July 2006
Greetings all,
Wondering if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on this problem....
My 52 Octavia 2.0 has got a lot of 'play' in the steering, and also tends to drift to the left somewhat. This problem has gradually got a lot worse over the last 5000 miles or so. Its very similar to a problem I had with a golf mk3 driver I recently had; a new steering rack and wheel alignment helped this but was never back to A1 condition. Pot holes and speed bumps dont help I'm sure, but was thinking whether there may be anything else worth checking else or if anyone has had similar problems with skodas/vw's etc.
cheers
corky. Read more
My less-than 20,000 mile Almera has done nearly 5,000 miles since its last service. The service interval is 9,000 miles, but that feels to me like a long time to run on the same oil.
I'm no mechanic, but I do know that on diesels, frequent oil changes are one of the most crucial parts of maintenance, and although this car is petol-engined, I'm wondering if it'd be wiser to get an oil-change now. (As an automatic, it often seems to be doing only 1500 RPM, which feels a bit on the low side, and there are airly frequent 5-6,000 RPMS burts on kickdown, tho both are interspersed with long bouts of 2000-3000 on the motorways).
Is it worthwhile spending a few quid for an extra oil-change? And if so, where would I go to get that done? Read more
What car was this on Cliff?
I have a Varta B18 "Blue Dynamic" calcium/silver battery on my car. Given the recent hot weather, I am concerned as to the fluid level in the cells but seem unable to remove the cover to check. Can anyone please advise if the cover is supposed to lift off or if this is some kind of "sealed for life " item?
Thank you, Pete. Read more
Thank you both for the information and the confirmation.
Rgds.
I have only fortunately once broken down on a motorway, M40, between High Wycombe and Oxford, wide hard shoulder and in nice weather.
Where's the best and worst places to have broken down, and where's the safest place to be.
I have always said to SWMBO if required try and stop under a bridge, concrete protection and out of the rain.
any better thoughts. (ps finally removed the flag today).drbe contact via my info please Read more
Don't park under a bridge;you'll be in shadow and can't be clearly seen.
Hi, can anyone tell me how to remove the speedo cable from the back of the instrument panel? Am trying to fix blown dash lights and there's so little slack on the cable I can't get the panel out far enough to see how it's fixed, so am having to work blind. Haynes just says 'detach the cable'!
Don't want to have to detach it from the gearbox if poss and the cable is all one piece.
Is it easy enough to re-attach it afterwards as well?
Cheers.
Read more
Hi Ron,
Thanks very much for the advice. That sounds very similar to what I found with the AX. Didn't think to try sqeezing the lugs!
If there's anyone reading who has an AX and could comfirm that before I take it all apart again that would be great!
Thanks again Ron.
Ali
need a interior mirror for my car. i need a complete kit including its bracket that it sits in.
vw want just under £40 and so do eurocarparts.com. cant find any on GSF and ebay only has the mirrors. went to breakers and withhout smashing the windscreen, i cant get the bracket off.
currently got one of those sticky ones from halfords but in this heat it just unsticks itself and is a bit rubbish
anyone know where i could get one from apart from the above? Read more
this is what i was trying to explain Ashok Leyland but you have done a better job
Had to do Guildford to Northampton at 1am this morning for a boring but necessary reason so thought I would risk the M25 to J21 and the M1 through the roadworks that stretch to J10.
At 1am the traffic crawled through this section at about 30ish. The speed limit is 40 and there are two sets of SPECS cameras in place but this is not an issue as this speed is unattainable anyway.
The truckers were doing their usual lovable stunt of a rolling road block in lanes one and two and the far side of lane 3 has a metal barrier separating you from oncoming traffic/roadworks.
So basically you spend 10 miles with a wall of metal to each side and some idiot up your exhaust pipe because you have the good sense to leave a proper gap with the car in front of you.
I did not feel safe on any section of this road and will avoid it completely until the roadworks are complete by taking the M40/A43 route.
Also to add a cherry on top a metal wind deflector big enough to be off an artic/large van was sitting in the outside lane just before Toddington Services. I spotted it and had to swerve in front of traffic in lane two to avoid the front of my car being taken off. I reported it to the fuss so hopefully it was removed before anyone got killed.
Fun, fun fun. Read more
I am using the A1 (A1M)
On the whole its not bad
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Check out Aldi
Load of Car related stuff this Sunday
www.aldi.co.uk
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF > Read more
I've had good buys too, just the can opener proved to be useless.
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
Do any of you have any experience of driving or owning the new(ish) Saab 9-3 estate?
I'm considering one with the 150bhp turbodiesel engine, which I'm sure has been given rave reviews and is used by several other manufacturers (GM, Fiat,..)?
I'm not comparing it with any other car (least of all the Mondeo TDCi)! Just looking for feedback re: space, comfort, economy, reliability, service bills,... etc.
I'd be buying brand new (now that Volvo have returned my deposit with the confession that they still have no idea if/when the C70 I'd ordered in March will be built....!)
Thanks, N. Read more
Great input from everyone, I really appreciate it.
I'm currently on my 4th Volvo, and would consider a V50 as an alternative to the Saab, but Volvo UK have P*!$ed me off with the way they've handled my C70 order...
That said, I do now have a nagging doubt about Saab's reliability...!
Maybe a V50 D5 with Geartronic automatic is the better car and "safer" choice?
As commerdriver says, best thing I can do is go and take a look at both of them next week...
Browse
A logical extension.
I've got a good version of The Girl from Ipanema, but it will take a few good performers to do it.