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• 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,...
• To LPG or not to LPG... 2 Nov 2001 (Forum)
  Having moved North, I now have a 1 hour each way commute over about 25 miles to work every day. Although pretty efficient, the car uses a lot of £'s worth of petrol now and so my question is should I: a) Keep the Cavalier and get it converted to LPG, bearing in mind the car has 70k miles on the clock and is 93MY - Is this a good idea and is the car likely to stand up to another 100k without large issues?
• Aggressive lane shifting 21 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  Sure enough, as I get to the end of this thought Passat driver pulls out in front of me - again closer than I would have liked - and shoots off past the lorries, which I also overtook a minute later. I watched him/her repeat this procedure two or three times over the next few miles before s/he disappeared over the horizon. And thought "What a wally." But maybe Passat driver thinks the same of me and everyone else driving like me?
• E-Class/5 Series or A6 - Advice Please 7 Oct 2001 (Forum)
  I am slightly worried about the bore wear on the BMWs - rightly or wrongly? Also what sort of mpg would you expect out ofthe E300TD (some books give low 30's others 40+). Many thanks in advance for your help Ian
• Car for missus 8 Jul 2001 (Forum)
  Budget is reasonably flexible but I think £8000 to £12000 is in the ball park. So, is it worth getting the 1.8i 'S' over the base model? It's got an LSD, but she's more interested in the ABS brakes. Apart from the headlights, is there any great reason to go for a newer one? What about the MGF -- are they cheap for a good reason?
• Hyundai i40 tourer 1.7 active 115ps - Reliability/Economy/Maintenance 3 Jan 2018 (Forum)
  On fuel economy, the car consistently returns low-50's mpg, which I am more than happy with, and occaisionally reaches low 60's. An interesting point being that my best fuel return on a work journey has actually been when the car has had a full load of myself, four adult passengers, four full-sized suitcases, and four items of hand luggage.
• Aisin (Japanese) Carb-equipped - The Snake Pit : Stripping a Late 80's Carburettor 16 May 2016 (Forum)
  This carb (AISIN Model 87773) seems to be very similar, but the photos are of the "remove tiny black dot from somewhere in the big grey fuzzy mass" school of 80's photo-impressionism.   I couldn't remove all the ancilliaries. The cross-heads just cammed-out, and I didn't want to try my hit-it-with-a-hammer impact driver on a carb casting. Perhaps this would be a job for one of the electric impact drivers Americans are so fond of (in which case I'll have to stop sneering at them)?
• Priu$ Worse Than Hummer 22 Mar 2007 (Forum)
  Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist?s nightmare. ?The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,? said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.
• Audi Allroad TDi test drive 28 Apr 2004 (Forum)
  ve always liked this car in Irish Green (a metallic sage), shying away from the darker colours. The car I took out was black, featuring the ?Aluminium Optic? pack (Audi?s way of saying it has got lots of brightwork on it) and really looked the part, with one exception; the roof. On the lighter cars, the plastic roof cover (there to prevent scratching when taking this beast off-road) is fairly inconspicuous.
• Review of 3 Scenics 8 Sep 2004 (Forum)
  Over the term of ownership, I averaged 48.5mpg, it had great torque, could cruise at 100mph all day long on the French motorways. I liked my first Scenic so much that I believed Renault?s hype about their new dci engines, and traded it in for my second?????.. My second Scenic had 6000 miles on the clock and was the dealer?s accountant?s car. Platinum silver, alloy wheels, part leather interior, it looked fantastic.
• RIP Diesel Hatchback 20 Jun 2020 (Forum)
  Delving into my collection of 80’s and 90’s Diesel Car mags (yes I am a geek) reminds me of the fact that I’m going to miss diesels when they’re gone. I’ve always been a bit laidback when it comes to driving, I prefer a slogger to a speed machine nine times out of ten so they do suit my style.