September 2006
On my A4 I noticed one headlight glass was fogged up. Later I realised the Xenon headlight on that side was not functioning. Further investigation showed that a plastic access hatch at the rear had broken.
Rather strangely, the light has now decided to work, and I have replaced the broken hatch to seal the unit again.
Could the fault simply be ingress of moisture, which a hot and dry day yesterday has dried out?
Or does anyone have any other ideas? The bulb is obviously okay, but is there any history of faulty ignition units? I am aware that they operate at a very high voltage, but I would have thought they would be sealed from any moistuer problems.
Thanks for any ideas. Read more
I have subscribed to this motoring magazine since its inception - which is a publication from the Dennis Publishing stable and of 'Auto Express' fame.
I suspected things were not good some time ago when the price was dropped from £3 plus to £1.50 presumably to increase circulation but the scope of the articles thereafter decreased.
Today I have had a notification to say that the magazine has 'now closed' and that, in future, I would be receiving What Car ? who would honour their subscription commitments. Fair play I say.
There was a motoring pubication thread here a short time ago which remembered passed titles and I remember the demise of 'Buying Cars' - a mag that I enjoyed enormously at the time. I always likened Test Drive to that genre in style if not true spirit.
What Car ? it is then !
Ian
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Gave them all up years ago, when Car was still fairly full of itself but in the grip of unimaginative management... Motor Sport got thinner somehow and lost its real style when William Boddy retired from the editorship... Never got into Autosport although club racers and the like read it... Quite liked CCC, the oily person's car magazine...
Can't say I ever noticed Test Drive Magazine's existence.
I have been looking on ebay ect.. for a used RX-8 for a few weeks now,there has been 1 that i like the look of which was 2005 plate 231 bhp with full leather sat nav and skirt kit ect.. which i missed out on ebay and it didint reach its min reserve price.
I have seen it for sale private now for 12,500 which is a very good price,it says that it had been in a accident with a new wing and bonnet but the damage was minimal and all the work was done and now looks like new.
But the only thing putting me off traveling a 100 miles to view it is it states that it is on VCAR hence the price of 12,500.
Could anybody help explain about Vcar ect.. Read more
Many years ago a colleague has his brand new car taken in the Newcastle area 1 week later it was found - bashed & bruised - the bodywork was repaired - most panels apart from the roof IIRC - my colleague was surprised it was repaired.
Bodily the car looked fine (about 4 weeks later) however the mechanicals soon showed up to be suspect and the car was
eventually written off as the car had been thrashed for about 300 miles - may be it ran out of fuel..
Somebody somewhere would buy as a 3/4 month old car - unaware (at that time) of its dark history. The were no Ins write off systems at that time.
Hello,
Can someone explain the symptoms of 'slip' when referring to an automatic gearbox, is there a technique to trigger it when on a test drive?
cheers
Ben Read more
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Media play burns to folders by default IME so each album
is a different folder for instance.
I hadn't realised that, from the appearence of the interface I just assumed it didn't.
Thinking on it, it's still not as good for me as it could be. In order for my car stereo to allow you to easily flick between albums, the folders have to have a two digit number before the name. (In the same way as the tracks, as mentioned by someone else)
I have found a program called CDMaster32 which will do the job, if I have any problems with it, I'll try one of the other suggestions on here. Thanks people.
hi
i have a 2002 polo 1.4 75bhp, twice in a week it has failed to start, when this happens i loose my dash display, no warning lights or background light, although the gauges work. when this happens it will turn over but not fire up. the rest of the dashboard lights work, radio, fan, h lights indicators all good but no start.
whilst we were being towed there was a sudden jolt in the chain and everything came back on and started.
5 days later same again and recovery bloke messed with fuses and wires under dash, 20 mins later it started but he didn't know what had happened??
anyone any ideas or had similar
vw garage didn't know but said we';d look at it for an extortionate rate.
longy
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My girlfriend had this on her 2000 polo 1.4. After failing again the fault was the ignition swich which cost £75 to replace.
Hope this helps..
FH
Something that's bugged me for years that I am sure folks on here will know the answer to....
We all know that second-hand German cars retain a good percentage of list price compared with most other makes. But what is this based on? If a particular model is said to retain 58% at 3yrs/36k, is that figure simply based on the basic spec/list price for that model? Or does it take account of the extras too? Reason I ask is that I wonder if the retained values are really that great, if the £1000s of extras often fitted to these models is simply written off then they are not the great value buys that the figures would suggest.
I'll except base Golfs from this, 'cos people will clearly pay through the nose to get one of those things second-hand even when it has zero equipment!
Hope the question makes sense... :) Read more
The p/x offers I had on my previous Pasatt were rubbish. I even challenged a VW dealer about his offer and the alledged positive residuals and he just 'smiled'!
Hi!
I'm after a cheap hack to get to work and back and spotted a tidy Mercedes e280 at a dealers local to me. It all looked fine, pretty tidy for the year (93) seemed to have service history and looked an honest car. I arranged to come back to test drive it but as i left noticed that the windscreen VIN had been painted from underneath with body coloured paint.
The dealer explained that in the past people were able to write down the VIN and then order a key from Mercedes and come back and help themselves to the car, I've never heard of this and presumed the cars got something wrong with it so left.
Is there any truth in whats said as it would be a shame to miss out on it if there's truth in what was said?
cheers
Ben Read more
It's strange why manufacturers have the VIN so visible. In the
past they were hidden.
it was supposed to cut down on crime as the vin was visible to any agency that needed to look at it quickly without dirtying their staypresses while grovelling under carpets
I am trying to remove the inlet manifold on my 306 D Turbo. Haynes says it should be on bolts and its on studs and how the hell do you get to that bolt underneath?
So just what is the best way to get the inlet manifold off before it meets an untimely end under a 12 pound sledge......
If anybody can help me out with this will be very grateful.
Thanks
Danny Read more
Haven't really bothered with the air-con since I bought the car a couple of months ago, but I've noticed that it's not very cold at all. Compressor is working, because the revs change when the air-con's switched on, and the car won't climb hills with it on!
Is it likely to just need regassing? If so, how much is reasonable price for a re-gas?
Thanks. Read more
If it's just a re-gass, then approx £70-£100.
GWS - thanks, but I am really looking for any experience anyone has had on the effect of moisture on the Xenon high voltage system.