May 2003
I own a '99 VW Golf 1.4 which has always had a pronounced ticking from the engine, initial thoughts are possible camshaft wear although the car has only done 53k but further investigation has led me to believe that it is piston slap. After contacting VW UK they do not want to know as the car is now over 3 years old!
Could you tell me if this is a known problem and is there anything I can do about it?
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Hi
A friend is looking at buying a used 2/3 year S60 2.4 T auto or estate equivalent (S 80). Does any body have any idea as to how relaible the volvo S60 is, what major components fail past 100k. How economical is the 2.4 turbo, and how much does a major/minor service cost. Does this car keep its value?
Are modern volvo\'s as durable as those made in the 1980\'s such as the 740 and 240 model range. I seem to remember that these cars regularly sailed passed 100k and could go on for 2 if not 300k with ease (provided of course they are serviced regularly).
Thanks Read more
I paid a smidgen over £15K when the car was 20months old with 5000miles on the clock. The car was previously owned by Volvo UK and at the time was at least £2000 less than the next cheapest car of similar age and mileage on the Volvo approved used car list.
I can't offer any help on servicing as I have yet to have one, time will tell!
Best bet is to go to a dealer, take it for a test drive and have a good old play about with it.
Best of luck
We are thinking of buyin a suzuki wagon R.,registered as a '99. However it has only done 4000 miles. Belongs to an old boy who's used it for pootling down to his local village pub. Do cat.conv./engines/mechanical parts suffer when they have been used for short journeys?
Many thanks
Pauline Read more
I agree with Doc & Dizzy. 1000 miles a year is very low and, sure, most wear occurs when cold but just how knackered could it be with just 4k?
We bought my wifes Metro at 6yrs old with 5000 miles only. The 82 yr old boy who owned it only used it once a week to take his disabled wife to hospital for her regular checks, otherwise it just sat in his garage. We paid a premium for it. The exhaust and engine were badly coked up so a new exhaust was needed straight away. It was also given a couple of shots of Slick 50 fuel treatment, several 'Italian' tunes and extra oil changes. We've now had it 5 years and she's done 45,000 in it and it has been (and continues to be) a very good car.
Personally I think I'd be more concerned if it had done about 15k to 20k with lots of short daily journeys - more opportunity to wear the engine out that way.
The intention is to inform not to generate another anti EU / Government rant, not that that will stop us but....
Source Journal IRTE (sorry can't bring myself to call it SOE)
EU directive 2002/85/EC will make limiters compulsory on all vehicles > 3.5t gvw, cutting legal maximum to 56mph.
At present the EU limit is 12t gvw but the UK has always gone further demanding limiters on trucks > 7.5t gvw.
Buses and coaches do not escape. Those with more than 8 passenger seats, irrespective of gvw will need a limiter restricting top speed to 100kph (62mph) Limiters at present only req'd in UK on PCV >7.5t gvw.
For both goods & passenger vehicles new EU legislation will apply to new vehicles reg'd on/after Jan 1 2005.
retrofit req'd by Jan 1 2006/2007 if vehicle has euro3 engine and used for international/domestic work appropriately.
Apparently most Euro 3 7.5 tonners are already fitted with limiters but "hardly any are set to the 85km/h necessary to satify the new law's 'cannot exceed 90 km/h' requirement"
Derogation by a max of three years is allowed and UK DfT intends to use the full allowance and introduce the legislation in "the least burdensome way possible." DfT also questioning the need for limiters and that the selection of the speed means that light vehicles will be limited to the same as heavier ones and dangerous bunching will occur.
Informal tests so far show fuel savings of ~34%
So we now have the prospect of Mercedes Sprinters 6tgvw, 156 bhp limited to 56mph. Foot to the floor brain in neutral.
We are not amused.
Ok all right.. go on then.... rant away! Read more
It also works well on the continent. I believe the Swiss have an extensive network of these trains. The main trouble over here is that our railways were built to a smaller loading gauge than most other countries - i.e. they can run wider and taller trains than us. On existing routes, it may be necessary to raise some bridges etc to fit a truck and a flat through at once.
Took the MV6 in for it\'s usual at Kwik Fit on Friday - Mobil 1. I watched closely when it went up on the ramp etc.
It isn\'t dripping oil anywhere, but the bottom of the sump had damp oil around it, more of a coating which made source identification difficult.
Kwik Fit Fitter immediately said \"You\'re sump gasket\'s gone mate\". (I\'d briefed them not to bother mentioning that the tyres and shocks had gone, cos they haven\'t!).
I have to say it looked a little like that. Could he be right? Looked a fairly straightforward job, but not one for me.
I\'m off to search HJ now cos I am sure I remember a post about the metal these are made from, but any advice would be helpful.
btw, there was no noticeable loss of oil (yes, I know some must have gone!), and no emusified stuff either. it\'s done 60k miles, and I\'d guess the oil deposit isn\'t very new...
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I'm not going to rush to get it looked at as it really didn't look recent or serious. But I will pass on the suggestions here to Dougie and let you know what he comes up with.
Thanks all
my vw golf 1988 1.8 8v has developed a nasty oil leak.It appears to be coming from the crankshaft under the timing belt cover and is then spread everywhere. It only leaks out (profusely) when the engine is hot. I have replaced the valve cover gasket which was leaking but is now fine.Could it be too much crankcase compression or just knackered oil seals? Read more
My son (aged 18)and having just passed his test like all young drivers is horrified at insurance quotes.Even on a £2500 car in group 2/3 for 3rd party fire and theft the cheapest quote is around £1500,this after using many of the search engines e.g.confused.com.
Would he be best going to a broker,although personally I've obtained cheaper quotes on the web and my broker could not match at my last renewal.
Does anyone have personal experience of the best and cheapest quotes or can recommend a company.I know it varies from district to district but any help appreciated. Read more
Hi all,
I passed my driving test in February this year after turning 17 in the August of the year before and was insured on my Dad's Focus 2.0 Ghia Saloon which is a pretty big car. I had no problems and am glad I learnt in such a big car as I feel confident (but not cocky!) ANyway...this story is going somewhere. In July my mum and dad bought me an N reg Fiesta Ghia but in the new (back then) Mark 4 shape. ( I have mentioned this in another thread but...) Anyway, to insure the car TPFT is £2000. Now this is a lot of money but as many other people have said, if I want to get on that ladder I need to start now. I was a little more cheerful when today, after reading this thread, I went onto the companies website with whom I am insured and found out that if I don't crash by next July, the insurance will come down to £1300. THis is still a lot of money but considerably less than what I am paying now. Just thought I'd mention it:-)
Thanks
I guess this goes to show that, no matter how well you maintain an older car, something will eventually go wrong with it. I changed my cam belt at 5 years and 43k, I do 6 monthly/6k oil changes, my car is serviced, anything that goes wrong with it is fixed, and
Driving home on the M4 today, I got through the roadworks near Junction 6 and tried to accelerate out in my 1989 Renault 19 1.7. I say tried because, as I did so, the accelerator cable lost all tenstion and the pedal hit the floor. Pedal to the metal, maybe, but zero performance.
Thankfully I still had a week left on my RAC membership and the patrol was there within about 40 minutes. Unfortunately it turns out that the accelerator cable, instead of respectfully snapping, had worked itself loose because the spool that holds it in place past the carburettor had lost a clip. The spool may or may not be available separately (although most Renault bits are thankfully pretty detachable, intentional or otherwise) but at the moment, my car is in Slough, I am in London and there's no chance of it being repaired before Tuesday, when I have a very full day and no way of actually meeting the mechanic who is going to do the work.
If I could get finance on a newer car, I so would! Read more
"It's just a pity that, whilst they knew how to put cars together, they didn't actually manage to do it."
Liked that!
Interesting story from the Green Flag man who came to get my Vectra started the other morning.
He was an experienced mechanic and at a garage he worked at a few years ago they had a problem with a car with an automatic gearbox which kept sticking in one gear and wouldn?t change up.
He remembers it was either a BMW or Mercedes but wasn?t sure which.
When everything failed they rang the manufacturers technical service and asked for help.
The surprising answer knocked them askew. ?Has the customer recently had a puncture and fitted the spare and has he checked the pressure?.
Almost thinking it was April fools day they asked the customer who said yes he had changed the wheel and no he hadn?t checked the pressure.
Reporting this back to the man on the phone he said that this would be the problem and explained that on these cars the gearbox is designed not to change gear when for instance going round an island as it could upset the handling.
How this is done is that it detects that the outside wheel is going slower than the inside and locks up the gearbox.
If one tyre has a difference of 4mm to the other this also happens and even though the car may be going in a straight line there is a speed difference between the wheels and the autobox can lock in the same gear.
They put the repaired tyre back on and all was well.
As Mr Green Flag said ?you?re never too old to learn something new?
alvin
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The spacesaver spare on my wife's G reg. Honda civic was
about 2" smaller in diameter than a normal tyre. I assumed
this was so that the obvious tilt caused by this difference
would remind the driver that a spacesaver was fitted.
P.
>>
The rim may be 2" smaller and the tyre may be a lot thinner, but the outside diameter (rolling radius) should be the same. If it wasn't I'd be very concerned about fitting it and would rather buy a full size spare that occupied some boot space rather than drive virtually balancing on three wheels, even at low speed.
Can anyone help? I have a four year focus that has started to rust by the back window where it comes to a v shape (above the Ford badge on the tailgate). I took it to my Ford Dealer and they said it was not perforation, even though you can see the rust through the glass. After looking on this site I know that focuses are known for this fault. Is there any one out there, that has had a similar problem and have been back to Ford?
edited to sentence case text. Please refrain from typing soley in upper case as it is classed as shouting. DD. Read more
Further to my posting last night, if it's a design flaw with the Chrome strip tailgate, then I would imagine that you have more cause for getting it fixed, the only Focuses that I have ever seen with rusty tailgates have the chrome strip...
Failing that, I would imagne that you could force them to accept that it is perforation if you keep at them long enough.
Good luck.
Blue
kam
Matt A W is right. Piston slap is more a hollow-sounding knocking or clonking from the area of the block than a tapping noise. As he says, it usually fades as the engine warms up and the pistons expand - the expansion of aluminium being greater than that of iron.
Tapping is usually associated with the top end of the engine. However, if it does emanate from lower down, suspect piston damage.
Regards
John S