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• Car as an investment 24 Oct 2002 (Forum)
  The only downside was the choice of car...... It was a top of the range Austin Metro, 1.3HLE (white, with orange interior). The auction runs for another couple of days, and the bidding has reached £1500. I think he'd have been better putting the money under the matress. Having said that, I can't think of a single car in this price range that would have appreciated over the last 20 years, so I guess you can't win.
• Life outside the forum 2 Oct 2002 (Forum)
  I'll start - I'm a salesman for a large computer manufacturer, selling the kind of thing that keeps your bank account running (please don't blame me for any mistakes your bank has made recently) or the goods on the shelves of your local supermarket (ditto complaints about lack of Kelloggs Cornflakes in Tescos). Anyone else prepared to confess?
• Diesel oil change advice 29 Sep 2002 (Forum)
  Service interval specifies 12,500 miles which seems a long way to me. Car does a variety of short journeys to work and longer weekend runs and its last 5k miles included a trip to Spain. Thanks PhilW
• 89 Escort 19 Sep 2002 (Forum)
  Just to name a couple so instead of changing the head gasket i just put a knew motor in it i figured it would need it sooner or later so what the hell. i got it all done and the engine was finally running. All of the suddon out of the blue the car dies.instantly. For some reason it is not getting gas. i cant get the injector to turn back on. there is gas at the injector it just won't spray. So i changed the injector and injector wiring.
• Warrenty Validity 12 May 2002 (Forum)
  I've just spent a few happy moments reading some of the archives from the "Technical Backroom". There seems to be a thread running through them of bad servicing by main dealers. This exactly reflects my experiences with company cars, which is why I do it myself on cars that I own. Coming to the question of warrenties the stamping of a service book is not only no evidence of a service being done correectly, it is, in my experience, no evidence of the service being done at all, not even the bonnet openned.
• oil again 25 Apr 2002 (Forum)
  I believe this topic has been on here before and have browsed through past postings but they dont seem to quite answer my query. I drive a Saab 9000 Aero, 2.3l Turbo, so the engine and turbo can get pretty hot. It has been run on semi-synthetic before I bought it with regular changes, but I want to try it on the best oil I can get, and am hence contemplating Mobil 1 with 6-monthly changes (approx 5l miles). The cost doesnt bother me too much.
• The search continues ... 18 Apr 2002 (Forum)
  Can anyone give me a link to a test drive? All replies gratefuly received, but I fear this saga has some way to run yet ...
• SORN 21 Mar 2002 (Forum)
  The tax was out too on 31/12/2002. I filled in the SORN and posted it at X mas I kept the car on my drive, it would not even run, but it was still insured In early Jan I scrapped the car - got £5 for the car at the scrapper, and swapped the insurance to my 'new' car. This week the DLVA sent me a bill for £35.00 {or sim} for not taxing my car.
• Lack of use problems. 5 Mar 2002 (Forum)
  It coughed a bit at first, but that cleared up after a couple of miles and went smoothely enough after that. I have told him to take it for a run once or twice a week, but he just nods and carries on regardless. He now wants to have it serviced, so what do the backroomers suggest he has done apart from the oil, filter and plugs ?
• Economy of Automatics 28 Jan 2002 (Forum)
  I can accelerate as fast as any racing driver(in the same car) ? every time. So my question ? has anyone got statistics on fuel consumption, running costs etc of manuals and automatic models of the same car? From a fleet user perhaps. Bob
• Pug 306 Heater 2 hot... 28 Dec 2001 (Forum)
  I've had it about 5 months and have noticed that the heater is always on 'red hot' no matter what setting the dial is on.... Basically, it changes heat with the rev's, can run hot or cold (usually hot) even when it is just 2 notches off the coldest setting (ie it will keepthe car warm at this setting when it's zero degrees outside!). Whenever I have it on the windscreen it seems to have different temp settings to when in the cabin.
• Cheap Tyres 15 Dec 2001 (Forum)
  Using the website posted in another thread, I think i'm gonna go from 175/64r14s to 185/55/r15s. Will this effect the tyre pressures? Will I need to run at a higher pressure with the 15s and thinner tyres? What tyre pressures should I use? Thanks in advance, Mark.
• BTCC - to professional ? 22 Nov 2001 (Forum)
  Also the inevetible effects of all this money being spent on the series caused any normal racing incident to become a full stewards inquiry. With the high cost of running a team most manufacturers left leaving what we have now ,just an embarassing 4 manufacturers. Hopefully the new regs for next year will interest more manufacturers and bring back some of the entertainment the BTCC has offered before.
• Tune Up. 9 Nov 2001 (Forum)
  I suspect it may need some diagnostic work if the AA couldn't get it going... BTW The Rover's done nearly a thousand miles since the helicoiled plug and runs like a dream. All of the HT woes/poor starting have been cured now it has a 20 minute each way drive and actualy gets warm twice a day! Big/Little End noises go away when the radio's turned up. ;-)
• A303 - European Superhighway? 30 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  The services at Hook on the M3 are the last 24hr services until Hindon. Then there are 24hr stations every 10 miles. Salisbury Plain is not the place to run out of fuel. A "Major" Euro-Route with 80 miles w/o 24hr services. No wonder so many drivers fall asleep at the wheel and wipe out 3 other cars on this road.
• Toyota Picnic value 15 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  It is a Jan 98 S plate GLS Auto with CD 2.0 petrol, Met paint, 60K miles, FSH of course, and it has not been in any accidents or shunts. Windscreen has a few chips out of it, and there are a few stone chips on the body. It still runs well and has had one fault with the remote locking fixed under warranty. Leaseplan gave me a figure of £9,800 and said that include an early return penalty so it would be a bit cheaper. What Car used price guide suggests it would be £1500 - £2000 less than that because of the mileage.
• L-reg Discovery 2.0MPi problems! 15 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  It will now idle fine and rev if the throttle is opened very slowly, but any stabs on the throttle cause the engine to splutter and misfire severely. It is running so badly it wont pull the vehicle at all. We have fitted new plugs correctly gapped, and are at a loss what to do next... any suggestions (short of scrapping it!)
• WEIGHT 1 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  HAVE THEIR DESIGNERS SOMETHING PERSONAL AGAINST ALUMINIUM? aND WHAT ABOUT COMPOSITES? lOUGHBOROUGH TECH WERE RUNNING ENGINES WITH COMPOSITE BLOCKS DECADES AGO,ITS NO NOVELTY.
• Cavalier Idle Speed - Thanks! 24 Sep 2001 (Forum)
  Just a quick thanks to all those who answered my call for help a few days ago: Richard Hall, Ian Aspinall, John Slaughter and particularly Adam Going from Tune-Up who has answered several of my related questions since. My Cavalier is now running like a dream and has put itself off being part-exed for an Astra for another year or so - I am very pleased with the results I have managed myself without an extortionate Vauxhall dealer bill which I could not have done without the help of the above people.
• gizmos 5 Sep 2001 (Forum)
  All the bolt on and tweaks which allegedly can make a standard production car more efficient than the manufacturer without having any downside to it have always been regarded with suspicion by myself. However..... We have all noticed how much better a car runs (mainly petrol) on a cold wet night. This is obviously because combustion is helped by the air being denser, containing more oxygen and contributing to volumetric efficency. Some large industrial boilers have incorporated this into design for efficiency purposes in the past.