Ask Honest John

Most recently answered maintenance and servicing questions
3 or 4 Saturdays ago you advised owners of Corsas to get a certain part checked at each service. My wife has a Corsa and I meant to cut out this piece of information but I forgot to do so. Can you please...
My wife's Toyota Yaris 1.4 D-4D TR is now one year old but has only covered 3,500 miles in a mixture of short runs to the supermarket and longer runs of up to 100 miles. Should we change the engine oil...
My local garage expertly services and maintains my Mercedes-Benz E200 Kompressor estate. However, as it is not a Mercedes-Benz dealer, they cannot switch off the message that comes up saying: 'Main inspection...
Ford tells me that my 50,000-mile 2005 Focus 1.6TIVCT does not need the cam belt changing until 100,000 miles or 10 years. I have read the discussion but there seems to be conflicting advice. What would...
I've just been told by my garage that my 1998 Volkswagen Golf SE should have a new cam belt. He claims that when changing this, the water pump sometimes gets damaged so they sell the process of replacing...
I got my Citroen Picasso serviced in January 2009 at a Hyundai dealer, and was told by their technicians that it needed a new crankshaft pulley and tensioner. I told them to go ahead with the work and...
How much should I pay for a full service on a Chrysler Voyager?
I bought a BMW 520d as an ex-fleet car with 96,000 miles. I have done less than 1000 miles, but I had to change all brake pads and all four discs because they were worn out. Now i also have to change all...
I have had my Alfa Romeo MiTo serviced this week. It is it's first service. It was bought in May 2009 and has done just short of 20,000 miles. I took it for its service and when I came to pay the total...
I'm considering buying a delivery mileage (400 miles) car that is now 13 months old. I'm told it's an ex-management car, and so has been parked up. I asked about fluid change and salesman says it's not...