Safe Speed Forums

Dosen't that imply that clued up drivers avoid these services, or avoid people with clip boards

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Took the car in for service yesterday. They plugged the diagnostic machine in and said it showed a fault with the knock sensor. There's nothing actually wrong with the knock sensor apart from recording a non-existent fault

I could have had it replaced at a price of £115+VAT or similar. Needless to say, I didn't.

Would it be an MoT failure if a warning light is displaying, though?

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Ahh yes, the motor industry is following on the heels of aviation here. Of all the warning light faults fortelling impending doom due to low oil, fuel or hydraulic pressure, high oil or coolant temperature etc etc, I've investiagted, 99% of the beggars are caused by faulty transmitters. I've come to the conclusion that the warning lights serve only to inform the operator of a failure of the sender that supplies the light

There might well be something wrong with the knock sensor. You won't notice anything amiss until the car tries to knock though! If it doesn't knock, the knock sensor (even if it was working) won't do anything!

In the UK, you'll probably be fine but if you took it to Greece or somewhere that had "variable" fuel quality, the engine might start pinking. In extreme and prologed cases it will destroy itself - but that's rare!

The other thing that might have happened is that once it has decided its knock sensor is faulty, it might attempt to save you an engine by retarding the ignition timing a bit. - effectively going into fail-safe mode. If that's the case, you might notice a very slight drop in performance / increase in fuel consumption but it ought to be very slight indeed!

Years ago when we were al llearning to drive in our school, we all bought various jaloppies to run round in. one lad came in looking really glum one day. His "new" pride and joy - an old 1300 Marina, had seized its engine - oil starvation.

"Wasn't there a warning light on"? I asked.

"yes, there was a little ?amber? light on the dash that's been on this last few weeks. At first it used to flash on bends but then it stayed on. I didn't know what it was so I ignored it".

Before I could say anything, another of my classmates replied "It's a base model f&*£ng Marina!!!! It's only got 4 lights on the dash. One comes on with the indicators, one with main beam one with the ignition - that only leave one more AND THAT'S NOT LIKELY TO BE A F%^&£$G ASHTRY-FULL WARNING LIGHT IS IT?????"

Couldn't have put it better myself!

I'm not likely to take it anywhere beyond France or Germany, and haven't noticed any deterioration in performance (which isn't exactly earth-shattering at the best of times). Also I tend to avoid supermarket petrol and stick to major brands. Therefore I'm happy to live with it for the time being.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

It can be. I have heard of an MOT failure due to a fault code stored in an ECU but not flagging up a warning lamp.

Like a tale i heard in a little village - bankers wife bought car ( Hilman Imp ) , on run home saw this light on dash -drove home - 45 miles - and then some nasty noises - was oil pressure light - noises was big ends -tried to claim on waranty - till told that no oil in engine voided waranty.
Woops - no deal .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

That shouldn't have happened. There is no requirement in the MOT test to check fault codes - in fact very few MOT stations will have the necessary tackle to do so on all makes of car. They just check tailpipe emissions and (Not sure about this!) engine managment warning light. If tailpipe emissions are OK, it should pass.

Is it a requirement to check tailpipe emmisions - don't recollect my MOT lot doing it -

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

My bosses 4 cylinder Skoda Octavia failed a diagnostic test at a garage.

The message read "fault with plug on cylinder 5"

OK, not if the car is old enough!
(pre '75 I think?)