May 2004
Hi,
1992 (J reg) Ford Escort
Ive got a problem with the air flow. everything seems to work fine - the fan blows, air comes out the front vents (into the car) and the lower (footwell) vents but not out the top (onto the windscreen)
Well that not strictly true, if you fiddle with the knob that directs the airflow to the respective vents you can get some air onto the windscreen - as long as the knob is inbetween the top and bottom air vent settings.
There is nothing at all if the knob points to the top vent alone - even with the fan on max.
Garage has recently taken the dash off the replace the heater matrix, but could not see anything out of the ordinary ie blockages.
It was doing it b4 the dash was taken off.
Has anyine else had similar probs, it takes ages to demist the windscreen!
Thanks,
Dave. Read more
It\'s late, I\'m bored and thought I\'d post this.
This is an interesting one. I was watching the TV before and that advert came on where the Nissan Sunny careers into that kid and it says \"If this car were travelling at 30mph, it would have stopped....here\"
Anyway, I can\'t say I\'d ever paid much attention to it but I noticed that the car was coming out of a thirty limit so the loweest limit it could be in would be a 40. We\'re told the car is travelling at 35. But that\'s 35 in (at least) a 40mph. Is that message on purpose or just accidental?
There is another suggestion - I\'m the most boring person on the universe to have picked up on it - not least to post a thread on it at 25 to midnight!!
Adam Read more
Had the most dangerous driving experience of my life this morning. I was on my way to work, in lane 3 of the M60, when I rubbed my eyes, as they were itching.
20 minutes earlier I had been preparing this evenings meal, a dish involving soy sauce, rice vinegar, spring onions and red and green chillies.
I hadn't washed my hands afterwards.
Straight away my eyes closed in a burning pain, and started to water. I couldn't open them, and I was aware of the fact I was doing 70 on a very busy stretch. It took what seemed to be an eternity to forcefully hold an eyelid open and regain vision. I managed to somehow pull onto the hard shoulder. god knows how I managed it.
definately the most brown trouser inducing experience I have ever had.
Read more
"definately the most brown trouser inducing experience I have ever had"
So much for the meal, now what about this scary incident? :-)
Any other owner of a Mazda 323 (model year 2001) experience a hiss from the steering when turning the wheel a few degrees once the car has warmed through?
Mazda UK has already replaced the steering rack and the power steering pump but the problem is still apparent.
Mazda UK now expresses it will not invesitgate the matter any further despite the car still being under the manaufacturer\'s warranty. Evidently, they claim, it is a characteristic of the 323\'s steering. Read more
Thank you all for your responses. I'm of the opinion that this isn't necessarily the power steering components. When the engine is hot as well, and without turning the steering wheel, revving the engine will also create the noise.... mmmm...any opinions welcome. Thanks!
Hi,
Suddenly our renault espace 2.2dt RXE (98R) 60,000 engine has failed. The engine rebuild specialist we have taken it to has inspected the engine and found major damage to the crankshaft (worn), thrust-washer bearing (failed), and parts of cylinder 4 have damaged the cylinder-head beyond repair (gone on a journey).
This would appear to be a gift from Renault design.
(I have read of similar incidents that appear to be difficult to get Renault to accept liability)
The clutch has been very soft for some weeks and has been \"drained/bled\" by the garage and that restored the \"ooh we have a clutch\" feeling for about a week - with the clutch rising after being depressed.
This would appear to be a gift from Renault design.
(I have read of similar incidents that have led to many plastic hydraulic cylinders being refit all solving but none resolving the problem)
I am persuing these issues with AA legal services and will keep you informed of progress.
Jonathan. Read more
Higgy,
I would think your clutch problem was the result of the crankshalf moving longitudinally. My boss had his leased Espace 2.2dt cambelt break at 60,000 miles!
I have been trying to track down a noise from (probably) the front wheels of my car. It is a rubbing noise, and hapens with each rotation of the wheel.
My mech's immediate thought was wheel bearing, so that was swpapped last week. No change, so today it went back to have teh removed one fitted to the other side. (There was no other indication that the bearing might be on it's way out).
However, while spinning the wheels while it was up on the ramps we noticed that the n/s front tyre had heavy wear on the inner side of the tread, and on closer inspection the inside of the rim is a little deformed.
We have moved it to the back to see if the noise changes/disappears.
However, are there companies that are able to correct non-round wheels, and is it likely to be a success, or would I do better to look for a replacement wheel? Read more
Like how they say
'which I removed from the boot of...'
Now, do we think its a car he owns, or a car he passed....
Whatever, at £5.50 who will complain :-p
I have been looking into trading my Scenic in for a new model, (6 months old used model) however conventional finance is too dear for me just now.
Dealer is trying to push me onto Selections saying that there are sweetners from renault and giving me the usual sales pitch. I must admit it sounds good but a couple of things make me wary
1. I would be getting a brand new car which I have always vowed not to do as I would suffer the depreciation, whereas I have seen 6 month old versions for £3000 less.
2. I always think of the old Ford "Options" scheme and various people whom I knew got bitten badly by them.
Is the Selections scheme basically the same as the old Options scheme? Anyone see any positives on the Selections? Any other thoughts?
I have all the facts and figures but I don't want to bore you with them just now, but could supply them later if reqd.
Any advice / feedback would be appreciated.
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Espada - Firstly, this only applies to credit agreements and not personal loans, cash advances on credit cards, etc.
You can walk away when you have paid 50% of the total credit price, which includes the interest. So, in your example, if there is £1,500 of interest involved over a three year finance deal, then the TCP is £16,500. Your monthly payments are £319.44. The deposit is taken into account in calculating your payment towards the TCP. Therefore, you will hit 50% of the TCP after 10 and a bit payments. However, if your £15k car is worth less than £8,250 after ten months, I would suggest that you probably should have bought something else; the provision really doesn't provide that much protection.
TheBox - cash is cheaper; it gives you more flexibility as to the source of the car and you're not paying interest. Cash for an old, unreliable and overpriced car may not be cheaper than a PCP - but cash for a reliable, competitively priced car (from a broker, auction, recently deceased neighbour, etc.) will always be.
Your PCP quote seems very competitive - I assume it means there is a £2k deposit allowance from the manufacturer and if you are getting a £2k discount on top of that then yes, in this case (exceptionally - as it is a way of shifting metal, rather than making extra money on a finance deal) then it's very competitive. Most PCPs aren't nearly as benign.
Bobby - if you have £2,500 of equity in your car, then if you go down the www.motorprovider.co.uk route you have £10,750 to fund. www.smartermotoring.com comes up with £216.32 over three years with the Car Purchase Plan and £325.99 as a straight up personal loan with no balloon. The dealer PCP deal isn't too bad though, all things cosidered.
Don't forget that in three years' time with A&L you'll have £4,300 to find to pay off the loan instead of £5,500, plus you'd have saved an extra tenner a month in the meantime. The total saving is therefore nearly £1,700. In that case, it might be worth talking to the broker about trade in.
My 1996 Audi A4 Avant got broken into at 4am Wednesday morning and as I heard/saw it happening I got up to sort it out. I called one company (who used to sponsor a Premiership footbal team) to see if they could help but as they had no glass I called one of the major breakdown services (who do not advertise on this site) to see if they could sort it out. They were helpful and said that they had no glass in stock but would come down and put some perspex in temporarily. They arrived at 6am and did a good job. I was expecting the glass to be fitted that day when the offices opened.
I called up yesterday morning and was told that the glass was out of stock but would arrive today. Of course it didn't and it is now booked in for tomorrow at 5.30pm, more than 60 hours since I first called. Is this a record? Of the 5 or 6 times that I have been broken into I have always had the glass replaced within a few hours.
I got bored with the breakdown service so called the football sponsors who said that they would call within 2 hours. Of course they didn't so am giving up on them and never going to use them again (as they have done this to me before).
As they charge over £200 to the insurance company, I think a better standard of service could be given. Or am I being unrealistic in expecting the glass to be replaced within a few hours (afterall an Audi A4 is not an out of the ordinary car!)?
Sorry for the winge but just really annoyed by the inconvenience (especially as I was wanting to go away tomorrow evening). Read more
i always thought perspex was not allowed to be used to replace glass even as a temperary measure,i replaced my vauxhall cheveete,s glass with perspex years ago ,on the way to have it replaced with glass,i got stopped by a really nice motorcycle cop and he told me about this,also just asked my mate,and he said no bs mark or kite mark then dont put it in ,and he also said the same about perspex,big no no he said loudly.on the subject of windows companies,football sponsors told me the same and that was with a 405windscreen,i found a certain 3 lettered car rescue company the best and cheapest at 110 quid inc vat and brillant quick service for my 405 ,i found them brillant.
Hello,
I have a VW Passat N reg (1996) 90bhp TDi.
It has recently developed a problem whereby if you stop the engine and then try to start it again a minute or two later it won't start.
The engine turns over but the glow plug light doesn't light up at all.
If you leave it for a few minutes then the glow plug light comes on and it starts perfectly.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Lee. Read more
Hi,
How do I reset the service light on an Audi A3. Read more
I'm trying to find out the same for my mk4 golf gti. I'm going to try as suggested in this link - www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=21...3
It's worth a go. Ill let you know.
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"With speeeeed cameras, particularly now that they are clearly marked..." What about temporary cameras, the type that stand on three-foot tripods? There are no warnings, no road markings and those I have seen have been unmanned. It seems there is no flash either, so I presume they are radar devices?