December 2009
Typing with one hand and I find it very hard. Slipped on the ice on monday as most people will know and as a result got a broken elbow and my left arm is in plaster.
Do I need to inform my car insurance of this? my policy says i need to tell them if my medical history changes. Sorry about lack of details its painful typing. Read more
I've just bought a 58 reg Focus (Zetec) 1.8 petrol. I have a remote control key which works correctly. I also have a key which is not a remote control key, i.e. has no buttons for unlocking the door. If I try to unlock the car with this, the alarm sounds, and the immobiliser does not allow the starter to turn.
I cannot find how to program this key, from the manual supplied.
On the 53 reg Mondeo (diesel), I could use the non-remote key by holding it in position II for a few seconds when the alarm would stop and the car would run, but this does not seem to work.
I'm sure there is a simple way of enabling this key. Does anyone know what it is ?
Any help is appreciated.
Michael Read more
Thanks Andy
I wonder why the dealer supplied it. They did say that Motability often hand over just one key. This extra key is not a Ford key, but has 'JMA' on it. The metal part is cut the same and it does turn, but the immobiliser is not fooled.
I'll see them when they reopen.
Michael
This year I got a automatic b&d wrench and an autoglym git so some good stuff for a change. I am a big fan of autoglyms products :) Read more
A vehicle document file...........
Just what I've always wanted. ;-]
I think this must the first Christmas in a long time that a few of the locals haven't been able to have a run out to the seaside at Bridlington for a warming coffee.
My bikes are beginning to pine for a run out (me too).
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must admit been a poor autumn and winter hardly used my bike at all.after the 6inches of snow we had in sussex before christmas,not brave enough for anything like that.
Hi,
In Scotland just now its about -6/-7 degrees. Today I went out to drop wifey off at work and came back 6 hours later to car went off and then discovered a flat tyre. I am completely baffeled how my tyre burst. I feel possibly science and nature play to this as I found no cracks, bulges, or nails, screws in the tyre? When inspecting it the only way I could describe it was like a crushed up cardboard box 1 part of the tyre the rest was okay. I have had burst tyres before but today site was shocking especially when you don't know how it was caused. My question is it possibly a tyre can burst due to severe weather conditions?
I forgot to mention I did put air in tyres 2 weeks ago at correct psi of 30.
Thanks. Read more
Hi, can anyone help me: VW Sharan auto tdi. Diesel. when the engine got warm ( normal operating temp) it would not change gear, I.E. over taking at 50 it would not change up. I replaced the accelater pedel & potentimenter. it 's still playing up I.E. at 40 m ph, 3000 revs, max ease my foot off gas and re apply no change. having to slow down and accelerate slowly.
also: engine cold, accellerating it changes up through the gears but it 's black smoking, which it hadn't used to. now i can only get upto 50 mph, where as before in the same distance i could get up to 70 mph, not as much power
thanks john
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yours will have a kat im sure. mine is a 99 and has 1. not sure if my problem is same as yours but when the fuel is real low and you put your foot hard down some times it seems to go onto some sort of limp mode. it sounds like the turbo goes off. when this happens i run some fuel system cleaner through it.
Went straight to my dads after work and met the wife and kids there.
When we left , son came in my car and as we passed Airdrie train station car park, he twisted my arm to go in and throw some handbrake turns in the snow.
So, like the dutiful father I am, I did as I was told and halfway through my first powerslide, I noticed my wife had followed me into the carpark in her Beetle.
Son and I both watched in amazement as she raced to one end, yanked on the handbarake and accelerated through a perfect powerslide!!
Looks like she has been kidding us when she pretends to read her book during Top Gear!!
Respect!!
So forget all the other issues about the snow and hold ups and lack of gritters - who else has had some good old fashioned fun in the snow?
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Terranaut,
Did you make it - they have various cones out, not sure if they are to aim through for slalom turns or whether they are highlighting kerbs!
What's the longest period of time you have kept a car before deciding to change it? Read more
nice
Evenin' all
My neighbour's Astra has been making loud high pitched noises for the last 24 hours, I assume the alarm has thrown a wobbler. ( there are no signs of damage to the car, so i suspect water ingress or similar) Sounds like a deranged parakeet.
Anyway, they're off skiing somewhere uncontactable ( return date unknown) and us folks are getting a bit peed off with it. IIRC we are within our rights to phone the police and report it as a nuisance, but we'd rather not go down that route yet.
Any other ( legal) suggestions as to what to do, other than a job lot of earplugs??
cheers Read more
Thanks for the replies folks, after 24 hours of random WEEE - WOOOO WEEEEE WOOOO it stopped about 10 minutes after I poster here on the BR! Must be special backroom magic :-)
Merry Xmas to one and all, as I set here amongst a sea of Lego cars and Scalextric :-))
The wallet on the roof after filling up ?
The petrol cap left on top of the pump ?
Well, this week I very nearly got it badly wrong. Four AM alarm ...yuk...200 mile journey to make with a view to being away overnight in this weeks lovely weather....oh joy....went outside at 4.30 AM to defrost car, turned engine on using keyless ignition switch wotsit ( why should anyone else get any sleep if I'm up ? ) , went back into house to fetch briefcase and absent mindedly laid car keys/fob thing on kitchen table. Back out to car still running, got in and set off. Fortunately got only a mile or so before realising key thing was still on kitchen table. Returned to house. Had to phone Mrs B to wake her to open front door..... she strangely irritable that morning for some reason....
Thank goodness I didn't get to where I was going without the fob. Could have turned the engine off but couldn't have locked the car or started it again. Phew !
And you ? Read more
...that cloth will hold the hot radiator cap...
Did a motorway breakdown on a Saab 99.
Arrived at the car on the hard shoulder and it was clear it was very hot - I could smell the heat a few yards away.
Explained to the owner that, before anything else, we needed to let it cool down a bit.
He was an impatient, go-ahead type and took a rag I was holding and started to release the rad cap.
I shouted 'no' just as he lost control of the cap and, fortunately for him, stepped back.
At this point, it's worth remembering Saab 99 bonnets are hinged at the front.
The jet of scalding water shot about 10ft into the air, there being nothing to stop it.
We eventually found the radiator cap somewhere on the motorway embankment.
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Each to their own but I think the situations are hugely different.