January 2008
Hi,
I have a car on contract hire & the tax disc was sent by post to me. I stupidly put it somewhere safe and now can't find it. It's at home somewhere!!
Whilst I continue to search what can happen should I get stopped for displaying the incorrect tax disc showing the now expired date of 12 07 even though the vehicle is actually taxed until 09?
I have only just remembered that I'm running around displaying the old disc.
Many thanks
Steve Read more
If you read the technical section you may have seen my thread about Ford Focus driveshaft bearings. The thread ended prematurely with the sad tale of the car's accidental demise... so a replacement is now sought.
I've identified three local cars that i quite like the look of and would appreciate any constructive advice on likely pitfalls and issues of ownership.
RAV4 2.0 5dr Estate, R reg 60k , FSH, looks v v good on paper £2.8k
406 est 1.8 LX R Reg 97k, looks ok £1.5k
Volvo V40 est 1.8 SE, T reg 105k, FSH, looks v good on paper £1.9k
I've read the CBC and Parkers reviews (am I allowed to mention them on this forum?) and all seem pretty good with only a few warnings. I am slightly wary of the Parkers review though as it rates the Freelander II with 4 stars!
This is going to be our 2nd car but needs to be large for workhorse useage and I'll be using it daily for a 30 mile round trip commute so reliablity is very desirable.
I'm really after encouraging words or serious warnings only.
Freq reader. Rare to write. Read more
>>>which is reputed to get "gunged" up at higher milages
How do i know if this has happened? can it be rectified with additive?
I'm looking at the cheap volvo today....
I am test-driving two Passats this afternoon - ex company cars. They are both 130PD diesels. Late 2002 cars.
Anything I should be looking out for, over and above the excellent advice in the car-by-car guide?
They are both on long service intervals. One has 130,000 km on clock, the other 230,000 km. Obviously I am leaning towards the lower mileage, but are the engines solid enough to take the higher mileages? Should I discount the high miler before I begin?
Both are priced at 4200 GBP. I am based in central EU, but prices generally are similar to UK anyway.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Read more
I have one, and echo the other excellent points. It's not a terrible car but has some very bad design/engineering, these can develop to much more than just niggles, and there is no redeeming feature - it isn't outstanding in any area.
I probably wouldn't buy another if anything happened to this one, but it isn't bad once you sort all the inevitable problems. I agree avoid the dealers and stick to an enthusiastic independent VAG specialist (you know, the kind who races VWs at weekends and does up old beetles) and DIY.
Quite a long story so will try and be brief...
GF is selling her 99(P) Fiat Cinq but we are having a little problem with it.... when left overnight after a run, the battery is flat the following morning and car won't start....
To check the battery, I disconnected the battery, left it for three days, reconnected and it started first time so the battery is obviously holding the charge ok and can't be the problem...
Now this weekend I intend to use my trusty multimeter to measure the drain on the battery when the engine is off and then if its higher than it should be, i'll pull fuses till it goes down and that way I can isolate the circuit that is draining the battery.... someone stop me if i'm going down the wrong path with this...?
Now the car has an alarm on it, not sure if it was FF or aftermarket, suspect it was the latter but not sure how to check...
A while back the alarm would go off randomly (driving down the road or just sat on the drive) and one day it just stopped and no longer worked..... even the blipper to turn it on and off didn't make it give the "pip pip" signal....
What I suspect is that the speaker on the alarm has gone but the alarm is still going off constantly or at intervals but because the speaker is knackered we just can't hear it anymore....
My questions after this long story are:
1. How would I be able to tell what fuse circuit the alarm is connected to if it doesn't work anymore?
2. If it is the alarm going off constantly that is draining the battery, can I just snip a wire to break the circuit to stop it working to fix the problem, without this having any affect on the car (i.e. it wouldn't be connected into the immobiliser and do something to that would it - I would assume not since if the alarm went off while the car was driven but not effect..... but don't want to send a car i'm hoping for £400 / £500 for ending up worthless cos I knacker it....)
Sorry for the long yarn, hope someone can help... Read more
It sounds like there is no immobiliser on the car as it should have stopped the car when the alarm went off.
If you cut the live feed to the alarm control unit, whatever you do make sure the bare end on the car loom side is properly insulated and taped up. I almost lost my old mk2 Cavalier to fire because of this. Some fool had wired an aftermarket immobiliser up using an unprotected live feed which came off and shorted against one of the dash brackets. Acrid white smoke pouring through the heater vents when driving along are not a pleasant experience, especially when they are illuminated from within by flickers of flame / sparks
I would start with finding the circuit causing the drain and go from there. No sense disturbing the alarm unless you have to.
Given various threads here [Why Do You Commute So Far? for example], I guess BRoomers are experts on.........what?
Radio 2 [Sally Boazman!]?
Mothership?
The Messiah?
Local Commercial?
BBC Local?
Childrens' school concert?
And why does decent music stop at 7pm? Read more
Radio Ulster or Radio 4 until 7.30 and then Terry on R2.
Does anyone know why the newsreaders - such as Fran Godfrey and Deadly Alancoat - no longer do the traffic at 7.50, 8.20, etc. and why it's now Lynne? I don't think the show has been quite the same since Pauly left us.
AA
Evening.
Does anyone know where I can get an on board camera to install in my car to record the road ahead? I would like to record other peoples crazy driving after a near miss that could have wiped out my entire family this afternoon whilst travelling through the Dartford tunnel.
At least if an incident had occurred, I would have had it on camera as evidence!
Any ideas ?
Thanks Read more
ideally id like a camera thats hard to nick, as im already carrying too much out of the car what with sat nav and stuff...........................
tinyurl.com/3dox47
that should suit nicely then!
As "Whose roads are "safest"" I felt safer over there than here where they are
more curtious in giving way and not bull headed like some !!!.
Absolutely no question about it - UK roads are far safer than the USA. That is by any set of statistics you care to look at - accidents/deaths/injuries per car, per mile driven etc etc.
One of the results of the widespread 'undertaking'(which isn't legal - but widely practiced) is that traffic tailgates to prevent being undertaken and cut up.
Just been speaking to my dad, his almost two year old Fiesta 1.4TDCi has done 56,000 miles as a driving school car.
He has noticed when the car warms up gearchage becomes difficult, especially going through the neutral 'gate'. It will disengage gear OK, spring to neutral then it requires a real push to get it through neutral before it goes into the next gear with no problem.
Garage have diagnosed it as a bent selector bar in the gearbox - as it warms it expands and becomes problematic - it's a problem they have come across before.
Ford are wriggling saying as its a driving instructor car they may not pay to replace the gearbox (this is the cheapest option as stipping it to replace the bar will take so long the labour cost will be more than the new box) as it may have suffered abuse. Surely this is an argument they could use against any claim they have?
The car has been serviced at main dealer on the dot - it's due its 5th service at 60,000 mles. He's due to hear tomorrow if Ford will pay, needless to say he's not too happy at the moment - in 20 years of teaching and 7 or 8 Fiestas this is the first major fault he has had. Read more
Just an observation which may help anyone with this problem. I too have a driving school car Fiesta 1.4TDCI which has done 50,000 miles. The gearbox selector became stiff one evening about 2 weeks ago. In the morning it was fine and as the day went on it became stiff again.
Checking on the internet I came across this post and was obviously worried at the diagnosis the OP had from his garage. My symptoms were exactly the same and i was thinking big bill coming my way. However after a week of stiff gearbox the problem went away completely and the selector is fine again.
My diagnosis is this: A small piece of swarf metal created when some pupil has crunched the box had worked into the selector shaft bearing. As the bearing heated and expanded this caused friction from the trapped swarf and the selector drags through the bearing. As it cools down again the gap between shaft and bearing gets bigger and the drag goes away.
Luckily the swarf must have come out of the bearing and so the problem went away just as quick as it appeared. So no bent selector shaft in my case and probably not in the OPs car either.
Hope this is of use to someone.
my sons 51 reg 1.4 3 door polo,s central locking won,t work from the drivers side if he holds the key in the lock position all that happens is the windows roll down. he is able to lock & unlock from the passenger side. thanks in anticipation of any help. Read more
just an update on my central locking problem it turned out to be a die cast shaft that connects the end of the lock barrel to the central locking switch the 4 parts cost £8 FROM VW just a bit fiddly to fit,thanks to everyone for their help.
moved from a standalone thread.
I see this happen so often but am not sure who is in the right/wrong.
London.
Cyclist going down inside of traffic (whether in a cycle lane or not) and faster than cars (ie effectively under taking everything). Car wants to turn left at junction and very often has not looked in mirrors at fast approaching cyclist. Result frequent near misses (fortunately not seen actual hits too often).
Personally I stop to let cyclist go for the two reasons:
i) they are more vulnerable
ii) they seem never to be prepared to stop to let the car go instead they jut give a lot of verbal. The verbal doesn't bother me but I don't want to be involved in an accident.
If I had a guess I would say cyclist was in the wrong, but..... Read more
Cyclist going down inside of traffic (whether in a cycle lane or not) and faster than cars (ie effectively under taking everything).
I wouldn't like to say whether it was wrong or not, but it's certainly tempting providence to say the least. Sometimes prudence must take priority over right and wrong!
Browse
Why make life complicated ?
Just use a tiny bit of sellotape, and immediately on receipt of the new disk, stick it alongside the existing one.
This will keep you legal beyond the stroke of midnight, keep your slippers and jim-jams dry and hopefully before 12 months elapse you can swop the disc over. :-)