August 2003
I have a 1996 Seat Toledo Sport. The control for the airflow (ie the knob that controls where the air is directed) is broken. It will turn to 2 positions, windscreen and footwells, albeit with some difficulty. However it is jammed in some way and it cannot be turned to direct air from the dashboard vents, either partially or fully. This is ok in the winter, but not so good when the aircon is on. I suspect it is a dashboard off job, and I am only really interested in doing anything about it if I can do it myself. It is not worth spending serious money on. There is no Haynes manual for this car so I do not really know where to start. Can anyone help? Read more
Some friends of ours came over yesterday and told us of a minor (supermarket) car park incident that they were involved in, the summary of which is;
Our friend (on her own) had parked up and was getting out of the car when a gust of wind blows the door wide open causing it to bang into the adjacent car's door. The driver and passenger of this car, get out and have a look to see if there's any damage. All parties have a good look and agree (verbally)
that no damage has occured. Our friend does her shopping and comes back to her car only to see the driver and passenger waiting by her car. Their car has now been moved to another parking bay. They claim that some damage has been done and show her a dent in the door that clearly wasn't apparent earlier.
Our friends have already settled the insurance claim (£500) privately due to not wanting to loose their NCB but when she asked me what she should have done at the time of the incident, I really didn't know what to say....
what would you have done?
Chad Read more
Did they just "pay £500" or did they see the invoices
for the repairs?
My thoughts exactly. £500 seems really OTT for a dent to a single panel. (I was quoted between £460 and £700 for dents to all 4 panels down the side of the car) so unless some proof of expense was shown I'd definitely query this.
I was topping up oil and water yesterday on my Alfa GTA for my impending holiday, when I noticed a sand coloured deposit at the bottom of the coolant tank. I immediately checked under the oil filler cap, and dipstick, both of which were pristine.
This deposit does not float on the top of the water, so I think its unlikely to be oil. The blue coloured coolant water appears very clean, and also smells normal (antifreeze).
The car is 7months old.
I would normally just keep an eye on this, but Im off on Sun morn to Italy, so I`m a bit paranoid.
Any ideas?
TIA Read more
It was more of a check. It did use a bit
of oil at first though, it doesnt seem to anymore!
>>
Ah, that makes sense.
I'm no expert but I'm told that its quite normal for new engines to use a little oil while running in, due to the rings bedding in I think.
Regards,
Al.
Ok, It's nearly the holiday weekend.
We are all familiar with the Xmas 'dont drink and drive' publicity machine and the summer holiday 'speed kills' campaign..but....
What other motoring 'offenses' would fellow back roomers like to see targeted on a TV ad campaign, the above two are excluded.
One for starters...Queueing across yellow hatched boxes and needlessly bringing major junctions to a standstill.
Over to you
Ian L.
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Perhaps late RJ but not too late surely. If the parents won't teach them pre-school then we have to break the cycle of selfishness somehow.
Hi all.
I'd be intersted to know whether other Back Roomers have a minimum bhp in mind when looking for a new car?
Doing 25k private miles and whisking one wife and baby around, my next car will be in the Vectra/Mondeo category, which have 127 and 130 bhp diesel engines respectively. I think that this is enough, but do others with more experience of diesel engines think so? I currently have a P reg 1.6 Astra Premier which would have about 90 bhp at a total guess?
I'd also be interested to know if there are other derv cars with higher bhp figures but which fall in the same price bracket. I know VW do a 150 bhp Golf - cue Sean?
Cheers all and have a safe weekend.
TT Read more
SiB the variables which apply to horsepower also apply to kilowatts, it depends which standards are being used. The main ones are BHP (SAE) which is American, BHP (BSI) which is British and PS (DIN) which is German. They all convert to KW (SI) but are measured under different conditions. German PS are slightly less powerful than BHP. It's about time we got some benefit from the huge cost of EEC membership, which we might if they introduced an EN standard which car manufacturers/importers had to use.
wonder if anybody can help me. I've got a 1994 pgt 405 sri 2L.
Its a good car, had a few problems but nothing out of the ordinary. i purchased it approx 4 years ago. the steerings always been a little on the heavy side, not a light as i would have expected it to be. but lately it seems to be getting heavier,especially when parking,sometimes it seems to stick. the fliuds ok, apart from that does anyone have any ideas of how to make it lighter(of course with the minimal amount of cost) cheers in advance.tony
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Thanks for your advice will give it a go. cheers
Following on from my earlier thread, www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=15...5
today the heater matrix ruptured spiling hot water into both front and passenger footwells almost scallding me and my mate, does any one know about this recall vw did on all mk2 golfs about this problem and are vw resposible for the repairs?this has also knacked my alarm as the wires run just underneath the matrix causing it to short out.toad ai600 model, any help would be much apprieciated. Read more
In my case VW not interested in service history, coolant changes. There wasn't one!
It may come down to whether a garage is looking for warranty work to occupy idle fitters.
pmh (was peter)
my car management light came on and there was a lack of power and now the power has came back can anyone tell me what the fault could have been?
also my car is turbo seals may have gone i think because the oil level has gone down and there is a drip of oil in the turbo pipe, can anyone tell me if i can get the seals and how much they are? Read more
LOL! Knowing ebay, it's probably just been taken off a 150,000 mile car and steam cleaned and traded as 'New'!
No offence! Just my opinion!!
C,
Noticed on another thread that you have "replaced wheelarches on a Clio".
Could you give a little more detail (cost, difficulty of job, where you obtained them from) please? My sons Clio (K reg) is suffering badly from rust on nearside rear (fuel filler side) and despite repairing with filler etc and giving it rustproofing etc the rust showed through again in a matter of weeks. Only solution appears to be replacement of part of rear wheelarch but I was told it would cost about £500 to be done professionally - car not worth much more!
Many thanks in advance and apologies to moderator for raising this under "Discussion" but original thread is on this rather than "Technical"
PhilW Read more
You're more than welcome, Phil. Just bear in mind that I'm no expert. Professionals would take a fit if they saw some of the tricks I get up to!
Anyway - I get as much out of this forum as anyone so it's good to chip in when I can.
Graeme
Hi,
Tried to find the old Photo Thread - couldn't so have started another.
If you post a photo onto the MSN site, post here so everyone knows about it and can take a look.
I've updated my photo thingy address, it's in my profile now if anyone needs some help posting or would like me to post for them.
Think carefully about what you post - anything that's outside what your Granny and maiden aunt would find acceptable will be removed, along with your photo forum membership.
Thanks,
Lee
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Lee
MINI adventure in progress Read more
eMBe,
Many thanks for your input, I've amended my profile. I'm losing touch around here, that last ten threads thing is very good but I'd not seen it before.
I think all those pints at Ian Cook's virtual pub have taken their toll!
Lee.
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Lee
MINI adventure in progress
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It's a common problem, it might be worth posting a question over on seatenthusiasts.co.uk/forum and see what happens.
Either way, it's an expensive and fiddly job to do. Sorry!