July 2005

Question Oil hungry Almera

Chicken Madras on 29 July 2005

SWMBO has a September '04 1.8 Almera automatic. Whilst filling up the washer fluid bottle tonight, I thought I'd check the oil level. It was well below the lower limit on the dipstick. As the car has only done around 6,000 miles since new, I was rather surprised.

Of course we'll take it to the local dealer tomorrow to have it taken care of but I was surprised that it has used so much oil. In fairness, I didn't check the oil level when she took delivery of the car, but is the 1.8 Nissan engine noted for its oil lust?

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Chicken Madras on 1 August 2005

DD, Roberson,

Thanks for your replies. I hadn't realised that the oil light monitors oil pressure and not level.

I think it's about time that I taught SWMBO's eldest how to open a car's bonnet and check the oil, the water level, the washer fluid level, the tyre pressures etc...

All the best,
CM

Question Autoboxes

Vollyone on 29 July 2005

Which autoboxes are the most reliable at high milages please.
I am thinking more of medium range secondhand cars than say Mercedes or Lexus level. At the moment I have a 1993 Volvo 440 1.8
Thanks. Read more

thallium81 on 30 July 2005

Ah, I've just remembered, the petrol models had a different set up with,I think an overdrive operated by a button on the gear shift.

Question Audi A3 98 Standard Stereo confusion

Tmack on 29 July 2005

Does anyone know how to turn off the traffic announcements from interupting tape playing or listening to other radio stations...its driving me insane. I've pressed literally every button in there but just keeps on coming...!

Also I'm trying to manually program in a channel on the radio but it just doesnt want to save as the frequency seems weak...any pointers.
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JohnM{P} on 30 July 2005

If it is like a '97 VW Gamma unit, once you have pushed the TP button, the traffic announcements remain set until you change waveband; try going to AM then back to FM.
If that works, try saving your station when the TP is set off.

(also, you could see:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=13...8
for further ideas)

Forum Honesty of private sellers...

Miller on 29 July 2005

I have only ever purchased a car once from a private seller, my first car back in 93, it turned out to be a write off and I lost out (the stupidity of youth).

The only other time I considered buying privately was about five years ago, put down a deposit on a nice looking but suspiciously cheap Fiesta...so I did an HPI check and sure enough it had been written off....well at least I got my deposit back!

Since then I have vowed never to buy privately again, no matter how cheap the saving compared to a dealer. Anyone else experienced bad (or worse) luck when buying from a private seller? Read more

blue_haddock on 30 July 2005

Ebay has a funny status as technically it's not an auction so providing you haven't paid when you get there if the car is not as described you can walk away and forget the whole thing (won't go into neg feedback etc).

I personally would not buy and pay for a car before seeing it, if it was high value i would definately want to view before buying and even if it was a cheapie i'd pay for it when i go to collect it.

Forum Problems selling my Jazz

mab23 on 29 July 2005

Hello all,

I'm having some difficulty selling my partner's Jazz... it's 03 reg, SE spec, 25k miles, one lady owner, in pretty good condition. It's got Honda warranty to the end of April next year.

We had it in Autotrader at 7.5k, had one call from a girl who was interested but in the end bought a new one.

It's been on ebay this week for 7k starting bid (no reserve), it had 20 people watching it and 600+ looked at the page, but no bids or calls to view. We had one text from someone making an offer at 6k.

At 7k it's the cheapest 2 year old SE spec Jazz for sale in the UK (according to Autotrader anyway). So I'm sure you'll all say "it's too expensive" but it's hard to explain that to the other half...

So does anyone have any ideas on how to sell it? How much would we get at auction or is that going to get us less than the guy offering 6k?

Mike Read more

nick on 29 July 2005

Try starting it at £1000 on ebay with a reserve at £6k to £6.5k. You'll get far more bids if you start low. Do a 9 day auction finishing on a weekend evening.
I think as has been mentioned, it is possible to get new cars for this sort of money or not much more so a 2yr old car with 25k on it doesn't light a fire for many people.
Remember, anything is only worth what someone will pay for it; guide prices are just that, a guide.
Good luck.

Forum What price my peugeot?

dieselicious on 29 July 2005

I'm looking to sell a Peugeot 406 2.0HDi Rapier (90) A/C saloon in metallic silver with 43k miles on the clock. It's in excellent condition (no dings or scratches).

What price should i advertise it for as a private sale?

Thanks Read more

blue_haddock on 29 July 2005

I'd advertise it somewhere between £5.5k and £6k but accept any offer over £5k

Forum How much might this cost?

dieselicious on 29 July 2005

My wife's 1999 Citroen Xsara 1.8 decided to deposit the contents of the cooling system through the heater matrix and into the passenger compartment. There's no over heating damage to the engine which is good, but i'm guessing the heater matrix and aircon might be in need of repair/replacement.

Any ideas how much a job like this might cost / what's involved?

Thanks in advance

A very worried and soon to be poor dieselicious

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David Horn on 2 August 2005

it's the pre-facelift model, so at least i can change the

headlight bulbs without having to remove the front bumper!!!!

my 1967 vw beetle was also built for easy maintenance (just

as well really!)

Hmm... it might just be me, but wherever there's a fragile bit of plastic on my car I seem to have snapped it off while working around it. Both plastic bulb covers on my Xsara are held on with cable ties!

Question Run-flat tyres and puncture repairs

rory on 29 July 2005

The new generation of these tyres - as fitted to BMW 1 & 3 series - are good for up to about 150 miles when punctured. As I understand it, you should then get a new tyre ( ££ - yelp ! ) because of the strain that has been put on the sidewall. My question is this: would it be a good idea to have the tyres filled with that stuff that seals punctures, such as Pro-tex ? Read more

tyrexpert on 2 August 2005

all BMW will be fitted with run flats as standard from 06 onwards. the suspensions are being "tuned" to accommodate the stiffer sidewalls. Mercedes are also developing down the same route, as are porsche and Ferarri. The industry expects that the majority of cars will be fitted with runflats in the next 10 to 12 years...

Forum Tow ball height

AR-CoolC on 29 July 2005

Hopefully a nice simple question.

Is there a standard/universal height for a tow ball?

Thanks Read more

AR-CoolC on 1 August 2005

Thanks everyone.

Question Pug 306 diesel, fuel temp regulator

solara on 29 July 2005

Hi,
I recently had to replace one of the leaking o-rings on the fuel regulator in the fuel filter housing. This has now got me thinking about how it works and what its purpose is, and a possible modification.

For those with a 306 diesel, it can be seen on the bottom left corner of the fuel filter housing where the fuel inlet pipe comes in. It looks like a white drain plug with a crossed head.

The fuel regulator is definitely thermostatically (temperature) controlled, and opens/closes a valve to the fuel heater circuit. The fuel heater circuit is below the plastic filter housing (seperated by a large o-ring) and is cast into the base of the metal coolant heated base. Those with a haynes manual can see a pretty good picture of this in the diesel fuel/coolant section. The pattern of flow can be seen running between 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock (if it were the face of a clock), in a spiral pattern to maximise the heat transfer form the coolant circuit to the fuel flow circuit.

My guess is that the fuel regulator when cold, shuts off the flow to the fuel heater circuit. As the coolant temperature rises, it opens the fuel heater circuit gradually mixing the colder fuel with the hot fuel (rather like a mixer tap).

My theory behind this is that, on frosty mornings, the cold metal fuel heater circuit is more likely to gel the diesel than inside the warmer plastic filter housing.

Is my thinking right? Anyone else have a better idea or knowledge of how it actually functions? Does anybody know the direction of fuel flow in the heater circuit (eg 11 oclock to 1 o clock or vice-a-versa). Any idea of what temperature it regulates the fuel at? I guess I could measure the temperature from the fuel drain pipe when hot.

The reason I ask is that this 306 is turning veggy (running on veg oil), and veg oil ideally needs to be heated to 85 deg celsius to be at the same viscosity as diesel. I am also considering the option of adding an extra glow plug to the metal fuel heater circuit, to help melt the thick veg oil on cold starts.

Thanks
solara Read more