August 2009
Hi, with the recent heavy rain my W plate 406 HDI seems to have developed a leak. I suspect that it might be from the passenger side top of windscreen / door area as the headliner is damp there.
It also sounds as though the passenger side sill is full of water, I can hear it sloshing around when driving.
I was thinking of putting some silicone sealant around the area the water may be coming in, would that be a good idea or should I be seeking professional advice first?
Does anybody know if there are any drain holes that could be block up so the body work is not draining? I've had a feel under the sill but couldn't find anything.
Any help much appreciated as I suppose this will only get worse.
Thanks
Nick Read more
Timing belt went on my Son's Xantia at the weekend, while we are still waiting to hear the extent of the damage, I think it might be simpler to look at getting a reconditioned engine.
Last time I did this there were a lot of cowboys in this business.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to get a recon 16 valve 1.8 engine for a Xantia please? Read more
you need an FER member nothing less will do if you are going full recon route
personally on this age i would be looking for a rear shunted doner vehicle if i had to go the sentiment route
Does Nissan know what they're doing?
A Focus-sized hatchback - £20,000 approx - 100 mile range (presumably as accurate as "combined" mpg figures) - 8-hours charging (16 hours in the US due to the 110v supply there - and that's supposedly their biggest market)....and the batteries leased at £100 per month.
Obviously will sell to the "early adopters", psuedo-greens, and z-list celebrities - who else? Read more
Not sure I believe that argument. People buy cars now with "what if" in mind.
"What if I get stuck in the snow I need 4WD."
Some people may but some people may not,
Hmmm but once people take up electric cars in any numbers and the tax revenue
from petrol & diesel drops off where are the government going to get their money
from?
I'd been in favour of taxing mobile phones (oh they already did that with 3g). Tax funding changes all the time, is it really sensible to get so much from one area, no.
I'm undecided on the whole charging up at home idea how many people put a
car in their garage on your street - 10%? How are all the others going
to charge their cars?
Japaneese Kei car rules are so sensible we should have them adapted in the UK.
>>Can the national grid really provide enough power for charging several
million cars up every few days?
Yes, indeed but I'm sure charging can be designed to take place when demand is lower then usual.
After a long absence from England myself and swmbo are off on a weeks break down to the Cotswolds on the first Sunday in September leaving our place 30 miles west of Glasgow heading for Oxford for our first night, we plan to leave at around 6 am I feel that as I have not been over the border on any motorways or busy roads for years is there any thing to look out for, places to avoid, is the M6 toll worth it on a Sunday around 1pm. Looking forward to your replies. Read more
...and down the M40?....
More direct route for most of the Cotswolds is down the M5 and pull a left at either Tewkesbury or Cheltenham.
A contradiction in terms????
www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/item.htm?id=6665
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It's often said that Porsche started with an inherently unstable car and then spent a huge amount of money and effort over the year making trying to defy the laws of physics.
With 'intelligent' cars, maybe a high-performance version of the Reliant Robin could be created. All it would need is computer controlled gyroscopes and a system that pumps water rapidly between ballast tanks on either side of the car to adjust its centre of mass so that they don't need to add a 4th wheel!!!
Hi,
I've just had a leak in my A/C diagnosed via a nitrogen test as being on a small pipe between the condenser and drier (seen with my own eyes). I want to replace the condenser and drier myself and then take the system for evacuation/oil and gas recharge.
Can any one advise if I need any special tools etc? I am handy with spanners so I can dismantle and unbolt things no problem, but will I be able to join up the pipe work to the new condenser and drier without soldering/special tools etc?
Thanks. Read more
I ventured £50 on a day trip, Dover to Boulogne, on the new LD Lines Norman Arrow high speed ferry; this fare was for 2 passengers and small hatchback, return.
The boat is excellent, being about 2 months in service, I think. Very spacious passenger acommodation with airline seats amd drop-down tables. Three shops on board, one doing hot and cold drinks, pre-packed sandwiches, filled rolls, croissants and panninis. There was a microwave for customer use to heat the paninis. Another shop selling papers and magazines, motoring accessories, sweets and chocolate, tobacco products and, of course, the indispensible "Princess on Board" stickers! Towards the stern there was a bar selling hot and cold drinks, wine and beer.
Check-in was, frankly, laborious and slow. Produce one's on line booking form, staff then print a 'ticket' and a boarding pass and hand write a hanger to go on the rear view mirror.
Ticket is taken off one 100 yards further on and one drives on board. There are two decks, a tall lower one which takes trucks and anything tall or with a roof box. The layout is 'U' shaped so one drives on, round the U and finish up facing the rear, ready to be first off.
The Upper deck is not nearly as high, one ramp, leading up to it from the lower deck and the same U layout. The problem, certainly on the top deck was that many cars did not have enough 'lock' to get round the U without making a three point turn and cars are parked so close that the passengers have to get out before the driver completes the parking. If you are on the top deck you are likely to one of the last off the boat
Crossing was smoth on a flat calm sea and took the advertised 60 minutes but left 25 minutes late. Check in at Boulogne was shambolic. There were three manned check in booths but no laid out 'lanes'. This resulted in about 5 queues forming to get to them and a lot of bad tempered barging in, hooting, fist waving and the like.
Auchan on the outskirts of Boulogne, inland across the M way was excellent and I took a quick run up to Calais to collected pre-ordered drinks from Sainsbury's. They accept an order on-line, phone you if there is anything they can't supply, and it is in a trolley ready to pay for and take away which works very well.
Overall the route is good value for money but loading and off-loading, thru the stern only - not drive thru, is slow and laborious. one spends as long checking in, boarding and getting off than one does on the crossing. If going to Boulogne and/or the fares suit one's plans I would say OK but it hasn't converted me from the Tunnel or a more conventional ferry.
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The homeward cabin (Dutch Ship) had a very strange stain on one of the benches that doubled as a bed - I didn't sleep in that one but if it had been in a Hotel I was staying in I would have asked to be moved...
The other day I was in a queue of traffic behind an exceptionally unroadworthy vehicle.
It was an elderly Bedford CF single-car transporter piled high with a precarious load of scrap metal. Both tyres on the twin nearside rear were flat and gradually comig apart as the driver struggled on with the engine revving in a low gear to get enough power to keep moving. Because of the shaking from the burst rear tyres, all the scrap metal looked like it was working loose under the two bits of rope holding it in place. The rear number plate was illegible because it was covered in exhaust soot.
Now, we all experience things going wrong with vehicles and sometimes have to limp along for a distance, but..!!
Putting 2 and 2 together, the truck turned off down a main road in the direction of a big scrapyard - about 5 miles away. My guess is that it was a one-way journey for the truck too and I'd love to have known whether or not it was taxed, MOT'd and insured!!!!
I can assure you this wasn't the Top Gear team on one of their stunts. Read more
I got in a huge queue a few weeks ago on a busy south-bound N route in central France, much used by lorries.
The cause of the queue was a five-axle artic, presumably a 44-tonner, that was so overloaded the curtain-sided trailer was visibly bowing in the middle. I've never seen anything quite like that before. It was just about crawling along with all its brakes smoking from the mild up-and-down nature of the road. Amazingly, it was on Monaco number plates.
Needless to say, on a road that is usually noted for gendarmes with radar guns, not one was to be seen...
Fresh news from mainland China: A drunken driver took off well over the limit, had no driving licence / insurance, crashed into 5 cars and killed 4 people. The highest court in the land has just sentenced him to death. Many folks over there think it's harsh, but not unsurprisingly, the relations of those he killed.
If I find an English language link, will post.
Reactions ? I'm with the court on this one. Read more
They're probably running short of organ donors ...
Hello
What tyres to avoid and what tyres recommended ( branded ie goodyear uniroyal)
Considering Uniroyal Rainexpert and Kleber Viaxer or Continetal Eco Contact 3
Tyre size 165/65/13 .
Need a tyre that will be available in 2/3 yers time and easily supplied in case of sidewall
puncture / damage .
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Our low use aygo has conti Eco 3s, if we get 15000 out of the fronts I'll be amazed. Vredestein always get good reports and are sensible prices.
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Hi Steve,
Thanks for the advice and the links.
Cheers Nick