June 2007
Hi, I?ve recently bought a Vauxhall Vectra 2.5 v6 CDX 1998 on a R-reg,and I?ve got no heaters. They blow very well but it's just cold air, not hot. Can you tell me what the problem is? It?s got climate control, and the temperature runs at 90 degrees if this helps, thanks for any suggestions, messa.
{Shouting, ie typing solely in upper case amended. DD}
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Random question, is there anywhere private in the UK like an old air strip or such where you can run your car up to maximum speed?
Not in a Santa Pod kind of way...I just really want to see what my car's like at 114mph (I thought it was faster than that actually, but a Google search reveals the top speed is a mere 184km/h...) without having to worry about a ban.
I don't have any trips to Germany coming up either. :o(
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....114 doesnt feel any different to 100.....
The Astra is fine at and indicated 100. Anything over 120 and the front end goes very light indeed.
Contrast with an old 3.0 Senator we borrowed, that got better the faster you went (I ran out of bottle at 245kmh).
The A5 south of Frankfurt runs arrow-straight to Darmstadt (about 20 km), is 8 lanes wide, and a good place to see if your tyres will cope with the theoretical maximum speed of your car :-)
I´m pretty sure the MG racers set category speed records on it between the wars.
I don't wish to unfairly castigate anyone for being overwhelmed by the water. However, a number of times yesterday in Sheffield, police closed roads due to flooding. These were blocked off with cones and or police officers or PCSO's. Several times, motorists seemed to think that it didn't apply to them, and moved cones so that they could go through. Surprise surprise, they got stuck. More to the point, other innocents saw no cones, followed and also got stuck. Crazy and selfish, and serves them right.
I reiterate, total sympathy for all those caught up through no fault of their own. But to the selfish few - serves you right, and I hope the insurance companies don't pay out for you.
O
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Career: (n) Job, profession.
(v) Downhill, rapidly, out of control. Read more
Very funny indeed.
Seeing the terrible flooding on the TV and vast numbers of vehicles trapped in the water I wonder how many will be scrapped and how many will reappear on the market ?
I guess in theory they should all be scrapped BUT.......
I saw at least one Aston and a Jaguar in all the many many shots of vehicles in various levels of water. These may be more attractive vehicles to work on as opposed to low value cars. Read more
the dealer will stick a dehumidifier in for a couple of days - and a bit of spit and polish.
low miles , clean car(ho ho) off you go- but for how long amd it will steam up strangely later etc.- be careful oout there- if it seems to good to be true then it is.
The good lady reports that on her 03 Ka, the heater emits heat when the control is in the cold position, but not all the time. I think I read somewhere that the heater valve does fail on Ka's, I wonder if someone might be able to put me in the picture on this? Where is the heater valve and is it much of a job to replace? Thanks.
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Glad you got it sorted.
Nothing wrong with the Ford valves, you just pay a little more as always with original vs pattern bits.
It's working, that's the main thing. Nice one!
Cheers
DP
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
Anyone else driven this with the 7 speed auto box...?
Somehow it keeps going into 'M' (manual..?) mode where it is very reluctant to change gears automatically. Moving off from rest you hit the red line before an automatic gear change occurs.
I like the idea of semi-automatics - automatic with 'manual overide', but I don't see the point of M mode.. Read more
I had a brief drive in a Golf TDI 170 DSG. Very nice if (still) a bit rattly, but it did seem very overpriced to me.
It shocks me when I see adults allowing children to pump petrol in an era where the health and safety police are on us like green on grass for putting on our spectacles without a mirror. Am I right that that petrol fumes contain carcinogenics and are therfore cancerous? A two-foot nothing with his/her nose up against an open filler cap pumping 40 litres or so of unleaded with Dad/Mum proudly looking on is surely totally irresponsible?
Why haven't the petrol stations got warning signs up to educate these idiots? Read more
Bravo, hear hear and other such parliamentary-style agreement.
Should I replace my passat 54 plate 130bhp 24000 miles. I have had issues with notchy gears on the car for about 8 months. In the 8 months the garage has upgraded the oil in the gearbox, changed the gearbox and finally changed the dual mass flywheel and replaced the clutch. All under warranty thankfully. The car seems fine now and I like the car but I have lost confidence in the car I am just waiting for something else to go wrong. The warranty is not up until end of November. Should I keep the car until then and see if I get my confidence back in the car or should I get rid of the car ASAP.
Any comments are greatly appreciated.
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There is a saying in IT professional's field - the number of bugs hidden is proportional to number of bugs discovered so far.
I myself never owned any VW but two of my colleagues do own Passats and they all suffered (in fact suffering) with niggling faults - like overheating/coolant loss, parking brake, exhaust problems etc.
Presently as of June 26 on my way to work I went through a lake on the road, although after just getting through the Lake the car petered out. The diagnostic indicator is showing on the dash and the Peugeot 306 HDI has gone into limp mode. Anyway the engine started again straight away but it continued to misfire for about 30 seconds until it ran ok still though with the diagnostic K indicator showing on the dashboard (actually the 'K' is really a symbol for a transistor) .
I've now cleaned out the dampness in the air intake, including drying out the air filter. But the diagnostic warning light is still on and the vehicle remains in limp mode. I dried out the air intake sender too which has an element in it. When drying out the sender possibly I moved part of the element slightly ..., maybe this elements position is critical in the operation of the sender? . Although I have moved back slightly in several different positions , but all to no avail ?
Hopefully though perhaps all that is required now is an electronic control unit reset ? Please anyone know how to reset the Bosch ECU , or any other ideas which might help ...? Read more
Sounds like it has got water in a sensor or two somewhere. Since the EML is on, easiest easy would be to get someone to read the codes to pinpoint fault, rather than poke and hope....
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
I looked at an SLK 320 tonight. The trader was at his house (mansion) with about 25 BMWs & Mercs on the driveway. He said he'd just washed it etc for others to look at. I think he thought I was a test pilot, not serious etc as I was vague about the other cars I had seen. He said I could drive it if I agreed to buy it first, ie I'd be driving it to test it was OK, not to try it out. Does this seem odd?
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if i'm 'looked after' by someone that i don't buy from i'll remember it and tell other people and feel a small degree of loyalty to
I went to look at a Leon the other day at a local well established dealer after a tip off from a friend. When I got there and had a look around it wasn't quite right for me, but I did notice an interesting E36 parked on their other forecourt across the road. I hadn't actually considered this model before, but I decided to have a look anyway knowing that I hadn't done enough research to make a solid decision.
One of the staff came out and introduced himself, gave me a quick rundown of the finer points of that car, offered to hand the keys over and leave me to have a look over it, and then let him know if I was interested. I took him up on the offer and had a good dig around, noticing a one minor issue with the bodywork, an aircon problem and a question about an entry in the service history. I locked the car back up and approched the office, pointed out the aircon issue and was thanked for spotting it and told it would be fixed before the car left. The dealer was surprised by the (admittedly small) chin damage, and explained the recent history of the car to account for the short interval in the service book (they'd sold it once before, and it had been serviced even though it didn't need it.). He then offered to photocopy the V5 so I could speak to the previous owner and said he'd be happy to arrange a test drive if everything checked out to my satisfaction, with no pressure.
After a bit of digging I've decided against that particular E46, but at the time he advised of some new models that were coming in shortly and said I'd be welcome to come back and look over them as soon as they'd been checked and prepared. The service was absolutely first rate, friendly and informative and I feel confident tha tif I did buy from there I'd be properly looked after so I'll definitely be going back shortly to view the new stock.
Compare all that to 'can't be bothered, mate' and you can see there really is no excuse for crap salesmanship


Offhand, I couldn't tell you. However there is a simple test. Run the engine for a while with the heater set to hot. Switch off and feel the pipes going to the matrix. Whichever of the two pipes is the warmest will be the inlet pipe.
However, don't dimiss earlier suggestions that the hot / cold operating valve is duff.