February 2008

henry k

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7251333.stm

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tack

I have some sympathy with the council. Some streets looked damned awful with broken walls, cracked paving, carelessly laid gravel by people who won't or cannot afford to pay for a dropped kerb. Before anyone bites my head off, it is all about living in a more pleasant envionment.

Where I live, there are lots of grass verges between the pavement and kerbstone with signs asking drivers not to park on them. Needles to say, they get parked on, churned up, ridged etc and just spoil what could be a very nice looking road.

It just says a lot about the selfish me, me, me people who consider most things a right when, in fact, they may only be a privilege.

renailt

Car sounds fine, pulls well and never stalls. But when I slow down and then try to speed up again, it bunnyhops violently. Touchthe clutch and it stops messing about.
I have seen a similar thread (see below), but don't know where the vacuum hose is - anyone help?


"Try the cheapest option first.....Remove and examine the rubber vacuum hose from the inlet manifold to the MAP sensor on the bulkhead. Check for splits that may only show up when you bend the hose.

I've had two of these to replace on Megane's. This pipe is quite stiff and short, at certain engine positions the split would open and ruin the MAP input/mixture.

It was happening the most when you were drifting through town at low revs and then tried to pull away, you know how that makes the engine rock on the mounts. Once you had reached a cruising speed the split stayed closed and all was well." MM Read more

matty1968

How often do you have to change the timing belts on a J reg Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8 TD.
Mathew

{3 requests to include year and engine details in the subject header and you missed all of them!} Read more

Screwloose


That would be the reference to "both" belts.....

420 Turbo Diesel

Hi,I am having heater problems with the heater on my 1997 1.8GLX Petrol Model.When I turn the blower on it blows warm for a short while,then it goes cold.There is nothing wrong with the cooling system as it gets to normal on the temp gauge.There is no oil in the water and all the pipes that I can get to are getting hot.I am sure there are no headgasket issues.Any ideas? Thanks Andrew...

{3 requests to include year and engine details in the subject header and you missed all of them!} Read more

420 Turbo Diesel

Thankyou Screwloose,I will give that a try.Andrew...

Glaikit Wee Scunner {P}

After 110,000 enjoyable , but expensive at times, miles in the Passat Estate, I've made a change.
'Get something sporty SWMBO' said, in a rash moment. So a pre-reg black Hyundai Coupe SIII, 2 litre is mine. Took delivery in a snow shower and it has been freezing fog all day. Initial impressions are that it is a torquey and easy to drive car even at the 3000rpm limit imposed for the first 500 miles.Plenty of room for my 6'2". Lots of goodies to entertain me. And I think it looks great!

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Round The Bend

Nice one! Will be interested to hear how you and the HC get on together. It's on my maybe list.

zxcv1234

All,

I have a Ford Mondeo diesel, 1.8. It now shakes quite a lot when I apply the brakes and if the car is travelling at about 40-60mph, especially the steering wheel there the shaking is most prominent. Below this (say at 20mph), there is no shaking when I brake.

Does anyone know what is causing this? And will be an expensive repair?

Thanks in advance.

{3 requests to include year and engine details in the subject header and you missed all of them! As you've not even bothered to mention the year in the main post, I've picked up the range of years from the drop down menu that you chose} Read more

DP

Another tell tale sign of warped discs is uneven braking at low speeds under light brake pedal pressure. Drive at say 20 mph and gently apply the brakes, just to the point where you start to feel them bite. If the discs are warped you'll feel the braking effort won't be constant - you'll get a perceptible increase and decrease despite constant pedal pressure, and possibly accompanied by a gentle pulsing feeling from the pedal.
Don't be tempted by the cheap "non-brand" disc and pad bundles off Ebay either. I did this once, and the discs lasted 3,000 miles before warping like a length of DIY shop timber. The pads used to rumble and fade after one good stop from motorway speeds as well.
The brakes on these cars are excellent if in good order. My MOT tester always comments on how powerful and progressive they are. "Lovely brakes, them" he says.

Cheers
DP

Mazda-Man

Well the deal on the above is done and our last decision concerns the spare supplied. It's an easy question I suppose but which should we go for? I'm inclined not to like spacesavers but it does give a lot more room in the boot and will be easier to change if/when the worst happens. The car won't be used for long/motorway runs much if at all so are there any other issues we should consider before deciding which to go for?

Thanks all! Read more

Mazda-Man

Yes - tested it on Saturday morning - seemed pretty much spotless so, so far so good. Will let you know how it turns out though.

Re the gunk - she'll carry a compressor whatever else happens. Yes I'd heard that about some tyre places not being keen on the stuff - the stuff we have apparently inflates as well as seals flat tyres so if that's true, a tyre which is so badly holed the gunk won't fix it probably wouldn't be repairable anyway.

toddy

I am finding it difficult to sell a used 2001 V5 gs Auto freelander .I realise that four wheel drive is not popular nowadays ,but the buy your car for cash websites only come up with very derisory offers .No one can be that desperate . I am very non- mechanical and selling to a private individual fills me with a little dread ,also taking into account the various scams one hears about ,I wonder whether I might make a terrible mistake . Reason for sale is ,a friend has a very desirable car for sale ,so obviously the transaction cannot include P/Ex .Also I am becoming tired of the gas guzzling antics of this car .

Any suggestions?

John Todd

I assume the reference to the V5 is a typo and it should read V6 ? Read more

Falkirk Bairn

BCA Sure Sell Auction - they will give you an estimate of the SP and their charges. You can put a reserve on it to ensure it does not go under the hammer for a derisory amount

Bill Payer

So went with daughter today to pick up her Colt after its first annual service at the supplying dealer.

OK, I'm already cross because Mitsubishi wouldn't allow us to buy their £150 for 3yrs servicing deal, as we bought the car 3mths before they introduced that. Receptionist cheerfully presented a bill for £200. "Errr...how does that relate to the £125+VAT that you (and, separately, your colleague) quoted us when we booked the car in"?

Cue completely baffled looks and much searching (even though they'd managed to quote without any hesitation) through "the system" to find how they could possibly have quoted us less.

I queried why the body warranty section hadn't been stamped. Service Manager was produced to say that was optional, and would be charged at 30mins. That it is a separate item is bad enough, but I'd been told beforehand when I queried the work required that the £125(+VAT) included a body inspection. Mind you, she also said it included the "engine oil gasket drain" (deciphering the invoice tells me this is the sump plug washer!).

They also washed the car and in the sunshine its previously perfect paint now has swirl marks that wouldn't look out of place on an ice rink.

The only thing actually wrong with the car is excessively baulky gearchange and that came back as "unable to reproduce fault". Read more

Bill Payer

2 years ago I noticed the inner wheel arches rusting and
now the paint on the outter section on both sides is bubbling in the same
places.

It's perhaps a bit late now, but as you've owned the car from new and if you're still dealing with the same dealer, then you may well have had a Sale of Goods act case on the grounds of durability.

That happened on many MB cars in a certain age range, and MB will repair them, under goodwill, even if they've been serviced outside the MB network.
heineken21a

Hello all. I've a small problem with the heating in my Laguna and any assistance would bw most welcome. The car has a digital control for the heating. All aspects of the unit work just fine except for the heating only on the drivers side. She has heating on the passenger side and thus has no problem. But the lack of heat on my side is driving(excuce pun) me mad. I was quoted ?50 for a diagnostic on the system, and ?600 for a new digital control panel. a bit steep I'd say. Any body had/have a similar problem? Thanks Read more

simond

Hi all,

I've got a 2002 1.9dci with what sounds like a similar problem, everything works fine apart from i only get cold air from the drivers side.
I found a really good renault forum on the net, but for the life of me cant remember what it was called, but someone had posted on there, that it is your right hand mixer motor that is at fault, not the control panel. apparently, there are approximately 8 different motors on these fully auto climate units.
The motors are about £45 from renault or a good motor factors, but unless your a contortionist, you need to take the dashboard out, to change this one in particular.
I got quoted for this from renault at about the same as a new control unit (approximately £600), whether or not it would be cheaper to buy the motor and get a local garage to have a go i'm not sure, but for now i've got round the problem by turning the heating on the passenger side to max, and then pressing the re-circulate button (right hand temp control inner button) until the red light appears, after a while warmish air comes through.

Hope this helps a bit

Simon
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