April 2008
Hi,
Looking for some suggestions on where I stand persuing this one..
I had 4 tyres changed by a tyre place, 9 days later going along the motorway the front wheel fell off, the bolts were rattling around under the hub caps. I was doing 60 at the time on the M4!
Not really sure where I stand on this as it is a cheap car, bought for £700 but has had some idiot key it all over since, and a further 10k miles so not it good nick.
I think being that the MOT is up in june and it will need some work to get it through, its going to be a scrap job.
I've had a scap yard pick it up, and a mechanic is going to look at it to asses the damage, but based on what I've told him it wil be £350 min, if he does find anything else more.
So I've lost my car and the money spent on 4 new tires!
Do I have much basis to go back to the garage with if the mechanic feels it's their poor fitting (which I can't confirm yet, but seems likely.) ?
ANy help much appreciated. Read more
hi everyone,
would be grateful if you could offer some advice
am looking to buy the petrol 1.6 focus. have narrowed it down to the zetec climate but unsure as to whether to go for the 100 or 115 bhp. am i right is saying that the 115 has a cam belt whereas the former has a chain cam and hence will require changing at a later date? how much would this cost? is there any difference in the driving experience between the two cars and any other differences?
thank you for the help
david Read more
My average mpg over this period calculated brim - brim has beem 37. The bestacheived
is 42 the worst 35. >>
These figures are almost identical to SWMBO's 1.6 Focus Chic. Call me a boring old frat, but I think it's a great car.
My old and up to then faithful SEAT Alhambra has finally bitten the dust (£200 for scrap). It did us proud and lasted through 8 years of family abuse. We bought it 2 years old so it didn't owe us anything.
Now I need a replacement - I have to have:
7 seats
I want:
Not to break down on the hard shoulder of the motorway
Not to spend a fortune on running costs - petrol/repairs
I have up to 9 grand to spend but I am open to creative suggestions and would like to spend less if I could reasonably get away with it. It's hard to get excited about this kind of purchase but it would be nice. It can be diesel or petrol and I reckon I would be against anything older than 02 plate and 60K miles.
What do you all think you experts!? Read more
We've got a Mistubishi Grandis 2.0 DID Elegance. It has seven seats, a bit of a boot with all seven seats up, the rear seats fold into the floor, it does 36-40mpg and has apparently the VW / Audi 2.0 turbo diesel engine. 130 or 150 bhp, i can't remember.
Likes
Really easy to use, nice to drive (shame it's not auto), high in-dash gear lever, six speeds, climate, two sunroofs, 10CD stacker and a decent stereo, leather throughout and stands up to kids and the wife's mobility buggy thingy ok. Has cruise, but i never use it. Fairly nippy for a big car. Big LED lights at the back
Dislikes
Some of the leather on the door cards is peeling off, and the driver's arm rest keeps falling. Takes ages to warm up (it is diesel). Er, that's it. No breakdowns at all.
We drove the Warrior at the same time, it's a bit nicer ride, but spec isn't as good - you lose the sunroofs for a DVD player, when you can get a DVD player for £60 in Argos. No satnav, but i have a TomTom that's portable.
Recommended.
My car is 2005 Focus 1.6 tdci.
I find that at mway cruising speeds ( about 70 - 75, since I have 9 points! ) engine noise is low due to high overall gearing.
However road noise is far louder than the engine on most surfaces unless you are on very smooth tarmac. Most seems to come from the rear of the car.
I believe that since the tyres are more than half worn, they are most likely contributing a fair bit, but what I'm wondering is; do aftermarket kits of felt stuff and glue really work on this sort of noise ?
Otherwise I would be sticking the felt stuff in all sorts of difficult to get to places to no avail.
Anybody have any experience of this ? Read more
Re bbd yes it was aimed at OP pity the post is ancient only just noticed as I tend to live in the present. Still it might apply to someone with an old car, I did it myself as a project and it worked a treat.
I tried to do a good deed and allowed to jumpstart their car via my megane 1.9DCI 2003
I dont know al ot about cars, but he connected the correct cables but think one of the cables was not touching the terminal- but instead that little pack that fits ontop of the battery & has wires and metal. He reved his car and mine cut out and came out and displayed a msg 'electrical fault'.
I had to have the car towed home. It is completely dead but lights, cd player, locks all work fine (although a message also at the time stated auto lights fault.
I do not have the cash to take the car to the main dealers and have been told renaults can only be fixed at main dealers.
I am well stressed and have no car.
What could be wrong and what are my options?
any help is appreciated :0(
moved over from Discussion and your duplicated post here deleted. Read more
The French should stick to bicyclettes; they've just no idea when it comes to electrics.....
I think monseur Ampere would disagree
I had a problem yesterday and the recovery driver said that the suspension coil had gone, front offside(the front had collapsed after a bang and smell of burning rubber/blue smoke). Cost me £175 to join AA + Relay, towed 40 miles to home dealer.
Is it normal that a 2005 Vectra should experience this problem?
I am a careful driver (old man of 55), owned the vehicle from new, seem to have regular problems, for example -
July 05 - Car pulls to right - dealer reckons ok - I changed the wheels over, improved.
Oct 06 - returned from 2week holiday - battery dead - AA man, Faulty battery-replaced.
Jun 07 - ditto - battery charged by dealer - reckons battery ok
Sep 07 - brake light on permanent - Wiring Harness replaced under warranty.
Dec 07 - noticed oil patch on drive - dealer replaced steering rack under warranty
Feb 08 - 5 day break - dead batt - dealer reckons fault down to dodgy contact,recharged
Apr 08 - collapsed suspension - 5 day old Bridgestone er300 tyre shredded. Waiting for dealer opening today to see what the total damage/cost will be. AA recovery guy reckons that warranty probably will not cover.
Considered replacing the car in Feb - wished I had done now!
MrB
{year added to subject line, as per 3 separate asked requests} Read more
Agree 100% with sandy.
My Passat estate recently had the N/S rear spring break....
Hello,
I have a 4.7 v8 Jeep Grand Cherokee that as you can imagine is quite thirsty!
I am currently looking into getting a LPG conversion done on it but have a few queries.
(1) I currently only do about 15-20 miles a day during the week and say 60 at the weekend usually. As i understand it the engine needs to get warm before the LPG can be turned on so basically this would not probably make it not worthwhile??
(2) Is there a loss in peformance?
(3) Are there differing types of conversions?
(4) Any other ways of getting better mpg? i.e fuel aditives etc?
Any help/experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Read more
If concerned about the standard of the conversion then fit it youself:
Given that the question was asked in April 2008, hopefully either the OP or someone else already has :-)
I bought my Punto 1.3 SX this morning ( 71,000 mi , £200 ) then went along to get spare keys cut as I normally do when I get a new used car. At the Sainsburys heel bar the woman serving said "thats £25 each for the keys" and explained that the key was chipped. I said I will glue the chiped key under the ignition and have 4 x £5 keys please. She suggested I was a criminal : end of conversation. I already have the car key : get it ?
Anyway I found a kind gentleman who cut 4 x £5 keys and tried them. They open the car but will not start it. I have a need for spare keys as I have only one working ignition key and like anyone else the keys can go missing ...
I googled this issue and something called a "CODE 1" system comes up. See www.keyprogrammers.com/Fiat.html.
I want rid of this thing as the car is worth £200 and I don't think anyone would want it anyway.
What do I have to do to get rid of / bypass this key code system.
Regards
Jim
Read more
Jim where did you see the key for £25, I have a PUNTO bought for my Daughter, one of many, and it has only one Blue key..... I would like a spare, £25 seems OK for some peace of mind.
...
My recently acquired 307 lacks power. Everything happens in the first half inch or so of accelerator pedal movement. Pressing it beyond that has little effect.
The local garage has just changed the timing belt at 95000 miles. I had them check for fault codes but they found nothing wrong. They reckon that the turbo isn't spinning and advised me to take it to a Peugeot dealer, something I'm reluctant to do, given the way they charge!
I've checked the air flow sensor which is working normally. Are there any other sensors I should look at before biting the bullet?
{and the year is? - now added} Read more
Max
[This would have been better as a new thread.]
That's a fairly normal-looking dozer valve?
What engine does yours have and what's the exact problem - all the details.
I've just bought a 1996 E39 323i with a genuine 62,000 on the clock. It has a main dealer history except for the last service, where it says 6.5 litres synthetic oil 10-40. Yesterday the oil light came on and I see it's just below the minimum mark on the dipstick, it's done 7,000 since the service. I can't get an answer on the phone number I have for the company that did the service, so what oil should I top it up with? It's 11 months since the service so maybe a full change may be in order, but I read somewhere that 15,000 was more than likely. I thought 10-40 was semi-synthetic, I expected fully synth to be more like 5-30, although I suppose 12 years ago 10-40 was cutting edge.
Any recommendations for topping it up? Magnatec has been mentioned by someone at work. Read more
Polonium stated: "use the cheapest oil that meets the API SL or CF spec", which are rather old specs, and satisfied by cheap oil. As BMW use ACEA, plus their own on top, and American oil standards are irrelevant, I stand by what I said. Cheap oil was stated to be adequate, in the context of the posters gripe that manufacturers oil standards were apparently nonsense. You can't have it both ways.
Browse
If you buy a new vehicle there is no stipulation to my knowledge to have the wheels checked for tightness after a short distance.
On taking delivery of a new MB at Sindelfingen all the bolts were checked in my presence before hand-over, but I would suggest that is no longer the norm when purchasing from other outlets.
My present Skoda had bolts tightened to the point of immovability with the supplied wheel spanner.
659.