November 2011
The handbrake is set exactly in accordance with Fiat's manual and neither the disc brakes nor drum shoes are binding. With the rear jacked up and the handbrake fully "off" the wheels rotate reasonably freely , after some initial slight "stickiness". Yet after travelling 12 miles or so , the wheels in the vicinity of their retaining bolts are hot ! {about 50 deg C.) There is no perceptible end-float of either hub.
Do you think it is worthwhile to adjust the end float which I understand should be set at between 0.025 and 0.10 mm. as an experiment to see if this reduces the heating of the wheels ?... Read more
I liked the look of this article from the heading and quickly clicked on the link to be greated with one of the poorest articles I've ever read on the subject. There are a lot of cars that would do a much better job at bridging the gap between the 'oldest, cheapest banger you can find' and these brand new motors. I'd reckon the fuel, tax and maintenance would struggle to match the depreciation on most of these suggestions. Like so many things trawling a database doesn't give the right answer and Mr Slavin should really have applied some thought to what the database produced at the end.
I'd hoped for more, something helpful even! Read more
Very poor article i agree. Works on the assumption all young people have £8,000 to blow on a first car at 18 when thats far from the case. For those without trust funds i do have one piece of advice..
Dont rule out big cars. When the family is sat round discussing the youngsters first car the concensus amongst the parents is that the smallest car with the smallest engine will be the cheapest to insure, this is not the case. Insurance groups are based on far more factors than purely engine size, one of those factors is how often they're crashed by young people so small hatchbacks (Fiesta, 206, Saxo, Clio etc) are actually more to insure than some bigger cars. When i was 19 i found a Ford Mondeo was £300 cheaper to insure for me with a 1.8 engine than a 1.25 Ford Fiesta. I dont suppose many youngsters crash a Mondeo. And the Mondy was cheaper to buy....
I need a car which is:
fuel efficient,... Read more
I agree with Gordon, the Toyota Prius is probably the only car which can meet all of those requirements. My workplace has two of them as pool cars and i used one for a day recently and you might find my review kicking about on here somewhere.
Its a big five door hatchback, automatic, plenty of room, its more economical round town than on the motorway as it uses its batteries more round town and uses no fuel at all when stationary. If you want a five door hatchback which is very economical round town and can put 5 people in (i assume you meant including the driver as i cant imagine you put 6 people in a Corsa) which is very cheap to run with bulletproof reliability then the Prius is the car for you....
I've got a Vivaro 1.9TDI just had new turbo fitted,oil and filter,air filter,boost pressure sensor,fuel filter but now whilst driving in 1st and 2nd gear there is no power no matter how much I press on the accelerator and then all of a sudden it will just shoot off. I don't have any problems in higher gears. If anyone has any ideas what the problem could be would be much appreciated as i've spent £1100 on it so far. Read more
My car failed the MOT exhaust emissions test with a 4.70 reading.It should be below 3.0..As the MOT tester showed me there is a lot of black smoke on revving the car. I had not noticed this before as i drive conservatively keeping the engine revvs as low as possible. There are no other symptoms , the car starts and drrives OK. Could this be the EGR , i ask as i thought a faulty EGR would cause smoke at all speeds..Thanks Read more
Well , took the car for a damn good thrashing then drove it into my local gararge (not the MOT place) they then tested it for emissions and though it just failed on the first test they gave it some more revvs and it PASSED OK..
So I'll be off to the MOT place tomorrow , after i give it another good thrashing
and hopefully get my MOT..Thanks for all the help
Just about to replace (again!) all the vac lines on my A3 1.9TDI. I previously replaced them using braided, rubber fuel return line (was told this would be fine) - but it's rubbish! After 6 months the ends on some of the hoses are perishing/cracking already...
I don't want to get ripped of by the dealer, so anyone know where I can get decent vac line by the metre? Do GSF or Euro Car Parts stock it? Read more
should be able to pick up the right dimension silicone tube on ebay in a colour of your choice :-
Just found out we need new rear shock absorbers for our 2007 XC 90 (75,000 miles). Volvo are asking £884.40 for the parts and £110 labour. Given this is an important job, is this a fair price to pay?
And, having just had a 4 x wheel alignment last month, due new tyres will this have to be done again at extra cost? Thanks. Read more
They look like standard shockers to me, without self levelling action, too thin from memory.
Probably not interchangeable unless you change the springs too...the self levellers during use pressurise themselves and the springs used with them are softer, you get the benefit of excellent load carrying whilst maintaining a softer ride unladen....
Dear all,
Please don't laugh too loud! I'm an old git, so don't need vroom!... Read more
Thanks everyone for your replies - most helpful.
I ended up buying the Skoda greenline....
Engine stopped as i pulled away will not start - towed to dealer they say it needs new injector pump is this right? Can it be the crank sensor?
I have codes P0725 and P1651 from the dealer Help please Read more
...
Can any one help? My car ems light came on and my car lost power, took it to renault dealer they put on a new coil pack. A week later same thing happened again, they replaced the coil pack and told me it was because the previous one was faulty.
2 years later the same thing has just happened at my local garage. So i am on my 4th coil pack( the last one fitted a week ago) and my ems light is back on and my car has lost power, my local garage will not re place it again and have said it must be something else.... Read more
Browse
The system is disc brakes all round but with " top-hat " castings on rear axle and drum brakes inside the "hats" for parking and callipers on the "brims" for the hydraulic system. ( Saab used a similar system on the front wheels of their 99 and 900 series cars. ) The braking systems have been fully stripped down and re=assembled in accordance with Fiat data and work fine, which is why I suspect the taper roller bearings. My previous Fiat motorhome had a warranty job carried out by a ( no-longer ) Fiat dealership which involved the mis-fitting of a new rear hub and bearings WITHOUT ALLOWING THE PRESCRIBED END-FLOAT. Needless to say the bearings " cooked " and failed and as they did gave rise to a loud rumbling noise. As yet I only have a slight " cooking " but I do suspect that there is insufficient " end-float " present; hence my proposed experiment. I do not possess a dial test gauge to measure the amount of ( if any !) end -float but it is easy to measure the pitch of the stub axle thread and hence calculate the proportion of a full turn of the retaining nut required to give some end-float.