April 2005
I need some advice please:
Today I drove, for at least 20 minutes, behind a young man who was chatting on his mobile 'phone. He held his 'phone with his right hand and took his left hand off the steering wheel when he changed gear (so no hands at all on the steering wheel). He obviously did not have full control of the car which veered towards the kerb on a few occasions.
What would you have done, if anything??
He was a hazard to other drivers and to himself. Does anyone know what happens if a member of the public reports such an incident to the police? Would they take the report seriously or label the person reporting it as interfering / busybody / prankster / sad??
Your thoughts would be helpful as I took his registration number... (yes, I am that sad).
Thanks
Pol
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I have just noticed some moron has stolen my spare from the cradle under the boot. Does anyone know if the new one I have got to buy can be made secure or is it a question of just putting it in my boot?
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PUGs tend to suffer from such thefts as do Zafira's (of late). You can trawl through eBay and find a genuine manufacturer kit or good third party equivalent to secure your spare wheel.
I bought one off eBay the other day for use in my 205. Cost me £15 (inc. postage) while my PUG dealer wanted £37 + VAT. Unfortunately if you have an exterbnally mounted wheel, you gotta have these devices fitted. I can excuse PUG for using such a spare wheel carrying system, sicne the car is a 1992 K plate (14 yrs old) - but any manufacturer using this design (without default protection) on current/newer models - it's just scandolous IMHO.
If you're not in Thames Valley Police area then report it ;)
Thanks HJ for above. Am currently in the process of changing cars here in Spain. EurotaxGlass's suggest a dealers' margin of 25-30%, and my experience seems to bear this out. This must be set against a local market where registrations grew 17% last year (it's all the expats - is there anybody left in UK?). Dealers work a strict five and half-day week - 1.00 pm Saturday they're off - and my local dealer was moaning that he never sees his family! Read more
I?ve been living and working here in Warsaw for a little over a year and it?s a real love hate thing. I miss England so much, the backroomers are the only English speakers I have contact with for days on end. One good thing here though, there?s no real traffic problem, I can drive the 100 miles to my little summer house (shabby hut full of spiders) and arrive within 5 minutes of when I plan to every time.
got saxo R Reg basic model, ignition barrel broke, bought second hand barrel off another saxo in scrap yard, fitted it and tried it, it didnt work at first .Tried it a few times then it fired up,turned it off tried it again it fired up, turned it off tried it again it didnt work and a light on the dash board came on which i presume is the key card warning light,tried turning key on and off loads of times still can't get it to start, it just keeps turning over haven't got hand book so can't check what the warning light is. Having changed the ignition barrel i didn't know about any immobiliser which i beleive is round the barrel should i have taken the one off the scrap yard one to go with this new ignition- what do i do to get it to start
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should i have taken the one off the scrap yard one to go with this new ignition-
If you're using the key that came with the scrapyard ignition, then yes. The key more than likely has a chip in it that talks to a sensor in or close by to the ignition barrel.
what do i do to get it to start?
Find out where the chip is in the scrappy key, and see if you can swap it for the one out of your old key.
Both front and rear washers simultaneously packed up, but could manage a little dribble if left for 3-4 hours between attempts. The pump sounded fine, and blocked nozzles were eliminated as a problem by splitting the joint in the tube by the bonnet hinge. The alternative of major invasive surgery to achieve access to the pump unit behind the plastic splash guard, probably requiring removal of the offside front wheel, looked an unattractive proposition. So lateral thinking was brought into play. The problem had been precipitated by adding a quantity of Halfords (green) screenwash, which is normally very effective, to a solution of french origin which is very good at dead insect removal in hot weather. I surmised that interaction between the two had created a sludge on the inlet side of the pump/filter. Application of reverse pressure using a foot pump connected to to the rubber feed hose caused bubbles to appear in the filler neck and immediately cleared the problem. So probably a few years left in the old dog yet.
Has anybody else experienced this sludging type of problem? I hope the tip might save somebody a large garage bill for radical salvage work.
PS for anybody under 45 who is feeling a little bemused, dont worry, you may start to understand in a few years if you are unfortunate enough to suffer the same problems.
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pmh (was peter)
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Peter
Yes the hosepipe down the nozzle to the bottom and into the sludge then mains pressure will surely stir it all up and out when it overflows.
To overcome the right angled bends - there is some hosepipe around that goes flat when empty?
Or warm the end of the hose in the oven to make it plyable
Evening all,
My mums running one of the last original BMW compacts, a 316i with the 1.9 engine on an X-plate with 58000 miles on the clock. She told me that theres a rattle coming from somewhere under the bonnet and I've had a look and found where the rattle is coming from. The problem is I don't know what it is.
Its coming from one of the sprockets that the fanbelt is running round. On these engines the fanbelt goes in a triangle shape around 3 things and its the top one in the middle thats rattling, but as I've said I haven't a clue what it is. At first I thought it could be the alternator, then the power steering pump, then the waterpump, then the air-conditioning compressor.
If anyone has any idea it would be gratefully appreciated. Read more
Switch the air-con off and see what happens. This will take the load right off it and it should spin easily. If it still gives trouble then suspect air-con clutch/bearing fault.
Ok lads here's the challenge for you. We're moving house soon, and the new place will need serious renovation. The kind of renovation that will need loads of trips to the dump and loads of trips to homebase / ikea / trade centres etc.
So I'm thinking it would be a good time to buy a cheap load lugging car. Key requirements are:
- cheap purchase price
- fairly reliable
- cheap to repair / solid mechanicals.
The good news is that we won't be going very far with the car so fuel economy isn't really relevant, and also I'm not too bothered about mileage - have had plenty of 100k+ cars in the past with no worries, although I would like to see evidence of a proper service history.
What kind of car are you thinking would be best? I'm sure an estate would be handy, although perhaps an MPV?
So far my thoughts are that the best car would be a Ford Mondeo: Plentiful hence cheap to buy. Easy / cheap to repair. Probably built quite well.
What do you think? Thx Richard
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Load lugger:
1. Gloria. That is to say, a Ford Transit. It wouldn't do for those Alps trips, but otherwise, it's just what you need. 500 quid, and they're built like the proverbial brick house. Not a joy to drive (at that price), but to the dump or Travis Perkins & back again & you'll be happy as Larry.
2. A pickup. You might, might, might just find a Hilux at that 1k price, but I doubt it. For 2k you will. Unbeatable, frankly. But it's quite a long way up to lift the load - they are high loading.
Car:
Audi 100 estate (the A6 shape. previous model available for the price of a bag of chips - and no less reliable (until, like every cheap & old car, they need 5 new spark plugs & replacement time arrives.)) Huge, and you get Audi reliability, luxury, comfort etc. They do have a carpeted boot, though. You could get a Carlton, but then you have to face up to their reliability. You probably won't get a sub-10 year old audi for that money, though, which might be an issue if you're driving abroad and want AA cover. What about a Mercedes W123 estate? Supreme luxury for under £500.
And there you have a list of the 5 of the last vehicles I've owned/used a lot - and all bought for the reasons you demand.
Seems that BMW USA have admitted to a problem with the 'leds' on these and give customers a fix service for $100, however old the car.
BMW UK, however, are more interested in the state of their showrooms than their customers and offer no service at all. Just why do we put up with being pushed around like peasants in this country? Read more
Sorry, I've just read your previous post - talk about getting the wrong end of the stick!
As you've probably guessed, I thought the clusters you were talking about were "rear lamp" and not "instrument".
The bit about US customer service still stands though. :-)
Some small vans and their car-derived versions (Peugeot Partner, for one) offer either double rear doors or a hatch. Leaving aside individual convenience, which is best? My first thought is that double doors are more likely to rattle and be prone to movement. However, are these vehicles designed with double doors in mind and therefore the hatch fitting is more likely to prove suspect and non-robust in the longer term? Read more
Double doors every time for me! Everything has been said above which is why on the Fiat Doblo I have ordered I have paid the extra £50 to have the double doors. The other vehicle we have is a Transit Tourneo bus and the tailgate is massive. I was feeling pretty smug because the Doblo has rear doors split approx 70/30 so that the driver doesnt have the huge pillar in the rear view mirror. Last week, in spain, I realised the doors are split 70/30 for a left hand drive - Durr! slaps forehead! Never mind it was a good idea at the time. If someone can tell me that Fiat split the doors the other way round for the UK I can go to bed a happy chap.
Pafo
I guess very few cars fail there 1st MOT unless of course the driver fails to notice an illegal tyre or similar, nevertheless I was a pleased as punch today when my Mondeo Ghia X TDCi passed. Incidentally it is not 3 years old until next month though I had the MOT post dated to the anniversary of the first registration by taking the reg doc with me to the MOT centre.
Of course I checked, tyres, bulbs and wipers before hand however it sailed through the test in all regards, I was slightly worried (though with no real foundation) about the emmisions test due to the need for diesels to be revved hard however I was surprised as to how crisp the engine sounded from outside the car as the tester revved it to nearly 5000rpm, really rather un-diesel like.
The fact is that it is probably as sweet to drive at three years old and 89000 miles as it was when it was new, if anything the engine is more free revving, also cosmetically from a few feet away it looks looks like new, the only sign of wear and tear is the interior door pull on the drivers door where the plastic is rubber coated and the rubber is wearing off.
I have been thinking about changing it though for what, there is not much else that gives the same blend of performance, economy, refinement, practicality, comfort and driving pleasure. Perhaps I will hang on to it after all.
I do though fancy a Megane 225, also I like the look of the new Focus estate. Read more
Hi Cheddar,
I do like the current Mondeo. The Ghia X's even more so. It's clear that you still really really like the car so you know what I'm going to say!
If however, you can't resist the urge, I'd be tempted by the new Focus but only in it's saloon or hatch guise. I saw a saloon in black at Polar Ford the other day and all I have to say is, Wow. If I'm being honest, it puts the hatch to shame and black is the colour to have it in. I'v enot seen one in this colour yet but I get the feeling that gun metal grey they do the ST170's in would be amazing too.
That being said, the Mondeo's been faithful. I'd keep it for a while yet - especially seeing as nothing has gone wrong yet at all.
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Adam
Browse
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I had to have a laugh recently in Poynton. The traffic there is generally difficult because of a narrow high street, with cars trying to get into the COOP mini supermarket. I stopped to let a car across my front and into the supermarket car park. The car turned in, driven with great aplomb by a bright young thing wearing jodphurs and riding boots (stained with stable debris), talking animatedly into her mobile, left hand to right ear. Difficult turn in, parked in a 'disabled' bay, trotted into the shop without a backward glance, still talking.