January 2003
Can anyone help,
Occasionally (becoming more frequent) the air suspension fails to lift the vehicle from it lowest position, the lights on the position indicator show that the position should be moving (current position low with new position flashing) eventually it will move but it can take 20MIns of driving???
Any info appreciated.
Chris Holder. Read more
Can anyone tell me what colour leather was available for Mk3 Vauxhall Cavaliers? I know it's hard for some people to believe that they came with leather seats, but they did. I just don't know what colours they came in. Read more
We have two Honda Civics in which the heater/ventilation fan doesn't work on the two lower settings - is this a replacement job or can it be repaired?(resistors, etc.)
Regards,
P. Read more
Thanks, 99pies,
The switch/rheostat was replaced at a cost of £20, a five minute job.
P.
About to change car after a number of years with a Xantia (yes I know!!) and really do need to go for something that\'s ultra reliable as opposed to looks etc.
Its not going to do huge mileage (9K ish year)and most of that will be school run/local stuff. Needs to be capable of taking 4 adults (sometimes 5), hatchback necessary due to dogs.
With a budget of about £8,000 plus trade in (that makes it £8,001!!)I\'m thinking along the lines of Toyoya Avensis, Mazda 626 etc.
As I\'m really out of touch with the world of cars I wondered if anyone could recommend anything.
Thanks
Stuart Read more
The natural progression from the Xantia is the C5- have they come down in price sufficiently to fit into your budget. The Xantia ride is difficult to beat, the C5 will keep you in the same area.
As for the Toyotas, every last taxi around here is a Toyota Carina E or Avensis and they seem to be pretty bomb-proof. Can't imagine you'd go too far wrong with one.
Finally, have you trawled through the car-by-car breakdown on this site. Some good advice on what to look for.
Happy hunting,
Lee.
I know this subject has been discussed quite a bit already, and its quite confusing with 1992 cars - does anyone know if its possible just to take off/destroy the cat on a 1992 K reg Golf III Turbo diesel (non TDI)?
Will it still pass MOT requirements if the engine remains well-serviced and smoke-free? Would bio-diesel help meet MOT diesel tests?
Will it improve power and economy? Read more
If you go to biodiesel.infopop.net and do a bit of searching, you'll find a number of people who've converted older Mercs to run on vegetable oil. They are the most popular cars for converting because the engines seem to be so suited to it. The most popular one of all for conversion seems to be the 300D, but yours should be fine. If you want to run on veggie oil only, you'll need to convert the car to a pre-heater and two tank system to allow for starting and stopping on derv/biodiesel before switching over to veggie oil, otherwise the veggie oil can gel in the fuel pump/injectors once it cools down. If you want to run straight biodiesel or a mix of veggie oil and derv, then you won't need to do any conversion. The Golf, if built after 1996, will be warrantied for use with pure biodiesel so you shouldn't have any problems there other than the possibility of a short term clogging of the fuel filter if it's done a lot of miles on derv. Once the gunk deposited by derv at the bottom of the fuel tank is cleaned out, the filter will no longer clog.
Is there a time limit on claims for injury as a result of accidents? A friend has just been telling me about an accident that happened to her about 4 years ago where a speeding driver hit her after cresting a rise and found her turning right across his path.
Somehow he not only avoided blame for this, but managed to claim off her insurance for the accident. As she was young and inexperienced at the time, she didn't really know how to fight it, and as she was only TP insured, her insurer didn't want to know.
However, in the incident she suffered a fractured pelvis and there is now doubt over whether she can have kids.
Is there anything she can do at this late stage to get compensation for this or has this idiot got away with potentially ruining her life? Of course I've only got her word for what happened, but I can see no way the other driver could avoid at best getting a 50/50 fault, if not total fault. However, I assume that what happened at the time can't be changed and am really only wondering if there is any way she can get help over this.
TIA for any advice. Read more
I have had a similar situation, where a driver came around a blind bend as I pulled out. The police said that there was no avoiding this accident.
There was no sign posts saying that this was a blind bend. As both my self and the other driver of the vehicle were not to blame, both insurance companies did not want to pay either of us out.
I went to a claim company, like the ones you see on the TV. Anyway they sorted me out a car until the claim was sorted, and they got in sorted in under three months. Not sure if they could help you but here is the url anyway.
www.nationalclaimscentre.co.uk
Good luck chuck
As the rest of the EU has had this regulation since Jan 2002 ( and the whole of the EC consumer directive too) I wonder how second hand car trading has been affected in the rest of Europe? Is this just a cynical ploy to encourage people to go out and buy brand new cars and thus prevent the European motor manufacturing trade from slipping into recession? Are cars going to become the new throwaway accessory that is seen to have a lifespan of a couple of years beyond which the reliability can't be guaranteed so they will be disposed of? I am also concerned with the increase of the sealed for life units idea. I prefer to take my car to a one man band /independent to be looked after but if older cars disappear and newer ones are only serviceable by the manufacturer then I think we are going to be had by the wotsits as franchises could charge what they liked as there would be no competition to discourage them from doing so.
I unfortunately can't see any other way to make buying a second hand car less of a minefield. Consumers don't need to know the inner workings of a television set to buy one second hand so I don't see why they should have to know the exact inner workings of cars in order to buy one and not end up with a lemon. Or am I being naive here?
teabelly Read more
Workaround I've seen twice now (shows what sorts of car I buy) is that you buy a secondhand car 'sold as seen, for spares'. I know that's not likely to affect the top end of the secondhand trade, but might become a norm at the bottom...
Tim
I've recently acquired a J reg 3 door Vauxhall Astra 1.7 diesel, and was just wondering if any of you gentlemen happened to know of any recurring faults on this model of car?
Thanks in Advance
Read more
Mine's an LS, IH, so unfortunately my vast reservoirs of technical knowledge in this area will be no good to you ;)
HF
Engine stalls at low revs i.e. when slowing down with foot off accelerator.
Also after car has stopped with auto gear still in drive, engine ticking over
at correct revs, gear shift is moved to park then revs increase to 1000 plus
for a few seconds then engine stalls suddenly. This is an intermittent problem as stalling does not always occur especially when starting from cold it could take over 20 miles (40 minutes) for stalling to happen.
It is possible to prevent stalling by watching rev counter when slowing down
and moving gear shift to third or second gear thus keeping engine revs above
1000 until car stops and engine returns to normal 610 rpm, then stalling will not occur.
the car is a vauxhall omega CDX 2.0 16V auto T reg
any ideas??
many thanx
Read more
9 times out of 10 its the throttle body needing a clean with carb cleaner - very common
I have heard that there is a problem with the coils affecting all VAG cars. The problem has got so bad that VAG can not give a delivery date for these parts. This has caused one dealer to have to hire in cars for all the customers affected having already raided its sales stock. Can anyone confirm this?
I posted this message earlier into cyber space so I appologise if it has already appeared.
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threads in the american vw usenet group (rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled) suggest that the problem is not yet solved !
Stories abound of coil packs being rationed and dealers taking coils off unsold new cars to put on customer cars.
Given their consumer laws, I suspect any new coil packs will be diverted straight to that market rather than europe
Browse
You are right about the wiring. But its wiring TO the seat. Yiu also need heating element pads fitting IN the seat to connect to the car wiring. They arn't too expensive @ about £40 per seat. But fitting them is a long and fiddly process.
HTH