October 2010
Sorry for the numpty question but I've just bought my first diesel motor, I haven'tgot myself a workshop manual yet, and I want to change the oil and filter before using it. My question is do diesels use a specific type of engine oil or will any regular motor engine oil do the job? It's a fairly high mileage motor (111,000) so I want to give it decent protection. Read more
I am taking delivery of a new V70 with 225/50 R17W tyres on 17" rims in December. I want to buy a set of extra rims to fit with winter tyres, but alloys are prohibitively expensive so am contemplating buying steel rims. If I buy 16" rims, what size tyres do I need and would the new combination affect driving characteristics/handling? All advice appreciated. Read more
You might try www.mytyres.co.uk/Cold_Weather_Tyres.html - they have packages of steel rims with winter/cold weather tyres. They also claim to match the car reg with the correct tyre. No conection except buying 4 Nokians last winter.
Hi there my partner has a 1999, Toyota Yaris 1.0GS, 154000 miles, currently travelling 500-600 miles per week due to commute to work. I am currently checking the oil on a weekly basis and most weeks i find myself replenshing the oil to full mark with the car using 1/4-1/2 from the full mark on the dipstick is this excessive? Some people have said the engine is on its way others have said try a thicker oil 10W/30 currently using 5W/30 semi synthetic. Prior to this the car was mainly used for town driving using little or no oil, your comments and opinions would be much appreciated so i can decide whether to budget for a new car or not.Cheers. Read more
Thanks a lot for your reply.
I have checked for leaks when car has been parked on drive etc, non visible also car was recently serviced and he said there were no oil leaks....
I was driving behind a vehicle doing approx 30mph in a 40mph limit. After a while I could see a large gap in the oncoming traffic so I decided to overtake. At this point the vehicle had crept up to about 32mph.
My acceleration appeared to be a lot slower than I expected. As I reached 40mph I realised that the other driver had accelerated too. Some oncoming vehicles appeared at this point, but I was past the half way point so there was no point going back. Once I was in front of the other vehicle it matched my speed (40mph). Going back didn't seem like a good idea because the other car would probably returned back to 30mph which would mean I would need to do no more than 20mph to get back in safely, and if there were vehicles behind us the it could get quite dangerous. So I gave a left signal for this vehicle and for the oncoming vehicles. The driver only needed to lift of, but he still maintained his speed. When I didn't have much road left I pulled in, which made the other driver brake hard and flash their lights. I had left enough space so that the oncoming vehicles didn't need to change their speed and they didn't flash their lights at me.... Read more
Ah, Yes
I failed to make it clear that on our local roads 50/55mph is the norm, therefore I am driving at the speed of the other road users, the ones in front of me. Therefore I CANNOT be obstructing anyone behind me....
my customer has brought in his 307 hdi he says he pulled up at home and stopped engine then he came out 15min later and it wouldnt start he flatend the battery trying and put car into economy mode so no windows central locking or nothing will now work ive tried toget the engine started but failed ive checked all the obvios stuff levels fuses etc so i plugged it in to my snap on computer and varios fault codes come up 1 was low pressure pump malfunction which was p1180 so iremoved the sender unit only to find that it does not have an in tank pump? another fault code was p1210 which is fuel injector pressure high also p1176 which is a cam calibration fault? also p0191 which is fuel rail pressure sensor fault so i replaced this still with no luck so i then removed the fuel filter and it had loads of paper mush in the bottom and also removed the fuel pressure regulator which seemed fine ive tryed testing the fuel rail sensor but im only getting 5v on 1 of the outside pins ? any ideas as it has my head batterd thankyou
also when i tried to cancel off faults they would not ? Read more
I have a 1999 which I have owned for 7yrs+. 12 months ago I started to have an intermittent starting problem which has gradually got worse. The car will start first time for weeks but then sometimes takes about 40+ turns of the key before it fires. When this happens there is no spark at the plugs (lately it has got so bad that sometimes the battery will go flat and I have to jump start it). The crank case sensor, plugs and leads have all been changed and had no effect. Last week an auto electrician examined the car and said he thought it was the ECU, only problem is that the ECU is part no. PO4727158AJ and I am told that this particular ECU cannot be test. Although I have sourced an exact replacement part no. I am told that Chrysler can charge £1000 to reprogramme one of these (I'm waiting for a call from Chrysler to confirm this). As the problem is so intermittent I am not convinced that it is a faulty ECU. It is not worth spending £1200 + as the car is not worth much more, although it does look and run great. Can anyone help please? Read more
But I told you " power control relay" Regards Peter
has anyone had any problems with the avensis and brake failure? i have a 2008 (last of the old shape) 2.2 diesel. i pulled out a junction today and joined some slow moving traffic. went to put on the brakes and nothing. the pedal moved all the way to the floor. it was as if the brakes were not there. i went up the back of a car, luckily i was only doing about 15-20mph.
went to drive off after we exchanged details and the brakes were back.
any advise appreciated. the car was brought froma Toyota main dealer under there approved used car scheme in 2008 and has been serviced by them.
Read more
Sounds like pressing acclerator rather than brake.
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Parked my car last Saturday morning in a service road outside a newsagents,on the A5 in Colindale NW9.It's one way,double yellow lines on the right(offside) no lines on the left,where I was parked. Having left the location and on my way to work I was astonished to see a parking ticket on my windscreen. When I read the parking ticket it read:- Contravention: 27 Parked adjacent to a dropped footway. Time 08.30-08.31(I thought at least 5 mins had to elapse) I returned to the 'scene of the crime' later to have a look. The crossing is not marked in any way at all,no markings across the service road,no white lines ,no yellow lines,no signs.There is a dropped kerb made of those bobbly yellowish stones on the nearside,but not on the offside.The colour difference is so slight as to be barely noticeable. I spoke with the newsagent and this is a common problem.He had put up a sign to warn people but the council made him remove it! I was aware the crossing was there when I parked and made sure I wasn't obstructing it. Anyone got any advice on appealing this appalling rip off? Incidentally the unmarked crossing continues across a raised tarmaced area to the kerbside proper.The tarmaced area is itself a very steep downhill slope and the dropped kerb at the roadside is an even steeper slope I would estimate 45 degrees.Surely this can't be legal? It's certainly very dangerous to any wheelchair user attempting to use it in my opinion. Are there any regulations regarding such things. Kind regards Paul Read more
Paul - I'm not sure that any of us can add very much at this stage to what has been said already.
You need the photographic evidence: in my opinion for what it's worth, you should have a case to appeal if you can prove that NO part of your car was alongside the dropped kerb - i.e. in the positions of Car 1 and Car 3 as admirably described above by Silverback....
From the BBC - Many councils 'waiting for grit' :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11454665
We have a pretty cool climate, yet the majority of cars in the UK run on summer tyres all year round - which don't function properly below 7 degrees C.
I only realised this after I started regularly driving to Germany and Austria a couple of years ago. There, during winter months, it's the law to drive either winter tyres, or all-weather's with the snowflake symbol. Realising that apart from a potential fine from the police, I was sure my insurer wouldn't pay out if I had an accident ("well, it's the law in Germany...") I started investigating winter tyres.
Ask any tyre dealer in the UK, and you seem to get the response "ah, you want SNOW tyres'. Which is only part of the point - they grip in low temperature conditions, snow, slush, ice. Of course there has to be a flip-side - they don't have wear ratings comparable to summer tyres, with the soft rubber compounds I presume. And they don't work so well in warmer conditions.
The answer seemed to be all-weather tyres. But you need to choose well - a lot of these are aimed at the North American market, where tread wear is king - I have seen reviews of European tyres, where they have been criticised for not lasting more than 30,000 miles.... ! I ended up with Nokian WR-G2's, ordered via MyTyres since they don't have UK distribution. Vredestein make some good all-weather tyres, too.
The difference? In the warm weather, they feel like a good entry level tyre - you wouldn't want to put them on your ST, but for the majority of normal cars they are fine. They really come into there own in adverse weather - presumably as a function of treads to clear snow, they channel water away easily - my car never felt so stable in heavy rain. And what is odd is that as the temperature drops you notice... no difference at all! There's still the laws of physics, but grip in low temperature is far better....
I wonder, with all the coming cutbacks, if the councils are waiting for grit because they just can't afford it! Read more
I got stuck once last winter - on ice - and as I need new tyres anyway am considering purchasing a set of winter tyres, which I will replace with summer tyres next March, then back again in October etc.
There is a wealth of current test reports on this website http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/ including the recent German tests (in English)....
Hi there, any help very much appreciated.
Volvo V70 2.4 (140bhp) 2000 with 165k failed the MOT today on the fast idel CO emisions test. Recorded 0.79% first time and 0.63% second time. Natural Idle passed at 0.32%.... Read more
Excellent,a happy ending!
Hope you get some good mileage out of her to offset the repair cost...... peanuts compared to having to replace your vehicle :)
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The 1.9 is far better than the 2.5 this engine suffers from no end of head problems it was fitted to many Ivico vans and the xm whereas the 1.9 if properly treated will do a million miles without bother.