Dorris

I've just run my first full tank on the new E10 fuel in the CS. I ran it right down then put £20 in just in case i needed to drain it down and had no problems with it, so when that ran down I went for a full tank. Not only has it not had any running issues but if anything it feels better. Like Chris says, some of us have been running 5% ethanol for 30 years plus so if ethanol is going to cause any degradation it would of done it by now, though I suspect those cars on the incompatible list may have specific component effected by ethanol and would more then likely increase the speed of deterioration with the 5% extra. Also if a manufacture puts a blanket time limit on its vehicles then they wont be open to legal action if something goes wrong, you only have to look at the diesel emission fiasco, if there is chance of free money people will jump at it. In time it will be interesting to compare mpg, but right now after my first tank I've not noticed any difference. Dorris

Ive a few of these on my Toyotas, my Hiace van and one of our Avensis has a silver sticker. The Avensis was only 70k away from the gold when the misses decided to chop it in for a new one. My Avensis has a bronze and the CS is only 4k away from a bronze too. I got mine through the Toyota UK face book page. I have heard of a Hiace van up in Scotland with over a million on the clock. Dorris

Glad you got to the bottom of it, as you say so much water and with that comes grit then add in they never put enough grease in them from fitting can cause premature wear in the bearing races and corrosion which is what you are hearing. Dorris

Drive shafts/CV joints tend to knock under load, wheel bearing tend to groan when you load them up. If the pitch of the whine doesn't change with gear changes and is definitely speed related then you are going to be looking at from the diff to the road. Diffs can whine (what condition is the gear box/diff oil?) and some tyres will whine especially if they get old or incorrect pressures. Just something there to go on, the fact it passed an MOT its shouldn't be a concern, more annoyance! Dorris

This was something we seriously considered back in 2000 for our Aircraft fire tenders with the fuel blockades and shortages that were going at the time. We had an abundances of AVTUR (aviation jet fuel) but it has no lubrication properties like diesel so a 10% mix of 2 stroke oil and AVTUR was purposed so we could keep them running if push come to shove. As it happened, it was all over before our diesel tanks ran dry. Dorris

Mazda rotary play by a completely different set of engineering rules and are known for being as reliable as the British weather so running a bit of 2T oil to lube the Apex seals makes sense. The Norton Rotory ran a total loss system where the oil was passed through the crank and inner piston before injected into the fuel but not so with the Mazda. The notion of putting 2T oil in a four stroke fuel has been around since time in memorial and to be fair most of it is pub talk, old wives tails, etc. Ive been building engines and around the race scene for over 30 years in both 2 strokes and 4 strokes and have never come across anyone doing this on the race scene nor found any benefits either. If there is its not to help lubrication, as there is nothing to lube within the induction, compression or exhaust of a 4 stroke cycle so it can only be maybe to help stabilise the burn in someway, if it is, there are much better ways. The other option is he could mean engine oil, in the past a 2 stroke engine gear boxes by there nature would run a thinner oil then 4 stroke engines of the time but now a days oil technology is much more advances with some oils reaching almost zero viscosity. Or maybe the guy was just pulling your leg? who knows! Dorris

Hi all, im in the market for a new car cover for the GT4. Ive currently got a Halfords Large cover thats a few years old, it fits ok but its leaving the car covered in white dust from the lining. Im looking for fit and durability, and im not worried about using a seperate inner dust cover then an outer weather proof cover if i have too. Anyone got any recommendations? Thanks in advance, Dorris

I’m planning on another set of wheels with snow tyres and hope we get lots of the white stuff

It could of been worse, you could of blindly bought a lemon of a GT4 instead which would of owed you 10 times as much Dorris

Just for your own piece of mind and information use the DB readers that you can get on smart phones, they are quite accurate we use them for racing. The rules on how to take DB reading is on the net somewhere would be interesting to see what it is. Dorris

I found all my gen 5 GTIs to be flat throughout the rev range with the cat removed so left in place, I just ran a good panel filter and kept it well serviced and they used to fly. Dorris

I actually found my 182 ran better with the cat in place, and noticeably better too. Dorris

Somethings you can ie imported vehicles v cat issues but not seat belts, its a clear cut instant failure. You will be hard pushed to find a tester who is willing to put their job on the line for turning a blind eye to no seat belts. D

You've hit the nail on the head, the key here is to find a MOT tester that knows his stuff and will test it as an import, like you say most will just look at the year on the number plate and will say it needs a cat. Dorris

As said previously it all comes down to the age and type of vehicle and a Celica Gen7 is not exempt under any of these rules. Under section 5.1 of the MOT inspection manual for class 3, 4, 5 & 7. Reasons for rejection. A statutory seat belt: * missing  * of the wrong type. So unless you take out the seats, not having belts on a vehicle of this age and type its a failure, only this year I failed a HGV for not having lap belt fitted to a center seat. Dorris