September 2003
Various BR'ers have mentioned Costco. Are they worth the trouble? My nearest one seems to be in Watford, I live in Esher (Surrey) I have looked at their website, but it seems to be for trade only.
Is it very difficult for a layman (no - wrong word) someone not in trade to join and are the discounts worth all the trouble?
Quins had a good win yesterday!
Regards to all
Don drbe Read more
Hello all:
I/we are are seriously considering buying either a new MX5 1.8S or MR2 and I am fishing for opinions, facts, thoughts, advice etc. We test-drive both cars on Saturday, virtually back-to-back, which will be interesting and we have both driven a couple of MX5’s before and liked them, though the 1.6 is a bit gutless.
The car needs to be convertible, fun, and reasonably inexpensive to run and will be used by one of us for our daily commute as well as for enjoyment at weekends and occasional longer journeys. I imagine that when the weather is fine my good wife will drive it her 20 miles cross-country b-road route to work, whereas in snow, fog and torrential downpours I will drive it my 35-mile mostly motorway journey. Should we decide to buy, we will keep our Mondeo as the main long journey vehicle.
I will list my thoughts on the 2 cars:
MX5 – Good points - More practical (luggage space), price and value including AC and leather in the £14.5k broker price for a proper UK car, easy RWD front engine handling. Bad points None?
MR2 – Good points - Sharper to drive (apparently), revvier engine, arguably fresher looking. Bad points – no luggage space, AC and leather not included in £15.5k broker price, mid-engined handling trickier?
What ideas do you lot have? Are there any alternatives I should consider? Any points I have missed in comparing the two, anyone driven both and bought one?…
Thanks,
Andy
Ps. Please don’t suggest a Griffith to keep in the garage for a 3rd car, she won’t buy that one, I have tried!
pps. I have, of course, read the car-by-car breakdown!
Read more
NOPE!!!
VB
An hour after picking up my K reg Discovery 2.5 TDiS, I tried to start it and couldn't
However, it will bump start.
Inside the drivers side wing there is a 30 amp fuse, which has blown. The vendor did everything reasonable to get the problem sorted by taking it up to her garage, so I have no beef with her. Both she and the garage thought that the problem was over.
In addition the starter motor was removed, stripped down and cleaned up.
The blowing of this fuse means that the starter motor won't turn - but what could be causing the fuse to go?
The most likely explanation is a short circuit possibly in the battery, relay, solenoid circuit, but where is this short circuit occurring? I assume the current going throught the starter switch and powering up the relay is usually much lower than 30 amps - or am I wrong?
In daylight tomorrow, I intend to look for the obvious, such as chafed wires on bodywork, black marks on the ignition switch etc, however, are their any Disco nuts here who have known of similar problems? Where this fuse had not been fitted, does anyone know where the burning smell may have come from in their experience? 30 amps is a lot of current.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hugo Read more
Thanks Guys.
I'd better try an auto electrician.
Hugo
i have a 2000 W Skoda Octavia SLX 1.9TDI with climatronic climate control. About a week ago, the cold air stopped. The car is out of warranty and therefore rather the main dealer is up a ramp in a local air con specicalist. The compressor clutch has sheared off (that's the best technical description i can give), and some of the clutch landed on the undertray.
The specialist is trying to find out if he can get hold of just the clutch rather replace the whole compressor.
Previous posts on this sort of subject suugest that it is prudent to replace the whole compressor. Can anyone (Dave N?) advise on the wisdom or otherwise of just replacing the clutch?
Will the system need any more work after e.g. re-gassing?
Thanks in anticipation Read more
The balance weight is actually a damper/buffer to smooth out the engagement of the clutch plate where the pump is fitted to a car that cycles the compressor on/off.The golf is fitted with a compressor that
is known as a variable displacement type ,so the on/off function is not reqd.As to restoring the splines on the pump,I think it may be a little awkward due to space available,you may need to remove pump.I use a small square file using one of the 90o angles to "dress" the splines best possible,then a small dab of loctite to help it along.There may be no key way on the hub,but there may be a master spline that is slightly larger.Also check to see if any clearance shims have fallen off the shaft.The clutch to hub air gap needs to be correct.I think the reason that the shaft nut comes off ,is due to fact that the pump turns anti-clockwise,against rotation of the engine.hth
If anyone is interested, I think I have found an Internet site that contains a database of 'Technical Service Bulletins' for most cars.
The site is: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/
If you have a warranty issue this site might be of some help.
Read more
There is an excellent website at www.autotechnicalbulletins.co.uk/
ive got a vectra 2.0dti (98) ,when i get just above 3000 rpm -80-90 mph the car fells as though it's surging like on an elastic band it fells like it wants to go but does what ive mentioned. ive tried 3 new air flow/mass meters no joy i also get a flat spot when coming down from 3rd to 2nd and booting it. no management light on ,no blue smoke/good econemy at a loss now please help. steve!! Read more
The High and Low preasure depends on whether you have an intercooler or not.
If you have an intercooler with the pipe off the turbo that runs round the side of the engine to the right of the radiator then you have a high preasure diesel turbo.
But if you have a pipe that runs straight from the turbo over the top of the engine straight into the equivalent of a throttle body then you have a low preasure diesel turbo.
Hope this helps
regards cjamesenorf
Are these cameras working or not? Every time I trundle thru at 40mph, seems loads of cars are doing 60-80mph? Read more
So a better camera it is then.
I am getting poor radio reception on my Audi A4 Avant radio ('Concert')in some areas out of town - the worst so far being in Winterbourne Stoke in Wiltshire on the A303. The dealer has swapped the radio but without improvement and appears baffled. The location is in a steep dip but I have never experienced this with other cars/radios. Is it perhaps due to the 'hidden' aerial? (the handbook doesn't say where it is). Read more
In my time with my A4 I drove 2 others, and 2 A2's and one A6 and all of them had terrible radio reception. Seems to be a generic Audi thing.
Note with the A4 there is a booster of some description under the parcel shelf at the back. This is powered from the accessory supply on the back of the stereo. If I remember there is an issue where an aftermarket stereo is fitted and the supply to this booster is not connected. Apparently when that is the case the reception will be very bad.
I have a '95 Astra TD with the centre display that has clock, radio and outside temperature in the centre console above the radio.
The problem is the backlight bulb behind these has blown so they're all invisible. Is there a simple way of getting to this bulb (I'm not too fussed about the heater control bulbs), or is it a typical whole dash-out job just to change that particular bulb?
Thanks! Read more
No worries DD; I think I've read enough in the BR archive now to stop me even trying the job; I'll just get used to only knowing what station the radio is on at night; and during total eclipses.
Hi, just wondering if someone out there can help me. I have a Golf TDi CL 1.9 (90BHP - 1995 / 87K Miles). The car is serviced every year by a VW dealer but this morning it decided to completely give up on me. I was driving in third just changing into fourth (up hill) and the car lost all power with a huge cloud of black smoke coming form the exhaust, it juddered along for a little while and just cut out. I tried to re-start the car but it just revved up to about 4K RPM on it's own then came back down to 1K and up again to 4K then cut off again. Again a big cloud of black smoke from the back.
On the floor beneath the exhaust opening there was a black deposit of 'soot'.
First bit of advice I've had is that the turbo's gone, but I an air flow meter was fitted 1.5 years ago. At the time that this went the car lost power but it would still run at about 35mph.
Anyway, I'm looking at a bill of about £600 to replace the turbo so if anyone can help it would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Wayne Read more
One of the problems I have living where I do is that I'm limited, severly, to the people I can turn to for help. My local VW dealer is about 23 miles away and anyone else with the diagnostics kit would probably be double that distance and more. Anyway, they're going to check it over tomorrow morning so I'll get back and let you know what they say it is.
Thanks again,
Wayne
.jpg)
I bought a gallon of wash&wax for about a fiver, and when got around to using it imagine my surprise when took the top off and it was a thick white liquid, not what I was expecting.
I had picked up liquid wax instead which was very cheap for tripleplan!
Yes, there are quite a few bargains to be had there but as has been said you can get carried away and buy things you wouldn't normaly buy anyway.