December 2007
Bought a BMW 535i (Sport) from the first owner with 73k miles and FSH. It looked as if it was sagging a bit on the driver?s side and the tyres were worn unevenly. The answer was seemingly obvious and professional opinion concurred, so it was new shocks and springs all round (BMW MTech OEM factory spec), and while we were at it, I replaced the tyres and refurbed the wheels.
To cut a long story short, the cant is still there. A ?body audit? shows that the car is not sagging, but sitting up 30mm nearside rear and 10mm nearside front. Has the car had an accident ? Not to my knowledge and according to the bodyshop, ?If it has it?s had the best repair we?ve ever seen.?
None of the professionals in my neck of the woods seems to be able to suggest what might be causing the skew, or to cure it. Ransacking the web has not produced a solution either. The best anyone has come up with is ?It?s just one of those things?. Can you or any of your readers help ?
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Had a bit of a shock when driving yesterday as my seatbelt suddenly came undone. The clip in the "receiving end" seems to be dodgy and it keeps letting go. Will hold if you really force it, then difficult to undo!
Its the assembly with the pretensioner fitted. Planning to go to the scrapyard tomorrow and pick up another, but we only really need the clip part. Does it come apart or do we need to get the whole pretensioner aswell? Can't really see on the car - does look as if its fitted with a treaded bolt, but without taking out the seat, we cannot see what head its got - if any. Bound to be a star headed one just to make life difficult!
Any advice much appreciated, Thanks!
{Date in header picked up from a previous post of yours} Read more
Thanks for replies.
Just thought I'd update that pre-tensioner assembly has now been successfully replaced. Rang our local VX dealership this morning for a quote - £125+Vat and they can't get one until the new year. Went to the scrapyard 10 minutes up the road and found a same year Astra, stolen recovered (no accident damage so tensioner should be fine) and they charged £10+vat.
Took careful note of the safety key advice (also listed in the Haynes manual), and fitted to the old one prior to taking off, and the replacement until it was installed. Pretty easy job really, only took just over an hour.
Thanks again for all replies!
Just watched The English Garage on TV and saw them working on a BMW block.
The block threads seemed to have gone and they re-tapped all of the the block threads to a larger diameter, screwed in brass inserts and then re-threaded the brass inserts so that the original diameter bolts could be used.
Never heard of doing this before, but how would you get the torque with head bolts screwing into brass? And what do you Engineers/Techs think of this sort of procedure?
Regards Read more
I can recall seeing brass thread block inserts ages ago. (40yrs or so).
I.D. mentioned trunnions, the brass bit never deteriorated, but the steel parts rusted and caused failure.
Has anyone noticed that a lot (or nearly all that I come across) MB's have only one front fog light that works? The second one occasionally turns itself on but there really does seem a disproportionate number with dodgy fogs. Read more
In your example Paulb it sounds like the driver should have had his headlights on.
I have got extra white Philips sidelight bulbs in mine, which are much better than the yellow glow type IMO but they do not throw any usable light down onto the road. IMO sidelights are to make the car visible but not give illumination.
I saw an Audi A5 the other day with just the LEDs on under the headlights, and they were too bright IMO, almost bright enough to dazzle at close range it seemed, although it was a fleeting encounter.
No doubt these 'bling lights' are going to become widespread as they spread across the Audi range and more manufacturers copy them.
Just looked on the Saab website for a pic of those 'eyebrow' lights and noticed that "Bi-Xenon cornering lights" are an option on the new 9-3 as part of a performance package.
Has anyone else had a problem with the ignition key breaking apart ? I have tended to use just one key for the two years that I have had the car from new. The plastic body has split where the metal shaft enters it. My local dealer has contacted Honda UK for a warranty claim and this has been rejected, they reckon I have damaged the key by turning it too hard in the ignition. I think this is rubbish. A new key costs £202 !
My view is that the key is not fit for purpose, what can I do ? Can anyone advise ?
Wenlock Read more
That's a great result! Having worked in main dealers myself I always told irrate customers to contact customer services directly (but told them not to say that I told them to!). Nearly always got a result.
My Aunt has been tasked with disposing of her Step fathers 96 polo 1.0 poverty spec no PAS In metalic green no rust but a few bad dents, Gen mileage of 39K with some service history (oil changed every year for last 6 years) She wants me to sell it for her when i get home. it has 12Month MOT. I thought i would ask 450 & go down to 350 if needs must.... Does that sound ok? Read more
start at 695. good market for easy to mend small cars still.
My girlfriend's VW polo has been misbehaving in the cold recently. It took ages to start one morning and when it eventually did, it cut out (although it did restart after that, only to cut out again half-way down the road). Prior to the starting behaviour it would occasioanlly hesistate on acceleration while cold.
It had a new set of HT leads, dizzy cap and rotor arm last year.
I've read as many of the relevant posts on the forum and am planning to change the coil pack and check the spark plugs as a matter of course (the coil pack looks quite old). I took the air filter housing off and checked all the hose connections around the throttle body and everything seemed in order.
I tried to take it to the local VW garage to get the fault codes read but they were fully booked and said all they could do would be to give it a full diagnostic test taking an hour and a half (surely reading the codes is a 5 minute job like any other car I've owned?)
The only interesting piece of information is that on the way to the garage the rev counter seemed to be reading twice the correct result (idling at 2000rpm, even though the engine was definately idling at around 1000 from the sound of it!).
The rev-counter issue made me think that maybe the hall-sender is duff - can any of you experts tell me if this sounds feasible? If so, does the whole dizzy need replacing?
Sorry for the long-winded post but I wanted to give as much info as possible.
Cheers,
G Read more
G
Oh well; worth a look - I was trying to work out the cause of that "double revs" symptom.
The coolant temp sensor is the usual root of most starting/cold-running issues on these; but not the weird false revs.
I've not seen a failing Hall sensor do that; they are usually replacable; but, as you have to strip the whole dizzy to fit them, if you can get a cheapish new unit it's worth changing the lot.
Dose anyone know what could possibly be the cause of oil running down on to my clutch peddal. Its quite a pain as you can imagine it get quite slippy when driving. It dosnt look or smell like engine oli Its more of a clear oil. Read more
I had the same problem.It was a leaking clutch master cylinder which cost £69 plus £35 to fit at my local independant garage
hi, my seat ibiza was working perfectly, but now wont start. had a diagnostics done which says all is well, the engine is turning over, but is'nt starting. hope someone can help. Read more
Very common for these VAG 1.2 engines to either snap timing chains or to jump a few teeth. That'd be my next port of call.
Currently driving: 2007 SEAT Ibiza TDi
I cannot find the exact blue colour of my 2002 (52) Corsa 1.0 Club. Any ideas? Read more
Richard,
How do you mean?
You want to find where the paint code is?
It should be listed on the same sticker as the chassis number - probably on one of the door jambs
or
You know the paint code, and want to obtain the correct paint?
If you only need a small amount, I would get it from the dealer - I've always had good esults from touch ups and cans of spray. Obviously, if you're paining a larger area, you'll go somewhere else!
Number_Cruncher
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Thanks for that. I will get into action and report back.
A Merry Xmas and HNY to all listers :-)