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• Vectra handbrake and welding 25 Mar 2004 (Forum)
  A friend was given an 02 diesel Veccy as his company car. After a 200 mile trip he parked it outside a friend\'s house. 3 hours later it was still there. However next morning it had gone. Pacing up and down the road, smoking furiously, he found the car at the bottom of the hill, lodged against a tree. He assumed it had been broken into, but there were no signs, and the steering lock was still on.
• Car for heavy towing 17 Mar 2004 (Forum)
  BUT - these cars don't have the low gearing I need. The following are the reduction ratios for two 'heavy' 4*4's and the Subaru, multiplied together to the 'TOTAL' number. This is the number of engine revolutions required to make the rear axle turn once, in low 1st. 1st gear Transfer box Differential TOTAL LR90 3.71 3.32 3.54 44 Mitsubishi Shogun4.00 2.00 4.60 37 Subaru Forester 3.50 1.20 4.10 17 As you can see, the Land Rover has really deep gearing (44:1).
• Removing a bump 9 Feb 2004 (Forum)
  It doesn't look so bad, but partly because of the paint split and partly 'cos I'm a sad type who likes to keep my car polished and dent free (parking the furthest away form supermarket entrances, trolley bays, vetting adjacent cars for baby seats, any sign of of a careless driver(says me) and definately not parking next to 4x4's and MPV's). I got a quote of £300 + vat to re-paint the back bumper, take out the dent and re-spray the whole the rear wing (Leon Cupra in Yellow). Do people think that this is the sort of job that the dents-away type companies could do?
• Pug 309D Geyser Impressions! 11 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  Hi Guys, Yes, a different fault from my earlier post on a different PUG 309D. Just picked up an H plate Pug 309D for £15! It has a tank that?s ¾ full, plus 6 weeks tax left on it, so that alone has to be worth the money. Not surprisingly, it has been neglected and to describe it as ?tatty? would be a gross understatement. Still, it started (eventually) and managed the 7 miles back to my place - well, almost.
• I have a question Volume 28 7 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  She was born in Bahrain, has travelled the world over, lived in the Gulf, Hong Kong, the Philippines, attended an independent school in Kent for her \"A\'s\" and for some unearthly reason has ended up in Tunbridge Wells, which is about as stimulating a lifestyle for a young person as walking around with one foot in a bucket of cement. I want to offer her 3 choices of graduation present, and have got two nailed down: 1) a TEFL course (worldwide qualification, get a job anywhere, only a 4 week course and you can make good money in China/Korea/Japan/Thailand at it); 2) two return airfares for her and her b/f to do the one year Oz working holiday thing and perhaps settle there; 3) ????
• Banger, £3k or 3 year old? 25 Nov 2003 (Forum)
  The options are: 1.Another car the same (i might have trouble explaining the reason for a direct replacement at the dealer tho) 2.A newer shape, £3k ish of the same prob R reg 100000 - with 1 year warranty a requirement 3.A 1.6 Escort, S reg 75000miles with a few toys 4.Some dirt cheap old banger with standard 3 months warranty 5.Or push the boat out and somehow afford a 3 yearold something Considerations: 20 year-old male, so Pug group 5 insurance looks good over Escort group 7.
• Mondeo unless you know better. 18 Nov 2003 (Forum)
  Thought about Japanese as you all recommend them strongly eg Avensis, Accord, Primera but keep getting drawn to the Mondeo that I know drives well and I can get serviced anywhere at competitive prices. I have discounted the Vectra on reliability issues posted on this site plus it?s a poor second to the Mondeo in driver satisfaction. I?ve been to Blackbushe and watched countless cars go through at prices quite a bit less than anything in Autotrader. So, 2 questions please? Mondeo or something else and secondly auction or trader?
• Criteria for a Motorway Patrol Car 20 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  I would imagine both the latter would be much better high speed pursuit vehicles and be able to carry pretty much the same equipment/load as most of the above mentioned 4X4's and be equally capable at a motorway RTA and I'd imagine that they may be cheaper to run too. Even if cost isn't a deciding factor, the only advantage of a 4X4 that I can see in this context would be the greater visibility, the off road capability simply wouldn't come into the equation.
• Airbag fault. Who is responsible? 8 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  My brother had another car run into the back of his car in July, his car being an ?X? reg Nissan Primera. There was no damage to the other party?s car although there was damage to the boot, bumper and under floor on the Primera. It was repaired three weeks later, and when he picked it up from the repairers, the airbag warning light was flashing indicating a fault.
• rover 420 GSI (high Emissions) 6 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  Can anyone help. I have a 1995 Rover 420 GSI, using the mems engine management system. The has just failed it\'s mot due to emission being well over the top like a base idle CO 2 being 9.9% Now I found a useful site on the web giving sensor values, for this system. Check Coolant Temp sens, OK 2.5K ohms when hot.
• messing about with engine air intake 21 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  If the air is warm the engine is very nice, quiet and much more smooth. However when the air is cold, it sounds like a tractor engine, and is as smooth as an elephant?s backside. This lead me to think whether if I `heated? the air, or at least part of it, going to the engine I could make the engine perform better. I can do this easily by adding a bleed from the hot air blower to the air intake just before the air filter.
• Renault Safrane 2.2 What to do? 11 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  Renault Safrane 2.2 What to do? I have a poorly Renault Safrane 2.2 on an M plate.It?s got all the toys and leather interior. 3 months ago it had a new head gasket fitted by a Renault Dealer. Shortly after that the cam shaft broke, because of distortion. (In the cylinder or the cylinder head I neither know nor understand.)
• PLEASE HELP Second hand gearbox problem 26 Jan 2003 (Forum)
  Could anyone here suggest what the problem with the car might be then perhaps I can go back to the mechanic with a bit more knowledge and challenge him. At the moment I don?t really know what?s wrong Thanks in advance for your help people
• Traffic Census 8 Dec 2002 (Forum)
  Just what everyone needs at rush hour on their way to work! I guess I have to follow the policeman?s directions but do I have to give time of day to the transport people? Can I tell them to stop wasting my time and be on my miserable way? Surely with all the Big Brother cameras bolted to every bridge and sign post is it beyond the wit of the transport planners to pick cars at random and follow them on their TV screens?
• Squeaky noise 30 Nov 2002 (Forum)
  Astra 1.7D - started getting a squeaky noise from time to time, very much like the noise I remember from when people\'s fan-belts were about to fail. Have been trying to establish exactly when and why this happens, at first it seemed to be at low speed and when I changed gear or applied brakes. Now it seem to be happening a lot more, but I can\'t really describe an actual breakdown of when and why it happens.
• Galant UnGalant behaviour 28 May 2002 (Forum)
  I haven't the confidence to take a £600 gamble as if that fails apparently the next one is £900 on a new ECU. Has anyone experienced the same fault(s)? Can anyone suggest a cure? Should I keep going until it stops completely making diagnosis easier? Richard
• Buying 4x4 for export to Sri Lanka 23 Apr 2002 (Forum)
  After careful thought, he instead chose to spend more cash, and purchase a Mercedes 180 automatic, 'S' reg, 16,000 miles, clean HPI, and a genereral air of being an honest motor (John!) His reasons? The price was right. A relatively simple car, though at the same time, well built. Automatic suits Colombo traffic.
• This is getting serious: £28K serious 13 Feb 2002 (Forum)
  That way dad will get street cred too vicariously. And, as usual, I will be very grateful for any comments. Cheers Colin S
• Polo diesel poor starting 31 Jan 2002 (Forum)
  Looked at the job and decided I didn't have time myself, so let the VW dealer look. They said 3 of 4 plugs were u/s, so they fitted a new set and all was OK, until this winter. Starting from cold is a bit slow and noisy (more than normal for a diesel) and runs a bit rough when it starts. This seems to be helped if I turn the key off when the glow-plug light goes off, then back on again and put some more heat into the plugs before starting.
• Running diesels on Gas (Update) 14 Dec 2001 (Forum)
  Following on from previous questions about using LPG in diesel engines I saw the following today in 'Professional Engineering'. Referes to natural gas,...