May 2006
hello, i would love some advice. i bought a secound hand bmw from a garage recently. when i bought the car i noticed that it didnt have a spare tyre. i told the sales man who said that this was normal and that because i was buying the car on a sunday that i could pick up the tyre the following day as the stock room was closed. to cut a long story short i rand the following day was told that they had no record that my car needed a tyre and they would order one for me...i have rung the company on four occasions and each time told that its the first they have heared of it and that they will order one and tell me when its in stock...i dont know where or stand or what i should do.... ? Read more
Hi,
Recently had problems with my clutch which thanks to the help of the people on this site was sorted out. Thank you.
The vehicle running well but having problems with accurate fuel readings. The engine was originally a 2.0 liter petrol engine. Now has a Fiat Ducato 2.5 Diesel. I do not know much about the history of this vehicle. When the fuel reaches a quarter tank the orange light flickers and on occasions the fuel meter reads empty, which courses all sorts of problems resolved by stopping and turning off the engine.
My theory is the tank was not changed which is causing problems with the fuel properties Diesel more dense than Petrol.
This is only a guess. Has anyone got any ideas please?
Thanks.
Mike.
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Further to my postings of 5th and 18th of May, mentioning problems with Renault diesel engines, it seems that in Honest Johns car-by-car breakdown, under Espace 2002+,they are known to have E.G.R. problems, but this has never been mentioned on any service.
But I know from experience how dangerous this can be. About a year ago I was driving up the A23, from Brighton to London, in the middle lane, went to overtake, and suddenly there was without warning absolutely NO THRUST OR POWER, fortunately it wasn't quite rush hour and I was able to pull over safely. I remember the nice recovery man saying it's not an unusual thing, but what was unusual was for it to have happened Twice in under 40,000 miles, and in hind sight is possibly why the turbo has failed, oil is leaking and I need a new engine, and consequently I am so unhappy.
So a piece of advice to anyone who looses power, the E.G.R Plate requires a good clean out, be careful, the next thing you might need is a new engine. Read more
I believe the EGR checking and cleaning tool is a relatively recent and simple gadget provided to dealers. Whether cleaning is part of regular servicing or not I don't know.
The 2.2 engine appears to suffer from more problems than other Espace engines, although it may be because it's a very popular engine option so incidences of failure will be greater. Below is a link to an on-going thread in the Technical Forum:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=24...6
I hope you get it sorted.
The washer fluid in my car has taken on a smell akin to a dead rat (if I knew what a one smelt like, but I think I have an idea).
Although I use a branded washer fluid, it still stinks. Any suggestions on how to prevent this?
I have previously emptied the washer bottle and flushed but this doesn't last long. Someone once suggested Halfords do a tablet which keeps the water fresh but I can't find anything in my local store. Read more
I use the Halford's lemon stuff all the time. It is a bit pricey, but cleans well, keeps the reservoir and pump in good order .....and is worth its weight in gold after passing pig farms!
Graeme
Hi all.
The headlights on a 406 come in 2 parts: The clear front and the grey plastic back that fastens to the car and holds the bulbs.
The clear fronts are obviously different between MKI and MKII 406s, the new ones being totally clear.
Are the backs the same? i.e., can you put a MKII clear front onto a MKI grey back (and vice versa)?
Ta. Read more
Dzl
What I'm saying is either combination probably won't work. The back designed for the the riffled front won't give the correct beam pattern with a clear front as the effect of the riffles is missing.
The back designed for a clear front doesn't need the riffled front, so again the beam pattern will be wrong.
JS
Confession time. When I started posting on here nearly four years ago I was in law school and well... it didn't work out. No £60k salary for me this year - instead I'm going back to do my LPC, using my own money this time, and part of the fees will be coming from selling my car.
I'm hoping for around £2k privately and am looking to get something with a year's MoT for around £700 (or less if possible). At the same time, my mileage will drop drastically from around 22,000 to 8,000 as my commute goes from car to train due to the relocation.
I have this crazy idea that I should get an old (probably pre-1993) E34 BMW - well just because I can, really. Insurance is an issue but is surprisingly sensible on an older car.
Any suggestions as to what I should look for
a. in an E34;
b. instead of an E34. Read more
Ive just sold a p reg corsa "trade sale" to a
lad for £795 and its taken him since 9.15 this morning
to make his mind up to buy it and it was
a peach with 10 months mot and i gave it a
full safety check and new discs/pads.
I cant be doing with that everyday.
Me, I've just sold a 1999 T Primera 2.0SX with fsh and 83k, 2 owner car and absolutely mint, for £800 with a brand new test - and still made a profit. So I can see why it took him a while to nbite on yours! What was it standing you? £400 tops?
My other half's freshly bought 1.6 petrol primera seems to be doing around 10-15 mpg! Is there any obvious reason for this? The car seems to be running ok, feels a little sluggish. No warning lights, no other signs of rich running. It has a daily work journey of 20 minutes each way. At the moment it is guzzling more fuel than my skyline so there is something clearly wrong with it.
Are the petrol gauges in these known to be dicky? He is judging by the gauge at the moment as one of the possibilities is of course a leak so sticking in 10 gallons seems slightly risky :0-)
teabelly Read more
to follow on to this can anyone tell me whether mark 3 cavs have unreliable fuel guages. i am only asking because i have aquired a 1.8i petrol cav l reg and it seems to guzzle a bit
I've had an invitation to pop along to a Lexus promotion day. It's hosted at a stately (just up the road as it happens) and allows you to test drive a number of cars from the range.
It's tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes.
_______
IanS
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Round the Bend - you refer to Wednesday and I think that we are referring to different events. I went to one near Penrith (Cumbria) a few months ago. I agree that rattles are a problem. Car makers like Toyota have built millions of cars and should be able to produce them rattle - free in spite of their complexity. The dealer I dealt with has in stock some self adhesive pads which they use to try (!) and sort dashboard rattles. Some drivers simply turn the radio volume up and good luck to them. Others prefer to get it sorted.
I'm awaiting full details, but it seems that a pal of my Father is trying to offload a LHD Jaguar XJS V12 for free! It is a runner apparently, and is garaged in Majorca where presumably it has spent most its life.
Should I consider it?! Would you? The new owner has to collect it from Majorca. Imagine the fuel bill alone for the journey back home..!
Do you think its collectable? I wouldn't plan to clean it up and sell it on for a vast profit, but equally I'd be scared of being the owner of a money pit that I can't dispose of! Read more
Go for it! If you get as far as SW France in it and decide (it decides?) enough is enough I've got a big slightly leaky barn which will be just the job for off-road storage for a while.
I've had had my car for a year now after being off the road for a few years, and I mostly use it for local driving within five miles or so of where I live. I tend to be a bit nervous driving on routes I don't know, especially in central London. Anyway, I had to do a journey from Cricklewood to Aldgate East, so planned it well with my London A-Z so I knew every bit of the route.
Everything goes fine on the way there, but coming back the trouble starts with a guy who wants to overtake me when I have just come off a roundabout. I slowed down a little because I was trying to see if I had taken the wrong exit. I can't go into my left lane because there is a coach parked there, but while moving into my right lane this guy decides to overtake me because 25 mph or so is obviously not fast enough for him. We end up inches from each other with both of us hitting the brakes. He doesn't beep, but waits until he's in front of me before he does the DELETED - DD for me to see.
OK, so now I'm annoyed. I get back to some roads I'm familar with near the junction of Pentonville Road and City road, and now can relax a bit. I wait at a red light where there are two lanes, which are left turn only lanes going onto a road called Penton Rise. The lights go green and I pull off, but somehow a cyclist decides he is not going left, but makes his way straight across me, heading for a cycle lane. I only notice him when I hear him clammering against the side of the car and bending my wing mirror. I hit the brakes again and, not being 100% sure since I don't know the route, I kind of don't say much back when he says "come on, man," as if I have done something wrong by turning left in a left turn only lane, which he seems to be ignoring. (Maybe there is a special rule I missed where cyclists do not have to obey road markings for left or right turn only?)
Lastly, I get within 100 yards off my own house and some guy pulls over to reverse park, he has only just slowed down and pulls in. Since there is room and he is not yet in reverse I decide to go round him. He couldn't have checked his mirrors because he decides to pull out a bit more to the right to make a better position to reverse from. Again I hit the brakes and skid a little, then come home feeling terrible.
Do I need an advanced driving course, or is London just a terrible place to drive in, nervous driver or not??
{Franco, I don't know about the advanced driving course you need, more likely you need a bar of soap to wash your mouth out with. As I've previously warned you about your swearing on at least 2 separate other occasions, consider this your last warning - DD}
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Sometimes the thought of driving around Warsaw turns my >>stomach, in fact nearly always and I worry that one day I >>won?t have enough driving mojo to put the key in the ignition.
Oh, fear not my child coz it's sheer pleasure as long as you're equipped with 4 pair of eyes & stuff like that huh.
If you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to fear, if you've something to hide you shouldn't even be here ;)
Or come down to where I live now - one roundabout, one church, one pub, one post-office, one restaurant. And huge amounts of green forest. And mud. And... er, to keep it motoring-related... a proper 4x4 is a necessity.
- - - - - - -
I am the only Pole over here.
Unless of course the second hand BMW came with run flat tyres - which could explain why there was no spare?