January 2004
On my 2000 Fiesta 1.3, 42000 miles, the engine seems to shudder briefly when the accelerator is pressed rapidly to the floor, particularly in the lower gears. Is this likely to be a worn engine mounting? Any other ideas? Read more
A few weeks ago I got hit from behind. The other driver has admitted fault to their insurance etc etc, and I am now at the stage where I have to decide to have my car repaired at the Ins companies approved repairer or one of my own. I am not really sure how this is handled in the UK. In the US the standard procedure is to submit written estimates to the responsible Insurance company and they settle with you directly. From phone conversations I have been having with the Insurance company this doesn\'t appear to be an option and I am reluctant to ask for fear of it being frowned upon or cause any problems with my claim.
The damage to my car isn\'t too bad and to be honest I would rather carry out repairs myself and have the money to spend elsewhere, which I obviously cannot do if the Insurance company intends to pay the repairer directly. My question is, do UK insurance companies pay claimants directly after determining the cost of repairs?. Local body shops won\'t give free written quotes and I am hesitant to pay for them if I may wind up not getting any money from the insurance directly. Read more
Thanks again dalglish, I already approached him with the option of settling directly, leaving the ins co out of it and saving his no claims in the process. The verbal quotes I got from a few bodyshops proved too high for him to cover personally so he opted to let his ins handle it.
Hi !
I wonder if I could relate my experiences concerning a purchase of a Land Rover Discovery from a local main dealer, which was sold to me as a UK car but which later turned out to be an imported car thus 'voiding' the manufacturer's 3 yr warranty.
18 months ago I bought a late, low mileage (7k) one-owner Land Rover Discovery TD5 from a Land Rover Main Dealer (Let's call him DEALER 'A"). The car is a Y reg TD5 ES (Registered July 2001) spec car which I paid 27,100 pounds for, the price included the remainder of the 3 yr/60k manufacturer's warranty (as written on the sale ticket).
This provided warranty cover for me until July 2004....or so I was led to believe at the time.
The car has been great and had covered 40,000 trouble free miles until Sunday lunchtime when it suddenly ground to a halt with strange noises coming from under the bonnet with Oil light and battery light blinking.
No problem. I thought. Call Land Rover Assist...
"Sorry Sir" was the response " we have no record of your vehicle, or the chassis number, or your registration".
I managed to get the vehicle recovered to my house under a separate policy I have with First Direct and called the dealer (where I bought the car from) this morning to arrange collection/repair etc and query the LR Assured problem.
The reply I received went along the lines of:
" Sorry sir...we've checked our system and I'm afraid that your car appears to be an import (which wasn't known by us when we sold you the car). The original owner who part exchanged the car with us signed a declaration stating that the car wasn't an import but we have since found out from the original main dealer (DEALER 'B') who supplied the car that it was an import.....so you do not have the balance of the 3yr warranty"
I've complained to the General Manager at the dealership who has agreed to honour the remainder of my warranty but I am now stuck with an imported car when I was told at the time that it was a UK car.
I'm concerned that this will affect the value when I sell it on/trade it in and also means that I probably paid too much for the car on the forecourt initially, believing it to be a bona fide UK car and not an import. Had I known the car to be an import I would not have bought it.
Whether knowingly or otherwise I believe that I have been misled by the dealer when I bought the car.
Anyone know of/had something similar.....any thoughts suggestions on where I stand legally very welcome!
Cheers and Happy New Year (someone may as well have one)
Discovery Driver.
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D Driver, I believe the trade tend to value imports (personal/parallel imports that is) at 10 to 15% less than UK sourced cars, therefore I would expect a minimum of a free warranty (as has been promised to you) and a cash refund of 10 to 15% of the purchase price which equates to £2700 and £4050...
Can anyone recommend a bodyshop in the Wokingham/Bracknell area of Berkshire?
I need some panel beating of a door. I've had mixed experiences with body-shops in the past, so I'm keen to find a well respected proper craftsman, as opposed to the high-volume, poor quality, and bad service of the big-boys.
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but it seems much more active in here than any of the other fora [sp?].
Thanks,
Fiestaman
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I had a Rover repaired under insurance at {an ex Ford dealers}body shop in Wokingham and it had to go back three times. Admittedly eventually it was OK, but given a choice I wouldn't rush back there. That could, however, have been a once off unlucky experience, and implies no generalisation about their abilities.
SWMBOs Focus has had a long scratch on the bonnet since I got it at Blackbushe, and my "little man" recommended a small place he uses locally. I oughtn't publish their number here, but mail me and I will send you it (email addy in profile). I didn't get the work done yet so can't comment on their capabilities.
'97 Fiesta 1.25 38500 miles developed a slightly lumpy tickover over the last few weeks. I'm sure most people wouldn't notice.
Worst when cold, barely, if at all, noticeable when warm.
Symptomatic perhaps of a partial "miss" e.g if some of HT tracking to earth?
As it's nearly due for plugs, I thought I'd stick some new ones in, followed by some new leads if this doen't help. (Ford ones)
Strangely enough, the car performs perfectly otherwise - accelerating and cruising without missing a beat!
Also, for the last 5 years, I've been running the car on Costco Chevron fully synth oil , changed every 3000 up until a few months ago when I thought I'd give the Ford stuff a try...
Any clues??
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An acquaintance had the coil pack partially fail on her 99 1.25, but the symptoms it gave were much more noticeable than the problems you've reported. It was also a very discrete change from working fine to continually miss-firing. Ditto a friend with a mondeo (same coil pack to my knowledge).
Another question I really should know the answer to...
How much attention is given to brakes during an MOT - do they just check that the car stops, or is there more to it?
I know mine are on the way to needing replacement but can't quite afford it at the moment, but the MOT is due on 16th Jan. Don't get me wrong, they do WORK... just that everyone else who drives my car says "god...your brakes!!".
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Unfair on Morris Minors!
From memory the footbrake must achieve 0.5g, and the parking brake 0.25g. Side to side balance must be within 10%.
These figures, as you say, are unchanged for many years, and very low. You would not be happy driving a car with brakes this poor. They are easily met by an unservoed drum brake set up in good condition. Last time I had the figures, my Minor could register about 0.85g for the footbrake. Ok, Minor brakes are not good by modern standards, but they are way above MOT minimum.
Regards
john S
Happy New Year to everyone.
I'm trying to do remote diagnosis on my Dad's Seat Cordoba TDi (90 hp), R plate with 50,000 miles. Driving today, he's got it stuck in third and can't disengage this gear.
Don't know if they are cable shift or linkage - anyone got any suggestions as to what to check? Read more
My council run wardens have a tendency to drive around looking for illegally parked cars to slap a ticket on - I suppose that this means that they can "do" more cars.
However they more often than not park on single and double yellows to issue their tickets. Is this "legal"? Read more
The point I was making was that the warden I saw was taking up a valuable pay and display bay. When the local council takes away something like 6000 spaces in the past year or so and replaces them with a fraction of spaces, parking is very, very, very tight.
And it isn't a Fiat Panda they have-nope, small MPV's for one warden. The old traffic wardens used motorcycles to get about, but the new comfy looking parking wardens have cars to go from one street to the next. The vehicles are not even marked-I wonder why?
HJ,
You have talked often about fuel quality, and especially supermarket grades.
Can you tell me whether when I see an Esso lorry pulling up at Asda's filling stations, and Texaco at Morrison's supermarket filling stations, are they delivering the same grade of fuel as that delivered to their own filling stations, or do the supermarkets buy an inferior grade? Read more
Arty,
Some of the major Supermarkets give you a coupon that gives a discount off each litre from their fuel station for a one off tankfull. The amount of discount is dependant on how much you spend in the store.
Safeways currently give up to 20p a litre(approx 25% off) if you spend a lot - I think £100. So if you have a 50 litre tank you can save £10.
I have not seen a scheme as you describe for the branded stations.
C
Just wondered if anybody in the B.R. uses Millers synthetic diesel engine oil,(they do an XFD and XF-PD hi-synthetic) and how well they found these products.???
As someone who is currently using Castrol SLX at over £10 per litre, Millers XFD is only £5.40 per litre inc VAT, which has got to be worth a try.
If there are any users of these products, I would be pleased to hear your opinions. Read more
When I had VW/Audi diesels I ran them on Millers without any problems at all. However, only did 100,000 miles in total so can't be dogmatic about how long the engine would last! Oil consumption was low. Also, VW dealer service foreman pointed out that the oils met the VW criteria (pre-PD) so was AOK for them to use my Millers at service time in substitute for their bulk oil (Castrol GTX I believe).
Browse
Hello.
Do you mean a rattle when you realease the peddle and press it quickly.
Does this engine have a timing chain.
Rattle from the lash of a chain.
Kind regards.
Martin Winters