May 2005
Hi all,
My brother has a Seat Ibiza, which is making a noise when he goes around a corner. He has been told it is his front differentials. What is the front differential - is it the same as a drive shaft? Will it need fixed asap, or can he leave it for a while and save some cash to get it done later?
Many Thanks
CMM Read more
My son is about to buy a Mondeo Y-plate Tddi. Does this have chain or belt-driven cam? If the latter what is the recommended mileage/age for replacement please? Many thanks. Read more
Thanks guys, very helpful (as always).
CG
Recent front brake pad change completed has resulted in the pad warning indication coming on, on the dashboard readout. Disconnected both leads one at a time to try and clear but made no difference. any ideas? Read more
Do you mean the message "Check Brake Pads" on the info display?
This is a sensor on any of the brakes which has been worn through.
Disconnecting the leads has the same effect of a worn sensor, so will not help, you would beed to short the pins in the plugs that go into the wheel arches, maybe you can put a bit of foil in the connectors and plug them back in?
If the warning comes on, you have to replace the sensor with the pads, as the sensors are use once only.
I have spent some time today searching round for a price for a mid box, rear box and new cat for a Laguna. I called most of the big name fast fit places and as soon as I mentioned the Cat there was a sharp intake of breath and then the silly quotes started, nearly £300. I always thought fast fit places were generally good value for money, today has changed my views (notice I said good value not cheap). I then called up a motor factors and can get the parts for less the £160 inc vat, my local friendly garage will fit them for £35, not a bad saving of £100 just by using a local garage. Was also amazed at how many did not want to quote unless they could see the car, even though I knew exactly what it needed, do they really think we are all that foolish!!! Even their tyres arent that cheap at the moment!!!! Read more
Well just an update - It didn't exactly fall off, but, I did start to get a grounching noise when it went round a left hand bend at about 10mph, I wondered whether it was the wheel bearing going as the fast fit place told me this was on it's way out. So I booked it into my local garage that I use quite often (as does the rest of the family) and they had a look, they found the exhaust heatsheild was loose and seemed to be causing the noise, they checked the bearings and said they were all fine. I'm glad I didn't take the fast fit place up on the offer of the wheel bearings for £90 - Not that I was going to - I trust my local garage far more then the fast fit.
Just as a final note, my local garage did NOT charge for tighting the heat shield or for investigating the noise - how many dealers would have done that!!! Might as well name the garage - if anyone is near Romsey Hants, then try Braishfield Garage, excellent service.
What does "posivist" mean, please?
The phrase is used in my wife's guidelines for a medical research proposal she is writing, but we have not a clue what it accurately means. (i.e. no guesswork or deduction as this is too risky)
It doesn't figure in any of our dictionaries at home, or any on line dictionaries that we can find on the web.
Googling for "what does posivist mean?" or simply "posivist" returns a few hits, none of which are even close to what my wife's work is about, and none of which give enough help to understand the true, accurate, meaning.
TVM!
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"I can see loads of stickers claiming 110-230V compatibility"
Did you miss this bit ??
>>The charger says 220 ~ 240
Yes.
My digital camera has rechargable batteries...
... if it wasn't so serious
[snip]
It is neither funny, nor particularly serious. What it does appear to be, however, is purely political.
Its gone and it should [will] stay gone.
Mark.
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Three days after my diesel mondeo had been in the garage to be emptied of petrol (silly boy!) the hose from the tank to the filter (the one used to pump out the tank) worked loose at the engine end and sprayed out £27 worth of diesel over about 4 miles. A lot went on my tarmac drive which has a hole in it now. I hold the garage liable, they disagree. Would I win in the small claims court? How often do fuel hoses work loose? (never in my experience - but what's yours?) After the nice AA man clicked it back properly it hasn't happened again.
All thoughts welcome.
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Two points:
On one hand the one time I had an injector reprogrammed on my TDCi the technician forgot to connect the return pipe, within a couple of miles I could smell diesel, approx half an egg cup had leaked onto the top of the engine, it smelt very strongly. therefore how you could not smell 27 quids worth is beyond me!!!
On the otherhand it seems to me to be too much of a coincidence that the pipe in quesion should work loose just after have had work done by a garage that would involve removing this pipe (are you sure that this is the case?) accordingly, even though your judgement can be questioned due to both filling up with petrol and subsequently not smelling the leaking diesel I don't think you should be further penalised for what, circumstantially at least, seems to be a mistake by the garage. Accordingly I suggest that you persue it.
Regards.
Finally picked up my 54 plate 2.2 Sri today. Very sad to wave the ZT goodbye as it disappeared up the road. The 19" alloys aren't as bad as I expected, I suppose the sports suspension and 18" wheels on the ZT prepared me.
The stereo is great, sat nav pretty good but the leather seats aren't a patch on the ZT. Most of all, I miss the noise and torque of the V6. Overall I'm happy with it and I actually think it's nicer to drive than my work 3.2. Doesn't bother me that it's got a Vauxhall badge. And I'm determined to keep it longer than my usual two years.......cough!! Read more
Sorry didn't mean it to sound lie a BMist remark....
Hello,
Was just wondering what you people would recommend as a first car...
Hope to be able to buy something for £3500 max in a few months (when I pass my test / still a few more pennies to save lol...)
Have been looking at:
VW Polo Year 2000 face-lift model.
Really nice looking cars IMO with a nice interior, good image, good reliability & strong residuals. Cheap insurance if I get the 1.0.
snipurl.com/en3c
Seat Ibiza Year 2000 face-lift model.
Based on the Polo so good build quality and strong residuals. Again would be the face-lift model which is nice to look at, with a sporty image. Similar high quality interior to the Polo. The only problem is that they all seem to be 1.4's so the insurance would be more expensive than the Polo (but not as expensive as a 1.4 Polo hmmm)
snipurl.com/en3g
VW Lupo Year 2000 / 2001
VW badge, nice build quality, almost identical dash to the Polo which is nice. Cheap insurance, and cheaper to buy than the Polo but perhaps a bit girly?
snipurl.com/en3i
Peugeot 206 Year 1999 / 2000
Nice looking car, but somehow the interior looks very inferior next to those of the VW group. Cheaper to buy, & nice to drive (except gear stick :))
snipurl.com/en3k
Have also thought about the 106/Saxo but I remain to be convinced!
I've been thinking about it for quite a while now and these seem to be the main models I'm considering. I?m quite image conscious (!) and want something which looks quite sporty but without being ?chavish? (I absolutely HATE the Burberry cap brigade with their modified cars?. saxo vtr anyone? if you know what I mean lol!?) Any mods I made to my car would be limited to a smart set of alloys and sports grill!
What do you all think of these cars as a first buy? Which would you pick? Any other recommendations? Would be great to hear your opinions.
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Thanks.
The Citroen BX 17 turbo has become increasingly difficult to start at lower temperatures and I have done considerable internet reseach on the different makers glow plug application charts and "equivalent items". All in attempt to find some cheap, but Branded, Ebay bargains. I have most of the summer to complete the task.
Different sites all give widely conflicting equivalence information. Since the engine is effectively an old design, does it really matter if the replacements are not identically specd provided the tip length, thread length, and diam are the same? and rated at 11v? The newer designs are generally for engines with post start heating, but if the power is removed once the engine is started does it matter? Some show a rated current of 15A (I think Haynes quotes - 11A as a guide for the OEM plugs) but presumably this just affects how quickly the tip will heat up, (and maintain temperature during starting phase). I appreciate that this is also affected by the tip design and thermal capacity etc. Presumably a lower rated plug could be used , if I manually allow an increased (ie double) preheat period?
I had a quick look at the Halfords application sheet today, and according to that, the Bosch Type 1 replaces a wide variety of different Champion items. Next time I am there I will write out the list. Beru appear to have change
How can a (reputable) manufacturers single type be so compatible?
The Bosch web site does not even list a Type1, and all other web sites list Bosch as having a 9 digit part number.
Beru appear to have replaced the old designation of nnnMJ with Bxnnn to cover a range of new technology products.
Am I missing something here, but why should there be so many marginally different glow plugs available that would appear to be able to do the same job? Can anybody find a reverse application sheet on the web? Some of the american sites are good but confine themselves to exotic american machinery.
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pmh (was peter)
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The Bosch Type 1 (Duraterm) is VERY versatile, for different vehicles it can be used where the following Champion Glow plugs are specified.
CH 63,65,68,87,137, 147,163,170,173,174,176,181,184,185,189 (all taken from the Halfords application list).
Does this mean that in a simple old style diesel, (ie no post start heating) ANY of of these plugs can be interchanged/used with satisfactory results?? Or is it just that the Bosch item meets the basic physical characteristics and exceeds the requirements of all of these items eg in terms of heat up time and the LCD in terms of current consumption? Hence examination of the charecteristics of each of the Champion Glow plugs is required.
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pmh (was peter)
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Hi All,
Great explanations and tips, far better than the google searches came up with!
Thankyou for your help!
cmm