September 2005

$till $kint

I wonder if any of the esteemed members of the backrooom may be able to help?

I'm trying to source a set of wind deflectors that fit around the side windows on a 1997 Mitsubishi GTO. A mate managed to break one of his and now wants to find a replacement set. His car is an import and it's not a genuine Mitsubishi part as far as we can establish.

I've googled until my fingers have started to peel but to no avail.

Anyone? Read more

$till $kint

In this instance Aprilia my mate's car has aftermarket slimline perspex ones rather than the OE rubber ones. Looking like a lost cause here.

I've given him the email address for Kempy's Bitza Mitsis for a punt.

Torquay Phil

My wife has an 03 Clio which has a manufacturer/dealer warranty valid until March 06. As the windscreen washers have packed up I told her to just book it in to the local dealer - "i'm sure it will be covered under warranty".

Not having owned a car with warranty that has needed work, she casually checked that there would be no costs incurred for the work. We were staggered to be advised that a charge of £60 would be made to diagnose the fault, and this was non refundable whether covered on warranty or not. I have subsequently looked on the GSF website and a new pump (which I suspect is what is required) is £8.50 + VAT!!!!!

Is it me, but what is the point of the warranty, and is this common practise??
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martint123

I'd check to see who is really providing the warranty. Insurance company, manufacturer, dealer. Does the warranty document mention this 'diagnostic charge'. This strikes me as a blatant ripoff.

Rudedog

My wife has just had her car broken into, she locked away her bag out of sight in the boot, but someone must have been watching her, because when she returned to the car after picking my son up from school she found that the rear quater-light had been smashed and the rear window wound down and then the rear split seat folded down to gain access to the boot.
Her bag and valuables were taken.

My question is do many new cars have lockable rear seats so that this type of crime can be prevented. Read more

rtj70

Autolocking doors when you drive off has been available on most vehicles for a long time. Not default behaviour in UK but an option. All recent VWs and Fords can do this for sure

For example, a Ford with central locking you can set the car to autolock when you get above 7mph. Details on a forum search on this site.

BUT the question for this thread was LOCKING SEAT BACKS not doors. They did that and got items stolen from the boot. VWs saloons I know have key lockable seat backs.

Forum KIA Rio
pmh

Looks a bargain, particularly diesel - HJ road Test makes it look excellent value.

Has any body got real life experience of ownership, spare parts availability (eg for other models), etc. Dealer / head office attitudes, loan cars in event of problems..... Do they share any technology with other makers? Do they have a presence in France?


Nearest garages are all significant journeys (despite living in Home Counties North), so any problems would not be just an inconvenience.


--

pmh (was peter)


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uk2usa

(or 'issue' - which seems to be the trendy word for
'problem' these days) - but its not ideal.

>>

LOL. I found this 'issue' hilarious when I first crossed the pond. Seems to have crept into common usage over there as well.
The Whiteknight

Hi just wondered if anyone know's with this new computerised mot system if retest's are still free ( within 7 days ) or if you charged the full fee if retested for a failure ?

Many Thanks Read more

nick

I think this is right. I had a chat with the guy at the place I go to, a small local independant. Very acommodating, flexible and fair. The system does indeed insist on a minimum time for a test and the same for a retest so the quick look to see that a new balljoint has been fitted is gone. He is going to have to charge for retests as he cannot do more than so many tests a day whereas now a quick look or a brake check suffices. The price will go up (currently £30 with free retest) for no gain in safety.

nand

Dear All

Car=2001 530d,84000miles,auto
The Parking Distance Control on the car seems to be malfunctioning-the switch flashes and emits a constant beep whe turned on.Grateful for any ideas how bad is the prognosis and how much it would cost to rectify
many thanks
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AirFlowMeter

PDC stopped working on my 320d E46 Touring. I was told that there's a connection behind the rear bumper which gets corroded but haven't checked this out myself to confirm - does anyone know if this is true.

Also can the PDC be turned off/on as required on 320d E46? Can't find anything in the manual.

kevsfocus

I have a 1.8 TD focus that has developed a fault whilst driving along. The orange glow plug light starts flashing and there is an immediate power loss and the engine just idles, if i press the accelerator nothing happens. If i restart the vehicle it clears the problem and is ok for a few miles and then the same problem happens again. Any ideas ?? Read more

volvoman

Just been watching more footage of the mass exodus from Texas. Multiple lanes of glorious freeway absolutely logjammed with cars going nowhere whilst the hurricane bears down on them. I've never been there but have always seen the US as a place where the car dominates and public transport is, accordingly, pretty limited given the wealth of that country. Has that 'policy' backfired? No we have the awful situation of people sitting in mainly gas guzzling cars using up precious and quickly disappearing fuel just to prevent themselves from baking in the sun. Nobody is going anywhere, fuel can't be delivered and nobody could get to it even if could.

I'm sure my analysis is simplistic but can the US carry on in this vein? God forbid that those unfortunate folk now trapped in their cars are faced with seeing out the storm in that predicament. Read more

Vin {P}

"I also believe that the US has not experienced two such hurricanes in such close sucession for 100 years. I wonder whether any of this will help them to reassess there views on the impacts of Global Warming?"

Things like this seem to stick in the memory once they are in there. So, for the record, since this statement was made (when it was accurate), Rita has been downgraded to Category 3. Thus, this statement certainly no longer applies. Storm seasons like this have happened plenty of times.

V

Ph0en1xUk

Hi, I have a 1.8L Petrol 1995 Mondeo LX.

Its recently just had a new starter motor, plugs,oil filter etc. ( Its done 168,000 miles)

It used to stall before I had the starter motor changed, but now it still does. It can sit at idle for some time, the idle speed will vary between 1200rpm and 950... and then all of a sudden it will drop off... the engine will try to recover, but then it will drop off and stall. I does this in traffic as well.

Fairly annoying... I believe the problem is fuel related, as its had new air filter etc..

Somebody I spoke to said it could be a split fuel distributer/valve or something, but Im not sure... Could be throttle position sensor... Is there a way of checking? Im sure this is a common problem... just no straight forward answers..

Any help would be great!

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Dynamic Dave

Nice no codes required. Sure you used to have to type stuff before and after the link.


Nope. All you need to do is to put the http:// bit in, as mentioned in the Announcements section. "Posting Website Adresses."
Delta Charlie

Hi,
Is the Sat nav system on a 2003 E320 cdi upgradable to the latest mapping?

Thanks

DC Read more