February 2006
dont know if anyone can help me but all my power steering fluid has leaked out, the car is going back to the garage under warrenty but as i drive for a living i need a quick fix until it does is there anything i can substute for the fluid or if not which do i need.
thanks any help is appreciated. Read more
I am not one for causing upsets with my neighbours but I have a case, at present, where I do not feel obliged to back down. We have quite a long frontage on our house and we do, occasionally, leave our cars parked on the road, rather than on our drive, which is just big enough to take two cars, parked in tandem. However, if we want to use the one that is blocked in, it means moving the other one, so the reason for parking on the road from time to time.
I decided to leave the Xantia on the road for a few days and it has now caused the neighbour who lives opposite to complain that he can't reverse out onto the road because of the Xantia's postion. Now I don't park opposite his drive but I do park on my side of the road, either side of his drive. If I leave it one side of his drive, he can't reverse out one way (in his opinion), if I leave the other side, he can't reverse out the other way. So I moved it the other side of the road, as yesterday we were having a new gas meter fitted, and I couldn't park on the drive anyway.
This morning, he has enlisted the help of his next door neighbour to complain (as I was parked outside his house) that I am taking up the space of his visitors.
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Let that be an end to it then.
Fair enough - thread locked. It would have been interesting to hear your neighbours POV, but I expect my mod buttons would have been on overtime if he had of done.
DD.
Ive got a Citroen C5 2.0HDI and basically im wondering if they are a good long term prospect. I have owned it from new and get the oil changed every 6k miles.
My questions is very simple; do these engines last well, or are they a load of short lived complicated rubbish?
Opinions seem to vary wildly.
I have seen statements to the effect that they are a very well designed, robust engine, easily capable of 200,000 miles.
But ive also seen it said that they are a disaster waiting to happen and can go badly wrong after 70,000 miles.
Which of these statements is near the truth please? Read more
Hmm... although I'm a fan of this motor, I suspect that
may say more about the "I am" observers than about the
engine...!
He wasn't deaf and old!
This is my first posting although I have been reading for a while.
I have a 2000 Mitsubishi Space Wagon 2.4GDI with 37000 on the clock. It has always been serviced by the main dealer, including the optional oil flush and fuel additive. I have always used 98 Oct petrol as well. Despite this I have started to notice all the signs of carbon build up within the engine.(rough running, poor starting, occasional tappet noise at low revs) A quick look at mitsubushi forums shows that almost everyone with a GDI engine (some volvo's too)has the smae problem, yet Mitsubishi only advise a strip down and clean up at approx £600, or replacement throttle body at much the same price. Is this acceptible in a low mileage, well cared for car. Mitsubishi state that the UK petrol is not high enough quality, but they sold the car in the UK and must have known about the petrol available. What next? Read more
It might be worth checking out a decoke system called TerraClean. I've not used it myself, but there is quite a bit of discussion about it on the web. Have a Google.
Hello Again,
Picked up the Primera 2.2DCi on Friday. £50 valet simply amazing and car looks fantastic (for a diesel estate!).
Car is an ex company car 03 SE spec estate with the 2.2 136BHP DCi engine. Has done 75k with Full nissan service history. Last service done at 72k. Great. Can't go wrong at £4400.
Day 1 - great. Wife happy.
Day 2 - great. We both love it and will be perfect for baby.
Day 3 - plumes of white smoke out the exhaust and no turbo boost.
Call the AA man. He says white smoke = oil. Checks something in the turbo area of the engine (I am non technical). Finds oil where he shouldn't and tows me to the Nissan garage where I will check in tomorrow for analysis and repair!
So big question I am scared of asking is how bad in terms of £'s could this be? New turbo fitted =£????.
Also, the car is less than three years old and has been serviced by a main dealer according to the schedule. Although now out of warranty due to mileage (60k max) its still not three yrs old. Is there any chance Nissan might contribute to the cost because of such an expensive bit going wrong just out of warranty? If so how might I find out?
Thanks again.
ps. Love the car. Will love it more when its fixed and proved itself!
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I don´t believe this mail a seven year old subject and a weird answer suddenly appears.
Dear all,
having found "Honest John" very useful in showing that my problem is not unknown I'd like to ask a few questions..
Background: Fabia 1.4 8V, 2000, 6K miles from new!
Skoda deny that cars were shipped with incorrectly tensioned "stretch bolts" as detaiiled on this site. I have signs of a head gasket on the way out - the car has never overheated. I bought it at 5yrs old with 1300 miles on the clock..!!
This looks like a Felicia motor to me but no manual is available.
Does anyone know the torque settings for the head bolts and stretch bolts? Can I use Felicia ones?
Am I likely to get away with simply toquing down?
As a side issue the rad appears to be leaking at the bottom by the lower hose (have been quoted an outrageous amount to replace and the head gasket estimate beggars belief!). Does snyone have a parts list with diagram as I need to know what fits to what at the bottom of the rad?
Sorry it's long..
Thanks,
Adrian
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Found this while I was looking for something else. Our 2000 W Fabia 8v has shown most of the same symptoms for more than four of the five years we've had it and the combined efforts of two Skoda dealers, supplemented by input from Skoda UK, have failed to fix it. It's had a new head gasket, a new expansion tank, the cooling system has routinely passed pressure tests, they've even tried putting dye in the tank to see where the stuff is escaping, all to no avail. Even when the coolant level shows normal, the Low Coolant alarm goes off a few seconds after a cold or warm (but not generally a hot) start. (I'm pretty sure the sensor unit has been replaced too.)
That's the bad news; the good is that provided you don't mind sloshing in a little G12 coolant every couple of months, and can learn to ignore the beep (which I can hear from inside the house as my wife sets off) and the flashing red light, it seems to run fine. The temperature gauge has never risen above halfway and we've never found any coolant on the garage floor.
Curiously, one of those Skoda dealers wrote to us this week to remind us of the importance of replacing the cambelt. Now, I make my living in computers, not cars, but I'm fairly sure the 8v engine has pushrods and a timing chain. I wonder whether this explains their lack of success with the coolant problem!
Please can you give me your opinion on the Ford Mondeo 2.2tdci 155 bhp (2004 onwards).
I am looking at buying a diesel and would some ideas as to which diesel is the best on the road.
I am looking at spending £13000.
Cheers
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We didn't plump for the 320d for other reasons but on refinement and pace it clearly had the drop on the Mondeo. The Accord fell at a couple of hurdles but was, by quite some margin, the most refined 4 cylinder diesel I'd driven.
I think that you're right in saying that it's perception in that you are familiar with your Mondeo, know how to get the best turn of speed from it and have become inured to it's refinement relative to other vehicles. I didn't own any of the cars mentioned when I test drove them and was able to compare them on an objective basis.
Passenger side headlight bulb has gone on my car (probably due to the Auto Lights function switching them on too often).
Handbook says to get a dealer to do it as access is restricted.
1. Is it possible to do it myself and if so, how?
2. Should I get the bulb from a dealer or will a bog standard Halfords one be the same? Read more
Over 10 years later you're comment is still helping... Managed to get bulb holder on wires out, couldnt get bulb out of holder, wasnt sure how it came away, was your comment of 'having to use a screwdriver to prise it out' - thanks for that :-) ... To anyone else, just changed the drivers (offside) side bulb - tip - to get better access, you can unclip the washer water tube, it then just pulls away.
Car models based on the floorpans of other car models are today slickly designed, looking and even feeling like completely different vehicles, but it was not always so.
I am thinking in particular of two badge-engineered Mini variants, the Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet. Actually said to be quite nice little cars, had 12-inch wheels I think rather than the Mini's 10-inch items, but the styling with sharp little snout and pert little boot always looked ridiculous to me although well executed. However for a true BL monstrosity, wasn't there a version of the Austin 1800 with a longitudinally-placed 6-cylinder?
Citroen did something similar by adopting for the Light 15's last couple of years of production the big bootlid originally fitted to the Slough-assembled RHD cars. It wasn't all that bad but ruined the Light 15's lines. And there was a truly grotesque aftermarket boot some people used to fit to 2CVs.
Any other gargoyles? Read more
But could the Pininfarina have have been as a basis for the P5?
Hello everyone, I'm new here. I have a problem that I think someone can help me with. I have a Seat Ibiza, 5 years old, but only 28000 miles. My dealer has told me that I need a new gearbox and clutch. I don't disbelieve them, but I am sure that this should not happen with this low mileage. I want to go into a fight with Seat/VW to get the costs back, but am I wrong? Should I accept that this is something that can just happen whatever the age or mileage of the car?
regards Read more
Thanks for the replies. It's true that I do a lot of short journeys, but I'm not hard on the gearbox in the way I drive. It's always been serviced by the dealer, and I'm not really confident enough to go looking elsewhere - I just wouldn't know what I am buying. So, I'm going to have a go at Seat/VW to get some of the money back.
Thanks to you all, you've been a real help.
Best regards, Ann
Browse
You don't say what year the car is but I've found a few Vectra's where the feed or return banjo bolt on the steering rack had worked loose, and hence the reason for the lost fluid.
Re-tightening the bolt has cured the leak on every occasion so far...