August 2009
I found a genuine reason to do this the other day.
My brother has a Civic auto with all the toys, including auto/manual gearbox.
Trying to reverse off the parking spot beside the caravan, it felt like it was bogged down.
The surface is loose gravel and the car needed quite a bit of right foot to get it going, although the wheels didn't spin.
Turn off the traction control and it rolled off under light throttle as you would expect.
I wonder what the traction control was trying to do before I turned it off?
Brother later told me he's had a similar experience on wet grass.
Are there any other reasons for turning off the traction control?
Read more
Hi All,
The first service (12 months rather that 18,000 miles) on my SAAB 9-5 HOT Auto Estate is due in Sept.
Any idea what the cost is?
Regards.
FTF Read more
See HJ's FAQ No.66:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=89
One thing I notice HJ hasn't mentioned however is that the service must be carried out by a VAT registered garage for the warranty to still be valid.
I had the misfortune to have to do a Yeovil to Cardiff return trip yesterday and got caught in the congestion on the M5. I was expecting it to be heavy going due to the summer holidays but it turned out to be far worse than I expected. I discovered later that the northbound carriageway had been closed due to an accident (J15 I think) which though well north of my route probably explains the northbound backlog, but it was equally bad traveling south.
Anyone any idea why it was so bad, I mean was it the start of the 'Birmingham fortnight' (does that still exist) for example ...
... and can anyone suggest a good website for predicting bad travel days/times?
Cheers.
FTF
Read more
Left Penzances today at 10:00am. Got home here in north surrey at 17:45. Many traffic pinch points. SatNav has traffic avoidance, which on two occasions took us through very narrow single track lanes and small villages which added more time in my view. Kept wondering what time I would have done it in sitting in the traffic. Some of these villages have crazy traffic calming causing additional jams that I was trying to avoid.
I always try to avoid, when I can, the A303 past Stone Henge. For some unknown reason the SatNav took me right past it. A traffic pinch point in both directions due to rubber neckers slowing to look at a pile of rubble in a field :-)
Why can't the HA erect screens along this section near to SH to get the traffic moving. If these Neanderthals need to visit the thing, then go and see it properly.
Having slipped down some stone steps yesterday injuring 5 vertibrae, the drive was rather unpleasant I can tell you, hence the rant.
I have been driving for over 10 years consistently and was pretty much with the same insurance broker for about 7 years. As we had no need for 2 cars when we had our first child I sold my car and got my wife to put me on her insurance as a named driver. I have been a named driver on her policy for 3 and a half years without any claims whatsoever. When I changed jobs I needed a new car for work so bought a little run around. I stayed with the same insurance provider that I had been a named driver on but they said I had to start my no claims again from scratch as they didnt recognise the no claims as a named driver, which leads me to 2 questions....where has my no claims gone, and whats the point of having named driver insurance if you get sweet FA for it in the future?? Read more
No different to auntie Ethel who does 1500 miles a year for sunday shopping ?
Hi all,
Not much point to this post other than to say that despite all of the Gatsos, high fuel prices and petty law enforcement there are still occasional moments of greatness in this country, today I finally got to take my dad's Z4 for a short (third party insured only, hence careful) drive.
Wow.
Amazing.
The exhaust tone was music, the throttle response was quick, the steering and handling were sublime.
As per Jeremy on Top Gear when discussing the Aston Martin, it makes me sad that such moments of motoring greatness will shortly be consigned to the history books.
I want one, now. Too bad that for the foreseeable I will have to make do with polishing it lol.
Read more
I think it's great that Blue got such a thrill from driving the car even if in a restrained manner.
I don't know about the music aspect of the exhaust note but it can be more entertaining to me than the radio - then again at times that's not hard.
Steve.
I was cleaning one today and I knew alot of people had recently been slating them when a question arose about one. Car I cleaned was a 55 plate, well used 60,000 mile example. It was a bit battered but the actual build quality seemed very good, infact nothing was loose, everything worked and it was showing no visable wear inside whatsoever, not so much as a loose thread on the seats.
I then was talking to the owner and I asked him if he had any problems outside of servicing. Not one, not so much as a warning light, just routine maintainance and he said even that wasnt expensive.
By HJs cbc reckoning the car should be a pile of bolts on his drive, but it is anything but.
It was a petrol with 6-spd box, no idea if thats a more reliable combination, but engine sounded sweet.
Just seemed very much at odds with the cars reputation and somewhat puzzling if you believe what you read. Read more
I remember a metro match
they always had a scab coming through where the stickers were
nasty things
Hi, Can anyone help me with this.
The car with the spanner through it light comes on as i am driving along, I have notice its when i am slowing down or hardley pressing the accelarator. It somethmes gose out, but i have had to completely stop switch off the engine and then its ok (till the next time). I have not got any fault codes, But will try and get it diagnosed. cheers Tom. Read more
I have not got any fault codes But will try and get it diagnosed.
That would be the best move. It beats guesswork which was never a reliable method of fault diagnosis.
Not sure if this will work with your car - it doesn't work on all Vauxhalls for some reason, but you could try the pedal trick.
Brake and throttle pedal to the floor then turn on the ignition (but DON'T start the engine). If it works then the car/spanner light will blink the code(s)
Full info at:- www.corsa-c.co.uk/forum/archive/index.php/t-134139...l
My car is the 110 BHP HDi with 90k on the clock. Yesterday when my wife was travelling she stopped at the services at the half way point of a 150 mile journey home. When she rejoined the motorway the car lost all power and she had to get to the hard shoulder sharpish. She then left it for a while before trying again. In first and second she was fine but when she changed to third it died again. She left it for a while and then managed three miles at normal speed and it then happened again and she was recovered. I took it out last night and it happened twice so I MoT style max revved it and it travelled for about 6 miles with no trouble. This morning I cleaned the air filter and drained the fuel filter. I then revved it again and took it out. It went for about three miles before cutting out. I then came home with it cutting out anything between 100m and then a full two miles home.
Sometimes the anti pollution fault comes on and sometimes it doesn't. When it does it does not go into limp mode and the ESP light doesn't come on like it normally does when I've had an engine light. Does anyone have any ideas of any quick wins that I can try before putting into a garage on Monday. I would normally try and fix this myself over however long it would take but need to have it fixed for next Saturday to visit relatives so will need it to be repaired by then.
Thanks Alan Read more
Got it back yesterday. It turned out that the pipe on the inlet to the turbo had gone soft at one end and was sucking itself flat when it started to get warm. This stopped all air getting into the turbo and the engine was cutting out.
Hallo,
First post here so hope in the right place
Saw a V reg Polo today (my potential first car!), liked it, had a local mechanic have a quick look at it and drive round the block - other than needing a couple of new tyres soon and some new brake pads, all looked rosie.
Left a £50 deposit (overall price is £1300) - said to vendor, would need overnight to do an HPI check and pick up funds etc.
Check the HPI ... and it says it is a Category C write off.
During our meeting, I had asked the vendor if it had ever been in an accident, he said no.
The mechanic also didn't spot anything that suggested there had been an accident.
But as a newbie to the world of motoring, feeling a bit worried, and not sure to go ahead or to get deposit back (vendor said it was HPI clear, but if it didn't clear it, he would give money back).
It also said 6 previous owners ... where vendor had told me two.
Any thoughts or advice please!? Feel a bit out of my depth!
Thanks in advance. Read more
>>cat C could be the smallest of damage....
I'd disagree - surely that's cat D:
"A damaged vehicle which the insurer has decided not to repair, but which could be repaired and returned to the road".
I understand cat C to be:
"An extensively damaged vehicle which the insurer has decided not to repair, but which could be repaired and returned to the road".
The key word for me is extensive.
Probably a silly question, but how do you tell a 90HP from a 110HP Berlingo?
{header amended to include question being asked} Read more
Probably the same reason the Ford guys didn't know the difference between the 1.6 100 ps and 1.6 115 ps TI-VCT petrol engines when they first came out, no one had told them, they know now of course.
Having said that it would make life easier for everyone if the manufacturers would put a hard coded signature on the engine rather than a sticky label. It's all to do with saving cost and using the same engine with various configurations of engine management software which in turn produces differing power/torque characteristics and hence differing prices options.
Browse
.jpg)
Absolutely! There's nothing more satisfying than pulling a nice, fluid powerslide on a wide left-hand bend (though clearly it's best to avoid it when there's other traffic around). ESP off is also good for traffic-light burn-ups. A mate of mine has a green Merc W123 estate with a modern E320CDI engine and the local Max Power contingent always assume he's going to be really slow off the line and he just presses moderately hard on the throttle and, whoosh, goodbye Mr. Chav. Certainly, tracks and ESP don't go together...