June 2005
With fuel prices as they are, why are there so few cars that can run on LPG? I know conversions are available on many but there are very few new cars that are bi-fuel. Read more
I am thinking of buying a Civic 1.8 Vti, they seem good value and offer decent performance.
Does anyone have any thoughts\experiences of the car?
comments much appreciated. Read more
Its a Honda - I would say go for it as No Dosh advises depending on age and service history.
Honda's are pretty much number one on anyones list for reliability and friendly dealers.
Not cheap if things go wrong but see how many threads you can find in technical which say My Hondas gone wrong.....
Here in Basingstoke cycle lanes have sprung up like weeds on a lawn. It is very rare to see a cyclist using on of them and the markings take up a fair percentage of road width which naturally puts oncoming traffic closer head to head....most cyclists here use the real cycle lane- known locally as the pavement. Read more
I would have thought that just about any brake should, on a clean but wet rim, be able to apply sufficient force to lock the wheel.
I have hydraulic disks though, and haven't used rim brakes in years.
Hi all
I have found an imported 968 in a light mettallic green imported by a garage from Japan. It is a '92 plate 3000cc 4 cylinder. Current Klms 80K, last recorded service 56K Klms.
I have owned the old 944 turbo 8 or so years ago and an 86 924S. I have always fancied a 968 but prices are silly for what are now 10 to 15 year old cars. This one seems a reasonable deal.
I will budget for a full service/fluid change and cambelt say £1000, anything else I should think about .
Any experience or pitfalls welcomed
Read more
Two issues come up regularly with 968s The first is pinion bearing failure, this needs a longish test drive and litening carefully for whine under load quiet while off load. I'm sure their was another problem but can't for the life of me remember it at the mo. Both are around £ 2,000 to fix though. I'd suggest a tarwl through Pistonheads & Titanic.
Jim
Been done to death but:
Last night I caught the last 10 mins of ITV news where there was an extended slot on Rover. In particular what went wrong, where all the money went etc. Quite interesting.
Part 2 is on Friday evening, if anyone's interested. Read more
And beware binge drinking abductors on the net they wil.............................................
The steering rack on my 51 reg 320D has just failed at 83k miles. Is this normal or should I be pushing for 100% payment from BMW for the parts? Total bill will be just over £1000 OUCH! Read more
BMW have got back to me and declined to make any goodwill gesture at all! I think this is very shortsighted as I will now avoid buying a BMW after my wife and I owning 6 in total.
In answer to everyone who kindly posted replies to my post it was a mechanical failure (you could hear a grinding noise and the steering was too stiff to move by turning the wheels on a ramp). I bought the car 2nd hand at 58k and it has always been serviced at the correct intervals and by a BMW dealer.
I shall be writing a strongly worded letter to BMW Customer Services and I will also e-mail What Car? and Trading Standards. I will keep you posted with BMW's response...
Not too many years ago, the regular answer to car buying queries was "what about the Seat?". If buyers were looking at a Galaxy for example, the Alhambra was better and so on with the Ibiza, Leon etc.
However, prompted by an article in Auto express, I realised that as far as I am aware, I have not yet seen a new Toledo or Altea on the road yet! I assume they still make the Ibiza, Cordoba etc but again, not seen many on the road that I can recollect.
Is it a case now that all the sensible money is going on Skodas? Very rarely does a thread pass here without someone recommending either a Fabia or Octavia as the answer.
Maybe once Skoda branch into MPV territory as well, then it might be very bad news for Seat? Read more
She's easily pleased then !
--
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.
I have been given an estaimate for my 5 year old 318 inspection 2 service plus repairs. My main concern is the steering vibration which has been put down to worn rubber bushes, BMW are reccomending complete change of wishbones as these can not be obtained separtely, is this true?
They are also recommending a change of the crankcase vetilation valve and hose to cure a slight vibrating idle speed.
They also recommending complete change of fan belt and a/c belt, they look fine to me but is it really required.
I live in the UAE, very hot and humid climate, car 5 years old 52,000 km's
Read more
Just sold the Omega on eBay this weekend - it must have been the most hassle free and quickest transaction I've ever had; The auction finished late on Sunday night and by the time I got around to checking my mail at around 7:30 on Monday
morning the winning bidder had already paid and he hadn't even seen the car! Came and picked the car up last night, less than 24hrs after the end of the auction.
As a certain CC company might say .......
"1 1994 Vauxhall Omega Elite 3.0 auto saloon with 120K, new MOT and 2 months tax - £1200. A hassle free sale with payment and collection within 24hrs, priceless."
Read more
Careful! BACS transactions, like credit & debit cards have an indemnity so can be recalled at any time after the transaction up to, I think, 6 months.
Arrange cash and meet at your local bank and get them to pay the cash into your account so the bank can verify the notes.
A lot of faffing about but better saf than sorry especially where a couple of grand is concerned!
Dave
I wondered if you'd be kind enough to look over a fault for me on a '98 A4 TDi? Many thanks in advance.
Symptom - No cooling, no cold air delivered to passenger cabin. AC has been strong in operation throughout the cars life. System has been in constant use during the winter. Not sure if the customer is capable of telling if it was indeed working during the colder months...so it could have been down for a while.
System swept, vacuumed and charged, 700g R134a - there was no loss of gas in the first instance.
Compressor clutch activates, engine note loads down slightly (indicating effort is being taken by the compressor). Condensor fan runs.
There is no temperature difference on either the high side or low side pipes - both remain at a static ambient temperature.
I have system pressure/ambient/cabin temperature readings on my desk at work, I'll post them to this thread as soon as I can.
I haven't fault-read the car yet, I know the HEVAC system reports to my scan tool. Might give that a try later today, but I think it's more a/c system related..
I suspect a system blockage or an internal compressor fault - what do you think?
--
groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words..... Read more
Just replace the orifice tube as well, they're only about a pound.
Certainly it needs a comp and accumulator, and it's your/your customer's call on the condensor. And if I were you, I would also take a look at the orifice tube again after a couple of weeks, just to be sure some more rubbish hasn't found it's way back there, ready to block the refrigerant (and oil) flow over the winter when he doesn' realise it isn't cooling any more.
I guess it's around about a £1000 mark to do a decent job, which isn't too bad considering just a compressor from the dealer is something like £650.
Just as a thought, are you sure it holds gas ok, before you go to the expense of fixing everything else?
Browse
Yes, I agree - it's basically the cost. I went to Poland (the 2nd largest user of LPG after Italy) and got a conversion for £400. The workmanship left alot to be desired though and we broke down in Germany. It cost £350 to rectify (with 1 night hotel + meal) the loose ECU earth connection; they 'tap into' the ECU. I'm glad it was Germany though because :
- ADAC (German AA) came quickly, said they couldn't fix it by the roadside and towed us to the Volvo garage for free!
- the Volvo garage were helpful but couldn't fix it and put us on a transporter to the auto electrician, but the cost was reasonble.
- the auto electrician were very methodical and found and recitified the fault in a couple of hours!
That is, all was done without the crap attitude and 3 weeks advanced booking we have here. I'm sure I would've been ripped off it was in the UK - "tut, tut, needs a new ECU mate ..."
In the summer I checked the workmanship and found that the new holes had no grommets or rust proofing etc.
I guess what I'm trying to say is why does it cost £400 in Poland and £1400+ in the UK for the same Italian equipment? Labour difference of £1000? Surely not - rip off Britain? Maybe