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• Home Brew Petrol Additive 8 Jan 2004 (Forum)
  I'm thinking of mixing 20 parts of paraffin to one part of thin oil with the idea that this mixture would condition the fuel system. I've heard of using ATF for this, and I've got some left over from an old auto car, but when it runs out I thought I might use pump diesel instead as this would make it even cheaper. Since mine is a 'cooking engine' based on 1980s technology, I might use a much larger quantity - say one pint of the mix to a tankful (15 gal).
• What puts SWMBO off car 29 Dec 2003 (Forum)
  I had the idea to have a Subaru Justy when we could afford to run two cars. We had been impressed by how Justys dealt with the conditions in Switzerland. When we went to the dealer SWMBO was quite pleased with the car up until she finally closed the drivers door.
• Laguna accident +Brakes 15 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  EXCEPT THE BRAKES They didnt feel right while standing on them during accident and now seem distinctly odd to me. I can sit in the car with the engine running, and press the brake pedal hard, and it will slowly sink till the pedal touches the floor. Pump them up and they go hard, only to sink to the floor slowly again if you keep pressing. Does not happen if the car is turned off.
• Golf VR6 cold start problem HELP!! 1 Oct 2003 (Forum)
  If you continue to drive car it disappears after about 3 mins and problem only reoccurs after the car has sat for about 4 hours. I can replicate this problem every time! I have had VW and other specialists run diag but cannot find a problem. I have replaced fuel filter HT leads and spark plugs. I am not quiet sure what else to check as I do not want to pay VW £70 an hour to test all the electrics! Can anyone give me some pointers??
• Astra air conditioning 29 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  My only other experience of AC is in an American hire car, when it worked superbly at reducing extremely high Californian temperatures to chill, so I am very disappointed at the Astra's performance. Should I expect poor AC on the Astra, or is something wrong? I should add that I try to run the AC every week to keep it in order, although of course I don't know whether previous owners have done the same. Also, I don't know much about car mechanics, so would appreciate layman's answers to my query!!
• RANT pt 1 and pt 2 23 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  As a prelude , in a 30 minute off-peak drive between Aylesbury and Luton last week I counted 25 oncoming vehicles breaking the lighting regs ..... a mixture of running on parking lights (useless, and against the law for over 20 years .. faulty lights..no lights ... and of course boneheads with fogs on) Rant number 2- for at least 5 years the government tried by persuasion to stop the use of hand-held phones on the move ;eventually as people were too proud/thick to stop, legislation was necessary .
• Disco Kreg 94K for £3.5K - any thoughts? 21 Sep 2003 (Forum)
  The car currently belongs to friends or ours. The lady in question has just gone from full time to part time employment and cannot afford to run it. The condition. Not bad, though a bit of rust is starting to show around the tops of the front door/windscreen pillars. I haven't checked it over completely yet, but that is my first observation.
• Rover 400 (S reg) 1.6 Throttle sticking 12 Jul 2003 (Forum)
  Releasing the clutch allowed the engine to take the revs down. I pulled over and found that under the bonnet was extremely hot. The fan was not running but the car temp gauge was never above its normal setting (I have since heard the fan cut in). Has anyone any ideas? ever experienced the same symptoms? I have now lost confidence in the car. I went to my local rover garage who said they would chareg me £56 just to connect the diagnostic box to the cars engine management.
• Summons in the post 12 Jun 2003 (Forum)
  I had to produce my documents at the local police station and couldn\'t produce my licence (not needed in 20 years) and found to my dismay that the MOT had run out on the 1st of the month. http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=11252 I have now had a summons for the following: No Insurance, which I had No valid test cert, which I hadn\'t 13001 NSTD MCA Offence, I think its failure to produce certificate of insurance and a test cert.????
• Another MG ZR post (Dealer and Price) 9 Jun 2003 (Forum)
  My daughter is seeking a ZR 105 so we had a run out to the local Dealer on Saturday morning. She was happy so we set about negotiating on a one year old one priced at £8995. No we could not have a reduction for cash and no trade in. Second attempt - No we could not have a CD player either.
• Old Which? Road Tests 16 May 2003 (Forum)
  I recall they were being down on the Lotus Elan for lack of luggage space and saying a Bentley would be expensive to run! Other gems included pictures of a Vauxhall Victor 101 demonstrating a serious lack of roll resistance. I think they tested the 1600cc two speed auto version on one occasion...that was some machine!
• Cold start problems on Laguna 2-litre 1 Apr 2003 (Forum)
  The car has done 84000 miles & has been regularly serviced since new. It might be relevant that the dealer also says it's running a bit rough when they do get it going. Starting when warm isn't usually a problem. Has anyone got any bright ideas what the problem might be, as the dealer seems to be totally useless - they can't even be bothered to ring Renault UK for advice.
• BMW 318i cold start performance 26 Mar 2003 (Forum)
  Air filter and plugs are Ok as well as petrol quality (I recently used a tank of premium unleaded), the exhaust after a good motorway run is grey/white in colour, and m-way mpg is 37 at 70-80 mph with a/c on, in town it sinks to a low of 22-25mpg. When stationary and cold if you rev the car on and off between 1500 rpm and say 2500 it tends to make a slight exhaust popping sound as if the car cannot breathe properly.
• Romantic names from the past 24 Mar 2003 (Forum)
  On the other hand some names are so offputting I wonder anybody ever buys the car : Robin Fiesta (sounds like a contraceptive) De Dion rear axle (something on the London to Brighton run?) Gunk (clever name for a down to earth product) Ka Remember J Bonnington-Jagworth?s Boggs Super Oaf? Does anybody else notice names like this?
• Ford 1.8D Start Problem (Again!!!!) 24 Mar 2003 (Forum)
  Hi to group - My wifes fiesta 1.8D has had poor starting since the first frost. The car eventually starts after a lot of cranking then runs fine all day long, until the next frost - so I replaced the glow plugs. No improvement. I changed the fuel filter. No improvement - in fact the problem has recently got worse and the car now fails to start completely.
• Diesel 309 Smoke Problem 20 Mar 2003 (Forum)
  In the last 2 to 3 weeks i have encountered smokey exhaust problems which seem to be getting worse and worse. Start up is extremely smokey, and often runs quite lumpy. The smoke is at its worst when at the lights, or when decelerating. It doesnt seem to be bad if i am accelerating (even very hard). The smoke is a white/grey colour There doesnt seem to be any loss in power or consumption, however i have only had the car for a couple of months.
• Shogun Power Steering 12 Mar 2003 (Forum)
  I started steering and straight away noticed the steering was heavy, it was obvious I had lost the power steering, got it off the roundabout, turned the radio off and it became apperent the engine was not running! This explains the loss of inicators and the loss of PST, the gear lever was still in Drive (auto). I have played about with the car on my drive, cant find a problem now.... any ideas??
• Vxl Omega 3 litre probs 26 Feb 2003 (Forum)
  OK guys and girls, I am hoping for a happy (read cheap) solution to my problem. A few weeks ago my Vxl Omega started to run a bit rough, no probs I thought probably doddy petrol, so I filled her up again from a different petrol station, and the problem was no better. I then thought maybe it's plugs, and bought a new set.
• Omega: Departure ......... 16 Feb 2003 (Forum)
  I'll keep looking at the Omega postings and will respond/help if I can. I've left some more profound comments on a recent long running Omega thread. Regards ........ Robert
• 306 cutting out 27 Jan 2003 (Forum)
  When i am driving the car it will cut out with no warning, all of the power goes, the radio turns off and i am then stranded until the car rolls to a stop. The car will then turn over and start up with no problems. It seems worse when i am running the air con, a little extra load on the engine seems to cause this fault. I took in back to the garage yesterday 29/08/02 for 20000 miles service and still the cutting off problem. What a suprise they could not find any problems, they now want the car for a week to try and find out what is causing this fault.