October 2006
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Common sense for the future? Read more
According to Warranty Direct figures, 1 in 3 vehicles will suffer a mechanical breakdown every year.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/index.htm?news_id=3387
From my own experience, I have never suffered this rate of breakdown. So are you better or worse with breakdowns, or is this advertising talk?
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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After University I was skint, I used to spend all my money on going out, and bought a couple of cars with my heart rather than my head. Had quite a few things go wrong with those two and two breakdowns (meaning breakdowns that actually left me stranded). '84 Audi 80 quattro - front wishbone snapped and wheel came off. '91 Peugeot 405 Mi16 - clutch cable snapped, could have limped it home but it was rush hour and a long way to go so I left it overnight.
So thats two breakdowns in 11 years of owning my own cars, and the Audi and Pug were in below average mechanical condition. But I've had several other mechanical failures that have not left me stranded. Had problems with the Pug gearbox, at one stage would not go into reverse (linkage problem), its finale was when the bellhousing started parting company from the engine (stripped alloy threads), so it had to go. But I just checked my records and I'm amazed I took it up to 120k miles.
Also Mk3 Golf - HGF, but drove it home and drove to the garage the next day. Was narked about that one, didn't expect it from a Golf at that mileage. Saab 9000 - HGF, drove it home 35 miles (carefully and with a big bottle of water at the ready). But that car had 198k miles on it and a non-existant service history.
My current Saab 9-3 TiD has been totally reliable in 2.5 years and 45k miles, apart from a little problem I caused myself. That was my fault not the cars fault!
astra 1.6 16v 2000, driving along the engine felt low on power then juddering got to a junction the engine cut out?? re-started straight away low revs but picked up ok drived on full power no probs this has happened twice any ideas?? there is no fault light lit it idles ok no misfire, just been serviced in the last 1000mls, i suspected fuel blockage the filter was new at the service. any replies welcome before i have to have the fault codes read!!! Read more
cleaned egr valve and soaked with wd40, also cleaned throttle body as a precaution, if persists have to have ecu read.
Hi - for years, my missus's 2000 Scenic 1.6 Sport has made a kind of squawk noise when pulling away, as the clutch is engaged. The sharper the bite of the clutch, the louder the squawk. It's possible to avoid making the noise if you let the clutch bite very gently, but I lack the necessary refinement (or patience). It's been there ever since we bought the car in 02. It's now on 65K miles and the noise is more noticeable than ever. It usually only occurs when moving away in first, but has started to be audible when changing up to second. But it obviously has't affected the basic driveability of the car, or we'd have got round to worrying about it before now. Should I get it fixed, and what's the likely cause? Any thoughts gratefully received. Read more
Sorry I missed the question mark off it was a question not a statement.
i mentioned to one of my neighbours 10 - 11 months ago, that she had a couple of Dunlop Kojaks on the back of her car ( 1994 ish BMW 320 coupe auto)......as one of them was down to the canvas......and being rear wheel drive i thought she might have an 'interesting moment' on a wet roundabout.
within the week she had replaced all four.........didn't bother looking at the make, but flash alloy wheels and low profiles.
i've just noticed again, that the rear near side is virtually bald and the other rear one is pretty bad, (fronts look fine).
The car is often outside the house and doesn't disappear for long, so i'm not convinced it does high mileage.
Even if they were 'el cheapos' doesn't that sound a bit quick to wear out a tyre completely. Front wheel drive maybe more likely, but on the back of a 320i ? it's not exacly gut thrustingly quick on the acceleration is it and she doesn't look like the average 'drifter'. Read more
Obliged...... She's quite a pleasant lady so i'll drop it into
the conversation at some point.
What, you're going to ask her about her bush....
i need to remove the lower part of the dash above the pedals on a mk4 golf ....so i can access the pedals as one of em squeaks Read more
On my Octavia (same mechanical layout as MKIV Golf) You can access the pedal assemblys by removing an under dash plastic panel (drivers side) attached by two torque screws at the front. The clutch is hydraulic. For easier access you could remove the seat ( be careful of airbag etc. connectors, disconnect battery!)
I dont think you can drop the lower dash without removing the whole dash!, I think you can remove part of the center console though.
mk4 golf 1600 53 plate, when i blip the key fob and open the door i hear a electric motor run for a few seconds ....sounds like its coming from low down in the engine bay infront of the pedals
any ideas what it is....i assume its perfectly normal , just like to know what things are Read more
I think people are right about it being to prime the fuel pump. At least one breakdown company now are warning people not to even unlock their doors if they discover they have put the wrong fuel in when re-fueling for this very reason.
I know it's been covered here before but now NU have implemented it.
www.orange.co.uk/news/topstories/2269.htm?linkfrom...7
It could save a fortune on multi car households Read more
Young people aged 18-23 will get lower premiums if they don't drive at night. So in a few years time we'll have lots of 24 year-olds with no experience of night driving, causing a higher accident rate! Would an insurance company go to such lengths as PAYG insurance unless they were making more money out of it? Not likely.
... a missing safety device in the right-hand-drive models........drivers could suffer severe knee injuries in a crash.
See:-
tinyurl.com/zrlja Read more
The old LHD->RHD conversion gremlin strikes again.
I'm sure this is one of the main reasons certain cars have a patchy reputation in the UK. This practice of designing a car for LHD then converting it, often badly, is far from ideal.
But it's never mentioned in the motoring press. They prefer to diss Kia for putting the indicator stalk the *right* way around......
Hi
In the real world, I've never lied, or on the internet for that matter other than to hide my real name.
Does honesty real pay these days?
I was jumped a red light in an area i was very familar with and you could easily see there was nothing coming from the one way road form the other side. It was around 02-00hrs and as i approached the lights, they turned amber and i just put my foot dowm - to cut a long story short, cops stopped me in a unmaked car that were behind me. I apologised and they let me off with a warning.
If I told you all another secret, will i gain respect for being honest or be punished - please advise DD/Co! Read more
THREAD LOCKED
audiaudi. I would consider your future on here very carefully if I were you. You have been shown up as a fraud, Charlatan, fake, pretender, con artist, etc; as well as being a potential troll. If you persist, then you will leave me no alternative but to disable your backroom account.
DD.
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Yes and yes. I have mine tuned to 88.1 and it works fine where I normally drive, around Notts/ Derbys/ South Yorks; but if I go further afield I can get local stations muscling in on my frequency... The original Griffin iTrips are a pain, you have to reset the frequency by playing a sound signal on the iPod. Which means you have dozens of annoying bleepy sound clips in your ipod, so best to tuck them away in a seperate playlist.
I now have a new iTrip with LCD screen and jog dial to select frequencies, which is better, but still a flawed solution for car audio IMHO.
The better way is to use a stereo adapter but last time I checked they still didnt do one for my car: snipurl.com/13pqj . Some people hard-wire a cable into their stereo, but I dont trust myself with a soldering iron to have a go at that!
My iPod has broken anyway so I am missing out on my last few days of illegal iTrip usage.
;o)