Ask Honest John

Most recently answered owning questions
You recently stated that "The EGR system recirculates unburned hydrocarbon fumes from the crankcase so they are combusted rather than emitted." Not so. You have described the purpose of a crankcase breather...
I have a Mk V Golf which has done 45k and it has developed a dullish whining noise. It sounds like I'm driving an old Land Rover. Is there a history of transmission or wheel bearing problems with this...
I’m writing on behalf of my girlfriend. She purchased a car 10 days ago from a garage in Leicestershire. It’s a 2004 SEAT Ibiza with 56,000 miles. It was listed with climate control (air-conditioning),...
Five years ago I purchased a new BMW 530Diesel automatic. At 74 yrs old I only do 6,000 miles per year, but take great care to make a reasonable run once per week to keep the engine in reasonable order....
On Friday evening my daughter and I were sitting watching TV, my car was parked outside on the drive alongside the lounge. There was a really loud bang and we ran outside to investigate. The front offside...
I have a FIAT 500, which I bought new last September. About one and a half months ago I took it into the garage as it was making a high pitched noise and had a lot of general running noise when I drove....
Recently I received a tax disc renewal reminder for my Mercedes 2.5TD from DVLA stating £185 for one year. Because DVLA is encouraging online renewal I opened the web site where I was asked to pay £190...
I recently bought a 2006 BMW 525d Touring with sport seats. Am I alone in finding these seats fairly uncomfortable? The backrest is totally without shoulder support, and longer journeys become a strain...
I purchased a Ford Mondeo Titanium X TDCI 140 5 door hatchback on May 02 2008 and to date am very pleased with it. I took it into my local Ford main agent Polar Ford Wilmslow for a 12-month service with...
After your comments early last year I bought a 3-year-old VW Phaeton V10 LWB with 40K miles on it. It has been a good car so far having done 15K miles with me and economy better than expected of 25 to...