August 2007
Hello backroomers.... have a 54 plate Citroen C3 1.4HDi 8 valve. Done 61500 miles. Have been having intermittent "hics" whilst driving for a while now. Got much worse yesterday, it will start no problem and idle no problem, but when any load is put on it, pushing the accelerator etc - it "cuts" the result being revs dropping and recovering, the rev counter goes up and down, kind of like extreme hunting. Any thoughts people? Read more
I am visiting the UK in Sept and will be hiring a car for a few weeks and driving up to Scotland. When I was over in '87 (yes that far back) I bought an Egon Ronay book "Just a bite" which gave listings of recommended cafes and teashops where you could get a good quality light meal. Is there any guide book like that available now? I checked the Egon Ronay site but didn't see anything. I don't want to be eating in motorway services and greasy spoons. I like having a decent meal and am prepared to go out my way to get it. Read more
I'm in favour of it, but I'm just a junior member
I have an X reg Ford Modeo 1.8L petrol with 55K miles. Three weeks ago it had a 10K service and the cam belt changed. After 2 days I noticed a tinkling noise from the engine and took it back to the garage.
They repaired it and I have now been told me it was the lifters (whatever they are) and that it?s going to cost me an extra £147 (apparently I didn't need all to be changed) on top of what I've paid for the cam belt and service.
Should I have to pay for this as there was no noise before I took it in?
Could it have been something they did when changing the cam belt or is it just coincidence?
Should I find another garage? I've been using this one for about 2.5 years without a problem.
Grateful for all advise.
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What do your colleagues,who appear to be experts on Ford,say???
I'm looking for a web site which will give the geographical area of the country for registration numbers - not just the current one, but also the previous systems. I found the following site,
www.ukcar.com/features/area.htm
but am not quite sure how accurate it is.
(I am not convinced that NS was a Glasgow registration) Read more
I live in Eastbourne I bought the car from a guy in South East
London and the car was originally registered in Newcastle Upon Tyne (UP reg)
Not unusual - mine was first registered in Edinburgh (SG reg) and I live in County Durham. Local traders travel the country getting the best deals at auction - used prices tend to be slightly lower in the north, hence your car might've been bought in Newcastle by a shrewd London trader, and sold to the previous keeper at a huge profit!
Just got a 2002 Ford Focus 1.6 from an auction, seem to have got lucky except that it can be a bit hesitant starting.
When the key is turned, it'll turn over for between 5 and 15 seconds before firing, with no pattern of how long it takes. A quick blip of the throttle will make it fire immediately no problem, then it runs as sweetly as the day it left the factory. What could be causing this?
It seems to have been kept in storage for about 6 months before I bought it, if that helps. My first guesses would be plugs or H/T leads, but I'd welcome the opinion of someone who knows what they're talking about before I go randomly replacing bits.
Thanks a lot (and thanks for the recommendation of a Focus!)
drawde Read more
50,000 miles, Service history is ok, with one or two gaps.
The HJ car-by-car breakdown says that loss of pressure from the fuel rail can cause this, which itself can be caused by either gasket failure or failure of the rail. Is there any way to identify the problem, without paying ford dealer prices, and if it does turn out to be the gasket or rail failure, how easily/expensively can this be fixed?
Do people really believe that cars assembled on a Friday afternoon are likely to be poorly made?
After all, it's only the final assembly that takes place on that day, and in any case Friday afternoon may not be the end of the working week for those particular workers. The inspection procedures will be the same as for any other time, and the components and sub-assemblies in those cars will have been made at all sorts of times.
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L\'escargot. Read more
My impression of the whole manufaturing process of modern cars, the massive investment in all the various machines to weld/manufature in a particular way, the programming needed, etc., was one of "how come these cars are so cheap to buy at the end of the day?"
I'm ordering a C4 Picasso from Belgium (LHD) and the main issue is one of headlights. I was going to get the standard ones and replace with RHDs. However, I've since read various things about how xenons are often LHD/RHD switchable (Citroen UK say not, but I don't trust them as far as I could throw them!), abd also how the beams tend to be flat anyway, so RHD/LHD isn't an issue. I'm tending towards HIDs after seeing their supposed benefits, with memories of driving through dark country roads, and my eyesight naturally decaying with age! So if anyone can shed any light (har! har!) I'd appreciate it.
My other question concerns the issue fo registration in the UK. The form has a small box for selecting RHD/LHD. As a purely academic exercise, what would happen if I ticked the RHD box? From what I can see, the VIN doesn't specify handedness (the model bit probably tells Citroen, but I'm not sure it would mean much to DVLA).
M Franglais
{Car details added to subject header - DD} Read more
I'm aware that some cars have switchable Xenons, but are they truly ambidextrous, or does the switch (which I gather is a mechanical thing) just blank out the glare to the wrong side?
I know that Xenons (factory fit) are self leveling, but wouldn?t the basic set up in the UK be longer dipped beam on the left, and the other way round for driving on the right? Does the switch make these changes too, or are Xenons set up the same for both nearside and offside headlights?
Browse
It's booked in for Friday - I was rather hoping that there's a really common problem that everyone knows about except me, that everyone will then share answer to said problem, and OH, it'll cost 50p to fix....... but I suspect the credit card might like to emigrate TODAY whilst the going is good!