November 2004
Hi,
I have been advised after my cars service that it will shortly be needing a new exhaust, my question is how much is that likely to be for the part? It's a 1999 Renault Megane 1.6 Alize I have been very happy with the car I just need to know how much I need to be planning on spending - it sounds expensive!
Thank you for any help you can offer, thanks to Vanboy too for spreading the word about the site.
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The Blackpool illuminations thread has reminded me of something I find most odd.
I thought the people on TV driving around at night with the interior light(s) on was simply to aid the camera shot but have noticed quite a few drivers doing exactly this.
Surely this considerably reduces their ability to see out, although it could explain why they need their headlights and foglights on all the time? Read more
Funnily enough I had that very thought coming in this morning. I noticed a coach with the drivers cab brightly lit up. The driver looked as if he were sitting in a greenhouse surrounded by a ring of spotlights. It didn't stop him batting along an unlit road at 60 mph though.
Had an inch or so of horrible wet snow last night, then skies cleared so it froze to windscreen etc. Took a while to clear from mine and SWMBo's cars this morning but was amazed how many people were driving with obscured rear screens and even some with only a small aperture cleared on windscreen. What took the biscuit however was that I followed a car a few miles tonight, 20 hours after snow had stopped falling, whose rear screen was still completely covered in snow. Oh well, thought I, at least he/she will have door mirrors, but as I drew closer behaind I noticed that both door mirrors were still completely covered with frozen snow. Rearward vision must have been absolutely zero.
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Some people live chaotic lives. It wouldn't matter if their chaos stayed behind their front door, it would be entirely up to them. Unfortunately they now also drive.
Please help if you can,
Firstly sorry for the length of this but wanted to make sure I gave as much detail as possible.
I bought a 96P Vectra 2.0 16v gls in July in very good condition full service history 77k genuine mileage rac inspected etc.
All is well, until in October it starts guzzling coolant and overheating and I am told the headgasket or head is probably knackered. I take it in to an independant garage and they carryout the work part warranty (£400) and the rest (£500)I paid. It turns out there was a problem with the head and they had it repaired (welded I think)changed all the timing belt mechanism, did an oil change and coolant change and I am told it would be a long term fix.
Anyway all work done, no overheating, coolant levels fine and all was dandy.
I got in the car this morning and set off to work and got half way and the car just cuts out. The oil light kept flicking on and off just before it went. Anyway I get recovered from the brow of a hill on the busiest road into town and get a called later to be told that their initial assesment is that the engine has seized up, something to do with no oil getting to the top of the engine, however the oil level. They also said there was no anti-freeze in the system....mmmm I start to think back to the work that the original garage carried out.
I am now in a dilema, do I take the garages word that the engine has seized up?
Is there anyway this may be related to the work that the original garage carried out, which is guarenteed?
How much will it cost me and who do I get to check if it was anything to do with the original garage?
I am skint since paying out the £500 quid last time and the warranty has now expired. I know little about cars and am worried I'll just get fobbed off.
Please can anyone shed any light on the whole situation and point me in the right direction?
By the way this is the garages inital assesment they have not taken anything apart that I am aware of as they said they would have needed my authorisation to carry out a full diagnostic and that would cost me dearly, and if it turned out the engine was seized then it would cost best part of £2k to get sorted new engine and all.
{Garage name removed as it *could* have been thought of that you were naming/shaming them. DD, BR Moderator. Read more
I know I am a little out of touch with garage prices but £900 for a head gasket and head job seams very high. When a head gasket goes, and the car has a alloy head, the head should be skimmed at an engineering shop.This is because the head distorts and may blow the new gasket if not skimmed. This is probably the work that was done on the head. It is unlikely work done in July would cause a problem now. Most likely oil pump has failed. Just unlucky. Should check out price for re-con engines in Exchange and Mart etc.
Hi I have a 55K VW Passat 1.9Tdi PD. Is there a specified time for swapping your glow plugs or do you change when they fail? Read more
Not sure about the VW PD engine specifically, but I've owned various diesels and they don't specify a change interval for glow plugs. Just swap them out when you have trouble starting from cold.
With so much recently posted about diesel chip tuning, here goes with good old benzine, but first, some history.
When ordering our V70, I agonised over whether to go for 2.4T or T5. In the end, the decision came down in favour of the 2.4T because:
a) Having tried both, power delivery was far more usable in most circumstances.
(b) The best T5 deal that I could find was a hill of money more than the 2.4T SE with Dynaudio speaker premium sound system that I purchased in the Netherlands.
(c) The dealer price of a RICA chip that would give near T5 outright performance, and even stronger 2.4T characteristics was nowhere near the cost between an otherwise identically specced 2.4T and T5. Yes, dealer price, because the Dutch Volvo dealer even offered to chip the car ready for collection!
In the end, I decided to bed the car in as standard, and research the market properly, especially as the V70 has been purchased new with long term ownership in mind, not a three year chop.
Of course, as soon as we actually had the car, the Chief Financial Officer nicely 'forgot' about the desire for those extra ponies, and it was announced that "We don't need them" and "Because you now work from home most of the time, it'll take more years to recoup any small fuel savings, too" :-( All perfectly correct, of course!
Well, since then, I have done my research, and because really she is a very kind soul at heart, today came the nod to buy the Swedish BSR system I ultimately hankered after. This'll increase power from 200 ponies to just over 250, and torque from 285NM to 410NM, with reduced figures in lower gears where it would simply be wheelspun away. Cost is about £600, but I was "helped" by colleagues in Sweden who already have this modification, and have both had absolutely no problems with it or any powertrain component, and could vouch for the way it puts the already impressive 2.4T in to orbit. To my surprise, stock emissions figures are actually maintained or reduced throughout, too. That the software is loaded (and can be removed and modifed by internet download) from a handheld device via the OBDII port, gives nice flexibility.
For anyone interested, visit www.bsrab.se/products/n315/t494
A couple of videos are at www.bsrab.se/movies
Having started with SAAB and Volvo back in 1991, and helped tune the Koenigeggeggeggeggegg (or whatever JC wrote!), they now cover much of the the GM and VAG ranges, amongst others.
Roll on my next work visit to Sweden (as I'd rather collect), hopefully this side of Santas trip to England. :-) Assuming there is no change of mind from the CFO, I will report back later. Just hope I'm not going to be disappointed!
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I have recently tried to sell my car through ebay thinking that it was secure. Now not so sure. Would like to know what other users have found.
My bidder bid exactly my reserve price - no other bids near it. How did he know my reserve?
Putative buyer is in singapore. He sent an email offering to get his shipping agent to arrange payment with a cheque well in excess of bid - I was to clear his cheque and send balance. Clear case of money laundering. He also wanted to have my account details.
I reported the matter to the police who were not in the least surprised as they told me that they have a good number of ebay frauds/money laundering matters to deal with. I was astounded to hear this as I had always believed ebay to be safe enviroment.
Has anyone had similar experience? Read more
Thanks again - my account is now credited with the fee but would rather have known about these scams before I tried ebay. Would not have gone on it. Feel rather exposed now.
Does anyone have any good ideas for ebay to change their system? e.g. make all car sales UK bidders only (ie UK email and address and bank) unless seller specifically asks for international sale.
Thoughts?
Couldn't find this link elsewhere here : It's an amazing site with loads of Top Gear TV to watch. Not sure if this is part of the BBCs commitment to allow us all to watch whatever content we like, when we like, but this is a quality site.
Broadband would seem to be necessary however.
topgear.breedbandportal.kpn.com/Library.aspx#
Happy viewing!
--
Lee
Having a Fabialous time. Read more
Superb link Citroënian.Thanks for that.
I am looking to purchase a new gauge and wanted the model as recommended by H.J. in the FAQ`s
www.bmwland.co.uk/talker/viewtopic.php?t=10864
It would seem that this particular FAQ has now unfortunately been deleted, so was hoping somebody could enlighten me as to the best gauge to buy. Read more
I get excellent, reproducible results using an air compressor of the type that is powered from a cig. lighter socket, inflating to just above the required pressure as checked by a digital pressure gauge (both of these readily available these days), then dropping the pressure back to the exact required value.
Oz (as was)
Driving back from London earlier tonight in a lovely E240 Elegance my colleague remarked the old cliche 'the dash looks like Blackpool illuminations' and i'd have to agree. It felt very surreal and expensive with virtually everything lit up from the air vent thumbwheels to the steering wheel controls. Even controllable ambient lighting for the cabin no less! What a sheltered life i lead!
What's your views on dashboard lighting? I personally love it nice and bright and everything lit up. Never use the rheostat. The more back lighting used the more expensive the car feels?
Love the blue VW uses but can't help feeling disapointed at Ford with the Mondeo and Galaxy with the dim analogue clock which is virtually unreadable at night. Read more
If you own a Ford and have digital clock it's easy to convert from 24h to 12h format, just press hour and minute buttons together and hey presto!
I'm of course referring to the oval analogue clocks as fitted to Ka, Mondeo etc. They're just so badly designed and unreadable at night. My favourite clock is the one fitted to Maseratis, you know the one that Ford copied.
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I fitted a new back box on my Megane (1.6) a couple of years ago which involved chopping the original one in half. Apart from the awkwardness of sawing while lying of your back it wasn't that difficult. It seemed to go together OK, and never vibrated.
About a year ago the cat died after an HT coil gave up (unburnt fuel and all that) so the whole exhaust system needed replacing. My local garage did it, but the thing does sometimes vibrate (it hits the rear crossmember) if you drive roughly, particularly so with reversing. I have tried tweaking it a bit but only improves things a tad. I think the problem is with the two mounting points on the back-box where the rubbers attach to. If they were moved slightly around the box then the bend in the pipe will be a slightly better angle giving more clearance about the crossmember.
As a side issue, I removed the rear strut brace thing the sits just below the exhaust by the crossmember last night, and it was totally rusted away! Something I recommend others checking.