August 2009
Having recently bought a classic car, it looks as though I will have to get used to the idea of my hands getting dirty.
Or not - as the case may be! Where can I buy surgical type gloves to keep my hands clean? Read more
So i went to a kwik fit garage to get my tracking sorted as the car was pulling to the left. They completed this without a hitch but when i was driving it around after it was still pulling to the left. I went back and they stated that the wheel alignment was not the problem then, and it must be something else.
I was wondering if anyone else can provide an explanation for the pulling to one side? ive also checked the tyre pressure and its all good Read more
if you check the posts of Felics you will note he bought the car a
few weeks ago and now it wont start so its not pulling to one side
while parked up his drive
Ah well that's fixed the problem then...heh
a good case of buying from a dealer is a good idea i would say
Well I don't really trust dealers either, caveat emptor when buying a car. There are a high percentage of crap cars out there and I don't know many people who say.....I'll bend over and be rogered, they normally try to sell it on and roger someone else.
I see cases of bad driving in all makes of cars, and I am sometimes guilty myself. However it seems to me that X5's are more likely to be driven badly than any other model of car. This incident happened today.
I was a passenger in SWMBO's car at the junction of the A1 & M25 and stopped at the lights. Ahead of us was an Alfa, and behind us a long queue of cars. A Black BMW X5 drew up inside us, in the "must turn left" lane to the service area.
As the lights changed, the BMW moved off sharply and, instead of turning left as was compulsory, swerved in front of the Alfa. Obviously the X5 driver had seen the queue and thought that he was far to important to wait his turn and had barged in very dangerously. The only reason that there wasn't an accident is that the Alfa backed off. No doubt the BMW driver felt that he had "won".
Before the incident, I mentioned casually to SWMBO that I expected something like it to happen. I am no Sherlock Holmes, but the car was the full cliche of the "pleased-with-himself" X5 driver i.e. Private number beginning with the letters "X5" which were illegally spaced , Privacy Glass rear AND front (also illegal), and the obligatory black exterior colour.
I frequently notice X5's being driven like this, or an inch from your bumper, or diving from the outside land of the motorway into the exit lanes, or joining the motorway and going straight to the outside lane.
Why is it that X5's seem to be more prone to this sort of bad behavour than other cars?
(Note: I am not stereotyping ALL X5 drivers, just making an observation that the majority of them seem to me to be this way) Read more
The Mercedes Sprinter van that passed me on the M25 a while back must have been doing 95 because I was ' making progress '. I got out of its way smartish.
I have only been in an X5 once in Doha, Qatar where it seemed to fit in with all the other 4 x 4's , the Cayennes and most of all the Toyota Land Cruisers, Hummers and anything else that looks like a truck on wheels.
I have seen some frightening driving there , much more so than in the UK and I do not scare easily.
Large slow lorries with oil equipment and Macho Arab drivers racing everywhere do not mix well.
It may be coincidental to the number of 4 x 4 's in the country but according FCO guide for travellers you are 30 times more likely to die in a road accident in Qatar than in the UK.
Mrs Nsar, despite two speed awareness courses, seems impervious to their message and just got a new NIP for 37 in a 30.
I loathe sat navs as is well documented here, but which is best at warning of the location of cameras, as this seems the only way to avoid any more.
Cheers Read more
less than 50p per litre
Ten bob a litre!
We all had kittens when it looked as if juice might one day reach ten bob a gallon, like in France...
Hi,
Got an email from hmrc.gov advising I have tax refund (I fill in on-line) of about £350.
I click the link in the email to an hmrc.gov address it asks me to click the logo of my bank, which I do and it goes to the nat west on-line log-in page, but something about the look of wasn't quite right and I noticed the url is something like go-electrician.ro etc..
I assume it's a scam and would want others to be aware. I will email hmrc. Read more
Well all 16 new doors (yes 16) have now been painted - in the event they were given two coats of Dulux undercoat and then a double top-coat of Dulux Satinwood - expertly applied by brush by professionals. They look really good now.
Hi, my friend purchased a 2006 vectra diesel automatic with 100000 miles recently, after 2 months the gearbox has developed a fault & will not change gear, vauxhall have quoted £3000 to replace it.
The independant dealer gave her 3 months warranty & they have said they will pay the maximum £1000 as the warranty is limited, but she has to pay the rest her self.
The dealer is rufusing to pay the whole amount as when she bought it she was told she would be covered upt £1000 per claim on the major partslabour. The dealer said the fault was not present when she bought it & they have a 3 page reportchecklist on the vehicle condition etc (down by themselves) whcih confirms the car was all good
What can she do? any ideas?
thank you.
Shouting amended in the subject line Read more
oldnotbold is correct..
2 months and failed gearbox = money back or FREE repair.
Period. No argument. It's the law.
What are the pros and cons of each and overall which do you reckon is the best on 2002-2006/7 models? Read more
Just to add that the last 2 recalls which were quite a while ago now !! the car came back valeted with £10 fuel added to the fuel tank !! and the next time valeted with a bottle of champagne to compensate for the inconvenience
My car has "Ghia X" on its boot. I've had ones with "GTi", "LX", "GLX" "T5", "320", "525", "Design" and so on. You get the picture.
Now the current one is a Mondeo estate. I can understand why Ford would put "Mondeo" on it and even more so why they would put "Ford" on it. Free advertising.
What I don't really get is why they put sub range badges on cars. I guess they must think people attach a value to them. Not sure if I do. I don't think I mind having the extra badges really, although they do collect dirt but I wouldn't really mind if they said "cucumber" or "ferret".
I do care what spec my car is and there are certain toys and setups I rather like but I'm blowed if I can see any point in having a badge to advertise that.
Do the manufacturers really think anyone cares ? I suppose they must or they wouldn't do it.
Probably just me again.........
;-) Read more
I saw a fantastic bit of humour yesterday, driving in Swindon I saw a Porsche 911, mid 1990s vintage (I'm not expert but I guess you'd call it the last of the 'classic shape', probably circa 1996 but it had a private plate I think).
On the back it had the usual Carrera badge and next to it was affixed a VW TDi (red i) badge.
Made me smile in the traffic jam.....
I had my cam belt replaced last week on my Focus as a precaution - I have owned two cars in the past where the belt has failed and I know all to well the damage to the engine and the potential costs.
So...
3 days later - rattle from the engine. I had a look and found one of the bolts on the water pump pulley hanging loose. Took the car back to the garage ( a trusted independent) who apologised and tightened them all up for me.
Then....
5 days later, starting the car up on the drive, a big noise and a clunk.....I am not a happy chappy at at all. Towed back to the garage - and he didn't look to happy either. He's had a look at it and I have just been told the crankshaft pulley bolt has sheared, there's damage to the valves, won't know more until the head is off etc..
So the bottom line is...who carries the can for this one? I have read somewhere that its Ford recommendation for this engine that the bolt should be replaced when the timing belt is changed.
Anybody know anything about this Read more
I've used the same guy for the last 15 years - I haven't had any problems with him in the past.
I found an information sheet on the internet from a company called Dayco. It says....
"FORD Fiesta/Fusion 1.2 16v, 1.4 16v, 1.6 16v. Focus 1.4 16v, 1.6 16v
Crankshaft bolt replacement
When the timing belt and associated components are being replaced the crankshaft bolt
has to be removed to gain access to the synchronous drive.
The old crankshaft bolt MUST NOT be reused but replaced with a new bolt.
Dayco`s timing belt KTB396 includes the belt 94671 (117SP+220H) and the tensioner but
Dayco are unable to include the new crankshaft bolt to the kit due to the differing length
variations available.
The Crankshaft bolt has to be sourced from the main dealer"
I haven't found any other references.
New episode on BBC at 9pm tonight. I haven't seen it, but know some of the content. I'm reliably informed that I've avoided the camera (threatening the cameraman probably helped :) ). There's one incident I'm particularly interested in and will be watching with interest on what the BBC show and how accurate their commentary is.
Still don't agree with them filming us, but that's way above my pay grade. Read more
Interesting how they again closed the road for a considerable period of time to deal with the fatal. They also built a computer simulation of the crash.
Yet the cause was, surely, obvious? Guy stole a powerful car and crashed it. In the process he got killed. As he was partially ejected from the vehicle I presume he can't have been wearing his seatbelt, but that wasn't mentioned.
It also seemed immediately likely to me that the car was stolen - no seatbelt and the passenger did a runner. Therefore the ID in the car was likely to be someone else's. Was it some kind of sick joke that they didn't check the guys's coat for ID (finding his prison ID card for Goodness sake) until after they'd visited the RK's house?
Browse
Glad you like them.
I use mine for anything where you might get noxious chemicals on the skin like painting the shed with spirit based preservative, cleaning drains, handling oily parts e.t.c...