January 2007
Hi all,
This morning I received two windscreen chips. Both are very small (no more than 2-3mm across) and are about 30mm from each other. Unfortunately, they are straight in front of my nose as I drive. They seem very 'tight'; a single mark with no sign (yet) of cracks.
I believe this wouldn't be cause to fail my MOT (10mm in 'zone A' in front of the driver). So the question is : should I get them repaired now? Do these things tend to get worse?
I'm insured with Admiral and there is a 'glass helpline' I can use, but it looks like they are reluctant to repair chips that are directly in front of the driver. I'd rather not have the screen replaced unless absolutely necessary.
Any comments welcomed.
Thanks,
Sam Read more
The cheap number plates fitted to my car when new by the main dealer have been delaminating. Along with a stone chip on the front one and rusty screws holding them on, I decided to get some nice new plates maden up to improve the appearance. I managed to swap the front one without problem but the rear one is proving more difficult.
The dealer did not use the yellow (or black) plastic screw covers, so the screws have been exposed to the elements for three years. Once screw turned about 1/4 turn before the posidrive part of the head crumbled. I still have the head in place but nothing for a screwdriver to grip. The other screw just sheared its head straight off, not quite flush with the car's panel.
I could probably just leave the sheared head in place, using either sticky pads or the other hole on that side to screw into, but treat it to ensure I won't be left with a rusty trail behind the new plate. Is there an easy way to remove the screw now?
Any ideas how to shift the screw that won't take a screwdriver anymore?
Thanks,
James Read more
Same as me - he's always delivered next day. Fantastic service and has never let me down once. I can recommend him to all. No relation/connection, just a very satisfied customer.
Mark.
I'm sure I'll go doh! when someone tells me. Read more
1 PS = 0.9863201652997627 hp (SAE)
A case of the English horse being harder working than the German ?
For reasons that become obvious below, I would like as many as possible to do the following test and reply here::
1/ Sit in the driver's seat with the engine running.
2/ Press moderately hard on the brake pedal - and keep the same pressure applied for up to a minute.
There are only two possible results - either:
(a) once the initial free play and compressibility have been taken up in the first second or so, the pedal stays where it is.
(b) once the initial free play and compressibility have been taken up in the first second or so, the pedal moves down slowly but steadily downward, eventually hitting the stops.. This has always been recognised as a fault, due to brake fluid leaking slowly through a bad seal or bad union etc - until now!
If in doubt, try holding a long stick or broom handle or whatever so that the bottom end rests on the brake pedal alongside your foot and the upper end rests against the edge of the steering wheel, making it easy to see any continuing movement rather than rely on "feel". Either way, please confirm the following
More movement - "pedal creep" or not, make and model, age, petrol or diesel, ABS or not. For hydraulic brakes only of course, not rod or cable!
I have just collected my 2001 Vauxhall Omega for the 6th time, and the fault symptom remains the same in kind, worse still in extent.. When I do the above test, the pedal creeps downward under constant pressure, reaching the end of travel within 5 seconds or so.
Amazingly, a brand new, unsold Vectra at the dealer's does the same - BUT WORSE! With relatively light pressure, the pedal continues to move down quite rapidly until it hits the end stop with an audible click! Apparently they all do this, and no one else has noticed and the dealer sells them by the hundred!
On an Omega owners web site a few report the same symptoms, rather more no such symptoms - so the dealer's claim that this is "normal" simply is not true. Nor can I imagine why anyone would design a system to do that! On the other hand, it seems that thousands of brand new Vauxhalls are being sold with brake pedals that sink "to the floor" within seconds, and NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE! This is the most bizarre problem I have come across in 48 years driving"
I refuse to believe that anyone in his right mind would design a brake system to do this - quite apart from the safety and lack of confidence aspects, how can drivers control braking properly if the pedal keeps moving down - and what happens in a high speed stop, when the pedal hits the end of travel - inevitably taking some of the availble foot pressure - before the car stops?
I now intend to get the ABS valve block checked and if necessary replaced.
A friend rang to tell me that Watchdog on BBC this week referred to an unidentified "British" car manufacturer has a major safety problem that they refuse to recognise - I wonder if this is it?
Idris
Read more
Have you had your brake pads replaced recently? Read somewhere that with cars with ABS and vauxhalls you have to be extremely careful when replacing brake pads.
When the old pads are taken out some uninformed mechanics push the piston back into the caliper quickly or without opening the bleed nipple. The fluid is forced back into the master brake reservoir. This sometimes reverses the seals in the master cylinder. When this happens if you keep your foot pressed on the brake pedal it slowly sinks to the floor.
Could be the garage is not aware or want to check this.
Hi, can you please give me your opinion on a Rover 75 CDTI (diesel) should I buy one (great bargains around) or should I leave well alone. They use a BMW engine. And also it's chain driven not belt!!
Advise please!!
Thanks
Read more
Andy nc P
"As I understand it, the only difference between the 115 bhp version of the Rover 75 CDT and the 135 (?) bhp version was an "official" remap. "...
My 2003 1.8 Astra has developed a high pitched intermittent squeal. It seems to start after about 4 or 5 miles into a journey and at low speeds just comes on for a few seconds for no reason.
At motorway driving 60-70mph it is a very high pitched and constant until I come off and then it will either stop for sometime or become intermittent again.
Each time the car is taken to garage for inspection the problem never seems to occur.
I'm 99% certain that it is coming from 1 of the wheels on the RHS. I have eliminated the brakes as being the culprit as the car has had new brakes and calipers 4 discs and pads all round under warranty last year due to a fault. They have been inspected on 2 occasions in recent days and 2 garages confirm that the brakes are ok.
Could the problem be a wheel bearing or has anyone one out there got any other ideas what it may be? Read more
Unfortunately I doubt anyone will reply. No-one who's contributed has logged on for at least three years.
Hi there - i have an ongoing problem with my golf 01 reg/ 16v/manual/52k miles.
Every so often while idling, the engine will begin to run very roughly, the engine light will begin blinking and there will be a big loss of power.
After turning it off, waiting for a few minutes and restarting the misfire will disappear and the engine light will be on but will no longer be blinking.
After a day or so the engine light will go off.
I have been back and forward to the local vw dealership and they always seem to replace the ignition coils. And this is starting to get very expensive.
To me it seems that they are fixing the symptom rather than the problem - are ignition coil packs that unreliable?? Or could something else be causing the coil packs to fail.
It seems very wierd that this only happens intermittantly and not all the time. The car has only done around 1500 miles in the last year and I have had it at the dealership 4 times for this problem.
Does anyone out there have any idea as to what is causing this problem?
Read more
This fuel problem has got me worried being a VW owner. Does anybody have a list of the engines affected and what fuel we should be using?
Does this fuel problem also affect older VW engines from the 1980s or 1990s whether it be normal type, GTI, or VR6 running 95 petrol?
Hi,
My car is in the accident repair shop for the next 4 days and I have been given a Pug 307 SW.
Wow, I have never driven a car with a panoramic roof before and it is amazing, so light and a great impression of space.
I am replacing my car very shortly, what cars come (or can have an option as) with a panoramic roof. Budget is upto about £25k, new cars only as it is a company car.
Thanks Read more
The Citroen C4 hatch and coupes have a fixed panoramic roof option, as well as the new C4 Picasso.
All
I have a problem with my wife's 98R Micra. It has manual windows. The driver's side window winder is just turning but not winding the window. The window itself is not being held up by anything, and would fall through the door if we don't stick it up with blu-tac.
We have had this problem before (5 years ago), and the garage we took it to first of all rebonded the window - but that didn't work, so they replaced both the glass and the winder mechanism. I have phoned a couple of garages and also visited a scrapyard. I seem to have 3 choices :
a) First garage says needs new window plus winder mechanism - total bill £300. This seems a lot, especially as the car is probably only worth £1k.
b) Second garage says all it needs is to be rebonded - cost £50. Reluctant to go down this route, as rebonding did not work last time.
c) Visited scrapyard. Could either get a door from a scrapped car and do a straight swap, presumably just changing the lock barrell. Or cannibalise the old door for the window and winder.
I want to explore option c). Scrapyard says cost = £40 for door. But the only doors they have are for a 3 door car, mine is a 5 door (smaller door). So, questions :
1. How easy will it be to locate the door of a 5 door car?
2. Would I be better to replace the door (in which case it will need to be white) or cannibalise the parts I need?
3. How much do you think a workshop would charge me to do this? I would want them to source the door themselves and do all the work for me.
I am tempted by option c), but I guess the risk is that any second hand parts I use may also fail. One of the garages I phoned said this was a fairly common fault,
Which of the above options would you go for, and can you answer my queries re option c).
Thanks in advance Read more
K11 Nissan Micra 2002 rebonding electric windows.
This is my recommendation no doubt there are quicker methods.
1. Lower the window glass into the door or if you can remove it, do so.
2. Remove top of arm rest containing the window switches by gradually easing it up and off. Disconnect the switches.
There are 3 double 'push fit' catches, one at either end, and the most troublesome one is in the middle.
3. Undo all the screws that are now visible holding the centre of the door card to the door.
4. Un-pop all the push fit catches around the door edge, and then lift up the door card vertically out of the window opening.
5. Access to the door internals may require cutting the polythene in front of certain areas.
6. I suggest you remove the door speaker to help you with access.
7. Remove the 4 screws from the bracing plate to gain access to the main access point.
8. Make sure the window glass is now removed.
9. Disconnect the electric to power window mechanism.
10 Remove 2 screws holding the short window mechanism track to the door.
11 Remove fixings to the rest of the mechanism, and remove it from the main access area.
12 On a bench unscrew the 2 glass holders and remove all the old 'resin bonding'.
Tips: With a nail poke out the resin from the 2 holes in the bottom of these holders. A masonary cutting disk
held in a vice is good to use to clean the slots manually.
This will help with better bonding and make it easier to locate the glass in the holders.
Inspect the mechanism for wear and consider greasing the short track.
13 Clean old resin off the glass, but first with a marker, mark where new resin needs to be applied.
14 Replace mechanism and track into door. NOW if you have it, spray dry silicone lubricant to the internal glass guidance tracks.
15 Temporarily re-connect the elecric switch and raise the mechanism slowly as far as possible so that
you can apply Araldite to them.
16 Apply generous amounts of Araldite to both sides of glass and the holders.
17 Lower the mechanism nearly to the bottom where you can see the holders.
18 Carefully slot in the glass following the guidance tracks at either side, and locate the bottom into the holders.
19 IMPORTANT: Close the window fully, doublecheck the holders are in the right place, and the glass is in its guidance slots and then leave to bond.
20 When bonded, open the window fully, disconnect the winder electrics and reassemble reversing the above procedure para 7 to para 2.
Note it is a good idea to sellotape up the cut polythene as you do this.
I have a Hyundai Getz which has developed the strangest fault. If the engine is started when completely cold, it starts and runs fine. Similarly, if started when completely warmed up, it starts and runs fine. The problem occurs when you try to restart the car when the engine has not fully warmed up.
The symptoms of the fault are as follows:
-very little power under load and stalls extremely easy
-uneven running and generally sounding very rough / laboured when idling.
-will not rev above about 1,500 revs and starts to splutter when it hits this limit
-more smoke than usual (even for a diesel) when you do rev the engine.
-if you stop and restart the engine, there is roughly a 15% probability that the problem will not be there after there restart.
Although the car is still under warranty, they have taken a look but cannot find anything wrong because the dealership is some distance away and by the time it gets there, it's completely up to temperature and runs sweetly.
I did think it might be to do with the preheating system / glow plugs etc, but that doesn't explain why it starts fine when completely cold... Any ideas? It's driving me mad (no pun intended). Other than this problem, I must say that I am actually really happy with the car.
Many thanks for reading this.
James
Read more
same trouble cleaned out throttle housing. and all fixed thanks to you all local garages didnt have a clue thanks again..
Browse
.jpg)
And in doing so will more than likely result in you having to pay for a stone chip repair that would have otherwise been free through the agreement the insurance compnay has with the recommended windscreen company.