September 2003
I know much has been written about the problem with failing coil packs on certain VW group cars.
My SEAT Leon Cupra suffered from this last Saturday, and I was rather surprised to find that SEAT policy is to replace only the failed packs, leaving the rest to potentially go at some time in the future. Am I the only one to think this is pretty poor? Is this the same reponse being given by others in the VW group?
After excellent response from the AA under the SEAT assistance scheme, I was also disappointed to find from the dealer the car was towed to that this breakdown is not treated as a priority, and they told me on Monday that they "wouldn't be able to look at it until Friday" (despite it being a fairly quick job). My AA-provided hire car had to go back on Monday, so I faced being without a car for most of the week (in the event, the dealer fixed it on Tuesday - they "had a cancellation").
In general terms, I have been very disappointed with many aspects of the product quality and customer service provided by SEAT, and this incident is just the latest in a number of problems. I would caution anyone expecting their claimed top-notch build quality not to expect too much, and in my experience some delaers product knowledge is not up to scratch.
I guess I now have to resign myself to driving around in a car I know might break down at any point, or have the rest of the coil packs replaced at my own expense. Read more
For some time now the red paint on my Carisma's upper surfaces has faded from a bright red to pink. I was convinced in my own mind that a respray of the affected parts would be needed to restore the finish.
However, a goodhearted body shop manager supplied me with a litre of 3M's FINESSE-IT finishing compound. Using this, the original paint colour rapidly reappeared and with a coat of Autoglym polish it looks like new. If not new, then at least near enough. I am quite taken aback by the thought that a miracle cure for such problems may exist. I suppose you do not get something for nothing so I will see how the bodywork fares over the winter.
Though if one should wish to sell such a car in a hurry it is at least one method of recovering the situation. Read more
> I guess the most resilient car colour is silver <
At least Ford fixed their "Silver Fox". Anyone else remember all the MKII Cortina's with peeled bootlid and bonnets?
I suspect my 98 Vectra has an amplified Aerial, as I have inserted an inline modulator to the aerial cable to allow me to plug in a minidisk player and listen to it via a preset radio station, and now my radio reception is very bad. The degradation in the received signal is too great to be insertion loss due to adding in the modulator. I am assuming that the aerial receives power for the amp via the coax aerial cable, hence by adding an inline modulator the aerial is no longer receiving power and therefore not amplifying the signal.
Q1 Is this the case or am I assuming too much?
Q2 If this is the case will the power on the aerial cable damage my modulator?
Q3 How do I put power onto the aerial cable to drive the amplified aerial and still retain the inline modulator?
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I have finally got round to having another look at this. To cut a long story short the modulator has a relay in the Aerial connection such that when the modulator is powered only the o/p of the modulator is supplied to the radio.. the roof mounted Aerial is disconnected. This means that there is no conflict between the audio source I have connected into the modulator from any radio stations. However the modulator has to be off to get any decent radio reception.
I propose to get a latching push button to replace the traffic master switch on my dash to supply the modulator with 12V when I wish to use it. (I ripped the traffic master out as it was very annoying if you happend to knock the button)
I guess another fix to this could be to disable the relay in the modulator and take your chances with the interferance from radio signals, however I have long been looking for a use for my traffic master button :o)
Thanks for your help
Have test driven the Passat TDI 130hp and would like to achieve a similar result by chipping my 1999 TDI 110hp Passat (one red letter). Could anybody comment on the results and subsequent reliability of the engine and drive train? This is not for speed but to permit easier towing of a camping trailer in the mountains. Thanks for your help
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Try www.upsolute.com their agent will visit your home to chip your car.
I have had 2 cars chipped VW caravelle and merc V-class with excellent results. Cost ~£320
I have persuaded my wife that we should entertain serious thoughts of spending about £13k-£15k on an 840Ci with FBMSH.
This is a car I have loved since I first saw one, but never driven, there are plenty about in that spec + leather with between 70k and 100k some as low as early 60k but that makes me a little nervous on a car designed for big miles.
I've checked the car by car which is useful but have any Back Roomers lived with one - any tell tales I should be looking for? Read more
No experience, just an opinion: gorgeous overall shape seriously spoilt by the front end.
Please help. I have a 1999 Vectra 2.0 LS facelift model and it has been back to the garage six times in the last eight weeks. Symptoms are:
car jolts at any speed
traction control light comes on followed by engine management light and loss of power.
In addition rev counter and speedo momentarily return to zero and trip counter resets.
The garage have replaced crank sensor twice, fuel pump relay and also wiring loom and shielding to crank sensor, but none of these measures have solved problem. What do you think is wrong and should I ask for a refund from the garage as they haven\'t fixed the problem?
Howard
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1/ What codes are logged in the management computer?
2/ Given the symptoms, this sounds like a wiring problem, either a loose connection or a short to the management ecu.
Earths need to be checked, connector plugs and blocks need to be taken apart, cleaned and reconnected. All sensors that have inputs to the ECU need the cable runs checked for shorting/rubbing (as the traction control light comes on first I would look at the cable from the wheel speed sensors) Battery connections and engine/body earth need to be checked
Recently my Citreon AX (96, 1.5D, 74,000miles) has developed a rumbling which became a knocking when cornering under power. When I serviced the car I discovered a fair bit of play in the driveshaft on BOTH sides which seems to be down to the CV joints. Also when you turn a wheel the driveshaft discribes an arc rather than just simply revolving. According to the Citreon dealer you need to replce the whole driveshaft to change the CV joints - approximatly £300 +VAT (P+L).
Although it seems clear that the work needs doing my biggest concern is that I don't know what caused the joints to wear in the first place and what's to stop them going again. Any thoughts? Read more
CV joints wear out with time anyway. The usual cause for premature wear is the rubber boots on the cv joints being damaged and the grease contained within them dispersing and the joint then not being properly lubricated and wear occurring.
Replacing the drives shafts isn?t a big job. It shouldn?t cost £300 +vat.
You do need to replace the whole thing as the joint is the part where the two half join so replacing one half will on remove half or the wear.
My advice is replace the joints and keep an eye on the rubber boots for wear in the future. You should be able to get at least 40k out of a set of drive shafts.
Also, if you are mechanically minded enough, change the shafts yourself. Cost for parts should be about £60+vat (you can buy refurbished shafts which are as good as new from most automotive component shops and they often give you money back for your olds ones afterwards) and should take about 1-1.5 hrs per shaft (faster if your good)
Hope this helps.
SK
What does the BR think of the temperature of an oil change?
Most manuals say change hot, as the waste products will remain in suspension and the oil will flow quickly.
Other 'mechanics' advocate a cold change, thus ensuring that all the oil is fully drained into the sump.
I have always drained hot; but is this best? Read more
If the drain plug is out for too long it can let dust in.
I had to do an oil change in one of my bangers in the south of France once, in a campsite. It was a bit windy as the Mistral was blowing hard. Dust and sand all over the place. Anyway that plug went in pretty quickly after the bulk of the oil had come out. (We couldn't postpone it till the wind died down as we were off the following day to Morocco and had no idea where we would have disposed of the oil in Casablanca.)
Extreme example, I know but if your garage floor is as dusty as mine and there is a bit of a gale outside I wouldn't want to leave the drain plug out over night.
I've just inherited a low mileage 1996 Escort 1.6 LX 16v. Its immaculate but when I took it for a drive the steering was very sensitive and it seemes to wander on the road quite dangerously. The back tyres are well worn but the front are fine. Any ideas? Bushes? tracking? suspension wear (shocks seem fine) Over to you! Read more
That Sherlock Holmes dude ain't got a patch on you has he ?
Pastyman..
A few years ago and nearby to where I live, a road was equipped with speed humps (of the 'flattened pyramid' variety).
Subsequently these humps came to bear the deep scars of many a strike (presumably sumps, gear boxes, suspensions etc. which no doubt came off worst).
These deep gashes have now been marked up with white aerosol paint. Would be interested in backroomers' views as to what the purpose of such markings is.
(Clue: a particular pothole in this same road was similarly marked and has now been topped up with asphalt to its full height).
Oz (as was) Read more
Of course it could just be that the local garages hadn't reported a big enough rise in speed-hump related damage repairs so they're going to increase the size of the bump to cause more...
(Well, it's in keeping with the theme of the thread!)
Wish I'd thought of that, because I've read a lot of reviews praising the old model, but to be honest with you, the whole experience, especially
1) making it on to the traffic news when my broken Ibiza was blocking half of one carriageway of a busy A-road, necessitating the involvement of a (fortunately) sympathetic member of local constabulary to redirect traffic round me, and
2) the near-impossibility of locating some of the suspension components
put me off hot hatches and in particular hot SEATs in a big way, so I decided to go all boring and middle-aged and get something rather more sedate. The opinion of the good lady wife also had some impact here... ;-)
As it happens I have a very friendly neighbourhood FIAT dealer, whose general manager lives literally round the corner from me, and as soon as the Ibiza came back from its three-and-a-half week holiday at the repairers I traded it for a substantially newer, base-model Stilo 1.6 3-door, getting a number of extras and money back in the process. Nice, especially when you consider that I was upfront with them about what had prompted the change.
Despite the reams of reviews, comments and so forth all saying what a load of rubbish it is, IME so far the Stilo has actually proved better to drive than the Ibiza and has the added advantage of actually going round roundabouts rather than into the sides of them!
I will happily concede that I was probably just unlucky with my Ibiza, but it comes to something when a piece of boggo Italian rent-a-car fodder that everybody hates proves to be a better drive than a whizz-bang performance job underpinned by VW-Audi engineering. Oh well, never mind, eh?
P