oz *sti*

O.k. – from the knowledge I have from previously working in the insurance industry. Yes they can decline any policy at renewal that is there right as a company; there are loads of different influencing factors which are taken into account when a premium is calculated. If these factors change during a policy year or if the risk changes then the insurance company will try and safe guard themselves and not offer a renewal. I do understand that you did state that these claims are non-fault claims and as such means you are not at fault for the incident, but when it comes to insurance, it has been statistically proven to show that drivers involved in a non fault claim will go on and make further fault claims. Again I’m not saying you will, this is just the stats. If you’re insurance company has told you or it is shown on paper work as a non-fault claim then that’s what your renewal will be rated on. The only time that would differ is if there is any dispute regarding liability then the claim would be noted as a fault claim, then once settled would then show as either a fault or non fault depending which way it has been settled. Sorry I’m not passing on good news.

Soz Neil, inbox now empty. What the best way to check for a spark from the plugs...? Is it just a case of taking a lead off the plug, getting someone to try and start to see if there is a spark and then moving onto the next and so one, or is there more involved?

Thanks for the replys guys, I will check the earth in the morning to make sure that is o.k. And will also try the putting the Jump lead from the Negative to the inlet manifold, is there anywhere best on the manifold to connect it to?

The car has got a clifford concept 650 alarm + immobiliser. With the new battery the car is wanting to turn over after about 8 / 10 sec of trying to start, it trys to spark up but does not take and then goes back to trying to turn over. I don't have a battery charger, that's why I was thinking of towing and the bump start route. I'm not sure where to look on the Apexi hand unit for the Maf read? is that in Settings then itno Sensors etc... or some where else?

Hi all, About a week ago I put a post up saying I had been working away, and the car had been on the drive for about a week and the battery was the original that was in the car when I bought it 4years ago. Since then I've been away with work again this week only just back, I bought a new battery from Halfords today, which is the one it starts for Subaru Impreza Turbo which is a 460 amp battery. I fitted this about an hour ago, and yes I know it's very cold out there and the car has been lying for some time, but the engine still won't turn over. Oh forgot to say when I fitted the new battery the apexi hand unit read 12.6volts. When I would try and start it before all I would hear was tick, tick, tick. But when I tried to start the car with the new battery the engine was wanting to turn over, I just would not fire up that's all, tried this a few time but it would not fire up. When I went to look under the engine I could smell the petrol, so I recon the fuel pump is doing what it should...... but not sure what to do now...? Going to get the wife to tow me tomorrow morning, to see if it can be jump started with a little help by being on the move. Any thoughts Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the comments guys, just back in from the car, I put the ignition on the the hand unit was reading 10.1 volts, As you may expect it did not start. Also as you would expect when I put the lights / radio / and inside lights on the volt went right done to about the 5.7volt mark. Me thinks it could be new battery time.

I've being away with work all of last week, got home on Sat morning, went out to start the car to start it up and there was nothing, all I could hear was the fuel pump, and when I did turn the key, there was just a tick, tick, tick maybe from the starter (the Apexi hand unit was reading 11.7 volt). So I got the wife to tow me out and got the car jump started let it run for about 40 mins. When I went out to the car this morning and it started first go, then went to start it this afternoon and nothing again, same again I can hear the fuel pump, and when I turn the key all i get is tick, tick, tick, tick from the what I think is the starter motor. So tried to get towed and jump it again, but then engine would not even start up when being towed??? The apexi handing unit this afternoon was reading 11.1 volt. It is the origanal Jap battery from when I got the car 4 years ago. Does it sound like I just need to bite the bullet and get a new battery? Thanks in advance.

Hi there mate, I left my job as an insurance broker yesterday and had been doing that for 7 years. As far as we have been made aware through the company I used to work for, information is transferred onto M.I.D (Motor Insurance Database) midnight of when the policy goes live, so if the policy starts on the 1st November, we would transfer the details onto M.I.D midnight of the 1st November. If you are trying to tax the car online and the policy has not started as yet then that would be why the information has not been transferred as yet and you can not tax the car online. If your policy on the other hand has started and is not showing on M.I.D then I would contact your insurance company and they may have to update M.I.D manually. Hope this helps, Alan.

O.k. guys `n’ girls looking for some advice, what is the best or easiest way to re-fill the coolant without leaving air in the system? I usually just slowly fill the coolant through the header tank, once down I squeeze top and bottom radiator pipes to try and get rid of any air in the system. (Oh I don’t have a heater matrix, so don’t need to worry about putting the heating on hot to help get rid of the air, as I don’t know what hot is anymore – lol) I have heard of people re-filling through the turbo water pipe, the one going from the header tank to the turbo??? Anyone got any experience with this method??? I did speak to RCM today as I was buying some goodies from them, and they said when they change coolant they remove a pipe that allows the air to escape, but they did not tell me where the pipe is? Anyone know this method at all??? Anyone else got any easy methods on how to get the air out of the system when re-filling the coolant? Thanks in advance, Alan.

Alright Craig, As fare as I know I bled / drained it all, I just undone the bottom hose, took that off let the old coolant empty - put the new pipes on and filled through the header tank. I left about 3/4 inch gap in the top of the header tank to allow for expansion. Alan.

Yeah just tried that mate. From cold there was a little water, putting that down to rain and any condensation in the exhaust. Maybe not a good move and not to be recommended but I tasted some of the water and no coolant taste. When warm there was no water at all. Alan.

I need to bug your brains some more guys. I had a problem about 2 weeks ago when the top radiator pipe burst on me when I was coming of the motorway, the temp on the Apexi hand unit did not go above 100, I mamaged to get the car home. I drained the old coolant. Upon fitting the new pipes to the radiator, I filled the system that evening left it over night to allow the coolant to settle and then checked it the next morning to find it had dropped a little but not much, I topped to up and all was good. What I notice now after taking the car for a bit of a blast and being in boost some on the coolant is being pushed into the expansion bottle, when I finish a run I do notice the coolant in the expansion bottle is going up and down and has bubbles coming out of it, but no coolant coming out of the expansion overflow pipe. I took it for a slightly harder run yesterday and when I checked the expansion bottle, there was a drop (and I mean only a tea-spoon amount) of coolant that had come out of the overflow pipe from the expansion bottle. Anyone got any thoughts on this or what could be causing this??? Head Gaskets…. Air Lock…. Radiator Cap…. Water Pump…. Etc, etc….. Oh I had the head Gaskets changed about 3yrs ago, when I had the block and heads skimmed, up-graded gaskets used and up-graded to APR head bolts. Any thoughts Welcome.

Anyone else got any thoughts on the matter?

I recently put up a post to say that the top radiator hose had split and coolant went everywhere. Well I have managed to get new pipes and have re-filled the coolant system. When the pipe originally burst the coolant went all over the headers / up-pipe which are covered in heat wrap. I went out this afternoon to start the car and bring it up to temp, to allow the water / coolant to burn off, but after about 55 mins to an hour the headers still had lots of steam coming of them, ( not nice as all I can now taste now is coolant ). So my question is should I just allow the headers / up-pipe to dry the wrap? If so how long should this take?? and is it safe??? Or Would it be safer and better just to take the headers off and take the heat wrap off and put some new wrap on??? Cheers, Alan.

Seafa99 did your head gaskets go as a knock on effect, or was it just a case of replace the pipe and that was you? The headgaskets on my V3 STI, went about 3yrs ago and I got Greersport to skim the heads and the block and fit an upgraded gasket (steel I think, not 100% sure). So I thought the heads should still be o.k.

I was driving home today on the M8 heading east bound, the car was feeling a little rough so as I took my exit I made sure there was no one around me and gave the car a quick blast then out of now where a loud bang and then white smoke started billowing out of the engine bay. As this was happening I just had the sad image of Jimser car going up and I thought oh no here we go again. I pulled over open the hood and then seen that there was coolant everywhere, again thought oh no the heads have go (this would have been the second time now... more $$$) I had a look at the expansion tank and that was bone dry, all the water / coolant was on the left hand side of the engine as you look in. I managed to slowly get the car the half a mile to my house, I let everything cool down then went out to see what’s what. I then found that it was the top radiator hose that had split and blown letting all the coolant flush out. Has anyone heard of this happening before on a classic??? I’m just hoping there is no damage to the internals of the engine. Here's a pic. Alan.

Wow..... That's some big bucks been put into that....

Since I got the car mapped a few years ago by Mr. F, it's been V-Power for me ever since.

Welsho; Do you have Motor Legal protection on your insurance policy per chance? If so and you go through your insurance then your motor legal protection can be used to re-claim any uninsured losses i.e. your excess. But in this case it is as clear as night and day this would go down as a non fault claim for you, main factors on your side; your car was stationary (unattended?) and you have CCTV footage, and you have the third parties details. The only one thing I would say about using ACS or your own solicitor, is that if you’re not happy about what they are doing or the length of time it is taking and then call your insurance company to try and help out, they will not help at all they will just log the claim from the date you call them and then start the claim fresh they will not get involved with anything else you taken upon yourself to do on your own behalf. Alan.

Welsho- IMHO mate, from working in car insurance on the claims side of things (work for Esure), I would advise you to go through your insurance (that's just what I would do though). First of all do you know any details about the person who hit you, like name, address.... if not that's not to major thing. Fingers crossed you have her Reg if you do then your insurance company will be able to check on MID (Motor Insurance Database) and that would pull up the name of who she is insured with along with her policy number and there contact number. Now from what you have told in your very first post with the pic's, you said there is "video footage of her parking next to me and later checking the damage" any CCTV etc.. is like gold dust to a insurance company. With that sort of evidence and because you car was stationary at the time there is now way your insurance company should be looking to put this down as a Partly Responsible claim. Depending who are insured with they may even offer to pass the claim onto another company to deal with the whole claim, the reason the company I work for do this is because we know we will get our money back from the other party, As a result the other company are happy to take it on and because it would be classed as a non fault claim they would waive you excess right away and they would also provide you with a hire car (not to be confused with a courtesy car), which would be a car the same size as your doors, engine etc.. etc, and not a little ford KA or such like. If you go through your insurance and they don’t waive your excess, then as long as your insurance makes a full recovery from the other insurance company then you would get your excess that credit back to you. As this would be classed as a non fault claim it should not be rated upon at all at your next renewal. Or on the other hand mate you could contact her insurance company direct, stating you’re the third party who their client has hit and you would like them to deal with the claim, therefore your insurance company would not have to get involved at all. Also contacting her insurance company would let you find out if she has notified her company.... I know myself included if we have a bump or what not we don’t always tell the insurance company but we are meant to and this would be logged as a notification claim only, where the customer is only notifying the company but not claiming for the bump. If you don’t know who she is insured with and you know her Reg and want to find out more send me a PM.......... Sorry for going on and on... whatever happens hope the car gets sorts for you mate. Alan.

I have used them many times in the past and have to say they are a great bunch of guys who know Subaru's inside out, good fast service at a good price. But I would agree with Andy, stop by have a chat to Bill see what you think and take it from there. Alan.

Yep, I seen the EVO 10 this morning over near Hamilton - and I have to say it looked very mean. Alan.

Gus, if you don't mind me asking where did you get the side decals? I really like them. Alan

Looking for some advice / help, I have a V3 sti with a Clifford concept 650 alarm, in the last couple of months I have noticed when I click the unlock button on the key fob it will not always unlock the doors… meaning I will have to use the key on the drivers door to unlock the central locking. When using the key fob the car always locks no probs, it’s just when trying to unlock through the key fob it won’t always unlock….. Any thought on what could be causing this??? Thanks in advance, Alan.

I thought it was great to watch, well done again to the 3 who made this happen. I thought the gearbox of white Group N sounded fab when VBH was driving but Mcrae's car sounded out of this world - just great.