June 2011
I refer to my message below sent a week or two ago (thread now closed ). See update after message.
Dear Honest John Team... Read more
I managed to get a urinary infection as a direct result of too much high speed high-adrenaline driving. The prostate is slowly recovering its old shape but its made me acutely aware of my suspension & I now drive fewer miles. I have a foam cushion {www.icnsales.com/chair-cushions/} which is great & am thinking about softening the suspension with new springs & shocks. I would be interested in any other experiences on this topic. thanks. Read more
I suffer severe headaches every time I pass a filling station on the motorway that is selling fuel at 12p a litre more than my local garage. Now they have the prostate problems, because they are taking the proverbial. Apparently it is because our glorious leaders take an extra percentage for the "concession"......
After a reliable and economical diesel - must also be somewhat comfy as I do 25k per annum.
Narrowed it down to:... Read more
Volvo dashboards can be fixed for about £100 - not the £700 a main dealer charges.
You're right though that the Volvo D5 engine is a hell of a lot more reliable than the 2.0d Ford/PSA engine and in most circumstances more economical too.
My smart car if left for any time or in cold weather needs to be jump started. I have an emergency car jump starter which I have used twice. However on the instructions of the starter it states that you should put the red positive clamp on the battery and the black negative clamp on a metal part of the car and NOT on the negative part of the battery. To start my car I have put the black clamp on the negative on the battery as smart cars are made of plastic and the battery is in the footwell of the passenger seat and no metal is available. Doing this my car does start but am I doing any damage to either my car, the battery in the car or the electrics or to the emergency starter? Read more
After looking into this a bit more I cant use unless I clamp battery as the cig lighter does not work when the engine not on. However it has given me the idea to buy a charger via the cig lighter rather than having to pull up all the footwell to get to the battery, so thanks to all the replies I have had on this matter.
I'm after some advice over some difficulty I'm having with my insurance company.
We had recently acquired an old battered but very sturdy and well prepared landrover discovery to undertake a charity rally for help for heroes. To cut a long story short, the truck ended up in a canal! Following recovery I spoke to the insurance company and said that, while I was aware that most vehicles would be written off following water damage, I was keen to keep this vehicle on the road because of the charity sponsorship money riding on it. The insurance then authorized me to carry out urgent preventative work on the car in order to prevent further damage.
Following the strip out of the interior and running an industrial dehumidifier inside the vehicle for a week and a full fluids drain / flush / refill the vehicle now runs and drives correctly. All electrical circuits have been tested and switches and connections have been treated with contact cleaner etc.
The vehicle is fully roadworthy with the exception of the wiper motor which is lethargic and requires replacing but the insurance assessor is insisting that the vehicle is a cat b write off and can't be put back on the road.
It is a mechanically simple vehicle with no Ecu or airbags to worry about and as an offroader has been built to cope with mud and water etc.
The settlement offered is in no way sufficient to purchase a replacement vehicle of the same spec so I'm really keen to keep this vehicle on the road. The insurance company have said that even if I don't make a claim for the vehicle they will still list it as a cat b write off and there is no appeal process...can they do this? The car would pass an MOT test as soon as I fit the new wiper motor and is therefore (to my mind) roadworthy.
What can I do to make this car legal? We are due to leave on the rally in just over a weeks time and the insurance seem to be deliberately dragging their feet. Their prime concern appears to be that I might catch some disease or other from the car but they happily let us work on it and will let us strip it for spares so where is the logic in that? I have offered to steam clean it to kill any bugs that remain but that doesn't appear good enough.
The secondary concern appears to be that it is going to burst into flames but I have ensured all connections are dry and correct and at worst case I can buy a complete wiring loom for £150 or so!
I am a professional engineer by trade and would happily drive this vehicle anywhere in Europe tomorrow but I'm being fought every step of the way by blind adherence to guidelines!
Can anyone offer any advice? Tine is now really tight and we gave got thousands of pounds of charity sponsorship at stake!
Cheers
Gareth Read more
Thank you. To answer the questions. The insurance company have paid for the recovery. All costs related to the repair (eg dehumidifier etc) have been paid by us. As we have only just purchased the vehicle we have not yet received the v5 but we do retain the green slip.
Cheers
Gareth
Between 2500 and 3000 revs when under load a strong vibration is trasmitted through the car. My local garage Smart Truro had the car twice, second attempt found a broken heat schield, this replacement under warranty has lessoned the sound level but not the cause.Any suggestions as the car will shorlly be returning to Smart Truro further investigation of the cause and my ongoing moan regarding fuel consumption at 34mpg I feel this to be excessive. I have been given the usual response of it will improve after 3000 miles, it has done this and no it has not improved. I have noted that other owners have been told after 6000 miles things will improve. Can anyone help? Read more
Something wrong with my computer.
The Smart is renown here in Germany for its extremely poor petrol consumption there are far better cars available with more room that are more economical do not have odd size tyres and are far cheaper,in the reliability stakes the Smart is a none starter they came pretty near the bottom of the ADAC league of unreliable cars if everything is not set up perfectly they vibrate like hell a nieghbours bought one for his wife she wanted it as an accessory to her handbag I think has had a vibration under power for two years it comes and goes I thing its to do with the tyre pressures or the engine mountings,having been in it once I would much prefer to walk or catch the tram....
Even i couldve worked that one out!
Have a look at this: www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/856045...l
It's a list of the cars which have the most claims for accidents as a percentage of ownership. There are a lot of Hondas! ... Read more
To make this research definitive only policies which went on to be purchased should be counted, last time i looked at buying a car i ran a quote for 30 different cars, if those are all included then this research is meaningless.
True! Everytime I see a car I like, I put its reg into confused.com and see how much it'd be for me to insure it, since it is a particular consideration for me, having only been driving 3 years. So I am skewing their statistics mwahahaha!
I have replaced the Lucas injection deisel pump with a second hand one,and cant set it up, the engine is very sluggish when turned over,
There are two marks, one on the cam pully and one on the pump pully.... Read more
All the PSA diesel engines I've worked on had bolt through alignment methods. Are you sure the secondhand pump is in good working order?
Steve....
Any ideas? Machine will spin, drain etc, but when I try to do a new wash it makes the sound of filling without actually doing anything. It just sits there sounding like it's filling ad-infinitum but the sound continues until I give up waiting and turn it off!
Have cleared the filter (was very bunged-up), that's the limit of my technical know-how!... Read more
Well moi of course. That's why I went fishing about in there. :-P back atcha!
Browse
The vehicle was in the custody of the OP at the time of incidence and not the registered keeper. The registered keeper directed the police to the OP as the one who would be able to provide information about the driver. The OP argued with authorities that although the vehicle had been placed in his custody for specific reasons he was not the driver at the time of incidence and therefore was liable to furnish the required information, which he did