November 2005
Due to MiL writing off her Trajet, we have loaned her our Trajet in return for her mother's Fiesta. Her mother is now 95 and stopped driving!
The Fiesta is fantastic to drive and a good example of mid 1990s Ford improvement which lead to the Focus.
Anyway. I do not think the car has been properly serviced so will take it in for a full sort out and MoT test. So a few questions: -
1. Cambelt or chain?
2. Car ten years old and 37,000 miles. What should I do other than obvious service items?
3. I want to change the coolant. Given this is a Japanese designed aluminium engine (I think Yamaha), is there a special coolant and anti-freeze I should use?
4. What oil grade?
5. Anything else.
The radio code is lost. Is there a way to sort this out without removing the radio itself? Can find it on t'internet.
TIA
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive? Read more
Please settle an argument I am having with my brother? I am sure that in one of his early cars , his hazard lights switch was on one of the normal steering wheel stalks and it worked by pushing it back. Or it might have been a separate stalk to the normal indicators , but it definitely wasn't a plain dashboard button switch that we are used to now?
IIRC, his original model Polo did this but he disagrees. Anyone got experience of one to settle this?
We really need to get a life!! Read more
we had a "1984 vintage" Polo N had the hazard switch on a red stalk....same car had main beam indicated by a yellow light !!!!
Can anyone point me in the right direction. I need to get a 99 V plate Passat TDi (PD) serviced at 130K.
Cheers
LC Read more
A little bit out of the way, but if you head up into the Black Country, there's an outfit called Volkswagen Rescue. (think they're based in Gornal).
Pologirl had some work done there last year - wishbones and something else - and the guy that ran it was an out and out VW fanatic. Showed her the parts he'd removed and charged a very reasonable amount for the work....proper old fashioned service!
Also had a line up of "hand picked" oldish VWs that he'd spent some time on. All seemed like a genuine labour of love!
Might be worth a google search and a phone call...
Hope it helps!
A friend of mine has seen an artical where a new replacement HS2.8L td engine had been fitted to a Land Rover in place of its 2.5td.
This engine is supplied by International-Engines in Brazil, who supplied the 2.5 engine to Land Rover for its production and other engines to other manufacturers.
This engine although new in product, has no electronics to worry about
The question my mate is asking, is there any other Vehicle currently using this engine in production besides Land Rover.
One thing I forgot to mention is that this engine is known as the 'Brazilian' with the boys who have Land Rovers.
(Its been said so many times, why can't there be an Edit tool with this site???)
There is, just that you don't have it ;-).
Remember, the only Brazilians we are talking about here are engines, OK all?
smokie Read more
From what my mate has seen about the Iveco 2.8td engine its has common rail fuel system therefore has a ECU circuit requirement. But would this fit the Land Rover range of gearboxes :- Defender and Discoverys ??
I have been reading the C5 HDI thread (www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=35...7 ), and some comments prompted me to do some research.
Autotrader shows plenty of three year-old C5 HDIs at £5,000 or under -- there's even a resaonable choice at around £4,000 and not all of them have crazy mileages. That's amazingly cheap -- the same sort of money as an equiavlent age Nissan Almera, and a lot less than a Berlingo HDI.
Those HDI engines sound reliable, and other posters suggest that the suspension problems are cured by Citroen's fix.
It seems that there are a few duff ones around, but www.carsurvey.org also shows some very satisfied owners. The 2005 JD Power survey (see tinyurl.com/8dtbs )gives it a satisfaction rating of 77.5, which is significantly down on the 1st-placed Honda Jazz at 88.1, but not much lower than a Ford Focus on 80.2 or a Mondeo on 79.7.
So I was wondering whether a carefully chosen one would make a decent buy?
Their bad reputation has obviously dented prices seriously, but is this case of the reputation being worse than the reality?
It's a bigger car than I really want, but should be very comfortable, and does like like great value. Has anyone else successfully bought a good one s/h? Read more
"I think it looks gorgeous"
Yes, but only for a couple of years and 15,000 miles - after that it turns into a very ugly and very cheap second hand car.
Oh and don't forget, being a Cit, the electrics will be totally unreliable - you may even have to go as far as replacing a bulb or two. As for the suspension - soooooo unreliable - might even need a new sphere or two after 5 years. These factors should make it worth naff all after 3 years. (Roll on 2009!!)
Phil
hi all...can anyone tell me why the front wipers on my 1998 bmw have suddenly become temperamental and only work intermitantly?,
when i push the lever down for a single wipe as soon as i take my hand off they stop dead were they are and then wont move at all!!
also..
the display in the climate control has gone blank, and the drivers side window wont go fully up...it sends itself back down again, can anyone help...i feel like ive just driven through a shower of gremlins. Read more
Can't really help with the other bits, but the door glass sounds like it needs adjusting, those coupe door glasses are big and heavy and put strain on the mech. give it a good grease up and check it over as the arms can sometimes go out of shape.
I have just aquired my father's 1999 Rover 414, 16 valve 26k miles.
He only did short runs in it & the engine seems noisy when started from cold & for the first couple of miles from cold. The cam belt was changed at 5 years (20k miles) My father used to do 50mph max.
Last night, I got the engine hot with a 30 mile run before driving for 6 miles on a motorway in 3rd at 6000 rpm, it felt a lot better after that but still seems noisy when starting from cold & going up through the gears until it warms up.
Is the noise something that needs attention or is it normal for this engine? Read more
Rovers K series engine has got a bit of a reputation for noisy tappets. An Oil change might help, some people over at MG-Rover forum claim good results from oil additives like Wynns or Forte.
But you'll find very mixed views on the merits of additives here in the BR.
Please can anyone help with my Daughter's 306. The idle speed intermittently increases to around 2,500-3,000rpm. When this happens the rev counter stops. Garage has replaced the idle control valve, which cured it for a few mins, but then the problem reoccurs. Garage has spent all afternoon trying to sort it, without success. The only clue is that the rev counter dies when the idle speed starts to vary.
She now has the car back but it is no fun to drive!! Read more
Hello Jeff.
Thanks for your reply. No, not too late as the car is still in the garage. The ECU has been to two different test companies who say it is fine! The coil pack will be replaced next week when the ECU is back. There is one coil pack with HT leads, not individual ones.
Thanks
John
A relative has a Daewoo Matiz,the rear view mirror will not stay stuck to the windscreen,have tried the kits from auto shops,with a gauze and tube of glue,these seem less than useless,mirror just falls off again within days,any ideas on a GOOD adhesive which will keep the thing stuck there? Read more
See if any of the advice given in the following thread helps:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=28693
"She heard nothing more because she moved"
And she was having her mail forwarded. The original documents were returned to the police, for some reason, and they did nothing about it. Doesn't say an awful lot for their powers of detection...
I imagine that even a magistrate would recognise the inequity of being detained overnight in the cells for an administrative error by the police!
FWIW, the fastest police response I have ever encountered was when I accidentally drove away from Safeway without paying for my petrol. Two policemen were at my house within ten minutes!
Browse
Well typically, after singing this car's praises on this thread, ours goes and throws a sickie!!
It stopped less than a mile (lucky) from the house as my daughter took her boyfriend home at 10:30 in the evening. It started but would not hold tickover, I managed to drive it back home somehow and even managed to get it my friendly mechanics garage the following day. Once it warmed up it did actually work but for the first mile or so it made for an interesting ride. It turns out it was one of the many sensors that are attached to the air filter.
Not only that the fan packed up only working in setting no 4! Fortunately only a few quid extra for a resistor.
Adopting a safety first route I have had a new cam-belt fitted at the same time as you never know. Ford recommend 10 years or 100k miles but I thought as it is coming up to 9 years it made sense. Turns out the belt was still in good nick as were the tensioners.
As it is getting a bit wheezy now, it is a case of keeping my fingers crossed for the future.