January 2008
Last Thursday in Germany my cylinder head gasget decided to go went down to a small family owned ex rover agents now Lada in Dresden and asked if they could look at it with the statement "Please do not laught but I intended on travelling to the UK on Saturday"they confirmed my thoughts and that I could pick the car up Friday afternoon I nearly fainted.
The cost for labour was 288 euros which was for 6.5 hours plus parts I had the cam belt done at the same time the dearest part was the new set of headbolts at 113euros they they skimmed the head, new water pump,oil filter,antifreeze and all the various gaskets all old parts were there for me to examine the total bill was 1102 euros including 19%vat totally amazed.Super friendly excellent service so hard to find these days anywhere. Read more
Does anyone know where the fuses and relays are, and what to check to find out why nothing happens when you press the button for the roof to come down.
is there another way to do it.??????
{Txt talk edited out this time. However, the next time I won't be so generous and will just delete as it is so much quicker and easier. DD} Read more
Are we talking a sun roof or a convertible roof?
A forum search reveals the latter, so header edited to reflect this.
Your text speak post is a little hard to understand!
Also been edited.
thinking of changing my automatic focus (2003) in the near future. two options at present.seat leon 2.0 tdi with the dsg gearbox or the bmw 120 se or m sport automatic.
i have tested a leon dsg which i thought was great, lovely gearbox.
as yet have not tested the bmw. has anyone experience of the six speed auto in this model, what are their thoughts, is it a standard auto as in the focus.
also a maybe will be the new focus with the ford dsg style gearbox, but as yet i have not seen any reviews on this setup.
thanks Read more
Anyone got any idea what you should expect to be reasonable battery life on an average digital camera.
I've just bought one in the sales (mid price range standard hand held job - 10mp, 3x zoom, £100 ish).
The batteries are lasting about 8 pictures - I've taken one back as I thought I had a dud but the replacement is just as bad. It seems to make little difference whether the flash is required or not. Surely 1/8 of a set of batteries per picture is a ridiculous return.
All I want is a decent spec, bog standard family camera that comes out of the drawer a few times a year to take normal holiday type piccies. Is this kind of downside what I have to expect unless I spend big?
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Google? Now that's given the game away !
Clk Sec
This must be a topic ripe for true life stories.
Have you ever had a disobedient or dangerous learner in your car?
I taught my girlfriend to drive in my clapped out Montego (we survived this and more: just coming up to our 8th wedding anniversary, for the record...)
I once asked her to stop at a roundabout on the A31 in Dorset. She didn't like to stop (or slow down, or change gear, or basically do anything I ever so patiently requested...) so carried on blithely.
Why did I want her to stop? Because we were going to turn right and an (oncoming) enormous load with police escort was going to cross our path. By going straight on we had nowhere to turn back for 2 miles and ended up going to Weymouth instead of Dorchester. Read more
Most recently, step son stalled at a T junction but kept rolling forward over a major road with no steering lock on.
STOP STOP STOP from me worked just before we hit the grass bank on the other side.
He decided that I was too upsetting to instruct him after that.
Phew.
Hi there,
I was just wondering what should be done at a 54k mile service on a 2001 plate clio 1.6 16v?
Cheers Read more
Service intervals are 12k (oil & filter, check brake pads, grease bonnet catch etc) so due at 48 or 60k depending on mileage & time since last service.
Rear drums off and lining check at 36k.
Cambelt is due at 72k (IIRC) or 5 years. General recomendation is max of 50k though.
Coolant change at 4 years though Renault use a long life coolant, I changed the coolant in out Clio at 8 years and it was clean and clear and the SG was fine.
Spark plugs every 24k.
Pollen filter every 12k.
Air filter and fuel filter every 36k.
Brake fluid change due every 4 years though not required quite as often IMO.
Airbag battery every 4 years.
Well went up to a friends last night, had a few drinks as my missus volunteered to drive back. Now why is it when the missus drives your car, even if you have had a few drinks, you become instantly more alert, and dare I say it, nervous!
First of all she has to adjust everything, yes I know its the correct thing to do but seat moved forward and back tilted further and even the lumbar adjustment got turned. All 3 mirrors adjusted as well. (Mental note - give myself an extra 5 mins before next journey to put everything back)
The wipers were on auto, as they have been since we got the car, but she insisted on manually switching them on and off for the whole journey home.
The climate control which is always on auto, just adjust the temp, no she had to press every button trying to change where the airflow was going. (This was after I shouted at her when she tried to use the back of her hand to demist the windscreen and side windows!)
Gears, where I would use 5th, she stayed in 4th and only eventually moved up to 5th about 55mph where I would be going into 6th. 6th never got a look in (even though she normally drives the Skoda which has 6 gears)
Three different occasions she nearly missed a pothole........
And then parked up in the driveway, that lovely melodic sound of the handrake coming up through every ratchet....
Maybe it would have been better if I had finished the bottle of Port off......
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Then why would you expect to see it mentioned on this thread?
I wouldn't, well, I mean I would. Does that answer the question? ;)
Bad hair day woodbines??
Bad hair days would be good!
I have just come back from a Christmas New Year break in Cape Town. I ended up hiring a petrol Honda Accord with a gearbox which could be driven fully automatic or indeed switching over and changing gear by pressing the button on top of the gear stick. I just stuck with the automatic ( only the second time I had driven automatic). I ended up being impressed by the car ( charcoal colour with shiny black seats). Genuinely it felt very well assembled.
In all the road tests I read on this car, they don't mention that the ride is quite hard ( mine had hard sports seats in the front. Very supportive though). If you have squease three adults in to the back, the middle seat is harder as it is in fact an armrest ( you get that with much posher bigger cars though).I would prefer a propper middle rear seat and no spare armrest. I imagine that one can buy an Accord with a softer ride.Mine probably had a sports set up.
I did some very interesting drives. One day I drove all the way out to Worcester in the Cape . Comng back the temperature was 38 C, ( In Worcester itself it had been around 40 C.) A lot of the time Cape Town was in the 20s C. Arund 30 or so one day.
The main South African roads are pretty good with a speed limit of 120 kph on freeways.There was quite a heavy police presence around the Cape, so I behaved and watched speed limits. Gong out the N1 to Worcester one drives through a long mountain tunnel de Toits Kloof. Drivng Chapman's Peak Drive on other days and various other areas was superb.
All in all I was extremely fond of the Honda Accord. I was very sorry to have to return it to the hire company at Cape Town Airprt. Read more
Jack,
I am absolutely thrilled that our little experience has helped you so much. My wife found carhire3000. We used them before in Nice and also in Lisbon.
Have a great time!!
Herbert.
Hi Wise Ones
My Xantia has decided that the alarm is a lovely sound about five seconds after locking . . . I'm not convinced. Locking with the key - which doesn't activate the alarm - is fine, so I guess it's the alarm system itself.
Any suggestions where I should be looking for this noisy little gremlin?? - Don't really want to take it to a main dealer - cost will exceed the value of the car!
Thanks in advance for all of the answers I know will be forthcoming.
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Thanks for the steer - will look into the options suggested.
Might it be the key? I tried the spare key - hardly ever used in 8 years - and the locking and alarm worked first time . . . . but perhaps that was co-incidence. Any views?
Car horns.
All vehicles are fitted with a horn. Its intended purpose is as a warning signal to other road users. It has to be operational for a vehicle to be road legal I believe.
Now, I worked out recently that I have so far driven 1.25 million miles over 32 years and can not in all honesty ever remember having felt the need to use this instrument for any purpose other than to test to see if it works !
I worked in Brazil for a number of years where horn blowing is as regular as gear changing but I never felt compelled to join in. I drive in Italy quite a lot where they like a toot ( steady !) as well but I seem to manage fine in silence. Leaning on the horn if someone has upset me by their discourtesy or lack of foresight on the road has never struck me as useful, and quite frankly if someone elses' actions on the road have caused me to take evasive action then I would rather concentrate my efforts on doing that safely than waste time blowing the horn.
So.........
Who uses it and why ?
Is it as redundant as a man with a flag ?
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Yes - a few times each year.
Usually a warning to pedestrians or other motorists to stop what they are doing otherwise they will be hit by/ hit my car . Pedestrians stepping off pavements with their backs to me or other drivers backing out of supermarket car parking spaces is a typical scenario.
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43000 miles, yes and it got back no problem thankyou.hopefully now with the modified parts it should last sometime,I hope so as I intend keeping it as I like it so much.