September 2011
My daughter parked on a stretch of pavement adjacent to a garden wall, on one side, and a road with double yellow lines, on the other. Although she was fully off and clear of the road she has been given a ticket saying that she was within an area with parking restrictions. Surely the parking ticket could only apply if she had been physically on the road itself? Steaming!! Read more
NB this isn't as detailed as our last resident road tester, jamie... Read more
I think most of the robotised manujals have fairly jerky changes if you keep your foot down during changes. If you lift off during the shift, it eases the jerk. It was obvious from the start, when they started boasting about 30 millisecond gear changes, that such a quick change would be abrupt. You wouldn't bang the clutch around that quickly in a manual.
The other solution is having a large nmber of close ratio gears-but then you just have to put up with the constant shifting.
Does anyone find the Insignia seats (excl SRi model) uncomfortable? I've recently driven over 2k miles in a brand new Insignia SE NAV and I was unable to get a confortable adjustment for the driver seat no matter how hard I try. I'm now aching all over (sigh!). Read more
I agree with your views. The body ache is not worth all the toys.
Car:- Yaris SR 1.3 manual 2008
My partner was driving her Yaris (only had it a week) today and the throttle stopped responding, the engine just stayed at idle. After pulling over and re-starting the car she drove home ok without further problem. She said she didn't notice any warning lights but she was in a bit of a panic at the time.... Read more
Dealer who sold the car reluctant to pay for Toyota to look at it, he says I can either take it to garage he uses for repairs or I can use my own mobile mechanic. Both options have the kit for checking fault codes.
Used the car today for a short journey without any problems, interesting video on electronic throttles http://www.toyota.co...control-system/
My 12 month old Polo had its first service at my local main dealer, 2 days later whilst on the motorway the oil warning light came on followed by the warning buzzer.
Unfortunatly this portion of the motorway has no hard shoulder so the car was driven to the next junction, by which time was making a racket and smelt of burning rubber.... Read more
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My friend has got a Black Vauxhall Corsa registered March 2011 has done 3500 miles. There is a small patch on the roof that has started to blister and other odd bits of blistering on other areas of the car. She has took it to vauxhall dealer and they have took photographs of it and sent them on, they reckon its birdmuck and she may not be able to claim on warranty. Has anyone else had this issue? Read more
Vauxhall paint is rubbish. Bird crap melted a hole in the paint in my Pomegranate Red Astra within an hour. Washed car, put washing stuff away, had a sup of tea, came out and saw the bird crap. Wiped it off, lacquer was gone. Rubbish.
I do a lot of mileage and own 2 diesel cars. As I have plenty of room around my property, do people think it is worth buying my own 'white' diesel in bulk, say 1200L at a time. Would there be much of a saving or would I never re-coup the cost of the storage tank ? Read more
Well of course a company is going to look to profit from its business, thats the whole idea. It does frustrate me when we, especially in this country, view making money out of your business to be a bad thing. I dont think any of us expect energy resources to be some sort of charity. Yes oil companies make alot of money but they also spend alot of money and do alot of work to bring us our fuel.
Most of oil companies profits come from exploration rather than the sale of petrol, and the base product (oil) price is dictated by a stock market, not the companies themselves. They pay a big load of tax every year just for the right to drill off our shores for a start, they drill for it, extract it, refine it, deliver it to us etc and pay the Government 58p a litre duty before it even gets to the petrol station. When its all said and done they're doing all of this for 55p a litre (the true cost of petrol today, roughly). Then the Government, who've done nothing at all to bring us our fuel, ride in on the back of it and lump 58p on it plus 20%. At least the oil companies do something to make their money, the Govt just makes it off the back of everyone elses work....
I wonder if anyone can help with this.....
I've just bought some genuine Vauxhall (aero-type) roofbars for my Astra H estate; it's the type with the 3 pairs of holes on the inside track of the roof-rails - and the bars can be fitted very quickly and very securely. They are so strong that I suspect that if the car rolled upside down in the snow, I would be able to pull it along sideways like a sledge!... Read more
Glad to hear you are now sorted.
I'm after a van to convert into a camper. Unfortunately it has to be automatic.
This may not be entirely accurate, but from the sources I have read thus far. Vw t4's had chocolate box transmissions, the t5's took until 2005 to sort most problems out. 2005-2009 aren't any great shakes in smoothness of changes. the latest with dsg boxes are problematic and require strict maintenance and v expensive to fix.
Renault/Vauxhall tiptronics aren't any great shakes.
Ford no longer do them.
Don't know about Merc vitos but there is initial purchase expense and lots of reviews slating general handling.
After that I gave up.
Any experiences suggestions welcome.
I notice a lot come onto the market around warranty expiration time, whilst owners of older vans often tend to talk in terms of best sources for recon transmissions.
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Has to be something Japanese.
The Vauxhall autoboxes ARE Japanese - from Aisin, a division of Toyota, also used in Volvo, Saab, Freelander and recent Ford/Peugeot/Citroen - they have a good reputation....
Firstly, a HUGE thankyou to all who replied in my first post
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=90758
The cylinder head is back on & the car is running, with no bubbles in the coolant.
It's been a journey and a half, but I've learnt loads & will have a go on repairing things on the acr from now on.
Thanks again !
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What is happening now, as it was from day one, is the car struggles to start first thing in the morning.
It can take5 minutes of turnover until it starts to catch...
Here'it is starting , after it's been warmed up a bit
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzZ-epgvrfg
and this is running when cold
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2CVF6lvfSQ
It was doing this before, tha car has never run right
...I'm guessing it's the fuel injectors, or the fuel pump..
Is it easy enough to diagnose the problem?
At the moment the fuel has been in for 8 months,
& I have added 5 liters of fresh diesel.
First thing in the morning,
it just turns over and over without any cylinders firing for 100 turns...
Thanks
Liam
... Read more
Ah, I understand....Big John
when you said "this engine" ...
I thought you menat my particular one !, not a generic "this engine"
lol, I get there, eventually :)
I'll put it in for it's MOT and then decide what to do... fingers crossed
I never thought it would work tbh !
Many thanks
Liam
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Sorry Peter, I am afraid your daughter committed an offence, albeit unwittingly but nonetheless it has attracted a penalty charge notice. Parking on any pavement, unless expressly allowed, is an offence of obstruction. It may be worth scanning the surrounding area for some signage that indicates what the current regulations are. Otherwise, bad luck. Pay up and move on with another of lifes' lessons learned. Cheers Concrete