December 2004
I have a Corsa which is exactly 2 years old ('52 plate) - how many miles should I do before getting the brake pads, drums, discs changed? Is there a Vauxhall standard? Is a Vauxhall dealer the best place to get this done if its needed? Read more
Hi,
I have a new shape vectra, coming up to 2 years old with 45k. Both front and rear pads have been changed and now the brakes are very spongy with excess pedal travel. If the pedal is pumped the travel decreases and bites nearer the top of the pedal movement. Its as if there is air in the system.
The car has been into a vauxhall dealer twice who say this is a characteristic of the new vectra. They have checked the whole braking system (so they say) and have found no problems.
Before the pads were changed the brakes were absolutely fine, i would go as far to say they were excellent.
Does anybody know how changing the pads can cause this problem.
Thanks
Dave
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I had the same problem (1997 vectra, brake pedal slowly sinking + spongy brakes) After trying all the things below (under Warranty ), Vauxhall changed the ABS MODULE & the problem vanished.
Several full system bleeds at 2 different dealers, new aftermarket pads, new OE factory pads, new master cylinder, new brake servo, new calipers.
Probably a sucker for punishment, but I really fancy a Daimler Double Six. The Series 3 Jag version and in addition to the overpriced S****ra of course.
Has anyone any experience of running or working on these?
Prices go from £300 to £15000 for a brilliant one, so the margin for getting it dramatically wrong seems massive. I have £10000 to spend. Checked out the South African Autotrader as the best UK dealer ones seem to come from SA and a few classic mags have bought other marques from there as they are rust free and cheap. Has anyone tried this? In the A Trader, the best ones are 9K tops inc shipping so there is a big saving.
Your chance to ridicule starts.......now!
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I had an XJ-S V12 a few years ago and while the effortless power is very relaxing you need to have your eyes open when you buy.
Check for wear in the suspension bushes and all over in the rear suspension, rust can be a killer all over these cars and the Lucas (Prince of Darkness) electrics can mean that mirrors, wipers, switches etc are unreliable. Check under all the carpets for evidence of leaks which lead to rust and the engines need to be checked for overheating and correct servicing. The aircon pump covers one of the spark plugs so often that one never gets changed! It takes a trained ear to tell if it's running on 10, 11 or 12 cylinders and most people can't tell with the performance either.
After an encounter with a pothole, I am getting a knock from the rear suspension as the left rear wheel goes over bumps in the road. Car is 1999 Mondeo hatch.
Bouncing the car to cause the knock, it is clear that the knocking noise occurs as the car rises back up after compression. Knock only happens when you bounce the car quite hard. Sounds like a fairly heavy metal-to-metal contact to me, the sort of noise I would expect from a badly worn balljoint, only there aren't any in the Mondeo rear suspension as far as I can see. I have had the car on ramps while the wife bounces the car and I can clearly hear the noise and feel it, especially near the hub area, but I can't see anything wrong. All the bushes look intact and the joints and bushes on the left side seem to have about the same amount of play as on the right side. Got me puzzled really.
The pothole was bad enough that the front wheel and tyre were damaged by the impact, at about 40mph. Rear wheel OK, but took a pretty hefty knock.
Any ideas from my brilliant description of the symptoms?
Thanks in advance
Andy Read more
Councils dont do road repairs.all they do is complain to contractors..A certain company was recently fined for not conforming to regs.even doing jobs that council new nothing of..
It is always worth the effort letting council know of these problems. As they pay contractors. which gives them greater clout..Too many complaints contractor losses contract
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Steve
Assuming that a Cat D vehicle has been properly repaired and reclassified as "damaged and repaired" after an Autolign (or similar) report, what are the downsides of buying one? I'm concerned about a) insurance costs and b) resale value and would be grateful for anyone's views. Read more
I've bought a few Cat D write offs but they've been in the bangernomics cost range so were cheap enough not to be able to lose too much on them.
one was a pug 309 GTI Goodwood that had been stolen and had the leather interior stolen, the cost of a new interior was too expensive so car written off, i bought the car, located an interior from a scrap yard and the car was good as new.
Second was a Rover Metro GTI that had someone had attempted to break into, cost from a bodyshop to repair damage was higher than the few hundred pounds the car was worth so again written off as a cat D but doing the work myself it made for a nice cheap little runaround.
I would not value the car based on parkers good book value as parkers are not as accurate values as Cap/Glass's. I would work off the poor value guide as due to it's unknown history it can never again be classed as good.
I'm hoping to be in a position to change my car in the spring and I am toying with the idea of a Volvo S60 2.0 T manual in S or SE spec.
The vehicle won't be new, probably Y/51/02 plate.
I've been a Ford Mondeo man for many years now so it's time for a change.
Can anyone who owns/drives or has any other knowledge of the S60 give me some input as to what to expect. I'm especially interested in service and parts costs as well as fuel consumption etc.
I've read HJ's thoughts but there are no 'bad' points listed.
The only things a trawl on the net have brought up is central locking and climate control problems.
Any input positive or negative welcomed.
PP
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Hey!
Fuel Consumption is dependent on your driving style. In london, allowing for your right foot to have the occasional spasm (i'm 23!) i can get it down to 20 or so! Currently i'm on motorways and fast A-Roads daily and @ about 80mph, i'm getting 28.8mpg quite easily!
With regards the suspension debate, i think it's worth mentioning that the seats are typically volvo, (in fact its their quality and comfort which makes them a bit bigger and so contributes to the lack of rear passenger space!) and so you never arrive somewhere drained, however firm your ride. I have 17" alloys and lowered suspension and think that the compromise is spot on. Yes, the ride is busy but it is still pliant. Other combinations i tryed were just the wrong side of "wallowy" imho.
The only other thing worth mentioning is that independent specialists are not that cheap! i had one with my previous S40 T4 and found him to be very good (and cheaper than a main dealer!) but more expensive than a mainstream (in my case vauxhall!)main dealer. The main reason is that everything on the car is synchronised to the ECU! From the auto-dimming mirror to the electric window panel, it all needs a software module to allow it to speak to the ECU! i tryed to replace the in-dash cd changer with my old mini-disc head unit and the dash lit up like a christmas tree, traction control wouldn't work and i couldn't centrally lock!
In 8000miles i have had not a single fault and i am absolutely chuffed! good luck!
Jose B
I've just noticed a strange occurence on my wife's 1999 Focus 1.8. A few mornings this week (nice cold,frosty starts!) the speedo and rev counter have both shot round to maximum, then gone back to normal.
The car starts fine, runs fine and instruments work ok. Is this a knonw quirk, a fault, the cold causing problems or a sign of something more sinister developing?
We've had the car 2 years and never seen this before. Read more
This happened to me a handful of times during my ownership of a '99 Focus 2.0 Ghia from Jun'01 to Feb'04. Certainly don't think it was related to a dying battery, but never did get to the root of the cause, since it happened infrequently and the car didn't seem to suffer any other ill-effects as a result.
I mentioned it to a Ford mechanic at one point but the only thing he could suggest was plugging the car in to check the ECU at a cost, so I said no thanks!
Basically, rather than spend a load of money trying to find the cause, I'd live with it!
I have Webroot Spysweeper installed on my computer, and it works fine except for one thing. When it informs me of an Alert, it indicates one more Alert than there actually is. For example, when I boot up it indicates one Alert when there is actually none. If I create an Alert situation (by adding a website to my list of favourites) it indicates two Alerts when (obviously) there is actually only one. I notified Webroot and they suggested that firstly I uninstall the software and then secondly that I start again from scratch and install a download of the software that they sent by e-mail. I did this but it has made no difference. I have informed Webroot of this but their promise of a reply in two days has not materialised.
Any suggestions, other than just ignoring this little idiosyncracy, given that in all other respects the software appears to be OK?
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature. Read more
I thought that at first Stuart but it wouldn't have installed originally would it if that were the case?
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Adam
This was posted on Alfaowner a week or so back by another forum member over there. To date there has been no definitive answer given. Would you erstwhile folks care to comment?
"I just got a fine through from Ealing Council for driving in a bus lane. Took me a while to figure out what that was for as I don't drive in bus lanes and get annoyed by people who do.
After a while I remembered. The road in question is a very wide road, with the left hand side painted red in a bus lane stylee. A car had stopped in the road, indicating right. Heavy oncoming traffic and he's not going anywhere, so I drove inside him, going onto the bus lane. I pulled back after I had gone around him, total distance travelled in bus lane was about 7 metres. The guy behind me does exactly the same, so he's probably got a fine too.
Surely that's not a reason to dole out fines, its not as if I was actually driving down the bus lane, just using it to manoever.
Anyway, if I want to protest I have to wait 28 days (in which time the fine goes up from £50 to £100) and it doesn't even tell me what the procedure is.
What do you think I should do? If I protest do I have a case? Does anyone know what the letter of the law is?
There are a couple of photos on the fine, they are taken by CCTV cameras rather than from a bus (I wouldn't have pulled into the bus lane is there was a bus coming, for exactly this reason). The first pictures shows me pulling into the bus lane, the second picture shows me pulling out of the bus lane, although 95% of the vehicle is actually in the lane. The pictures are taken 5 seconds apart."
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Pdc
Traffic Management Depart of your Local Authority/County Council.
Local Plod Station may let you see their copy if they are friendly.
DVD
I have a golf 1.8 which idles at 2000 rpm or above for a very long time, in cold weather it can be as long as 10 minutes. It will then return to a normal level quickly, 1000rpm, after hearing a click in engine compartment. The temp gauge looks normal, often the temp has to climb to half was before the revs return to a normal idle. Often the fan has clicked in at this point.
If the car is taken on to the motorway the temperature gauge looks normal but once you come off the motorway the revs are again 2000 rpm.
Does any one have an idea what could be causing this.
Thanks Al
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Depends on the engine and model but if fitted with the pierburg 2E2 this was noted for auto choke issues - which I think was the issue further up the thread. The autochoke uses a "waxstat" to adjust the chokeflaps and idle and I think there was a diaphragm somewhere in the gubbins (it's been a whie since I've been near a carb!) - the problem you will have is carb parts are rare now and many mechanics that knew how to rebuild/fettle carbs have retired! You can't plug a computer in to diagnose these!
Browse
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My last Vectra was still on the original pads and discs at 40,000 miles. Lots of stop start driving; it was an auto; and I'm also a late/heavy braker as well. Looking at the pads through the wheels, I would say that they were only about ½ worn.
I do remember the rapid wearing of the brakes on the Cavalier though. Used to get trough a set of front pads in 20-30,000 miles, and discs every 30-40,000 miles. Never had to change the rear ones though. Everytime it went in for a service, the report said there were approx 5,000 miles left on the rear pads. They had been telling me that for the last 40,000 miles or so.