April 2008
One of my ex company cars. Bought for a song off lease company at 2 years old with 75000 miles on the clock. Now 18 years old and still a fantastic car. Everything just works and works well. Loathe to part with it until absolutely neccessary but the front wheel bearings make an awful noise when pulling away especially at corners. Any idea if they can be replaced on such an old car and an idea of costs if they can? Any advice gratefully accepted. Concrete. Read more
Two things I've read recently have struck me.
1) Manufacturers compete with one another to program the ECU so that emissions in one car are slightly less than in a competitor's.
2) A Dodge, I think, with CVT is programmed in such a way as to give engine braking.
If it is possible to re-program to reduce emissions what do you lose elsewhere?
HJ is always saying don't engine brake because pads are cheaper than gearbox and clutch parts. So if you program an auto box to engine brake does that put emissions up to say nothing of wearing the box?
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If the auto is programmed to engine brake by downshifting it will have a higher mpg because you slow down quicker, therefore, have to lift of the throttle later. My current VW is like this, with my old car, I could coast for ages gradually slowing down as there was a freewheeling clutch in the autobox. The VW makes horrible unwanted downshifts when coating and has a disappointing mpg commensurate with this.
every so often the engine decides it want to rev up all on it's own, you could be driving it and it just takes off like an apollo space rocket. Have been told it may be the pump and some suggest it's the turbo. what (if any) would be the best and cheapest way to find out what could be the cause
Many thanks in advance
{subject header amended to give a clue as to what question is being asked} Read more
Had the same symptoms - spontaneously reving up (always accompanied by a loud clicking?). Anyway - again, found diesel in the hose connecting to the aneroid unit to the inlet unit so thanks to Screwloose. Too often in forums once someone has found the solution they don't bother posting back a positive resolution so cheers to everyone.
Hi, Friend has owned his 330 i coupe since new in 2001. Always started from both cold and hot without any issues. However lately, hot starting has meant cranking it 2/3 times before it catches. Any ideas BR'ers - Thanks in advance
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Failed coolant temp sensors are a common cause of hot starting issues - they'll eventually flag a fuel-trim code on these though?
A split Vortex breather unit is another possibility; but getting it plugged-in and the live-data checking by a good man is his best bet.
SMMT are regularly telling us how diesels are becoming more popular, and giving us figures and statistics. e.g. "Diesel registrations have risen by 22,821 units in quarter one, and took a 41.9% market share, up from 38.4% a year ago."
But they never tell us about the respective popularity of automatics and manuals. Has anyone seen any statistics on this subject?
(I'm curious, because many people have forecast that manuals would eventually just disappear, but I've seen no signs of it happening.) Read more
What else is in the car most of the time, weight-wise ? Hmm, just me, I guess... Yeah, just me, definitely. Truth is, I don't really need such a big limo, I would gladly choose a C-class instead. Trouble is, it doesn't offer an Airmatic suspension. The "Agility Control" suspension I've tried in a C220 CDI is simply no match for a proper Airmatic.
I?m just back from a couple of weeks in France, during which I hired a brand new (8km on the clock) SEAT Altea TDI 105.
Impressions? Well, it drove pretty well. It?s a good engine, and had as much power and torque as I needed, though some aspects of it took a little getting used to - for the first few days I kept stalling it, but eventually got the hang of it. I only filled it up twice, which only gave me one opportunity to test fuel economy brim-to-brim, and the result was 50 mpg, which is just short of the official combined figure. I find with petrol hire cars I can generally match or better the advertised economy figures, but with diesels it is more difficult. (I take it that this is because diesel engines are ?tight? when new, and fuel economy improves significantly after several thousand miles, whereas petrol engines are just about at their most economical when new?) I might add that the car was shod with Michelin Energy tyres, which should mean that fuel economy was about as good as it was going to get.
Handling was pretty good (the car cornered nicely), and ride was satisfactory. On autoroutes, it couldn?t be faulted, but speed ramps seem to have become very common in French villages in the last few years, and a lot of minor roads are not very smooth, so there were times when one would have liked a better ride. The car had 55 profile tyres, and it was interesting to look at the older cars and see 10 or 15 year old BMWs which all seemed to have 65 profile tyres and think that it would be pretty difficult to get them on a modern BMW.
In other respects, the car was also quite satisfactory. It was quiet enough, though at low speeds the sound of diesel was very audible, and I found the wind noise produced by opening the sunroof or even turning up the ventilation fan was irritating. It was nice and roomy, and had good size door pockets. I thought that the visibility was perfectly acceptable, except for not being able to see where the front of the car ended from the driver?s seat. It also felt rather wide, but when I checked the measurements, I discovered that I was wrong, and it is actually not a particularly wide car. The dashboard layout and controls were fine, and I liked the way that one accessed the various readings on the trip computer by means of a switch on the end of the indicator stalk.
I might add that when I booked with Europcar, the category I chose was ?Nissan Note or similar? (CVMR - Compact Van Manual Air Conditioning ). I was quite curious as to what I would get, suspecting it might be a Kangoo, since it was not much more expensive than the cheapest category, and Europcar normally seems to give out Renaults - so I was a little surprised to get an Altea. Does anyone have any idea what Europcar in France usually give out in this category?
(Oh, and I did see a couple of Citroen C6's on the move - and the same number of DS's.) Read more
Nice title :-D
I bought a Mondeo 2ltr zetec last October. 52 plate the clutch was slipping. The car dealer I purchased car from had the clutch replaced, last couple of months the clutch has started to judder. Have been told this could be the dual mass fly wheel problem. It is not a constant problem some days worse than others. If I pull away at about 2000rpm seems quite smooth. Can anyone tell me if this will cause further damage pulling away at high revs?
{wording amended to eliminate the UPPER CASE as people don't like to be SHOUTED at. Also added year & engine details as per the 3 separate requests that you overlooked} Read more
Good evening one and all
I'm considering bidding on this vehicle but it suffers from, as the seller puts it, faltering and occasional stalling. He has changed the fuel filter but to no avail. Any clues folks? Is it likely to cost me a packet to put right?
More details on the car here: tinyurl.com/3gos2n
Thanking you in anticipation of your assistance!
Cheers Read more
Badwolf
I'll let you into a little secret.
I've been crippled with rheumatoid arthritis for the last 27 years. As even holding a screwdriver was excruciating; most of the trim I replaced, back then, eventually rattled off again - the lads in my workshop got so fed up with re-tightening everything properly........
Which is how I acquired my nickname....
Friend of mine is being offered by his tight fisted bosses a second hand company car.
To whit a 53 plate Jan 2004 registered AUDI A4 AVANT TDI Sport 1896cc.
We know its CO2 157g/km off the V5.
We know where to find list prices of NEW cars but where in hell do you find the list price of an old car?
Can anyone direct me to an historic database or alternatively give me the list price for the car as described above? Read more
Go and get yourself a Jag XF PU! Cheer up. Life's too short not to enjoy it.
...Can anyone explains exactly what it entails? I have no need for my 2.0TDi diesel anymore and want to replace it with something with similar power but petrol and 5 doors.
I am after an ex demo Polo GTI. They seem to be going for the £13-14k mark.
My A3 has 23k miles on the clock, is truly immaculate (barely any swirls on it!!), on a 56 plate. According to glasse's it's worth £14800 in excellent condition.
What can I expect? ( apart from the salesman telling me the A3 is worth £12k tut tut) Read more
The SatNav will help a bit - ebay might be worth a try as buyers on there seem to like cars with toys. Leather would help it more.
Although some Audi dealers may have a lot of over priced A3's up for sale they are not doing that well in the general market. Audi have just sold too many. There are loads around at auctions etc. similar to yours which can be had for around £12-12.5k which is why there is no logical reason for anyone to pay more than that for yours.
Cars such as A3's are never easy sells privately as they tend to be sold mainly to fleets and to people who buy new on finance. Hence you get loads of 2-3 year old examples about trying to find homes. A canny cash private buyer is actually more likely to buy a 3 year old Octavia as they see it as better value.
It's odd how different cars appeal to different people. A slightly knocked about A4 Avant will still sell easily but an A3 buyer expects an immaculate car and dealer service because it is a heart purchase not the head.
As for the Polo, having suffered all the first 2 years depreciation on the A3 do you really want to go through all that again? Why not get a 2 year old Golf?
Browse
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" make an awful noise when pulling away especially at corners"
What sort of noise...could be the CV joints?
If WBs any garage should be able to do them easy enough.