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• Berlingo HDi gearbox trouble 8 Sep 2005 (Forum)
  Now, after a couple of days of that, a whine has also appeared on fourth gear and sometimes fifth, again only evident after using these gears for a while. This, and the faint whiff of gear oil when emerging from vehicle, leads me to suspect I am gradually losing gear oil from somewhere. So two questions: am I right? And secondly, how do I check / top up the oil level, and what fluid to use? Will need to use the vehicle for some time before any leak, if there is one, can be remedied.
• A change in a speed limit 17 Aug 2005 (Forum)
  I was in NW Surrey at the weekend, RF's manor, pulled off the M25 J11 on to St Peters Way, a shortish stretch of dual carriage way that leads from the motorway towards St Peter Hospital (Chertsey) and Ottershaw. I came off the roundabout with a Mercedes going slowish in front and a C2 hard on my bumper, the Mercedes moved to the inside lane though accelerated as I overtook him so I was doing well over 70 when I pulled to the inside at which point the boy racer in the C2 hurtled past, next thing I see is a "50" sign.
• Peugeot 406 Estate - radio, brake lights 11 May 2005 (Forum)
  I unscrewed the roof mounted aerial and noted that the already lousy reception did not actually deteriorate when it was unscrewed. This leads me to believe that the connection from the aerial to the radio has failed, but I cannot work out how to remove the aerial base from the roof - does anyone have any ideas? Thanks Paul
• Broken motorbike 7 May 2005 (Forum)
  Subsequent investigation has proved sparking at all 4 plugs when hitting the starter so it appears that the colis, leads and plugs are fine. However the fuel system draws fuel thru the fuelcock by vacumn action so apart from a hole in the hose what would cause a vacumn to fail. Had all 4 carbs balanced last saturday, and it was fine this monday, and when warmed up pulls like the "Flying Scotsman".
• The Speed Camera Thread - Volume 30 8 Apr 2005 (Forum)
  Not only did (do) we have a dedicated speeding thread we also had (have) a dedicated speeding related to Tax Cameras thread. I was there up the front leading the charge, OK I was also being made redundant at the time and so had little to do at work but surf the net, but I wanted to get my view out there and oppose the anti-car brigade who strangely post so often on this a motoring board.
• Megane jerky at high revs 25 Jan 2005 (Forum)
  My megane has twice recently (once when hot once when cold) started dropping power after it's been taken above 4k RPM, to the point where the more throttle I give it the less I get back in return. It feels almost as if someone is pulling the car back. I had the spark plugs & HT leads (all top quality) done about 3 months ago and also the coil packs were changed. On top of this I've noticed it stall twice recenly just completelty randomly.Once was after delibrately revving it to recreate the problem, second time was stopped at traffic lights.
• The effects of temporary traffic lights 17 Dec 2004 (Forum)
  The lights are located half a mile from a roundabout, which in turn is half a mile from another roundabout on the Leeds ring road and a retail park. This one set of lights caused the first roundabout to clog, plus the four roads leading to it, the main ring road island was also gridlocked and the queue on the ring road in one direction was 2 miles (no doubt it was the same the other way). I would estimate 10 miles of traffic jams were caused by these lights and this was before the main rush hour.
• Car-share lane will debut on M1 10 Dec 2004 (Forum)
  From the BBC News website, this is also proposed on the A370 leading into Bristol. I just see it as completely undemocratic, the ability to share a journey with someone is a matter of circumstance not choice. Why should I be penalised because I do not happen to have a friend or neighbour who works near me and/or for the same hours as me in comparison to a guy in the next village who just happens to have a neighbour who works around the corner from him who also does a 9 to 5.
• Dangerous is the new safe 31 Oct 2004 (Forum)
  Remove seatbelts and airbags, reduce braking efficiency by 50% and design steering mechanisms with an inbuilt wandering tendency and you have a more dangerous car. Naturally drivers will drive these death traps more cautiously, leading to fewer accidents! My preferred term for these proposed schemes is 'muddle zone'. To be serious, I can see muddle zones have a limited application, i.e. where there is an alternative route so that they need only be used by local access traffic, as a next-best-thing aolution where full pedestrianisation is not viable.
• 1987 Golf GTi missing on right bends 9 Oct 2004 (Forum)
  It has developed an intermittent misfire which I thought was ignition so replaced the usual plugs/HT leads/Dist cap/rotor arm. But no change, the car would misfire, in fact cutout but instantaneously come back to life meaning the car lurches for a few seconds then seems to recover. The fuel pump has been noisy for years but the misfire/cutouts seem to be related to when the noisy fuel pump whirr becomes an bit irregular.
• Children are the new cyclists? 4 Oct 2004 (Forum)
  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1256235,00.html Some study has suggested that drivers should have to pay for any collision involving children regardless of fault. Isn't this going to lead to more stupid kids playing chicken, getting run over and suing drivers rather than just getting a good slap for being so stupid? Talk about reverse evolution! I was taught to never, ever, ever step into the road without looking first.
• Rover 414i Gearbox/engine problem 17 May 2004 (Forum)
  Hi all, Firstly, thank you to those of you who answered my last post, ( http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=21085 ) problem solved turned out to be the positive lead disconnected from the starter. The next issue to tackle is the gearbox, serious problems changing gears especially 2nd, up or down (mostly up). 2nd gear does not engage on almost every attempt. Other gear changes are ok, but not what you\'d call smooth.
• Bad things and threes. 17 Apr 2004 (Forum)
  But it did unstick the clutch so I could get it out of gear so a little ray of sunshine. I sent my dad off to go get another battery and some jump leads. Tried those, same thing, now we had two flat batteries. Then we went back and got a battery charger to try and push some life into the battery and discovered that the garage door lock had jammed and the car is stuck inside in the garage during the 10 minutes we left the car!
• Rover 416 that hates wet weather 29 Feb 2004 (Forum)
  Replaced ECU at a cost of £300 and it still breaks down (in the process of getting money back for that). I replaced the HT leads last week and thought that cured the problem until a heavy downfall this week and once again it packed up. Starting to get a bit fed up of looking at the weather forecast before driving.... any ideas, help would be a major breakthrough.
• Baffling problem with Yamaha scooter 12 Feb 2004 (Forum)
  Also, how could a car battery be put into a bike. I have space for the battery, but the length of the leads are too short and would not fit onto the cars terminals. But are there modified ones I can buy somewhere? Many thanks in advance for your replies.
• What price should I sell my car for? 23 Jun 2003 (Forum)
  Electric everything and all works. No rust. Generally good nick, sluggish recently and I suspect it needs new leads and DIS-pack. Cambelt last changed in Dec '99 at 69k miles. So it's due replacement in <10k miles or six months. Traction control has never worked. Factoring in these costs for a prospective buyer and given that I want it to go, what should I pitch it at.
• Diesel experts: your advice needed! 23 May 2003 (Forum)
  I'm new to all this diesel stuff, but could it be any of these: 1) I've heard the cat/exhaust on these can become clogged if it doesn't get a blast/long run for a long time - leading to really bad performance. Anyone heard of this? If so, what is the cure? 2) Do diesels get a lot slower if they've missed some services? I have a suspicion the car has missed the last one or two, but I've no idea if that should make a difference. 3) Can fuel additives/injector cleaners make a difference?
• Saab 9000 Temperature Gauge 2 May 2003 (Forum)
  I understand that the 1995 cars used the sensor to control both the radiator fan and the temperature gauge. I have tried connecting my single lead to each of the sensor's connections but the gauge does not respond. Has anyone come across this problem and solved it, apart from changing the head?
• Corsa 1.4 Hi-torque misfire 4 Feb 2003 (Forum)
  It passed its mot emissions test with flying colours last week and I asked for a diagnostic check while they were doing - no fault codes found. I have tested the leads for continuity- all more or less the same resistance- and replaced the plugs- which seemed to make things a little worse. I'm thinking TDC sensor, Coil or weak mixture- Any tips please?
• Skoda/VW/Audi/Seat MW/LW recep 20 Jan 2003 (Forum)
  I was trying an upgraded stereo in my Octavia and discovered I suddenly had terrible MW/LW reception, the original Skoda radio has superb reception (I use LW whilst abroad!). Having investigated further I beleive the Skoda radio is feeding voltage back up the aerial lead to feed the aerial&lifier (Like TV masthead aerial). I have noticied in past articles/reviews/books by HJ that on some VW/Audi cars, eg Audi A2, have poor MW/LW reception. Do you think they have fitted a different stereo for the UK market that doesnt drive the aerial amplifier properly?