July 2005
Drove my sisters C3 for the first time today, just parking it in the driveway. When I turned the steering wheel there was a slight clunk as if the column was hitting against something.
Does anyone know if this is a "characteristic" of the car or whether its something I should suggest she look into? Read more
Had a frantic phone call from the daughter today engine management light came on and the car sounded rough with lack of power.
Of course she was miles away and on a motorway. Friendly AA guy diagnosed a possible burnt out valve due to lack of compresion on no 3 cylinder.
Car is 2002 1.4 8 valve 75 BHP unit so guess head needs to come off for inspection and replacemnet of valve (s) car has done 54K.
My question is what causes a valve to burn out, I assume valve clearance if too small can do anything else I need to be aware of.
No idea what this is going to cost to repair do you ?
Thanks
David Read more
The Haynes manual states that their is a drain plug for the cooling system on the cylinder block, where is it located?
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I'm away from the 106 manual at present so am unable to look myself, but knowing the way modern Haynes manuals are set out (rather poorly and printed on newspaper) then there's likely a picture in another section, such as 'coolant system' or 'engine' rather than in the servicing guides they like to put in the front/back.
Failing that, Just disconnect the bottom hose on the radiator. It'll drain a lot quicker then :-). Oh and don't forget to follow the bleeding procedure afterwards, as I think there is one, and there's too many horror stories on here not to.
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Mike Farrow
It appears that Manufacturer`s diagnostic checks have now become far more sophisticated and able to detect whether a tuning box has been fitted and then removed prior to service.
This could have costly implications for anybody trying to claim against mechanical failure whilst still under warranty. Read more
Was it your E60 530D's turbo that failed?
I thought you would have been to Hawaii with all the other hacks.... Read more
& you'd have thought that Mazda would have promoted the competition, to win the chance to go there, for the launch, too!
It was open to all & sundry, but only if you chose to visit the Mazda site - they didn't even mail existing newish Mx5 customers, 'till AFTER the competition had closed(ask Mrs V!!)
At least we can all pre-order one, if we want!!
VB
Does anyone have anymore details of this
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4669299.stm
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I read often, only post occasionally Read more
Seems a little unlikely; I thought that SAIC had claimed the rights to manufacture the MG TF and the 75 (and the 25?). I also cannot see why a Chinese company would want to resume Rover manufacturing in the UK; it must be cheaper for them to ship the line to China and build the cars there. It may be beneficial to retain the engine manufacturing in the UK however.....
I see Clarkson has been road testing the Vauxhall Monaro so enthusiastically that he is left with two dislocated lumber discs and been advised to stop driving until he is fully recovered.!!!! Read more
and I thought I was the ONLY one with disc problems..........
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pmh (was peter)
Hi all,
Although not posted for some time, some of you may remember that I own a 2001 Saab 9.3 TiD which has now got in excess of 50,000 miles under its wheels. It has behaved almost impeccably but I am surprised that owning one has not engendered any brand affinity in me as appears to be often the case with others.
No reason to become disenchanted with the Saab really but I was intending to change next year anyway, but travelling about the other day, I saw an unmarked Alfa 156 1.9 Diesel saloon(nice metallic silver) with 22k miles outside a VW dealer. On Tuesday it was priced at £9999 but on wed was down to £8999.
Not being able to resist, called in and the salesman explained that it had been traded in against a new Golf GTi and was parked away from their extensive VW 2nd hand stock to promote brand consistency and had been reduced to effect a quick sale.
Now, I have read 'Car by car breakdown' (no pun intended) and have also visited the owner's 156 website and have read some of the horror stories about both this car's inherent faults and also the dealer network. I am aware that this model has now been discontinued but still the urge and romantic idyllic thought about owning an Alfa exist.
Could any honourable members in this community please advise whether this price is about right and of any experiences (good or bad) which they have had with this make and model. What would you do ?
Any comments would be appreciated
Thanks,
AI
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Live life. I aim to own an Alfa at some point just for the fun of it. It's a fun car - they're beautiful cars, some might say the problems would be worth it. You need Al on this one I think.
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Adam
Why, when VW and Audi cars are supposed to have good "build quality" do these manufacturers appear near the bottom of recent reliability tables? Read more
is it still possible to do a voluntary termination of hp on a vehicle, have paid just over 50% and was wondering if this can still be done.
thanks to anyone in the know
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Sorry, but your numbers don't add up.
If your monthly payment is £554.38 and there are 60 payments then the payments alone are £33,262.80. The total credit price, with your deposit, is £36,862.80.
I can only conlcude that there is some kind of payment protection insurance involved and that is why the outstanding amount is so high and that therefore, assuming you do owe £14k, you may not be able to escape this finance agreement completely as you could still have approximately £2k of payment protection outstanding. If you have made 30 payments then you are now past the half way stage of course, but the PPI is not taken into account by the handback calculations. (Actually, perhaps the APR isn't 9.8% - perhaps it's 9.8% flat rate finance and an APR of ~18.5%, which would explain the payments).
You are right that you can't sell the car with finance owing on it. If the buyer is willing to make out a cheque to the finance company for the balance owing, and the remainder to you, that is one solution, but the easiest solution is for you to borrow cash to pay off the finance agreement and then use the cash from the sale towards the new car. Obviously this is not necessary if you do owe more than the car is worth.
Browse
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Valve clearance too small, running lean possibly an air leak on the inlet side somewhere. Could be a few other things, sticking valve, bent valve, hole in piston etc. The only way to find out really is to have the head off. A leakdown test could indicate the area with the head on, but it would probably have to come off for the repair anyway.
Martin