February 2006
Moved out to the woods and need to change my car (an Insight btw).
Anyone owns or spent time with a 2.5 X-Trail? Auto or Manual, I dont mind. 2yr old ones are good value at the dealerships. I should look at the dCI but have heard of reliability issues.
Either that or a CR-V i-CTDI. Test drove one and it was excellent, although why 6 gears? 5 seems plenty with all that torque. Read more
Anyone driven both? Have an A6 2.0Tdi now, but new job means I'll be leasing my own so engine size not an issue from a tax point of view. 5 series seems very pricey lease wise, so it looks like it's between a e-class 320 or a 3 litre Tdi quattro, and probably an auto version of both.
Be interested in anyone's experiences with the e-class - have read mixed reviews. I'm very happy with my A6, and I suspect the bigger engine and quattro would make a big difference, but I've never had a merc, and have always liked the look of the e-class. Read more
Do you know the A4 now has the 230 bhp 3.0 TDi? Reckon a 330d touring would be good on lease.
I have a problem with burning video DVDs on my pc and after trying everything it looks as if I might have to reinstall Windows. If I just re-run my Windows XP cd can I reinstall without losing everything?
I recall doing this with an old pc but with 98SE and I never lost anything. Read more
red x in place of images has many possible causes, icluding firewall and antivirus setings.
type "small red x image microsoft" in google to see some of the possible causes.
Hi,
I'm expecting some waving arms in response to this question so first can I please say that I do NOT want to compromise safety - but this is an exercise in bangernomics, so I want to know what I can do without compromising safety.
I need to replace a leaky rear wheel cylinder on a Mk2 Golf. I have heard that I "should" replace both wheel cylinders and also the brake shoes.
I can understand replacing both cylinders - if one's leaking, the other probably won't be too long. I don't usually replace central locking motors in sets of four, though. Is the other one really likely to fail next week? Do we know this by trying it (How? That's never done...) or do we just think it probably will?
Just as important, would it affect the brake balance (MOT testable), having one new one and one old one?
Then the shoes. Of course on one side they've been covered with brake fluid. I will clean up the drum with brake cleaner (and garages have done this for me with previous cars so I presume it's standard practice). Can this not be done with the (otherwise good-as-new) shoes? Do they absorb the fluid somehow? Or it it always done like that because it's better value for a garage to replace them while they're in there and now it's become folk lore?
The cost of the job could vary between £4.50 and £40 depending on how much of it I do. Again, not going to break the bank, but it's bangernomics. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Thanks very much!
-Mark Read more
It's not that I can't afford £39, I just prefer spending it on other things than car bits. And yes, I change the brake fluid - every ten years or so. It doesn't seem to need changing more often than that.
If it works, don't mend it.
Astra air conditioning been checked today leak found no gas in system new seals and re-gas required 185 pounds no guarantee aircon will work correctly in case of further faults when tested again.
Is there any other checks that can be done before seals and gas renewed?
Since no gas in system can seals be renewed on a DIY basis if so where can I buy seal kits?
What else could be wrong with the aircon system?
Aircon was re-gassed last May at different garage no leaks detected first re-gas since new car now 6 years old in August.
Suspect I have not been using the aircon enough throughout winter months which has cause the seals to dry out but possible been leaking before last re-gas because not been getting cold for a few months.
Any advice welcome.
+ Read more
You can leave it till the summer, just bear in mind everyone else either leaves theirs till summer, or only realises it isn't working when summer (eventually) arrives.
If you get it fixed now, it will give you the chance to find anymore leaks before summer.
There's nothing wrong with your system (apart from the leak), so buying another car won't help. All systems have weak points, and the Astra is no different. If anything, newer cars have poorer, in terms of quality, systems, as everything is getting made cheaper and cheaper.
In my area the technique for filling in potholes at the side of narrow country roads is to just shovel in some tarmac and leave it to passing traffic to compact the tarmac. Does this happen elsewhere?
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L\'escargot. Read more
Friend of mine had a leak in the road outside his house,hmmmm,perhaps I should have put that differently,a pipe was burst and quickly pushed up the patching where repairs had been attempted previously.He informed the highways dept.who sent out their best moron to deal with it.When my friend spotted him shovelling tarmac into the hole,still with water gushing out of it,he enquired if it wouldn't be a good idea to fix the leak first the moron replied it was not his job.'Couldn't you contact someone whos job it is,waterboard perhaps?'Not his job either.Needless to say the 'repair'did not last the day.
Whilst doing a job on my 1996 Fiesta the other day I noticed a pressure switch (like a brake pedal / light switch) above the clutch pedal. I looked in my Haines manual and it says it is a clutch position switch, but doesn't say what it does. Could anyone elighten me as to what this little bit of kit is for please? TIA. Read more
Yes,you need to bend over to see one!!
Virtually all modern cars require these infernal ECUs' to be interogated using a diagnostic tool when the MIL illuminates on the dashboard. My questions are: what is the difference, if any, between a 'code reader' and a 'diagnostic tool'? I have read that in 2001, due to legislation in the USA aimed at reducing emissions, all codes had to be standardized, is this so? Are the codes universal to all manufacturers? Would a hand held tool costing £80ish be sufficient for the DIY mechanic like me? Would any diagnostic tool suffice? because the spread of prices seems bewildering. Basically, I wanna do it myself. Any comments guys? Read more
European On Board Diagnostic (EOBD) fault codes were standard on all new UK cars from 1st January 2001 for petrol models, and 1st January 2004 for diesels. Many cars however were EOBD compliant before these dates. This applies to engine emission data only. Any EOBD code reader should be able to read this data, and it's pretty useful to own one.
However, this must not be confused with manufacturer specific codes and data, and in any case carrying out checks on all vehicle modules other than engine emission data will require the use of more specific equipment. There will be lots of varying opinions as to what is best, but I have not yet found one single piece of equipment that truly does everything on every vehicle....
I have a Passat that is on the long life service. Why is their so much conflicting information as to when the best time to change the oil/get the car serviced. My car is 1 year and 3 months (13000 miles) old and I have no intention unless I get good reason to change it back to a yearly/10000 mile. It seems to me that everybody is so used to yearly/10000 miles service that they do not want to change away from this.
I check my car regularly for any visible problems and top the oil up if needed.
I would appreciate any valid reason why I should change back to yearly/10000 miles/
Read more
So do we all agree that longer servicing especialy for oil
changes is not good? i certainly do
Errrrr... no!
I can remember when my dad had his shop, he had
a transit van. One of his mates was a vauxhall dealer,
& was trying to get him to buy a Bedford CF.
Ford had brought out a revamped transit in the late 70's,
with longer service intervals. Lo & behold Bedford a month later
anounced the same for the CF van. All they had done
was increased the sump capacity for the CF hoping the extra
capacity would not get the oil as dirty. So i think
this proves that this was a nod to the fleet managers.
Firstly, I think things have moved on a tad since the 1970's!. Secondly, I fail to see the link with Bedford responding to a feature that a competitor is offering in order to remain competetive being "a not to the fleet managers"!!!
Question/ how often do any of us this day and age
just check our oil
Well, every other week as it happens...
Next Question how many times have you ever had to top
up? Hardly ever i would think
Pretty much all modern diesels use oil in the first 20,000 miles or so, as well as many Petrol engines...
But that fact we as i do of just looking under
the bonnet is proof we have a interest but most of
joe public does not
huh?
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MoneyMart
Current car: 55-reg Audi A4 2.5 V6TDi Quattro flappy-paddle
A bit of advice please?
I am considering changing my car in the summer with a budget of about £9-10k. I am currently looking at the volvo s60 d5, honda accord pet/dis, and audi a4 tdi. I suppose i should be looking at 2002/3 examples here. I have spotted many good examples (low miles, FSH) of the volvo but i have a worry about apparent injectors failing on them costing £1500 or so? Has this problem been rectified with newer models?
thanks Read more
If you get 35 mpg on petrol
12000 miles costs (at £4.05per gal(90p a ltr x4.5l))
12000 / 35 = 342 x £4.05 = £1338
If you get 45mpg on deisel
12000 costs at £4.27 per gal (95p a ltr etc)
12000 / 45 = 266 X £4.27 = £1138
Pls check my sums(hope i have not made any silly mistakes)
So you only save £200 a year on fuel. If the diesel car is £1000
MORE expensive it will take 5 years to break even.
This is harder to judge for used cars as prices and condition varies so much.
Some new diesels seem to be up about £1500 more for an equivalent model.
other threads also take service costs into account but it then gets more complex. It seems diesel is not all it is cracked up to be from a fiscal view but then you get the driving experience which may be good or bad.
The 2.2ctdi honda is very good but still noisier than petrol i found.
Also no auto which rules it out for me.
The S60 is much classier inside and a very good used buy but I still like my old Accord after 113,000 miles and 8 years on my drive!! Choices choices, not sure what to do either, just wait and see how the old one goes.
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HectorG, please see my Beemer thread. I have explained my reckless u-turn behaviour there. SM