May 2004
Just been to the States for a week (my fi=rst visit there) and am now depressed at how little money you can pay for a top spec car! BMW X3 - $30,000, Lexus 300 $20,000, Honda Accords $17,000. These are ex tax, but do taxes add significantly to the price?
It was also interesting to see 'normal' European cars with not so common engines - plenty of W8 Passats and quite a few new style Audi A8s with the larger engines. Petrol is now $2 a gallon (!), but I can't see diesels becoming common - only saw one diesel car, an older MB E class! Read more
I have a Rover 416 auto (1997) and have a rubbing sound coming from the front wheels when braking....Im pretty sure its worn pads and maybe discs...Ive only ever changed pads on older cars and was wondering if its a difficult job to do for a relative novice in car maintenance, as this car has ABS etc, and I dont want to damage this and have no experience with it at all. The only reason Im asking is it seems a lot cheaper to buy the parts from the net, rather than going to Kwik Fit or a similiar place, and am unsure of the quality of the parts they use. Thanks in advance for any help. Read more
hi
just got a vtr privately, it was ok at 1st but now i cant stop the alarm unless i disconnect the battery, also theres a little red switch inside the car which says on/off, ive no idea what the switch is for but ive tryed it in both possisions and still it wont shut off.
it started when i unlocked the doors (remote locking) and i was looking through the glove box for a while, when i went to start the engine the alarm went off and still is now when i reconnect the battery
any ideas?? Read more
Are you sure the battery is in good nick? My Xantia alarm did the same thing - although it DIDN'T stop with the battery disconnected! Turned out to be an ailing battery (funny, it was only 9 years old.......) The alarms seem to detect a low level of power and think it's an attempt to steal the car.
On the other hand, it could be a fault with the central locking - maybe just a sticky solonoid / motor on a lock. The Xantia had a 'keyhole' under the bonnet where you could switch off the alarm completely - though again, not if the battery was flat!
Is the plip working properly? Maybe it's not 'disarming' the alarm as it should.
Is the car still not under manufacturer's warranty (3 years?)
Graeme
Our new 2004 CRV is great except for the lack of seat height adjustment on the passenger side. Is it possible to fit the drivers side seat base from a left hand drive version ? Read more
Hi Greenfield,
I am still checking to see if the company won the contract to make the new seats.
The company is:
Johnson Controls Automotive (UK) Ltd
10, Hedera Rd,North Moons Moat
Redditch Worcestershire
B98 9EY
Tel: 01527 507100
The best bet would be to phone up the Honda production manager and speak nicely!!!
Dear all;
Wonder if any of the BR intellect can help me get to the bottom of this/
My 1999 Mondeo has the battery light dimly lit. The problem first appeared ahen my wife was driving the car at night on the long m-way journey. She stopped and called the RAC, but (Sod's law) the problem had cured itself by the time the patrol arrived. He checked the battery, charge voltage and belts and reported all appeared well. The next day I checked battery voltage (12.2V?) charge voltage (14.4V at idle and when revved) and took the car for a 30 mile drive and no light was eveident. for 2 days no problem, but yesterday the dim light re-appeared and hasn't gone away since.
Charge voltage reads 14.2V (was it really 14.4V before?) with no load. With all lights, heated screens and a/c on, the voltage drops to just over 12.
The only other bit of possibly relevant info, is that I have just had the 2nd (white) socket fitted to the towber. No idea how this could cause the fault tho!
Hoping for some ideas!
Thanks
Andy Read more
OK I have re read your postings again and now realise you have a split charger. Disconnect the wire from the alternator to the relay and check that out. It is not a very good idea to use the charge light feed to drive the split charge relay anyway as the relay pulls 150 to 200 ma and the feed from the alternator is only designed to feed 40 ma. There are plenty of switched feeds to choose from if you want to leave it connected. Ideally this relay should be controlled by a solid state differential comparator that only turn the split charge relay on when the main battery if above 13.75 volts, but that is a different story. Regards Peter
Has anybody any experiences to report on the Toyota Prius or Honda IMA models? In particular, are the official fuel consumption figures actually achievable in real motoring? Read more
Thanks Si-Jay
I'm considering a Prius for my next car, so your experiences are most helpful. I'm not sure if I can justify it on cost grounds. It would take a few miles to recover the extra purchase cost, but I'd like to do a little bit for the environment.
Hi all,
Firstly, thank you to those of you who answered my last post, ( www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=21085 ) problem solved turned out to be the positive lead disconnected from the starter.
The next issue to tackle is the gearbox, serious problems changing gears especially 2nd, up or down (mostly up). 2nd gear does not engage on almost every attempt. Other gear changes are ok, but not what you\'d call smooth. Does it need replacing, or is there a simpler solution?
Second, when changing gears (all), the engine sort of gurgles. Any ideas? Could this be related to the other problem? A friend mentioned something about the engine mix being off, which can be adjusted by a simple tweak of something somewhere, could this be the cause?
As I mentioned before, I know NOTHING. Simple explanations in layman?s terms would be really helpful.
Thanks in advance.
D
Read more
No mech1 not yet, it will take me quite a lot longer to sort this one out. Thank you all for your help, at lesat I know where to start now. Will let you know how I get on indue course.
Am I the only one who doesn't like it? I do quite like the new, rounded headlights, but the rear treatment is all wrong. The rear lights remind me of the 968, for some reason, which I never liked, and the slightly raised air intake reminds me of the Chrysler Crossfire and Clarkson's squatting dog.
Worse (and I admit I haven't lookeed at a 911 interior for ages) there's something about the interior that reminds me of the Mark V Golf - which isn't bad for a £15k small hatch, but somehow doesn't seem nearly sporting enough for Porsche's drivers' car.
The performance seems fine (although 325 bhp doesn't really scream supercar like it used to!) and I'm sure the driving experience is wonderful, but it seems to have lost some of its character. I'm not saying that simply because it's more modern - I don't think it necessarily is, it's just that the detailing no longer seems as sharp.
Of course, I'm not about to buy one, but if I were... I'd probably wait for the new baby Aston instead. Read more
Try a C4S to deal with the beak, or a turbo if you're feeling rich. I thought it was still there on the 997.
My Punto 1.2 16v Sporting the aircon failed, at the service the garage said that it needed a new steel pipe from the Aircon Pump to the waffer, they said this is a Known fault, does any one else know of this failure 2002 car Read more
Warranty?
After watching brassed off britain on new cars (glad I don't have a citroen C3 :-) ) I was wondering what other people thought of having lemon laws over here ie if you new car gets returned to the dealer for the same fault 4 times without them fixing it then you are entitled to a refund or a replacement car of the same spec. You would also be entitled to a replacement vehicle if the car spent more than 30 days in the dealers for repairs within its first year.
I personally think that manufacturers could encourage dealers to fix problems sooner by not paying them for fixing the same fault more than twice. The dealer would then be responsible for fixing the car and the money would come out of their own pocket so the manufacturer would stop bank rolling them. Also manufacturers with a poor reputation in quality control would find their franchises disappearing pretty quickly.
Perhaps consumers should be provided with a list of serious faults on a car that would allow them to get an immediate refund so both sides would know where they stood?
teabelly Read more
Dealers lying about a purchaser's actual current legal rights don't exactly help matters. Yours and the sellers rights and obligations should be in the bumf you get when buying a new car. It should list all the reasons you can return the car and get a replacement/refund and all the reasons that would lead to you having to settle for a repair. Trading standards could easily do this now. All those C3s should have been replaced for a start! A neighbour has one and oddly enough she seems to stall it quite a lot.....
In theory the car supermarkets should be more willing to accept a car for return as they aren't beholden to the manufacturer.
teabelly
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On ABC world news about 6 months ago they had a report on car prices in Canada, seems they are cheaper than the US and lots of Americans were moaning about it. One motor company boss went on and said it was because the Canadians earn less.
Car delivery charges are quite high in the USA (delivery to dealer) so a headline figure might be quite a bit cheaper than an "on the road" price.