October 2005
SHMBO's Pegeuot 406 has had the Airbag warning light flashing for sometime now. Having tried all the usual connections etc to no avail I had to bite the bullet and book it in at the local dealer for a tech test.
I was forwarned that the cost for the test alone was £69.33 inc VAT as they charged by the hour.
Now to plug in a computer and have a look at the readout cannot take more than 15 mins, can it?
Anyway duly went to collect the car. " Its your disarming switch. We will have to order one. The total price is £92 something. Shall I book you in sir?"
"Is that including the tech test?"
"No thats on top of the tech test"
"So how much is the switch?"
"£23.. and there is another hours labour"
So thats £161 to diagnose a faulty switch that takes a further 5mins to pull out of the centre console and swop for a new one.
Needless to say I am fitting it myself. But thats not just making a profit thats Robbery!!! ( Not strictly by the definition DVD). Not only that I am paying VAT to the governmet on Robbery!!
Fullchat Read more
I am considering the purchase of the Honda CBR 600cc and being young at 22 years old am wodnering how much it will cost to run this type of machine in terms of insurance, petrol, servicing etc.
Thanks for your help.
Greg Read more
What about the BMW F650, can be lowered to accomadate the shorter person, nice single pot engine and iirc not too bad on insurance.
I have noticed that if maintained correctly. French cars will approach the end of their lives with possibly the air con not working, possibly ABS not working then a final huge bill for a heater matrix as a death blow. Possibly a head gasket or two somewhere in this journey. A Rover with a K series (as we all know) will usually be killed of via the head gasket route. I was wondering if all makes of cars have their own route to the breakers if so I would like to know are japanese cars killed of by spares prices? Korean parts availability? Older British rust? Your observations would be appreciated. Read more
Round S Oxon it's more like £300 for a 12 month ticket car. Sold a base model 4dr Uno (tidy, but no better) for £320 the other day, with 10 months MoT and 2.5 months tax.
Our 94 Golf went to the grave with galloping rust, but that's partly a function of living down a muddy track that's a stream for 4 months of the year.
Excellent news! I have always thought that being penalised by Plod, for taking actions to prevent others from breaking the law, was very mean minded. If doing the police's job for them(preventing others from breaking the law) is itself against the law one can only conclude that speed traps are about raising money and not about safety. Where have we heard that before? Read more
Or should the cops be forced to just stand there with
signs saying 'Please slow down'? This is the practical effect of
advance warning of speed traps under such circumstances. The worst offenders
use the roads regularly.
What a great idea. Police should be sent out in plain clothes to hold up signs warning of speed cameras ahead. It would cause people to slow down, and would be far cheaper then investing in the speed trap equipment. All they need is a bit of plywood, some paint and a brush.
Now I've got 20,000 ml.on my car I thought I would change the plugs,it was running Ok but having heard of problems,I decided to change them anyway.I'd taken them out when new and put copper grease on the threads.Well,they came out easily but three of the four had rust on the threads;I put in Champions which I notice have plated threads but still greased them.I wanted NGK but couldn't get any. Read more
A good website is www.spark-plugs.co.uk
A friend has lost the keys to his L-reg Volvo 440. He's also uncertain of the location of his spares so there's a strong possibility that he'll need replacements.
I believe the keys consist of an ordinary looking key plus a smaller plug-like device that de-activates the immobiliser.
Presumably, if the keys don't turn up, he's going to have to contact Volvo, or his local dealer, for replacements.
Is it likely that the key codes will be printed on any of the documentation that came with the car?
The Volvo web site mentions a procedure for obtaining key codes (tinyurl.com/al2np ). Are they likely to be able to help with a car of this age?
Does anyone have a vague idea of the cost of replacements? I'm guessing it won't be cheap.
Are there any other sources of replacement keys for Volvos?
Thanks in anticipation.
Read more
If you have the original receipt for the initial purchase of the car,dealers sometimes note it on there.
hello, sorry if this has been covered before, I have searched and found nothing, my front wiper refuses to work, as the rear one is still ok I assume the front motor is kaput as they use the same fuse, if I cant find a reasonably priced vaux one do you know of any other motors that will fit? thanks for your help Read more
hello,thanks again for your advice,vaux dealer wanted over £100 for a new wiper motor,I just laughed, anyway managed to get one for £30 and put it on, all seems well touch wood, cheers
we have just been told buy renault that we need a new slave arm (spelling wrong) the clutch went straight to the floor on monday and eventually today they put it on the ramp and informed us this was what we needed part costing £218.00 and labour over £700.00 do we have any other options as 2 local garages have said only renault can do this we are based in boston south lincs did not know if a renault specialist may be even a bit cheaper PLEASE PLEASE HELP thanks neal Read more
Assuming this car has the same lashup as on the diesels with the all-in-one master and slave cylinders (saw this arrangement on a freelander recently, makes you want to cry) True the parts are a bit expensive but from memory about £130, fitting time around 3 hours, by my reckoning about £250 + VAT. If however the clutch operating arm has failed that could well push the bill up by the time you have replaced the arm, clutch and possibly the dual-mass flywheel. Awful jobs to do, apparently the Renault techs all go and hide in the loo when one comes in!
Sound advice from Aprilia, take it to a clutch specialist, they tend not to be fazed by the nasty ones.
Andrew
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Simplicate and add lightness!!
Dear All,
I have a Chrysler Grand Voyager 3.3ltr V6 2002 registration, the long and the short of it is that it won't start.
The detail is that there's plenty of petrol but the gauge is reading zero, the engine turns over and when fuel is squirted into the air intake it starts but then immediatly stops, the plugs are dry.
Is it possible with modern engines that if the sender unit fails, it sends a signal to the fuel pump not to pump fuel 'cos it thinks that there isn't any and consequently no fuel, even when there is stuff in the tank isn't pumped hence the dry plugs.
Has anyone got any other bright ideas, any help would be most appreciated Read more
see my report HJ back room > tech matters > select voyager dated 13 Aug 2011
it may be that,...
I have just spent a week in New England and was surprised to see how many Volvo 240 and 740 cars existed. Most seemed in excellent condition but I suppose being Volvos they would be. A few BMW's seen but hardly any Mercs.
One note of caution to those travelling in the USA and need to use the phones to the UK. My first call, I had to use a credit card, cost = $32.00; time = 5 mins. Ouch. The second time I used coins, cost $1.50; time = 4 mins. The expensive phone was not in a hotel but freestanding in a bar. Read more
Have a look at the 2006 US spec Focus on here
www.fordvehicles.com/cars/focus/
... it is basically our 2004 Focus though further faclifted new engines.
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And a rear spoiler. I have not seen them fitted over here.
Browse
And yet, when I had a prob with my car that needed the computer plugging in, my local independent did just that for nowt (faulty front wheel ABS sensor). Diagnosed the fault, booked it in, no charge for the computer diagnosis.
By the way, he's a Citroen/Peugeot specialist.
Phil