December 2004
A colleague is wanting to buy a 2nd hand small van for a new business venture. I can only think of the Renault Kangoo. Any other suggestions? His budget is around the £4000 mark and he wants something that is obviously reliable...not sure about Renault!
Regarding warranties, I understand that existing warranties can be transferred into the new owners name (?) but they only get the warranty that is left. For a 2nd hand vehicle whose warranty has run out, is it possible to get one from the dealer? (does this make sense?)
Any help appreciated.
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If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished Read more
outhouserag.typepad.com/outhouserag/files/ice_scraping.WMV
Andy :-)
{Note, I've made the link non-clickable, so you'll have to copy/paste it into your url address bar, remembering of course to put http:// in front of it.
ps, posting NON CLICKABLE links only applies to video clips. DD}
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Very amusing - but wouldn't you start the engine first and then do all the scraping? Bit silly really.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
Hi,
My V plate Mondeo is now the 'wrong' side of 100k miles (right for me though, love the depreciation :-)), and is due for a service within the next few months.
It currently has a full Ford service history, which I added to when I got the car in February by having the car serviced at my local Ford main dealers Rapid Fit. They charged me £80.
I was going to do the same again next time but wondered just what it was that needed doing, apparently the next service is £120 - other than nice new oil, is there really any point paying £120 on a car which, lets face it, is going to be pretty much worthless by the time I've finished with it? Is the Ford main dealer service history worth keeping?
I can't help thinking I'm just paying for nothing really and i'd be better off just changing the oil every 5k miles - coolant etc is the Ford 'long life' stuff that apparently never needs changing, it had new plugs at the last service, etc etc.
Hopefully, when I finish with my car, it will be at least 7-8 years old, and obviously will still be high mileage so will the FFSH even make any difference at resale time?
What do you chaps think? Read more
The most important thing to remember with the engines in the Mondeo is that only the 5W30 oil is used, you really don't want to use anything else, even the Ford own brand is quite cheap.
Oh, and I could be wrong, but I think the valve clearances are due for a check at 100,000 miles.
Blue
Three times recently, the information panel (Average speed, fuel consumption, journey time etc) on my year old Passat has gone blank.
Each time, it has re-appeared after stopping and restarting.
The Dealer, of course, has not heard of this before and says bring it in when it next goes blank. but the chances of this hapening when I'm in the right area are remote.
Has anyone experienced this and if so what was the problem?
I know it's covered by warranty but they are unlikely to change it unless they see it for themselves.
Any advice welcome Read more
I'm not aware of any rattle problems arising as a result of what they have done.
My dash, however, has creaked and groaned since the summer. I've squirted pretty much everything at it and even rammed a pair of old black socks between the dash and the windscreen to give me some relief.
Took them out only last week but it's as bad as ever one side I'm afraid.
Hello all,
Just a quick question to check whether my diagnosis of the cause of my overheating is correct, before i spend any money..
The car occasionally overheats causing the water to boil over out of the expansion tank, causing the low pressure light to come on.. like i said it is an intermittant problem, which leads me to the thermostat.. however i dont want to take it out, test it and put back in all to have to do it all over again, once i have the replacement if its def the cause, i can save some work and time?
any replies appreciated...!
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JH Read more
I ran the car up to temperature and observed what happened.. water (and coolant obviously) began to leak out of a mounting nut that holds what looks like a switch on top of the actual expansion tank.. as the pressure rose, the water began to build up in the recess and dribble down the side. The thermostat had opened, which means that can almost be ruled out.
However, i tried it again today and there was no leakage and no problems..
I may change the cap anyway as the expansion tank has boiled over a few times since i got the car over approx 18months and for a fiver, i may as well rule it out
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JH
Hi,
Am looking at going on holiday in the UK next year and would like to hire a MPV capable of carrying 4 adults and 2 small children (we have the car seats), plus all the luggage including double buggy (not small..)
2 questions:
1)The Sharan/Galaxy type of MPVs dont look large enough (I may be wrong), so I think I would be looking at Toyota Previa, Peugeot 807, Fiat Ulysee - can someone confirm/otherwise?
2) Does anyone know of a good Manchester based hire-company where I can specify the vehicle I want - I dont want to order what I think is going to be big enough and end up with a smaller one
thanks in advance
tombsy Read more
The shuttle / Caravelle comes HIGHLY recommended by me; I was in a similar situation last year, needing to rent an MPV when friends came to visit.
Read HJ's opinion and my report from the rental at www.honestjohn.co.uk/road_tests/index.htm?id=105
I rented from Target Van Hire at www.targetrental.co.uk/index.php?reDirFromSecure=1
The retail price (i.e. non-trade punters) was about £450 for a whole week.
I thought I knew my Highway Code regarding triangular and circular road signs but can anyone tell me if rectangular signs are obligatory or advisory?
A local hill has just developed a veritable forest of roadsigns including some rectangular signs saying "Maximum Speed 30 mph". These are part of a larger panel also containing triangular signs relating to gradient and bends.
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Whilst the UK is going to incrase the number of speed warning signs , the Netherlands is in the process of eliminating them altogether.
The new system in the Netherlands is ( unless otherwise indicated) : 2 parallel lines (broken or contineous) in the centre of the road is 80 km or 50 miles; a single line (broken or contineous) is 60 km or 40 miles: no centre line is 50 km or 30 miles. In a built-up area the speed is always 50 km or 30 miles, unless otherwise indicated....
My girlfriend's Fiesta is starting to deposit mayo on the inside of the filler cap and neck.
Now I've always been told that this means the head gasket's going, but how do I make sure that it isn't just condensation forming in the rocker box on cold mornings? Any other tell-tale signs for HGF, possibly more cast iron that the old mayo one?
Really don't want to lift the head in the middle of winter, so someone please offer me some alternative explanations...! Read more
High detergent oils like GTx are prone to this at this time of year. If you are not loosing coolant then it would appear to be fine. Remove and clean all vent pipes. Is the mayo on the cap or inside the rocker cover as well. Come back with oil type. A gas check is ok but you cap hace a water to oilway leak thus no gasses. Regards Peter
hi
i have a problem with a 306 d turbo R reg 1998
1.9 litre turbo diesel xud engine, regularly serviced, 78k miles, cam belt replaced at 70k.
when im driving the car hard (3500 rpm) or over 80 on the motorway occasionally there is a loud diesel clatter and the engine looses power for a second or so and there is a MASSIVE puff of black/blue smoke visible in the rear view mirror.
it isnt using any oil or water and there isnt any water in the oil or vice versa, fuel consumption seems no diferent from usual
other than that it starts and runs just fine no rattles or smoke (other than what i mentioned above). only that it just doesnt seemd to GO like it used to but im not sure whether thats just me
im thinking its maybe a fueling problem, ie kankered pump, worn/dribbling injectors or injection timing, or maybe it somthing more serious
please help, im fed up of driving slow and not being able to put my foot down on the motorway for fear its going to self destruct
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yes it is the lucas injection pump
have driven the car on the motorway today and it is
happening more often
what u described sounds very like my problem, is there a
way of telling for sure if it is the diaphram, ie.
fuel in the pipe leading to the intercooler?
how much will it cost to fix this if it is
the diaphram? can i do it myself? is it time for
a new pump?
You could run the engine, and while running disconnect pipe leading from intercooler to pump at intercooler end. Fuel will drip from the spiggot - that was how mine was diagnosed in front of me by diesel specilaist.
Do not think you could repair it yourself. The diaphram is not available separately, so new boost unit is needed. This involves pump removal and disassembly.
If I recall rightly it cost me about £350 including labour, but I took the opportunity of having cam belt done at same time as the pump was coming off anyway.
I was advised no need for new pump which would have been £700?
Now been ok for over 5 months.
Best advice is still to drop into your nearest diesel specialist.
Hope that helps.
As you all know from my profile I own 2 Mondeos, Now what i've noticed lately is my Diesel is warming up on the gauge twice as quickly than my V6. The same goes for the heater, it's definatly emitting heat twice as fast from cold. It's interesting to note though both gauges settle at exactly the same spot and stay there with no fluctuation anytime during the year. This is worrying me somewhat as i've read in some Mondeo sites that there's a known problem with water pumps on V6's so i'm worried this could be early signs of a problem. My V6 has done 63k and my Diesel has done 130k .
Anyone got any thoughts?
TIA. Read more
Try changing the thermostat anyway - it should not a big job, although I don``t know the Mondeo V6.
Some of the other replies on this thread suggest it might be the impeller on the water pump; that would surprise me - I never had that in 40 years, but suppose you learn a new one every day!
Good Luck!
AS
Browse
If you want a small automatic van you could always get a Nissan S-Cargo