February 2006
I've been lumbered with a pig. I have a Sharan VR6 Auto with a suspected blown head gasket,it;s losing water but there's nowhere obvious,nothing in the oil etc. I went to VW main dealer and explained problem. He said the head gasket was probably blown.He then said that it was what they called a "throw away engine" and wasn't worth fixing. I spoke to someone else and they said he was talking deleted. Can anyone give me some advice and if it has gone are there any specialists who deal in this sort of thing?
{Vim Fuego, I realise you're new here, but what part of the "No Swearing" rule are you finding difficult to understand? This time I've edited it. Next time I won't be so generous. Also try reading this www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=33415 - DD} Read more
Little Rover not starting since wife drove it through a puddle. It did start & run for 1 day then stopped, refuses to start now. Is it Dizzy & plugs or something more sinister. Advice appreciated as wife is eyeing her 406 that I'm using. TIA Read more
Must have been a deep puddle or was it driving too fast through a flooded road?.the ECU and coil are high up so any ingress of water would need to be pressurised to get into cap or ecu,which would only occur on flooded road not noticed beforehand..as a ps does engine turn over at all....ingress of water through inlet manifold would lock engine/aside that check as I stated before
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Steve
Hi people,
I have a problem with my Honda Prelude - I installed an alarm yesterday, and the car started fine. I activated it, woke up this morning to go to work, and the car wouldn't start. The starter motor just keeps rotating, but never starts. Even the sound the engine makes while just about to start, that doesn't happen, it just keeps rotating with no hint of starting. I checked all connections, and they're all fine. I even took alarm out, but to no avail. The "Check engine" light is on on the dashboard. Any ideas on how to fix it? Read more
Cant say where you went wrong, but connections dont sound right.would need a circuit diagram of alarm system to tell whats happened,ie so many wires to hazard warning..very much doubt it.
what make and model is alarm system
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Steve
Ok, someone has successfully bid for my car on Ebay.
Quick sainty check (never having sold this way before)
He seems like a nice chap on the phone but conmen/charlatans don't advertise the fact.
He is paying cash but let's say he suddenly finds a fault with the car and offers £100 less, knowing it's more hassle to me to re-advertise. By bidding on Ebay has he committed to pay at exactly that price? I believe I have described the car's faults fairly and accurately but that is subjective.
Apart from using common sense to deal with him if he tries it on, what are the legal back ups to know, or have about my person?
Cheers. Read more
Fact: Manchester is Britain's ninth rainiest city.
the engine in my 1.6 16v astra seems to have a problem, when in gear there seems to be no power. You can floor the accelerator and it won't go anywhere, or suddenly jumps, couldn't get it above 40mph. There's no problem when in it's not in gear, revs freely with no lumpyness, and it's ticking over nicely at about 800rpm. Before I take it off to the garage, anybody got any ideas? Read more
New exhaust being fitted this afternoon, coil pack ordered from ebay for £60, just to be safe and have a spare even if it's not needed, a bit of a saving over VX. Although my usually good garage did almost make a mistake by not checking the car moving, only on the ramps where it didn't show problem.
Hi everyone.
Just hoping for a bit of help.
I've had a Toyota Carina now for about 10yrs, but I only recently changed it to a SAAB 9-5. The only problem is after about 4 months of ownership it developed many problems and landed me with a £3.5k bill.
It's a long story, but I've got rid of it.
Now - My Toyota has been standing for the past 4 months, and apart from charging up the battery, there is not a single problem with it - and its covered 190k. That's the kind of car I want - it'll get me from A to B, get about 34mpg from a petrol Auto, and seat 5 in comfort. All things a 10 year old Carina can manage easily. I couldn't really care less about image (I'm just not going to buy a Ford or Vauxhall), I just want a car that has all these features.
Having bought a "prestige" car, with my own cash - and seeing the financial damage it can cause I'm considering buying another Avensis.
It'll be second hand - I'm thinking of one of the ones that has the 2.0 or 1.8 VVTi engines, an Automatic, about 2001-2003, up to about 4k. High mileage isn't a problem, because I understand that if it is properly maintained (like I have my Carina) it can easily take it.
Please, please convince me that this Avensis will be as bulletproof as my Carina - that still flies. Of course, if you have any other suggestions, please let me know, and if there's anything in particular you think I should look out for when looking at the Avensis, please do let me know. I've had a quick look at the car-by-car breakdown; very useful, and informative.
Sorry for the long post!
Many thanks in advance to you all for your help.!! Read more
I fear you may not - this chap last posted on here in 2007!
From what people are saying on here currently, Japanese petrol-engined cars make very good used buys....
SWMBO has been looking for new transport to replace her ageing VW Passat. The Ford Focus is one possibility.
A local Ford dealer (in common with several others) is offering new model 1.6 5dr Zetec (climate pack) hatches for around £8800. The car she's looked at has 17k miles and is 9 months old (seems a bit high - not sure of their history). Haggling margin seems very limited...
Looking round on the internet hasn't revealed a better deal on the new Focus, but comparable ones are available for the outgoing model - with only 3 or 5k miles on the clock. Maybe the price would be more negotiable for the 'old' model?
By all accounts, the new Focus is a 'better' car all-round than the original - though at the cost of considerable blandness, I have to say.
So which model would backroomers recommend for a 'keeper' - SWMBO does about 12k miles a year and tends to keep cars for some time (the Passat's done 165k and this replaced an Audi 100 with 190k on the clock!). Read more
The new one does drive better than the old one IMO, certainly for normal driving, it just feels nicer.
However, the dash is inexcuseably dull when compared to the old one.
Blue
Hello, i'm new here and this is my first post.
I'm a 20 y/o male on my way to passing my test and would like a new Citroen C2 as my first car, probably a 1.1 design. Would you recommend this as a first car, or if not could you recommend any others? I have also been looking at the new Clio and Peugeot 207 with interest but fear these may be a bit too expensive insurance wise as the Citroen does have free insurance for a year thrown in.
Also, does anyone know where i can get a stereo for my car that's similar to an ipod? i.e. a hard drive thing instead of a cd slot that i can upload all my mp3 tracks onto which saves faffing about with CD's etc.
Many thanks
Keesy. Read more
Or a Citroen Xsara. Cheap as chips now. I paid 3995 for mine 2.5 years ago, and looking in Parkers today I saw they're going for 1300 from a dealer. It's a 1.9TD, and in the right gear goes nearly as quickly as it depreciates.
Warning on 'road sign confusion'
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4718502.stm
Cars on a road which features a number of signs. Copyright: Ady Kerry
An abundance of signs can be confusing, the foundation says
Drivers are in danger of having accidents because they are being overloaded with journey information, the RAC Foundation has warned.
A clutter of contradictory signs cause confusion that can lead to crashes, executive director Edmund King will tell a London transport conference.
The popularity of in-car devices adds to this "overload", he will say.
The foundation is calling for a review of signing and urging drivers to plan journeys in advance.
Highly-trained people can manage seven or eight pieces of information, but for Joe or Juliet Public, it's really only three or four
Sheila Rainger
RAC Foundation
The foundation cites evidence that the average motorist can deal with little more than three pieces of information at one time.
That could include a radio traffic report, a warning sign ahead and direction advice from a satellite navigation system, it says.
The RAC Foundation's Sheila Rainger explained: "There's all the information in the car, high tech devices, and there's also all the information outside the car provided by road signs, traffic lights, speed limits perhaps painted on the road.
"There's only so much the brain can take in at any one time and a real danger something really important like a red light could be missed."
Signage worry
"Very highly-trained people like fighter pilots can manage seven or eight pieces of information coming at them, but for Joe or Juliet Public, it's really only three or four.
The RAC Foundation's Edmund King added: "We've all been there, driving along, a little bit lost, trying to follow directions in an unknown area.
"We will actually turn the radio down and tell passengers to be quiet and we do this instinctively to avoid information overload.
"Let's make the signs clearer, let's make them plainer, let's have only the signs that we really need."
The RAC Foundation says thousands of the UK's road signs are confusing or have disappeared, been damaged or obscured with grime and foliage.
He is calling for signs to be put up further back from multi-lane entries to tell drivers which lane they need to get into.
Read more
Perhaps there are too many signs in some places but I think they're rather colourful and pretty.
Don't get caught by one misleading sign I know, though. On the A36 at Limpley Stoke, going north towards Bath is a 'queues round bend ahead' warning with flashing amber lights that come on when there is a hidden queue around the bend ahead. I drive this road a lot and the sign is fairly reliable - if the lights are flashing there is a queue, if they're not there isn't...... on about 90% of occasions. So only use the sign as a guide - sometimes there's a queue and the lights aren't flashing and sometimes they're flashing and the queue has gone - be warned!
I've noticed my steering has become a bit uncertain when turning sharply to the right (OK to the left). Thought it might be tyre pressures but these are OK. As I turn it feels like there is a series of little pulls on the steering wheel - almost as if the power steering isn't consistant and pulses on and off.
Also noticed when cold and turning off my driveway I sometimes lose power steering until I give a few revs then everything OK. Then, yesterday, as I turned full lock into a carpark space, there came a quite loud "oooooo" noise!
Car is '99, 2.0 HDi with 75k on clock. Is this likely to be solely a problem with the power steering or related to the crankshaft pulley I've read so much about! Any advice/guidance will be greatly appreciated.
AdrianM Read more
The hose from the bottom of the reservoir is pretty gunked up so this looks like the source of my leak...........next job on the list!
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Thanks for all your advice gents