craigowl

I like a laugh from them but a more serious item about making the Renault go faster would have been gripping,(!!?) educational and less of a time waster.

Sodium bicarbonate (cheap, too) used to be used for removing smelly stuff like sick. I would throw the white powder around on the fabrics, leave it for a while and then hoover it up. Dont get it in anything electrical/mechanical tho'.

Aww sheet!...................I just went and bought a new tent last year. -----------------Great idea Walesey! Have fun!!!

What colinstubbs says is worth bearing in mind. I have had tyres on C for over 6 years now and they have worn little due to annual mileage of about 1500. I read an article suggesting tyres of 6 years old should be replaced anyway! Corrado is in garage so sunlight uv does not age them, but rear Michelins on our Pug 205, which sits outside, lasted so long that they were cracked after many years but with little tread wear and I had to have them replaced. It was our garage which recommended that they should be replaced, so, clearly, there is a belief that old, well-treaded tyres could fail your car in an MOT, perhaps. I agreed to change them anyway, perhaps there is a real danger of failure at high speed. I once put a post on here asking about softest, fastest-wearing brands, as having the two cars coupled with no daily commuting, our tyres are lasting for ages and will probably die thro' cracking before wearing out. (A bit like us, I expect!).

Good entertaining - - - (Oops! - factual) show last night.

RallyRaddo said - "....have had to resort to using front fogs on the country roads just to see where I am going." Careful using foglights in Scotland, man. The police may well charge you if the weather is not "visibility less than 100 metres in fog or falling snow", both quite rare events. Believe me, I know of two cases personally.

Anyone?

http://www.bba-reman.com/content.aspx?c ... _bba_reman I found this site when I googled a part number for the Pugit 205. Looks interesting - includes a list of known faults for various cars, including VR6 ABS. UK branch based in Rochester, Kent. Wondering if anyone has used them or knows of their work?

Very helpful posts, aclw. The time you have spent on this will be much appreciated, thanks. People may well need to be referring to them now as these components fail with age. I believe the main reason the crankcase gases are recirculated to be burned in the engine is because they are extremely nasty for the environment. That goo that rots the piping gives you an idea of how bad it must be. Will possibly give you cancer if you dont wipe it off your mitts! If the engine runs better with all the bits in working order it's a no brainer to keep them in good order by replacing components as required.

I thought Getz got reasonable write ups. Maybe you got a bad one or it takes time to get used to?

Father-in-law's Morris Marina automatic. On left hand bends, it preferred to be on the wrong side of the road. British and epitomised why our car industry went down the pan.

The coil pack bolts should not be done up too tight as much of the component is made of plastic which gets brittle and cracks after a few years. To round them off, some "mechanic" must have been a bit of a gorilla. lol. Cant remember if you can do job without removing coilpack, but access to hoses, etc underneath may prove too difficult. Try loosening fluid on bolt and saw a slot in the bolt so you can unscrew it. Those dremel type tools are useful for making slots and you will not regret buying the tool. Others make Dremel type tools for low prices. As I recall it, access to the bolts is quite easy once the plastic engine covers are off.

nipple with the grub screw is at the end? :thumb right: That is correct, 3corsameal. The diagram is not much like the thing in real life. I dont know what sh!t is going on with it.

Could be cable in some cases, Jim. I replaced cable with well lubricated new one with no difference. dr-mat - predictably provocative! Mis-timing gear change? Wonder if my driving instructors of 36 years ago are still around to receive complaints? lol!

I was frustrated by it, too, but like a 4th to 5th gear graunch on a new 1.3 Polo I had in 1987, you get used to it and as you drive, over the months it appears to become less significant! Imagine noticing it on an R32, as well. Weird. As I suggested, maybe someone with a high degree of VR6 knowledge may be able to offer something, but no one could when I initially raised the subject. Doh! Wots TPS, please?

That is interesting. We must both be ultra sensitive Cnut, or avid rev counter geeks. I started a post about this several years ago. No one could relate to it. I eventually decided it must be idiosyncratic to the car. I renewed the throttle cable and it made no difference. I think the car is meant to be like this. I thought it might be an engineered device to stop the engine stalling on gear change. The phenomenon is so slight that I believe most would not notice it. My wife did not notice it (but she does not really count does she? - her bein' a farmer's daughter 'n' all, who learnt to drive on a tractor.) I have forgotten about it, really. I always believe the fuel consumption will let you know if something of this nature is amiss. As the car behaves beautifully and I get 34mpg on long runs and 24-27 in stop start urban traffic I have not thought about it for a while. Maybe this time someone will come up with the answer. Thanks for making me feel less abnormal in observing and reporting this quirk!

Our eldest sold his Jag XKR (with great difficulty!) and has now got a silver BMW Z3, 3 litre convertible. 2001, 40K miles and about £8k. Not what I call trading down to save money! Anyway, I had not really liked the looks/image of this car before - it always reminded me of lady solicitors cruising about the cobbled streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh's city centres. :camp: Funny thing is, having seen it close up and been for a run in it I have changed my view. Looks good when standing right beside it and beautifully engineered with functional rather than flash controls, etc. It would be interesting to hear from you guys who are familiar with this car.

Looks like Plymff's your nearest branch, Walesy! :(

No one else use 'em? Surprised.

We are lucky enough to have an Arco store in the town. Their HQ is in Hull and many of you will know of them, I expect. http://www.arco.co.uk/ I went in looking for a new fleece and trainers. I came out with a Berghaus fleece and Uvex trainers - when I paid the bill (>£100) she said "I'll give you a discount of 20% and a 20% off voucher that runs through October." I said "That's very kind of you, thanks!" I have been going for over 20 years. Even tho' the staff change they are always very decent and there is always end of range stuff with huge discounts. Often outdoor clothing and tools, etc. I love going in there and browsing - I worked in an office job for 40 years with a little outside work latterly and I just enjoy looking at all that practical "stuff" Bob the Builder uses. The bulky catalogues are always in our house. You see stuff in there you never knew existed. Highly recommended and pass on top marks from me if any of you know anyone connected with them!

Much of Spain has had chronic, worsening water shortages for years. Portugal and NW Spain can be quite wet at times, but looks like they dont want you to throw the stuff around according to AlgarveVR6 and his interesting post. Climate change scenario paints a picture of it getting worse. The Mediterranean climate may be moving north towards southern England, but the North African desert climate is expected to affect Spain and others. Surely no one on here believes other countries will be immune from a global financial collapse?

Congratulations El Dinko. Beautiful car - what a lot of work - you have been a busy bee! Silver seems to be coming back, no? I thought people went off it for a while. Our first Polo, the Mk1 GLS of 1980 was metallic silver. 'tsagood colour IMO.

You don't have to emigrate to improve your quality of life as Wailsey (tee hee!) and Andi have pointed out. I am with them. Credit - When I were a lad, people of our parents generation frowned on those who bought stuff "on the H.P." (hire purchase - monthly payments). Their philosophy for personal and financial success - having grown up in the "hungry thirties" - and passed on to us, was that you gained a good education, worked hard and saved up for things you wanted. By 1970 when we bought our first house with a mortgage, everything escalated thereafter as far as everyone buying things like cars on credit was concerned - get a bank loan - was the answer, but you were well vetted before you got it. Crucial? IMO greed and complacency "in the city" took over from the 80s onwards and caution in investment went out of the window. Understandable when you saw how the price of property soared 30-40 years ago. Our first house, a new semi-detached 3-bedroom villa in Ayr cost us £4750 and three years later when I had to move we got double for it with no modifications whatsoever. Should we have trusted an ambitious grocer's daughter to help set a blueprint for world economy? Easy to say "no way" now. With hindsight we can see that you cannot get a quart out of a pint pot for ever. Common sense, really, but the euphoria and success brought by risk-taking and aggressive wheeling and dealing over the short term became second nature in the city. A hard lesson is being learned, let us hope things before long become less volatile and more comfortable. Many older citizens will have probably been suspicious of the maxim "Greed is good".

The originals sure are mingers. VAG should be ashamed of themselves. £25k for a car with bits like that? I think I may have just soaked mine in Waxoyl and put them back. I am sure out of a selection of s/s self tappers some would be just right.

I have been tackling this off and on since 1969 and you would not believe how bad cars were then. No factory undercoat, no cavity filling with wax and no wheel arch inserts. We had a British Leyland car (Austin 1100) that had rusted-through sills and wings after 3 years from new! Now that I am old and decrepit I just wish the cars were light enough to flip upside down. I am done with crawling under and getting rust and grit in my eyes and all the other nasties associated with diy rust treatment!