How bad does a coolant leakage have to be before it warrants rectification?

The leakage on my car is not sufficient for me to notice a drop in the level in the header tank in the 4 months that I have had the car, but there is definitely an ongoing leak. I've cleaned away the pink antifreeze-coloured residue several times and it always reappears. Sometimes I can see wetness, but it is never sufficient to drip onto the garage floor. The car is still under warranty, but I know that coolant leaks at gaskets are often difficult to cure, and I wouldn't want any attempted rectification work to make the leak worse. I imagine that if the coolant had been plain water I wouldn't have spotted the leak, but dried bright pink antifreeze is a dead giveaway.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature. Read more

SWMBO has had to call out the breakdown services today.
She left her lights on in her Honda CRV and flattened the battery. Stupidly it does not have a lights on warning buzzer.

She was parked on a hill and _could_ have bump started it - but she did not know how, as she has not had an auto before.

It got me thinking. We have all had the ignition on, rolled down a hill in neutral, then popped it in to third. Hey presto! your manual car has started. (If it was a diesel it would keep going without any electrics at all day like this.....)

Anyway, how do you bump start an auto ?
I can't think.... Read more

Hi All,

Friend of my Dad's is looking to sell his ex-company Volvo V70 D5 Estate SE 2002 '02' reg - it's done 100K with FVSH. It has the winter pack, cd, leather etc etc. Any idea what it might be worth as a private sale or as trade in at a dealership (r if there are any dealership's that might be intereted in this vehicle?)

many thanks in advance for any help.

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There's some things in life you know your not meant to say, but you say them anyway, and they later come back to haunt you. For example, 2 weeks ago, we were at Uni, and I reminded my mates how funny it was when someone got stuck in this very lift we were walking into. Well, you wont need two guesses as to what happened that day!

Likewise, on Sunday, I was talking to a friend via MSN Messenger. It turned out he had a bump on his way home (actually, he bumped into his girlfriends car, luckily) and his car was damaged as a result. He was disappointed at how damaged his car was, to which I explained that damage would happen to any car really. "nah" he said "not to your car its indestructible". "Well lets hope I don?t find out"........

Just about to leave for Uni on Monday morning, and bing bong, goes the door bell. I goes to the door to find a woman running down the path, and upon opening the door, she swung around and said: "eehhh, I?m so sorry mister, i've hit ya car!" I went out to have a look, and as I was coming down the path, she was saying "I think I?ve come off worse"


Upon getting outside, she had her car parked about three foot off the back of mine. She was clutching her Peugeot badge saying "I feel so guilty, I?m so sorry, I turned but nowt happened" and she was shaking like a leaf, obviously very shaken by the whole experience. But when I looked at mine, I wanted to cry! My poor little car. "its just the bumper" she said.

"Er no" said I "its more than just a bumper, you have rippled the side panel? So, to cut a long story short, she gave me some of her details, and she left. But for some unknown reason, I let her go, even though she had only supplied her first name and mobile number. How stupid. So I rang her straight back and explained that I?ll need ALL her details, and she said she would come right around. But she didn?t. I Texted her, and she said she would ring at 5. But she didn?t. So I rang the mobile number again. No answer. So I rang the home number she supplied during the last text message. ? sorry, no ****** at this address?

Great. She gave phoney details. By this point I was obviously very angry with myself for being so stupid. So I called the police and the insurance company with what little details I had.

It turns out, she had left her mobile, with all my details on it, at work, so she had no way of contacting me. We are now communicating again, and I have all her details. When she rang back yesterday, she was so nervous, she was rambling ?please don?t shout, you wont shout at me will you??

Looking at the damage to the car, she?s hit it quite hard. She managed to punt the car 4 foot up the road, empty the coins out the cubby holes and remove the handbooks from the shelf below the glove box! The damage is bad, but it could have been worse, as it appears she?s hit the car at its strongest point at the back. That is, the areas directly below the drivers side, rear light cluster. No lights or glass was broken, in fact, not even a scuff! She?s moved that lower corner of the car about 3 inches into the boot space, but the boot floor aint damaged. The drivers door is now a bit snug and the rear wheel arch has an outward kink in it

I?m going to get quotes for a professional repair tomorrow and on Saturday. But if its too much, then she said she would go through her insurance company, which will probably write it off! I?m gutted. I?ve just spent a load of money getting it perfect, and this happens.

I can only console myself with the fact that no-one was hurt, and at least she came back, and didn?t drive off.

Sorry this is a bit long.
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Hi,

Looking for a bit of advice here - I am thinking of buying an older (4+ years) A8, as we are moving house and my journey to work will be 15 miles along the motorway. I have always liked them, but wondered if anybody has any experience of them?

I have owned Audis before and always found them to be pretty reliable, but a lot of the A8's are high mileage - shoul dthis bother me? Read more