November 2004
Hi all, a friend is current looking at 5 year-old (1999 S/T/V) RWD automatic with 100k on the clock, large saloon at £5-6,000 to replace his 10 year-old Scorpio. He has narrowed down to BMW 528iASE or Jaguar S-Type 3.0SE auto. Would anyone kindly comment on the
1) which is more reliable? i.e. less likely a need of parts
2) less likely to breakdown? i.e. more likely you will make your journey.
3) depreciation?
4) part prices? We got some prices from GSF & EuroCarParts for BMW but is there any source of parts for Jaguar?
5) Regular faults with either car?
Many thanks,
Garrison Read more
I have a Vouxhall Omega M reg 2.5 V6 cdx.
I have a dual heating controls which blow luke warm air even when it is on hot. I also hear a hissing (vacume controls air leaking) inside the dashboard behind the heater controls.
I have checked all vacume pipes and they are connected.
I have flushed the water system and checked the heater matrix...its not blocked.
Has anyone had this problem???? please help
Read more
At early o'clock today, whilst taking two friends to Stansted Airport, I was overtaken by a lowered, pitching over every bump, Honda Civic three door (the attractive curvaceous model, not the current horrible bug eyed bread van) going like the wind. 120, 130 MPH? Easy.
With main beam on, I saw him (Driver was indeed a 'he') coming a mile off, but when he went past, I saw that he had no rear lights on at all.
Several minutes up the road, we saw him parked on the hard shoulder with a Battenburg T5 in attendance, but what took our attention was that the rear lights were now working.
Bizarre Honda electrical gremlin, or some no-hoper thinking switching the rear lights off makes it more difficult to get a registration plate fix in the dark? Read more
A while back I saw a motor bike switch all lights off and turn off the wrong way up a one way street. Strange I thought untill a few seconds later a police car came along traveling rather fast. It hadn't seen them and went straight on.
I have an M-reg Mercedes 208D van (last one before the Sprinters)with a 2.3 litre 4-cyl diesel engine (engine code 601?). 120 k miles.
It has an intermittant knock/rattle which sounds like either a lazy tappet or lazy timing chain tensioner. The fault can occur when cold, part warmed-up or at normal temperature and can occur while at tick-over or mid range engine speeds (don't hear it at high engine speeds but that may just be due to the high general noise level). Fault lasts for a few minutes and then goes. Once clear, the engines sounds very sweet.
The engine suffered from a worn timing chain (typical timing chain slap sound) which I replaced (chain only) about 5k miles ago. The current fault started about 1k miles ago.
The engine otherwise runs very well. Starts at the first touch of the key (hot or cold), does not smoke and gives around 32mpg. It has an oil leak form the rhs of the head gasket which I am told is a common fault.
Does anyone have any experience of these engines or know of any common faults which might give these symptoms? Read more
The 410D's we used to run had noisy hydraulic tappets: a rev-related tapping which would disappear with a blip of the throttle. Very reliable though: two that did over 400,000 miles each with only a timing chain and a prop uj in addition to routine maintainence.
I hope the moderators will not mind this BBC link.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4012643.stm
People should beware when travelling to view a vehicle. Read more
"One of the robbers went out to the man's father waiting in the car, threatened him with a key"
Well, at least it wasn't a carrot!
I have recently aquired a Y (2000) Ford Mondeo 2.0 LX. It is letting in water. The spare well has 2 inches in it and the whole of the drivers side of the cars carpet is soaked.
I am assuming that the water is coming in either
1. Throught the rear headlight seal or
2. Throught the boot seal
any other thoughts ???
am I missing anything ?
many thx in advance Read more
I had a 1979 Marina - it was well named. Drain holes in the boot floor cured the severe flooding.
However the under floor steel fuel tank then rotted through.
The good old days.
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
Hi Folks,
I recently purchased a new Citroen Xsara. There was a problem with the paint finish on the bonnet and Citroen agreed to a respray for that panel.
Anyway, I have just got the car back and it looks ok in daylight but there are loads of 'swirl' marks to be seen in lamp light conditions. Its like as if they used a rough grade of sandpaper to sand it back and the tracks of the sanding can still be seen. This can also be seen on the top of the front wings where the paintwork was 'flashed' to get a paint colour match
Two Questions:
[1] Is it possible to do such a respray with no such 'swirl' marks?
[2] How noticeable should such marks be on the top of the front wings if a good job had been done?
Thanks
MPH Read more
Agree.
I have just collected the wife's Almera from the garage. The repairs they did - lets just say the respayed panels are the same colour and appearence as the rest of the car.
Hugo
We replaced a worn-out battery on our V reg 92,000 mile Galaxy 2.3 Ghia X last week, after which we noticed that the ABS warning light came on. We phoned our local Ford dealership who said that this could be as a result of having disconnected the battery, and that we should run the car for about 150 miles during which it might reset itself.
Well, 290 miles later and the warning light is still on. On the 'phone this morning we've been told it'll need a diagnostic test and, depending on the results, could cost up to £800 plus 5 hours' labour to fix!
I've had mixed experiences with this dealer (and are very protective over our family transport!) so would like to know if anyone else has had a similar problem and what was done to fix it? Read more
Check wheel speed sensors - visit www.fordgalaxy.org.uk for more free technical advice. Go on, you know it makes sense!
Can anyone point me in the direction of a good car veleter in the West Midlands, as the inside of my car needs a damn good clean and I dont want some cowboy out the yellow pages doing a bodge job. Read more
are non-clickable links to t h e-t i m e s/s u n d a y-t i m e s acceptable or are they banned totally ?
You may make reference to the times/sunday times as in "there was this article mentioned in the times", for example, but do not post the link - whether it's clickable or not.
Hi, my 406 hdi 2 litre has started to make an unusual noise.
it sounds as if the cam has gone ( like the old cortinas used to make )
it happened whilst driving to work today, so i have booked a couple of days off.
it definetly sounds like a top end noise,
how easy is it to work on these engines ?
can i take the cam cover off without disturbing the cylinder head?
i think it may be the hydralic valve lifters, how easy will it be to remove these?
thanks
Read more
Hi, the noise gets worse the hotter the engine gets, and its like a rthymic rattle/ knocking. To best describe it I would say that it reminds me of a pushrod motorbike engine that need the valves adjusting.
i will check the crankshaft pulley first, i know this sounds difficult but i dread having to remove the head / valves.
Is it true that I wont be able to get a reconditioned camshaft?
Browse
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Bore liner wear on BMW 6's of this age though my have been done under warranty which should be documented. Jag 3.0 V6 based on very reliable Ford chain cam 2.5 V6, no known common faults.