Own a mk4 golf GT TDI 150 on a late 53 plate. Has been serviced every 20k at the main dealers (longlife service). I bought the car a few days ago and it has done 69k (obv motorway mileage) and its last longlife service and cambelt change was done at 60k.
Now I don't know what you people think but I really am not keen on this longlife service lark. 20000 miles without opening the bonnet seems crazy to me but vw state that modern engines + motorway mileage is perfect for longlife servicing...
Anyway I am not going to live on the motorway, i mainly do city stop-start traffic (75% of the time), country lanes (20%), and motorway and dual carriegways (5%).
Should i give it a normal service immediately or wait another few thousand miles??
What are your views on this longlife service? Read more

Just installed a replacement (new) motherboard on son's computer. On power up, fan starts, then stops: audible "click" from the rear of the mother board (close to ports) and fan starts, then stops.
Fairly rapid cycle no longer than 2 secs for each start/stop. Motherboard is ASRock from Ebuyers nothing fancy; Intel Celeron D socket 478.
Reason for change: son incorrectly inserted RAM chip in old one causing it to lose 3 of the soldered pin connectors which became stuck to inside of socket (heat?)
Yes, I am using a new stick of RAM!
any ideas, please?
Tim{P} Read more

I got a quote for a new tyre, from my local garage/tyre-supplier.
I then asked if I got 4 could he knock a bit off - he came back with a figure which was 8.8% off. He was also requested to fit new rear brake shoes.

2 days later, I dropped the car off first thing in the morning, had him make a note of my contact phone number, and went off to work.
Before I left work that day, I rang to check the car was ready to pick up. It was, I went, paid the bill (he'd also replaced a leaking wheel cylinder), and returned to my car, which he'd parked on the dirt road at the back of the garage. It was dark, and the road only has regular streeghtlights.
I drove the half mile back to my house, parked, and went in for tea.

In the daylight the next morning, I found that he'd fitted 65-profile tyres instead of the 60-profiles it should have.
These are 165 width on 14" rims, so, even if all else were equal, my speedo and mileometer will now under-read by 3%.

I rang the guy up and said what I'd found, and he said "Well you said 65 on the phone when you asked me for a quote."
I know that I didn't, because I myself thought a 60-profile was quite low for a 1-litre Micra, so I'd double-checked right before I'd phoned.

(I suspect what may have happened is when I'd said "One six five sixty BY fourteen", he, using on a DECT phone while wandering from the workshop to the office, had heard it as "One six five sixtyFIVE fourteen".)

"Well there are often size options and some people want a slightly different size on, and that's the size you asked for", he said.
"I'm aware of that kind of thing; my old car had options for 195-60 or 186-65 tyre on the same rim, but that difference is only 1.1%, this is 3%", I replied.

The thing is, all four of the tyres removed were 165-60, the spare in the boot is 165-60, and the tyre pressure sticker on the door jamb quotes only 165-60, with no other options printed. Surely if I'd wanted the existing tyres replacing with a different size, I would have made it more explicit, and maybe left a post-it note over the instruments? And surely before changing ALL 4 tyres, he might have called me at work on the number I'd given him, to double-check?

I offered the following: "Look, I appreciate your position; what's the proportion of cost, per tyre, for fitting and balancing? £10 say? so that's £40 for the four. How about I meet you half way and pay you £20 to change them for the correct sized ones?"
"Well I'd be left with 4 tyres that aren't new, because they've been used on the road", he replied.
"But I've driven all of half a mile, at less than 30 mph, on them", I said. (I don't know whether they test-drove the car after the brake overhaul)

"Well I'll have to look at my paperwork... Anyway, I'm in the middle of a job at the minute, can I phone you back in half an hour?"
"Yes"
Of course no phone call has been forthcoming...


From a few past experiences with this guy, he's a good mechanic, very reasonably-priced, and within walking distance of home, which is worth a lot in terms of convenience, so it'd be a definite shame and incovenience to sour the relationship just by being bludi-minded.

I know I do have 4 new tyres and the difference is small and it's only a 7 year-old Micra, but I was looking forward to getting these new boots and now I've paid good money and not got what I wanted. Even dismissing the increased risk of exceeding a speed limit, I also wonder, by the letter of the law, how I stand with regard to insurance in the event of a bump when my tyres are not quite the manufacturer's quoted size?

What would YOU do?
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firstly little info about my car '91 sierra 1.8lt with piersbury carb.
my problem with car is as the title suggests it has very rough running from cold, but fine when warm/hot.
vehicle doesn't overheat and heats up like it should neither too fast or too slow.
ideas welcomed
solution even better. Read more

Motorpoint seem to have lots of good deals. I'd like to know what people's experience is of dealing with them as I don't know much about them.
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