October 2006
I have recently bought a Citroen Xantia Forte 2.0 HDI July 2000 W Plate. It had only 7093 miles with 5 Service Stamps from the same dealer that sold the car.
I am using it as a private hire vehicle and have already put another 4500 miles on the clock.
The question is that as the belt hasn't been changed when should I be changing it seeing as it is over 6 years old?
Any advice would be appreciated or a contact at Citroen where I could direct the question. Read more
Lifted the carpet in my boot today and found that the spare wheel well was inches deep in water. The well seems to be an enclosed moulded plastic unit and the sides of it seemed to be dry.
Any ideas why this could be? I know the original Scenics suffered from blocked drain pipes from the sunroofs but havent heard anything about the new shape Scenics? Read more
Car into dealer today for another problem (rattling dashboard again). Have told them about the water in the boot so will see if they find the reason why.......
Can anyone advise me if there is any way of replacing the thermostat on a 1.6 Mk 3 Astra without removing the timing belt?. I looked at the haynes manual and it states that the timing belt has to be removed. Read more
Earlier Astras were just about possible to do with the cambelt in situ. But I believe the backing plate that the belt cover attaches to is different on the engine fitted to the mk3 than it was on the mk1 Astra. On the Mk1you could loosen off the backing plate to just about give you enough clearance to jiggle out the thermostat. If you have to remove the belt, it's worth changing it and the tensioners at the same time as changing the thermostat.
I have a pug 205 1.1 (92). It will start first thing in the morning and be absolutley fine. The problem occurs when you turn the engine off and then come back to the car after a short while. The engine turns over ok but wont start. Have changed the distributor and cap. No change. Fuel is getting to the carb. On taking off the lead to the coil and placing a screwdriver over the coil and then turn the engine there is no spark, yet when I go back to the car later and turn the key she fires up straight away. Does anyone have any ideas on what could be causing this??? I sit a known fault on these cars??? Help Read more
many thanks for your expertise. Got a coil from the breakers, easy to fit and it started first time. If it happens again I will get a new one.
Not all this query is motoring related but hopefully there will be people here with the experience to offer suitable advice or at least point me in the right direction.
Quick summary: Parking in my street is becoming a right pain. I live in the end terrace and there is a patch of waste land beside my garden which I am considering buying, partly to extend the garden and partly to provide some parking space. There is a passage down the side of the house wide enough for a car and over which I'm told we have a right of access.
First (and on topic!) question is how much space is it reasonable to allow for a parking bay? I drive an old-style Yaris and SWMBO drives a Saxo although we want to allow for the possibility of one car being 'upgraded' to something a little larger should our situation change - say Focus size. I've been sketching things out and was allowing between 9 and 10 foot wide and 13 to 14 foot long if it was two individual bays, or about 16-17 foot wide and 14 foot long for a twin bay. Does this sound reasonable? What about gate openings - what is a good idea for a minimum opening to try and navigate through? Also, is planning permission likely to be needed for any of this? We may be about to become a conservation area but the land in question is tucked away to the rear of the houses and is not on a road which I think limits the impact of this.
The other part of the query involves actually buying the land. First query is what am I likely to be looking at cost-wise? I have estimated the area at about 500 square feet. Secondly, is the purchase something I can do myself, or am I better instructing a solicitor? If I can do it, what do I need to bear in mind? If I need a solicitor, how much is that likely to add to the bill? And when it comes to buying it, how do I find out who it actually belongs to? A neighbour reckons it belongs to the four houses who back on to it but other than paying the Land Registry for details of all 4 houses, is there any way I can confirm this? Also, the land is probably leasehold (there is an issue that the leaseholder is no longer interested in collecting the ground rent but I'm not sure what the case is there). Does this make things any harder?
Any advice is appreciated! Read more
Although not exactly relevant, the following shows the problems which can arise in determining access rights for parking.
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2006/2908.html
BIG
Hi
I've just registered on this excellent site, this is my (rather long!) first post. Incidentally I found you because this site is mentioned in the latest issue of Car Mechanics magazine which I received today (readers letters page).
I wonder if any experts on here can me with a problem I have with my Ford diesel Mondeo? The car is a 2004(04) model and has done 22500 miles. I purchased it from a well known car supermarket which it was just nine months old with about 12000 miles showing. It ran well until the hot weather in early summer when it started to lose power and stutter. Over the summer it went into the Ford dealer for repairs, them keeping the car for a few days on each visit and changing various electrical parts. I think it runs more smoothly now but still not quite right so last week it went into the service department again. On Friday they told me that all the sensors and controls are working properly but they think there has been a problem with contamination of the diesel system, due to either water or petrol getting into the diesel. I am informed that this is not covered by the warranty and that the repair will be costed at ten hours of labour, plus necessary new parts, megabucks in other words.
I have owned diesel cars for the last eight years and never go near a petrol pump, so I know that no petrol has got into it. I cannot imagine how water can get in. Assuming that I go ahead with repairs is there any way that I can get the old components inspected to prove that it is not contamination but simply prematurely worn out or faulty parts? Read more
So if the OP is doing the right thing by trading it in, wouldnt it be nice if he posted the Reg No and Colour so that no unsuspecting backroomer end up with it!
(I suggest not until after he has done the deal).
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pmh (was peter)
Hi All,
My mother had her Audi A3 -98 40k miles- in the garage to have the battery replaced - i thought 8 years was reasonable life for a battery ??any other thoughts on this would be welcome-.
Anyway when the battery was replaced and the car started the abs light came on and after diagnosis a faulty rear wheel abs sensor was replaced acouple of days later.
When starting up with the new rear wheel abs sensor the light came on again - another diagnosis and the other rear wheel sensor was fauly
my questiosn are thus:
is it possible the low battery voltage from a battery on the way out would stop the abs light from coming on??
this is what the garage said
Should both faulty abs sensors not have showed up on the diagnosis???
Is 180 a reasonable price??? thats for each one!! (100 labour 2hours, 50 odd sensor, & vat)
Is 8 years a reasonable expectation for an abs sensor??
What is the normal problems with abs sensors ??? -i thought it was a build up of dirt, and corrosion-
Car make/model added to subject header - DD Read more
Yes im told they had it on diagnostic machine ( each time), and this is how they found out it was a doggy sensor.
I was wondering if the points below could have contributed/ caused the fault??
When the battery was so low it was put on a charger- a trickle charger- not one of the high boost ones but the battery wasnt dosconnected could this have blown the abs Ecu???
about a week ago car went into to another garage to have prob with back braks sored - must have been an easy fix as no no charge but could tampering eg hammering etc have damaged the sensor and /or its electrical connections
Cheers
Andy
I have been experiencing a steady loss of pressure from two tyres on the venerable Volvo 740 for a couple of years now, nothing too drastic, about 2 or 3 PSI per week.
On a couple of occasions, suspecting a puncture, I visited my regular tyre depot and spent several minutes staring in the water bath together with the fitter, to no avail. We eventually concluded that it was pressure loss from the rim of the tyre whilst travelling and settled for a bead reseal and a new valve, the fitter advising me to source some replacement rims and I did indeed make some halfhearted enquires to try to get some S/H alloys.
Yesterday, on investigating a distinct clicking noise from the rear I found that part of the rim had become detached from the rest of the steel wheel, a radial shear of about 1/2" and a circumferial shear of about 4". The tyre hadn't blown off but I am shuddering at the recollection that I have just returned from a return trip to Gatwick.
What should have been very obvious rust weakening was hidden by the standard inset stainless steel embellishers which remain in place during wheel removal, and I ignored the pressure loss warning. I cannot be positive that the pressure loss was through the thin section but it must be a possibility.
Naturally this sort of problem is unlikely to affect more modern cars, the Volvo is 20 years old with a stellar mileage, however I have posted the tale as a warning against complacency.
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One mans junk is another mans treasure Read more
Point taken...thanks very much.
Hello
I have had my 02 plate 1.8 tdci ghia for 3 weeks now and absolutely love it. But I have noticed one problem.
The average mpg on the trip computer keeps going crazy!
My 25 mile journey to work is normally not very stop start and most of the time the readout registers about 49mpg which is great. But when it goes wrong the reading can drop to about 20mpg and I have not changed my speed from about 50mph for miles!
Then sometimes the meter will do the opposite and suddenly go to 99.99 mpg! wow!
So I do not trust the meter whatsover.
Is there something that can be done or do I just have to ignore it?
I have tried resetting it but this makes no difference. Read more
Our Trajet has started knocking from the front when braking and steering at low speeds.
We took it into our local Hyundai dealer (at a time to suit us) and they offered us a courtesy car at no cost other than a £15 insurance charge and will have it repaired within 48 hours. Seems like good service to me. any comments. Am happy to name as its not shaming. Read more
Sounds familiar, dull clunk when, in my case, turning into my drive at >5mph or 3 point turns etc. AsI said it happened twice and when the warranty got to four years+ got rid through loss of faith. However I still like the VFM of Hyundai and have a workhorsre Elentra Diesel with which I am quite satisfied
Browse
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being that you are using the car as a taxi/private hire it is recomended because you do a lot of stop starting that you change the belt every 40,000 miles in stead of 60,000 miles also i would suggest that the followers are also replaced because of the milage you do in a course of a year