December 2005
On my car it is impossible to leave any lights on (except hazard warning lights) as when the ignition key is removed the sidelights and headlights are turned off.
This raises the question - Do you ever use parking lights?
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Following a new shape Micra today - it was a Micra E as stated on the boot.
The "Micra" was between the left lense and the number plate, and the letter "E" was all on its own on the other side between the number plate and the right lense.! It just looked ridiculous! Must be hard not to knock it off when washing the car.
Similar type of problem with my Scenic - I have "SCENIC" on the boot but they are all individual letters. Washing round them takes some skill not to knock them or catch the threads of a cloth in them. Read more
You can often tell whether a car has had a rear end shunt by the position of the badges, few bodyshops will take care to ensure that the badges are replaced precisely as per factory spec.
is it ok to put Shell Optimax in an mk4 festia 1.25 zetec? Read more
I ran my 1.6 Fiesta on Optimax for 3 tankfuls - all mileages and fuel usage recorded.. always. No difference at all in any shape or form. Now use Shell unleaded/Texaco unleaded/Tesco ditto (when discounted only:-).
No difference in performance or mpg.
But Q8 was 2-3 mpg worse and more expensive....
madf
My wife bought a 1 year old pug 307 and has had a number of problems. (faulty door handle and failed clutch - both fixed under warranty after having to argue with the dealers - she had done less that 200 miles before the clutch was replaced and the car has only done 13000 in total). The car was bought from the local main pug dealers. Last night we couldn't get the thing to start. The engine was turning over but not firing - almost like an imobiliser was switched on. This morning it started without any problems. Last night was very wet. The local pug garage could not find anything wrong with it and say they need it booking in overnight to trace the problem. Can anybody suggest what to do with the heap of pink fluffy dice. Personally I'd leave it at the top of a big and remote hill and lets its handbrake off.
How many faults with a second hand car should be seen as acceptable? Would Pug UK be able to pressure the dealers or would they take the same attitude as the dealer.
Never ever buy French! Read more
"Never ever buy French!"
I can't live without my Camembert and Cotes du Rhone though.
Just replaced all 6 glow plugs on 1995 E300d- the old W124 non turbo model - to cure bad cold start.
Now starts OK from cold - but the tick over is uneven when it is very cold - as soon as it warms up it is fine - it is only on first start from stone cold on these cold morning that the revs fluctuate on tick over - sometimes it sounds like it is going to stall but doesn't.
Any ideas?
Steve Read more
does anyone know of an independant renault dealer in the Northants area I've got a diesel laguna with a moody gearbox and renalut want £2500 to sort it. the car is less than 2 years old but has 80,000 miles on it - renault Uk are not interested, also could a reconditioned gearbox be used. I only need it to last another 12 months.
dominic Read more
roger denton of rushden
I shan't Roger Denton for anything!!
vbr....m.
I don't know if this has been mentioned , but Bosch now do a pair of wiper blades at £23 in Halfords for the 2002 model year on Passats.
No cheaper than VW dealer prices IIRC but seem to work fine.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty. Read more
Well, had a nice old 'bump' this morning with another car on a single track road in the icy conditions.
The road was flat, and has passing places every 50 metres or so; I was half way between my passing places, and the other driver, who was at her passing place, chose to carry on regardless, result being we hit about 10 metres from her passing place. I couldn't actually believe the other driver carried on - unfortunately, as my Corolla lacks ABS, my car skidded and hit a glancing blow - mangled my drivers wing. Car being picked up by RAC later (no front drivers headlight).
Should the other driver should have stopped given she was nearer her stopping place ? The highway code says "They may have special passing places. If you see a vehicle coming towards you, or the driver behind wants to overtake, pull into a passing place on your left, or wait opposite a passing place on your right. Give way to vehicles coming uphill whenever you can. If necessary, reverse until you reach a passing place to let the other vehicle pass."
Would rather like to recover my excess ..... Read more
Nope.
I was only trying to offer some comforting advice!
I'll...just...go now.
I'm tempted to buy a car privately from Mr.B, in town B. It's registered (he says) in his late father's name, Mr.A in town A, (he says he died two months ago).
Mr B has the V5, the original receipt, and other documentation for the car, but he understands my concern about proving his right to sell the car.
I intend to HPI it.
His mother appears to be ex-dirctory, so I can't verify it that way, although Mr B has given me what he says is her 'phone number.
Any suggestions on independant checks I can make to verify it's legitamacy. I'll be parting with about £5K. Read more
It sounds like you'll be OK with this one. The chances are you've come across someone who is entitled to dispose of the car but hasn't necessarily done things exactly as he should have. I doubt you'll have any problems.
One assumes that the will lists the sole executor by name, and that is the chap who sold you the car? The only other thing you could have got at this stage is proof that the death occurred. Either seeing an entry in the register or a copy of the death cert, to give you traceability.
It seems that this chap dealt with the car in the same way I set out to deal with my late mother's. I now know that my approach wasn't necessarily correct, although I knew that it couldn't be challenged, provided I acted in the interests of the estate.
I basically wanted to deal with that particular problem ASAP for insurance and depreciation purposes, plus we had no where to keep it where I could consider it safe. Minor scrapes etc would not have been dealt with but we may have cleaned the car out if we were to sell it priveately.
The value of the car appeared on the estate accounts so the solicitor who applied for probate was kept in the picture.
A dealer offered me a reasonable price for the car before pobate had been granted. I briefed them of the situation in full and he never mentioned any need for proof of my authority to sell it etc. In fact his offer went on the accounts as the probate value to be submitted.
I ended up paying a little more than that for the wife to have it.
Also Dalglish may have a point with Probate. IIRC there was a minimum value of some £15k for an item or funds to require probate, hence some assets such as money in accounts, I was told, does not necessarily require probate to be released, but I understand that they would still need to be included in the accounts submitted to Inland Revenue.
My 2002 Focus 1.8 TDdi has developed an occasional strange fault. The throttle appears to 'stick' every so often so that the idle speed is too high (abotu 1200rpm instead of the normal 850-900)
This doesn't affect the general driving of the car, but the high idle speed in traffic is annoying as the car vibrates a lot.
The only way to stop this when it happens is to either restart the car, or 'lift' the throttle pedal with your foot which works until you release it again!
I gather this is a wireless throttle so has anyone heard of this problem, or know where to look? Read more
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My Vectra gives an audible warning that you've activated the parking lights, as well as a visual warning in the speedo housing.