January 2006
I have a M reg (94) Xantia VSX, The problem is whenever the I lock the vehicle the os indicators stay on, It only through operating the doors via the remote does the indicators finally go. Any feedback would be great.
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Hi All!
I have a Rover 216si (1997) that's making a rather unusual noise in first and second gear, particularly when pulling away. I think it's the power steering that's the problem so I wondered if any of you experts out there can tell me how soon I need to get it to the garage and what you think it might be. I don't have any warning lights on the dash and it had a service last year during which the power steering fluid was topped up. Could it be something serious?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks. Read more
Thanks for your advice guys. I'll try and have a look at the power steering reseviour and the belt to see what's going on.
I'll update when I get it sorted :D
Since starting my present job, to travel to and fro between Bangor Gwynedd & Manchester airport i have used the cheapest hire car i can find they have been
Fiat Punto x 2
Ford Fiesta x 2
Daewoo/Chevy Matiz x 2
Renault Modus Diesel
Kia Picanto
Vauxhall Corsa (3 cylinder)
The worst was the Corsa rough noisy engine & Vague steering
My personal favaorite was the Punto I think it is the oldest car here it just felt more complete and plesant to drive
The rest were fair to middling with the Fiesta's being dissapointing.The interiors having a cheap feel I found it noisy
I was prepaired to hate the Matiz but it's not THAT bad.
As for the modus i could not decide what i was driving nothing special at all
The biggest shock was the Picanto the small engine had plenty of urge it has cheeky looks but a very small boot and the interior is not quite there. Otherwise good
One interesting point is on the 90 mile run they all use about the same amount of fuel around 7 quid even the diesel Renault was the same Read more
I've rented Picantos in Spain from Hertz many times over the last 12 months and everytime i drive one i am really impressed at just how good they are for such a low purchase price.
Had a Picanto booked for over Christmas,Hertz had run out,gave me a Peugeot Partner HDi instead.Nice drive,loads of room,well equipped but the remote did not work and the tailgate interior panel fell off when i opened the rear door,so its good to see French build quality never fails to disappoint.Useful vehicle though.
We have an Astra Estate Auto 1.6 that belonged to my late father on Motability and is just coming up to its 4th annual service having run 19000 miles only. I was surprised to be told by the dealer that on this service it is their practice to replace the cam belt (4 years or 40000 mile whichever is the sooner) of course it will cost £220 plus vat on top of the £220 plus vat for the service. Should I tell them where to go and just book it into National for a service that will probably be half the price and leave the cam belt ?? I find it difficult to believe that it really has to be changed at 19000 miles. Read more
Hector - Manufacturers recommend changing various items on the car, on a time or mileage basis. For instance, it should have a basic service (oil change + safety check) at 20,000 miles / 1 year for current Vauxhalls, 10,000 / 1 year for Vauxhalls up to '00 model year. Other items are on a 20,000 / 2 year or 40,000 / 4 year basis
Changing the cambelt at 40,000 / 4 years is good advice given the number of Vauxhall engines which have suffered cambelt failure within the 80,000 / 4 years originally recommended by Vauxhall.
The initial quote to repair my Cavalier when the belt failed was £2,500 but this was reduced to £1000 by using a secondhand cylinder head assembly.
As your car covers such a small annual mileage, you really should stick to the time based schedule and not consider mileage at all.
The gas struts on my Almera have lost the will to lift the hatch, so it's probably only a matter of time until they fail to support the weight.
How easy is it to replace gas struts (i'm thinking quite tricky by their nature to er, expand) and can anyone recommend a source for cheap Nissan parts other than a scrappy?
TIA Read more
Check out the SGS engineering website they specialize in gas struts.competitive prices as well.
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No it's not a Rolling Stones thread. Back in autumn I bought SWMBO a 99V RAV4 auto to replace her Volvo. It's a GX spec and as such has five spoke steel wheels and not alloys like you get on the VX and special editions.
The car is really nice and the wheels were initially smart but with all the salt on the roads over the past few months they are now looking a bit scruffy with surface rust. Anybody got any ideas what it would cost roughly to get them blasted and resprayed? Also, what kind of places do this kind of work? bodyshops?
My other option is to try and get a secondhand set of alloys from a breakers or ebay but then you could be buying damaged/bent rims.. Read more
Just what I was going to say...
It may be that you can buy a set of second hand wheels to use whilst your main set are being refurbished. Shot blasting will be carried out by the powder coaters and removes all surface rust, paint, grease etc, before putting a hard plastic coating on.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
I'm looking at getting an Almera for my girlfiend. I'm willing to spend around £4,500 and have found plenty of low mileage 2003 1.5 S versions with less than 40k miles.
I know it's not exciting but reading through various reviews it's solidly reliable and has a generous boot - it will need to take a pram and a decent amount of shopping.
HJ has very little negative to say about it which says a lot to me.
Anyone owned one? All feedback appreciated. Read more
Price is the one area that hasn't been settled yet. Will be looking for 10% which will put in on a par (when you take into account the warranty) with what's out there in the market at the moment.
Hi everyone,
We're in the process of getting a baby car seat for our new arrival in March. However, I have tried a few out, and they all are a tight fit for the seat belt to go round the back (if the seat is to be put in the back where we would like it to go).
Do any of the BRs know of anything that we can buy to extend the seatbelt just a little bit?
I have done a quick search on google and ebay but nothing has come up from what I can see.
Thanks in advance. Read more
>>Google with " seat belt extender" ?
>>
Tried that but all it comes up with is lists of american places ....
Is that with a search of "the web", or just "pages from the UK" radio button ticked?
I've just done a "pages from the UK" search and several uk companies came up.
A friend of mine got stopped by the police for flashing his lights as he went along to warn other motorist of a speed trap around the corner. One of the cars he flashed was an unmarked which turned around and stopped him.
The police officer informed my friend he was breaking the law and to not do it again. My friend produced his business card, he is a solicitor, and asked what law he had broken. The police officer started mumbling backed off and left.
So was the officer trying it on or had my friend actually broken a law?
Enquiring minds seek an answer. Read more
Yes - Although I support the use of speed cameras I think they should be set to allow for the variation in speedometers.
Needed batteries for both keys on a Toyota. The battery is a pretty common 'button' type(CR1616) also used in watches etc.
As I was passing the Toyota garage I called in - they wanted £13.90 for the 2. So I went to a shop that specialises in batteries and bought both for a total of £3.74.
For interest I looked on the internet and quickly found some priced at 54p each.
I cannot remember ever seeing such a large percentage 'mark up' on any item.
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"cheap AA and AAA cells which can be found in the £ Shops and market stalls"
and are usually zinc-carbon as opposed to alkaline, which is what most of us are now used to.
Maplin is a good source of decent batteries. Their 40-packs of AA's and AAA's are usually £10-£12 (depending on promotions) and one of those keeps my Palm Pilot going for about 2 years!
Browse
There would be a solonoid or motor (could be either) in each door lock. There's no certainty this is the probem, though, so I wouldn't go diving into the doors unless you're pretty certain - could pull half the car to bits and still not find the fault!
Probably worth listening carefully at each door lock as someone locks and unlocks the doors to see if the lock action sounds 'positive'
On the other hand if you've only got 2 indicators going instead of 4 that might suggest a fault in the indicator circuit (Presumably it's not just something as simple as a bad indicator bulb or poor earth on one of them??)
Could be lots of things unfortunately. Have you tried a Xantia forum? Try going to www.yahoogroups.com and doing a search for Xantia-L You'll find some pretty clued up folks on there who will probably give you a better idea of how to check it out.
Graeme