January 2008
The Zafira fat boys have gone which can't be a bad thing
New nomination
The loons in the gospel choir and purple junpsuits who try to get us to move our gas and electricity accounts.
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There seems to be a lot of confusion where on the dipstick for the Mondeo 3, the oil level should be topped up to.
With my last Mondeo III a 2004 2.0 TDCi Ghia Hatchback and my current one a 2.2 TDCi estate, mechanics tend to overfill the engine oil at service time.
For instance I believe the oil level should be within the "hatched" area of the dipstick, which is on the white plastic end. I have just had a service and the oil level is a good quarter of an inch above the end of the hatched area, not far from the wire itself.
Will it be OK to leave it? Read more
My TDCi has been a little over full after services, last time (125k service) it was a good 5 to 7mm over, I informed the garage and they said that they would drain it down to the Max mark, i could not make it back immediately and it has now settled down to a couple of mm over Max which is fine with me.
In short if a couple of MM over - no worries, if much more than that get them to sort it.
I just bought another car. I still have my old car. It is off road and uninsured. At present my brother does not have a car and wants to use my old car. He wants to insure it in his own name and use it. Can he do it while the car is still under my name? He is aware he is responsible for any speeding tickets etc? Read more
wazza, if you have a swintons near you pop in and don't speak to the junior member of staff. The manager of my local branch was briliant in a similar situation. Firstly found a great deal on insuring a car not registered to us. I used my substantial NCD on this. She then "mirrored" the NCD on the car that is registered to us.
If you need specialist help, doing the Internet search yourself or speaking to some disinterested youth in a call centre isn't what you need.
There are other good insurers, it's just the one I mentioned was very helpful for me - your mileage may vary!!
SWMBO is determined to change her ageing Galaxy and has seen an 03 Ulysse JTD she likes the look of (no accounting for taste) for aound £6k. Anyone got experience of these cars? I understand they are basically C8/806s which HJ doesn't seem to approve of - does this also mean the JTD is an HDI? Whatcar.com recommends the JTD as the one to go for though we could get a petrol version of same age/price with half the miles on it. That said mileage isn't too important to us as we will buy based on the overall condition of the car.
I am tempted to go with another Galaxy as it has been a fine, does-exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin sort of car - though it does seem boring to the buy the same car again (this would be a first for me). MUST be a 7 seater in Galaxy mold (Previa/Voyager no good due to bench seats).
Any thoughts, experience with the Fiat? Read more
The C8 should hold its value slightly better than the Fiat, partly on account of their dealers being better than Fiat's (not difficult!)
Hope you enjoy the C8 - like I said, we are struggling to find a replacement, which I guess is a good indicator of how useful the car is.
Tried, tested and proven method.
I change the oil every 6th month and oil and filter, as well as an engine flush every 12th month on my vehicles.
I use - diesel fuel (may shock some...) as an engine flush.
What do you do?
My last car clocked 200k (from new) and is still going strong. So it (diesel as a flush) cannot do the engine any harm! Read more
It's not difficult :just follow or exceed the oil quality and change frequency called up
by the manufacturer.
Sound advice!
I follow the maker's recommended oil change interval and am not tempted to change more frequently.
Personally, I have never heard of an engine failure directly linked to oil.
are they the same glowplugs and are there 3 or 4?
daughter has a pranged 200sdi "bubble" (r reg) which had THREE new glowplugs (cos thats what garage fitted) and her 400 tdi (t reg) is a bit lazy to start - needs two starts, chucks some blue smoke out, and i wondered about swapping the new plugs into the t reg?
t reg has done 120K miles
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In theory yes you can change them over but the 200 bubble had 2 different heads fitted, if both the 200 and 400 have the same amount of glow plugs then fine if not they are different.
Hi there, i have just bought a renault clio 1.6 16v, the tyre sizes are 185/55 r15 on alloy wheels. However, on the full size spare, there is a 195/55 r15. Am i able to fit 195's to my alloys?
Thanks folks Read more
id check the handbook or renault for the exact size fitted as standard,somebody may have fitted wider tyres.
DONT LAUGH
3 times this has happened
mat in drivers floor well slides forward, goes under steering column UJ, the bolt comes round when the steering wheel turns the shaft and ive no steering (almost)
the only car ive ever had this happen on
be warned
mat now in the boot Read more
I got Ford mats specifically for the Mondeo for less than that a few years ago at the Ford dealership. All four and the driver matched up with the fastenings on the floor.
Hi all - new member but long term reader. I was wondering if anybody had any advice/experience of the new model Seat Leon 1.6 Stylance. Living in the Rep of Ireland where anything over a 1.6 makes zero sense due to tax and insurance reasons I'm considering a 2006 one of these as a replacement for my 04 Focus 1.4 (great car, gutless engine). Good upgrade or not? I have found a clean low mileage one with the Sport Pack with FSH. Feel free to make any other suggestions. Priorities are Economy, Handling, Reliability and Comfort but not necessarily in that order and i cover about 15-16k a year. Diesel 06's are out of my price range unfortunately so petrol is it...
Cheers in advance.
Eoin Read more
Thats a good recommendation especially from someone who ran a Leon FR. The plan is upgrade to one of those in a year or too when my insurance premium gets more sensible (?1100 for a 25 year old, full licence and 2yr NCB).
Afternoon,
Anyone got any idea what thickness steel to use for welding up a couple of small rust holes at the top of my front wheel arches?
My mate's got a welder and knows how to use it, but just want to make sure I buy the right steel.
Someone suggested 0.6mm or 0.8mm ... sound right???
Thanks!
Maceman Read more
Generally speaking; if the holes are within 12" of a suspension or brake mount, then that fails.
That sounds like the inner wing, so ask for 20 gauge, or even 18 if you're good with a hammer.
Browse
I find the Peugeot adverts pretty aggravating....'Inspired by Nature' I mean it's a car, where does the nature connection come from...what a load of rubbish!