Car (or bike) Chat!

[shane]

I always used to forget to undo the speedo cable on minis (hidden low down at the back) and wonder why the engine would not lift out!

My favourite trick was to forget to put the earth strap back between the gearbox and the front subframe, then wonder why the choke cable glowed red hot when I tried to start it.

[Roy S]

I can't stand the smell in my car. The dog keeps farting.

(they always blame the dog)

[walpurgis]

My favourite trick was to forget to put the earth strap back between the gearbox and the front subframe, then wonder why the choke cable glowed red hot when I tried to start it.

I've heard of that one, but not done it myself.

It was a right fiddle changing speedo cables on minis, fortunately I've got small hands and slim wrists and could just about reach in to do it.

[walpurgis]

Well my 'new' old banger is going rather well. I'm still not sure why I bought it, it just appealed to me because of it's simplicity. It's a 16 year old VW golf 1.9 D estate and I've just used it for a holiday in Cornwall and covered 1000 miles without missing a beat and got around 60mpg too. It is happy to cruise at anything up to an indicated 90mph on the level whether empty or fully laden, more than adequate for my needs. I wouldn't be surprised if the old thing has got another twenty years left in it, its only done 88k miles and these are good for 250k plus.

My timing belt and tensioner kit arrived yesterday along with a set of heater glow-plugs. If I get a dry day or two this weekend I may have a bash at installing this lot!

[walpurgis]

Six hours to change a set of heater glow plugs!! With unobstructed access it would have taken 15 minutes, but the injector pump is right in front of the left pair meaning you need fingers nine inches long and half an inch thick to reach them. What a bugger of a job, got it done in the end (and in the cold). Fiddliest car job I've ever had to do and I've done some tricky ones in the past!

[Effem]

Changed cars recently, more by accident than by design.

Had a Volvo V40 for just over 5 years and although it had a 1.6 engine and wouldn't pull a pussy off a piss pot, it never once let me down so had no real notion of getting rid of it. Then I was given a 2 berth caravan and no way was that poor old Volvo going to haul even a small two berth tin tortoise without causing worse tailbacks behind me than a tractor with four flat tyres. Fitting a towbar wasn't cheap either and had nightmares about the Cornish hills impeding rapid progress. A chance conversation by the missus resulted in swapping the V40 for a Honda CR-V, already fitted with a towbar Got 130k on the clock and it still runs like a swiss watch, jolly comfy too and no more thirsty than the Volvo was surprisingly.

The missus has a Kia Rio of 2003 vintage and just had (as many on here have read) a heap of aggro over poor running and an MOT failure on emissions which I promised that once it was fixed I would wave it goodbye, even though it runs really well now it's fixed. Once I got the MOT pass sheet I showed it to the wife and said "This isn't an MOT certificate, it's an Eviction Notice for you to hand back the keys to my Honda" She saw an advert yesterday for a lady wanting a swap for a smaller car for her Freelander, so negotiations are underway to see if she wants a Kia instead of a Freelander

[MartinT]

Avon ZZ3. Have them on my Alfa, great in the wet. Not too pricey either.

Seconded. Great tyres.

[MartinT]

My favourite trick was to forget to put the earth strap back between the gearbox and the front subframe, then wonder why the choke cable glowed red hot when I tried to start it.

I did that in a Mini and it was the poor throttle cable that suffered, sticking at a lot greater than idle

[MartinT]

BMW 335d M-Sport Coupe. 3.0l twin-turbo, remapped for 350bhp and 700nm torque. Gives 34mpg which is pretty reasonable. My third BMW, lovely to drive and handles beautifully.

[Ali Tait]

Nice Martin.