June 2005
I just bought a "very clean" two and a half year old Rover 25, with a few nice extras, for just over £3000 from a good local dealer. Great deal I thought. The same car age-wise, from a nearby supermarket (NOT a "leg-breaker" finance place) was six grand. Why are people so mad? These places look very nice and they give you a cup of coffee, and the sales staff have nice smiles, but...
OK, I've heard that some places are cheap, but other places in the North are horrifically expensive. yet they thrive. Why? I think it's a shame.
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Carcraft in Leeds had a three year old MINI One with no extras for £13,600.
The same car brand new from a MINI dealer would have been nearer £12,000.
That, combined with the skin-crawlingly irritating salesmen make me wonder how they stay open.
-- Lee Having a Fabialous time.
I hit a speed hump (the tabled kind with entry and exit ramps) a bit too hard on Thursday. It was early morning with the sun shining straight at me, so I didn't see it until it was too late.
As a consequence I have cracked the sump
It is made of die cast alloy rather than pressed steel, which would have just dented, which I guess has shattered / split. It looks like I have just caught the back of the sump where the drain plug is.
Car has been recovered to the nearest Skoda dealer, as it is still under warrenty. They can't do the repair for two weeks as they are too busy. The nearest other dealer to them has recently burn't down, so they are rammed with work.
Dealer is quoting £200 - £300, with 1.3 hours of labour. Has this happened to anyone else with a similar VAG car? and can anyone give a definite cost (London labour rates)
I know that the Octavia rides very low, as does the Mk IV Golf which it is based on, and also that VAG sell steel underbelly's which replace the existing plastic cover. Is this a common problem???
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Over the last couple of years I've had to replace three VW caddy van sumps. The damage on all three was the same, the sump plug takes a knock and the sump cracks around the plug. On two of them the plastic undertray was ripped off, but on the last one the tray was intact and undamaged. Whatever hit it caused the damage by forcing the tray into the sump, the tray then returning - unmarked, to it's normal position. The VW parts delivery girl reckons she delivers a couple of sumps a week.
Thinking of getting some sat nav, a portable one. Has anyone any suggestions or good/bad points to consider about any of them out there, any good/bad shops or software?
I'm considering Go/Tom Tom, just because its been advertised recently. Possibly will go for something from halfords. AM also looking at getting a PDA with some kind of software, or even a phone (O2 XDA or other networks' equivalent...).
Any thoughts? Read more
I use Tom Tom Go and have just upgraded to latest map and software.
I like it - it will do 5 - 6 hours without recharging so no need for cables and wires most times and looks neat and tidy on the dash. To save battery it can be switched off on those parts of journey you do not need it.
Some built in sat nav I have heard of are rubbish but whilst Tom Tom is not absolutly perfect at times I find it very very good and handy - and ypou can move it from car to car.
You can have a version with camera warnings and with bluetooth you can link to your mobile. worth thinking about - for me I would not go with PDA unless I was doing a lot of walking or cycling.
an oil change is well overdue on my T5 that i am about to sell. Volvo will do the oil change when it goes in for a service in 3 weeks but i need to go down to norfolk a few times, so i'd like new oil in, you know how it is. anyway, i have purchased an oil filter but now need the oil - 5w-40 fully synthetic. During the last service volvo changed my oil and repalced it with 'Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40 fully synthetic'. I need 6 litres of the stuff but i am wondering wheather i need to buy the shell stuff or morris oil - i was wondering whether it would work the same as the shell oil or is there some difference, as the shell oil is so much more expensive!! Should i re-fil it with Shell or Morris oil? Any help is appreciated Read more
I have used their semi-synthetic oil for many years, wonderful stuff. You will have no problems using the fully syntrh from Morris' - a very well repected company that doesn't spend a fortune advertising. They have an excellent customer servce division too - email them your car details and they will email back their recommendations of which oil to use. Give it a try.
2001 Vectra. I have a slight weep from the low pressure pipe that runs across the radiator where the flexible pipe is crimped onto the solid pipe and have been quoted £250 to replace. Is there an alternative repair possible?
Chris M Read more
Thanks. I thought I was clutching at straws.
Chris M
I had an earlier post about oil levels and smoke in this car...
I have changed the oil and fuel filters and also replaced the oil.
Now my car wont start. I think it is an airlock. I have filled the fuel filter with diesel prior to fitting. The engine ran for a short while then started to labour before cutting out and now it wont start.
does this sound like an airlock and if so, how do i bleed it?
Ta Read more
I have had a few diesel's, latest is an AX 1.5d. You have air in your fuel system, and it needs to be bled free of air. I have had this several times and every time I have cleared the air from the system simply by continually churning the engine over on the starter,throttle to the floor,it does take some time and you need a good battery. When it does eventually start it fires intermitantly,just continue churning continuously.It will stop fireing,just continue churning.Do not stop turning the engine over until it runs continually. I know it takes forever, but all my diesels have 'self bled' this way.
Hiya,
Strange vibration/resonation noise only happens at lowish revs, quite specific though, once about 1200 ish and once about 1400 ish. Not related to loads as far as I can tell.
I've tried shorting out each of the plugs in turn and its still there. also have removed all belts with no change. I tried running with the timing belt cover off to see if there was any vibration in the belt. Its not there when cold though.
Any other ideas where to look? I know the exhaust vibrates a bit, but thats a different type of lower pitched rumble, this is higher pitched.
Oh, its also there when you dip the clutch.
Any ideas would be appreciated. Read more
Thanks for the suggestion Peter, I put the car up on stands and did as you said, unfortunately the noise is still there.
It sounds as though its coming from the front of the engine lower down, but I can't get anything to stop it even pulling out each plug lead in turn.
I've made a recording of it, in case that helps at all.
All I'm doing is gently raising and lowering the revs with the clutch depressed (not that it makes any difference clutch up or down), so there is minimal load on the engine.
www.pettaw.dsl.pipex.com/360noise.mp3
Mrs B has fallen in love with a secial edition Fiesta.
She started out with a budget of £4000, but this one is up for £5k, although they may come down slightly.
It is claimed to be a Fiesta "Black" and basically it is a three door 01/51, 1.25 in black with leather seats, e/w, a/c, Ford CD player(stainless steel finish), white instruments etc. and is very tidy with 31k miles on the clock.
The problem is that I can't find it anywhere in the guide books and even the salesman admits it isn't in Glass's. My instinct says that it not worth more than £4k, although the real value will be what someone is prepared to pay for it. My concern is that this may well be Mrs B!
Has anyone come across this model before and any ideas on how it should be priced would be most welcome. Read more
The Blakc was by far and away the most sought after old shape Fiesta, second only to the fab Zetec-S, in my expereince anyway, when we got one in it didn't last two minutes.
Great to drive and quite nice looking inside and out, hard to fault it really, although £5K sounds like the top end of the range for this model. If the car was nice enough then I suppose it could be worth it, at a push, especially if she isn't planning on selling anytime soon.
Blue
Please check to see if your V5 is the old type and not the new Registration Document.
DVLA have in the past been sending out the new document to those who had just renewed the Excise licence. Apparently there are a number that have slipped through the net and still have the old document that becomes non effective on 1st July.
If yours is still the old V5 then get it off to DVLA for a replacement with the new document.
dvd Read more
The DVLA should be sending them out regardless.
Not sure about that, system with sending it out after a response to the MVL reminder is presumably a rudimentary check on accuracy of the register. If new V5's were sent out to old addresses I'd guess some punters would complain.
You can please all of the public some of the time and some of the public all of the time...........
Browse
One could get caught out. Like claining one's been off-roading near Dawlish (where the mud is red) while the RAV4 is covered in brown stuff.
SS