hi i have not used my car for a while i found battery flat but no response from transponder key( plip) i can get in the car switch on the ignition but the alarm still sounds
i have put a new battery on still the same any suggestions would be good
i am new to this site so my apologies if this goes to the wrong person
regards gary

moved to a standalone thread. Read more

Hello,

My Dad, who has been driving for 20+yrs, has put about 20 litres of unleaded petrol into the tank - he says it was about 3/4 full when he went to fill it up and he topped it to full (or close) with petrol.

D'oh.

He only realised after he drove 7 miles home - he says the engine ran fine and the first thing he knew was when he was checking the receipt.

I've looked around and I'm fairly sure he has avoided major damage due to the fact the car has probably only used diesel so far (with diesel being heavier than petrol) but I've told him he cannot try repeatedly topping it up when it gets to 3/4 because this could risk major damage to the engine.

We can't syphon the tank because it has a device fitted to prevent this - does anyone know:

1. If there's a way around such devices
2. If not, what it would cost for the tank to be taken out and emptied?
3. If the trick about topping it up with diesel until the petrol is diluted to a non-damaging level works?

{picked up estimated year from your choice in the drop down menu as you failed to mention it, despite the 3 separate requests asking you to include it!} Read more

After lifting the bonnet I discovered the front cross member had rust through and it is now none existent as its snapped in half. The rest of the bonnet is orange colored instead of silver but appears solid.

I then lifted the carpet to get an idea of what the chassis is like, again the same story orange instead of silver. The car is a 2000 W with 70,000 miles on the clock.

Surely no car made in 2000 should be so rusty it looks like it has been in the irish sea for the past 5 years?

Either way she has decided against getting an MOT done and is going to sell the car instead.

Edit on the other hand I have just seen this

cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-KA-96--FRONT-LOWER-CROSS-MEMBE...m

But then its the rest of the rust too :( Read more

Hi,

My mate found last night that his Citroen Picasso brake light switch had failed and was driving with no brake ligths at all. He bought a new switch and all is corrected.

My question is on my car (Mk 5 golf) I have a bulb failure warning light but would this activate if the brake lights switch failed? Strikes me that some sort of warning on the dashboard would be very useful as of course its highly dangerous to be driving with no brake lights!

His car gave no warning of this failure. Just noticd it when he was reversing at night and noticed his brake lights were not working.

Cheers

Jlo Read more

I've just bought an immaculate FSH Camry 2.2 (1997 with 110K on the clock) from a chap who really has cherished the car from new.

It drives like a car half its age and miles and only cost me a few hundred pounds (possibly the ultimate bangernomic mobile!)

The only problem I can find is that the front suspension (at least i think it's the front suspension) seems a wee bit noisy with a noticable 'clunk' going over speed bumps or potholes.

The suspension is original.

On smoothish roads it fairly glides along.

I vaguely recall reading somewhere that this was something of a design flaw on Camrys (possibly the struts and strut mountings) and that the noise didn't actually indicate a fault as such.

Has anyone else heard of this problem, or possibly managed to fix it or pehaps it's just a case of learning to put up with it?

(I suspect it seems worse than it is because the car is otherwise so quiet!)

All the best

Steve Read more