May 2008
Hi all,
Can somebody please help me resolve this.
My car is again playing up - spoken with the dealer that I purchased it from in November of last year and all I got was a 'it is now out of our hands' type of reply.
I now seriously regret ever coming across that company.
Car is again back to juddering under power, cutting out, won't start - just like when I first got it.
Also the service yellow/amber symbol (car with a spanner) light keeps coming on and going off.
Car seems to be running fine even if fuel economy is a little bit lower than usual.
Fault is present when vehicle runs on both LPG and petrol.
This is the fault:
The car once started, runs like a dream either on LPG or petrol. Until you come to a halt! The engine then just custs out and has great difficulty (on either fuel) starting again.
There is no audible clicking of solenoids etc.
Have also noticed the the temp gauge now sits at the 12 o'clock as opposed to the 11am position.
All fluids are correct and there is ample fuel - I have checked this!
Tron.
Read more
Can any body tell me where the fuses are located ?? In particular the one for cig lighter. Read more
Many thanks Chris
The company car is due for renewal soon and I am considering opting out.
I work from home most of the time, so although we *need* two cars for convenience, one of them barely gets used. Up until now, we've used my company car for most of our needs (wife commuting etc). In fact her Focus is nearly 12 months old and has covered just 2,500 miles.
But I'm now considering opting out and buying a slow-depreciating car. Wifeys Focus will pick up the reigns as primary form of transport and my new one will be our second less-used car. I'd like to go new (just because), and budget is up to £15k
My theory is that over 4 years, the cash allowance will have paid for the car in full, and whatever it's retained value is, will be pure profit.
I'm thinking traditional slow depreciators like the new Mazda MX-5 et al...... any other suggestions?
The other theory is to go for something small, frugal and basic (Polo BlueMotion) which would pay for itself in closer to 2 years, and would also likely retain a fair value. Read more
It seems to me that a few factors are missing from the OP's sums.
The current family fleet consists of a heavily-used company car and a little-used private car, so most of the costs and wear-and-tear are born by the company. If the privately-owned car is now doing the miles, that cost will be born by Mrs OP.
However, the big issue seems to me to be that if I understand things correctly, the car allowance is £4,000pa in total ... yet the OP is treating it as if it only had to cover capital costs.
Mapmaker's figures near the top of the thread (tinyurl.com/5k9xg6) tell a rather different story: after you deduct running costs, you actually have about £2,500p.a. for the car's capital cost. And that's assuming no contingencies: the accident where you are found to be at fault and lose your no-claims-bonus, the repair that takes longer than planned so your have hire a car because the garage won't give you a courtesy car while they wait for parts, etc.
If it it was my car allowance, I'd budget for £2,000p.a. capital cost ... and that gives you rather difft choices than the MX-5 you would like.
If you could persuade your employer to allow you to run a car up to 5 years old, you could still do very nicely at that level because you'd avoid the heavy first two years depreciation, but if they insist on a car less than 3 years old (and you want new anyway) then you can only budget for £6 in capital costs over that time. Since most new cars lose 50% to 60% over their first three years, that means you are looking at a £10k-£12k new car ... and no profit for yourself on the deal.
Rather than having to invest your own capital in a new car up front, have you considered leasing? That way someone else bears the capital risk. Motorpoint's list (tinyurl.com/6droxz) suggest that your £2,000p.a would get you a Skoda Fabia diesel or some similar alternatives. I rather like that sort of car, but it may or may not appeal to you.
NW - posts merged on your behalf.
Hi - hope someone can help. Have just bought a pre-owned 1991 Mini after 20 years without, and am rediscovering the joys of Mini electrics.
Headlamps and instrument lights were working OK; I used the full beam switch, and (almost) all the lights died.
Still working: brake lights, indicators (including via the hazard switch); reversing light, horn, ventilation fan, interior ceiling light.
Engine still starts and runs fine; alarm circuit seems unaffected.
Not working: instrument lights, sidelights, headlamps, rear foglamp, front spots.
I've checked the handbook, and it doesn't look like there's a fuse failure which would take out this group of things. I believe the front spots were fitted by the previous owner; don't know what they are wired up to, or which fuse they are on.
Any suggestions gratefully received! Read more
I get a feeling here that some of the problem might be an incompetent previous owner making electrical changes that can make fault diagnosis very difficult. It might be best to strip out all that wiring first of all so you can get back to something that resemble sthe original wiring diagram.
My neighbour has a Peugeot motorcycle with lots of wiring amendments, Goodness knows why, done by twisting wires together and covering with insulating tape. The only advice I've been able to make is to improve the quality of the connections, because they defy logic and any wiring diagram.
Sounds like a case of the "the lights are off but somebodies in".
im off to wembley on sunday...
where is the best place to park and how do i pay the congestion charge???
last time i drove to london was to earls courts about 8 yrs ago.
do i pre book a space like i did for earls court?? or is there a better way??
thx
. Read more
thx for the tips
there will be three of us
me and two 22yr old hooligans.....hopefully not !!
leed suppporters in the doncaster end!!!!!!!!!!
.
A pair of my tyres are due replacement soon and whilst I know the size 205/55/16, I'm finding it difficult to pin down the speed rating. V or W.
The handbook indicates the rating depends on the engine type and size, they can be H, T, V, or W.
I have a pair of V rated on one axle and W on the other.
Can anyone advise me as to the correct rating.
Thank you. Read more
Thank you all
P.
Car : Peugeot 1997 1.9 D-turbo phase 2 (115k miles)
Hello there, I have owned this car for around 6 months and recently have had a small problem.
When starting, the engine fires up no problem but for around 10 seconds it sounds as though the engine is misfiring slightly. Giving it a few revs usually cures the problem.
This only usually occurs when starting from cold and the problem dissapears after 10 seconds.
As I'm unsure about when the fuel filter was last changed, I thought I would start there but i'm unsure as to where it is located, and if any specialist tools are required.
Any help much appreciated.
Gary. Read more
Thanks for the help guys but i changed the fuel filter at the weekend and the small white tap is the diesel inlet as far as i can see. When i pump the priming bulb diesel is pumped into the filter chamber. I move the white screw the opposite way and it doesn't seem to make a difference.
I was wondering if this was a shut valve to stop fuel going back to the tank when you change filters maybe?
Anyway, the problem is still there and i'm none the wiser!
It only seems to happen when the engine gets hot.
Cheers
Wev
I was waiting at some traffic lights. The road is two lanes wide here. I was the third car back in the nearside lane. As the lights changed to green and just as the first car had begun to pull away, a motorcycle shot down between the two lanes of cars, went past me and the car in front but clipped the mirror of the front car and rode away at speed. I know we quite often see motorcycles going between vehicles in similar situations. Is it legal for motorcycles to come down between lanes of vehicles like this?
slt Read more
Someitimes the gap between cars in adjacent lanes at junctions would be big enough to get my Panda through. Is this legal????
Maybe, as long as he's cute enough! I assume he's a giant Panda - so weighs about the same as a medium motorbike?
I have a Ford Mondeo TDDi 2.0L 2001 and I've done a very silly thing. When leaning across to fetch something from the glove compartment, the plastic handle/doorcatch (flimsy piecece of kit) snapped off in my hand leaving the compartment jammed shut! As I keep my TomTom satnav in there when not in use I'm at my wits end as to how to get it out without having to take a two pound hammer to the door.......Any ideas? Read more
I managed to get just the handle from my dealer and don't remember it being that eye-watering, mind you that was just over a year ago and I am ageing..........
My 2003 Laguna 1.8 16v recently had the gearbox replaced as a result of differential failure. During the repair the battery was disconnected so I had to re-code the radio. (No problem)
However the digital odometer and trip computer will now only indicate metric units, so my 110,000 mile car now has 177,000km, my economy is measured in litres per hundred km etc.
Does anyone know if it can be reset without resort to a Renault dealer ?
Also I have noticed that the rev counter is now reading high. Before at 70mph it would show less than 3000 rpm, now it shows nearer to 4000. I know it's the rev counter that's faulty as before the car would only reluctantly accelerate to the red line, now you can take it to the end of the clock and still be accelerating.
None of this stops me using the car, it's just really frustrating ! Read more
Thanks for the idea, but a laguna has only one button for the trip computer. I did try it, but nothing happened.
It must be something like you suggest, it's just the kind of thing I might have accidentally done to cause the problem in the first place.
Anybody got any ideas?
We experienced something similar with our 2003 1.6 Astra (8v Active). It seemed to happen on longer journeys where a higher speed was maintained; after a while, there would be juddering and loss of power and when we pulled over it would stall and not restart (at least for a while).
One time we got the RAC man came out who'd come across it before; he tapped a valve while we turned on the engine and that sorted. It's apparently a dodgy valve and a fault on the EMU. From research etc we were told that the EMU can be turned off and this should fix it. It's expensive via the garage so I'm looking at buying an extry-level reader/scanner to sort it as I need to add a new transponder key too.