June 2006
Both my wife's and my car have the same annoying positioning of the instrument clusters. The top of the steering wheel obscures the tops of both the tachometer and the speedo. With all the speed cameras around it is nice to know how fast you are going. I have noticed the same thing on several hire cars too.What annoys other back roomers about design details?. Read more
I have a 1987 Mazda 323 1300. When I come to a stop at traffic lights etc, I get a smell of warm oil.
It disappears quickly when you move away but happens everytime you come to a stop for any length of time.
It goes when you turn the engine off, there is no oil dripping onto the ground where its parked and I steam cleaned the engine when I bought it to get rid of all the oil but this made no difference.
The car was also over filled with oil by some margin, but this was drained weeks ago and the smell persists.
I can find no obvious leaks and it bugs me! Read more
One more thought;did any oil get into chassis rails or voids in the engine compartment?
Has anyone any experience of purchasing/using any of the repair manuals available on CDs and for sale on ebay? What about the claim that they are the ones used by mechanics in the dealers? Are they as useful as the Haynes Books?
Any guidance would be a great help. Thank you.
John Read more
my only concern would be that at £2.75 it must be
a ripped copy therefore are you sure some encrypted nasty beetles
are not on the disc eating your hard drive as i
post?
I always scan the CD first.
are they any good or should i just go for an automatic Read more
Yes I would avoid the automated manual ones. However I would consider the CVT, DSG, but otherwise just get the standard auto (torque converter). These are still the most common. Most will have a tiptronic function anyway, so you can still changes gears manually if you need to. If your unsure, just test drive them.
Hi, got a Bora 1999 1.6 5 speed petrol model. This afternoon the alarms suddenly kept going off for no reason. The only way to stop it is open the door with the remote fob. If the car is left unlocked and doors closed for more than 5 minutes - the alarm sounds. If the car is locked with doors closed for more than 5 minutes - the alarm goes off. the only way to ensure the alrm doesn't go off is leave a door open!
Any advice from anybody for a quick fix as leaving the car with the doors open all night isn't really very satisfactory!! Many thanks!! Read more
If I may say, the great thing about this forum is that 90%+ of people who post get their problem sorted and 0% of the people who ask questions are made to feel stupid! There is no sniping or flaming here!
interested in a used clio (up to 3 yrs old). is it a good car to buy? Read more
SWMBO has had one from new since 2002. It has was faultless for the first 3.5 years, then developed a niggle that was sorted for around £100 at a renault specialist (not dealer), it was a sensor problem which meant the car cut out every now and again. 2 new tyres, new discs/pads thats it.
£300 in repairs/replacing wornout parts in 4.5 years aint bad.
Its now got 40k on the clock and soon to be traded for a Mini Cooper
We went to see Take That at the Milton Keynes bowl yesterday. It was amazing, but ruined by the traffic arrangements afterwards!
At the Bowl, everyone parks in fields with a road down the middle. What is supposed to happen is that you get back to your car, wait for the site to be cleared of pedestrians (they close roads for people to walk to their cars on) and then everyone is let out along the road. We were back to our car fairly speedily and took up our place on the road. However, due to the fact there were no marshalls at all, people started other queues on the grass either side of the road, and these queues were then let out first! So much for doing the right thing and getting out first! We got in the car at 11pm and eventually left the car park at 1am.
Then, it must be all of about 10 miles from the bowl to the M1, but this took a further two hours to travel! There were no marshalls, no police and no highways agency people, unless you count the ones who were just sat there watching everyone in the queues. Once we got to the M1 it was empty, so surely there was a better way of getting all the traffic out of the town. It's not as if this was a one off event - the Milton Keynes Bowl hosts loads of events every year. It can't be like that every time, surely? I used to live in a city that had a premiership football team and when people were leaving the ground on match days, surrounding routes were closed off for an hour to get everyone out of the city as fast as possible. It was a bit inconvenient for the locals, but ultimately we got our city back to normal more quickly. I don't understand why it was such a mess, especially in Milton Keynes which was designed around the car!
Rant over. Take That were fantastic, so I don't really mind that I didn't get home until gone 4am. Has anyone else got any similar tales? Read more
Hee hee! Well, I tend to agree with the leaving early scenario, but it was The Who!!! Didn't want to miss the last bits. Sad hey?!
on my friends 1995 xantia the steering when turning left to right seems to have a 'knock' to it. Hard to describe but we jacked it up and held the wheels as they were turned and it feels like the power steering stops for a split second and kicks in again. It doesnt feel like theres any play there.
Just wondered if it might be an air lock in the hydrolic fluid?
Any ideas
Cheers Read more
Steve - Well, I've bought a new one and will fit next service, unless it goes tight again before then. However, it isn't a 'knocking', it was a tight/slack/tight/slack feeling as the s/wheel is rotated - almost as the original enquirer suggested, as if the PAS was momentarily not working. I'd be inclined to replace anyway, but from what I gather on a Cit forum, they tend to be okay longterm once worked free and lubed up. (And at £50 odd quid, represent a fair chunk of any Xantia's value these days!) ;-)
My brother in law has a 1999 metallic green Audi A4 and he has said in the past he has bought Tcut metallic green polish to get some football scratches out of his bonnet surely if he has done this he will have rubbed away the clear lacquer layer that is sprayed on top of the metallic paint. Could someone tell me what the clear lacquer coating is applied on top of the metallic paint for, in other words what is its function and what are the consequences of removing this clear lacquer layer.
Thanks
Read more
>>I think someone is getting confused about the water based bit. The water is simply
>>the solvent that allows the paint to flow as it is applied.
True technically water is a solvent, but in the refinish industry the accepted terms are 'water based' for paint that is based on water, where as the traditional VOC based paints are known as 'solvent based'.
>>Non-metallic single coat car paints are also water based.
No they are not, they are still 'solvent based'. The technology isn't good enough yet to make a durable vehicle paint finish that is based on water.
>>The lacquer is for protection & to make the paint very reflective.
The lacquer provides a coating to protect the fragile basecoat and makes it shine. Basecoat by its very nature dries to a matt finish and needs the lacquer to make it work otherwise it would just be a dull finish. Lacquer is also still 'solvent based' for the same reasons as the non-metallic single coat paints (direct gloss colours).
I bought a full set of tyres from a well known company. When I got home (probaby 0.2 mile) I had a look at the tyres and one of them had a split of about 2cms on the side wall.
So the next morning I went straight back to the dealer and he said it is their company policy to sell the customer another tyre and send the defective tyre back to the supplier for inspection. If the inspection reveals it was a manufacturing fault then I would be reimbursed. It is obvious that the split was there from the start. I wish I had checked while I was still there.
I can see how this is often a sensible policy but as it was clear the tyres had barely been used this seems mad and inflexible. And what is to stop them saying I kerbed it and not reimburse me?
I'm speaking to him tomorrow by which time he will have found out from his boss what they "can do".
Any suggesions as to how I deal with this if he insists I buy another tyre and wait for refund? It seems an unfair policy to apply to everyone.
Thanks. Read more
Credit card co's don't spend mega bucks on legals, they simply take the money back from the vendor, assuming of course, that it hasn't been done through a 3rd party.
Browse
>>The top of the steering wheel obscures
>>
I've noticed this in Japanese cars - they're all about 5' 6'' so the steering wheel is probably at about the right height for them.