July 2003
Is yellow a bad choice for a car come re-sale time?
Let's make it more specific...
Leon Cupra R
Yellow, Red or black?
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In Saturday's DT there is an article extolling the virtues of obtaining the correct insurance for your travel abroad.
A couple they quote had a breakdown with their Fiesta, eventually repatriated by the insurance co., where they stated cause of breakdown as "the spark plugs had gone".
I was left wondering what had actually happened..... Read more
Beats me - i could never get the plugs out of Nicolles Fiesta, I sheared one off once.
Hi everyone, I have a question from a work colleague who?s not on the ?net. His Peugeot 306 wipers do not ?park? when switched off (they just stop where they are at the time)
He was advised to try another wiper motor, and has tried three separate motors off the shelf from a local breakers yard ? neither of which has made any difference. I know it?s possible, but surely they can?t all be faulty. He has now visited his local Main Dealer, who ran a check ? and say he needs a new wiper motor! (The price from them is £150 plus fitting & vat)
Is there possibly a fuse to try first? Is there such a thing as a ?self park relay??
I would be grateful for any help.
Mapsimus
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I'd put my money on the relay - the later Valeo types had inadequately sized contacts which resulted in the normally closed pair developing high resistance. These contacts carry the parking current, and high resistance here will result in erratic parking, as the motors use regenerative braking.
The relay is blue, but I can't help you with its location on the 306. Try and find an earlier Cartier type (also blue) which is a much better job - the breakers yards are full of these on old French cars. Otherwise, the black Hella units fitted to VWs and clones are also OK. Luckily, all the wiper delay wash/wipe relays have the same pin out.
659.
Hi, anyone who can help...on Sunday my sunroof wouldn\'t close, and then I noticed the interior lights weren\'t working, the central locking, the ciggie lighter, the clock was re-setting itself whenever I turned the car on, and even the immobiliser was acting funny and the alarm went off after I left the car so I\'ve left it off. It is a VW Golf GL N reg and I\'ve managed to close the sunroof. Is this a fuse box problem - the things that aren\'t working seemed to be attached to different fuses though?? Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated before I get ripped off at a London garage... Read more
Had same problem on Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi on 4th Aug 03. No electric sun roof or windows, door open warning light would not go out, courtesy light on drivers door and interior lights would not go out. No central locking.
Car had been parked in intense heat with no shade for a long day.
Removed fuse overnight to prevent battery drain.
Next morning with same symptoms took car to main dealer. They put the fuse back in (same fuse) and everything worked!!!!!.
Computer analysis could find no details of fault. Dealers view that what ever it was it had reset itself. A gremlin!!!!
So far so good but am waiting for a reoccurance.
Hope this is useful and anyone else with similar symptoms would be welcome to call back.
What is the best depreciating car (is than oxymoron?!).
I keep hearing about the Boxster but i swear its got to be the Escort Cosworth.
what do you think? Read more
Spot on M.M.
Series 1 advertised for sale in current LRO Mag, 1949/50 model, restored 12 years ago and with current MOT and RFL for the princely sum of:
Six thousand quid. It will go.
DVD
Dear Backroomers,
With all your extensive knowledge of all things motoring could you please provide some help on lifting the carpet up on a 306, I need to get a few wires down the length of the car and so far I am not clear on how to do it.
Secondly my key fob is going through batteries a little too quickly. I bought two new lithium batteries for it on Saturday and by this morning they were both dead, I\'m guessing this isn\'t the normal standard! Any ideas on what the problem may be?
Thanks very much Read more
Hope your dealer does a good job, Jon. Let us know how you get on.
For completeness, and in case you have more problems in the future, I'll just add ...
It's possible that the batteries aren't flat, and the keyfob isn't working because of bad contacts. The batteries are held in place by a small springy clip which forms one of the electrical contacts. This clip is a bit brittle. It can distort (so the batteries aren't properly held in place), or it can break off (with obvious results).
Ian
I have a 99V Nissan Primera. In June of last year air con packed up. Car still under nissan warranty so took it in. Advised that no leaks in system and re-gas required which I had to pay for as not covered by warranty. (Main dealer used outside contractor).
June this year air con inop again (car now out of warranty). Got local independant specialist to check out system. Needed re-gassing again so clearly a leak somewhere.Dye added to system but no obvious leaks.
After three weeks specialist re-checked system pressure and sure enough pressure is down.Taken into workshop and found compressor case leaking. Going to be an expensive job.
Two questions;
1)As its a slow(ish)leak do I need to have the expansion valve replaced? (I'm OK with the filter /dryer replacment along with the new compressor).
2)Not really technical but the nissan main dealer that I bought the car from is now out of business. as the car was under the nissan assure scheme do I have any grounds (forlorn hopes)for asking nissan to contribute?
Many Thanks in advance for any advice.
SeanO Read more
SeanO, post 06/99 cars use a Zexel compressor, rather than Nissan's own Calsonic one. My disc shows a price of about £520 for a new one from Nissan, so anything much less should raise your suspicions. They may just get a good price on a new one. Don't get me wrong, there are good rebuilds out there, but there's plenty that would be more use as anchors.
I am looking at a Rover 400 with the 2.0 DI engine (Perkins?) on a 97 P. It has done 116k miles & I have no idea of history or condition until I see it at BCA Bridgewater tomorrow. It should be cheap enough, but has anyone got any comments on them. I understand they are not as refined as PSA or VW units, but are they quite pokey?
TIA
Mark Read more
About £395.00 from motorsport developments (near blackpool)
my old 400 is still for sale with our local Rover dealer??
K2
Does anyone know the cheapest way to gain an increase in power for my Nissan Almera 1.4 16v 1997 Read more
Sell it and buy something else.
Seriously.
Hello everyone,
When returning to the car the other day i noticed that the passenger side rear sidelight was lit along with the corresponding headldight.
Although i've seen this on other parked cars i've never actually owned one that has this 'feature' (?)
Thing is....it doesn't always do this (only the second time i've noticed it, first time i put down to bright sunshine!)
The engine was not running but the ignition key was in (turned off).
Should it do this? if so what could possibly cause it to only happen intermittently?
If this is an obvious question please excuse my ignorance.
Thanks in advance
Regards to all
Bob
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I took it to the garage this morning (been raining since the weekend so couldnt be bothered myself).They rang to tell me that it does'nt have a socket to read the abs faults so he can't do it.(I could have told him that)
So now i'll have to take wheels off at the weekend and check the sensors myself,so much for garages.
useful link for vauxhall abs reading and testing is;
www.topbuzz1.carenthusiasts.co.uk/maintenance/test...s.
htm
lots of info and fault codes and how to read them.
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It's true that anything yellow attracts insects, so a stationary car could get covered in the things.
I wouldn't have a yellow car living in the countryside.