February 2008
I thought this might have been aired before but a 'dazzle' search was negative. Does anyone else find this a problem?
Over the age of 50 eyesight gradually deteriorates and being dazzled becomes more of a problem, especially in the wet. Often all you can see are bright headlights - and very little else, even when visual acuity is 6/6 on a well lit Snellen chart.
Why not use only driving lights in a 30mph zone? This would allow other dimly lit hazards such as pedestrians and cyclists to be seen more easily.
Unfortunately not all cars seem to have this halfway house between dim sidelights and dazzly headlights.
I wonder how often being dazzled has been a contributory cause of accidents and injuries, especially to unseen pedestrians and cyclists?
Perhaps a change in behaviour might follow the growing realisation that changing a modern headlight bulb is often difficult and expensive.
And does anyone ever get prosecuted for inappropriate use of foglights? Perhaps HJ might know. I would have thought that was just the thing a camera could detect. I guess such cameras would be supported as strongly as speed cameras are detested - £60 fine, doubled in wet weather! Read more
hi first time member , hope you can help :honda jazz 1.4 manual 2006 ,when turning left or right there is a noise that sounds like the pads are catching or rubbing on the disc s i have changed the pads but it is still there , i dont know if it could be the discs are warped or a wheel bearing problem the car has done 56k and is used as a driving school car can you help regards steve. Read more
On my Panda 4x4 this sort of noise was caused by discs that were worn beyond their wear limit (at 25,000 miles, by the way) with a pronounced and very corroded lip on the edge of the disc. I would suspect that a 56,000 mile Jazz used mostly in an urban environment and likely to now be on its third set of pads would have excessively worn discs also.
If you are in a position to check, the disc wear limit is 19mm, obviously measured on the friction surfaces and not the disc margin, so some kind of calliper will be needed.
I notice in the Haynes manual that when changing the fuel filter (2.0 HDi) it emphasises the need for care when cleaning out the filter housing (understandably). It even mentions not to use 'ordinary' cloths but special ones from the dealer, presumably so there's no chance of bits being left behind. I can see the logic but am reluctant to go to the dealer for cloths! Does anyone know of alternative cloths, perhaps more readily available, that could be used for this job.
Regards
Catcher
(2.0 HDi) thanks for telling us that in the text - subject line would be even better.PU
{Year added to header after receiving email correspondence - DD} Read more
Sorry - will bear in mind for next time.
Hello everyone,
I'm "honest" Barry!
I sold a car a couple of weeks ago which to my knowledge was perfectly mechanically fine, (pointed out usual things that were wrong with it e.g. rust appearing, could do with an oil change soon as is due, etc.) MOT also due in March.
The new owner performed an oil change last week and has just noticed that there is lots of oil in the coolant and is understandably a bit gutted about this, and apparently some brown sludge in the expansion tank. This is all news to me as I had not noticed it in the year I owned the car (i'm not especially mechanical though....). I obviously feel a bit bad because of the short time between selling the car and him experiencing problems, however it was an old car and only sold for £1000. The car runs perfectly fine, does not show any blue smoke etc.
I have a receipt signed by both myself and the new owner for the car listed as "sold as seen", would I be in anyway liable for the problems the new owner is experiencing?
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A £1000 Maverick is an old car now. Brown sludge in the expansion tank is pretty much normal and to be expected, just needs a good cleaning out of the tank. Oil in the coolant just doesn't ring true for either the diesel or petrol Maverick. I think this is a try-on, you have no legal or even moral obligations here and should quitly ignore this issue.
i bought a 1.6 16v vitara 1997. went out in it at the weekend and it started to make a rumble noise when moving in all gears apart from fourth! and now its become to a load squeeking noise! could it be the thrust bearring??could anyone help?
ashy
edited to include YEAR and ENGINE details in the subject header - as per the various ignored requests to do so! Read more
ashy
That will very likely depend on the source of the water - if it's from off-roading, then it would contain mud and that will turn the lube into grinding paste.
My ageing peugeot 406 1.9 td 1998 has developed a rattle i have been told its the cam tensioner thats about to give up. Im a reasonable mechanic and i would like to have a crack at repairing this myself and changing the belt at the same time. Is this a difficult job and will i need any special tools. cheers
1.9 td 1998 oh ! in the subject line would be a help ! ONLY ASKED THREE TIMES BEFORE YOU EVEN POST....... Read more
Thanks very much, very helpful.
I need to recode my remote locking key after changing the battery. All the methods I've seen involve locking the car(via the drivers door) whilst another key is in the ignition. Unfortunately my car is delocked and doesn't have a lock on the drivers door. Does any know of any other coding methods apart from the VAGCOM route? Read more
the website is VWAUDIFORUM
Im talking about their commercial vehicles operations.
I know they make the Porter van ( Hijet clone ) but thats about it.
Anyone know how long they have been selling in this country, how many dealers, how solid they are financially etc etc? Not really interested in the vehicles themselves but more the company behind them.
Thanks for any info in advance. Read more
I was more interested in the UK importer itself - I heard that Perodua were now handling imports of the vans but Perodua UK isnt a big operation in itself is it?
Im just worried about dealers disappearing and not being able to claim on warranty if needed.
Anyone have any experience of Perodua?
Having just got rid of a small hatch because the ride was so hard and "knobbly" -- yes, I know I should have road tested it first- but how many times does one find that your favoured model is not available?- I am finding great difficulty in buying something that gives me a comfortable ride, when our roads have never needed better suspension! I need a compact car, heavy enough to occasionally pull a small 2-berth caravan, so 100hp diesel is needed. I had 3 years happy motoring in a Skoda Fabia 1.9, which met all my requirements, comfortably- but its replacement is proving difficult. Don't suggest the new one-I've tried it. As soon as I request the big diesel in so many models the spec. shoots up to include"big alloys" and low-profile tyres. Road tests and my experience shows that low profiles are harder, and in every case I find the base model has a smoother ride-- but not the engine I want. Why are we offered a firm ride after over 110 years of suspension development, and worse road surfaces?
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Learned a lot since I started this, and also from the responses from contributors. Yes, Kia Cee'd dealer will swap to larger section tyres fitted to "base" model - tried a Focus Zetec 1.6 TDi-- "Sports" suspension hard and Knobbly (in my humble opinion) but hint from dealer that the low profile alloys could also be changed for the steel wheels and softer tyres-so a possibility there. The most tempting is the Toyota Auris, also with a promise to revert to low spec wheels and tyres in the T3 version with 6-speed box and 2.0 litre diesel. Quite a compact car, but still not as bump-absorbing as I would like. Might try a Skoda Octavia, but a bit large. Decisions,decisions- the buying process is not the happy one it was when I baught my beloved old model Fabia-it did everything I wanted!
I've been checking out the Citroen C4 Picasso for the last couple of weeks and visited a local Citroen showroom to look closer at it. I really like it and took a test drive today and have decided to buy one. I have haggled hard with the salesman and got the price reduced to £13065 from the list price of £16755.
I was given a price list which has all the specifications and models on it.
I was looking online at the car on the Citroen site and noticed a few discrepancies with the standard specification for the model I am interested in (1.8 petrol 5 seat VTR+).
According to the pricelist's specification guide, the car comes with as standard, a PARKING PACK (parking sensors etc.), a BOOT PACK (cargo nets and opening tailgate window) and finally a SECURITY PACK (upgraded alarm, glass etc.).
The website disagrees with this and says they are optional extras.
Upon rechecking the printed specification list where the options and standard specs are shown in a chart with the usual black dot representing the option as standard and optional as a circle etc. it would seem that for the model I want (VTR+) they must have printed the standard spec 'black dots' in the wrong places. It looks like all the dots need to move along the chart a couple of spaces to make the specs match those on the website. This is confirmed because the prices for the options are in the wrong column.
The thing is, that I was under the impression whilst haggling and spending more than 6 hours in total at 2 different showrooms haggling and waiting for their HO to say yes or no to the discounts that I would be getting all those extras as standard for my money. Suddenly it looks like I would get half the spec as shown on the specs sheet due to an error in the layout of the chart.
I've arrange to meet with the salesman tomorrow to finish the deal we struck but I want to say that I want those extras which were misleadingly printed but just know that they will decline to give them stating that they have already discounted the car a fair bit and that it's a printing error.
The specs sheet doesn't have an errors and omissions excepted statement, it just says that specifications could change to IMPROVE the cars specs or for safety reasons.
Can I argue that as it says on the sheet the extras are included that they should include them?
What would you do?
slight tweak to subject line and drop down menus engaged (seeing as its make specific) Read more
i have the 7st 1.8vtr+ and i love it.very comfortable. pliant but not soft suspension and nice spec and interior


Thought it was illegal if the car is actually parked up?