August 2009
i'm looking at buying a secondhand transit, about 4-5 years old.
i would like an ex bt one as i know how very well they are looked after and they are quite low milage BUT they only have the 85hp diesel, sluggish and noisy.
then i saw people are selling ex cop and council 2.3 dual fuel petrol/lpg.
my dilema is do i:
get an ex plod one that has been lugging mutts around and used as a mobile battering ram with 120,000 on the clock for under 3K?
OR
do i get an ex council one with 40K on the clock for an extra grand?
i've not heard anything about ex council motors, good or bad.
my council fellas never seem to be in any kind of a rush.
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hi all.
i have a renault clio, cambelt snapped, bent 2 valves, done all and refit all, all worked fine until i noticed the directional arrows on the cambelt were going the wrong way upon engine running! so i opted to remove cambelt and put back on correct way, wish i never!
somhow on doing this i refit cambelt ,started engine or tried to start engine and it sounded same as first instance of bent valve syndrome! so a weekend late ri removed the head a second time and yes found 4 bent valves! how did this happen i wonder?
before i refit all is the correct procedure to align top and bottom timing marks, put on bottom pully/crank ,lock the flywheel, then tighten the pully crank bolt ,then put on cambelt? alline top on camshaft sprocket, then turn engine by hand with socket on camshaft and then just hope for the best?
what is the correct way to lock the flywheel while trying to tighten the lower crank/pully bolt?
thankyou.
any help appreciated.
{subject header amended to hopefully make less vague and to include a brief summary of question being asked} Read more
Are the gears 'keyed' to the shafts?
I know on the Ford Zetec engines you lock the crank, then the camshafts, loosen the cam gears, fit the belt then lock up the cam gears....
could be you are going the wrong way, re reading timing marks....
My S8 is playing up again (see previous post re missfire). Now it refuses to start, which it used to be excellent at. I have to crank it five or six times, it slowly starts to fire and when it catches it staggers and missses and then it might die after a couple of seconds. If I engage drive or reverse to soon it dies. Once it is going it is fine, but every now and then it will still miss.
HELP
Thanks
Daedalus Read more
Yes, we are driving there again in mid September where it is expected that a further stick of unexploded handbags will be returned to England.
With the main mission completed and following another cruise up the river, I will be free to look at war sites, battlefields and so on.
Any suggestions? or is it a case of `don`t mention the war`
Last trip 5 years ago. Read more
Martin. Yes, the SR 500 was a Yamaha single. Good fun, but not really suited to a long trip like that - with its upright riding position. It was torture trying to hold 80mph for hours on end with the wind pressure. Winter weather too, with snow on the hills through Germany.
brrr - never again!
I have been wondering if you can help me with a solution to get my drivers door open, as the locking Cdog onto the door pillar u is not releasing.Everything operates normally central locking , internal & external handles & the key operated deadlock but cannot open the door, I have managed to release the top of internal door lining & have then removed external door lever which gives a viewing window where the mechanism can be operated with a screwdriver but still cannot open dooor to access the three retaining screws which are hidden in front of the door pillar until the door is opened.
I would appreciate your advice on how or best way to open the door so the locking mechanism can be replaced
Thanks & Regards Colin Allen Read more
can you elaborate on how your removed the lock shroud?
I have same problem with zafira rear door. child lock is on and have no way of getting at lock mechanism even with door card off :(
SQ
On my MOT brake test, one rear wheel locked up on the maximum force test at about half the reading of the other one, actually less than the force shown at that wheel for the handbrake. The front brakes were about as expected and the total force was still far above the required 50%. The shop guy was trying to convince me that the test was borderline because of the "imbalance", although the actual imbalance test only showed a 9% difference at the back and 1% at the front. Short of grease on the roller, what could cause one rear wheel to lock up at such low force? Read more
No, nearside and offside discs look and feel the same. The only difference I can see on the calipers is the little dark section of the handbrake cable where it emerges from its casing a few inches from where it is attached to the caliper.
My wife's had two new front tyres fitted to get it through the MOT.
I've driven it since and it just feels strange. Nothing in partic; steering doesn't return to the centre for example, when you go around a bend or turn at a junction.
Am I just imagining it or could there be something wrong like the wrong tyres fitted. There's no judder or shaking at speed.
Tyres are Kleber Dynaxer 165/70. Never heard of them before now. Read more
The Kleber Dynaxer HP2's are decent tyres. Kleber is a very well known make of old and a subsiduary in some way of Michelin. I have chosen them for both my cars (ie over Michelins from Costco), they are reasonably priced (at ATS at least), they hang on & wear well, are quiet, stay in balance and wet grip is very good. Oh and I think I recall that dealers fix punctures on them for free.
Suggest that if the problem is not better in a few miles, try swap of tyres front to rear or take the car back in case there is something bent or amiss.
A bit of lateral thinking:
You can get quad bikes that are street legal (under the quadricycle rules I assume)
How about something like a small Westfield with a little diesel (Lombardini). How light could it be made ? Could it be light enough to be a quadricycle ? The mpg would be amazing ... the performance would probably be rubbish but it would make a fun runabout ...
Please discuss ... Read more
Colleague at work is getting one of these
www.fasttoys.co.uk/RL500-2009.htm
or something very similar.
Apparently he needs a "ground anchor" to chain it to for insurance purposes...
He's mad, BTW.
Apologies if this has been posted before - I haven't seen it. I thought my car looked impressively squashed when the tree fell on it ......
tinyurl.com/m3psps
(It does take a while to load) Read more
Deepwidth following your e-mail I remembered it was posted last year.
Rob
My new policy started 00.01 today the 16th, checked on line with MID, car not on data base.
I have a tempory cover note for the first month and receipt from card payment.
I cant contact the broker till 08.30 Monday morning, if I am stopped by plod will the documents be enough to stop them seizing the car, they will have the same problem, the brokers dont open till Monday morning.
Main problem is I work in a rural location and need the car tonight to get to work, and to take swmbo to work in morning...Help.............
Made make/model non-specific. Read more
keep them well out of sight. some thieving sod will think they are worth money.
you could use photocopys. plod never had a problem with them from me. if they do want the original doc's you will normally have 7 days to present them at the cop shop.
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yes, i know how very well they are maintained. i used to assess them for bodywork.
one mechanic was fitting a brand new gearbox, from ford, NOT recon, to a van six months from disposal just because it popped out of 4th sometimes.
the problem with the 85hp trannies is they are underpowered. someone said you could up them to 100hp but then didn't tell me how.