February 2003

Question Renault 19 TD Funny Noises!!

steveholden on 26 February 2003

Recently got hold of a Renault 19 TD (RT) and took if for some new tyres. About 9 hours after fitting them the car makes what i can only describe a rubbery noise when braking! a sort of squeak, and it now makes some odd knocking/wobbling noises when you turn to the right. any ideas?

thanks in advance!

//Steve Read more

Mondaywoe on 26 February 2003

Loose wheel trims or wheel trims contacting the rubber of the tyres? Does it go away in the wet?

Graeme

Question Golf V5 auto judder

Drage on 26 February 2003

I've got a Golf V5 170bhp with tiptronic transmission thats just over 1 year old and has done 11000 miles. Over the past week or so I've noticed that when accelerating briskly in automatic mode there is a perceptible judder and hesitation as the gearbox shifts into 4th and 5th gears.Once it's changed up the car drives smoothly. It feels as if perhaps the the auto box is trying to change up too quickly. The gears shift perfectly well when driving around town and the judder doesn't occur if I shift up through the gears in tipronic mode.
If it continues I'll get the car seen by a franchised dealer, but I was wondering if anyone out there had any experience of these autoboxes and could advise what the fault might be or whether it could be a warning of future problems? Read more

Forum Postcard from Jordan - snow storm

CMark {P} on 26 February 2003

We are SNOWED IN. A freak storm has meant it has been snowing here for the last 48 hours non stop. Yesterday at 11 am there was about 10 inches and I went out in the Jeep to go around the block to check the local roads and managed, with a little sliding
around, to complete several tours. However, I decided to go out again at 3 pm and got completely stuck on the road just 10 feet from the end of the drive. It took 45 minutes of strenuous digging to enable me to get the car back onto the drive. The snow by this time was about 15 inches deep. I also spotted that the limited slip diff on my rear axle is not working. Perfect time to find that out :-(

It snowed hard all night and most of the cars in the street just outside are now completely buried. I would estimate that about 2 and a half feet have fallen so far.

The whole of Amman has closed down. With only 6 inches fallen at 7 am yesterday morning all the embassies and schools decided to close. The airport remains open (we are told) as it is at a lower altitude and has no snow. The satellite TV doesn't work with snow on the dish so we are getting our news from the internet. Last night there was thunder and lightning with around 10 strikes within 1 mile of here. I never thought you could get lightning in a snow storm.

For the last hour or so some of the lights have been flickering intermittently which I assume is to do with the amount of snow hanging on the power lines. So if we get a power cut it will probably be a long one as the repair men cannot get to the fault. Amman does not seem to have any snow ploughs. I saw a bulldozer in the far distance clearing the main road but not our little side street. If the electricity supply fails then I think our heating will shut down. We do have plenty of emergency food supplies and cooking gas and fortunately we also have our ski clothes with us (as we were planning a trip to ski in Lebanon before the Iraq crisis began to loom) so we should not get too uncomfortable.

As I write this it has at least stopped snowing so it is out with the shovels again.

CMark Read more

THe Growler on 4 March 2003

Disappointing

Question windscreen / m.o.t

MR_PLUM on 26 February 2003

Hi,
When I aquired my car last year it was M.O.T'd the week I collected it, It had then and still has a perfectly round crack about 35-40mm dia (like a scaffold pole hit it?).It can't be felt from the in or outside and doesn't obstruct my view as its on the passenger side and high and hides away behind mt rearview mirror.
will it pass an M.O.T ?
can tis be repaired and at what price?

cheers
GARY Read more

Greenparrot on 26 February 2003

The gentleman who stated anywhere outside the swept for this type of break is correct - essentially if you take the width of the steering wheel and look directly up to the limit of the swept area there can be no break over 10mm, outside of this area but still within the swept area the limit is 40mm.

Hope this helps

P.S. If a car is presented for testing without a windsreen the tester has to pass it as there is nothing to test!

Question Matiz Manifold Heat Shield

Electro Man on 26 February 2003

I took our Matiz in for a service a couple of weeks ago and at the time they told me that the manifold heat shield had gone and needed replacing. The parts need to be order so my wife, took it in yesterday to be fitted.

They told her that the "bolts had sheared off" and that they need to order these seperately. I presume they meant the bolts for the heat shield. Obviously rather annoying and another reason why we will be shot of the car ASAP.

The only noticable symptom is a "rattle" occasionaly.

With that in mind we need to go to b'ham this weekend (about 220miles round trip) and I was wondering what risk are we taking driving the car up the motorway for this distance, with this problem? Is it safe? could it cause further damage? would we be better of hiring a car?

Thanks Read more

Pete F on 26 February 2003

The only issue here is whether the heat shield will drop off during the journey. This is impossible to judge except by looking at it to see what has failed and what may happen if it fails further.

If it does drop off then serious issues can arise. The shield is there for a purpose! I assume it is an exhaust manifold heat shield.

Forum Merc Vito advice

anthony on 26 February 2003

I am considering buying a Mercedes Vito 113, 2 litre petrol, camper van (professional conversion), air-con, leather seats, S plate, 47k miles for £17000. I have read some horror stopries about the Vito. It looks fantastic. Anyone know if this is a good a price? And is it thirsty?

Thank you. Read more

mark999 on 27 February 2003

As a very disapointed V-Class(diesel) owner I cannot reccomend it.
The vito/V-Class is excellent to drive and in diesel form very
economical. Reliabiliy however is horrendous In 3 years and less than 20k miles I have had problems with:-

Brakes
Clutch
Air suspension pump (replaced twice)
Buckled wheels
central locking
alarm
suspension links
ECU fault codes
Faulty trim

Try a Toyota or VW based camper instead.

Forum Where's the progress?

Big Cat on 26 February 2003

The lady of the house wants a second hand small diesel. Easy I thought, back in the late 1980's we had a Peugeot 205 diesel which did many miles reliably averaging 55mpg. It was fast and quiet, cheap to service and was reliable because it had no electronics. It was a bit flimsy but otherwise great. A logical replacement would be a 206. We can't afford an HDI as they're too new, so started looking at the 1.9 diesel models. However I was amazed to see that the official mixed fuel consumption is only 48mpg! The 1.1 petrol does 44mpg so what's the point! I though the point of indirect injection was to make the engine more economical.
Think we (meaning I) might try and track down a late model 205 which has been looked after. Read more

No Do$h on 26 February 2003

I can't recommend that anyone spend £6k on an older model Rover. The 25 is getting near the end of it's life (as is the 45) and parts can take literally months to obtain.

A good example is my late shape 400, disposed of in December last year. I ordered an ignition part in September and the dealer still doesn't have it in stock today. (I rang to check before posting).

If you are buying a Rover at the lower end of the price scale and don't mind sourcing pattern parts or locating recon specialists / scrap yards, then fine, but I wouldn't advise looking at this particular car. HJ's Car by Car confirms this view in parts availability.

Question Ticking Fiesta

uncle fiesta on 26 February 2003

I have a 1 year old Fiesta with the 1.3 iron age engine which has covered 5,000 miles. The first thing I noticed when driving was a ticking / tapping noise at mid to high range revs. The decal on the rocker cover illustrates that the exhaust valve tappet clearance be set at 0.5mm, the handbook suggests 0.3mm.
Having adjusted the clearance to the lower level, rough idling and somtimes stalling at idle occurred, (this has been mentioned in an earlier thread)but the tapping noise was still apparent.I have now adjusted back to 0.5mm to get good idle speed and consulted the dealer under warranty. He had the car a day and agreed that there was a ticking noise but this was normal for "an overhead camshaft engine" - classic fob off!
Anyone else out there have the same problem? or is it just an iron age quirk?
Read more

uncle fiesta on 27 February 2003

Thanks for the info chaps.
I'm a great believer in regular oil changes, so it looks like an extra decibel of Radio 2!
UF

Question Polo/Passat rear pads

bertj on 26 February 2003

I know that a special tool is required to screw in and retract the pistons on the rear disc brakes of some VW Polo's/ Passat's etc. I'd be grateful if someone could tell me whether this tool (which costs about £50) is strictly necessary or is there a DIY method of screwing the pistons in? Read more

borasport20 on 28 February 2003

Bert

just a thought

on the Golf/Bora, you must replace the caliper bolts with new ones if you taker the calipers off.

If you get your pads from a dealer then they should have new bolts with them, but I don't know if they will if you get them from anywhere else

hth

I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up

Forum The "Predator" Trike.

M.M on 26 February 2003

Amazing beast spotted outside the Broadway Hotel last weekend.

Technically a trike I suppose but it was a monster and appeared to have either two medium sized engines or one V8.

Bright yellow and gleaming. I'm sure it said "Predator" on the side.

So cross my camera was in the other car I didn't stop.

I'm told it might be a regular around those parts. Anyone know any more about it?

Toad or Pat L perhaps??

I'm sure even Growler might have been pleased to have that machine for a few days.

MM Read more