September 2003
Hi,
I've got a 2 and a bit year old Corsa which seemed to be mis-firing under acceleration.
I thought it might just be that the injection system was grubby so I put some injection cleaning additive into the fuel.
It didn't make things any better and the problem has gradually deteriorated to the point where I've taken it to my local Vauxhall garage, the car being under warranty.
Now they're telling me that the fault was CAUSED by the additive and the work can not be completed under the conditions of my warranty.
It didn't say that on the bottle when I put the stuff in there - and it doesn't say that on their website either.
Is it the case that fuel additives to clean injection systems can actually DAMAGE the engine?
Thanks
Simon
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Hi all,
In UK n a \"family increase\" trip and would like to buy and self install a new pollen filter on my LHD Fabia. Where on earth does it go?
My Spanish dealer was asked to do this before our trip, but had no filter in stock and I am alarmed at the thought of paying ROB prices! Read more
try looking under the rain water tray below front windscreen,access under the bonnet could be on far right passenger side.
I would like to know how long the main components on my 2000X Seat Arosa 1.7 Diesel will last. I drive 500 miles a week, cruise at 60 mph @ 2200 rpm along fast A-roads only (no town driving), never thrash from cold, get 78.5 MPG every tankfull, change oil+filter every (semi-synthetic) 5000 miles. Full Seat history +cambelt changes.
How long do you think these components will last based on the above info??
-Fuel Pump
-Clutch
-Alternator
-Water Pump
-Engine overall Read more
Clutch anything from 60 to 120k, maybe more. Everything else could last as long as the car as a whole, which could be 20+ years if well cared for.
My local newsagent did not have a copy of Glasses so I bought WhatCar Price Guide.
I am thinking of buying a non-new car for SWMBO and have been comparing the prices with those offered by main dealers (as I like the security of 12 month guarantee and 30-day returns). But I have found that the prices that they are charging are much more than the guides are stating. For example a car that the dealer is trying to charge £7995 for is about £6500 in the book.
Now I know that the dealers prices are not set in concrete but I doubt that they will drop down to the "book" price. I have also used the mileage adjustment table to adjust the price of the car.
My questions are:
(1) Do WhatCar and Glasses give basically the same prices?
(2) Can I expect to be able to buy a car at the listed price in the guide book?
(3) Is the mileage adjustment table worth taking into consideration as dealers seem not to judging by their prices?
(4) If I go along to a dealer should I take the book with me and say that he is trying to charge £1500 over the odds?
Any help would be gratefully received as I will admit to not being that experienced in buying cars (although I do know that the advertised price is not the one you want to pay). Read more
I feel bad that the mileage adjuster is useless as I have used it to sell on my current car to my sister!!! ;.) although I did split the difference with her!
Would have put this elsewhere only the thread is now read only.
Just a comment really that people like me often forget about specialist brokers. I've seen the name Adrian Flux mentioned a few times here now, and although I don't know of them myself, if I was in a slightly 'difficult' to insure category, that seems to be the way to go?
As an experienced driver with a full No Claims, the cost of insurance for our 19 year old learner driver daughter was a big figure (not disputing that it should be, by the way) and obviously, we were looking for the most cost effective way to insure her. This took a huge amount of research before deciding. Lots of looking at various Pro's and Con's and hugely varying results.
In the end, this is what we did:
Car owned and kept by me (mother)
Policy taken out by me, with daughter and husband named drivers
Policy states daughter is the main driver (she might not be, but this seemed the safest be to be totally honest)
No NCD (used on another car)
Policy cost £700
Cheapest option I could find in her name, with me as owner and keeper (lots of firms wouldn't entertain this) was just over a thousand. The £300 saved this year, we will offer to her, towards her first policy in her own name, which she will take out once she has reached 21, in two years time, when hopefully (driving record all heing well) she will find the quotes come down quite a bit.
As the car will be kept in the family for daughter number 2 to learn in, she'll be looking at buying her own car by then, and that will either be a cheaper second hand model, or if she wins the lottery (!) a new car with free insurance available to over 21's.
There's a possibility that she may go abroad within the next couple of years too, and so it didn't seem at all worthwhile trying to help her build up a NCD now. A couple of years extra age and experience are going to help a lot at this stage in her life.
That's the theory anyway.
Hopefully this information may help someone else in a similar situation. Insurance company was a well known supermarket btw. Read more
anyone familar with the steel wheels on this car (52reg). it only has steel wheels and apparantly they are 14inch i want to put 15inch alloys on but don\'t know about the set up?
the 1.6 lx has 15 inch wheels, are the suspension set ups different? Read more
The driver's manual supplied with the car should tell you what other wheels/tyres are fitted.
Also on my Omega two doors suffer from sever rusting where the black trim between the door and window meets?
Can anyone advise a DIY way of repairing this, the driver's side is the side affected, particulalry the back door.
I have dinor minor rust/dent repairs on older cars but do not wwant to ruin the otherwise good appearance of the car with a poor spray job etc. Read more
N 96 but I didn;t buy it from new so I guess this would rule that out?
Me again, with another quirk about my Omega. Have decide due to finance that I am gonna keep the vehicle so spent all day yesterday cleaning,polishing the whole thing in and out.
One of my alloys (passeneger rear) has large noticeable patches of what at first glance looks like dirt, however it in fact corrossion i.e. rust. The rest of the alloys look in good nick apart from the odd scrape.
Is there any way this can be rectified as it spoils the appearance of the car, also the badge that covers the wheel nuts has gone funny too!
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I have had marvellous results in the past with Simoniz Silver wheel paint and their matching acrylic laquer, ends up very durable and smooth.
You also need white primer, rub them down and fill blemishes.
Remove the wheel, deflate tyre, mask the tyre and push 2p peices between the tyre and rim to push the tyre back to geta good paint coverage around the rim and hold the masking on.
Good luck. Any probs while painting, rectify WHEN DRY!!!
If it looks weird, it usually dries better.
Where can I get the tools that the dent experts use to repair bodywork?. Read more
I,ve got the complete set of dent removal tools never used them, even after two weeks intensive training.Youv'e either got the knack or you haven't
Hello,
I have a Citroën Xantia 1.8i 16V Desire which was made just before the 1997 facelift. On the whole I quite like it but there are a couple of niggles that are now starting to annoy me! The biggest niggle is that of it using oil. I have noticed that on long journeys if I venture anywhere near 4000rpm for any length of time the oil will start to be used - in fact since March 2002 I have gone through about 3 litres of oil. For example, doing a 165 mile journey from Surrey to Nottingham caused it to use around 300-400ml of oil. (I had to top it up as I get a bit fed up of the dipstick warning light otherwise!). Is this a Xantia feature?
Also, the Speedo has started to stick occasionally, on one occasion it from 0mph straight to 50mph and then back down to 15mph which is what I was actually doing (I was only in second gear). Any ideas what causes this and could it be an expensive job to fix?
As a side issue I took it for its 40,000mile service in March this year and it cost me a whopping £650 and that was after the Bristol Street Motor 12 month warranty deducted £500 and gave me a 10% discount on everything else. All sorts of things had to be replaced - front brakes, spheres, tracking you name it - it had to be done and it is only 6 years old! Can I expect future servicing to be this expensive? It had a complete service history as well! (Which Citroen have now lost!)
Thanks
Phillip.
Phillip.M.Darlington@ds.co.uk Read more
Whilst working away from home a couple of years ago I got to drive a number of hire cars under 6 months old, including several mondeos.
We're talking X reg 2001 here.
When I changed to a 1993 Xantia at 54K I was surprised to find that it was just like driving the 2001 mondeos at 2K odd. Infact the ride was better due to the design of the suspension.
Although my L reg is now worth pants I am reluctant to change it because it is so damn reliable.
So the moral of the story is - if you're going to buy a xantia, get one that has been looked after and you will not usually go wrong.
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STP® Super Concentrated Fuel Injector Cleaner was what I put in there.
The mechanic doesn't think it would void my warranty - nor do STP. Panic over - thanks for all of your help.