September 2009
King of Morocco wanted it done properly so he hired a Hercules transport plane to take it to Newport Pagnell.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindian...l
I am sure a local indie could have saved him some cash Read more
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone can help. My Mark 1 diesel 1.8 Mondeo died on the road the other day. The power started dropping off as I was driving. Foot to the floor I was changing down the gears but there was nothing there. I noticed white smoke pouring out the back. I managed to get it off the road and as I turned into the junction the engine died altogether and the oil and batt light came on. The car wouldn't start again from this point on.
I presumed the head gasket had gone, but when the recovery guy came he said he thought it was the turbo unit having failed as there seemed to be oil around the turbo unit rather than anywhere else around the head. Does anyone have any ideas which it is most likely to be. I was hoping to change the gasket myself at the weekend, but since he said this I am unsure.
I was quoted by a garage at being at least £400-500 in either case. The car itself isn't worth that, so if it isn't something I can sort myself then I'll probably have to just scrap it.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks.
Read more
Have you lost water. ? Regards Peter
is it possible to turn off the dip beam lights that automatically turn on when the car starts.I beleive that volvo dealers can do it by resetting part of the cars ecu,however they are likely to charge £40 plus . Is their a DIY option.The function seems to irritate other drivers who often flash thier headlights.Tony Read more
if you read the hand book it tells you how to switch off day running lights, also on volvos the daylight running lights are dim dip so will not dazzle other road users , this can be seen when you switch on head lamps at night they get a lot brighter, so beam adjusters will make no differane
I suppose these are the people we are all paying for with our increasing premiums.
The point that strikes me the most is the information that if you are caught without insurance you get six points and a £200 fine. That's cheaper than the premium for most boy racers so it pays to not pay
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8272054.stm Read more
incorporate a basic third party insurance charge on fuel.
Makes no sense. So the 17 year old hooligan who driving like a moron out of the supermarket car park tonight, but only does a few thousand miles a year, pays a fraction of the cost of his 3rd party insurance than me, due to the mileage I do.
If you want to incorporate the charge into another product that the uninsured use a greater proportion of. Why not alcopops, tattoos, king size rizzlas, knock off Burberry, Nova dress up kits...
Hi there Just joined this forum. I have recently purchased a 2001 51 plate Corsa (not sure whether Corsa B or C - for my daughters to start learning to drive in. Great little buggy and goes well. Mechanically sailed through the MOT and bodywork great.
I am aware that there is a noticeable 'tick' all the time when running - not the usual engine noise I hasten to add, that from its location I would take to be the timing chain. I am aware that these Corsa'a use the Suzuki engine and that these can be prone to have the oil jet that lubricates the chain block up.
It has been suggested that I should flush the engine (or add an oil flush to the oil before changing it. This I am told should help clear the jet and allow full lubrication of the chain and get rid of te tick.
Is this good advice or not? certainly don't want to leave it till it fails. Had that on a Mark 1 Escort as a youngster and that was a major engine rebuild that took me several weeks and painful learning.
Whats the best advice - opinion on this. By the way the car has done just over 50K - not bad for its age and I'm pretty certain thats genuine. Servicing has been at the 20,000 points but not at the date points so its a little scarce.
Thanks in advance Read more
there pretty rattly engines as there 3 cyl
Low speed vibration yes, rattly no.
I have not really posted much lately because there is nothing really to post about but I have made a milestone today at 2000 miles. I kept my last car for just over 200 miles :p.
It really feels like its my car now and it feels like I had it longer than I have. I also seem to like it more the more I use it. I have set myself a target not to go near a garage with it until MOT time in Feb but I am not sure if that plan will work! Also contary to changing car thread about 6 weeks ago I have decided now not to plan for a new car and just run this car into the ground. I won't let it look like an old banger so I will keep it till either it fails the MOT badly, needs too much welding, the engine dies or I crash it. They are nicer and probably less troublesome cars out there but changing will cost quite a bit more than what I have now so there is just no point. I know my car has not used a single bit of oil in the 2000 miles I have had it, not used any coolant or anything which is more than can be said for some unknown car.
I also find my engine perfect for my needs, as its 65bhp on a light weight car and it can also do 45-50mpg quite easily as well as offering very cheap insurance. Its very rare to find a 16v late 90's supermini which is also cheaper to insure than slower 8vs.
In the mean time I have been spending a bit of money on my other hobbies, HIFI and photography (photography costs is my excuse to visit different cities!).
Read more
My car has all the toys (well by late 90's standard) and so far touch wood everything works as it should, the only fault is one of the bulbs behind the heater controls have gone.
I have the 16v Ecotec which are not as touch as the old 8v but they are also more simple, no HT leads etc.
My HIFI is quite basic but setup properly, I have a Marantz CD6000 OSE LE which has seperate analogue output stages on the DAC with Elna caps so it is quite a nice piece of kit, they sold for around £350 when they were current. I have a mid range Cambridge amp the A640 amp and some Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers which have taken some time to get used to. I have a pair of Grado headphones too which I love made in New York.
As for cameras I am stuck with my Panasonic Lumix FZ7 with 12 optica zoom, since I bought that camera I have bought no less than three cars for myself and one for my dad! EEK Only two of them cars are still on the road.
Its getting dated now though e.g only six megapixels and a 2GB SD card is the limit but I still needed to practice my photography skills before I can justifiy buying an SLR. I bought my Panasonic in Jan 07 in the sale for £230 so it will be three years old in Jan. I really want to try and keep it another two years then move onto what ever budget SLR is out at the time, maybe spend £400 including the lens.
Edit yes its my Corsa :).
bit.ly/KfKVr
Another thread about a car spotted in a music video got me thinking about cars sourced by film makers.
In a lot of productions a nice car is used then treated roughly or destroyed despite it being a gleaming classic.
For instance in the original Italian Job, the Mafia crush Michael Caines Aston Martin ("preety car") and a few E-Types are bulldozed off a mountain road.
Did the production crew buy these new and would it have met the approval of the car manufacturers?
Did they buy knackered cars and tart them up for the film?
How many Dodge Chargers were destroyed in the making of the Dukes of Hazzard film?Do they buy mock-ups or the real thing?
More recently in the program links for Channel 5 (it may even be Fiver or Five USA) there's a clip of a lovely American muscle car jumping off those steep hills in San Fransisco and landing in slow motion. The car is almost a dustpan and brush job afterwards. its horrible to watch so what's the deal?
What film makes you cringe as a car lover when a vehicle is totalled? Read more
yes that scene was filmed at millbrook
Took my Almera in today for its annual service, at a franchised Nissan dealer. Not in my town, but not too far away, and they are part of the same group I bought the car from.
The car is 5 years old net week, and therefore 2 years out of warranty, so I should probably have gone to an independent, but I didn't. I stuck with the same franchised dealer I had used all along.
The only problem I had identified was the handbrake warning light coming on, so I reported that when I left the car in. 90 minutes later I got a call with a list of faults. Wipers worn, but I was happy to replace them. One tyre worn, but the biggy was that I was told my front brake discs were worn low, and my rear ones had worn right through and wrecked the discs. So new pads all round recommended plus new rear discs, and that'll be over £400 please.
I said no. At the Nissan garage's recommendation, I replaced discs and pads on all 4 wheels less than three years ago (see www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=47155&...f ), and the car has only done less than 20,000 miles since then ... and I protested that this sounded highly implausible -- the brakes should not have worn out in that time, and it didn't make sense that the fronts were less worn than the back. They insisted, but I still said no.
When I picked up the car, the service invoice included the recommendation for new brake pads and discs, with the price. I took it with me and went to a notoriously decent local independent garage, and asked them to have a look and see if they confirmed the diagnosis. The answer was an adamant "no" -- rear pads and discs were fine, and friend were only half-worn. So I danced with joy and thanked them for saving me £400, while they expressed horror that anyone would try claiming the work was needed.
I went off for a coffee and thought about things, and eventually decided to call the dealer principal at the Nissan garage. I explained what had happened, and asked him what he wanted to do about the situation: I made no demands, just asked him what he wanted to do.
He said he'd talk to the service manager and call me back, which he did. He says he'll stand by his technician, but I'm welcome to call in tomorrow and have the car checked by the service manager. I said I'd see if I could find time to do that, but that there had better be a very good explanation for this or I was going to trading standards. We left it at that.
Now I'm unsure what to do. I'm no mechanic, so I can't counter what they say: the best I can do is to ask them to put in writing exactly what they have found. Which they may or may not do.
I'm disgusted by this, and if they don't offer a grovelling apology I want to take it further. So it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to get a written report from sort of independent assessor, so that I had something firm to offer trading standards. I know it will cost me a few quid, but if my independent garage is right in its assessment, this looks to me like something worth taking further, and I'm prepared to put a few quid of my own money into collecting the evidence.
Does the idea of an independent report sound like a good idea? And if so, how could I find someone reasonably authoritative to do it?
I'm not minded to walk away from this. Maybe I should, but I'm stubborn mood, 'cos someone tried it on a few months ago over my camper, and I want to make a stand. So pls don't try talking me out of doing something ... but any suggestions on how to proceed would be muchly welcome.
(PS -- mods, I dunno if I was right to categorise this as miscellaneous, but I couldn't see a better category. Please recategorise if you think that's appropriate) Read more
Yes,I've been looking forward to finding out what's happened!
Back in July I had a test drive of the face lift Rav4.Afterwards in talks with the salesman I asked for £14500-00 for my Alfa 159 ti in part ex' which seemed to be no problem.6 weeks later (last week) I went back for serious talks about placing an order only to be told my Alfa was only now worth £12795-00.A loss of £1700-00 in six weeks?.That means in 9 months time my car will be worthless!!.Needless to say I walked away,heres me thinking we are in a recession. Read more
Had the car 2 years and has been as reliable as any Audi or BMW I have owned.Honestly!.
This is an old ad I know, but what a thoroughly great car!
www.motorbase.com/classifieds/viewstock.ehtml?id=1...6;
I know they blow up every 5 mins & rust like the clappers etc., etc., but I know these cars and they are great - still are IMO. Read more
>>>not one is rusting as they do here in the UK<<<
When we lived in the Canaries, I would often come across very ancient British cars abandoned long ago on Banana plantations but - I used to examine them very closely, having a fondness for old fings, and there was never any real rust as such (for obvious reasons)
I also used to see some old Mercedes bull nosed trucks here & there in perfect condition body wise.
I bought an old 85 320i a few years back, just as a run around, the garage that MOT'd it said they had never seen a BMW with sooooooooo much rust b4, turns out the 1 owner chap had used it to get to the link course (as in sea!)
I'm tarting up the 73 year old fascia or barge boards (whatever they're called) above the bay windows - inverted V shaped thingys, anyway - the old paint (obviously not Sikkens!) is just flaking off, so the rain has been getting underneath - and staying there ... just like the old black underseal used on cars.
I know Rolls Royce years ago setup servicing centres in countries where the super rich were. I'm talking about long before VW/BMW took over parts of the company. They may still do but I know someone who used to work for Rolls Royce and will have spent some time in one of these places.
I think Blue is right about a status thing.