June 2003
Hi All
I have a VW Golf 1300 Mk2 81,000 miles.
I have just fitted a new Alternator drive belt, according to Haynes Manual I set the mid deflection to 2mm. After 500 miles I am supposed to check this and adjust to 5mm if required.
The belt does whine slightly, more so with higher engine revs, is this normal?
Does the belt slacken after 500 miles?
Andrew Read more
is it normal to feel a drop in power when i switch on the a/c in my fiesta? is there any way of stopping this like putting in a bigger battery?
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I have a 2001 1.6 Fiesta with aircon. Run it all the time. Only notice any change when the car has been left in the summer sun and I switch to coldest setting and highest fan speeds. I would imagine a 1.25 Fiesta would struggle a bit with aircon .. that's why I bought a 1.6.
My experience of older cars was power loss with aircon was quite severe (especialy US car rental 6 cylinder cars in the 1970s which pinked and were horrible ) but my Audi A4TDI saw no difference altho' fuel consumption was about 2mpg better in the winter when the aircon rarely switched on...In S Africa a Mercedes 260 coped happily with aircon at highest speeds and hottest days:-)
madf
Back in early May I ordered a new Fiesta LX with the option of ABS (seemed like a good idea to me) and was told that it would be delivered in a week to ten days. Now four weeks later and much time spent ringing the dealership to find out progress I am still waiting.
I have now been told that the car is to be built in Spain of all places (I hope it is right hand drive and the chap building it was not on Siesta) and will take approximately ten weeks to build and deliver. I hope it is worth the wait.
Is this correct and should the salesman have told me an estimated delivery date before checking to see whether any stock in the UK matched my requirements.
Has anyone else suffered the same problems ?
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Jaffa, many thanks for your post.
I ordered a new [old shape] Clio at the end of June and I am still waiting. Thanks to your info I now have some understanding of the situation....
hi
i have a friend who lives next door who has a m reg fiat punto 55s
its done 66 thousand miles so far
i was looking through the service records with her and i noticed the head gasket was changed at 44k
what would cause that to be changed at such a low mileage she bought the car 2nd hand she has told me she doesent understand what a head gasket is so i explained and she was shocked as i told her it isnt a service item
and apparantly the clutch was changed also at 44k as well
All help apreciated
J Stephenson Read more
I would say it IS a 40,000 mile service item, unless you want to wait until it does blow. The fire rings on the factory gaskets were of very poor quality, this allowed the engine to consume it's own coolant.
Nevermind, it's a simple job, £35 in parts (including cambelt and head bolts) and a couple of hours on a sunday afternoon.
Saab 9000 2.0 auto front discs replaced for the second time in less than 2 years (34,000 miles). Is this to be expected or am I doing something wrong in my driving, or was there something wrong with the first set of discs? All replies appreciated.
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. A recent service .... on rear brakes on a mk 3 mondeo without the hydraulic system being opened up saw an ingress of air pass the rear caliper seals when the wind back tool was used resulting in a bleed required.
This does not make sense. How does pressing a piston back force air past the piston seal?...
Been reading the David Jefferies thread and felt it was worth creating a new thread on the subject of banning the TT. The truth is that I don't know if it should be banned - let's face it there are many dangerous pursuits people decide to participate in of their own volition. However, from memory it strikes me that this event has a very poor record for fatalities and I wonder why more pressure hasn't been brought to bear on the organisiers in the past to either dramatically improve safety around the circuit or terminate the event.
I can't help thinking that if as many F1 drivers were killed there'd be an uproar. If as many boxers or London Marathon runners were killed, likewise. What is it about the IOM TT then that makes it a special case and seemingly exempt from the attention of the authorities ? Read more
>>> Didn't Barry Sheene refuse to take part on the grounds of safety and state that he thought the TT and GP should be banned? You could hardly describe him as nannying. <<<
That's exactly it.
Barry Sheene excercised his choice by not riding (though sadly exercised another one by smoking), and David Jefferies made his in the opposite way. That they, in recent times Joey Dunlop, Daijiro Kato, and then countless others beforehand are no longer with us is a loss to the world of biking, but the important thing is that choice existed, within which they could decide where to place their personal emphasis on risk.
Can anyone confirm whether the Yaris is fitted with a stainless steel exhaust as standard? When I was first looking at one about 18 months back I was told by the salesman they were. However, mine appears to be developing a blow in the exhaust at about 3 years 3 months old. My questions are:
Was I informed correctly that it is a stainless exhaust, or not? (This was one of the reasons for choosing the Yaris, but only a minor one)
Is a blowing exhaust at 39 months / 31k miles reasonable? I'd suspect not if stainless which is why I think I've been misled by the dealer. I also suspect I'm likely to be about 3 months late as I doubt it'd be covered by an extended (manufacturers equivalent) warranty. (I didn't need to get the exhaust done at all on my old Tipo and it seemed OK to look at even after I'd had the car about 2.5 years, so I don't really know how long an exhaust should last) Read more
Tyre Kicker,
Can you please refrain from posting using solely UPPER CASE letters. Contributing to an online discussion group with the caps lock on is thought to be bad manners (it's a way of expressing bad temper because it looks as if you're shouting).
This is the 3rd post of yours I've had to edit. If I come across any more, it will be far easier for me to delete rather than edit.
--
Dynamic Dave
Back Room Moderator
mailto:dave_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
Hi,
I got a VW Passat 1.8T sport, was a company car done 64k, maintained real well. I've had it 3 months and I been using unleaded petrol however when the weather's warm I get a sort of plinking sound when accelerating. The noise goes away when I hit a comfortable speed for the gear.
Showed it to a mechanic and he said something about a pre-ignition problem and suggested I try Unleaded Plus (Super Unleaded) fuel. He said the change in petrol will sort out the noise (if I recall him, I think he was on about carbon in the engine or something like that).
I changed the fuel and so far the noise has been lessened dramatically. However, I'm having to floor the car hard to get any decent speed, something I didn't have to do when I was using normal unleaded petrol.
So I guess my question is would the use of Unleaded Plus petrol make some kind of difference to the performance of the car? Also, is there not an additive I could use with normal unleaded petrol to kill the noise instead of having to use the Unleaded Plus fuel?
Thx.
S. Read more
I'll second that. I've been using Shell Optimax (98RON) in my 2.0 16v Vecra for about a year and it has improved fuel economy by about 10%. Not bad considering the fuel costs on average around 5% more than regular unleaded (95RON).
Not really sure if it has improved performance but it certainly hasn't reduced it! One other thing - I noticed a significant drop in fuel economy when using a certain supermarket's "Super" unleaded (97RON) - can't explain that one.
Please could someone advise me on how much I should put my W reg(2000) Seat Ibiza 1.4 limited edition Vibe up for sale for privately. It has done approx 27,750 miles, has metallic Green paint and is in good condition.
The only guide that I have found for pricing this car is on the autotrader website and these are only for vehicles being sold through dealers.
PLEAE HELP!!! Read more
Seems a little strong to me. You could try asking that and be willing to go as low as £4000. The problem with Ibizas, excellent cars though they are, is that nobody immediately thinks of them when deciding what car to buy.
If your car is towed away, how do you know where it has gone/is going, and that it hasn't just being stolen? Is there some national number I don't know about? They can't exactly leave a notice on the road! Read more
>> This happened to me last year in Cricklewood London.
I told Brent this in a letter and they eventually refunded my money.
Snipquote
Hi
i believe my car was towed away by brent from cricklewood tonight. Please tell me where did you do the research incase i need a back up on this that they were not supposed to tow it away. I do not understand why. Tax, insurance is all up to date. there were no any signs for towing and my car is gone. i have reported it just in case.
tnx
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Thanks all.
I have readjusted the tension and noise has gone.