May 2003
A neighbour of mine had the cambelt of his Vauxhall fail the other day with predictably expensive damage to the engine. It was below the 80,000 mile interval in the handbook but above the (revised) 40,000 mile interval now recommended by Vauxhall but of which he was not aware. He had it repaired at a reputable non-franchise garage and the new belt lasted just over 5 miles before letting go again, with another set of damage. An initial inspection suggests failure or misfitting of one of the bolts securing the belt tensioner pulleys/rollers. Questions are (please)
1. Does he have any hope of help from Vauxhall re the first failure, bearing in mind it took place at a mileage between the original and the revised service intervals?
2. Does he have any comeback on the garage whose repair lasted less than his journey home and whose initial reaction is "OK when it left here, mate!". At the moment the car is elsewhere, awaiting an independent engineer's examination and report. Read more
Time to pack up and leave the country me thinks.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/2937910...m
Ambulance driver of 36 years rushing a liver for an emergency transplant from Leeds to Cambridge, blues and twos on, is being prosecuted by Lincolnshire police. Interestingly, Cambridgeshire police, who also clocked him, are taking no action.
So it\'s fine for Jack Straw to get his driver to speed on security grounds, but not for a man who is potentially saving a life, to do so.
Mental. Read more
Mostly true, but not many speeding drivers end up on Rule 43 playing hide the soap with a 7 foot tall scroat in the prison showers...
O
A SHOCK report claims turbodiesel power may be more costly and not as reliable as motorists have been led to believe.....
Full article www.dispatch.co.za/2003/05/27/features/MOT1.HTM
This squares pretty much with my anacdotal experience, particularly in the 4x4 arena. Read more
Ian,
One of my dad's freinds owns a large haulage company and they run around europe all the time. The servicing on these lorries has gone up from 6,000 mile intervals to 20,000 mile intervals in the past 10 yrs and as he says reliability has also gone up. These lorries go through the Alps, through some dodgy countries where the fuel grade is probably lower than here and the lorries are obviously towing heavy loads.
Surely if turbo diesel engines are suceptable to problems it would show on the lorries that run round Europe.
I saw a second hand car for £5995 on Saturday. Discussed price and agreed £5200. The dealer now wants a £300 deposit. Is this reasonable? Personally I would prefer to pay a £50 deposit. Read more
He is entitled to sue for breach of contract, but only if he has suffered an actual loss.
For instance, had Merlin agreed to pay £6495 for the car and backed out before the car was actually sold for £5200, the loss would be £1295 plus any extra costs. That £1295 is actually quite a large difference - almost certainly the car wasn't worth that much more to start with. They certainly couldn't just punt it through the auction and say that was the best price they could possibly have obtained with no evidence.
In theory, the dealer could ask for 'specific performance' - i.e., compelling the first buyer to buy the car, but this would only really be granted when financial compensation would be inadequate - i.e., it'd be virtually impossible on the sale of a car.
In the real world, when the buyer backs out, the difference between the price that buyer offered and that offered by the eventual buyer is unlikely to be more than a couple of hundred quid and might well be covered by any deposit paid. Even if it's not and there is a rock solid paper trail of evidence, it's really not worth the effort to sue on it as that time could be better spent selling another car!
can anyone tell me the torque wrench settings for a 205 xs 1400c engine. your help would be greatly appreciated, since i cann't find the manual 4 the car no where on my island. Read more
I presume you have a TU series engine in your XS.(not the early canted over type)
Cylinder head: lbf ft
Stage 1 ..............15
Stage 2...............Tighten by a further 240 deg.
Big end bearing cap...28
Main bearing cap casting
main bearing bolts
Stage 1.............. 15
Stage 2 ............. Tighten a further 45 deg.
Main bearing cap .....6
casting to block
hope this helps
Steve
Hi,
Would someone kindly value these two car please?
Also, which would be a better bet?
1) Rover 214 SLi 95N manual met.red 123k in excellent condition and aircon.
2) Volvo T-5 GLT 96N manual met.green 85k, no history but aircon.
Need to decide very quickly so any comment appreciated. (I have already read the CxC Breakdowns very carefully)
It will be for girlfriend to run around in London. Also just in case my QX breaks down (not that I think I ever would, touch wood)
Garrison Read more
I'll second that. The Volvo looks like a dodgy bet, especially so cheap. They are really fast cars, you know, and will suffer badly if not maintained well in line with service schedule.
Let us know.
I have recently purchased a 1997 Prelude 2.2 vtec. My wife claims it is the most uncomfortable car she has ever ridden in!!! As this overshadows the sheer enjoyment I get from the car is there any advice out there? Maybe someone has resolved the problem without removing a cushion from the lounge!
Adge
Read more
Ditto problem with my new Nissan 200SX (G reg).
I fitted Recaros.
My experience over many years and with various outlets and makes of tyre, is that when buying new tyres the fitting supplier is rarely able to balance them properly. There is always an annoying vibration through the steering at some speed or other. If you ask for them to be re-balanced it just shifts the problem to another road-speed. Is this typical?
When you buy a brand new car the wheels are always in proper dynamic balance, whether at 20 or 120 mph - so why does sticking the correct weights in the correct position on the wheel appear to be rocket science to so many after-market tyre suppliers? Read more
There are two ways that a wheel can be out of balance. Side to side (lateral), or up and down (dynamic).
An off the car balancer will correct lateral disrtortion by in effect splitting the wheel down the middle. A weight is applied to both sides of the wheel to correct if necessary.
An on the car machine or finish balancer corrects dynamic distortion. With a pickup placed under the suspension close to the wheel the wheel is spun in the normal direction of rotation, and if there is a heavy spot it will act on the pickup and a strobe lamp will flash. Under the strobe lamp the spinning wheel will appear stationary. A gauge shows how heavy a weight is needed. The position of the valve under the strobe lamp is noted. The wheel stopped and rotated by hand until the valve is in the same position it appeared under the strobe lamp.
A weight is placed at 12oclock and then spun again. If the weight appears before 12oclock the weight is either too far that way or too heavy. If after 12oclock it is too far that way or too light. The procedure is repeated until either the strobe lamp doesn't flash or the gauge reads zero or near to it. Weights are applied to the front of the wheel only.
This method will also balance the driveshaft, brake disc and hub.
So have the wheel balanced off the car first, then without disturbing any weights have them finished balanced.
What are peoples general experiences with AA/RAC used car inspections? Has anyone found serious faults after purchase that were not picked up during the inspection?
I have no 'issues' here - just wondering how people find them. They are not cheap at around £200 for 2 hours work, and since there may well be no access to ramps etc., I wonder how thorough the underfloor part of the inspection car be? Read more
As someone who knows nothing about how a car works mechanically I use the AA every time I buy a car, even from a main dealer - for me the cost is worth the peace of mind.
They have alway been very thorough (even to the point of noting that there is no radio when it has clearly been detached for security purposes)and I always make sure that the dealer will agree to rectify any problems which are identified.
SG
Does anyone know about this please?
My neighbour had a towbar and electrics fitted to his new Vauxhall Vectra. The parking lights on the caravan are very dim. Upon investigation we found that the rear parking lights on the Vectra operate on only 3.5 volts. The output at the 12N plug is about 3 volts. When the brake pedal is pressed one of the parking light bulbs on each side of the car becomes brighter as it then receives the full 12 volts. The bulbs are not traditional dual filament. In addition there are clicking sounds from a large fuse block at the back, nearside of the car when the 12N plug is inserted into the car socket.
The towing electrics that were fitted were not Vauxhalls own make but an ordinary 12N kit. Obviously my neighbour is going to sort it out with the towbar fitter but it would be interesting to know what's going on.
Thanks in advance. Read more
I promised to update anyone interested about the Vectra towing electrics.
My neighbour had some additional relays fitted and this cured the problem. However,he checked with the local Vauxhall dealer, who said "Programming the Vectra so that it will accept towing electrics causes nothing but problems; you are far better off getting a towing electric specialist to fit the standard kit plus extra relays"!
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I know for certain that the camshaft sprocket bolt on the diesel engine should be renewed every time if slackened. And at only a few pence it's daft to ignore the advice.