January 2018
I have posted again as I am just after car suggestions please! People went completely off track on the last post.......
I am looking for suggestions for Petrol Automatic Cars........Make + Model.....
Naturally Aspirated or Turbo Charged with either a Torque Converter or CVT gearbox.
Budget if you need one - anything from £15,000 - £25,000 Read more
Hi all.
I’ve had this car just over a week and it’s been perfect.
Today I nipped out literally round the corner to pick the Mrs up and a huge cloud of thick white greyish smoke came right out of the exhaust. I got out and there was a burning smell, I think it was oily but could have been plastic. Like a burning plastic bag.
Drove back and started again when I reduced speed.
I’m waiting for the AA to come and called the dealer I bought it from, who had a “meh” sort of attitude, still waiting for his call back! ( it’s been a long 10 minutes!!)
I’ve checked the engine, coolant is still there, checked the oil, no residue around the cap but smells a little.
No warning lights at all and engine sounds fine, no loss of power or any detected leakage underneath.
I’ve had numerous head gasket and cylinder head failures on other cars and this is my uneducated guess it will be a head gasket failure.
No smoke coming from the engine and the engine doesn’t appear to have any smells.
I’m completely expecting the worse but could it possibly be something other than the head gasket?
Any advice will be much appreciated. Thank you.
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I need the code for serial no M210974
Can anyone help ?
Thanks Read more
I have used the electronic tag in France with great effect. They now offer one for Spain and Portugal. I know HJ has used one recently and would appreciate comments from anyone with experience of the new tag. I am not expecting any difficulty but a few comments from personal experience would be welcome. I catch the ferry to Bilbao quite soon.
Cheers Concrete Read more
Going to see this one this afternoon. Not sure about the colour, but the missus loves it, so what choice do I have?
www.irbymotor.co.uk/used-honda-jazz-wirral-mersysi...1... Read more
I have used the sanef prepaid tag in France and it worked very well, saving time and effort.
They now offer a tag for Spain and Portugal. I know HJ has used one, but has anyone else recently? Any comments about the experience would be welcome, before I visit the website or order one. We catch the ferry to Bilbao quite soon.... Read more
The following is the weather office's website - just put the name of the town you're interested in, and you'll get a 7-day forecast:
Dear all,
From reading through a lot of previous posts, one being my own I have come to two conclusions:
1) That naturally aspirated petrol engines are more reliable than Turbo petrols.
2) Torque Converters and CVT's are more reliable than automated manual transmissions / dual clutches such as DSG, Powershift, EDC.
I don't want to discount turbo petrols, as there are not many n/a cars available anymore (new cars) and there is no budget - I just want your choices......
So what petrol / automatic cars would you recommend???? (Large Hatchbacks, Estates, Small SUV / Crossover)
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I suspect turbo petrols are going to come unstuck in the new real world emissions tests. They never deliver anything like the claimed mpg simply because they run rich on boost to prevent detonation. The NEDC test doesn't have any hard acceleration included so they do well on that, but you can't run 15psi boost on a 10:1 compression engine (Ford Ecoboost numbers) without chucking more fuel in to stop knocking. A catalytic converter can store a bit of excess oxygen but I wpuldn't be surprised if these engines chuck out unacceptable levels of CO and HC under non-test conditions.
I think that, from looking at HJ's Real MPG' section, only the Fords have much to worry about - most other makes aren't that bad (no worse than diesels anyway in terms of real world mpg drop-off), and especially VAGs who seem to do reasonably well in comparison to rivals on smaller capacity turbo-petrol engines....
To JT, regarding their two issues (if they are a member here), if they have the time, ability (i.e. not an OAP with limited range of movement etc) and inclination, I would check out these two very instructive videos by well-respected US YouTube mechanic 'Chris Fix':
Headlamp (or any car lamp, front or rear) restore - note that Brasso, toothpaste (he tried that and others in a test video) etc are temporary fixes as the top protective coat against sun/heat damage is taken off by these others:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEJbKLZ7RmM&t=2s
Engine bay clean by hand:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRSoRkM8GcM
You may find that some of the materials needed for both (especially the light lens restoration) may not be as easily available or as cheap in the UK as in the US, but the old interweb (after some research) may be the way to go if its still easier and cheaper than just getting AN Other to do the job professionally. Read more
Elderly people often don't use their cars for weeks on end, or at the very least only for a short trip to the local shops and back, not always requiring they use the windscreen wipers/washers. When working in London (commuting by train) I used to not use my car for three weeks, just enough (25 mile round trip to a nearby town to go shopping) to keep the battery topped up (more often as it got colder).
No Hyundai cars in the top ten ? Everywhere I go I see the Hyundai i10 and would have thought it would be a big seller in terms of annual numbers. Read more
Why do people say the VW Golf is such a marvellous car? Their suspension is hard as nails, awfull seats, and just plain awfull to drive. I tried one out and it was a huge disappointment. The Fiesta/Focus was a much better ride
Track limits? With regard to 'bog standard', stick on the dashboard GPS systems, they only receive data from satellites, so there is no facility to transmit the position of the car to anyone external. In basic terms they use the distance from signals from at least two, ideally three, satellites to calculate the position of the vehicle. Those systems that include a SIM card or are a phone app can report the vehicle's location, which is how 'tracker' systems work. Of course, the scallies who nick cars realise this, so get the vehicles into a Faraday cage (ie a container) which blocks signals from the vehicle, as soon as possible. Read more
Mercedes Burnz, sounds scary. Would the fire brigade not investigate any such, unexplained, fire?
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The code for S/N M187153 should be
0860