January 2009
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
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.
The xenon lights thread got me thinking:
"..The reason why car companies are switching to xenons is that they can charge a lot more for replacements bits when they go wrong.."
Maybe car manufacturers will eventually shoot themselves in the proverbial foot(feet?) with these ever more costly items to repair.
Show me a car without a damaged door mirror and I'll show you a car that doesn't get used much!
The dumbest thing for motorists and one of the best for manufacturers has been ever more fancy door mirrors on wider and wider cars. First they were black, unheated, manually adjustable and reasonably cheap to fix or replace. Then we got colour coded ones, then they became electrically adjusted and heated and now we have blessed indicators in the very tip of them.
In 5 years time we'll be getting cars written off after a mirror to mirror nudge in a narrow street.
More than once this daft idea has given a car a negative point in my purchasing thoughts.
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Show me a car without a damaged door mirror and I'll show you a car
that doesn't get used much!
Stop being dramatic!
My car is 5 years old, does 10,000 miles per year (a goodly proportion of which is on narrow twisty roads at the highest speed I can attain without blatantly exceeding the limit) and it still has unmarked door mirrors.
I've only ever once in my 50 years of driving clipped another car's door mirror with mine, and all it did was remove a minute amount of the colour-coded surface.
The car runs OK for about 1 hour then I have a loss of power at road junctions etc, sometimes stops and starts first time, sometimes starts after it has cooled down. Have changed plugs, points and leads went Ok on long run then had the same problem again. Read more
Thanks for letting us know what fixed the problem.
Hello all, can anyone help ?
I have a Mondeo ST24 2.5 V6, I moved the car off the drive one day and all was fine, got up the following day and the car wouldnt run, i have a Scanguage so I used that and it threw up P0353 error which is Ignition Coil "C" Primary/Secondary Circuit Malfunction, I replaced the coil with a brand new genuine Ford part, also changed the leads and plugs whilst the UIM was off.
I fired the car up and all was good, no misfire and it ran nice and smooth. I left the car idling for about 45 mins to charge the battery, in that time the fans came on 4 times. On the 4th time the car started to misfire again. I ran the Scanguage again and it brought up the P0353 code again.
What can cause the P0353 error to occur ? does the "Primary/Secondary Circuit Malfunction" relate to the actual coil pack itself or the whole circuit ie, earth strap ?
Can anyone offer any advice as to where to start as I am lost now !!
Any help would be greatfully appreciated.
Pete. Read more
Hello,
We bought a '06 1.25 Fiesta Zetec in June 2008, and have just started getting problems with the gearbox (I think) as its not going into 3rd properly.
The car has done 10,500 miles, and was serviced at Ford Evans Halshaw dealer I bought it from in June '08 on 9,200 miles. This should have been its second service, it has missed its first year. The ford books say the car must be serviced every 12 months or 12,000 miles which ever comes first.
I went to an exFord dealership (recently gave up the franchise) and they said the second service re-validates the warranty so the car is still covered until April 09 when it was first registered (3 year warranty). Does anyone know this for a fact? or know where I can check?
Its also worth asking the question... is it possible to check a car's service history? It may have had a first service but the book was not stamped.
Thanks in advance! Read more
If you get any problems claiming on the warranty (I doubt they'll check) then take it back to the supplying dealer, if they're a Ford main dealer they should not be selling nearly new cars that aren't under warranty.
I'm just ordering a new Zafira and have been offered 'Gold Cover 3-Year Interior and Exterior Protection' for an extra 199 pounds by the main dealer. Does anyone think this is money well spent? Are there cheaper alternatives from an independent (non-Vauxhall firm) as good or better, and do they invalidate guarantees? How does such paintwork protection affect one's normal cleaning/polishing? All advice appreciated. Read more
Thanks for the advice from captain chaos and Victorbox. It is much as I suspected; better to do a decent job myself with Autoglym (that I already have), than risk an expensive botch-job by amateurs. I will certainly save my 199. Over and out.
FIAT are to take a 35% stake in Chrysler, according an online business report:
'The Italian car company will get a 35 percent ownership stake in Chrysler and an opportunity to bring its Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands back to the United States through Chrysler?s dealership network. In exchange, Fiat will bring Chrysler what it needs to be a viable player in the evolving United States market, with its fuel-efficient engine technology and the engineering that goes into its small cars.'
Interesting. Chrysler has a terrible reputation in Europe and FIAT has a terrible reputation in America. A match made in heaven!
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Highlighted yesterday.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=71306
Please continue discussion in that thread please. DD.
Hi everyone,
I have just purhcased a used 2001 Ford Focus 1.6 zetec (38k miles) and it is covered by a comprehensive warranty but it is a distance away and I want to see if I can sort the problem out myself without having to go back to the place I bought it from and hope that someone might have a suggestion as to what the problem is.
About 70% of the time it takes a while for my engine to fire up from turning the ignition key. Sometimes, it fires up instantly as soon as I turn the key, other times it takes up to 8 seconds of the ignition turning over before the engine fires up. It doesnt seem to matter if it is hot or cold; sometimes this happens when the engine is already warm and sometimes it will start instantly in very cold weather. Does anyone know what might be causing the problem? Gates of Ford reckoned that it is most likely to be the ECU needing a calibration but then again they might just be trying to get £80 out of me for doing practically nothing (a computer reset) which might not solve the problem.
Thank you for your time.
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so do you think that the ECU needs calibrating then and that Ford are correct? It usually takes between 4-7 revolutions before the engine fires up but sometimes only 1-2.
Browse
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.