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• First new car 27 Aug 2003 (Forum)
  Anyone have a Yaris and care to comment on whether they are a good first car and suitable for a tall drivers, 6ft +. Which model should I choose. I am expecting the Yaris to be cheap to run, free and then low insurance, good mpg, reliable and hold on to a lot of it's value. I would rather have a good car that loses a few grand in three years than buy a banger that loses all it's value and costs £100's to repair and insure etc.
• Ken's great idea for public transport 20 Aug 2003 (Forum)
  I suppose that this is tied in with his tax scam (Congestion Charge, which I forgot to pay yet again so more fines!!!) not making as much money as he thought and also the fact that the company that runs it takes most of the money raised for themselves.
• Engine revolutions 4 Aug 2003 (Forum)
  In one of those moments on the A1 where there was some spare processing power available due to fairly low traffic levels I did a few calculations. Based on an average of 3500 revs to cover 70 miles (about the equivalent of running in 5th in the Yaris), the engine would perform 3000 revolutions of the engine per mile. Taking in to account things like idling, use of lower gears around town etc, you could easily expect an engine to perform 500 MILLION revolutions in it's lifetime and as many as 1000 million (or a foreign billion) if the car lasts much >100k miles or does a lot of around town work.
• Family pubs in London-BR Meet 18 Jul 2003 (Forum)
  Sorry to put something here which is clearly not motoring but if I stick it in the "I have a question" thread I don't think it will get the attention it deserves. Moderators - if you could please let this thread run for a short period it would be most appreciated. There is a plan to organise a BR meet for one Sunday in August(ish) somewhere vaguely near to the centre of London - more details to follow later, watch this space...
• Rainwater leaks - 205 12 Jul 2003 (Forum)
  The 205 has a bit of a reputation for water leaks into the boot, from where it will run into the well under the rear seats. A few months ago I took over a 93K car which clearly had suffered from this problem. Previous 205s I have owned have had leaks via the inside of the tailgate, which is cleverly provided with a hole in each corner draining into the boot!
• Vectra Revving 10 Jul 2003 (Forum)
  Ive chercked all the air sensor connections on the intakes, cleaned the Idle control valve and breather pipe with carb cleaner (twice), replaced the air filter and yelled at it loudly. What can I try now as im running out of ideas and patience. Im sure this isnt doing much for my economy, but 2 old ladies were not a little bit concerned yesterday as i sat at a crossing with my engine roaring at them!! Any help much appreciated Peter Groom
• Cracked Windscreen advice 8 Jul 2003 (Forum)
  My mate's 52 reg Micra has unfortunately developed a fairly large crack in the windscreen. It runs from the base of the screen in the centre, up about 5 - 6 inches, and then across for another few inches, definately big enough to require a new screen. Having looked at it there is absoloutely no impact damage and I'm pretty certain that it's a stress fracture of some sort, possibly due to a manufacturing defect in the screen.
• Ford Focus TDDI misfire 23 Jun 2003 (Forum)
  I have checked the fuel pipes incase it could be an air leak and changed the fuel filter. I am now waiting for the fuel tank to run low incase it is contaminated fuel which I purchased from a different forecourt to my usual, as I was on holiday at the time. If replacing the fuel does not solve the problem then I can only think that it is a problem with one of the sensors to the ECU or the ECU itself.
• One for Volvo anoraks 28 May 2003 (Forum)
  I guess not suspension and chassis componentry, because his turning circle is much tighter than mine, despite a similar wheelbase and running on identical 225/45x17 tyres. * I say 'generic' because many detail engine changes *were* made, especially with engine management hardware and software, which are completely different.
• 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?
• Volvo test drive 20 May 2003 (Forum)
  BTW, I've had no problems with my 940 se turbo (manual) in the five years I've been using it for primarily local runs and doing only 3-4k pa. How would a 3.0 960 (auto) take to this sort of treatment ? Thanks gang !!
• Mercedes E-Class W211 17 May 2003 (Forum)
  Having had my pride and joy for nearly six months now someone spotted what looked like oil streaks running away from underneath this morning. I popped up to the dealers and they took it straight round put it on the ramps and said the fuel filter was leaking diesel and there was an oil leak that was dripping onto a coolant pipe and had damaged the pipe to the point where it was about to rupture.
• Fiesta '97 Petrol smell from Filler pipe 19 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  I am correct in thinking that the Fiesta (along with most modern "eco friendly" vehicles is supposed to collect it's unburnt petrol vapour in a canister. Then when you run the engine a valve controlled by the PCM opens to release the vapour into the inlet manifold where it is burnt and passes out through the cat as normal exhaust etc? Suppose this valve was stuck closed and the only place for the vapour to escape was through the seal in the filler cap when the pressure was high enough (IE with a full tank that has been rattled around in hot weather).
• Overheated Brakes 16 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  Had my car serviced 4 days ago. Today, immediately after a 10 mile run at 70mph (the first journey over 25 mph and 2 miles) the rear drum brakes seriously overheated (tons of smoke). I thought the whole car was going to go up in flames. Luckily, I had a bottle of water to hand to cool things off with, though after 1.5 litres carefully poured over the drum, it was still hot enough to turn the water into steam.
• Continental Premium Contact 16 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  The tread pattern on these tyres consists of three grooves (which are 7.5mm deep on a new tyre) with diagonal grooves which are only 6mm deep. The 1.6mm treadware indicators are in the 7.5mm grooves, so this means if you run the tyre down to the legal limit of 1.6mm there will only be 0.1mm of tread in the diagonal grooves. As the law states you must have 1.6mm across 75% of the tread will this make them unlawful. At this stage they would look like slicks with three grooves in them.
• Non-functioning alarm remote control 7 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  My understanding is that if the unit is used to set the immobiliser/alarm system (it's a Toyota 5000 Thatcham I device) and then it fails, it will not be possible to use the car until the whole set-up is replaced at some cost (>£200, I'm told). This will be my wife's key, and not used so often, but I don't want to run that risk. I've seen reference here in The Back Room to companies who will, for example, reset BMW dashboard computers for a fraction of BMW's quoted price. Does anyone know if it is possible to fix this remote control in a similar way?  
• Cars with 36 volt batteries 1 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  All very interesting but I assume that this is going to be a very expensive car with more electrical systems than an aeroplane. I personally can not imaging a car that requires 12 to 14 kW to run it that is a huge load that takes 20 HP out of the engine. Mat this guy meant 14kw to start it. Apparently the battery manufacturers and vehicle makers have been working closely to develop 42V systems.
• Wet Rover won't start 30 Mar 2003 (Forum)
  The car does several hundred miles a week, easliy passed all of its emission tests in last months MOT and when running is fautless. What else can I try?
• New Mondeo TDci auto 6 Mar 2003 (Forum)
  under the bizarre moniker of "Durashift 5-tronic". Is this a tiptronic-style device, or some sort of clutchless manual? Currently my dad runs a 99T Vectra 1.8LS auto estate (which he is very pleased with) and is a big fan of self-shifters - from talking to him he's not taken with the idea of "fancy gimmickery - I just like to put it in Drive and off I go".
• Fan/hand encounter 27 Feb 2003 (Forum)
  Up on the lift, the bloke looks underneath, holds hosepipe near ear, and near exhaust... Car is running, and heats up to the degree that the fan kicks in ... Bloke can't hear anything, so lowers car, opens bonnet, starts delving around with hosepipe... leans forward, reaches hand down to steady himself... brrrrrrrrrr as it hits the rapidly-spinning fan ... makes a mess of three fingers, blood all over the engine compartment .... this despite the large DANGER/GEVAAR/INGOZI sticker on the cowling above the fan ...