January 2006
This may be wrong as I have yet to speak in detail to my dealer, but basicaly they have told me that VW have ceased lon glife servicing.
I picked up a new sharan for SHMBO just before christmas (it was pre registered by the garage, and the general manager had used it so it had 1800 miles on the clock) - last night I got around to having a quick flick through the handbook, and despite the car being effectivly new I noticed that they had serviced it 2 days before I picked it up. I thought this was odd given the low mileage and the fact the car was only 6 weeks old, but I guessed it was as they still classified the car as "used" therefore perhaps it was serviced as part of the VW approved used car scheme. When I looked closer at the book it has a couple of option boxs for the garage to tick - is this car on long life servicing? YES. Was long life oil used? NO.
Assuming this is a simple mistake I called the sales person and explained and asked her to check with the service department what they had done - she was in fact surprised that they had serviced it at all given the mileage, and said she was a little confused, so would check and call me back. Anyway, she called my mobile, but I didnt get to it in time so she left a message explaining that the mistake was that the long life box had been ticked and that it was on time / milegae servicing (not what I aksed for or I was told when I picked up the car - the car does 20K per annum so long life should reduce running costs a bit). the reason that standard oil had been used was that VW had instructed them to revert all vehicles they sell back to standard servicing and not use the long life regeime anymore?
I hope she is mistaken, but so far in my dealing with her she has been very clued up and very honest - she is away all weekend, but has asked me to call her back on Monday to explain in more detail.
Does anyone else know anything about this?
Could this be connected to HJ's post on tehe timing belt change being reduced in that they want to make sure that you take the car in every 10K so they can remind you to chenge the belt / tensioner?
I will post again on Monday when I have spoken to them in more detail, but its also anoying in that we liked the sharan because of the extended servicing, so this may have had an effect on us chosing this car over say the galaxy or alhambra. Read more
I think that i've come across the ultimate annoying bleeping bonging noise in a car.
Drive the current Toyota Avensis but dont put your seat belt on at your peril. Starts off slowly then high pitched ding ding ding!!! Highly irritating and enough to put me off otherwise a fine car.
Yes i know always wear your belt but i was only moving the car in our works yard.
Why do we need an annoying reminder if we
1 Dont belt up
2 Handbrake left on
3 Door ajar.
Where will it end?
Do we really need reminding with annoying sounds that we are stupid? Read more
Alarm every time a neighbour reverses om out of thier drive would send me nuts!
And yet, And yet, a clue that SWMBO was arriving would save me from the glare I get caught on this site!
I've just got a 2004 1.8 T3-S Avensis (petrol) and I'm trying to find the the recommended timing belt change interval.
I don't think there's a Haynes manual out yet and theres some confusion at the dealership (they originally said it has a chain, but then changed their minds and said it has a belt as its the 2.0 that has a chain, and they would 'get back to me' on the interval)
I'm guessing along the usual lines of 5 Years/60k maximum, but would be interested in anyone elses knowledge. After my experiences with Ford dealers I take main dealers information with a large pinch of salt!
Strangely the owners manual makes no mention of the belt at all.
Read more
It is a chain on these engine, off the top of my head the only engine in the current toyota range with a belt is the D4D engine.
{Moved from IHAQ vol 108, as computer related. DD}
I'm in the market for a new PC (or perhaps laptop).
Can anyone advise of any good deals around or perhaps just point me in the direction of a reasonably cheap source?
Novatech.co.uk has caught my eye for their prices, but I haven't heard of the brands before (Maxfire, Neptune?) and don't know what their customer service is like. Has anyone had any dealings with them?
My specifications are basic enough but I would like a second hard-drive to back-up to. Is it best to install a 2nd one myself, get a PC with 2 installed or get an external one to plug in? Can a 2nd drive be installed in a laptop?
Thanks in advance.
Read more
From memory, it was sometime last summer that you had to go to 6.0.4 to avoid the security issues with earlier versions, although you had to have 6.0.3 patch installed first. You will see each update listed in Add/Remove Components in Control Panel. The latest security advice for XP & 2000 users is of course to use Reader version 7.
My other half has broken my car. Renault megane 1.9 rn diesel. It went cold in the cabin as he came off the slip road, he turned it off sharpish and rac brought him home. He says it could be the head gasket or the head could be trollied - how can I tell if it is worth fixing? He says scrap it, but I paid £2000 for it only a year ago and I need a car. The rest of it is pretty mint barring a few scratches, seems like a huge waste. Any advice out there for me? Read more
Oh if life could be that simple for us! The ignition on our boiler has gone tonight and I am shaking here!
He (t.o.h.) did try to start it a couple of days later and it was having none of it. Looks like I will be using shanksies pony for a while! Thanks for responding though.
I can't think of a good reason to balnk out the reg plates, but maybe I'm still recovering from Christmas. Read more
Few years ago we had an issue where our Honda Civic plate was cloned well over 200 miles away. Car never went there but another car with the same colours/specs etc.. was caught in the camera with our number plate.
At the end a retired police officer came to our house to investigate and he was convinced car's number plate was cloned. Since then I've never advertised a car on eBay or AutoTrader with full number plate on display.
Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year!
Was on my way back to Sheffield from my Girlfriends in Preston last night, doing about 85ish when i noticed a Police (camera?)van sneakily hidden at the corner of a bridge on the M61 (betweeen Preston and Bolton) Was to late to slow down by the time i spotted it. Now, fair play if i got caught, i was speeding,so they got me bang to rights (even though the road was empty. But my main questions are.........
1.What kind of camera do they use in these vans (merc Vito i think)
2.What kind of penalty can i expect?
3.Anybody know anything about the speed awareness courses, and waht the threshholds etc are?
4.One website i was reading said if the Police catch you (rather than a safety camera partnership) they often stop you at the roadside and issue a NIP there and then.
Many thanks everyone!!! Read more
Good news, he went into the local station to produce his documents and the sergeant took him to one side and asked him how fast he was driving, he said that in all honesty he would have to say 70mph, the sergeant told him this was the right answer, and bearing in mind they had no evidence to the contrary the case wouldn't be pursued.
Looking for a fun weekend car to buy and fancy one of these retro beasts!
Anyone owned one and can give me an opinion on them? Is it a high insurance group? Anything I shoyuld look out for? What is the best model to have?
Know I will probably get shot down for wanting one...;-) Read more
2, yes I said 2 bags of cement in the boot, (old sizes bags!!), to attempt to keep the beast on the road. 2.8 Cologne V6. Nothing like it ever.
Whoooooooooeeeeeeeeeee! MD.
Reflecting on my years of private motoring, I thought about the best feature of any car I've driven.
Could it be the door mirrors that auto-fold on the Peugeot 407 when I lock the car with the remote (for those urban streets)?
Or perhaps the Dolby Surround option on the Volvo S80 stereo (oh, Radio 2 was never the same again!)?
Or the solar powered aircon in the Audi S8 that keeps running after you switch your engine off?
Or the electric boot close button on the inside of the Peugeot 607 (my friends got tired of that party trick, but I didn't!)?
For me, it has to be the electric memory seat systems that store complete seat and mirror and steering wheel settings for multiple drivers. It really makes life simple if everyone in the house uses that car.
Your opinions now...
Read more
This is so true - you can turn the quarter lights right round so that a lovely cool rush of air can cool you down in hot weather. They only got rid of quarter lights in cars because scum used to find them so easy to open to break in to the car.
Help!
My 2001 Bora has developed a leak. the water is dripping down from behind the Glovebox onto the Passenger footwell. It's not a swimmint pool yet, but I want to get to the bottom of the problem
I've looked closely at the pollen filter (and broke a piece off the cover whilst putting it back, which I've replaced), which seems OK.
I had the car at VW to be checked and they could not find anything, and suggested a carpet removal costing 5 hours labour and £900 new carpet (to which I declined)
The water is definitely getting in through the area where the pollen filter is located though, as the whole area is damp, and the ?Fire-resistant fabric is very wet.
I sloshed water over the windscreen and then checked inside. The water comes through very quickly into the cabin.
My thoughts on the source are:
1) Possible blocked drainage causing backup of water
2) Pollen filter / cover(I know this is a common fault)
3) Windscreen seal failure - although it's the original screen
Any thoughts on how I can proceed with determining the point of entry and any other sources of the leak?
Many thanks in advance
Charles
-------------------
VW Bora (51) 2.0 SE
VW Touran (54) 19. TDI Read more
Yes. I'm quite sure now. The car does not have a sunroof, and for water to be between the windscreen and the dashboard does mean that either I've got a large rust hole in the roof or pillar, or the windscreen.
I think you are correct, it probably was not sealed from new, and gradually the weather/rain has made it worse.
I pulled back the rubber trim from both the drivers and passenger door and compared the seal, The windscreen sits on rubber strips and the rubber than sits on the car body (probably with sealant to ensure water tightness.
The drivers side rubber is flush with the car all the way down to the bottom.
The Passenger side has an increasing gap from about 4 inches from the bottom of the screen. Gap starts at about 1mm and becomdes 5mm by the time it gets to the corner of the screen.
The way that water runs off the roof of the bora, it goes into the rubber channel at the top of the windscreen and then down below the rubber door trim and runs down the windscreen edge to the bottom and out through the pollen filter area. A Lot of water can therefore pass next to the gap in the passenger side and get into the car.
Now the annonying (funny now though) part. I sealed the gap with some Loctite filler (£4.10 from Halfords) yesterday and let it dry thoroughly.
Pretty good, let's see some rain and cross fingers that the water stops coming in.
I had a small stone chip in the passenger side which has been there for some time.
This morning. It was a Hard frost in my area last night.
....the frost caused the stone chip to start a crack in the windscreen....I've called Autoglass for a replacement
Anecdote: Frost was also on the inside of the windscreen in the bottom passengerside corner of the screen., so I hadn't completely sealed the windscreen.
-------------------
VW Bora (51) 2.0 SE
VW Touran (54) 1.9 TDI
Browse
.jpg)
mikeyb
Thanks for the feedback and glad to see that you weren't after all "rumour mongering", but trying to get some facts :)