February 2008
Daughter left her bright yellow car in the residents bay nearest what turned out to be the Camden Market fire - leaving just as the first fire engine was arriving that evening.
After a worried few days, she returned to London on the Thursday to find her car was undamaged but completely black! It has been repeatedly washed over the past week or so, including a 'professional' wash and wax. This weekend she drove drove down to Hamble and found the car was striped like a tiger! Cleaned again and on her return to Camden her stripes were back. Soot obviously deep in cracks, grilles etc.
So, if any of you Londoner BR'ers see a brunette in a tiger camouflage car - that's my girl!
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Someone pushed my car (and several other cars on the street) into a hedge last night. The resulting dent has shifted the bottom half of the boot latch, so the boot no longer closes. The car's a 97 Megane, so not worth getting fixed, but its MOT is due in a month. I was planning a botch job involving cable ties to hold the boot closed, but will this be a problem for its MOT? Read more
VOSA requires that all doors, boot, bonnet and fuel filler cover must open to facilitate proper testing of all area's. Any of these not opening could cause a 'refusal to test' rather than a fail.
However, considering the fitted carpet / trim / panels etc within the boot area, there is usually nothing accessible to test in the boot and a lot of testers don't even bother to open it to look.
Having said that - it must fasten securely closed.
Hi all,
Long time lurker, first time poster!
Anyway, couple of questions:
My 96 Laguna wouldn't start this evening, no tick over, nothing. The battery seems fine, all lights work, and it wouldn't jump start from a colleague's car. So does anyone have an idea of what has suddenly stopped working?
Second question, i don't have current breakdown cover - so has anyone bought cover (Tesco seem cheapest) the night before, then phoned them up the next day to get someone out to fix their car?
Thanks :-) Read more
bobson
Plenty in the breakers.
I have a 97 ibiza with only 50000 kms on it regularly serviced. I was planing on new springs and shocks but for sometime now the car steering wheel pulls to the right when i accelerate hard and left when i brake (hard). I just had springs shocks replaced as i was planning and the shop told me the car checks out steering column, brakes f/r bars etc all is ok.
I took the car to an other shop and explained the situation and when they checked it they said they couldnt find anything wrong with it. The problem existed before shock-spring change and still exists now after the change.
What do you guys think it could be and how come 2 different shops 1 of them is an official sea, cant find anything?
{Don't worry, I've put the year in the subject header for you, seeing as you missed the 3 separate requests to do this yourself!} Read more
quite common too having the leg break. it was fixed by welding thick plates around box section. done by a pro garage.
Hi, my 1.8 berlingo has an intermittent stalling/cutting out problem. On starting the car and in the first few miles of the journey, applying the brakes (either in neutral, clutch down or in gear at any rpm causes) means the revs to die and the engine cuts out. This will happen a few times before it "fixes" itself and is ok for the rest of the journey (ie wont cut out under braking for junctions etc). However sometimes driving 100miles on the motorway not using the brakes, the engine will cut out again on first application of the brakes (eg slip road or traffic) in 5th gear at 2000+rpm, fully warmed up engine etc.
The car will also struggles intermittently on start up (takes 2/3 goes to start sometimes), and when started just the act of sticking it into reverse clutch down will cut out (same as when tapping the brakes first time).
However some journeys the car will start first time, run fine and not cut out at all.
Changing the battery, cleaning the stepper motor and cleaning fuse contacts on the brake/reserve lights circuit has made no difference so far.
Any help much appreciated. Read more
www.channel4.com/4car/news/news-story.jsp?news_id=...0
Surprising results from the latest ncap tests. I would have thought these things were tougher than these results suggest. Read more
Re the Milly Dowler murder case.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/7264563.stm
Detectives also renewed their appeal for help in tracing a red Daewoo Nexia( originally red)
Vehicle registration, N503 GLT, and chassis number, KLATF68V1SB554108,
They have also asked anyone who owns a Daewoo Nexia in any colour to check the chassis number as the registration plate may have been changed and the car may have been re-sprayed.
Anyone who owned such a car in the last six years is also being urged to check for these details on their old MOT certificates and other car documents.
It is also possible that the car may have been scrapped, destroyed or placed in storage, and police have appealed to anyone working in scrap dealerships or other vehicle-related businesses to check their records since 2002 for any mention of the car.
The vehicle has not been seen since it was reported stolen from a pub car park in Hounslow, west London, several days after 21 March 2002.
Thanks Henry K
Doesn't need discussing - just get in touch with them if you can help. PG
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A big stone hit the Impreza windscreen this morning and put a crack in it. Since the car is less than 6 months old I am keen to ensure that it is replaced only with an OE "Nippon Safety" windscreen. Obviously the insurers will want to push me to use Autoglass, who will probably fit a non-OE item.
Does anyone know if I can insist that Autoglass replace only with the OE item, or should I go to the Subaru dealer and get them to organise an OE replacement? What will the insurance company do about this (e.g. make me pay in full and then wait while the claim is paid out?).
I know I can phone up and make enquiries, but I'd rather be armed with some information from you guys first. Read more
My Mazda screen was cracked by a stone - I asked for and was supplied a "Mazda Screen" - took 10 days but at least it had the right shading/bandings and colour the cheaper replacement did not have. It cost the flast £60 excess - £330 was the bill.
My son's Lexus was damaged by "metal filings" that etched the winsdscreen, 2 side window + quarterlight + rear screen - the cost was £1800 and cost him £60. The filings came off the bodywork with claybar - the windows were etched / sanded with the filings.
Yesterday after taking the car for an MOT, i was reasonably happy to find that it had only failed on a tyre and a rusty clamp holding the silencer to the exhaust. I had the tyre changed immediately, with the clamp being replaced at the same time. The drive home from the garage was as normal and nothing out of the ordinary.
A couple of hours passed before the car was started again, and it started nicely. I started to drive, only to hear the car was sounding similar to a dragster and was giving off a faint burning smell. I turned the car around and headed back home, switched off and back on to check the car was starting ok, which it does fine.
I have a feeling (along with my nosey neighbour) that the car is only running on 3 valves, but am not 100% sure. As i stated it sounds similar to a dragster or what i can only describe as what american muscle cars sound like (a low grumbling sound), it smells slightly of burning, although i am unable to ascertain whether the smell is coming from the engine area of from the exhaust, and it seems to have lost a lot of power.
Any input/advice on what may be happening, further checks that i can carry out to identify the problem, and any solutions would be of great use. I am not a genius when it comes to cars, so simple terms would be much appreciated.
Thanks a lot Read more
EGR Valve is so problematical on this car that Vauxhall will disable it for you. Takes just a few minutes (small gasket/blanking plate and a quick down load). Can,t be very expensive as mine was disabled while I chatted to the mechanic about doing a down load on my car . He didn,t charge me although I fitted the gasket ( 5 mins). Mine has an 8v engine though.
A family member recently filled up their X5 diesel with unleaded and drove it several miles before realising their mistake. The car was towed to the local BMW dealer and the fuel system replaced.
Guess how much the final bill was? I was surprised to hear that the insurance company coughed for it as it was considered an acccident - just as well!
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Having just returned from a month in the States, I took great care when refueling. At the pumps in the Chevron & Vallero filling stations, the petrol (gas to the locals) always had a black hose. Diesel, from the same pump, had a green hose. I checked, double checked, then thrice checked EVERY time. You do not want to fill a rented Dodge Ram twin cab pickup 5.7 litre V8 Hemi with diesel!
As an aside, last weekend it cost me $212.00, including fully comp insurance and CDW, for four days rental of the beast. Worth every dollar for the experience, even at 11mpg and the recently increased price of $3.42 per gallon. It was a big storm in the Sierras and I was glad not to be messing with chains several times daily. By comparison, my usual mode of transport, a 2.5 Subaru Outback, looked like a toy car.
Browse
You may find that E*** fuel (Tiger in your tank) soots it better now! - sorry!
Billy