September 2005
I'm in the market for one of these however they seem to be making quite strong money on the forecourts at the moment. I'd like to check out the auctions to see what money they are making in the trade- does anyone know of any auctions where volvo finance offload their end of lease cars or any other auctions where volvo estates crop up regularly? I'm in the west midlands. Thanks 9000 Read more
I have a 99 plate Astra 1.4 manual, that has developed a coolant leak and temperature guage problems.
Symptoms are
From cold start car reaches normal temperature very quicky about 5 mins, then when engine is allowed to stand for 2/3 hours after being driven, I can start up engine and within 1 min the temperature guage is registering 85-90 degrees, It doesn't overheat, and the fan will kick in at about 92.
A 15/20 mile drive will result in about 1 pint loss of coolant, having to top up everyday.
no visable evidence of leaking, checks have been made for heater matrix, radiator and pipes.
Head Gasket has been metioned, but I am trying to see if it can be anything else before embarking on an expensive trip to the garage.
Thanks
D Read more
"would the the coolant loose it's colour as it goes through the system" It would mainly come out as white steam once warmed up -like a smokey exhaust but little smell. It has been suggested before on this site that whipping out the spark plugs may reveal one much cleaner than the others as it will be steam cleaned by the leaking head gasket.
Every so often in the Backroom, I read general comments about Citroen dealers, or VAG dealers, or Renault dealers or . . . .
These generalisations are rarely complimentary.
Can one really generalise that way about all the dealers for a certain marque? I can understand generalisations about dealers for certain manufacturers which are very good, e.g. Lexus, because I have no doubt that Lexus exercise strict quality control over their dealerships. I can't, however, understand how ALL dealerships (or even the vast majority) for certain brands could be bad, since I have never come across the concept of negative quality control!
Or is it simply the case that where there is no quality control from above (i.e. the manufacturers), ALL (or most) dealerships will give poor service - i.e. that local management in dealerships very rarely cares about quality or customer service? Read more
I think the Lexus ES is the Toyota Camry with different trim.
Hi all,
My car has just passed MOT but there was a lot comment about about the lack of headlight beam pattern light cutoff. The car was passed but only just. The headlamp reflectors are ok. The light in the beam tester was just a pool of light, no defined cut off line present. The bulb is an H7 type which is a single filament (no reflector) but with 2 power connections (no earth via the metal case). On these Rovers, one headlight each side acts as a dip beam and the second headlight acts as a main beam.
Changing the headlamp bulbs is a nightmare!
Has anyone seen this problem before? Read more
>>The resulting beam pattern is very poor.
Not poor,its none existant.when correctly installed and without problem I stated before,beam should be ok,mind you expect a few cuts on the way!
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Steve
IRC
1. Modern cars with auto gearboxes should only be towed / recovered with the driven wheels suspended else the gearbox is damaged.
2. I also believed that autos could be moved by being pushed or conventionally slowly towed very short distances.
Can someone advise me if the above is correct and if so what speed / distance applies to 2.
I have recently switched to an auto after many years of manual gearboxes so am still on the learning curve.
This question was triggered by seeing reports on TV of many cars on the US freeway being pushed a mile or more to a filling station. Will they have a damaged gearbox to add to their sad plight?
I recently visited NMSI Wroughton where they had a large towing type vehicle in the collection. It was stated that they had to get it fully working in order to move it under its own propulsion else the gearbox would be damaged. Read more
just need to take the last dot' out :)
www.remcotowing.com {Done. DD}
Hi
Just thought members of the forum would like to comment on this and maybe suggest a solution:
A car locally to road tax ran out in August, now its end Sep and the guy still use it 3 to 4 times dally (which I see however) without a care in the world, in fact he has boasted I don't need a MOT every year. It dose not appear very road worthy too; only 1 brake light works and tyres look dodgy.
Now I thought enough is enough I will call the police and report him. After 3 tries all the reply I get is ?its a matter for DVLA and not a police issue?. I live deep in the countryside with low crime and I would guess not much for the boys in blue to do all day and thought they jump on this one, but no?
To say I lived with my local police is an understatement; this guy is clearly breaking a few laws but no, guess you need to kill someone before the police step in.
James.
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I stand corrected.
any ideas.....pug 1996 s16...the revs seem to go up and down by themselves...
cheers
H
Mike, are you still on Honest John. Read more
Check your stepper motor. It sounds like it needs replacing its about £40 from Eurocar parts. Its a simple DIY job to do yourself. Remove the air filter and its a little motor that is strapped to your air intake chamber with two torx screws.
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306 2.0 SE Cabriolet
This afternoon I parked and got out of the car to a strong smell of sulphur, next door was just topping up his washers and said that the smell arrived with me.
I didnt notice anything while driving, or when parking earlier in the day. Clean underwear and socks this morning, never needed odour eaters before.
Any thoughts ?
2000 (old) v70 tdi )audi 5 cylinder engine)
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Well, its not done it before, but it does smell a bit like the cat pong you get from some cars.
The tank is almost empty, I usually fill up when it gets down to a quarter full so I guess it could be some crud in the bottom.
I'll see if it continues.
Thanks
M
110k miles on 1.4 carb engine. Frequently now (but not always) suffer 2 or three minutes really hesitant running from cold - actual starting is OK though, both from cold and from hot. Sounds like it's firing on less than all four, but clears itself and the problem never reappears after the car warms up. Plugs and lead and dis cap look OK. Replaced fuel and air filters about 12 months ago. Top of carb looks clean and none of the hoses seem to have leaks. Tail pipe is a bit sooty. Took it to (competent) garage a while ago before this problem started, and had them check it over because fuel consumption had climbed. They gave it a clean bill of health.
Where do I start? I feel this is a fuel / carb problem. The carb is labelled Bosch 030133023C, and my Haynes manual does not think that VW made carb-equipped petrol versions of this Golf!
The car is used almost always on short journeys, below 10 miles.
thanks
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Forgot this part, also there is a flap in the intake pipe (the plastic tube that fixes to the airfilter housing) this flap is controlled by a vacuum. this flap will move the flap so it either pulls in cold air or hot air from the exhaust manifold, if this gets stuck on cold only will cause poor running and in freezing weather cause the carb to ice up!! Try and see if this in the cold air position you might need to wedge it into the hot position if its seized!! hope this helps
I've just come back from a day in Milan where I was taken for a spin in a 4WD Passat W8. The engine sound was fabulous and the acceleration was quite something.
After a bit of Googling I found a diagram of the engine layout ( tinyurl.com/9hnen ) which put the questions I had to bed. I previously thought that a W(2x) engine was two V(x) engines stuck together in a W format - doh!.
What a Q car though. Whip the W8 badges off and there's fun a-plenty to be had I'm sure. Are there any in the UK? I've not heard of or seen one clearly. I was told that the W8 I went in was one of only two in Italy but I'm prepared to be advised otherwise! Read more
What I'm getting at is that there is nothing 'special' about the v configuration.
Taking engines of comparable size and type (i.e. not comparing a truck engine with motorbike engine), If you compare a straight four with a v four, or compare a straight six with a v6, the v engine doesn't confer anything other than a packaging advantage for certain types of vehicle.
This is why I say that a v is not intrinsically beter in any way.
Number_Cruncher
So where in the UK are you? Couple of places to try near SW London; IIRC Carpenters Volvo garage near Kingston and near me, PGI at Farnham who IIRC claim to be Europe's largest independent Volvo estate garage would look one out for you at auction if they do not have one in stock. I have no connection with either of these 2 places.