March 2004
How long can I expect the battery to last? It is just comming up on 4 years old the car starts no problem, but if it's not started for a couple of days it sounds if it is cranking a bit slow and the stop sign on the multi fuction display illuminates briefly. The car is a 2000 passat 115pd it has done around 48,000 miles.
Thanks in advance! Read more
I have had a spate of (slowish) punctures recently, caused by a variety of screws and panel pins.
Any advice, please on how to avoid them? How to treat them? Some tyre dealers seem to be happy to repair a tyre that has had Tyre Weld put into it, others won\'t touch the tyre and the response even varies from one fitter to another at the same depot.
The tyres are virtually brand new Michelins, the car is parked off-road and garaged, so I don\'t think vandelism is a factor. Is there a semi-permanent \"gunk\" that can be put in the tyre as a preventive?
Your comments would be appreciated.
Don drbe Read more
The tyre was repaired promptly, efficiently and at reasonable cost by
Feltham Tyre Service, The Causeway, Feltham, Middlesex. The staff were courteous
and friendly, what more can I say?
I have used them for many many years.
On the A312 quite close to Hatton Cross Tube station. Well known by Heathrow workers as doing a good job. I choose to do a 16 mile round trip to them for tracking. They would not track my old Sierra after setting it up in their dedicated tracking bay. "Get the track rod bushes changed and pop it back and then we will sort it." No charge for the check. With TV, free drinks, a clean waiting room and viewing window for tracking bay they are serious about service. Over the years they have regularly replaced the tracking kit.
Last month there was an Audi TT there on stands sans wheels. I think the owner was off on a trip. Having the wheels refurbished was subsidised by not paying cost of parking the car in an airport carpark. Now there is a good ruse.
Hi
I've a 95' Rover 214i. Not so long ago i was getting about 230 miles from a full tank (£30) around town. This has recently dropped to about 150. I've had a mechanic check for leaks but nothing is showing and he reckoned the car is just showing it's age. Any other ideas?
Cheers
Mark Read more
I would suggest you get exhaust emissions checked to see if the engine is running an excessively rich mixture.The system is not adjustable,but plug in diagnostics may show a cause.(First step ,check air filter not blocked)
Can anyone advise how to re-set the service light on the above WITHOUT having to fork out 300-quid on a device? I'm convinced it must be possible, by perhaps shorting out the relevant pins on the diagnostic socket(?). But which ones??? Read more
Sorry for the confusion. I mean the InSP light
Grateful for any advice.
In that case it\'s mentioned in the web link that I posted yesterday.
We had a close call yesterday on the M74...
We had just set off from Carlisle yesterday at the height of the Force 10 gale, on our way up to Edinburgh for some pre-match boozing (sadly without a trip to the match however!!).
Just north of Gretna, a 3 foot x 3 foot piece of lorry roof (ie fibreglass) came sailing through the air out of nowhere like a frisbee and bounced off the windscreen of the Galaxy.
What a shock that was!! Having swerved across the motorway onto the hardshoulder, it fortunately turned out that the fibreglass sheet first made contact with the radiator grille, rather than the windscreen, hence the radiator grille took most of the force of the impact, rather than the windscreen and myself and 5 passengers!!
I am now short of a radiator grille, but the radiator and bonnet are somehow intact - the radiator having a few bent fins and the bonnet apparently unmarked. The undies came out of it fairly unscathed as well!!!
No doubt I will get a painfull suprise when I enquire as to the cost of a new grille in the morning!!
I must be cursed however, as I've seen four serious traffic accidents in just over 200 miles of driving this weeekend:
1) Saturday: 3.5T lorry overturned on M74 southbound
2) Saturday: BMW aquaplaned and hit central reserve on M74 before spinning into middle of carriageway
3) Saturday: (the worst one) Honda Accord on M80 near Falkirk had aquaplaned at high speed, missed an overbridge, gone up the embankment, rolled several times, hit trees and returned to the carriageway. The driver was being worked on by Paramedics having been removed from what was left of his car with the aid of the Jaws of Life. How he/she survived is incredible.
4) Sunday: Mercedes lost it and flew off M74 and landed in a field. I saw that one happen and almost ended up as part of the subsequent accident which unfolded in front of me involving cars trying to avoid the Merc.
I think I need to stay off the road at weekends - it's safer during the week!!! Read more
Glad to hear you're ok - albeit shaken not stirred.
I was a passenger in a car once when a large pallet came 'unattached' from a truck ahead of us. It bounced on the road, and up about 10 ft, passing over the car (or rather the car passing uder it!). Pretty horrifying, really!
I recently bought a Sierra 1.8 t/diesel,M.O.T'd it and parked in my garden for a month.It now has no power and chucks out loads of dark grey smoke.When I got it it went like a rocket,the only thing I did to the engine was Gunk it and hose it down.It has the CAV pump,I have checked the timing of the belt for this and for the cam.The only clue I have is that it seems to be O.K.for a couple of minutes after a cold start,so is it the cold start staying on?My knowledge of diesels is limited and the Haynes is not good.Any suggestions appreciated as this has got me stumped,as well as annoyed. Read more
The clue might be in that you hosed the engine down. I had exactly the same with a Rover 75 diesel. Gunked then washed the engine down, it ran OK for a bit then died. I never really found out why but I disconnected every electric plug, socket and connection under the bonnet, some were actually dripping water. I dried them all out with a hair dryer and the engine eventually ran OK.
Worth a try!
Hi all,
should be a breeze for the knowledge available here - does anyone know when Renault are replacing the current Laguna (Laguna II) ?
A friend has a current model and is thinking of replacing it with a brand new one, would be useful to know when the new one is coming out as I'd imagine that wouldn't help the values of the current models!
Thanks in advance,
Lee
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Lee
MINI adventure in progress Read more
Thanks RF,
much appreciated.
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Lee
MINI adventure in progress
Does anyone know where the relay for the wipers are in a peugeot 406 hdi
Also how hard would it be to change the wiper motor
Anyone any ideas what would cause them to stop without warning
all fuses have been checked and are ok
Read more
No specific knowledge of 406, but the wiper delay relay is the most likely culprit. On my Peugeot it is blue and is in the interior fuse box. You could dismantle and reset the contacts, but your best bet is a VW/Hella relay (black) with the same pinout, from a scrapyard. The more recent French delay relays have inadequate contacts, and the normally closed contact in the relay has to be operative to allow normal (non-intermittent) operation of the wipers. Eliminate this before you disturb the motor.
659.
Am I correct in thinking that speed limit signs shown in a rectangular box with a black border are not mandatory? They are often found at the approach to fairly severe motorway bends. Other examples can be found on the A55 tunnels in North Wales, especially the Conwy tunnel. These signs are not shown in the Highway Code. Read more
I suspect most advisory 'safe speed' limits are aimed at HGVs and other large vehicles, rather than cars?
A work mate of mine is having grief with his N reg 620 Ti.
Once it has warmed up (but sometimes whilst it is still cold) it will miss fire badley once it gets above 3500RMP (just as it is coming onto boost). It pops and bangs and once you change up it runs on three until it has cleared the unburnt petrol so it is definatly and electrical cut out.
Things all ready changed
Actuator pipe
plugs, leads, dizzy cap and rotor arm
coil
He has even tried removing the outlet pipe from the turbo, but it still does it. It will do it consitantly evan in neutral.
The car is standard apart from a stainless exhaust. He has run out of ideas (and fast running out of cash!) but does have another mate with a Ti who he can swap most bits with to eliminate them as the cause.
Any ideas? Read more
Mind you, it would be nice if they could report back on their "progress"
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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Oh that sounds a bit like the BATT-AID sp? tablets you could yet years ago. They used to 'perk up' old truck batteries we used as leisure batteries.