October 2002
On \'my\' astra 1.7d, the alternator is a bit loose where it joins on to the engine (sorry for lack of technical terms). A mechanic has said that this could be because of the \'bushes\' either side of the alternator, and that it will need to \'be done\' at some point in the future, not urgently but that it will be quite a big job.
Can anyone explain to me what the problem might be here, how soon it might need to be fixed, and exactly how involved and costly this would be. If it\'s a lot it might have a bearing on my decision to buy the car.
Any opinions gratefully received.
Thanks,
HF.
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My '97 Carina 5-door CDX (top of the range, with all bells and whistles) has today sailed through its MOT yet again with no faults. 69K miles, original clutch,exhaust,cat, battery, discs and rear shoes. In the 5 years I've had it (since new) it has never given me a problem. Only money spent on it has been 4 new Michelins, one set of front pads and wiper blades. I change filter and oil (Mobil 1) 3 times a year and coolant every 18 months. Listed at £19 K, I got it from a supersite for less than £12K. Given that any local taxi firm would probably jump to give me £4K even now, I consider this cheap motoring. Ok, I know it's ugly, has no "street cred" and doesn't exactly race off from traffic lights, but it's done the job perfectly for my family of 3 (now teenage) kids. Toyota will get my business again, one day, when this one eventually crumbles .......could be a long wait ! Read more
Heard on the radio today that 50% of the inventions in the whole wide world came out of the UK (according to a Japanese study).
Literally: they were all developed overseas.
Not to worry.
That Prof Whatsisname who taught the Japs everything they know about quality control and striving for continuous improvement was a Yank!
Just back from the local VW dealers after one of the most frustrating mornings in a while.
Last week I went to the same dealer to buy an extended VW warranty for my Passat. Its a personal import and is now 15 months old.
For £660 I was able to buy a 2 yr unlimited mileage VW approved warranty. Bit steep but not too bad given the cost of a new turbo or whatever.
Went in today for 30k service and when the car came up I was informed there was a problem with the warranty. It appears that VW took 11 months to originally put the car on their system at MK and this I recall as I had to post a copy of the PDI book three times before they confirmed it was on. As a result none of the previous services carried out by the dealer had been entered and the warranty was refused because the car had not been serviced by VW. A quick rummage in the glovebox produced the receipts for which the dealer had no record and they updated the system.
Even after this there was still a warranty "problem". In the end they found the guy who sold me the warranty and he was told to phone VW to sort it out.
I was then told I could only have a 1yr warranty at a cost of £440 and that they would refund £220.
After a few minutes refelection and reading the warranty publicity booklet I asked to see a price list for the warranty and was told that that what VW have told us to charge £440, a bit of pushing and a price list was presented showing £440 is a two year and 60k warranty not a 1yr unlimited.
More questioning fell on deaf ears they stuck to the orders are orders line from VW. I was also told that personal imports can only have a two year max warranty which can only be bought before the cars first birthday. However approved imports can buy warranty protection for up to 5yrs. Now all the cars are built in the same places to the same standards why the discrimination with a personal import.
Now being naturally suspicious this doesnt seem to hang together.
Can any of you VW dealership experts shed any light on this for me.
as ever
Mark Read more
I stand corrected!
Did I read that it is proposed legislation?
Scenario:
Having taken ages to type your work of art (what with thinking, typing and interruptions), you are now worried that you may lose it since the system may have logged you out.
1) Click post (if it simply posts, no worries)
2) It goes to the login screen. Do NOT login
3) Click view/goto/back in the menu or ALT-Left Arrow to return to your note. The text should still be displayed.
4) RIGHT click on \"The Backroom\" in the red menu to your left and \"open link in new window\"
5) A new window will appear showing the backroom menu. Click \"log in\" at the top right and do so.
6) Close this window after it has logged in and arrived at the backroom menu.
7) Returning to your original window showing your note, click post and it will now do so without issue.
The alternative is to use the mouse to highlight all your text. right click and use copy. This will put your note in the buffer. After having logged in, and clicked reply on the thread you want, you can then use right click and paste to put the text back in.
I find the first method more reliable. Read more
Hi Guys
I think I have a sticking caliper on my '93 Honda CRX and I wanted a second opinion.
I have noticed a slight judder under heavy braking for sometime and after heavy braking the brakes would be less responsive.
Over the last couple of days the pad on the right front side has given up and started to make a really nasty grinding noise.
Here is what makes me think the pad is sticking the grinding will continue for a few seconds even after I lift off the brakes. Now my though would be that after I lift off the caliper would take the pads away from the disks immediately and I wouldn't hear any further noise, what do you guys think. A new caliper (or matched pair on the front) to go with my new pads and disks (needed replacing anyway)?
The guy at Kwick Fit said he though the caliper was OK but I'm just not convinced, I've had a similar issue before on an older CRX, it seems a common fault. Anyone know a surefire way of diagnosing a sticky caliper?
Cheers
Matblack
Any input would be great Read more
NEVER go to a dealer for brake parts, ultimate rip-off.
You mentioned a judder under hard braking. Could be warped disc(s). My son had a new pair of discs after a check had found one warped. Four weeks later, the judder was back. The new ones had warped!
They were replaced foc and, no, he hadn't abused them.
I bought a 1997 BMW Z3 from an independent garage 3 weeks ago. They sold the car with a '3 month warranty' which I haven't seen yet, although I was told covered 'all the usual' things.
Since then, the clutch has started to slip, and I asked the garage to replace it. I was (very rudely) told they would not, as I 'probably' damaged it myself (I did not!)
The garage refuse to send me the warranty (keep telling me its on its way, but never turns up - even when they're faxing it!)
What can I do in this situation, as I don't feel I should have to replace the clutch on a car I bought only 3 weeks ago.
Has anyone else had experience of very insulting independent garages? Any tips?
Thanks! Read more
Bear in mind if you get the dealer to replace the clutch they may just replace the clutch plate only.Possible better course of action might be to get a contribution from the dealer and get it replaced by someone that will do the job correctly and use OE parts.Car like that you want a 'nice' clutch.
Joining the A3 yesterday morning, I was just getting up to 70 when a car 2 in front of me (R reg Astra I think) caused us all to take precautionary evasive action. There was a loud "pop" - couldn't really call it anything worse than that - and a large puff of blue smoke. He hit his hazards and made his way swiftly onto the hard shoulder.
Can any of you experts suggest what might have happened? Just curious!
Terry Read more
Rob
First one got around 40 solo, high 20s towing 1300kg.
Second one not so good, 35 solo, low to mid 20s towing.
Used to have full mpg records, but hard disk failure put paid to that!
No gasket problems, but the second one did dump a load of LHM on the drive when new - some french production line worker failed to tighten a union properly. So much for pdi!
Terry
Has anyone used an expert witness? How much did it cost? Were they usefull?
Chris
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Relying on experts worries me greatly, disregarding present company!
Am I mistaken, or did UN appointed experts concoct the global warming myth................?
Just saw this on Yahoo news:
uk.news.yahoo.com/021008/80/dberg.html
"Frying Squad" swoops on fuel scam drivers
LONDON (Reuters) - A Welsh police team dubbed "the Frying Squad" has been formed to sniff out motorists who fuel their cars with cooking oil from fish and chip shops in a bid to avoid paying high government fuel taxes.
Three Welsh motorists have already been caught and fined for using waste oil from restaurants selling the favourite deep-fried dish, the Times reported on Wednesday.
"I have halved my motoring costs since I started running my Subaru on cooking oil," the paper quoted one of those stopped as saying.
"The car runs just as well and even smells a lot better than diesel."
The drivers were fined 500 pounds and warned that persistent offenders may face up to seven years in jail.
Cooking oil mixed with methanol costs about 32 pence a litre, compared with 73 pence for a litre of diesel bought from a petrol station, the Times reported.
END QUOTE
Just a couple of thoughts: as someone ("disappearing" Ian) mentioned in an archived cooking oil thread in response to someone else thinking what a good idea running one's car on cheap cooking oil was: "Have you paid duty on it?"!!!
Secondly, I know I am completely out of touch here in the land of cheap petrol (and where diesel-engined passenger cars are prohibited!) but it is news to me that Subaru supply their cars with oil burners.
CMark Read more
That would be my contention.
When I visit N. Massachusetts I would often use Rte 3 on the 16 mile section between the two orbital highways around Boston. This year, I had been warned that there was a lot of work on the road but it was still a big surprise. Basically they're adding an extra lane on each carriageway plus some other goodies. It's not like any scheme I've seen in the UK and it's challenging to drive. Work is going on throughout the 16 miles, bridge replacement, paving, everything and needless to say they've waited until the traffic has become solid before undertaking the work. The lanes have been narrowed and the slip roads dump you right onto the slow lane. Even some of the fill is being obtained by crushing the native rock. I didn't see any cones, the traffic is restrained by large concrete slabs.
The website is www.route3construction.com/info.htm.
I didn't go into Boston so I didn't come across the Big Dig, that's another big project. Read more
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Maybe a bit of confusion about the engine type. I'm asking about belt fitting to the Duratorque engine as fitted to the new Transit. I know for certain that the drive belt runs from a fixed alternator with no adjustment (unless shims are fitted between the alternator and block) and the crankshaft pulley.