I should be ok keeping the existing shocks and just fitting the new springs... is this correct?
Also, how easy is it to change the springs front and back?
Cheers, Neil. Read more
ok guys that's great - thanx for the suggestions.
neil.
Just venting my frustration here but left work today and got stuck behind an Aston Martin. Yes, stuck. I couldn't keep up in the 30's (since it was doing a steady 45ish) and then when we got to derestricted roads we managed a steady 40 but braked at the merest hint of any curve, whether we needed to or not. Any overtaking opportunities were thwarted by oncoming traffic. I'd be the first to defend anyone's choice of vehicle and their decision to drive er, carefully, but honestly, what's the point in bringing such a car out if it's to be driven so?? Read more
I have had to overtake a Boxster S several times on the way to work, ambling along at <40. I always ask myself why - perhaps he could just afford the motor, but the petrol costs are breaking him??
Starting to gear up for my European tour. I had planned to go to Israel but decided to not aim quite as far !
The idea so-far is to ride to Turkey - where a friend has an apartment. I'm taking two months out to do it - based on the proposition of spending time looking at things on the way instead of whizzing down motorways. The initial plan looks something like this Cross over to Dunkirk (I want to stop off in Cassel on the way - see previous posts in 2007) then head for places like Arnhem then south through Germany (into the Eiffel region) ride down through the Black Forest to Switzerland - do small town Switzerland, cross over into Italy and ride down the east coast to Bari or Brindisi, cross over to Greece by ferry, then either Island hop across to Turkey or take a land route (the former has some appeal) - then ride to the town where the apartment is. Mrs P is then joining me by air to spend two glorious weeks there (the accommodation is booked for the second week in June). I will need the invaluable advice that this place can provide. I intend to mix camping with hotel, reason to save money and just because I want to.
So I'll be popping in here now and again for some expert advise and then maybe blog as I do it. Read more
Sadly I had to cancel the trip in the end - my wife died suddenly (aged 46) in February and everything changed including my holiday plans. I didn't want to mention it in here beyond the Mods as I wanted the Backroom to be a "Grief free zone" and so it proved to be an invaluable little private escape for me at a time of monumental grief and change. I have gone with my instincts and decided that now is the time to come clean. I'm locking the thread now, but hopefully it will re-emerge for real next year maybe.
Hi Folks, I think this is my first foray over from the 'Discussion' side.
I have a Civic Aerodeck 1.8Vti that is now using a fair bit of oil. Assume its getting burnt as there is no leakage on the drive.
It is using 1 ltr every 800-1k miles if I take it steady and dont use the higher rev range. I'm interested as to what the likely cause is. Am I right in thinking it that it might be worn rings or valves ? (Is has done 80k miles and the only thing that has happened that coincides with this is that Honda changed the Cam Belt)
Many thanks
P Read more
Heres the link to Total oil to choose the right oil for your car
ew5.earlweb.com/search.php?site=74§or=9&catego...6
Heres the Ebay shop You can buy it From
stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Chandlers-Oil-Lubricant-Sho...1
I know a lot of backroomers also ride bikes.
Having just spent a wonderful afternoon out on my Sprint RS 955i I was wondering why they are mentioned so rarely these days. (Bikes in general, I mean) Read more
I just like getting their blood pressure up by the ease with which I glide to the front of queues at traffic lights.
They get their revenge when it rains.
Browse
Thanks for the tip Pendlebury - Mrs Dugong had thrown the offers leaflet away before I saw it. Just had 5 x Michelin Latitude 215/65/16 102T on the CR-V for £415. Current Blackcircles price £530. They only give the discount on 4 though - perversely you get a worse unit price for 5 than 4.
They fitted bright green dustcaps - apparently this signifies that they are filled with nitrogen.