September 2005
On my 406 at 60mph+,there is a vibration coming from the car.
It works like this....
Vibrate for 3 seconds,then a 5 second gap,vibrate for 3 seconds,then a 5 second gap.....you get the picture?
Now,it's none of the following,as they've all been done:
Wheel balancing
Tyre pressures
Tracking
4 Tyres fairly recently
Rear horizontal link bars.
So does anyone know what it is?
On a side note.A friend of mine hired,through work,a Land Rover Discovery a few weeks a go,and that did the same. Read more
Hi,
I'm after some advice if anyone would be so kind as to venture some. I was recently rear ended by another driver and I need to get a new bumper to replace the one that crumpled on impact. At the time the driver apologised and gave me all of his details without taking any of mine. I reported the matter to my insurance company and they then contacted me to confirm that the third part had not even reported the claim to his insurers. They then phoned and told me that he was disputing liability because I rolled back into him at traffic lights and he has several independent witnesses confirming this. We were not even at traffic lights when the accident happened and no one stopped at the accident. I can't understand how he could say this especially as there would be no point in having witnesses if you were not going to report a claim or take any of my details.
Also I am not sure how his insurance company could claim that I did £750 worth of damage by rolling back into him!!!
I think he is just trying his luck but this is obviously very frustrating.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Read more
I had similar experience 4/5 years ago - woman accepted she had caused the shunt - when the boy-friend got involved later that day the story changed to that she was an innocent witness and that the Merc behind me was to blame.
Letters from my solicitor went returned, unknown at this address etc. etc
19 months later a court summons was served on the woman and within days the story was changed, the driver & insurance company agreed to pay for the damage, the excess, the physio on my neck etc.
I think the thought of going to court and standing up and trying to keep up the fabrication was to much for her.
The £17.50 legal expenses cover on the car insurance was invaluable as in the end the legal fees exceeded the cost of the repair (£750).
For £17.50 I got an excellent & experienced car accident lawyer from a top firm in Edinburgh (not a para legal from a "lawyer /accident type agency") and he forecast the timescale from start to finish as 20-24 mths and he was dead right - court case date was 20 mths and payment in 22 mths.
Got my £150 excess back and kept my NCB
Hi everyone. Thank you all for helping with Q's concerning my american friends. Now I've an issue all of my own!
I have 5 rather heavy dogs that travel with us to dog shows up & down the country. What I need is a huge flat load area estate, very economical (because the miles we put on it are insane), reliable, comfort not performance the preference. That said it does need to get to motorway speeds quickly, overtake caravans & pref cruise at about 85. Also, & this is a would be nice, not essential, it would be useful if the ventilation/aircon extended it's coverage to the boot area, rather than the usual dummy vents. Not vital as I have 2 fans that run off the cigar lighter, but seeing as the aircon is working anyway it seems a shame!
Current limo is a peugeot 406 HDI 110 diesel, which has been pretty much excellent. Only crit really is it's sprung with this current obsession of estates that handle like sportscars (i.e hard, so one sees ears going up & descending in the rear view mirror as one goes over bumps. But it has been excellent otherwise. Now before I go & buy another 2nd hand one, has anyone any ideas of anything else I should be looking at please?
Oh, I do rather like to run my cars until they eventually grind to a halt, rather than sell 'em, so high mileage capability is pretty important. Besides I prefer to buy a car that's only a few years old, but has higher than average mileage.
Thank you all so much for looking at this. Read more
Odd choice given your critiera, you wanted a car only a few years old and prefer to buy with higher mileage - presumably becuase you appreciate this gives you a better deal.
So.... you buy 5 year old car with ultra-low mileage for year.
Oh well ;)
Hi all,
I'm looking for recommendations for a diesel estate and have at most £5k to spend. Economy and size v important to me, toys (eg air con etc) nice but not essential.
Am thinking something like a skoda octavia estate, maybe 99-01 with 90k miles or so on it? Any others worth trying? For some reason I am put off focuses or anything french (bad experience with a xsara a while back) but not for any really good reason. Can anyone give me some decent pointers? Renault Laguna estates any good? See quite a few high milers about. Maybe a high mile Passat estate?
Any tips gratefully received...
Cheers - Jules Read more
>The Mondeo is big but you might struggle to get the
TDCi (best avoid the TDDi) engine at £5K.
The TDDi is OK, more refined than the Vauxhall DTi for instance.
Nice looking 51 115ps TDCi estate on Autotrader with a Birmingham
dealer, asking for £5250, and only 65k.
A 51 plate would be either a 130 TDCi or a 115 TDDi, the 115 TDCi was not introduced until later in 2002, at that price it is probably a 115 TDDi.
Agree re Vectras and Astras though I would go for a petrol if a Vauxhall of that age. A Vectra CDX or SRi estate 2001-02 could be good value and well equipped.
Fitted front mudflaps to my beloved's Puma yesterday. Took the wing liners off for a good look and found the inside of the wings filled with soil that had built up over the years. I got 2 shovels from the left and just over a shovel full from the right. Lovely stuff too, people pay good money for that in the garden centre, Puma owners get it for free! Read more
How did it get in there ? Surely the liners are to stop that sort of thing. The compost will have kept the underside nice and damp. Lovely start for corrosion.
I seem to remember reading somewhere (probably here) about a certain type of road surface that becomes very slippery when it has locked up tyres on it.
I have a feeling that it is this type of surface that has been applied on the A46 in Nottinghamshire. I drive this road almost every day and see reletivly few accidents on it, but since the latest batch of resurfacing there seems to be an incedible amount of skid marks on the road and gaps in hedges. There is currently a rover in the ditch at one piont.
Does anyone know what the situation is with this surface, as I also seem to remember that some police forces had banned the use of it in their area's.
Cheers Read more
Most of the main roads around here, Derbyshire Peak District, have been resurfaced with this visibly shiny surface.
There were car through the wall before the resurfacing and afterwards.Never noticed any problems myself in car in all weathers or on the bike in summer months.
Some skid marks are evidently people doing donuts or burnouts in ,maybe, stolen cars.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
Had a chat with my local mechanic yesterday, and he reckons he's fitted many Vauxhall 1.6/2L 8v engines (as in Carlton) with new cambelts after snapping their old ones. Says none had damaged valves or pistons.
Are these really non-interference engines?
Read more
Your local mechanic is, mostly, correct.
To be pedantic, it depends on compression ratio. The high compression ratio 8v engines will touch if you are unlucky.
However, the result of the valves touching the pistons on these high compression engines is snapped rockers (They have a cunning weak spot which fails under overload conditions before any serious damage is done). These rockers are both cheap and easy to install - no bent valves.
So, for an example, an 18SE engine will not touch, while an 18SEH might.
Although many enjoy knocking Vauxhall/GM, these 8 valve engines really were ahead of their time when they were introduced in the late 70's/early 80's. To be fair, they did acquire a reputation for eating camshafts which took until 1990 and the introduction of a special (read expensive!) camshaft hardening process to overcome.
The 16 valve engines are, of course, not so forgiving.
Number_Cruncher
Having read several threads on the subject of car insurance I can only assume that the modus operandi of the car insurance industry has changed in recent years.
At one time it was not possible to claim directly off the other party?s insurers. You either claimed off your own insurers and they attempted to get reimbursement from the other party (or their insurers) or (for uninsured losses) you claimed off the other party. The other party would then either pay you directly or claim the amount demanded from their insurer. If they did neither ( or were uninsured) you had to sue them. Basically, insurance policies indemnified THE INSURED against damage to their vehicle and against claims (against the insured) from the other party.
How does it work now? I?m only talking about if you (the aggrieved) have a comprehensive policy.
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L\'escargot. Read more
Now I understand. Provided that the other party informs their insurer about the accident then you can deal directly with their insurer. If they don't, you can't.
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L\'escargot.
I've just insured my second car with MoreThan (exactly the same terms as the first: address; me sole driver, etc). They allowed me to carry over my three years' NCB earned on the first, but offered a rather mean £10 discount on the website quote for the second. I've gathered that 10% discount is often offered for a second car with some insurers, as well as the initial car's NCB being carried over. Has MoreThan been mean, or is their offer reasonable?
Many thanks!
frmarcus Read more
Thanks: it looks as if I've got a decent deal, then!
frmarcus
another issue with my mondeo, my brake would occasionally squeak but recently i noticed them starting to squeel when the pedal wasn't depressed ansd then stop when it was!!
bit confusing so i presume something is sticking.
i got some copper grease spray from halfords (didn't have actual tub of grease) and gave a good spray. no problem for a week now its back.
can i WD40 something?
oh by the whay this is once the cars warmed up and not when cold. Read more
Rear brakes binding was the subject of a recall on early MK3 Mondeo models as far as I can remember.
May be worth contacting Ford or one of their dealers.
PP
dear sir,
I have a 306Dt that had a similar issue, after doing all the usual thing, I evently discovered it was the bearing on the top of the front strut....alternatively have you tried the anti roll bar..
As for the disco....I would check the anti roll also.