March 2003
I am considering getting the underside of my car waxoyled because I noticed some surface rust on one of the seams.
I understand that a garage can do this with a professional air-gun opposed to me applying it by brush/aerosol.
Which would be best? Read more
I cant refill with coolant without air locking. The system will only take 3 litres out of 5 initially and when i run the engine, it just boils and overflows(cap left off).
Can anyone offer any advice please? Read more
I was given to understand, that the " little bead " (though it may act as a rudimentery one way valve) is there to ensure that any sediment in the cooling fluid cannot accumilate and block the by-pass hole. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Rgds, Pete.
I have had two go in the space of three weeks. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I am told by a Renault dealership that this is a common fault but because it is not specific to a make/model, they have not issued a recall. I presume that this means that I have to continue to foot the bill myself. I would be interested to hear if anyone has suffered the same problem and what the outcome was. Read more
Typical garage behaviour when presented with a female and a broken down car. I shant be using them again. Thanks for the advice!
Helen
1997 R GLS Vectra Hatchback
Does anyone know how easy it is to change the lower rear trailing arm bush on a Vectra? Mine is knocking & needs replacing.
I dont want to start a job I cant finish but would love to save the money by DIY.
THANKS
Read more
DONE!!! (finally) - Now succesfully changed all four bushes. Once I got the home-made tool right (dimension are very important due to limited space) the bushes came out easily & new ones went back in without a hitch.
Saved around £100 labour (Vauxhall price).
(Paid approx £100 for parts plus 4 cans of cider for my colleague who made up the tool)
Thanks to all for info/advice.
I have had a vauxhall corsa for about a year. For the past eight months - on and off- it has cut out after about ten minutes driving - often on the same stretch of road, often when moving - which is quite scary. It is then very difficult to restart. I have taken it to a Vauxhall dealer. It has had a computer check on three occasions, but they found nothing, even though the fault recurred for them. I have had a second hand coil and module put on. For a while it went away when I used super unleaded fuel. It came back and again, for a while, it improved when I added petrol cleaner. Now it is almost as bad as ever. I would appreciate suggestions for what it might be. the car has just been serviced. Read more
> stands for Engine Cuts Out Towards Every Corner
>
Not sure if this is any help but my Xsara had a long 2 year history of cutting out - usually when going round certain corners (which is why I put my four penn'orth in here, under David's post). Nothing was ever read on the computer until one day a New Boy in the back thought it might be something to do with a power steering sensor. Apparently when cornering the movement of the fluid caused the sensor to shut down. Or something. Sorry not to be more specific, but his explanation was a bit lost on me: I just latched onto the power steering sensor thing and I haven't noticed anyone else in this thread mention this as a suggestion. When the sensor was replaced, it cured the problem immediately and the guy did say he'd seen a couple of cars with the same cutting out problem which had been resolved the same way.
Hope this helps.
Carole
Hi
My off side Side and tail light have stopped working. The brake lights work fine. Also a few days ago the light warning noise was activated even though the lights were turned off. I have checked the bulbs and fuses and they seem OK, does anyone have any ideas? (Passat 97)
Thanks
Jon Read more
If the fuses are proved OK (ie the fault doesnt change side when OS/NS fuse swapped as suggested previously) then its probably the light switch or indicator stalk. The main light switch seperately switches each side of the lights and dash lights(OS & NS) to enable the indicator stalk to individually switch on one side of the lights for parking.
A friend of mine had her cat ran over yesterday. It survived but has a broken jaw, numerous missing teeth and is very shaken up. It may even loose an eye. The vet is still trying to diagnose everything.
The driver who hit it didn't stop, but two independant witnesses saw who it was (a near neighbour). They claimed that the driver was going too fast (speed not known).
My question is. Can my friend claim her vet bills back from the driver? ie Does she have any legal comeback?
The cat was not insured by any special pet policy.
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Fantastic news. Anyone know where I can get bull-bars for an Alfa 156? I know this quiet little road in the New Forest where I can get myself some lunch.....
I've run this thread past Mark (RLBS) to make sure I'm not treading on any toes.
I'm about to have my Alfa 156 2.4JTD chipped as it's one of the earlier ones with the lower power output and mpg.
I've read a number of threads on the subject and the one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is the insurance aspect. Time and time again I see either an enormous increase or people not declaring the modification to their insurers.
Now I have to stress something at this point. If you fail to notify the mod to your insurers and have a prang, the best that will happen is your cover will be reduced to Road Traffic Act only, which is lower than third-party only and just covers the bare requirements of the act (as the name implies). What is more likely to happen is that you will find yourself uninsured, in the clink with no car and a civil suit for losses from any third party. You will also find it VERY difficult to get cover for a sensible premium in the future.
Anyway, enough of the lecture and back to the point.
As I'm a good boy I rang to notify my insurers (who I also work for, but on the life and pensions side of the business). I was advised that the typical premium increase for any engine modifications was usually quite low. The underwriter advised that this isn't a staff-only deal and is standard for all customers.
In my specific case, there was no increase in premium to chip my 156 2.4JTD for a +21bhp / +36Nm gain (I think because it's already classed as a higher performance car, but don't quote me on that). In most instances with this company, any increase for chipping the car would be pretty low anyway.
I should add that I am leaving this employer next Friday to set up my own consultancy business and from that point on will have no vested interest in the business of the insurer. For those that are interested in getting a quote, the company is Liverpool Victoria, based in Bournemouth.
Before you all rush off to ring them, please remember that whilst they are competitive for me, they may not be for everyone. The real point of this post is to stress that anyone chipping their car MUST tell their insurers. The consequences of failing to do so would be catastrophic.
I MUST emphasise that anyone thinking of chipping their car should check for a quote *before* they make the mod as their insurer (or even mine under some circumstances) may not be so understanding.
I will give some feedback on the performance and mpg change once I've had the chip in-situ for a couple of weeks.
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"Chipping" is no different in concept to conventional tuning with skimmed heads, twin carbs etc. When I drove tuned Minis some years back, the insurance company needed an independant engineers report to verify the modifications. The insurance premium went up by about 10%, that's all. Far better to have everything shipshape with them. They're not daft, after all. I dread to think of the mess one could get into if facing a liability or compensation case with undeclared mods hanging about in the background. I would have thought it was easy to interrogate an ECU to establish whether it had been tampered with after all.
Baz
Megane 1.6 RTSport registered march 1999 77000 miles.
Recently my car has become clunky when selecting a gear (especially the lower ones). But yesterday I started having to physically force the car into gear. This all culminated with the car starting to jump out of 5th after decelerating then accelerating again.
When you accelerate in 5th, there is a noticable movement of over an inch on the gearstick (towards the rear of the vehicle) which appears to force the gearstick out of gear. There is movement in the other gears but not as noticable.
Checked the haynes manual which said that the likley problems were either the syncro or hopefully the gear linkage.
Has anybody had any experience with this fault?
Thanks
Fraser Read more
Not Megane specific, but if you suspect the engine mounts, try getting somebody to pull away while you carefully put your head under the bonnet. Try it in both 1st and reverse!
RPM alone will not show up engine mount movement, accn or deaccn might.
If the mounts have allowed engine to move this could account for poor gear selection at rest anyway.
Failing that look for seized or tight joints in mechanism.
pmh (was peter)
Hi,
I'm pretty sure I got zapped tonight by a traffic light camera. It was one of those split second decisions as to whether to brake firmly or to carry on. On this occasion, I obviously made the wrong decision. I wasn't over the speed limit, btw, and I had already slowed down in anticipation of lights, but at the time it just seemed more sensible to go through rather than stop. I understand this might have been stupid.
My question is, what can I expect to happen? Any replies or advice gratefully received, as always.
HF Read more
Well we do not know what may possibly happen, but probably there's a consequence for it. Just be preapared. Definitely it's quite hard to predict the red light and I belive not a soul likes waiting at red lights. However, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a fix for that, as experts they are developing a program that will predict upcoming red lights. I think it's a good idea. It will be helpful to all of us. Also, it is said that the program works by collecting data about red light intervals and a smartphone application warns drivers of forthcoming red lights. Overall, MIT is working on navigation software that would predict red lights.
Are you mad....
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Speaking from experience, I found that Tetroseal was far superior to the waxoyl underseal compound. After only 1 year I found that I had to totally reapply underseal to the wheelarches as the waxoyl stuff had virtually vanished. Tetroseal was still going strong after 3 years.
You can buy a waxoyl pressure pump kit, but I found that the nozzle in the end of the gun was for ever clogging up.
I last bought some from my local motorist centre. It's manufactured by CarPlan, if that's any help.