Wanted: Big, cheap estate, pickup, or similar, £1500 available,
must be able to get lots of stuff in it, reliability, economy
of running and maintenance important, image not important.

Any recommendations? Read more

Would appreciate likely diagnosis of the following please.

Last weekend in the heat, two hours from home on the motorway, noticed soaring temp guage followed by odd rattly noises from engine under load. 15 miles out from services, slowed to truck speed, put heater on hot/full blast. Heater very hot for a few minutes then no heat at all. 2 miles from services, dark smoke starts to appear from exhaust. Oil pressure light starts flickering just as we get to exit slip road. Bad news indeed thinks I, engine cuts out at top of slip road. Highways Agency towed us into service area. No coolant in system, radiator appears to have spontaneously disintegrated. Engine turns over but won't fire. RAC recovered vehicle to home address. I have not had a chance to look at it since, but I suspect the dreaded HGF. How likely is it that this engine is a write off? I know cylinder heads can crack or warp under these conditions.

With hindsight perhaps I should have stopped straight away, and I probably would have done had I been travelling by myself, but number one priority was to get 8 month pregnant wife to the services.

Thanks,
Ed. Read more

Hi,

I have a 2000 VW Bora 1.4 petrol. I'm experiencing a very strange vibration in the steering wheel. It happens when the engine is idling in traffic. The car needs to be well warmed up. For about 10-15 seconds the steering wheel will shake violently. Nothing I do will stop it once it starts. I can rev the engine, which sounds fine, or pump the clutch. It doesn't matter if I'm in or out of gear or on the hand or foot brakes.

Someone suggested the power steering fluid but there's plenty of it there. The only other opinion I've heard was there's something wrong with the timing belt but I'd always heard that by the time you think anything is wrong with it your engine is already an expensive door stop.

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Colm.
Read more

Either I am getting old or there seem to be far more people deliberately breaking the law (other than speeding) than in the past.
This morning I watched as someone drove straight through two sets of red lights on a roundabout.
Must be the third or fourth instance of ignoring red lights I've seen in the last fortnight.
Turning right on no right turn junctions is a daily occurance.
Mobile phone use whilst driving hasn't decreased since it became illegal.
Eating and drinking at the wheel is commonplace.
Overtaking on double white lines: daily.
Blocking yellow box junctions.
What is the World coming to?
Read more

This is probably an utterly dumb question, but could fellow backroomers enlighten me on the following.

I've had some rattle coming from underneath the car for some time, only happens at around 1000 rpm. When doing MOT (at the dealer's) I asked them to have a look. They diagnosed it as front pipe heat shield corrosion. They also said I could just use hose clamp to fix it.

Now, I had a poke around the exhaust pipe under the car. If I understand currectly, the heat shield in question is two half pipes that surround the exhaust pipe. If I slightly knock the shield with my hand or a spanner I can hear something vibrate with somme kind of rattle. However, these half pipes are actuaslly held with two clamps, and I don't see where it could be welded, thus, can't see possibly broken welds. So, I'm a bit lost. Maybe I'm looking at completely wrong thing ?

P.S. Cat is fine, and it doesn't rattle when knocking it slightly.

Thanks in advance

Kostic Read more