September 2003
Hi,
I have a 1992 (J) 1.4 Escort, for a while now the passenger side front suspension has been making creaking noises when going over bumps etc. It creaks when i bump it up and down by hand.
I wasnt too bothered at first but its getting worse when going over speed bump it now makes a whoosh sound like its breathing in when on the bump(when the suspension is pushed up) and \"breathes\" out when back on normal road. I think this sound quite cool but im sure its not supposed to be doing it!!
Also yesterday when doing a 3 point turn on full left lock when accelerating forward there was a horrible grinding sound. This doesnt happen all the time, or when going round a left bend; seems to be only when on full lock, accelerating fairly hard going left(no sound when going right).
MOT is coming up and im gonna put it in for a full service, but any comments on why its making noises how much £ to fix.
cheers,
Dave Read more
Hi All
I have a problem with my Omega auto gear box, when I select sports mode and then accelerate hard at about 80mph the gear box drops out of sports mode and goes into some sort of limp mode, the engine management light does'nt come on but the car pulls like its stuck in 4th and it will not go back into sports mode, If I turn the engine off for a second and then restart, it goes back to normal.
It is a 1997 2.5 v6
Thanks for any help
Gaz Read more
Gaz
Did you ever get to the bottom of this problem?
I have a very similar fault.
Ian
Certainly an interesting PR stunt though, it has to be said, effective. If I can find the photos they'll follow later!
S40 stands up to its big brother (News article)
Dagens Nyheter, 2003-09-13
Volvo arranged a public crash test on Friday. In the test, the Volvo XC90 collided with the side of the Volvo S40, thus having Volvo's largest car collide with its smallest car. According to Ingrid Skogsmo, head of the Volvo Safety Center, the crash test shows that the S40 has a robust and solid construction. "We're a bit cocky and wanted to expose the S40 in a collision with the largest car we have, the XC90," Ms Skogsmo said, and added that people travelling in the S40 would have survived such a collision. Volvo believes the S40 will get five stars in the Euro NCAP crash test.
Read more
Hello
The fuel guage on my Megane has suddenly decided to read empty even though there is plenty of fuel in the tank. My question is has anyone had any luck fixing the sender part of the fuel pump.
Any ideas would be great.
Thanks
Andy Read more
Sounds like good ol French electrics to me....
306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
1994 Astra Turbo diesel hatchback, car has a genuine 30,000 miles backed up by mot`s and service history . The car has had one owner from new , im trying to find the price out for a good friend of mine . Can anyone assist please ??? Read more
What channel is it going through? Retail, private or trade/auction?
What spec is it? Is it L- or M-reg? Is it pre-facelift or one of the very first facelifted ones wtih the V-grille?
I reckon somewhere around the £1300 mark retail, £1k privately and £550-£600 trade for a pre-facelift GLS - but super low mileage, mint, ten year old diesels are just slightly hard to find and I'm sure there are loads who will say that's too much or too little.
I'm a new boy on the block so pardon me seeming a little unreasonable.
I want to buy a new car, and have been trying to keep up with developments by reading motorcar magazines. Has anybody else noticed that very little is given about the practical aspects of vehicles? In the past the magazines used to contain thorough road tests, but all of the mags which I can find just report on the cosmetic differences between similar cars, 'Head to head tests'.
One weekly magazine, which in days long past was quite good, seems now to be a frothy fashion magazine. Is there a mag that anyone can recommend ?
Read more
On a tangent, does anybody remember Auto Express when it first started? As I recall, it was like a proper newspaper and I think that the first issue had a scoop about the 'new' Rover 200/400. Bless...
Cheers
Rob
My wife's Peugeot 106 had a new battery fitted in March but found it flat three times recently. In each case, the Europ Assiatnce man attending jump started the car and said the fault was down to hot weather and that there had been a lot of calls for this reason. The local Pug dealer could find nothing wrong. Flat again this morning: same remedy and story. Flat again this afternoon. This time, the EA man added a new dimension. He said hot weather can "fry the battery" by leading to the production of excess voltage and cause it to "consume itself".
Has anyone else out there experienced this? I am intrigued as I drove a variety of cars for 16 years in a country where every day was a hot as it ever gets in the UK and never had a fried battery. Read more
Interesting thread here.
I travelled to Austria a few weeks ago during the really hot (as we know it!) weather (c. 35 degs.). Long hot run across France, then in the mountains. No starting problems at all. At the end of the first week of the hols, got everything loaded into car to travel to next apartment. Turned the key - nothing! I got a jump start and drove to nearest town. When the battery was tested, it was only putting out 7 volts under load. Charging was OK at around 14.5 volts. So I had a new battery (Varta) fitted & no probs since. Coincidence? Could be - the battery was the five-year old original. But I also wondered whether the heat caused it to fail earlier than it might have done.
Today while driving down a dual carriageway A road, NSL, with one of my colleagues we came across a funeral procession; hearse, several principal cars and a dozen our so obvious mourners following at about 30 in the inside lane.
This caused us to discuss the 'proper' ettiquette for passing such a procession, should you wait behind, just blast by and pretend you didn't see it, or, as we did, slow down and pass by at about 5-10 mph quicker and then speed up when well passed to show some respect but still carry on with life?
I think people on here are caring individuals and I'd be interested as to what all you BR's would, or do, do.
Cockle Read more
Thanks all, it confirms what I first thought, quite a thoughtful caring bunch hereabouts.
I think in the circumstances we probably did OK as the cortege was obviously going to be on that road for some time so to pass and show some respect by doing so slowly was probably about right. Had it been single carriageway wouldn't have dreamt of passing, or cutting into the cortege, I would hope someone will show me the same respect when my turn comes, as it must to all of us at some point.
As some have mentioned, respect is a powerfully enduring thing and can help at some of the saddest times. As some of you will know, from my previous postings, my father was a fireman,('fireman, not a ****** firefighter'), for 28 years and when he passed away over 20 years after leaving the service our local station insisted on their pump heading the cortege all 7 miles to the local crem with blue flashing lights the whole way. Nearby to the crem is our main station and a busy roundabout, they'd organised the police to halt the traffic on the roundabout so the cortege wasn't split up and all the current serving firefighters were stood to attention with their appliances and the flag at half mast as we passed by. It just helped to give a positive to one of the saddest and most stressful days of my life.
It also gave some humour too, several weeks later one of the old firemen who had attended said that all my father's old cronies had had a chuckle as they'd never seen an machine with blues flashing travel so slowly in his prescence, if my father had been driving we would have got there in about six minutes!
Cockle
I've been looking into getting a smaller car so that I'm not stung so hard by insurance (I'm 22 and live in inner-Manchester, as a new-ish driver anything with a big engine cripples my bank balance) - I've been thinking about either a Nissan Micra or a Ford Fiesta, although preferring the Micra as I learned to drive in one of those.
My question is this, I've looked though various places (including Auto-Trader) and I can't find a mention of a Micra with power steering - is this because of the small nature of the car? Or are only recent Micras equipped with Power steering?
And would such a thing make that big a difference to the way the car handled?
Thanks for any advice. Read more
When I was searching, I found many of the local dealers were asking about £1k above Glass's guide figures. That's why I went to GTC because theirs were more in line with Glass's. If you follow HJ's advice, then you should find some good choice in one of the supermarkets.
Another option is to search on AutoTrader - you'd get some useful comparisons there: price/year/mileage etc. I got our first one through this method.
Splodgeface
Hi all. I would appreciate if anyone could provide me with a sensible valuation for my Mondeo, which I am going to be offering for sale (privatley, possibly via Autotrader) over the next few weeks. The details are as below: -
1995 M reg (Feb 24th)
Ford Mondeo 1.8 Ultima
Electric Current Red Metallic.
90,000 genuine miles, has lots of history, some old MOT's. This model was a limited edition based on the '95 spec Ghia and has the following over the standard LX model: -
>Power, heated body coloured mirrors.
>ABS braking
>Twin front airbags
>Heated Front Screen (Recently replaced, still under guarantee.
>Sports style front seats (similar to Si spec) with power drivers operation, lumbar adjustment, rear headrests and armrest.
>Leather trimmed stearing wheel
>Volumetric alarm system (interior movement sensors)
> Ghia style alloys with 195\60\14 tyres.
>Metallic paint.
The car has had 5000 mile oil and filter services since I have owner the car (2 years). The origonal handbooks are with the car, and has had 2 previous owners. The car is MOT'd and taxed until Jan' 2004.
For those of you who are still awake I would appreciate it you could give me some kind of indication of its value.
Many Thanks in advance.
LukeP Read more
The second hand car market really stinks at the moment.
I am advertising two Xantias
L reg 2.0 16v VSX top of the range trim, 73,000 miles part dealer service history to 53,000 excellent condition etc etc etc. Put it in at £695 hoping for £600, Autotrader - nothing.
P reg 1.8 16v LX 99,000, replacement engine at 18,000 very good condition £1000, again - nothing!
We need a few nutters on the road to write off the ones they have!
Hugo
Hi,
just thought id let you know i had the work done.
The diagnosis was spot on, new front wishbones needed, they replace both sides as the Drivers side was on the way out too.
Was about £90 each fitted.
Thanks
Dave