November 2009

Falkirk Bairn

Read the article in the DT

www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/safety/6582568/Night-...l

Looks a great idea and it says it is fitted to S Class - which suggests Mega Bucks - it is actually under £1500!

On that basis it might be Joe Public / Mondeo man's accessory in the near future

Would you buy it @ say £750?

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Statistical outlier

Now that's not a baaaad idea..

ged-i

Morning,

I recently bought the above (Zetec) from auctions.
This morning was my first real run out in it (10 mile trip to work)

Was traveeling along at about 70-75, when speedo dropped to 0 (for what seemed an eternity, was probably 10-20 secs) before coming back to life - rev counter/fuel & temp gauge all remained correct.

Any ideas on what this could be?

Also, as I approached work, I slowed down and dropped into 2nd and the engine stalled.
I had a problem like this on a fiesta i had previously and it turned out to be Idle sensor valve needed cleaning. Could this be the same sort of thing, or something more sinister?

Any advice greatfully received!!

Ged Read more

mikej

My post in this thread gives you some hints and tips if you fancy tackling it yourself :

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=15028&...3

It's not for the faint-hearted though - the retaining pin on mine was VERY difficult to remove and took a lot of brute force to get it out.

I'd get it sorted ASAP if I was you - the lack of speedometer reading is merely an inconvenience compared to the dangers of losing power (ie. brakes and steering). There were a few photos knocking around a few years ago on the focusowners forums of a Focus that was involved in a nasty accident when it's vss failed on the motorway, causing a sudden loss of power. IIRC, it was rear-ended by a lorry and written off.

Manfred

Hello everyone! i have citroen xantia 1995 1.9d and my back suspension is very jumpy and my hydraulic tester shows red ring not in the middle of two rings but exactly high,and i dont know what to do,can some one explain to me why my suspension at the back is very hard,and what should i do? thank you everyone! Read more

mjm

If the car looks "level" when it's sat on the road then the rear spheres have gone. They are more difficult to change than the front and there is a technique to removing them. Have a look at www.frenchcarforum.co.uk for more information.

The fluid level is checked with the engine running and the suspension on its highest setting. The disc should then be between the two lines. If it's about right then I would leave it until new spheres have been fitted. Overfull doesn't seem to matter until the LHM fluid sloshes out on bends.

Drive a little carefully until you have sorted it out, the tyre side walls are taking all the shocks and loads from the road at the moment.

1400ted

I was ' head hunted ' last week for an important position with a car hire company in Yorkshire..a former colleague is the fleet manager.
I performed my first duties yesterday. Basically, I had to go to Manchester Town Hall, collect some keys, go and find the car a mile or so away and return it to it's dedicated parking bay in a city centre street. It had been left on a pay/display bay 2 days before as it's own bay had been illegally occupied. I doubted it would still be there...probably impounded.
I drove down to it with the keys and there it was..although with a ticket. Left my car, started the hire car and took it back.
When I returned it I wondered who to give the keys to, I had been asked to ring Yorkshire and they would tell me. ..... So I did.
'Leave the keys in a little docking device in the glove box ' said the nice lady, ' then make sure everything is switched off and get out of the car but stand next to it until you hear a clunk and then check the doors and let me know ' I did, it clunked and it locked...and probably disabled the key as well.
She'd only locked it by satellite!!...amazing..I caught the tram two stops to GMex and retrieved my car.....seemples !
I would imagine it could be locked from anywhere in the world..still amazed! I have to put a key in mine !

They have 2 cars locally so I'm not sure that the workload might be too much for me
might have to take a lad on !

A bit of pin money for a poor pensioner !

Ted Read more

perro

>>> look at pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/44/11/17.1.full <<<

Interesting article pmh - I consider myself as having ASD = social impairment, repetitive movements (when young) narrow interests, rigidity, attention to detail, above average I.Q. but hey! that's why I was such an ace engine tuner :)
I also have a young friend (20) who is diagnosed with Aspergers and I see a lot of him in me ... he is at present conducting an 'experiment' with copious amounts of Ethanol, of which at first appears to have very little effect on him but - going by the colour of the whites of his eyes when I saw him yesterday, it certainly has had some effect on his Liver.

jma989

Hi i am new to this forum and to driving our new Peugeot 307 SW Estate 2.0l TDI

We bought the car from a trader on tuesday night, who just Mot'd and serviced the car. according to the cars history it had the cambelt service done at 88k miles. It has now done 107k miles.

I drove the car home and it was fine, i drove it today and the engine management light came on and the message 'unblock diesel filter' appeared on the dashboard control. The engine management light stayed on for about 5 mins then went off.

The only thing i can think of is that we ran the car (unwillingly) very low on diesel whilst trying to find a petrol station.

Like i said i am new to the 307 and would appreciate any advice on what to do.

Many thanks
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HyundaiOwnersClubAdmin

This could be the PEF filter or the filter pressure sensor. Sensor is about £40 or filter is about £200 from Euro car parts. I would be inclined to fit both at the same time or you could try a sensor first.

Will Marshall

Strut is making a loud creaking sound at when opening and closing hatchback. Is their anyway to lubricate it or do I need to replace it.

(If anything it has gotten this way through under rather than overuse.)

Should it need replacing I don't fancy paying £70+ for a new one. No breakers near me have one, are their any national spares sellers for recycled parts tha don't require registration and all that guff before revealing what they have? Read more

Will Marshall

Thanks for that suggestion Peter, I'll get some

The wd40 had a bit more success after the second application , nothing the first day but a slight creak returning the second. So don't think it will last longterm.

RichardS

Can anyone tell me at what date the different licenses came in (ie restricted to automatics only if test passed in an auto)?

I was under the potentially erroneous impression that it was sometime in the last 18 years (period for which I have held a license).

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Robin Reliant

During the seventies the Civil Service in Ireland were on strike long term, something like eighteen months I believe. This included driving examiners, and the backlog of people waiting for tests became so severe that all provisional licence holders were granted a full licence without any requirement to take a test. My cousin got his licence this way, his wife who had let her provisional lapse lost out.

ajf

1.8sri (140bhp) auto astra with a/c
During colder wet and damp weather the front windscreen refuses to completely demist. There is always a 1 to 2 inch strip along the bottom edge that stays. The rear side windows also are very slow to clear. Normal or points to clogged drain hole or heater problem?
Recirc is not used and a/c only enough to keep it in use.

Front wipers make a clunk or twang type noise when returning to park position just after they pass vertical.
Sounds like a spring or similar catching. Any ideas?

Car has been booked in for a check but would be helpful to know in advance of any potential problems.

Thanks.
Andrew Read more

bursty

I am on my 2nd Astra and I've had the exact same problem with both. A mechanic friend of mine says that it is nothing to worry about and is just the characteristics of the car. My current car has done 76k and the wipers haven't failed. I do get the occassional squeak and I do find that spraying WD40 in the motor arms inside the engine does quiet them down for a while.

A couple of my friends are also Astra owners and have complained about the condensation. One of them is a 59 plate and he is constanly running around with air con on to stop it steaming up. I'm not sure that it is a pollen filter problem and if it is why has a new car got a blocked filter. I think it is more to do with a moister problem within the air con.

fredthefifth

Hi All, I don't think this is strictly technical so trying here.

My daughters 53 plate Fiesta Zetec 1.4 Petrol, only came with one ordinary key, the other was lost by the original owner prior to her purchasing the car privately. We never asked, but have just started to wonder whether the other key was likely to have been the blipper type?

Can anyone advise please.

Ta.
FTF

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CHDoyle

Hi there,
Your thread caught my eye as up until very recently I was the owner of a 53 plate Ford Fiesta Zetec 1.4 Petrol 3 Door.

To answer your question the 2 keys I had were both just ordinary keys, with no buttons for remote central locking.

Hope this helps

Christopher.

cheddar

Fiesta 5dr 1.4 Zetec with a few extras, list price £14,120 on the road.

Gov scrappage allowance : £1000
Ford scrappage allowance: £1000
Dealer scrappage allowance: £1200
Cash deposit: £500

Ford Options: 24 x £212
Guaranteed future value: £5875

So if we pay the £5875 after 24 months we pay a total of £650 (Clio actual value) + £500 + £5088 (24x146) + £5875 = £12113.

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cjehuk

Drive the Deal pass you through to the end dealer and you deal with them anyway so you should be able to do Ford Options indeed you may even get the extra discount going through them on that as well. There have been some offers posted on there which include extra discounts for taking out a finance package from the Manufacturer. You'll also be able to discuss scrappage with the dealer - even if they won't fund their side of it due to the deal you're getting you should still get the Govt £1k which would take the total cost under £10k.