Jack

John ...my non-turbo has the high level brake light (it's got a TT rear spoiler) wired up as a fog light. After a MOT, I simply re-connect it as a high level brake light. They never ask why the high level brake light isn't working... cheerz Jack

mine did the same. From memory it's easy to see what happens to release the key, so I just wrapped an elastic band round the offending mechanism and it was ok for about a couple of years when the elastic band dried out and gave up the ghost. I then replaces it with a plastic bag tie wire. ...very high tech solutions, I'm sure the engineers at Nissan would be proud of me. good luck Jack

my jap na has done that for the past 4 years. The oil pump is engine speed sensitive - so basically the lower the revs, the lower the pressure - or the less the pump has to work. Therefore treat the guage as a visual device that shows how hard the pump is working. First time it dropped to zero I stopped the car and checked everything. 2nd time I let it cool down. 3rd time I ignored it and looked into why co the knowledge on this forum - and haven't bothered since. Travelling all day on a french motorway with cruise set at max permissible limit saw the guage read just under half way - so the pump and guage are actually working properly. We (as Europeans) are not used to this type of fluctuation as most cars don't operate speed sensitive oil pumps (I'm out of my depth here). Only thing to worry about is your guage - if it's Jap, it shouldn't read in psi... good luck Jack

...that did make me laugh... many thanks Jack

...get underneath it and find out what's loose...Jack up one side at a time, remove back wheels place car on axle stands, and spray all of the rubber suspension parts / bushes with silicon lubricant - including the shiny bits of the shocks and where they mount into the bodywork at the top. My very nice NA creaked, groaned and rattled when I got it. Turned out to be dry - sat in Japan doing nothing. Did as above and all of those worries about rear subframe bush replacement dissapeared and 4 years later haven't come back. good luck Jack

Andy ...my non turbo does exactly the same. It's performed well for all of the 4 years that I've had it so I've stopped bothering about the 0 readings. They tend to happen after a fast run. But worthy of note is driving up the whole length of France a couple of summers ago, cruise set at legal limit on the empty French motorways - and the gauge read just above half way all day for 2 days - so there's nothing wrong with the sender - I put it down to the way in which the speed-related oil pump works. good luck and welcome back - they can't be beat. cheerz Jack

...head gasket. good luck Jack

...my money's on Trevz's answer. The ignition switch in my auto is held together with an elastic band (has been for about 3 years now) otherwise I can't get the key out. There's a lot of interesting stuff associated with the ignition switch - hours of fun. good luck Jack

...seems that all Jap imports have about 54 thousand miles on their clocks - beware...

...there's a guy on Bramford Road - Bramford Motor Engineering - he's done a friends TT a few times. Very concientious and not expensive. Anyway - if you've go a NA it won't need to go in a garage. ...we'll have to organise a Suffolk meet. Any ideas? cheerz Jack

...the only colour there is (apart from yellow) ie red. It's about 5 different shades. Its undoubtedly crash damaged in Japan - I think one side's had major work done on it. It meant that when I bought it it looked like new - not a single stone chip on the windscreen etc etc - but in the 4 years I've had it the respray is showing it's age, the rear spoiler needs ripping off. It looks like a tt cos it's got a tt front and spoiler. Let me know when you are back on the road - it might be time for a change soon and I'm interested in trying a na manual as the next option. Don't think I can afford to run a tt - sat there waiting for the box and the turbo seals to go pop, and paying for all that fuel... cheerz Jack

...just outside Ipswich in Bramford - use the car every day - have done for nearly 4 years now. The Z last night dropped down from the sliproad near the Orwell Bridge and slotted infront of me in the outside lane. It had a high rear spoiler and what looked like half round rear lights - looked great. I followed him? for about 2 miles wondering why all of a sudden (as soon as he appeared) there was a real smell of petrol - and as I pulled off to Sproughton, the smell dissapeared. Tell you what - I'd be really interested in trying a manual - mines auto. Any chance we can organise that? cheerz Jack

...if you pulled in front of me (red NA) last night about 6pm you've either got a petrol leak or your car is running extremy rich. There was a noticeable smell of petrol. ..good luck Jack

I emailed the guy at Redline and asked him the same question - here's his reply. I asked redline as a friend with toyota MR2? used redline oil in his manual box and it transformed the car. ...Our fully synthetic D4 ATF will be perfect for your auto box - I enclose details of the oil - the biggest advantage of a synthetic ATF is that there is no lubricant breakdown with heat whatsoever. Auto boxes run very hot on a good day and during the regular mineral oil life the performance of the box decreases as the oil breaks down. With owners club discount the D4 ATF is £9.93 including VAT per US quart (946ml) with free carriage on 3 quarts or more. Best wishes, Gavin Scott Technical Sales Manager Delta Oil Ltd. Red Line® Synthetic Oil European Distribution, Market Overton Industrial Estate, Rutland, LE15 7PP UK p: +44 (0)1572 768311 f: +44 (0)1572 768249 e: info@redlineoil.co.uk

...found the receipt - dated 6th of the 10th, 2000. It's from JRT Automotive. Their tel number is 01494 792211. Quantity 2 - 955196 Brake Disks - £71.91 plus £6.50 carriage plus the dreaded vat - £92.20 in total. Good luck Jack

bought my na disks from I think JRT Automotive - they specialise in brakes etc, and if I remember correctly they were about £50 each and needed 3mm spacers to make them fit. I believe the blobe who owns JRT got them from EBC who milled out a central recess specially. They were jap disks - and to date have been fine. I'll dig out the contact details... and include them on another post. cheerz Jack

one line of thought is that they were there to help prevent damage to the cats from the rich / fuel heavy capabilities of the TT. So no cats, no need for AIVs. I removed mine about 2 years ago on an NA, and it made no difference to the emissions readout at MOT time. The only difference is to the garage, now got 2 drawers full of pipes and bits. good luck Jack

Harry ...how many miles do you do per year. If it's a lot you need to consider the fuel consumption figures for the tt and the na. I do about 18k per year so can't afford to run a TT. If I had enough money and an understanding wife I'd have a yellow TT in the garage for summers and warm weekends. I'd also have a Lancia Stratos to get to work in and Type 2 camper for trips to the beach... But I digress, my na regularly returns in excess of 30mpg on fast runs (m25 etc) on Optimax, and to work and back about 24... good luck - shop around. Oh, and as no one notices a 200, no one knows what a 300 is... cheerz Jack

The fitting of wider rear rims could be to do with steering response and not grip. If you place a wider rim on a vehicle it will give sharper steering response when compared to a thinner rim using the same tyre. As the UK tt has rear wheel steer it might be this (and tight UK road bends?) that caused the guys at Nissan to spec a wider rim. The increase in tyre width is a by product... ...just my 2ps worth...

Simon - who's Stuart? ...sorry - Jack

Stuart - might be way off, but could the noise be the centrifugal clutch on the rad cooling fan deciding to lock. Stu (yellow tt Martlesham Labs) had a similar problem that sounds like your description. He had to drive real slow as the fan was spinning far too fast and shaking the car to bits. ...don't know about the CAS... good luck Jack

chuck it away - there's a good chance that everything else on the engine is very worn. They used to say that turbo charging increased the burn duration of the fuel so the knock on the big ends from a turbocharged engine was less than a similar bhp na engine - therefore theoretically big ends last longer on turbo applications. If this is true then don't trust the rest of the major wear components - cylinder bores, little ends etc. as these must also have had a hard life. Also as you vastly improve a major component, it will immediately show up the next item to fail as it puts more than normal (for all of the worn components) pressures and stresses on the non-replaced parts. ...minefield...

Ray ...na disks are thinner than tt disks and have a different offset - best source through MJP. I managed to get some from EBC but they needed 3mm spacers. They were cheap enough at about £55 each, but they don't self centre as the spacers prevent this, so you've to be carefull when removing/replacing a wheel. good luck Jack

John ...I think I've got you. It's the answer I was looking for. Thanks for that. Re your other problem - in a previous (Saab) experience, the automatic idle valve gets stuck - full of carbon etc. Take it off the car and check that it's movement is free. Douse it in WD40 and put it back on. If it's gone big-time take it apart and clean the three bushes that drive it - carefull it's fragile. I recall checking it's function by starting the car when it's cold and then unplugging the electrical connection - if nothing changes it's not working properly - after all it's an automatic choke. good luck Jack. Just a thought I had an MOT recently and was advised (Lymon) to clean the throttle position sensor connections (they were a little green), the temp sensor at the front of the engine (it too was a little green). Reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery, clean the throttle bodies (didn't bother as I know they are clean) and clean the air filters (didn't bother as they are newish). And the results were startling. The car usually gets a ''little rich - take it to Nissan to sort'' comment from the MOT man, but this time it got an ''all clear, perfectly in the middle of all of the specs''... Might be worth a try...

Jonh ...I can't help, but I'd like to ask a question, as I've to replace one of the rubber bellows on my steering rack this weekend. The split bellows were pointed out at a recent MOT, and the guy advised me to loosen the locking nut that locks the arm to the track rod end, then rotate the arm intil it unscrews itself from the track rod end. Remove the nut, replace the bellows and put it all back together by reversing what's just been done - making sure the number of turns were counted to remove and repeated on re-assembly. From what you seem to be saying, the arm is capable of being unscrewed from the rack. If this is the case then I should not follow his advice. If you've any info that could help, I'd appreciate it. many thanks Jack