July 2010
Does anyone have any experience of these? Is there an association to ensure fair dealing?
The company I am considering is Haulfryn, with a site near Chudleigh Knighton, Devon. Read more
Has anyone got any experience of using Timpsons to cut replacement transponder car keys? Read more
They are unable to do Fiat keys (or rather I suspect they send them out to do), but had no problems with doing a Daihatsu key, even programming a new transponder.
Hi there, My 307 has 136K on the clock and has just got and anti pollution warning for the first time since I have owned the car. I got my local garage to read the fault codes and I got the following: P0487 exhaust gas recirculation fault and P0400 EGR valve.... Read more
hi its very possible that egr may be clogged again but since milage i would think additive tank will need topping up and resetting but u will need to take to a good garage to be done , i find putting in a good diesel additive in the fuel tank too clean system help with clogging of egr,
Hi, I'll give it a go. After some investigation yesterday I found the egr solenoid to be defective. I had current to the plug but the valve wasn't opening. I took the intercooler pipe off and could see recirculation happening as soon as I sucked on the pipe to the egr it stopped. So I bought a new egr solenoid valve yesterday and had the warning light reset. Hopefully it should work now....
What is the legal requirement for tyre tread depths (for a car) at the edges? The middle 75% must have at least 1.6mm, but what about the edges? Is it true that it is perfectly legal for them to be completely bald as long as the middle 75% is ok?
I think this changed a while back and the tread did need to be visible at the edges, but that has changed now hasn't it? Read more
sounds like you need to up the PSI in your tyres.
SWMBO is due for a car change soon. Its narrowed down to a low mileage 320 C auto ( I have a bicycle so she gets a decent car!) . On the face of it and mpg diesel seems an obvious choice. This is new territory for us never having had a diesel before. Additionally the annual mileage is only 8k. Should we stick to petrol or go for change?! Read more
A BMW that isn't a 6 cylinder, isn't a BMW at all.
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I'm considering a VW Golf Mk5. My daily commute is around 18 miles, and longer journeys through work and at the weekend would be fairly rare.
The appeal of the diesel is purely a matter of torque. SWMBO has a 2002 Mazda 323F 1.6 GSi, and that's frankly horrible to drive if you want to climb a hill or overtake anything.... Read more
I think "image issue" is only in the eye of the beholder. What is desirable to some people is to be avoided by others (see BMW).
Some people don't buy BMW's for image. You'll find people like me who own the older ones have found they are extremely durable and cheap to run due to availability of parts and are relatively easy to work on compared to most modern front wheel drive set ups.
The tyre fitters never get it right, It's not just my present car, I can't remember a time when I've had the tracking done and the car drives straight.. I'm sick of wasting my money.
So I've come to the conclusion that every vehicle has it's it's own individual optimum setting. The tyre bays don't road test they just go by manufactuirerws specs, but I have a theory that after a while cars get distorted through wear and tear even if there is nothing slack to do with the steering. For instance when a car is on its jack sometimes the doors wont close properly. Now all that weight is suspended on a very small point and that can't do the overall geometry any good and hard driving, rough roads must take its toll. ... Read more
This is my point, I know in the past I have paid for a poor service, either a bad mechanic, poorly calibrated gauges or both. Laser and optical commercial gauges us the same calibration principle that is error prone even with the most conciencious mechanic, Calibration process can be completely missed out and often is as when they rely on the last calibration. The trackace calibrates to zero by laser over a very long distance and is aways carried out automatically as an integral part of the tracking check process. The confidence that can be had in this diy kit is plain to see.
These do seem to be becoming more common and can now be found on cars as small as a Toyota Yaris( maybe five speeds could go the way of four speeds in a few years time). I know that they do help economy and refinement, but should anyone opt for a six speeder, when is the correct time to select this gear and when to change down to fifth. Read more
Used to have a Scimitar Coupe (not the GTE) which had overdrive on 3rd and 4th. It was operated via a solenoid using a swith on the dashboard. Worked a treat with smooth changes, I could drop a "gear" seemlessly and power up a hill or away from traffic very easily.
Probably a good reason why we don't see overdrives these days, but seems a shame, probably went the same way as the pre-selector gearbox and chain drive.
We have a large glass fronted gas fire in one of the downstairs rooms and cleaning the inside of the glass proved difficult, due to the deposits from burning.
Liquid Brasso proved great at cleaning these deposits off - followed by a window cleaning spray.... Read more
Saw this stuff in "The Range" over the weekend - not tried it yet though!!
BBC TV's Fake Britain with presenter Dom Littlewood showed that budget tyre manufacturers are copying the tread patterns of premium brands but that the rubber compound is in some (or all?) cases inferior to the premium brand. In specialist tests, this meant vehicles running on budget tyres took a lot longer to stop particularly in the wet, eg 14 metres more at 70mph.
Apparently tyres need not pass a wet stopping distance test in the UK! (Of all the H & S we incorporated where you can't make a cup of tea in an office without seeing warning labels on the kettle and jar of coffee whitener, they forget to legislate safety with tyres?!)... Read more
To risk crossing threads, just got a new assignment which will mean driving across the Pennines one or twice a week over the next few months. So in anticiplation of lots of miles and occasional snow and ice and no time to change the front tyres when they hit 3mm (currently 4mm) I have just had budget all season tyres fittted to the front, I have kept my old tyres as spares which probably have 5,000 miles left in them before they hit 3mm.
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Just an observation. Our Static van. The site are not letting us on to visit our vans due to covid. Still paying pitch fee water rates etc. There are some who live permanently on our Holiday Park. They are allowed on but not us weekenders . So having a second pad is just a lot of paying out. Think carefully about the downside before committing yourself.