July 2002
My uncle's Senator CD 24V is having major autobox troubles and is generally been dying a death. It has been a great towcar for his huge double axle caravan with that torquey 204bhp straight 6.
However, the fuel economy was pretty dire and the towing took major strain on the tired mechanical components of the car. So now we are on the lookout for a big diesel that will tow a large caravan and still be relatively economical for day to day use. The budget is as cheap as possible. Under £4k. I have suggested Audi 100 2.5TDI and Volvo 850 TDI. Any other suggestions? Read more
Dear All,
Thought I had read somewhere on this forum a question and answer about noise from Xantia HDi front brakes - but can't find it in the archive. Also recall someone saying that there was a "kit" which prevented this noise (much the same as a loose exhaust would make if catching on the body). Can anyone advise me about this "kit" - how much it costs, ease of fitment etc? Or do the pads (back!)just need some copperease? Thanks in advance.
PhilW Read more
It's certainly come up before, i remember joining in. In my case, 2000Y 110PS estate 30k miles, noise was somwhere between squeel and resonance, definitely front (tone affected by gentle use of handbrake), probably nearside. Assosciated with creeping in motorway jams and transitioning into roundabouts. Logically uncommanded contact of pad with disc, possibly due to not centring when brakes off. Dealer removed, cleaned and coppaslipped pads, no mention of a kit, no recurrence in 4k miles.
HTH
simon
P reg 2.5 ecotec omega had cambelt changed at 36000 miles but garage [non vauxhall] did not change tensioner assembly . Tensioner failed at 51k causing £1700 damage . Is there a known problem with the tensioner ? and should the garage have changed it at 36 k ? Worried to death that it will fail again !! Read more
The tensioner/roller actually fails and takes the belt with it. You have learnt the hard way. Vx now suggest changing @ 40,000 miles. The kit of parts costs £130 + vat- of which the belt is only £20 or so. The labour cost is roughly the same.
Sorry about that.
Is £58 +VAT a realistic charge for 'greasing and adjusting??'the existing disc pads on a 1991 Proton by the local Ford garage in Saltburn? Read more
I've had this on the motorbike where the exposed position of the front wheel callipers lets salt etc. clog up the pins and prevents the pads retracting completely, resulting in a binding brake and fast pad/disc wear.
I am playing with one of these circa 1973,off a lawnmower.
non starter,fuel but no spark, does anyone know what the output from the magnetron should be? No model number.
Simon T. Read more
Excellent, thank you,I will proceed with that advice.
Simon T.
I feel like I know one or two of you after speaking to you all online over the past few months. What I don't know is what you all do when you're not on here, and I feel I'm missing out on something.
Mark's a lawyer of some sort, DavidW is a professional fenman and Toad is a country landowner with thousands of acres of rolling countryside, but apart from that, no ideas.
I'll start - I'm a salesman for a large computer manufacturer, selling the kind of thing that keeps your bank account running (please don't blame me for any mistakes your bank has made recently) or the goods on the shelves of your local supermarket (ditto complaints about lack of Kelloggs Cornflakes in Tescos).
Anyone else prepared to confess? Remember, in the anonymous world of cyberspace you can be anything you want to be... Read more
See if you can guess....
Well it's Private Hire to be technically correct, but it still involves running drunks around (over?) at 2am on Saturday nights!
NOW i know where I've seen you Vansboy, I come from Letchworth originally! Just up the road....
I've always been nuts about cars and driving, hence why I've grabbed this forum with both hands.
Previous jobs:
Courier (Maestro van)
Courier (Transit flat bed)
Plant Hire Delivery (A-Plant transit flat bed)
Bodyshop teaboy/ deliver, collect, strip, refit & prep. technician. ie Everything except repair or paint, basically!
Worked in a scrapyard dismantling cars for 6 mths.
Worked in a bank for 3 years first!!!
Still enjoy my driving too much to move into an office or near a PC for money.
As everyone will be aware there is some discussion regarding placing the new tyres at the front or rear
I thought it would be useful to post the following information for future reference.
I have a Mercedes A140 that required new front tyres (currently Continental EP 195/50 R15)
Continentals general advice is "Irrespective if the vehicle is FWD or RWD in general the new replacement tyres should be fitted to the rear wheels of the vehicle." but also recommend to "Refer to the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations"
The advice of Mercedes is to fit the new tyres where the old ones are removed (i.e on the Front). In addition Mercedes do not recommend rotation of tyres on the A class range.
There does not appear to be a "cut and dried" reason for fitting to front or rear? From what I understand the "fit to rear" is to reduce the posibility of a rear breakout. With more modern cars with ESP - possibility and loss of control of a rear breakout is already reduced, and hence the recommendation by Mercedes.
Read more
Agreed.
It addition as front tyre wear is higher than rear tyre wear (in this case), assuming the old rears have 6mm tread, and the new fronts 8mm wear - very quickly the front tyres will wear to less tread depth than the rears - making the "better" tyres on the rear again.
It may be with the 30 or so already sneaking into the compound at Manheim Auctions Leeds!
Probably your best choice of 1-5 year old genuine cars,nice mix of models/spec & well presented.
The next BMW Financial Services sale is 12 August, usually upwards 80 cars & you don't have to be a dealer!
Get your Parkers price guide dusted off!!
Up North prices too! (not sure if thats good or bad that week though!)
Mark Read more
"Get your Parkers price guide dusted off!!"
Er, I like Parkers - it's heaps better than the What Car guide - but if I was after a nearly new BMW I would have to find a friend in the trade with a Glass's or CAP Black Book to be sure of a realistic guide price.
I don't know how Glass's and CAP differ these days but CAP used to be best for buying and Glass's for selling, especially where it was necessary to show a seller/buyer the book price for himself.
I'm toying with the idea of selling my Audi and buying a diesel, since my daily round trip to work is about to increase from 3 miles to 30. It's a Coupe 20V manual, 1990/H, 142K, no service history until I bought it, but lots of useful bills since (cambelt, brake discs, shock absorbers and more). Nice dark red/bronze metallic, not fridge white or faded red like so many of them.
I had a look at Parkers online price guide, which suggested just over £4K for a private sale (assuming I have the scrape down one side sorted out, and have it valeted to get rid of all the dog pawprints on the seats). I don't believe this for a moment, but 20Vs turn up so rarely that it's difficult to get a feel for value by looking in the classifieds. So what is it really worth - any suggestions?
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com Read more
Richard,
This bit should go into the 'discussion' area really...
Like you, I respect the 30 limit (and the 40 and 50 ones) but I must admit to bing a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to the motorway limit.
Also, like you, I get tailgated in town, by buses, Vectras, old ladies in Fiestas....I guess you know the story.
My 150 BHP A4 is just quick enough to show most of these a clean pair of heels!
El Dingo (Martin).
My Daughter, son in law and children have a time share in Portugal. Every year we have driven down in October to spend part of their holiday in the area.
This year for the first time they have changed to August due to school commitments.
Saw a programme on TV a couple of years ago about the horrendous traffic through France on a certain weekend in August when apparently the whole of France are on the road going on holiday.
Does anyone know which weekend this is, and also what is the general travelling conditions like in August both for traffic and en-route accomodation in France and Spain.
We never book in advance but simply look for somewhere to stop around teatime and have never had problems. Would this be different in August.
alvin Read more
Don't let anything I said stop you driving - there is nothing as bad as flying. Just phone a couple of Hotels in advance - it does mean you need to be at a certain place at a certain time but that might be better than driving round looking for a room. My difficulties are more than you because I have to find a family room - and they are not too plentiful.
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sounds like a great buy. Bet this puts a smile on your face fit to cut your head off!!
Let us know how you get on with it.